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| Breakfast bowl |
I�ve had a bit of an epiphany with my food choices lately, and some helpful resources I came across at just the right time have been the catalyst.
From my mid-twenties I�ve joined Weight Watchers a few times and followed their very sensible diet but always fell off eventually, then went back to how I ate before and put the weight back on.
We�re not talking about dozens of kilos here but the same 5-10kg (11-22 pounds) which were quite inconvenient when it came to feeling chic and healthy and looking good.
I�ve always considered myself to have a sweet tooth and I�d tell myself it was harmless really to have sweet treats and if they were low-fat then what was the harm. That�s the low-fat/high-carb old dietary way of thinking that has had me brainwashed from back in the nineties (or was it eighties?).
The �diets don�t work� message we�ve all heard before confused me too. If I said to myself �right, I�m not going to follow a diet, I�m going to eat what I want�, I would eat what I wanted, regardless of if it was healthy or not. And of course I put on weight. So if I�m not going to go on a diet, and I�m going to not go on a diet, what do I do?
One day several months ago I searched for a link between sugar consumption and sinus headaches. I realised that I would invariably wake up with one after a �treat� night of sugary crap. I came upon this link here which horrified me. It made such disgusting reading that I gave up eating sugar for the most part from then on.
I�m not totally 100% strict, I�ll always join in something when we�re out for dinner etc. But I just don�t, for the most part, buy sweet things for myself at home. I keep myself from feeling deprived by saying I can have anything I like, as long as it�s not sugary.
But from eliminating the bulk of sugar from my diet, everything started falling into place. I naturally wanted more nutritious food, I felt better and had more energy, I slept better and my weight started dropping. From a stable weight in the late sixties (kg that is, or 148-149 pounds), I am now around 64kg (141 pounds) and I know there is a little bit still to come off (I�m 5 foot 7 or 170cm so 135 pounds/61kg is meant to be ideal for my height).
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| The Giant Salad for lunch |
When the weight stops coming off then that will be my natural weight. I am not measuring portions because you don�t really need to when it�s real food you�re eating. I know that 1-2 pieces of fruit is a good amount to eat, or half a chicken breast is right for me etc.
After starting on my non-sugar thing, I came across a book at the Red Cross shop for $2 which I almost left on the shelf. I opened it up though and read a few pages, and it was talking about cutting out sugar and how this was the key to being slim and healthy. I thought �we�re on the same wave-length�, so I bought the book and I have to say it�s the best $2 I�ve ever spent. The book is by Lee Janogly and called �Only Fat People Skip Breakfast�. Lee is an English author who is a diet counsellor and every page is filled with common sense, humour and good ideas.
This book did for me with food what Alan Carr�s book did for me with alcohol. It really changed my mindset towards the foods I chose and makes me feel happy with those choices. Coincidentally I think the reason why I am so happy being a non-drinker is the same reason I feel so well not taking in much sugar, as alcohol has tons of sugar in it.
Two other books which I have also gained lots of good information and inspiration from are:
Peter Walsh � �Does This Clutter Make MyButt Look Fat�. I love Peter for his decluttering motivation, but this book is even better � decluttering with weight loss in mind. As with his other books Peter has lots of common sense and good practical ideas you can immediately put into practice.
Gary Taubes - 'Why We Get Fat (And What To Do About It)'. Gary explains the scientific background on why we are getting fatter and I find that really helps make habit changes that stick. It�s one thing to be told what to do, but it�s quite another to understand why it is good for you to eat something and not another. This book sounds boring but it's really not!
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| A roast of beef ready to go into the oven. Extra veges are done to add to the next day's lunch salad. |
Here is what a typical day of food looks like for me now.
Breakfast:
1-2 pieces fresh fruit, washed and sliced � I eat whatever is in season/on special/what looks good at the supermarket or fruit shop.
Small handful of mixed raw nuts (about 16-20) � sometimes I buy a mixed bag and sometimes I buy bags of a single type and mix my own. If I do this I might have 2 brazils, 6 almonds, 4 cashews, 2 hazels, 2 macadamias, 2 pecans for example
A couple of dessert-spoons of yoghurt on top (mostly but not always) � my favoured yoghurt is full-fat with the only ingredients being milk and culture.
This gets me through to mid-morning when I have a soy or milk caf� latte.
At lunch-time, I have a Giant Salad. My lunch salad deserves capital letters! I use a pasta dish (not the family dish, the individual dish) and I pile in fresh salad ingredients, add some protein (half a cooked chicken breast, tuna in springwater or any leftover roast meat from dinner, diced on top) and my favourite treat � creamy dressing. Currently my favourites are Paul Newman � Ranch or Creamy Caesar. I don�t have any bread or carbs with my lunch salad and I don�t really miss it.
Mid- to late-afternoon I will have a small snack, maybe a few slices of cheese on crackers, but more often than not I will steal some of my husband�s protein powder and have a quick protein drink. That stops me coming home starving and looking for pre-dinner snacks.
Then dinner is usually meat and three veg, the old-fashioned way. A roast or mini-roast in the oven with roast pumpkin and carrot (with potato maybe twice a week) and steamed veges dressed with olive oil (such as broccoli, cauliflower etc). And some packet or home-made gravy. Sometimes we have a stir-fry. Two or three times a month we�ll have a pasta dish.
My father-in-law is from England, and he went through sugar rationing during the second-world war. To this day he doesn�t have a sweet tooth and couldn�t care less about dessert, chocolate or anything like that. And he�s pretty lean and healthy for his age of 79.
Better late than never I say, and my �sweet enough without sugar� chic and slender lifestyle starts now! Come with me � are you brave enough to try?