I Feel Good!

By Robin Heirs

I feel good…na, na, na, na…like I should…

I’ve been on an interesting nutrition journey this year, after leaving my job, I dropped about 15 lbs. just from not sitting on my rear 8 hours a day.

I always thought I had a pretty good nutrition plan and tried in most cases to eat clean (except for the occasional Mexican meal).

Taking a step back, growing up, I always had issues with my weight & as a result my self-esteem lacked. In my adulthood, I’ve been really active but my weight fluctuated over the years.

I never really did pay much attention to what my body really needed in terms of nutrition. Food=Nutrition…right?

As I said above my weight fluctuated (a lot!) and I just haven’t felt ~good~ in a while. I counted it towards menopause but I’m beginning to think it’s more from my nutritional choices.

After seeing what a small change can do after leaving my job, I built on it. I changed two things within my nutrition.

#1 I’ve paid very close attention to my consumption of protein, carbohydrates and fat. I work off the %’s of 40% protein, 40% carbohydrates and 20% fat. These percentages vary a little but this is what I aim for on a daily basis. I use the Lose It!App to track my nutrition, this app enables me to scan in the UPC labels which downloads all the nutritional values. I can see how my percentages are tracking throughout the day and if I need to add something to even out my totals I do. It also enables me to add my workouts too! These percent totals are from my personal training studies, based on my weight, age and fitness levels.

The one thing that has been SO difficult to get my percentage high enough is my consumption of protein. I thought I ate a lot of protein but not so much…gotta still work out the kinks on this one.

The other thing that I’ve changed in my nutrition, is my elimination of gluten. I’ve played around with eliminating gluten for years but did not fully understand why I needed to eliminate it until I totally went
without gluten for over a month. I am not going to go in to the ins and outs here. But, I can say without a doubt, that I haven’t felt this good in years. I slept well before but now I sleep like a baby. I’m less bloated. My skin looks amazing. Headaches are very rare. And the biggest thing is my attitude is 100%
better, I didn’t realize how bad I felt which played into my attitude but I’m not even sure I could be in a bad mood now J I thought I had energy before but I have endless energy now…can’t wait to the 2016 Tri season to see how I do.

I can say that eliminating gluten isn’t something you should play around with, gluten is important as it has folic acid…which is important for heart health. I take supplements and eat other folic rich foods (dark green veggies, lentils, etc) to substitute this deficit.

My point is: pay attention to your body. If something is ~off~, research why, ask questions, and be prepared to make life changing changes to feel better if necessary. What worked for me may not work for you. Going without gluten isn’t easy and it’s a REALLY good thing I’m not a bread/pasta
eater!

Good thing wine doesn’t have gluten!