If I time traveled back to about 3 years ago and posted a full day of food, you guys would laugh. And then cry. And so would I! Maybe because the entire day would show nothing but bagels, cereal, pasta, and ice cream. Not joking or exaggerating at all! Okay fine, I think I threw some turkey sausage and broccoli in with the pasta if it was a good day. Covered with cheese of course.
Too bad I don’t have any food pictures from back then, you’ll just have to take my word for it. Today as I go through my meals and snacks for WIAW, I’m going to reminisce and compare what I ate to what you would’ve seen three years ago. True. Flipping. Story. No doubt.
And, just to be straight with you, I’m doing the comparing just to illustrate that BIG changes can be made to one’s diet/lifestyle. And that there was a time when I was HIGHLY addicted to sugar and refined carbs, and also avoidant of fat.
It must go back to my rule following days of the 90’s, when we were all told it was unhealthy and wasteful to eat fat. Did anyone else believe the hype that fat wouldn’t fill you up? So odd. It really is the ONLY thing that truly fills me up now.
WIAW It Wasn’t Always This Way! Pre Paleo Versus Now
Nowadays, this is a typical breakfast. This is my plantain, bacon, and kale skillet with a fried egg on top. 3 years ago, I ate one of two breakfasts: Either a high fiber cereal (Kashi usually) with a banana, honey, and almond milk, OR an egg white omelette (yikes!) with spinach and fat free cheese, plus 2 pieces of whole grain toast with fake butter.
I CAN’T BELIEVE I EVER COULD NOT BELIEVE IT WASN’T BUTTER.
Dude, where’s my Splenda?! Thankfully, it’s gone for good. I used to drink my coffee with either almond milk or Lactaid skim milk with a whole lot of Splenda. I didn’t add sugar because I knew sugar wouldn’t be sweet enough for me! Insane! Now it’s just coconut cream or milk with a little maple and vanilla if I flavor it.
Fat and (natural) sugar is a mid morning snack that works for me now. And why not dip fat in fat? It’s awesome. These pecans and dates with almond butter are a big step up from my used-to-be-mid-morning “snack” of a large diet soda. Diet cherry coke or something similar.
This “salad” for lunch is not what I used to eat at all. Spinach, sweet plantains fried in bacon fat, a grass fed burger topped with mayo-based buffalo ranch sauce (recipe coming soon) and olives. My salads used to consist of that gross-to-me-now precooked chicken on top of lots of greens with some sort of fat free dressing, and fat free cheese. Blech. Followed by another diet soda. Double blech.
And, since what I used to eat up until this point in the day added up to basically fiber, egg whites, and chemicals, by the time my “afternoon snack” rolled around I was starving and ate either handfuls of pretzels with hummus or a couple of bowls of cereal similar to the morning one. Or honestly, a huge bagel that we always had around from our local store. Of the entire day, that’s probably the one food I miss!
Now, a protein and fat heavy snack works really well to get me until dinner time. This is just half an avocado with a fried egg on top, plus salt.
Don’t be alarmed at how many plantains I ate – typically some sweet potatoes are thrown in there but I had run out after a day too long without grocery shopping.
Anyway, dinners 3 years ago were usually pasta with a small amount of chicken, turkey sausage or meatballs sometimes, lots of veggies, either a butter sauce (maybe fake butter?) or tomato sauce and lots of fat free cheese of some sort. I know I used to make burgers (with buns, of course) but can’t remember what we ate with them. Maybe store bought chips? Amazing how much is forgotten!
This dinner was spicy Italian sausage plus plantains and kale chips both roasted in olive oil and salt. I would’ve never used/consumed this much fat in one meal back then – I was all about carbs and cooking spray.
Now, my desserts are almost always fruit and dark chocolate (this is Lindt 90% which I’m digging lately) but 3 years ago, Adam and I used to get out separate cartons of ice cream (cookie dough or pb cup) after the kids went to sleep plus a jar of peanut butter and spoons, and eat a whole lot of all of it. Had to get my fat somehow, I guess! Although the ice cream was low fat, lol 🙂 Now that I’m thinking about it’s pretty obvious why my stomach was a wreck all the time.
Would your WIAW have been different 3 years ago? What changed?
