Health and Wellness

I’ve spent my entire adult life battling my addiction to food, and finally, at 37-and-a-half years of age, I have a taste of freedom.  I don’t want to say I’m there yet, because I still backslide from time to time, but as soon as I overdo it, I feel so gross that I am instantly reminded of why I no longer live that way.

My slavery to food started, I believe, in college when I suddenly found myself putting on the pounds due to the impressive amounts of pizza and Coke I consumed.  I tried to lose weight by cutting back, but I didn’t have much success so I sought out a popular diet plan that provided me with prepackaged food for almost every meal.  It worked at first, but eventually I tired of the bland, processed foods and found myself cheating, which usually ended up in a junk food binge.  One afternoon, for example, I ate an entire box of Girl Scout Cookies in about two hours.  I cycled between dieting and binging and eventually lost 20 pounds, but it was a constant battle to keep it off.  For years my mood was entirely dictated by the number on the scale every morning and night.

After I had my first child, I turned to counting points to lose the last 10 pounds and to try to keep my weight where I liked it.  Counting points appealed to my obsessive nature and my need for a formula, but I still found myself practicing the binge-and-starve approach to managing my weight that had served me well for so long.  Or so I thought.

Two more children later, an aging metabolism, and years of destructive eating habits finally began to take a toll on my weight management abilities as well as my health.  Riddled with stomach ailments and extra pounds that I could not seem to budge, I discovered the real food movement last summer.  And Dinneen.  And that’s when everything changed.

I used to say that my problem is that I just love food, but Dinneen taught me that it’s much more than that. Plenty of people love food and are not slave to its wiles.  With Dinneen’s help, I learned that it’s not my love of food that has kept me on a dieting roller coaster for the past 20 years, but it’s my emotional attachment to food and the bad habits I’ve developed since becoming a busy mom.

Turns out, the low-fat diets that I relied on to keep my weight in check were sabotaging my ability to make lifestyle changes that were effective and sustainable because they did not satisfy my cravings and ultimately left me feeling deprived and frustrated.  Counting points caused me to think about food all. the. time.  And while those neat packages of pre-packaged meals freed me from the food obsession, they left me feeling dissatisfied and deprived because they lacked the taste and the nutrients that we naturally desire.  I always ended up “cheating” — a word that I now believe never should be applied to our diets.

Anyone can lose weight by counting points or cutting fat and calories, but only the most self disciplined can sustain it for the long haul because low-fat diets do not satisfy, nor do they properly nourish the body. I like a formula as much as the next guy, but it’s such a restrictive way to live, and besides that, it isn’t as fool-proof as we’ve been led to believe.  This article by Tom Naughton is worth a read.

I always watched people eat intuitively — stopping when they were full, only eating if they were hungry, choosing an apple over a bag of Doritos because they honestly felt like it — and I thought that I could never have that.  I thought I would always be slave to diet plans and my “love for food.”  We all hear that healthy eating “can’t be a diet; it has to be a lifestyle,” but I thought I was incapable of making that lifestyle a reality.  I figured that I would live the rest of my life on the diet roller coaster, and that I was doomed to a love-hate relationship with food.

But today I am here to tell you that I AM FREE.  I have learned how to eat intuitively, how to choose my foods wisely, stop when I’m satisfied, and eat only when I am hungry.  It’s not to say that I never over eat, but I never binge anymore.  I eat food that I like, and I am satisfied because it is wholesome and full of good fats and nutrients that my body craves.  I’ve learned to focus more on how I will feel when I’m done than how it will taste going down, and I’ve learned to eat a better balance of foods, which helps me maintain my weight easier.  I’ve also learned how to interpret my cravings correctly.  For example, when I crave something sweet, eating a cookie just leaves me feeling icky and wanting more, but eating an apple satisfies my sweet tooth and leaves me feeling satisfied and full without that nasty bloated feeling you get when you eat too much carbs and sugar.

I would still love to lose five pounds and keep it off, but as I hone in on 40, I am willing to accept the number I see on the scale and be satisfied with the fact that I am healthy and fit (or getting there) and enjoy my new-found healthy relationship with food.

If I can do it, you can do it too. TRUST ME.  Don’t let the skinny fool ya.  It wasn’t a healthy thin.

You may be thinking, Yeah, that all sounds great, but she had help.

Yes, I did.  And that is the reason I am writing this post today.  I couldn’t have done this alone.  Even though it sounds simple, I needed someone to look at what I eat and listen to me talk about how I eat and how I think about food and give me advice and counsel to get to where I am today.  I am so thankful I found Dinneen.  Which brings me to the second reason I am telling you all this.

Next Tuesday, March 9th, Dinneen is holding a FREE call titled “5 Simple Secrets to Eating Intuitively:  How to Create a Healthy Relationship with Food, Mind and Body and Make it Work for You.”

You can register right now by going here.

