How To Eat Enough
23 May 2012 4 Comments
Hey hey hey people!
Today I come to you with a readers request! I have been asked to explain how I build a fruit plate that is tasty and satisfying, as well as being calorically dense enough to sustain us life lovin’ kinda people.
As a Holistic Nutritionist, (plug plug, heehee) I am asked to make meal plans all the time. This is something that I assume I am going to be doing for the rest of my live long days. It is always an interesting process to work with people and to mess with their food. Most people do not like it very much, but I digress. Making meal plans for those following an 80/10/10 lifestyle (yes, lifestyle, this is no diet) is really quite easy for me. (want to learn more about 80/10/10? Check out the home of it all: http://foodnsport.com/) It is simple because I follow this way of eating, so I can just tell you to eat what I am eating, and also because I get to throw out all the little “rules” that they teach in school. Rules like having a “balanced” plate with a source of carbohydrate, a source of fat and a source of “protein” – which is generally just a glorified source of fat or carbohydrates. The other thing that I love about making 80/10/10 meal plans is that I get to add at the end “eat more if you feel like eating more.” Yes! No restriction, ever!!
Fist things first. You need to figure out how much you need to eat. I have seen formulas, such as this one: Take your ideal weight, multiply that by 20, and that is how many calories you should eat from fruits and veggies in a day. Then plan to burn at least half of those calories as physical activity.
Freelea and DurianRider of 30 Bananas A Day (check them out here: http://www.30bananasaday.com/) say minimum 2500-3000 cals for girls per day, and 3000-3500 for men, more if you are active or if you care to eat more. I like this idea better. The truth is, our bodies do NOT tend to store carbohydrates as fat. Every single cell in your body runs on glucose, including every cell in your brain! Also, the law of nutritional thermogenisis tells us that if we do happen to ingest “excess” carbohydrates, our bodies will burn them off as body heat, rather than storing them as fat.
The take home message? It is far more important for you to be concerned with getting ENOUGH food, than it is for you to be concerned about getting too much.
I tend to eat mostly fruit most days, and then will have a green meal once or twice a week. I also eat overt fats only once a week, and almost always comes in the form of durian.
I eat 2-3 meals a day. This means that almost all of my fruit plates are going to average around 1000 calories. That is my template. From there I just look at what I have in the house, decided if I want a mono or a mixed meal, and then go from there! This means what you should do is :
1) Figure out how many calories you want/need in a day
2) Figure out how many times you want to eat in a day
3) Divide your calories amongst your meals (This can be an even split or you are going to do around can have bigger meals with smaller snacks)
4) Decide what you are going to do about you 10% protein and 10% fat. This means figuring out how many calories of veggies and fatty foods you need to eat to meet this criterion. I recommend that you use cronometer to figure this out. —>http://cronometer.com/
5) Look at the fruits and veg that you have available to you that look good and start making meals!
Here are some examples of my plates;
Those babay mangoos make my life.
We have here 7 cups of mango, half a large papaya and an extra-large banana. This meal was around 998 calories.
I will never not get a kick out of eating ice cream for dinner.
This was 6 cups of mangoes, 3 cups of banana, 170 grams of black berries and 170 grams of raspberries. Totalling around 1150 cals.
Fruit pile
This was 5 cups of mango, 1/2 a large papaya, 2 cups of pineapple and a lovely dragon fruit. This came to 895 calories.
JACKFRUITTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!
This was a special meal! This was 3 cups jackfruit, 4 cups mango and 4 large bananas. It weighed in at 1350 calories of amazing.
I friggin live to eat dates.
Dates are one of my most favourite things to make meals out of. These little guy have around 16 calories each. I ate 48 of them with a papaya. It came in at around 850 calories.
Eye balls.
I LOVE longans. They are lower in calories, so I make sure to pare them with higher calorie fruits like bananas and mangos. This was 100 longans, 8 strawberry guavas, 1 papaya, 4 mangoes and a medium banana. It was 842 calories.
For my green meals, I like to make pasta;
So much on the fun side of things.
I love my pastas. This one had 4 cups of zucchini, the juice of one orange, lemon and lime, some dill, parsley and cilantro with about a cup of cherry tomatoes. It only had around 300 calories, so I was sure to eat my fill of fruit before I ate my pasta. You could also serve your pasta over greens!
As for the fat, once a week I have this;
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Durian.
I love durian at an embarrassing level.
