Or carb-limited, because let’s face it, I have to eat carbs because what if I die tomorrow? I don’t ever want to die on a day I didn’t eat carbs. Or dessert.

However, I’ve been really striving to maintain a healthy 80/20 food intake, with 80% of my food being nutritious, whole, and fresh, and 20% being guilt-free indulgence. Yesterday was more like 90/10 and I’m really pleased!

This mess was a whole bunch of rotting pineapple with cottage cheese, flax meal, pepitas, coconut, and granola. It was super tasty and exceptionally filling. I really didn’t even think about food again until 12:30, which is a MIRACLE for me. I’m usually ravenous around 11:15. Obviously, I need more cottage cheese in my life.

I’ve been trying to take my lunch breaks later in the day to make the afternoon shorter (mornings tend to fly by, the afternoon often drags), so I finally stopped to eat around 12:45.

A coworker commented upon seeing this that my food is “never normal.” I think I read so many food blogs that “normal” to me is really out of the realm of most people’s diets. But EWWW I would not want to eat the SAD (Standard American Diet) for the life of me. Most Americans think the lettuce and tomato on their burgers are a serving of vegetables, along with the mound of French fries next to it. Overly processed genetically-modified grains and fatty chemical-laden Big Ag meat does not a meal make!

I’m obviously not perfect, but the fact that folks in this country think a meal full of healthy fats, vegetables, plant-based protein, and overall nutritious goodness is abnormal is just terrible. I love to eat food that fuels this one single body I posess (you don’t get another one!), and I don’t want to fill it with junk that is going to make me fat, constipated, lethargic, and diseased.

But I digress. [Actually, I don't. I ran across this blog post yesterday and it got me all fired up. Yeah, why DON'T we have more pedestrian friendly cities??? Yeah, why don't we pay servers a real living wage rather than force everybody to wrack their brains to calculate what amounts to a mandatory "tip"??? Yeah, why can an 18-year-old go to WAR but he can't consume alcohol???? SO STUPID]

So, um, lunch?

I’m obviously NOT perfect – if you’ve followed me for any length of time, you know I love sweets. And carbs. And I indulge in fried foods and burgers and the like. But I’m aware that those meals do not provide my body with any nutrition, and I strive to avoid foods like those as much as possible.

Everything in moderation. Especially caramelized bread pudding.

The afternoon sped along, and I was sucked into a project that didn’t spit me out until closing time. I literally forgot about 3:00 snack. Another perk of eating later in the day!

I was ravenous before heading out for yoga, though, so I chopped a quick snack for the road.

I returned to one of my three current yoga homes, The Yoga Mat, to stretch out my muscles that are STILL sore from skiing on Friday.

The class was SO GOOD. I am DEFINITELY getting stronger out here from all the tough yoga I’ve been attempting. Guess who finally managed tripod headstand???? Woop woop!

I’m so, so, so beyond words glad that I’ve fallen as deeply in love with yoga as I have. Honestly, I don’t think anything has affected my adulthood as much as my practice, both physically and mentally, and I am thrilled to be in a city where the inherent athleticism of Denverites forces yoga teachers to constantly push the limits of their students with increasingly challenging flows. My abs are coming back!!!!!!!!!!!! (So shallow, but SO EXCITING!!!!)

Dinner was assembled at a friend’s house a little bit later.

Yes, it’s in a Pyrex. We keep it classy, yo.

I suppose this is my take on the traditional burger and fries. It was so good!!! I forgot how much I love parsnips! This was consumed with a few glasses of wine, and nothing else. All in all, a SOLID eating day. Go me!

Obviously, I’m no expert when it comes to food, and I only allow myself to write these vehement words from the platform of this little soapbox I call Girl Gone West. But I do feel very strongly about the modern and Western approach to food, so if I from time to time let it all out – don’t hate me.

What someone else chooses to fuel themselves with is ENTIRELY up to them. I 100% believe that individuals should have complete freedom of choice to dictate their lives how they see fit. This is just how I choose to live, and it’s obnoxious to me when other people feel the need to comment about my food, because it’s generally in a not-so-accepting way.

To each his own.

Otherwise, life is good.

Peace out! xoxo