Hey y’all,
It’s come to my attention that I eat differently than most people. I want to straighten this topic out right now.
I am a petite (short) female. I’m nearly 5’3″ (5’2.5″ to be exact), and I weigh about 115-120 lbs normally (I’m pregnant though, so I currently weight 135.6 lbs). Because I’m so small, I need to eat calorically-dense foods.
For example, salads are (or can be) very good for weight loss. However, I’ve begun blending more greens into my morning smoothies and not having a salad during the day. Salads simply do not give me enough calories for the amount of volume I have to eat.
When I first began eating whole-foods plant-based, I lost so much weight. There were so many influencers on the internet talking about caloric-density and how not to overeat, and I ended up eating less than 1,000 calories a day – and I wasn’t hungry at all! This quickly turned into a problem as I continued to lose weight. I tried several things to stop the weight loss, but I finally came across a clip of Dr. Klaper (I’m pretty sure it was him) saying how children on a plant-based diet need to be eating dense foods because their stomachs are smaller. It was like a light went on for me. I’m small, so I need to be eating calorically-dense foods.
Because of this, I eat a lot of starch like potatoes and rice. Lately (as you know if you follow this blog), I’ve gotten really into beans. I’ve been incorporating beans into my diet regularly for years now, but lately I’ve been throwing them into everything. I also eat some sunflower seed butter every- or almost every -day. When I see the scales begin to dip too low, I add some more rice to my diet.
I do like to watch a fitness coach on YouTube called Greg Doucette. He has some fantastic recipes on his channel, but he also encourages people to eat large quantities of low-calorie foods. This works for him; he’s a 5’6″ male bodybuilder. That’s not tremendously taller than me, but it definitely makes a big difference when it comes to eating – especially combined with the fact that he’s a male and I am a female. Males are typically bigger than women, so his stomach is probably about twice the size of mine. I have to remember to not be too influenced by him when he talks about eating low-calorie foods being important. It truly depends on what your personal goals are.
As always, with my recipes, only use what works for you. If they’re too dense for your needs, maybe check out Greg Doucette or someone else. There are tons of really great recipes out there. If mine aren’t for you, then they aren’t for you.
Frugal Treehugger 