This is what works for me. Some like to have a little fat every day, such as some avocado or nuts in their salads. I have some once week. You just gotta do what works for you!
I hope this post was helpful and encouraging. I like to plan out what I am going to eat in the morning, that way I don’t run into a situation where it is night-time and I have under eaten. We must all find our own way however!
Lastly, the most important nutrient you must always take in, at least once a day;
Sun in the eyes
<3
Would you guys like to see more day in the life style posts from me, or do you prefer the more educational style?
See you fruity friends soon.
A Saturday In The Life Of A Bat
21 May 2012 7 Comments
Hey Guys! Happy long weekend to you if you are in a part of the world that has a long weekend right now! If not, womp womp. Just kidding. Sorta.
My long weekend was mostly working, but I still had a nice time! The weather here in Van City was amazing, and I really like my job and the hours are really great so I was not bothered one bit.
There has been a bit of a trend these days of people blogging about “a day in the life.” So, being the copy cat that I am I decided to join in the fun! Here is what my Saturday looked like!
I woke up at crows piss to do my Cardio. Like seriously so early. Saturdays as of late have meant Fire 60 from the workout package TurboFire;
Awe Yeah
That would be Chalean Johnson. She is a fitness instructor and motivational speaker for the company Beach Body. I luff her. I have been doing a hybrid of P90X and Insanity, also beach body programs, for the last almost three months. I do TurboFire on my days off from those two work out programs. It is cardio kick boxing mixed in with High Intensity Interval Training. But mostly, it is FUN.
After that, I wrung out my clothes, tried to pretty myself up as much as possible, and headed to work.
On my way I saw this racoon;
Run little guy run!!
He was running because this crow;
Caw! Caw! Caw!
Was flipping absolute S^*% that he was there for some reason. They must have gotten into a fight about something. I do not know off the top of my head what crows and raccoons would fight about.
I walked the rest of the way to work, and was greeted by the quiet peace of my post;
My job is inner peace. Thank you Semperviva.
I busied myself with all the opening tasks, including making look nice the studio (I am not illiterate. This is a quote from The Producers. If you have not seen it, DOITNOW)
So Tidy Oop! (again, quote, not illiteracy)
After all the clients arrived and were tucked nicely into class, I did a few more tasks, and then I pulled some tarot cards. I know, my life is so hard.
Cards are so pretty. The one on the far right says “GO NOW!” Al right, al right!!
When I was finished my shift, I went home to collect My Love. As a side note, My Baby Sister is in the shittiest place on earth (Calgary) for the next month, so you will not be seeing much of her. But if you do see her, tell her Calgary is poop and we want her home. Any way, My Love and I headed down Broadway to see the sights. We stopped into this little candy/fancy foods store. It was cool!
Kinda neat! Lots of spices and chocolate and vintage candy.
They had some Spanish smoked paprika, which I am thinking I am going to go back for, because it gives me an idea for a raw low-fat dip! After that little stop, we kept heading down the street and were greeted by this lady;
She knew what she was singing…
I have no idea what she was singing. The only way I can describe the sound is that her voice was making one note to all the words, and her little stringed instrument was making an entirely different note over and over and over again. Also, her eye shadow was the same colour as her shirt. I will be this lady one day.
After more walking, we finally made it to one of our intended destinations. Aphrodite Cafe! It is a neat little spot on 4th ave, and they are famous for their pies. Also for their local art work;
Umm…??? I will admit, I perhaps just do not understand art.
My Love got himself a burrito and a half eaten salad;
I am only kidding. He had eaten the salad himself before I had a chance to snap a pic.
And I got Peppermint and licorice tea. So yum.
Two faves rolled into one. Love it.
My Love was full from all his burrito fun, but could not leave without taking a teeny tiny little slice of chocolate cherry cream pie for the road.
I know. You can barely even see it.
Next it was BANYEN BOOKS! I love this place. It is a rather mystical book store with lots of crystals and incents and cards and everything a mystical person could ever want. So much fun.
Tis a magical place.
We played with more cards;
I know I know, how many cards are to many in a day? No such thing, that is what I think.
Looked around at all the books and then decided it was time to go home. I needed a snack;
I <3 SUMMER
Watermelon is starting to pop up everywhere and this particular one was so very juicy and sweet! I bid fare well to My Love at this point as he was heading to the beach to partay down with is friends. (He ended up coming home really early because he was suffering from allergies. Poor My Love!) I headed to Semperviva again, this time so that I could take class.
I swear, this is my last Semperviva plug of the day. But really, they do kinda rock.
