Food is Fuel and my Nutritionist is Fine-Tuning

 I’ve always known that food is fuel. It doesn’t matter how much you work out, if you’re not fueled properly, I’m filling up your engine with the right nutrients, namely, premium at the gas station, you will not only feel the adverse effects of bad ingredients, and not enough nutrition, but as I always say, “garbage in, garbage out.”

So, this morning, after my nutritionist gave me a new protocol to follow, including what to eat, and what time to eat it based on my lifestyle, I was able to sit down for a moment in peace and quiet, and create a shopping list.

I’m lucky that I don’t live far from Whole Foods, which has a lot of these healthy, holistic foods with natural ingredients. These foods are not the cheapest, I will say, but over the long-haul, I think it will save me in doctors bills, especially since I have an auto immune disorder, MS.

What I really loved about the protocol, was that it started with my day starting at 3:30 AM when I wake up. I was instructed to have two scoops of collagen protein (although I was told to switch from sports research to. Vital proteins, which has vitamin C to help the absorption of the collagen. When I order from Amazon, I usually look at reviews to see what other people think of the flavor. I never really looked before for reviews from nutritionist to see how good the foods were, or how they can interact with medication you take, or your particular chronic illness. I think having a professional. analyze what you’re eating and come up with recommendations for you personally is the best way.

When I called my insurance company, I found nutritionists that were just that, nutritionists. Not a nutritionist who understood or would research the effects of food on MS.  I think I’ve got the best of both worlds now.

Today I will be taking my list to Whole Foods, to see what foods I can add to my inventory, to have food ready to grab. I think the biggest thing for me is having foods that are readily available that I do not have to prepare much or cook. I know for a while now that I will have to have cut up vegetables ready in the refrigerator because to prepare them takes a long time and then I’m too tired to even bother cooking them.

I have to ask her what the substitution for sweet potatoes is because they are super easy to just throw in the air fryer for the time 360 for half an hour. Just poke a few for Kohl’s in them, no olive oil necessary and I save them for the week. I just grab and go in the morning With the hard boiled egg. One thing she did say was to throw away the yolk and just have the egg white, two of them actually. I will be trying that today. Actually, I might be making my egg white bites again in the air fryer 360 for 17 minutes and I can add some spinach to it. My son, seven years old, even likes them. He’s not a big fan of the yolk except if it’s scrambled in the egg. Maybe he’s onto something.

She said also, to bake my apples, and of course, the air fryer is a savior for me, making it really easy and not having to deal with heat from an oven. MS and he do not mix by the way.

She did mention that I could try the flavors of Lara bars, because they are a data based product though, they are just too sweet for my taste. Hard to believe considering I used to be a huge sugar addict. I could just open my mouth and pour down my throat. Since I haven’t eaten it in a while, I prefer to do without it. It’s a good thing, because cane sugar just slows you down.

I’m really looking forward to trying the recipe with coconut flour and almond flour that I can make in my air fryer. They are muffins that I can have on hand. If it comes out well, I will definitely share my recipe next week with any personal touches that I have made.

One thing that I am looking forward to getting is an avocado oil spray that I can use to oil the pan up when I sauté some thing. I usually use olive oil, and I know that avocado oil has a much lower heat tolerance, but it’s some thing that I wanted to try for a while.

It’s so good to be given permission to eat foods, especially when you want to lose, fat, and gain muscle. I know that my caloric intake has gone up, but I am still losing fat. I’m not focused so much on the numbers anymore because my clothes are just fitting better so who cares if the number goes up.

As long as I stay within, my normal ranges for my height, 5’9”.

Well, it’s 4:55 AM, time to head off and try out my first pre-workout meal. This morning I am on two Matcha energy bites, and two scoops of protein powder. Here goes nothing!