With my first weigh-in looming on the Sunday horizon (yes I’m finally going to get on the scale and see the terrors that await me), I’ve decided to be more proactive than just eating half portions. I’ve now moved on to Phase 2 of the Great Plan of Attack: concentrating not only on how much but what exactly I’m putting into my body -- with emphasis on making sure it’s good for me. Yes, the joys of my new lifestyle are without number.
In the past, I was the queen of fad diets. If there was a new miracle get-thin-quick scheme I was the first lined up to try it. I lived the horror that was the Cabbage Soup 24/7 Diet, jumped on board with Tommy Lasorda and Ultra SlimFast plan, survived eating bacon and mayonnaise with Atkins, tried every diet pill ever invented, and anything in between. Some I had better success with than others but they all ended the same. When I stopped, I gained all the weight back and then some. Apparently, I hadn’t lost the weight. I’d just momentarily misplaced it while it multiplied like bunnies.
While none of the fads worked, I decided not to let that knowledge from having done them go to waste. Why not take everything I liked or made sense from the multitudes I’ve tried and meld them into an Average Jane lifestyle change? So that’s exactly what I’ve done.
I did mention that the joys are without number? Well, I’m numbering them. I will be creative and eat a healthy diet following these few, simple rules:
1.) No processed sugar. Truly the most painful rule.
2.) If it doesn’t grow that way -- don’t eat it. For example: Fresh fruit is high in fructose (fruit sugar) but in its whole fruit state it has a lot more vitamins and minerals and takes more energy to break it down for digestion. Fruit juice on the other hand has more sugar than a soda and takes no effort to digest.
3.) Starches convert straight into sugar and then go straight to my hips. So I avoid potatoes, corn, and peas to name a few.
4.) No white bread. Bleached flour is evil. However, I’m not a fan of the whole grain breads. It all tastes like cardboard and sawdust to me -- so I don’t eat bread period. Most anything you can put in a sandwich can be wrapped in some lettuce which is better for you anyway.
5.) No bleached white processed flour pasta. Either whole wheat or there’s kinds out there made from “vegetable flour” that is much better for you. Rule of thumb for pasta: always a side dish -- never a meal.
Ouch. How it pains me to look at that list as I think longingly of my lifelong friends: desserts, potatoes, pasta, bread, candy, chips, and chocolate (which does, in fact, deserve a category all of its own). But then I consider the whole person I have to lose, and decide maybe these friends aren’t all that good for me, and perhaps I’ll like my new friends better, once I get to know them.
7 comments:
I'm so proud of you! You're making healthy choices, many of which I try to follow, too. One note on the bread - look into some of the multi-grain types. They have more flavor than regular wheat bread and are wonderful when you're really craving a sandwich. I buy Healthy Multi-grain, which is sweetened with sugar & honey - sounds bad, I know, but it is low fat.
I live by the "eat natural" motto. Nature provides plenty of tasty food. :)
Awwww Mel, you're the greatest. I'll have to try your bread suggestion. So far I haven't found anything that tastes as good as the bad for you white Wondra bread LOL
I'm finding the "eat natural" motto isn't as hard as I thought it would be, but then again I've only been doing this a short time.. We'll see how I feel about it in a month or two.. LOL
The other thing, it's ok to have small treats here and there. If I'm really craving chips, I buy the smallest bag possible because I'll eat whatever's in the bag.
And peanut butter on fruit is the bomb. :)
Oh definitely.. I love me some peanut butter.. LOL
Yeah I'll have to try the buy a small bag trick.. because I know I could kill a bag of chips without even trying... I'm gonna see how long I can go without giving into the cravings.. figure whatever head start I get has got to be better than none..
I lost more than thirty pounds eating this way -- I called it the "no white food" diet. The hardest part for me wasn't the loss of sugar, it was the loss of salt. No white food meant no potato chips (even baked!) and no pretzels. Hands down, the lack of effective delivery systems for massive amounts of salt was the hardest thing to get used to.
Good luck to you; it sounds like you're off to a really good & healthy start. Keep eating the fruit; you're absolutely right about the nutrients and other benefits beyond the fructose.
One more point to follow up: I lost that weight in 2003. It's still gone. You can do this.
Unfocused Me... That is awesome!!! Great job and the fact that it's still off. Do you still eat the no white food diet?
Post a Comment