I attended a Vinyasa Power Flow class lead by the lovely Jazz. It was the perfect mix of intensity with challenging postures and hard-core relaxation. It got into revolved bird of paradise for the first time. NEAT.
I then came home for dinner;
Dragon fruits make my life better.
Mango banana ice cream, with a side of banana and dragon fruit. because one can never have too much banana. I snuggled in under by comforter and switched on my guiltiest of guilty pleasures;
So outstandingly dramatic. I lobes it.
Glee. So.so.good.
And that is a Saturday in the life of a Fruit Bat! What did you do on Saturday?
Before I go, are you guys interested in my posting more about my fitness regiments and what not? I like to read about other peoples’ work out routines and the like, so if that is something you are interested in learning about me, let me know!!
<3
Back in Black!
16 May 2012 2 Comments
Hello all my fruity friends!
I was so pleased to hear that you all were not bored with me, and that you actually wanted to see my come back! I am happy to blog for you, and to show you all my fruity goodies.
I received some requests for dip recipes and some videos, and those will be coming. Today I want to show you all the meals that I have been eating whilst I have been away from cyber land!
In some coming posts, I will show you my latest trip to the market, and some special fruit that I have had. For now, on to the fruity porn.
Those little gems in the middle are neked dragon fruits
Mangoes are back, and have been a staple for My Love and I. I was waiting and waiting for them, and then all of a sudden BAM, they are everywhere!
icecreamicecreamicecreamicecream.
This was some mango, pineapple and banana ice cream. I added a touch of vanilla and a side of smelly papaya. Yeah, they smell like feet. I am OK with it though.
No, not a pile of bugs. Those are dates silly!
Dates have come into my life, and I had no idea where I have been without them. They give such an amazing sugar hit, and they tastes SO sweet. These particular dates are the Hafez variety, and they are rumoured to be eaten at wedding ceremonies. Now I understand the weird bride on the box cover…
Bowl of eyes. Or longans, whatever you prefer I suppose.
I will never tier of longans or of those little strawberry guavas. The longans are so different and the guavas, so crunchy. If you have not tried longans yet, I highly suggest that you do! They are similar to lychee, but I think they are tastier… It is fruit love over herrrrr.
Fruit salad, yummy yummy.
This fruit salad was inspired by a fruit ice cream that I used to make. I used to blend together frozen cantaloupe and frozen raspberries. I wanted something fresh, and I wanted this combination. I had a honey-dew that needed to be eaten and an abundance of mangoes. So what I did was chop up the melons, then I added to them some chopped mango and raspberries and mixed it all up. As I did this the raspberries and mangoes fell apart and make kind of thick sauce. It was AMAZING. And as a side note, I don’t know if I will ever be able to spell cantaloupe without spell check. Seriously, I don’t know what is wrong with me.
I cannot even tell you how amazing this tasted. I just can’t.
I could not leave you without showing you this little ditty. This was mango and pineapple ice cream with fresh black berries and fresh raspberries smashed and stirred in. OMG. So yum. I just juiced the frozen mango and pineapple into an ice cream, and squished the berries with my fingers and stirred them in. The berries give it some texture and tang, and the ice cream is just so smooth and sweet. Good to eat.
Next post I am going to show you how I make a meal out of fruit. I will show you what enough calories looks like in a meal, so that you will all stop being afraid to eat ALLOT. I will have pictures. So basically just more fruit porn.
<3
Hey Friends! Long time, no talk
13 May 2012 9 Comments
Hello all you wonderful people!
I have missed you!
Life has been crazy, and I have to admit this. I stopped blogging because I thought maybe you all were getting bored with seeing my fruit and day to day stuff. But I have actually received some comment s as of late that you people miss my ramblings!
Well, if it is ramblings you want, it is ramblings you shall receive.
I want to start making videos, so please, send me all your questions that you would like to me answer about me, yoga, being fruity or any thing else that tickles your fancy!
Will have some pics for you soon.
For now, let me know what you want to see around here.
Love you!
<3
Come see me over here!
22 Mar 2012 2 Comments
Hello all!
I would love for you to come check me out on my new website!
http://unitycoaching.weebly.com/
Much Love
<3
Monday Monday!
27 Feb 2012 12 Comments
Hello Fruit Friends! How has life been?
Things have been amazingly fruity over here! I have been eating a tonne of really awesome stuff.
Wanna see?!
Mangos are back!!
