Does anyone else find food really, really confusing?
I’ve counted and analysed every mouthful of food I’ve consumed for my whole life and I’m still confused as all hell.
When I was having trouble shifting weight earlier this year my trainer at the gym said ‘What are your macros like?’
I said ‘What the actual fuck are you talking about?’
I’ll be honest here, I don’t hate counting calories and making sure I’m getting all the right stuff in my diet. I don’t count calories all the time (because oh my god I WANT TO LIVE!!!) but every now and then I’ll track what I’m eating for week and then I re-discover all this excellent information I chose to forget. Like Magnums have about 5 hours at the gym worth of fat and sugar in them. And while almonds are an excellent form of good fat they stop being excellent once you’ve had about ten.
After years and years and self experimentation and some recent success shifting weight I’ve embraced the notion that fat is not the enemy (THANKS 1980s for creating the fat fear, you giant dicks) and I’ve come up with this amazing and totally fool proof equation to make sure every meal I eat is giving me the good stuff. Here it is.
Green + protein + fat
That’s it. I make sure I have those three things in every meal and I’m totally good to go. Here are a few staples. I’ll often add extra veggies and things if I’ve got stuff on hand but the base of the meal is always those three things.
Caesar Salad
Green + protein + fat
Cos lettuce + chicken + egg/mayo
Lazy Lunch Salad
Green + protein + fat
Baby spinach + tin of salmon + avocado
Fish and greens
Green + protein + fat
Baked broccoli + grilled fish + goats cheese
Chicken Satay
Green + protein + fat
Zoodles + chicken sticks + peanut sauce
Taco bowls
Green + protein + fat
Salad leaves + beef mince + sour cream
I don’t find I need a lot of carbs in my life but if you need carbs you can totally add a cup of brown rice or whack a salad on a grainy bread roll and bob’s your uncle. Even a handful of roasted sweet potato would be ace.
Best Ever Caesar Salad Recipe (serves 2)
What you need
400gms chicken thigh fillets, cut into small pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 x hard boiled eggs, peeled and cut in half
1/2 an avocado, sliced
6 x anchovies, finely sliced
1 small cos lettuce, shredded
2 tablespoons of whole egg mayonnaise
2 tablespoons of shaved parmesan cheese
What you do
1. Heat oil in fry pan and cook chicken for about 5 mins until it’s brown on all sides and not pink in the middle.
2. Chuck all ingredients in a bowl, add the cooked chicken and bam! Perfect dinner.
This has become a hard core staple in our house and an excellent lazy dinner option. I’ll often add tomato and cucumber if I have it lying around but a mate of mine told me this a caesar salad travesty and tomato has no place in a traditional caesar salad. So… tomato is optional.
The formula is such a great guide, I use it for every meal. It makes cooking and ordering super easy, I just make sure everything I eat fits the formula. It’s also great for making sure every meal I eat is created on a base green stuff. Ace.
Do you have a basic formula you follow for most meals? Or a standard thing you eat at particular times of day?
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24 Comments
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I like this. I suck at counting calories. I get so frustrated with the weighing and measuring and looking up and logging in that I usually bail after about 3 days. So… the “greens” part — can that also be “orange” (carrots or squash) or “white” (cauliflower or turnips), or is the leafiness somehow a key? And if your answer is nope, must be leafy greens, are the oranges and whites and purples just… added vitamins?
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Author
It has to be greens. I can add as much other veg as I like but the greens are mandatory. So yeah oranges, whites and purples are added vitamins. Green veg is the most important. 🙂
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I did the macro thing for a while when I was doing a 10 week challenge at the gym – omg, so much weighing of food. My whole life revolved around food prep – too hard basket.
I’m currently on one of those food delivered diets, which is great because I don’t have do any prep or shopping myself, and doing the long distance thing means this is a good opportunity to do it because it’s just me.
This is a good formula to remember! I probably follow something fairly similar when I’m doing my own thing, except at breakfast time where it’s usually muesli and yoghurt – so that’s generally where I put my carbs. What are your breakfasts like?
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If I lived alone I’d totally do good deliveries. They’re great. For breakfast I do spinach, eggs and goats cheese almost every morning. It’s sometimes in different forms but the base ingredients are the same.
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I base pretty much all my meals around either rice or noodles – my partner is big into carbs (he spends his workday on his feet and being very active – so he’s all about the protein + carbs equation). I’ve learned to make a LOT of awesome Asian inspired dishes because of this.
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My partner used to be into carbs but he went LCHF this year and hasn’t looked back. It works so well for both of us. Although, I’ll break it every few months for some dumplings. I freaking love dumplings.
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I love how you’ve totally simplified your eating program to make it much less onerous. Very well done. PS: How awesome is salad after quitting sugar!! It’s a total revelation. Every crunchy mouthful is a bomb of divine deliciousness!!
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I’ve been salad for ages – the added fat is my new favourite thing. I don’t need to add sugary sauces to meals anymore because meat cooked in fat is AMAZING!!!
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I don’t understand all that macro stuff and I don’t feel like I have the brain space to want to know about it. I have been struggling with food for a while and my mood and weight are showing the effects of it. This is such a simple way to eat, totally doable and still yum. Thanks for the ideas.
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You’re welcome! I might pop together an eating guide – it’s been working so well for me.
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That would be excellent !
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Thank you for this formula, Carly! I’m excited to try the recipe since I need to lose some weight as it is. I’m almost 100 pounds over-weight and I want the extra weight gone. I’ve wanted gone for years, actually. lol
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It’s such a battle isn’t it? Definitely give a higher fat lower carb diet a try, it’s working wonders for me.
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Ahhhhh music to my ears! I’ve spent the last 3 weeks over-analyzing macros, meal plans, shred programs, meal deliveries and everything else under the sun!!! All I got was confused + analysis paralysis. This has given me all I need to know in one succinct statement. Thank you thank you!!!
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You’re welcome! It’s not really as complicated as everyone tries to make out. I know all there is to know about food and different things work for different people BUT high veg is always a winner.
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This is such good info. I am contemplating going LCHF cause I need to shift weight and as much as I love carbs they don’t love me back but damn it is hard. These meal ideas sound good. Would love to know what other LCHF friendly meals get eaten. Breakfast is the one meal where I want ALL the grains.
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Hey Michelle
I eat omelettes or frittatas for breakfast (eggs, veggies, feta/cheese) or smoothies (almond milk, banana/berries, whey protein powder, kale/spinach) or chia puddings (almond/coconut milk, 1/4 c chia seeds, 1 T peanut butter and berries) -
Carbs are not my friend and haven’t been pretty much ever. I eat protein bread from the protein bread company with avocado and an egg, boiled eggs on wilted spinach with goats cheese, spinach and goats milk omelettes, coconut milk and protein powder green smoothie.
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Oh God I WANT that caesar salad in my belly right NOW! but not happening today. I will make some boiled eggs though.
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It’s SO GOOD!
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You are wonderful for sharing. Any advice bring it on x
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You’re welcome! I’m thinking about doing a little meal guide soon.
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Carly it looks like there is bacon or pancetta in your photo, but not listed in your recipe?
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Oh yeah I don’t usually put bacon in it but I had some left over so I chucked it in. Bacon optional.
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