I really enjoy playing around with different ways of eating – figuring out what works for me and what doesn’t. It’s like a science experiment really, and I like experimenting on myself. Wait, I mean, I like playing with myself. Ummm, no, that’s not what I meant either.

I read The Zone like 100 years ago, and while the eating plan described there is rather complex and a lot to keep track of, it was still my introduction to the importance of getting fat, carbs and protein at each meal.

In short, finding the right balance of these three macro nutrients is your ticket to feeling satisfied after any meal – or that’s my ticket anyway.

That’s just a little background to go along with my recent intrigue with consciously changing up the ratio of fat, protein and carbs at any given meal. This concept of getting each of these three things at a meal or snack isn’t new to me, and probably isn’t new to you either – but practicing a shift in that ratio is new. Aiming for more fat and more protein in each meal and then compensating for those additional calories by reducing the number of carb calories – especially from high sugar fruits and grains – is still doing miraculous things for me in the Content After a Meal and Time Between Meals departments.  I haven’t done the math, but I would guess I’m actually eating less calories over the course of the day because this change.

So not only have I been fattening up my bowls of overnight oats in the morning recently, I’ve also been busy fattening up my salads as well.

For example, in the past I might have eaten a salad and two slices of Ezekiel toast with hummus for lunch.  Recently I’ve been skipping the creamed ‘bonzos, garlic and tahini smeared on sprouted grains and instead “spending” those calories on the glory that is blue cheese and avocado.

My new favorite salad toppings:

• one small, organic honeycrisp apple
• two hard boiled eggs
• half an avocado
• one medium tomato
• a tablespoon or two of crumbled blue cheese
• one medium carrot
• (nuts could be good here too, but I get my daily dose of nuts at breakfast every morning, so I typically skip them at lunch and dinner)

Buried underneath it all you’ll find a bed of mixed greens, tossed on this particular day in Annie’s Goddess dressing.

Stick a fork in it, you’re done.

By the time I make my way through this behemoth, I’m perfectly content and ready to rock out for the next 4 or 5 hours – and some days even longer. Please let the record show that I am notoriously a hungry girl – it’s not unusual for me to be ready to eat something 3 hours after any given meal. Maybe it’s because I run, maybe it’s because I spend my days chasing after small children and hike up and down the stairs doing laundry all the live long day, or maybe it’s because I’m a freak.  All I know for sure is that more fat and protein are doing wonders for me. Playing with myself has never felt so good!