I had just been wishing for mangos to come back into my life, and then lo and behold, they did!
Mangoes and bananas
After I had been happy to see a few mangoes, one day this happened;
That is one full back pack.
I had this feeling last Saturday that I HAD to go to the market. Usually I avoid going on weekend days, because it is so busy and everything generally gets picked over. This day, I decided to throw caution to the wind, and see what was there.
I meandered my way through the crowds to my most favourite place, and the guy behind the cash register, (who has never spoken to me, and I have been going to his stand for over a year) came up to me and said ” You want more mango?” I was aghast for a moment, blinking profusely, when I replied “Uh, yeah.” ”How many mango you want?” I said, “How many have you got?” And he brought out a giant box full of these little beauties. ”How much you do you want for it?!” (Yes, I was shouting because I was excited, let it go.” ”Seven dollar.” YES. So I ended up getting 31 mangoes for 7 monies. My life is amazing.
I had mango mango and mango ice cream.
Looks so good right?!
I added some vanilla to it, and it tasted like amazing.
Om Nom Nom sums it up I believe.
There was also an amazing melon moment last week;
Look at dem!
I chopped them up good and froze them for melon ice cream;
A freezer full is a fruit bat secure.
I also had many persimmons, which never seem to be going out of style. I am not upset about it.
So Many Yum
I realized you can separate out the little insides, the skin and the goop.
The skin and the seedy parts
Then you get persimmon pudding!!
so so good.
And finally like any good 80/10/10er, I have been noshing on many bananas.
Part human, part MONKEY!
I have clearly been eating well.
How about you fruity friends?
<3
Love Day Exchange
15 Feb 2012 Leave a Comment
Hello Fruity Friends! How is life treating you?
I hope that all of you had a wonderful and love filled day on the day of love.
I tend to look at Valentines day as a day to be extra generous with your love, not just with your special someone, but with ALL your special some ones! I think it should be viewed as an awesome opportunity to remind all of the people in your life that are special to you that you love and appreciate them.
Our V-Day was filled with love exchanges.
First, My Love gifted me with this most lovely token;
On the purple back-drop of my "The Count" t-shirt.
I gave him this in exchange;
What? You don't want this?
Just kidding! I cooked that batter into apple cinnamon pancakes. Because My Love loves nothing more than Pancakes;
He nomed those like they had never even existed.
Baby Sister exchanged her pancakes on a lovely plate in our warm home, for pancakes in a to go container;
Mmmm, plasticy.
She was supposed to have the night off, but there was an emergency at her place of work, and so she exchanged rest for a shift.
"How did this happen to meeeee?"
In exchanged for the packaged pancakes of love, My Baby Sister gave My Love and I some tea;
Who does not love tea?
And finally, in exchange for chocolate and candies and other v-day classic treats, My Love and I dined on this;
VITAMINS on V-Day
Because there is no greater love than the love from Mother Nature, yes?
How did you celebrate the love exchange day?
<3
Come Learn To Be Vegan With Me!!
14 Feb 2012 2 Comments
Hey Good day guys!
I just wanted to invite all of you who will be in the Vancouver area at the end of this month to come and check me out at Organic Lives! I am going to be giving a free lecture on how to transition to veganism;
Learning to be Vegan
29-Feb-2012
Ali Washington, our Urbanfruitbat, will join the OrganicLives Education Centre on Wednesday, February 29th at 7:30
Workshop Details
WHAT: Ali Washington on Veganism
WHERE: OrganicLives, 1829 Quebec Street, Vancouver
WHO: Ali Washington, Registered Holistic Nutritionist, Certified Yoga Instructor
WHY: Ali has a passion for helping people reach their highest health potential; as a registered holistic nutritionist and certifed yoga instructor, Ali believes that optimal health is possible for everyone. She works one on one with her clients in order to create lifestyle plans that are best suited for them.
WHEN: February 29th, 2012 at 7:30pm
HOW (MUCH?): Free
About the Workshop
Teach us about veganism; Ali will go over exactly what you need to know in order to safely and healthfully transition to a vegan diet. She will cover all hot topics of vegan nutrition including how much protein you really need, and where to get your calcium and iron. Come armed with all your questions!
About Ali Washington:
Ali Washington is a Registered Holistic Nutritionist, as well as a certified yoga instructor, with a passion for helping people achieve their highest level of health and potential.
