It is no secret around these parts that I struggle with weight and want to lost weight. There is this one problem–I absolutely love food. All food. I enjoy it and I love flavors and textures, etc. I love it all. I have worked hard at “dieting” and counting calories and exercising but have yet to find the approach that is best for me. It isn’t as simple as I want to lose weight–I have PCOS which screws with my hormones and with how I digest foods, etc. While in theory it is as simple as calories in vs. calories out–not all calories are created equal. Not all calories are processed the same in our bodies, etc. So, where is this boring lecture on food stuffs going you ask? Well, I am adopting a whole food way of eating.
I am cutting out processed foods and most meats–unless they are fish or lean grass fed beef or lean pastured chickens. I am going eat foods that come in their natural state. I am giving up caffeine and soda. I drink only diet soda–but as soon as my stash of soda is gone at home–I am done with it. I am going to eat better to feel better. I am going to stop counting calories as the way of losing weight (I’m still going to count to make sure I am eating a good amount of calories). I am going to treat food as fuel and recognize that the type of fuel I put in my body is important.
This change is going to happen over the next two weeks-so by the end of the first week of March, I have made the complete transition. I am looking forward to seeing the effects this has on me and my family. I will be slowing changing the kids over to a whole food diet–they eat pretty good as it is now–but there are some things that are not the best for them and I will be slowing ridding the house of those items.
Any of you out there eat a whole food (or clean) diet? How did it work for you? Any advice?
Embracing Imperfection 
Come hang out up here for long and you’ll have little choice but to forage, grow, and kill what you eat.
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We must expend about as many calories getting our food as we consume, but I must admit that I get really excited once we run out of venison for the season and I can go buy some greasy ground beef like a normal peson!
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Well, first, you have my complete understanding and sympathy because I absolutely adore all food and thoroughly enjoy trying all sorts of cuisines…seriously, its one of my fav pastimes.
You might be interested in this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Nourishing-Traditions-Challenges-Politically-Dictocrats/dp/0967089735/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1266942601&sr=1-1
I’ve really been enjoying reading it & am starting to set some food/nutrition goals based on it. It may be more meat based then what you are leaning towards, but it makes a lot of sense to return to a more traditional way of eating (I for one completely agree with the premise that so many of our current issues with disease, obesity, etc. are related to the switch from traditional/natural fats to man made/altered ones and all the other altering, hormones, antibiotics, etc. that has been incorporated into our food). This blog is how I discovered the above book:
http://www.nourishingdays.com/
I will warn you that one of your biggest obstacles in all this may be the crazy busy life you lead (honestly, even though I’m a SAHM, I can’t seem to find the time that the woman in the above blog does to dedicate to food preparation alone). But, I really like the idea of finding a way to squeeze more out of our budget to eat more grass fed, pastured, organic, etc. and I’ve tried & enjoyed some of her recipes…I’m also reading the book Food Inc. right now and that’s certainly adding to my motivation for change.
What I have been successful at doing around here is eliminating more of the white from our diets…brown rice, quinoa (a favorite w/my kids), or wheat couscous instead of rice; wheat flour instead of white or at least half & half in recipes; more natural sweetners in place of refined white sugar, etc. My kids are also not the best veggie eaters (fruit isn’t a problem), so I try to hide as many veggies as I can in foods they like…love the Sneaky Chef book for that. A lot of my goals in all of this are sort of pending our planned move to an area that is more garden friendly…really the only way I can see us being able to afford eating the way I really want us to is to grow & raise as much as we can…so a lot of its on hold right now.
Oh, and on the subject of diet soda…there’s a lot of evidence out there that diet soda makes us fatter (not to mention contributing to fertility & other issues), so good for you for kicking the habit…ice tea (all herbal teas are naturally decaf & you can get decaf green tea which is loaded with antioxidents) became my best friend when I finally ditched diet soda…plus herbal/decaf tea counts towards your daily water intake needs.
You will not however likly ever hear of me giving up coffee (I do drink half caf at least) because well I just love it too much & there is a lot of evidence out there as to the healthy benefits of it (plus without getting too personal, I find it an essential factor in staying regular)…though I am trying to slowly wean myself off my favorite coffeemate creamer flavors to half & half w/a natural sweetner.
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Good Luck with your new approach! Mine has been to cut out sweets/sugar. I’m on day 3 and miserable!!!! Keep us posted…
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Love it! Cured my gestational diabetes. I feel way better when I follow this plan. I love whole grains. They save me in the hunger dept. I hate to be hungry!
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