Lightweight Eats

Dan and I eat a really healthy diet: we eat almost entirely whole foods, and the few packaged foods we do buy are very carefully selected. While are there some changes I'm looking to make, like switching to all organic dairy and reducing dairy consumption in general, I'm really pretty happy with our diet.

Because we don't have a car, we are forced to do most of our shopping at the local farmer's market. (I know, rough life.) This means the bulk of our food purchases are locally grown, pesticide free, in-season, incredibly fresh fruits and vegetables. We also eat a lot of whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds.

On a weekly basis, we usually eat:
- 1 gallon of organic milk
- 16oz. plain, organic yogurt
- 1/3 pound of cheese (transitioning to organic)
- 4-6 organic, cage-free eggs
- 2-3 cans worth of beans
- 3-4 blocks of tofu
- a million vegetables (10-15 servings/day?)
- half a million pieces of fruit (5-7 servings/day?)
- 2 boxes of cereal/granola
- 1 box crackers or other snack food
- some type of dessert (bar of chocolate, pint of ice cream, cookies, etc)
- loaf of bread
- 2-3 servings/day of additional grains (quinoa, rice, pasta, etc.)
- 8-12 ounces of nuts and nut butters
- lots of condiments (salad dressing, teriyaki sauce, hot sauce, olive oil etc.)
- 3-4 protein bars (e.g. ClifBars)

A lot of our diet is motivated by health concerns. Having read Food Revolution by John Robbins and On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee, I'm thoroughly convinced that food plays a huge role in health and well-being, especially cancer. (Cancer is an incredibly scary disease.)

Performance is another huge motivating factor for me. When I eat well, I feel leaner, stronger and more energized. I love feeling powerful and physically capable. So when I read Racing Weight by Matt Fitzgerald and he suggested some dietary supplements, I decided to give it a go.



I was already taking a women's multivitamin on a somewhat regular basis. My multivitamin has vitamins A, B1, B2, B6, B12, C, D, E, and K, plus niacin, folic acid, biotin, pantothenic acid, calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc, selenium, copper, manganese and chromium. I'm trying to get in the habit of taking this daily.

Fitzgerald also suggested a few new ones, and I've decided to try two of them: green tea extract and fish oil. Our host mom at the Canadian Henley was a doctor of natural medicine, and she supported the use of both of those supplements, particularly the fish oil. Both are supposed to help reduce body fat, plus they have anti-inflammatory properties, and anti-oxidants in the green tea extract. (Apparently green tea extracts are particularly effective at preventing breast cancer!)

While I don't expect any of these to miraculously make me leaner and faster, I'm hoping they make it a little bit easier for my body to handle low body fat levels and intense training over the next four years. At this point, a pound makes a huge difference!

Do you take any supplements? Let me know in the comments!