Were you ever a diet soda addict like me?
Did you do Splenda? Avoid fat?
I definitely avoided fat for a long time and was on the sugar-free bandwagon as well. I think it was more like 5 years ago that I made some big changes, although i do find my eating habits change slightly year to year. I did a post once comparing what i eat now to what I ate 10 years ago and that was really shocking!
It’s true that even year to year things change even though we don’t realize. I definitely eat more potatoes and carbs overall now and definitely more chocolate and other treats than I did a year or two years ago. Of course baking for the blog might explain the chocolate, but then again maybe it’s the other way around 🙂
I like these kinds of posts! I did one like this last year ? or gosh, the year before? a then and now – I had found an email survey in my aol email that I filled out in the year 2000 with my favorite foods. I was eating frozen yogurt for lunch and often for dinner. of course I still choose red mango parfaits for lunch sometimes now but that’s a far cry from the every day trip to yogurt and such for a swirl lol. and I don’t eat eddy’s frozen yogurt for dinner anymore. ha. 3 years ago though I ate like I eat now, I think. time is a blur!
I used to live off of edy’s slow churned ice cream and peanut butter I think, because everything else I ate was fiber and chemicals lol. I cringe at those salad dressings and that chicken! That ice cream was pretty good though 🙂
It took me forever to not fear the fat. After years of fat free being drilled into us it was a hard mindset to break. Better late than never right.
Yes! And you’re so right – it was drilled into us for decades. Feels so good to do what feels right finally!
I am curious to know how your body handled the transition between mostly carbs to mostly protein and fat? How did it affect your running? Temporary? Long term changes?
The transition was really nothing but positive actually! I think finding my staples and favorite foods took a couple of months, but other than that I felt a whole lot better right away. I can’t say my running was affected in any way, although now I’m running less/slower I did run very close to my PR in the marathon while eating a mostly Whole30 diet in 2014. I started Paleo while injured (Oct 2013) so there was only improvement to be made at the time.
In hindsight, pre-paleo I was really depriving myself of calories and fat for much of my day, only to try to catch up later on. I feel so much better eating substantial meals and snacks now!
While my cureent diet looks la lot more like your previous diet (but switch out the caffeine for hot tea or something of the like, and none of that chees that is laregly, as we all konw, because my body doesn’t really process fats properly (dairy fats especially). e), I can say that I haget a lot more fat in by way of nuts than I don’t fear the fat, I just know my limit. I’m glad tha tyou found what works for you! you used to do.
I used to go wild for fat free cheese, or really fat free anything because I thought fat bothered my stomach! Couldn’t be further from the truth now, so crazy.
I love this! You know I think we need to be sharing more of these things with our readers. Three years ago I was doing what I’m doing now but go back six or seven years ago and I was living off of pizza, fat free salads and I don’t even think I ate breakfast. It’s crazy how much life can change!
Agree, sometimes I forget how drastically different things were and if people come to our blogs now, it’s easy to assume we’ve been this way forever! And yes, I went through years as a teen with no breakfast at all, crazy!
Ah the fat-free craze days! I was all about the fat-free yogurts, butter sprays, etc. Bleh!
Eek to butter sprays, I used them constantly!
I think my diet 3 years ago was pretty similar to what it is now, BUT go back further than that and I was basically living off processed food and wouldn’t touch any veggies. Oh, and KD was basically the only thing I could cook 😆
And oh the things you cook now, lol! It’s amazing and awesome how things have changed!
Before celiac I ate still ate relatively healthy, but my ideas of “healthy food” were so misconstrued! I definitely loaded up on that high fiber or high protein Kashi cereal. And Special K. Oh boy. We ate low fat PB too, which kills me now.
Yup all of the above. The kashi was making me so sick and uncomfortable and I had no clue! I always read to eat more fiber so I thought the more the better. Plus, every doctor I went to with my IBS said small low fat meals with high fiber! Insane!
Great post!! I definitely hopped on the lowfat trend for a while and am so glad I am over that now!! Healthy fat keeps me full and satisfied these days!
Yup, no going back!
It’s crazy how our mind set changes! I used to ONLY drink skim milk because I thought it was better for me or whatever, and now, mostly because we have a toddler, we only buy whole milk and I can’t imagine going back. Plus, it’s not even that much more calories! Plus ten times more delicious.