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In response to the comments on the Random Reader Question Vol. 5 post, I thought it might be helpful to discuss how to do the whole foods lifestyle if your only option is the conventional grocery store.  First of all, there are usually other options, especially in the summer months.  I urge you to look around.  Don’t assume that just because you don’t live in farm country, you have no access to fresh meat and produce.  EatWild.com is a great resource, and there are others.  You can always go in together with like-minded friends and buy in bulk if the closest source is quite a distance.  Like, last fall I bought a half a grass-fed cow and split it with a neighbor.  I’d have driven 2 hours to get it if I’d had to, b/c it has fed our family for the past six months, and we’re still going strong.  But I digress.  Sorry.  I’m passionate about this, what can I say??

If I HAD to do ALL of my shopping at a conventional grocery store, here’s what I’d do.  Now, mind you, I am not the end all be all on this subject.  This is what *I* would do.  Sally Fallon would probably not necessarily agree.    But in trying to “keep it real” for mainstream America, these are my suggestions.

1. Breakfast: Cook breakfasts from scratch as much as possible.  No boxed cereals, cereal bars, or (for the love!) pop-tarts.  (Boxed cereal is not as healthy as you might think, even the so-called healthy ones.)  For alternatives, see Healthy Breakfast Ideas.  Don’t skip the comment section.

2. Lunch: Pack my kids lunches as much as possible.  Ideas:  tuna, PB&J (Skippy natural, bread w/out HFCS or better yet, homemade), lunch meats (the ones without nitrates if you can find them), fresh fruit and veggies, whole milk yogurt w/out artificial sugars or colors, water in a thermos.  See School Lunches.  Don’t skip the comment section. 

3. Dinner: Cook dinners from scratch as much as possible.  No hamburger helpers, no “cream-of-fill-in-the-blank” soups, etc.

4. Snacks: Try to eliminate most convenience boxed snacks.  Make your own popcorn on the stove top.  Pretzels and tortilla chips generally have a short list of ingredients, and most are pronounceable.  If you can afford it, buy organic tortilla chips to be sure there are no GMOs.  Also, Trader Joes brand foods do not contain GMOs and they aren’t as pricey as organics.  I occasionally buy Annie’s Cheddar Bunnies.  Have kids snack on cheese sticks, fruit, veggies, yogurt (no artificial crap) as much as possible.  Make homemade cookies and sweets.  Even if you’re using conventional flour, sugar, eggs, you know what’s in it.

5. Skip the fast food. We hardly ever darken the door of a McDonalds anymore, but we do order pizza or cheesesteaks from the local ma and pa shop about once a week.  I figure it’s a compromise.  Let’s face it, sometimes I’m just too tired to cook dinner.  (Like tonight!)

6. Dairy: I would rather have conventional whole milk that is pasteurized with no added hormones than organic milk that is ultra-pasteurized.  Around these parts, Rosenbergers is a good brand.  That’s what I buy when I can’t get to my raw milk sources.  It’s also the brand I buy for half-and-half (for my coffee) and buttermilk when I’m trying to cut corners on the budget or just can’t get to the whole foods store for the grass-fed stuff.

7. Eggs: If budget is an issue, buy conventional.  And eat eggs.  They are still good for you.  If you can afford to buy organic, go for it.  They are fed a little bit better, but they still aren’t outside eating grass and bugs so I wouldn’t break the bank for them.

8. Meat/Poultry/Pork: Eat less of it, for one thing.  Beyond that, I am conflicted.  I originally said that I would probably just buy conventional meats because the organic meat at the grocer is SO pricey, and while there are no antibiotics and growth hormones used, they are still raised in feedlots and overfed.  But the antibiotics and hormones IS concerning, so it really comes down to your budget.  If you can afford it, by all means, buy organic.  But if you can’t, just buy conventional and eat less of it.

9. Veggies/Fruits: Be selective.  I buy some organic produce and some not, depending on price and how it rates on the Dirty Dozen.  I also try not to buy produce from anywhere other than the good ol’ USofA.  During the summer months, try to find local sources if possible.

10. Bread: Make your own, if you can swing it.  If not, buy the stuff without HFCS.  It’s hard to find, it’s spendy, and there is still a lot of other junk in it, but I realize that some families simply do not have time to make bread every week.  It’s not a hill to die on.

11. No sodas, juice, etc. No one needs that junk.  Although we do buy OJ.

What am I forgetting?

Oh yeah!  Thanks to a commenter, I’ll add a #12.

12. Grow your own if you can. Growing produce and herbs is a great way to save money and know exactly what you’re getting.  I don’t have a yard that is conducive to a vegetable garden per say, but this summer I may try to plant a few things that will blend into my flower gardens.  Last summer I took to growing herbs on my deck — a great way to add a boost of freshness to your meals and SO much cheaper than buying them at the supermarket.

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