Well, I messed up a bit last night after what should have been my last food for the day. I ate a second, kinda too large, helping of some rice I made for the kids... Big mistake. I love rice but it must be a calorie per grain as it is a sure thing for weight gain for me. I didn't even bother to weigh as I felt really bloated this morning...ugh.
So, what's the hard part? Obviously getting exercise is not hard for me to do. The hard part for me is controlling the eating. It's not even controlling the eating all day; it's controlling the eating from about 4pm till I go to bed. You'd think if I only need will power for a few hours it would be a proverbial piece of cake ;-)-pun intended!
Well, it's not. Most of the time I eat the extra food, not because I'm hungry, but because I like to eat. It's fun! There is another, worse and harder to handle, element to the overeating. I will eat a perfect meal and get comfortably full...note I said "full." I do not get easily satisfied! There is some kind of miswiring somewhere in my system/brain. This is torture.
I have spoken ad nauseum with my naturally skinny friends about how they view food and what they feel when they eat. They, first of all, do not view eating as "fun." It is yummy to them and enjoyable while they are eating but when they are done they are done and no longer have a desire to eat more. They are totally satisfied! The thought of food leaves their minds and they move on to other things. That is totally foreign to me. For me, the thought of eating does not leave my mind at all. I eat till I'm satisfied and that may take 2 or 3 servings of a ridiculous meal. Just understand, it is possible to eat too much of the right thing, too! It's hard, but I can and have done it. This is stupid!...and frustrating.
So, I mentioned previously, that I know what I have to do and it works for me. So I will back up and give a brief history of my discovery.
I am a vegetarian and have been since 1990. But I'm not a vegan...I'm not that strong! Besides, I really do love cheese and cream...in small doses. Anyway, I'm not huge into dairy and for that I am grateful. Just don't care for it that much.
As I stated in my last post, I learned a lot about running form and eating while recovering from my broken femur. Just real quick, if you want a fantastic running book to read I highly recommend Born to Run. This is a wealth of information and educational in a very entertaining format.Ok, back to eating. I first came across a book I had heard about from several different, unrelated sources. So I figured this was a sign. I need to read this book. The book is Wheat Belly By Dr. William Davis. This is a really interesting and educational book. I was off wheat, for the most part, by chapter two.
Chapter 8 was really informative as that chapter is about how modern wheat and grains affect cartilage and bones. As I was infirmed with a broken femur at the time this interested me, in particular.
So, I left wheat behind. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be but for some, as was for a friend of mine at the time, true withdraw is experienced.
Modern wheat is truly weird. It is called the "feel good" food for a reason. As it turns out, upon digestion, gluten is broken down into 2 component parts. One of them, gliadin, actually permeabilizes the intestine lining, gets into the blood steam, crosses the blood brain barrier and, to pour salt in the wound, fits right into the morphine receptors in the brain!!! Wow, there are very few compounds that can do any one of those things! In addition to the physiological weirdness of gluten in modern wheat there is the genetic component, too. If memory serves right (I encourage you to read for yourself as it's been a while since I read this but it made a big impression), the wheat we eat today, Dwarf Wheat, was developed in the late 1960s in a program that was working to breed a high yield wheat to stamp out starvation, mostly in China, at the time. It did its job and that is good, BUT, the gluten in dwarf wheat is a novel protein not found in the parental varieties. So what? Well, dwarf wheat is so genetically different from the parental varieties that it is farther apart from its parental varieties than humans are from chimpanzees! Yet it is still called wheat!
Ok, enough of that. Needless to say, I left wheat. This did not do anything for me in terms of losing weight but what it did do is make me feel so much better. I am not celiac but you don't need to be in order to feel the difference in how you feel off wheat. I first noticed it about a week after I was off it. I was jogging with my friend and told her that for some reason my joints just weren't hurting. that was a little unusual as I typically always have some kind of ache. But my joints felt like a well oiled machine! I couldn't figure out why this was but then it dawned on me that I had been off wheat. To this day, if I let myself eat more than a token bit of wheat I feel my joints swell and ache.
I also learned a lot about the glycemic index. I try to stay low glycemic as best I can, as well.
So, I got of glutinous grains, wheat, rye, and barley. I love all 3 of those stupid grains but I feel better off them. I do let that slide for holidays, though :-). But, still, no difference in weight.
Then I discovered Dr. Fuhrman's, Eat to Live. This was what worked for me like gang busters!This was really easy to switch to, with regard to eating, for me. It is heavily vegetable based and it is incredible for your health. I have proof of that as I had my physical done several months after I started this program and my blood work showed a serious reduction in LDLs and much higher HDLs in my cholesterol. The biggest drop was my triglycerides! I was amazed at the blood work results. To boot, I lost 9 lbs the first two weeks. My snacky desires ended because of all the micro-nutrients you get eating this way.The veggies he pushes the most are the cruciferae/brassicas (broccoli, kale,cabbage...), mushrooms and onions. Honest to Pete you should hear and read the anti cancerous effects these things have. They work synergistically together. This way of eating is so good, both yummy and health wise. I loosely kept count of caloric intake. I gained so much energy. Ultimately, I lost 25lbs by the time I was released from my crutches. Then it all stopped...why?
I started running, again! I got hungrier and too tired to prepare the food... This is a real problem for me. I am super lazy when it comes to preparing food. I absolutely HATE making a salad. I hate chopping vegetables, I hate the time it takes to make soup or stirfry...I know, I know...this is absurd! My husband calls me the strangest vegetarian he has ever seen.
Anyway, when I was on crutches I had gobs of time to cook and prepare food. Now that I'm back running, I fill my time with that and get too tired to cook. So, I fell off the Fuhrman wagon, sadly.
Now, I'm having a coming to Jesus talk with myself... actually, a coming to Fuhrman talk, lol. I have to just do it! It really is that simple. I cannot continue to be as lazy as I am. I know, there is even pre-chopped lettuce now but you still have to cut onions and tomatoes ( I don't care for cherry tomatoes in my salad. I really like chopped tomatoes, lol) Whine, whine, whine! Oh, and speaking of that, I adore wine, red wine, in particular. I gotta do less of that too...sigh.
Well, I guess I've unzipped my fly enough, lol. I will weigh tomorrow because the rest of today is going to be amazing! It is 3:53pm and I'm going to go for a run in a bit. I am enetering my danger zone for the day, in terms of eating, but I will be strong! I'll check in tomorrow and let you know how it goes.
TTFN
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