Yup fat free milk – lactaid brand for me 🙂 Funny that my kids’ doctor still tells me to give them skim, of course she probably wouldn’t be thrilled to hear what they actually eat, it’s annoying that the medical field is stuck in the past!
I really enjoyed this post – it makes me feel not so guilty for some of my past food choices. I used to eat a WHOLE LOT of fat free greek yogurt. While it may work for some and while I ate it because I thought it was good for me, it was only inflaming my gut and inflaming my skin. I also ate a lot of FODMAP-loaded fruit, which only served to completely wreak havoc on my gut even more. Now I avoid dairy, FODMAPs, and gluten and feel a million times better. Thanks so much for this post.
I never loved that fat free yogurt but ate my share of it anyway thinking it was so healthy. And forget about the high FODMAP fruit! I ate at least one apple a day and thought it was supposed to help, not hurt my stomach. So glad you’re feeling tons better!
My WIAW would have been very different then and is still evolving now. I used to go a lot heavier on the pcoressed and fat free foods as well, even low fat peanut butter which is so gross to me now. And I NEVER ate whole eggs which I now love. As I discover more intolerances and figure out what’s healthy for me though, my dinners have remained the same – I always liked to have a large portion of protein like chicken or fish, and lots of veggies, and potatoes. The difference with that is that I’ve started to eated duck, pork, and even bison now whereas I used to only do fish and poultry. Don’t think I’m going back …
That’s great that you’re still making changes and branching out even more! I love bison and all of the above, yum!
This is really interesting! I have to say that I ate pretty similarly a few years ago in high school, but I definitely eat WAY more now than I used to, and much more fat (all the nut butters!!!!). I’m so mad that the “fat-free” thing was such an accepted idea for so long. Now I can’t get enough avocado, egg yolk, and nut butter. I was never into the sugar-free thing because my parents were so against it – they had a friend who had a Diet Coke addiction that led to extreme health problems before he quit (and recovered!).
I think you’re lucky to come to “real” eating at a younger age – I feel like I grew up in sugar free fat free hell lol! The diet coke thing is real, I can’t even go down the aisle now without getting a little nauseous, thank goodness that’s over!
That’s how my eating was about 5 years ago. Crazy how healthy I thought I was back then!
I feel like we all went through such similar things, the whole fat-free era brainwashed us!
Mets fan <3
YES my eating has changed! Well I guess not much, but I eat so much more now!
Splenda kills people…it really is a poison! I saw something I bought had sucrolose in it…and threw it out :O I actually threw away food…It was terrible!
More is better, lol! Very true though 🙂 Splenda really is so bad and I remember when it first came out people just went wild over it – we had huge things of it in my house! Very happy to leave it in the past.
Hi everyone, Michele’s story from 3 years ago is me yesterday. Today I made Michele’s kale egg bacon and plantains and ohhhhh so good!!!! I never buy real bacon or meat. I’ve always stayed away from fat. It was satisfying this morning to eat bacon and not turkey bacon!!! My husband loved it too. He even took a picture he was so impressed this morning :). I have a kick for Diet Coke too. I always have it with lunch. I love drinking water but sometimes I need another taste.
I’m so glad you liked the recipe! It’s easy and yes, eating real bacon is pretty amazing! So happy to be able to help!
Thank you for posting this! I have been through different GI issue diets due to many years of deprivation and low fat/non fat etc. LOW FODMAP, Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Carb specific Diet were ones I have tried and I have found that Paleo has been the best. I also competed in bodybuilding Bikini, and diets get very extreme. I am now getting back to a normal and love your recipes! I am going to try some! How could you go wrong with japanese sweet potato fries with coconut oil (yumm!!!) Thank you for sharing, it helps to know that others enjoy “healthy” food and don’t feel deprived!!
Happy Wednesday everyone
Those Japanese sweet potatoes are my favorite, LOVE them! And so glad you’re enjoying the blog/recipes. Paleo and being mindful of FODMAPs definitely helps so much.
So interesting! I avoided fat too and w as always eating processed foods…no wonder i always had digestive issues and was alwas tired!
So many of us went through such similar experiences with this!
