Ummmm WHOA, right?

Where do I even begin?? I guess first of all I'd like to acknowledge the fact that I have written blogs in the past talking about why we SHOULDN'T eat meat. This is the biggest reason why I spent the last 3 weeks eating meat, and not really telling anyone. 

I didn't want to post any of my meals that included meat even though I was feeling AMAZING. 

I didn't want to tell my family or friends because so many nights that they would host dinner, they would make something different JUST for me, or forget that I was vegetarian and feel bad. 

I didn't want to tell people where I was going to eat etc. 

Obviously this got me to start thinking about what I was going to do...Do I stop eating meat again because I've labeled myself as a vegetarian therefore I have to stay that way?

Or do I swallow my pride and be honest and explain WHY..?

Obviously I'm going with the latter because I SUCK at lying haha SO all I ask is that you read this post with an open mind and either agree, or agree. Haha just kidding. Just hear me out. 

So 4 years ago I decided to stop eating meat for a few reasons:

1.

I read about how horrible meat was for people in a book by Tony Robbins who I admire.

2.

I grew up eating pork, steak, chicken, turkey, carne asada, you name it, so when I was officially moved out of my parents house and living in LA with my best friend from high school, I figured it was the perfect time to give this lifestyle a try since A. I was broke and meat wasn't really in my budget anyways haha, and B. Because I wouldn't be coming home to it every night soo how hard could it be?

3.

I had trained for a fitness competition for about 2.5 months right before I moved to LA, and my trainer at the time had me eating SOO MUCH fucking turkey and chicken that NO LIE, I legit had a bad dream about chickens one night and woke up the next morning SICK at the thought, smell, look of it hahaaha... isn't that ridiculous ???

Then honestly, I never craved meat after that. I found substitutions to everything I wanted. I found veggie burgers, jack fruit tacos, tofurkey, etc. I found my new lifestyle to be super easy and I felt like I was doing my body a favor - WHICH - in a way I think I was. I grew up having meat at every single meal so I think taking a little break was fine. Also, since I ate meat I would eat things like MASSIVE carne asada burritos, buffalo wings, processed meats, and sloppy joes which is just a calorie castle ha.

So taking out meat allowed me to refocus my attention on leaner things in general. Fish, veggies, fruit and lots of salads. 

It also allowed me to teach other people how you can have a delicious well balanced meal without meat which I think is just good to know. 

So why make the switch back?

Well, oddly enough, I just noticed over the course of about a week that I was CRAVING meat. Like all I could think about for every meal was having a LEGIT hamburger. But I kept putting it off and avoiding it and trying to think of a different cheat meal I wanted but that was it. 

Then my best buddy from San Diego came into town and we decided that we were going to go to Korean BBQ. Again - I was thinking CHEAT MEAL. 

She's known me for 11 years and she's known that for the last 4 years that I had been pescatarian but I told her when we sat down to eat that I was just going to say fuck it and go for it. 

We sat there for 2 hours picking at chicken and steak and vegetables (and a little sake of course) and I just couldn't stop telling her how GOOD I felt. It was soooo bizarre. I mean I was waiting for my stomach to like back flip and explode but sure enough I was FULL but not STUFFED and my stomach was still flat and I felt energized. 

Over the next couple of weeks I dabbled into eating some of my boyfriends chicken, or trying his steak while I ordered salmon salads and the whole combination was just feeling GOOD. 

Okay - so here's my question.

Where did this random ass craving come from??

I started thinking about it more and more and I think I figured it out. I'm going to school right now to be a personal trainer. Every Monday - Thursday I'm in class with fitness professionals who have been in the biz for 12+ years. I'm learning SO much from them and have been humbled over and over again when I learn something that I thought to be already knowledgable on. 

My coach started asking us to do food logs so that we could start tracking our calories and seeing how much we're REALLY consuming vs. how much we should be consuming if our goal is to lose weight or vice versa for the boys...gain weight. 

I did a 3 day food log and found that I was getting about 1/2 as much protein as I should be, my carbs were higher than where I would have liked them, and my calories we're about 500 calories A DAY over where I wanted them.. 

WTF.

I was surprised and motivated to get my macros where they needed to be but I kept finding it difficult because ya girl can only eat so much salmon and shrimp before she wanted to kill huh'self. The smell was starting to gross me out. FUCK, I thought. 

So I moved on to more protein bars and protein shakes which are GREAT but they weren't keeping me full as long as I would have liked them to. So I added more fats but with that came more calories. DAMMIT. 

haha. (Sorry for cursing mom).

Anyways - then I just felt like I couldn't eat anything. I sucked it up and had salads, protein shakes and protein bars and LOTS of coffee and water. (Mind you, I used to think I could just get protein from beans and chic peas but remember - I was also trying to keep my carbs low).

I was getting results this way but wasn't feeling the most satisfied and there lingering in the back of my mind was "just go get some effing chicken." 

So that's what I did and I'm now hitting my macros EASILY and I'm SO excited that I can start making soooo many more recipes ESPECIALLY ones from Kelly LeVeque's Book,

Body Love

Kelly LeVeque is a celebrity nutritionist who I admire and have had the pleasure of meeting. I met her at a work out event and was happy to find that she is just as genuine as she comes off as in her writing. I read her book as a pescatarian and at first was surprised with how many animal product recipes she had, but they sounded bomb. 

LEMON GARLIC ROAST CHICKEN, SWEET COCONUT CHICKEN AND BROCCOLI, SAUCEY PALEO MEATBALLS.

So when I started feeling like I wanted to eat meat again, I direct messaged her on Insta and just straight up told her what I was going through. I mentioned that I wanted to eat meat again but felt bad because I had told so many other girls why they shouldn't. But I knew she was an advocate for it and I think she's EXTREMELY intelligent when it comes to nutrition so she said:

"I'm so glad you've incorporated it [meat]. It truly is a multi vitamin of energy. [Read] FOOD by Dr Hyman or Genius Foods by Max Lugavere."

I think simply feeling like I had her support in a way made me feel like what I was doing was OK. I purchased Genius Foods on iBooks that same day and have listened to a few podcasts featuring Max Lugavere so I'm excited to continue reading and learn how meat is beneficial.

Want to Listen?

Check out this podcast by Ultimate Health featuring Max.

Or this one on the jordan Harbinger Show

So far I've learned of course that we want to avoid processed meats, go for grass fed and lean meats whenever possible, limit our consumption of red meat AND I've learned that meat is beneficial for women because it reduces our risk for anxiety and depression...still learning how though. 

Either way, I felt like I wanted to write this blog for you guys in case any of you are feeling like satan for wanting to eat meat again. 

Like I say... DO YOU. Listen to your body and go with what feels RIGHT. 

If you have any questions or comments, leave them below or on my insta!

XXX