Why eat more?

I’m very passionate about eating more, enjoying food and making minimal concessions. However it’s not without skill – mindful, intentional, playful skill, which is why I find it crucial that you come here not just for recipes but for visual inspiration. I’d be lying by omission if I didn’t tell you the bulk of what I learned about food came from the food network as a kid – despite the heavy, often indulgent meals prepared on TV, I took note of spice combinations, time management and various tricks chefs would use to orchestrate their food.

You can’t get it wrong. Just a friendly reminder. Not when your heart is in the right place. Take your right hand to your heart and cup it with your left, take a deep soothing breath and feel into your body. Your WHOLE body is breathing, pumping, flowing, creating, regenerating for the great purpose of keeping you here. And here you are.

How to weigh less eating more:

As I’ll be covering in this months Dinner & Discussion, eating more and weighing less has everything to do with increasing the volume of food that you eat while decreasing the total number of calories you consume without cutting them. High volume eating is about selecting whole unadulterated foods, real and full of carbohydrates – the molecules your brain and body thrive off of, and orchestrating them in such a way that you feel inspired to eat and eat again. Why? Because your body rejoices at the prospect of eating without bounds. Your body digests, integrates and assimilates wholesome foods, especially those eaten with intention. Don’t believe me? Maybe your body will.

Foods to choose in abundance (as seen in my reset guide and cookbook):

Fruit – unlimited, never count these calories

Vegetables – unlimited, never count these calories.

Rice, Potatoes, Oats, legumes, pulses and beans – make these the foundation of all your meals

Spices & Herbs – unlimited, use plentifully

Foods to eat in moderation/limited quantities:

Nuts, seeds and butters made from them – reduce or eliminate if you tend to overuse them or binge on them.

Oil, dressings made with oil as the first ingredient – dilute with vinegar and add in small quantities or don’t use for a while so you can acclimate to using them minimally

Avocado & coconut – delicious, but very high in fat. Add them sparingly, use lighter versions and eat 1/2 an avocado or a Tbsp of coconut at a time until you’re used to limiting. Piles of guac is delicious and healthier than a cream based sauce or lots of nacho cheese but it’s still fattening because it’s high in calories (not BAD just not a food to eat in abundance if you want to lose weight)

As you feed your body abundantly, consistently and throughout each day your nervous system begins to relax and your digestion calms. Your body starts trusting and your life gets easier. I know it sounds like a lot of credit to give food, but once the gesture is made it all starts making sense.

Basic Principles:

You don’t have to eat 3 meals a day but it’s a good start – see my 5 day reset for more on honing healthy eating behavior

You don’t have to eat at any particular time but its a good practice if your life is particularly unstructured

Intermittent fasting – don’t force this. While it might have some reputable health benefits, don’t fast if you’re hungry but don’t eat if you’re not. See what happens when you just let your life flow – some days you might eat breakfast at 8 am some days your breakfast might become lunch because you weren’t hungry until 11:30…careful with labels

You don’t have to abide by any laws, rules or mandates around food – you just need to feed yourself. And you do love yourself, right? Applying high volume eating is a great place to start if you’re working on self love because feeding your body is part and parcel of that journey

*a hack that I use frequently so as not to eat a completely “fat free” diet is I combine things like nut butters, seed butters and cashew cheese with other less calorically dense foods like salsa, vinegar based dressings or fruit. It’s important to keep in mind that anything that can be made into a cheese, butter or oil product contains and inherent amount of fat and calories. It’s not necessary to avoid them completely, but to be mindful that several tablespoons of almond butter will completely change the caloric load of a meal even though almonds (example) are “healthy.” If you’re interested in high volume eating – whether healing your relationship to food or trying to lose weight, this information will be invaluable.

I hope this gives you a good idea of what high volume eating entails. These may not be the best photos with the best lighting but they’re real – and that’s what we’re going for. Feel free to reach out to me with questions.

In pursuit of health, contentment, self awareness, peace & balance XO

Katie