I could never avoid fat. Hard to believe that there was a point in my life when I did. I used the vegan butter spreads from Earth Balance, which I thought were healthy. Nope. Too much soy in those for me. I had to go back a little further than 3 years to find some really shocking things I ate. My college diet consisted of low fat everything. And some days I just lived off of slim fast and snackwells. Ugh! No wonder my body got so messed up. Thankfully, I’ve never liked diet soda (or any soda really). Gave up soda for Lent in 1998 and have never had any since.
I feel exactly the same about fat now, it’s crazy. I think it’s almost part of our generation to have been impacted eating snack wells and all the other junk from the low fat era.
Wow, your eats have changed a lot, and honestly I just love coming here and seeing your big bowls of eggs and potato hash and yummy paleo desserts. Isn’t it amazing how our diets change over time?
Mine basically changed from one day to the next, lol! But it worked and there’s no going back 🙂
Wow, this one really hits home for me. I was the queen of 0 calorie sweeteners, diet soda, and egg whites. Oh and super processed protein powders with every meal. Blegh blegh blegh. It actually makes my stomach hurt to think about it and all the damage I did to my digestive system, Thank you so much for creating this comparison and creating awareness for the misinformed way that many people try to “be healthy”. PS I’d love to know how you make your plantains…have them all the time when I spend summers in Panama but I’d love to incorporate them into my life in the US too!!
Glad you can relate to this and happy you’ve also made changes! And plantains are one of my favorite things, and I never tried them before paleo – so easy too and quick!
This is a great post and so inspiring! I’m looking to make some drastic changes to my diet as it’s currently not good. I find myself to be so addicted to sugar and refined carbohydrates and wondering if you can share how you handled cravings at the beginning and shed some light on what was that process like for you when you started. That is if you had cravings for sugary foods, etc. I start my day always wanting to eat better but by the time 2pm comes i’m eating all the sugar and refined carbohydrates that I can get my hands on or go buy. Any insight into this would be helpful.
I definitely had cravings in the beginning so I can follow up with a post around that issue. I think I must have written about it early on but it’s buried in the archives! One quick tip is that more fat and protein in the afternoon tends to help with cravings of all kinds. Sugar cravings tend to mean we’re depriving ourselves earlier on in the day, or overall.
I used to eat this low-carb low-calorie bread that probably more resembled a yoga mat than actual bread – and used a lot of cooking spray also, gross! Now if I eat bread it’s whole grain (using not just wheat flour but other grains as well) and preferably homemade – no preservatives or sugars. Fat is definitely a big part of my diet and I started adding it in probably four years ago. I haven’t had soda or Kashi (because of the soy) in years now. It’s funny to see how things change as we mature and learn more about food!
The cooking spray was kind of nuts, like hair spray now that I think of it! I definitely think Kashi advertising brainwashed me and now when I look at the ingredients I’m shocked at how much junk is in there.
I always had a pretty good diet, however, just before I was diagnosed with coeliac disease (coming on 5 years ago now!) my diet was HORRENDOUS! I was so sick that I didn’t want to eat anything, however, I knew that I had to eat something so I would literally only eat plain bread/crackers (that worked for the nausea side of things – though we laugh now that I was pretty much eating gluten in its purest form) and chocolate. The chocolate was only there because I knew it would give me a sugar hit to make me feel like I had some form of energy.
Before I started cooking for myself though I definitely would have eaten lots of low fat things because that’s what my family bought (and still often buy!). I just can’t seem to get it through to them that quality fats won’t make you fat!
I know, it’s really hard to explain to people that fat doesn’t make you fat! And I’ve also thought that about the time when my stomach was a mess and I’d eat plain toast and bagels, it wasn’t helping and was hurting me more!
Love this comparison!
Did you find that it took time for your body to transition to a might more high fat/high cal diet, or were you able to adapt as soon as you switch your eating habits?
I would say by the end of the first month I felt very normal eating paleo and there was no way I was going back. It might have even been 2 weeks in! I think it was probably exactly what my body needed and it responded really well.
I swear Spendla and I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter should be banned from the supermarket shelves. Blech.
I’d say you’re changes are definitely for the better. 🙂
Haha I totally agree!