Nutrition is obviously a hot topic these days, with everyone touting gluten free this and sugar free that.  Basically if you read enough on the internet, everything is going to kill you.  Here’s a bit of a hint – everything IS going to kill you eventually.  Really what you want to focus on is staving off the effects for as long as you possibly can and not letting yourself develop a chronic degenerative disease that might make it happen sooner.  My grandmother recently turned 100 years old, and still puts salt on things, eats butter and has two sugar cubes in her instant decaf coffee every day plus a hit of sherry once in a while.  I also share a Coke with her once a year.  She also lives an incredibly stress free lifestyle, which I think is one of the major contributors to degenerative disease today – but I digress.

While at the store this morning I thought I might post about exactly what I shop for and why, and hope that it might give you some insight into what a “fitness person” eats.  So here’s what was in my grocery cart this morning, which is pretty typical of 90% of our food intake:

Apples                  Tomatoes            Bananas               Cheese

Grapes                 Cucumber           Green Beans      Whole Wheat Wraps

Broccoli                                Strawberries      Kale                       Lactose Free Milk

Greek Yogurt     Brussels Sprouts               Oranges               Brown Rice

Peppers               Sweet Potatoes                Peppermint Tea

Tofu (we feed this to our daughter for fat and protein – and she loves it – yes, I know about soy)

Cheerios (my daughter also loves these as a treat but I eat them too for breakfast sometimes)

Total Cost:  $53 (at our local FreshCo) for enough to cover us for about four to five days.  We typically spend about $80 per week on groceries.

We get our meat from a local butcher because it is better quality – I rarely buy meat from the grocery store unless they are having a big sale on something in bulk.  Most of our meat is fish and chicken, but I also buy ground beef and sometimes a roast for convenience.  Once a week we do a slow cooker meal which covers us for 3-4 meals so it is easy for my wife to simply reheat if I am working late.

You might notice that there’s nothing from a box or that’s frozen.  This isn’t always the case – we buy frozen fish because it is cheaper and my butcher doesn’t carry it and we buy frozen peas because they are convenient and cheaper as well.  We don’t drink pop, or any juice.  I drink coffee that I sometimes make at home but I typically buy one from Tim Horton’s 5 days a week when I’m on my way to work.  I put cream and sugar in it because it tastes better that way.  If I want a snack I’ll eat fruit, yogurt or banana chips from Bulk Barn since I’m allergic to nuts and can’t eat those.  My post long run recovery drink is chocolate milk and sometimes my wife puts it in her coffee at home.

Here’s another shocker – I don’t take supplements.  No protein shakes, no BCAA’s, nothing beyond a simple Vitamin C to help reduce the risk of illness.  I found through trial and error that protein powders don’t make my system happy and the added juice and sugar add up to a ton as well.  Not that this is necessary, but I made a decision a while ago to basically cut back on anything artificial or that has chemicals in it, which any protein powder does.  And you can tell me until you’re blue in the face how yours comes from 100% natural ingredients, but the truth is, your powder still got made in a factory with 20 others that are simply boxed and shipped to other companies and there are still fillers and additives in it.  So basically I get 80% of my nutrition from real food, and the other 20% is the occasional 1-2 times a week I grab something when I’m out.  About once every other week my wife and I order in Thai food like normal people.  I follow the 80/20 rule – if you do the right thing 80% of the time it likely makes up for the 20% that you don’t.

I also have a ten month old at home – we feed her pretty much the same stuff that we eat at this point because she loves to feed herself and imitate Mom and Dad.  She loves beans, broccoli, cauliflower, peas, tofu, brown rice pasta, and especially strawberries.  For breakfast we often make her toast with almond butter and she loves it.  She has been exposed to pretty much everything (all fish, nuts, major allergens except for honey) and has no food allergies.  She doesn’t like too much animal protein because of the texture at this stage, but she will eat fish and chicken if we hide it or if she’s hungry enough.

So there you have it – the grocery and eating habits of a not perfect personal trainer and a regular human being.  I know that nutrition is a personal choice for many people so if you want to comment, that’s fine – I just might not listen.  I’ve spoken about nutrition before, and lots of people either over complicate it or simply don’t manage their time well.  They hit the snooze button 3 times and skip breakfast.  They don’t bother making lunch at home and spend hundreds a month eating out – which also leads to unhealthy choices.  Instead of whipping something up that’s healthy and easy at home (which you can easily do in 15 minutes) they stop and pick up something packaged or fast food.  Always remember – this is a choice.  If you choose to do that, then fine, but don’t complain about it.  It is really easy to make a simple change and manage your life and time better so you can live longer and feel better.  If you’re going to make a change, don’t make it for 6 weeks or a “90 day challenge” – make it for the rest of your life and commit already.

I hope it helped – feel free to comment, subscribe and share!