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Saturday, January 16, 2010

Inspired

Late last month, amid the Christmas chocolates and dinners and other wintry treats, I weighed myself for the first time in a couple of months and nearly fell off the scale. I had gradually creeped up 20 lbs in a matter of 6 months and although I kind of knew I had gained a bit inch-wise (tighter pants), I didn't really pay it the mind I should have. In fact, I had consciously approved the consumption of all sorts of crap in November and December when stress at work was high and my mood was low. It was a cycle feeding itself really, eating crap made me feel like hell so then I'd eat more crap. In the last couple of days in December, I decided to stop the consumption of garbage and go back to eating healthier. I didn't really have a plan aside from wanting to eat healthier and I think if I had just left it at that I would have probably fallen off the proverbial wagon already.

Two days into eating healthier, on January 1st, Julie and I were browsing at Chapters looking for left over Boxing Week deals (I've noticed that
the sales are no longer one day now but rather a whole week long event) and I randomly picked up Jillian Michael's latest book, Master Your Metabolism from a table and flipped through it. I hate 'diet' books because they're just nonsense and I was thinking that I lost some respect for Jillian for doing a diet book (money grab) when her expertise is in physical fitness, but as I flipped through it I realized it wasn't really a diet book like others I had seen. It was more like an education on hormones and triggers and how, when and why your body reacts to processed foods and whole foods. For example, everyone knows vegetables are good for you and everyone knows refined carbs are bad choices, but I didn't know exactly why they are. When you don't know the why, why bother doing it? It's like science and math classes back in high school - If you don't understand the fundamentals behind the formulas you are using to solve problems, you're going to have a hell of a hard time remembering all of the formulas and which ones to apply on an exam. Anyway, I think the main reason why she put out the book was because she was all screwed up as a teenager (overweight, acne, etc.) and along her path to where she is now, she picked up a lot of information from endocrine specialists.

So, since I picked up that book, I've lost 11 lbs and some inches (I don't know how many because I can't find our tape measure) without much effort at all. I'm probably consuming between 1400 - 1800 calories a day and am only holding myself to a few rules:
  • As little processed food as possible
  • Nothing with high fructose corn syrup
  • Eat every four hours (three meals + snack per day) whether I'm hungry or not
  • Not eating after 9 pm
  • Try to get at least 7 hrs sleep per night
The restriction on the processed food sound like a tall order but it actually isn't much of an issue. Large chain grocery stores carry a lot of organic products now and the big food manufacturing companies seem to be finally realizing that people want to actually understand the ingredients they are reading on the label of their products. A lot of preservatives and miscellaneous ingredients that aren't critical to the composition of the product are being dropped from popular foods in order to shorten the ingredient list. More and more people are flipping over a package to check out the list of ingredients these days; Chances are, a person will choose a food with a short ingredient list over one that goes on and on with chemical names only the scientist developing it would understand.

This week alone, I've made nachos, pancakes, eaten ice cream (twice) and eaten cookies. The nachos were comprised of organic Hippy Chips, organic salsa, Kraft aged shredded cheddar (the least amount of processed ingredients), a ton of chopped green pepper, orange pepper, green onion and red onion. The pancakes were made with organic whole grain wheat, organic milk and eggs and were topped with apples and rhubarb I stewed with Agave Nectar and a bit of organic maple syrup (I am Canadian after all). Sooooooooo good. The ice cream I have in the freezer is pistachio and greet tea, both of the organic variety. I didn't realize that organic ice cream kicks processed ice cream's ass in taste. Wow. As for the cookies, they too are organic and I found them at Shopper's Drug mart of all places. Shopper's Drug mart has a fast-growing organic line - I also buy my oatmeal and a few other things from that store.

I could probably go on and on about other meals I've made but I'll spare you. I have realized though that the more I cook, the easier it gets and the more I like it. I've found that chopping vegetables up and putting them in containers in the fridge is a HUGE time saver. I usually employ Julie for most of the chopping. She tells me she usually grumbles about it but then remembers the pay off, so she doesn't mind it in the end. Having pre-cut items makes throwing together a meal a piece of cake. And the more I cook, the more inspired I get to try new things. In the process, I've come up with at least a handful of new dishes that both of us really enjoy. It seems silly to say, but I'm just really having a lot of fun in the kitchen and with food in general.

The biggest and best thing that has come from all of this, actually specifically Jillian's book, is the fact that I've re-trained my body to trust that it is going to get its next meal. This amazing feat almost makes me cry when I think about it. For as long as I can remember, I've always been afraid that I would go hungry. There were various reasons for that in my past that are too complicated to even get into, but even now as an adult, I still had that problem. Even though I know I can feed myself food pretty much whenever I want to, my body still acted like it was in starvation mode. This meant that any time I was around prepared food or offered food, I felt I had to eat it, whether I was hungry or not because 'maybe I wouldn't be able to eat again for a long time', even though I KNEW when I was next going to eat again. Crazy, huh? Keep in mind that this was how my body acted whether I was dieting or not. I remember discussing this with Julie last year when I was particularly annoyed with my eating habits. I was debating whether or not I should see a psychologist about it (thinking it must be psychological trauma from my youth, etc.) because I just could not see myself ever being like the people around me who could eat breakfast and then not eat again until lunch and the same with dinner, etc. I thought I was addicted to food and felt hopeless to change anything. Well, within a week of eating whole, natural foods, I am at last experiencing what I never thought I would. I can now pass over all sorts of food now, not with willpower, but by my body not setting off all the "I'm starving, feed me, feed me!!!" signals that I used to be instantly flooded with at the sight of food. It's like I look at it and my body evaluates and says, "Um... nope, still good here. Lunch is in an hour, we trust that you're going to actually eat at that time and we're fine until then." In Jillian's book, she mentions that after a while, a person may not feel hungry after four hours when it is time for the next meal. When I first started this, I thought 'Yeah right, I won't even make it to four hours.' but I do and there are times when I'm not hungry at the four hour mark, but I make myself eat anyway. Amazing.

I wasn't actually going to blog about this at all because I always feel so silly when mentioning a change in diet in case it doesn't work out, but the fact that I feel so damn good right now and am excited about cooking and food and how all of it has affected me made me change my mind. That and the fact that Julie will only listen to so much of my excitement before tuning me out in favour of Nancy Grace. I think our grocery bill has gone up a tiny bit but that is balanced by the fact that we aren't eating out much. As long as I can keep the grocery bill reasonable, I don't see why this can't be a permanent lifestyle change. The not being hungry or tempted by food between meals part as well as the feeling fantastic part makes it more than worth while.

1 comment:

Stacey said...

wow! awesome! good for you!!! sounds like a good way to live. i can understand the food issues as i tend to eat if food is offered, even if i'm not hungry. i feel addicted to food too. i am really wanting to eat healthier so i can be healthier at least for the kids' sake.