When I first started my yoga practice not only was I faced with the challenge of contorting my body in ways it was not meant to, or coming to grips with some semblance of spirituality; I had to listen to many people talk about how and what they eat. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that when some people commit to something, they will go at it 100% and vow to change they way that they do everything; a complete lifestyle overhaul, if you will.
B.Y. (Before Yoga) I had heard of vegetarians before, but not given them a second thought. I respect the choice of those who want to eat what they want and live they way they live. Upon entering the yoga community, this Midwest boy had never really heard of such things as vegans or gluten-free. Hell, up until about 2 years ago if you had shown me the word quinoa and asked me what it meant, I would have confidently told you that it was the name of a ruler from an Ancient Mayan tribe and hoped that you would have believed me.
What I found out about yoga is that I grew to appreciate and actually enjoy practicing for the most part, but that I am who I am and some things about me are just not going to change. One of the things about me that will most likely never change is my diet. When most people hear diet they think of changing the way they eat. When I hear “diet,” I think of what I eat overall – a way of life in regards to eating. For the sake of full disclosure, I have opted to give a sample of week in the life of the “Reluctant Yogi’s Diet.” For brevity’s sake, I will let you know that every morning for breakfast I usually have a protein bar and a glass of cranberry juice (if I’m on the way to work) or a bowl of cereal with fruit (if I have the day off). Occasionally I’ll through in a fresh fruit smoothie, but only if I have enough time.
MONDAY: Lunch – A salad with romaine lettuce, grilled chicken, tomatoes, sunflower seeds, raisins, shredded cheese, and bleu cheese dressing. Dinner – A Wagner favorite of brown beef and gravy over mashed potatoes served with green beans.
TUESDAY: Lunch – Garden burger from a local sandwich shop; topped with lettuce and tomatoes. Dinner – My famous taco salad, with very little emphasis on the salad part; but hey, I got my greens in! Ground beef and black beans with taco seasoning over tortilla chips and covered with cheese, salsa, sour cream, and of course romaine and arugula lettuce.
WEDNESDAY: Lunch – I had no lunch other than a few carrots to snack on with a glass of water. Why? Dinner – It’s pizza Wednesday as we call it in the Reluctant Yogi’s house! The wife works late, the kids are home, and frankly I do the cooking, so yeah it’s a break in the middle of the week. My pizza usually consists of the pepperoni variety, but I have been known to switch things up now and then.
THURSDAY: Lunch – Simple, boring, but I love it – black beans and rice. Dinner – Grilled City Chicken with BBQ sauce and asparagus. For those who don’t know what city chicken is, it is weirdly cubes of pork meat on a skewer.
As a side note, the origin of city chicken can be traced back to the early 1900’s when the Midwest working class would take the scraps from the chicken and form it into cubes, skewer it and cook it. It wasn’t until many years later that pork was used as a substitute because at the time it was cheaper and easier to make it from pork rather than chicken. The more you know…
FRIDAY: Lunch – Grilled chicken sandwich with lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise. Dinner – Went out with the family to a local restaurant and shared a serving of bacon cheddar fries for an appetizer. For my entrée I had a grilled chicken salad with romaine lettuce, tomato, and sunflower seeds with bleu cheese dressing.
SATURDAY: Lunch – Here is where the criticism will likely come in if it has not already. I had a burrito from a well known…ahhh forget it, you all know it’s Chipotle. Actually a burrito bowl. I found that getting a bowl and putting the tortilla shell in said bowl, you are able to fit more of that goodness in it. So I had white rice, black beans, tomato and corn salsa, sour cream and cheese. Dinner – Grilled chicken breasts and drumsticks over lime-cilantro rice with black beans and carrots.
SUNDAY: Lunch – Turkey sandwich on wheat bread with cole slaw and Russian dressing. Dinner – Left over chicken and rice from the evening before.
Before I begin to rant again, I must also mention a few things about my lifestyle in regards to my diet. I do not drink alcohol other than an occasional glass of wine or MAYBE a beer 2 or 3 times a year. I also do not drink coffee; can’t stand the taste of it and worse than that, cannot stand it when people try to bring coffee into a yoga studio, but that is a whole other blog on yoga etiquette. What do I drink? Water or iced tea. I have 1 “pop” (soda) per week and I will have a glass of skim milk every once in a while. I also only have a dessert once or twice a week. Trust me, this used to be a lot more!
Although it may sound critical as I put this in a blog, I do not care what you eat as long as you are happy. What I do not like is the yogi’s (among others) who try to force their way of life, inclusive of diet on others. I cannot tell you how many times I have heard a phrase along the lines of, “how can you eat that meat, do you know what they do to those animals?” Yes, of course I do. Do I like it? No. Do I wish it was different? Yes. Am I going to stop eating meat? No, and you know why? Because it’s delicious! For more information, I suggest you do a search on Jim Gaffigan’s views on vegetarianism. For starters, here is his funny take on the new fad of kale. Speaking of fads and going back to quinoa, I find it interesting that it has all of a sudden been tabbed as a super food. While quinoa certainly is a healthier alternative than wheat, corn, or rice it is not necessarily “good for you.” Admittedly I am a research fanatic and will research the death out of anything. To me the benefits of quinoa don’t necessarily justify me altering my diet. After all, I know what I like.
So why did I share a sample of my diet with you? I shared it because I am content with what I eat. To me my biggest struggle is not with what I eat, but with how much I eat. To me a true yogi is completely content with who they are and/or who they want to be. Some of you may read what I have eaten and said to yourself, “Mmmm that sounds good, I wish I had a hot hunk of man like that to cook me dinners like that.” I also suspect that there are some of you out there completely bashing my weekly diet saying such things as, “what a pig,” or “does he know all of the carbs and starches he eats?” The fact is, yes, yes I do. I have gone beyond counting calories and looking at every nutritional fact in everything I eat. Throughout that entire week, I neither gained a pound nor did I lose a pound. I did not get sick or constipated and my mood did not drastically alter. I felt good, I felt as if I feel I should. All of us should. We should simply strive to be comfortable within ourselves. After all, isn’t that most of what being a yogi is all about?
So after all of that, I leave you with a little healthy “food porn.” I thought of making a video loop of me drizzling sour cream over a burrito, but then thought that may be a little risqué. Instead, take a look at Food Porn Daily for some great healthy and not so healthy ideas. Enjoy and Namaste.
The Reluctant Yogi 