Mangoes

I have a confession to make... Mangoes are my weakness! I could live on them, bathe in them, eat them for every meal of the day and not get sick of them! I like them in smoothies, with cream, in fruit salad, on pavlova, in a Weiss bar (as a treat!) and most importantly, by themselves!
There could be worse things to be addicted to. But in the Primal Blueprint frame of mind, mangoes should be a 'sometimes' food. They're definitely not one of the lowest carb fruit options available and because, to me, they taste so moreish, it's often hard to stop at one...
In the move up north, mangoes have become a lot more accessible and a lot tastier (not to mention a lot cheaper)! Bowens are my mango of choice. There's nothing better than slicing up a bowen on a hot summer's day and enjoying every last mouthful (and then sucking the seed dry!)
So it seems I have a choice to make. PB is important to me, but is it as important as going without my favourite food?!?!
There's a lot of pathways I could choose to go down. One would be to avoid mangoes altogether, but I have scratched that off the list. Honestly, PB is about eating food as close as possible to how nature intended, and it's not as though mangoes are a compeltely manufactured food! While it might not mean I see great weight loss results, it definitely would mean that I felt like I was missing out on something, which means I wouldn't be able to stick to it anyway!
The options I'm now tossing up between are either:-
a) Forget PB and eat as many mangoes as desired; or
b) Limit myself to one mango per day and moderate my carb intake.
I'm leaning towards option b, but will see how I go in the build up before Christmas!
We bought a tray on the weekend and so far I've been eating between 1-2 mangoes per day. I've tried to be aware of what else I'm eating and limiting other fruit intake accordingly. It hasn't been difficult but I also haven't been actively denying myself mangoes!
I guess what it comes down to is an informed choice. I know that mangoes aren't necessarily the best food to be eating if I want to lose weight, but I also know that if I try to restrict something in my diet that I absolutely love, I'm setting myself up for failure! Seriously, it would be better for me to allow myself a mango than to hold out and then gorge on something like chocolate-coated peanuts or rumballs!
So, I'm going to eat my mangoes. They're only in season during summer, so I have to enjoy them while I still can! After that, I can go back to berries being my fruit of choice!

15 Plant Types A Day

You might still be having trouble reconciling with some of the Primal Blueprint principles, however I'm sure you can agree with our daily goal to eat 15 plant types per day - after all, no one can argue that vegies and fruit are bad for you! This was a challenge set to us by our awesome personal trainer and it actually works in beautifully with the Primal Blueprint eating plan. The idea is simple - to get as much variety in your meals as possible and to feed your body with the best possible natural fuel - vegetables and fruits, nuts and seeds.
Here's how my day is looking so far:-
1. Spinach;
2. Cherry Tomatoes;
3. Strawberries;
4. Lambs Lettuce;
5. Cucumber;
6. Almonds;
7. Carrot;
8. Apple;
9. Macadamia nuts;
And on the menu for dinner:-
10. Pumpkin;
11. Zucchini;
12. Cauliflower;
13. Broccoli;
14. Asparagus;
15. Assorted fresh herbs & spices (basil, parsley, cumin & garlic)
I may have some apricots/peaches for dessert after dinner as well!
Other favourite plant types of ours:-
*blueberries (a SUPERFOOD)
*capsicum
*mushrooms
*banana
*kale (the farmer didn't have any this week otherwise that would have been on the menu tonight!)
*walnuts
*ginger
*pumpkin seeds
*red onion
*pears
I have no doubt that my body is thanking me for all of this good food I am putting into it - yours will too!