What is in your salad?

A salad is more than just greens.

People are often surprised when I tell them I don’t actually eat salad that much, because most think that is what it means to eat healthy. Yes that is right, I don’t.

But… I am talking about the greens stuff that flies off your plate when you eat outdoors. Those pieces of head-lettuce that are just so hard to control that they fall off your fork before you get them into your mouth. Or those little leaves that you cannot get hold of because you cannot stick your fork through them and you have to scoop them up by using your finger. And if you are eating with other people, you might just not even “go there”. You know what I am talking about? If not, then you have mastered the art of eating salad in style, but I have not.

When I first see new clients they tell me they eat a lot of salads because they “try to be healthy” but then by night-time it all falls apart, and they overeat for dinner and keep snacking after.

That is not because there is something wrong with your will-power, it is because there is something missing in your meal-choices.

We tend to think of a salad as a plate full of head-lettuce with tomatoes and cucumber, some protein and maybe a few other goodies. But it is mostly green stuff that needs a lot of dressing to be interesting. When I say salad I mean something entirely different. There needs to be “oomph” to it. In the online program there are more than 200 recipes with yum-factor and oomph.

It might be healthy, but is it satisfying?

And don’t get me wrong. I love green stuff, but I mix it in with ingredients that give me more substance; something to chew on and something to keep me full for longer. In my new book “EAT TO FEEL FULL, and nourish yourself for good” I talk about how you can choose food that helps you curb your hunger and master your appetite. It is a book for people who are tired of eating to lose weight and instead want to eat to feel better. For those who want to stop the struggle with food-cravings and start feeling satisfied from meals. To eat for self-care instead of feeling like it is a punishment to eat, because of wanting to get healthy and lose weight. Eating is nourishment, we just have to learn how.

Essentially we need to eat more

When we want to lose weight we automatically think we have to eat less. We eat smaller meals, we eat salad, and we try to be “good” all day. Basically we end up triggering our survival instincts that have us believe we are starving because there is not enough food around, only to then overeat when it is finally there. It is NOT you being weak, it is your body trying to save you.

So first you need to make friends with your body because it is your own very basic operating system that is simply trying to save you. Gaining weight is you and your body being out of tune with each other. You guys need to start communicating! It is a relationship like any other. You need to learn your body’s language.

Re-organizing when we eat so we get the fuel during the day is the first step. In my book, in the online program and also in my personal consultations, I talk about how our daily rhythm needs to support us to perform all day. We need to eat more during the day and less at night.

The next challenge is to eat not only to feel full, but also to feel satisfied from what we eat. Learning to recognize our fullness and our hunger is essential to learning how to eat. And yes, we need to learn how to eat, -mindfully. 

The secret ingredients to feeling full and nourished.

We need to choose food differently. Most choose their food based on calories because that is what dieting has taught us. We need to choose food based on nutrients, because nutrient dense foods are more satisfying, which essentially helps you feel full and nourish, and of course also healthier, and… eat less overall!

Fiber and fat are two of the essential ingredients in feeling full and nourished. We get fiber from wholegrain, vegetables, and legumes. We get fat from plant-based foods like avocado, nuts, seeds, and oils, but also from animal-based foods, such as eggs, fish and meat. The thing is; we need to balance the plate. More is not better when it comes to animal-based fats.

Both the book and the online program teaches a lot more about your different options when it comes to adding fiber rich foods and how to choose the best for you fat and protein, and also how to balance your meals, how to choose, and how to change the habits that often get you stuck in the old ways.