Ali’s passion for food and health started at a young age, due to the fact that she suffered from chronic stomach aches that no medical professional was able to figure out. She started taking matters into her own hands, researching health and nutrition, along with starting to cook for herself. Eventually she was lead to veganism and yoga, which became her magic bullets to health. She admits that she has tried every diet out there, and that this new animal free lifestyle, full of compassion and love for all beings is what truly works for her.
In her nutrition and yoga sessions, Ali focuses on the individual. She believes that while there may be a perfect diet for all humans biologically – mentally, spiritually, emotionally and practically, people need to find what is going to work for them. She believes that health and wellness is fluid, that there is no “good” or “bad” just what you need right now in this moment. Ali loves to teach people to shop and cook, and it is her ultimate goal to educate all her clients enough, so that they can go off and be stunningly healthy without her help!
Ali writes a blog at http://urbanfruitbat.wordpress.com, where she strives to show the public that eating a vegan, whole foods based diet is accessible, fun and easy for everyone.
Here is the link if you want to register!
http://organiclives.org/AnnouncementRetrieve.aspx?ID=80231
Much love,
<3
Baby Sister is the BEST
13 Feb 2012 10 Comments
Hello and good day to all!
I know, I know, I have been slacking. But I am back and that is all that matters!
I have been super busy getting my footing in my new job at Semperviva yoga studios. It is amazing and I love it. Everyone there is so friendly, warm and intelligent. I love my new job.
In other news, I got older. That is right people, even when all you eat is fruits and greens, your birthday is still going to come every year. This year was extra lovely for me. Here is what went down;
I was first treated to an outing with the fam to Whole Foods;
Guess which is mine. Go head.
Baby Sister was there;
Look at those sweet glasses.
I was shocked and amazed at My Loves food choices;
He got all the things that had potato. All of them.
It was so nice to just sit and be all together. I feel like this is becoming more and more rare around our house, as everyone seems to be getting busier with time. As a side note, never attempt to eat a melon with plastic utensils. I may or may not be speaking from experience here, that most of your melon will end up on the floor.
After we feasted there, we trekked home and Baby Sister surprised me with the best thing in the whole world;
AAAHHH MMMAAAAA GGGGAAAWWWDDD!
It was an all fruit ice cream cake! Complete with two passion fruit, a papaya and a kombutcha.
Cake. Glorious cake.
She made it out of frozen bananas, blue berries and strawberries. I was so stoked; as you may or may not be able to tell;
Can you believe it?
I ate that cake and was so happy.
The next day it was time for birthday celebration part two!
We got on the train;
We are skilled at group photo taking
My Love was a little sleepy;
Wake up Boyfriend! It is my Birthday.
And proceeded to have the most traditional of candle ceremonies;
Wow! Durian aflame!
Is this not what everyone does on their birthday?
Daintily, so as not to stab myself.
There was one candle left, My Love was happy about that;
One Boyfriend. Yes.
And with that, I wished my 22 year of life fare well, as I ushered in year number 23.
I know it is going to be a good one, because I have to love of My Baby Sister and My Love to keep me warm.
<3
There is a new Juice in town
26 Jan 2012 2 Comments
Hey Folks!
Now, I know you know how much I know that I love green juice. It is savoury, full of vitamins and minerals, and tends to make me feel good all around. Like I have mentioned before, it is amazing for stripping heavy metals and other waste material from your body, as well as re mineralizing your system, helping clear digestion and even your respiratory system!
I have come up with a new formula for juice as of late, and it is MUCH greener than the original. I tell you what, if you are a green juice beginner, you may want to go with the celery, cucumber, ginger, parsley, cilantro lemon deal I used to do. If you are ready for a real hit of green, give this juice a one two punch.
Start with your stuff;
Clean clean clean your stuff!
My new juice is made from spinach, kale, cilantro, parsley, ginger, lemon and some times garlic.
The kale is high in vitamin K, as well as many many many other minerals.
The spinach is amazing because it is full of chlorophyll, minerals and is an easily digestible form of complete protein!
The rest of the stuff is just plain great.
Herbs are amazing.
I do a tonne of herbs. Cilantro and parsley are very supportive of liver and kidney function. If you have dark circles under your eyes, or yellowing of the skin or whites of your eyes, you may want to consider adding these two herbs to your diet.
Then all you do is pass it through the Champ, or your equivalent;
So much foam.
You can also do this as a smoothie, if your digestion is hearty! I like it as juice though.
All bottled up and ready to go to class with me!
So, what is your most favourite green juice, or juice, or smoothie as of late?
<3
