The Diet Naked Blog

Wishy washy

I feel like I am on track, balanced somewhere between perfection and an all-out catastrophe. 

Isn't it so boring to just focus on eating and diet and good food and bad food and the size of your jeans?  Don't you ever get tired of it?  Don't you wish you had a closet full of clothes that fit instead of a selection of sizes that may or may not fit given any given week, month, season or  year?

I do. 

I wonder if there's any escape once you decide to jump into the battle with weight and food.  Is it like a door you walk through that slams locked behind you, the kind of door without a doorknob on the inside, the kind of door that dooms you to a life of imprisonment?

I sure hope not.  I cling to a tiny hope that one day I can just eat when I'm hungry and silence the voice in my head who tells me lies.

In the meantime, I try to balance, try not to get crazy strict or crazy lazy. 

In practical terms, that means that right now I'm drinking my gigantic glass of ice water.  I've walked the dog for thirty minutes (up hill, both ways!).  I'm going to make good choices.  (Besides, there aren't any cookies in the house.)

Falling

So.  I fell apart.  Completely, unless you count the occasional on-track healthy meal.

I don't totally know what happened--something like a binge following a diet, though, if truth be told.  Which is so dumb.  Believe me, I know.  I KNOW.

While on my 30-day adventure of no dairy, no sugar, no grains, I didn't really miss grains, though I kept thinking oatmeal would make my mornings easier.  I didn't really miss dairy, except for Greek yogurt and that in theory more than practice.  I missed my Trader Joe's salad dressing, though, and hardly ate any salad because I hated every other dressing I tried.

I  missed Diet Coke.  (Hey, don't judge.  I know it's not good for me.)  I missed a big glass of ice and lime and Diet Coke.  So sue me.

Anyway, I didn't mind eating without dairy or sugar or grains . . . really, I didn't.  It was pretty easy to say, "no thanks, I'm not eating that this month" . . . but now?  I'm hurling down a mountain, barely swimming my way through an avalanche.  What is wrong with me?

So, tomorrow . . . tomorrow I am going to eat protein and vegetables and healthy oils and fruit.  Easy as . . . pie?  No, no pie. 

I'm a little bit mad that this whole eating thing is turning out to be a lifelong struggle.  Why can't I just be normal when it comes to eating and food? If you find out, please let me know. 

The Whole 30 - My experience summarized

So, on Day 22, I had a problem. 

My son turned 15 years old and requested birthday cake (duh!).  I am a good baker and so I whipped up my usual chocolate cake, using the recipe I've had since I was about 14 years old.  And something went awry.

The cake batter didn't even look chocolate.  When I added the melted unsweetened chocolate to the batter, it turned into specks of chocolate and didn't mix in right. 

So after the weird-looking batter baked, I used a fork to cut out a small corner so I could taste it and make sure it was edible.  (It was, though it was kind of strange.) 

That one little bite, though, turned out to be a bigger problem because it led to another bite, this time with frosting. 

The next morning, I was 100% back on program.  I had no more issues until Day 28, when late at night I ate something I shouldn't have eaten. I think my barrier had been broken by that dumb cake six days earlier.

And that's how I sort of limped to the finish line of the Whole 30.

But, I lost ten pounds. 

(My friend who did it with me, only perfectly, lost 13 pounds!)

I am going to continue to basically eat "clean", adding a touch of dairy and maybe whole grains, though I found I didn't really miss grains much.  (I do plan to start eating oatmeal every morning, I think.)

Anyway, it was a challenge to do the Whole 30 but I'm glad I did it.  I wish I had been perfect because everyone knows being perfect is better than being imperfect.  :) 

 

Review: The Digest Diet Cookbook

I received a copy of this book to review.  Just so you know.

The Digest Diet Cookbook is a beautiful cookbook featuring 150 recipes designed to help readers lose weight and feel great. It includes instructions for creating your own 21-day "fat release plan."

The main idea of the Digest Diet is that you should eat whole foods rather than processed ones.  (I know.  Groundbreaking, right?  Okay, so we all know that eating whole foods is the way to lose weight, but it's nice to have a new cookbook that has recipes compatible with that idea.)

The reader is encouraged to "thrive with five" which means you should eat fiber, protein, vitamin C, calcium and dairy at most meals.  There are charts included showing exactly what that means. 

I like that this book sums up the diet (The Digest Diet) before it launches into all the recipes. She includes tips for organizing your kitchen and that sort of thing, too.

But mainly, this book is about recipes (breakfasts, soups, main dishes, one-dish mains, salads, side dishes, and desserts).  I personally want to try the Fluffy Cottage Cheese Pancakes and the Butternut Breakfast Bread.  I think my kids would like those recipes, too.  I really liked paging through this book checking out the gorgeous photos of food and delicious-sounding recipes.  (I love cookbooks.)

The author also provide menu options for vegetarians, those who are dairy-free or people who have other special needs.

I like this cookbook.  You might, too.  Check it out on Amazon. 

So, how's it going?

I am three weeks into the Whole 30.  Basically, that means I'm eating meat, vegetables, fruits and healthy fats (nuts, olive oil, avocado, etc.). I haven't eaten anything I'm not supposed to eat, even though this weekend I was at a conference and confronted with a university cafeteria.  (Solution:  salad bar . . . and the second day, an omelette bar!)

I'm doing my best to just focus on what I can eat, not what I cannot eat. Because, really, when you think about cheese . . . or muffins, it could make you cry.

Except for the fact that I really feel pretty great.  I'm waking up so much easier than usual. 

So, the big question is what to do after the Whole 30?  I am thinking about what I really miss, what I don't want to live without.  I will quite likely transition to a low-glycemic index diet (likeI did before) and add back into my diet whole grains (oatmeal and brown rice and popcorn!) and dairy (Greek yogurt).  But I am really going to pay attention to how I feel when I eat those foods. 

The truth is that a lot of diets are effective.  You could count calories or points or just quit processed food.  You could track your food in a dozen different ways and read a hundred different books.  What works for me might not work for anyone else.  You just have to keep trying.

Happy Valentine's Day

I've never been all that excited about Valentine's Day, even though I've been very happily married for twenty-five years.  But I do like any reason at all to eat chocolate!

However.

Chocolate has no place on the Whole 30 eating plan, so this year no chocolate will be consumed.

I don't actually mind.

Today, I ate this:

Some pumpkin concoction I saw online (canned pumpkin, eggs, coconut milk, cinnamon--all baked together . . . it was palatable but, uh, needed sweetener if you ask me!)

Turkey and baby carrots

Chopped vegetables and eggs: celery, carrots, onions, mushrooms, spinach. Oh, and half an avocado.

Orange, almonds and a few hazelnuts which I think upset my stomach.  Am I sensitive to hazelnuts of all things?

Lots of water. 

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I'm feeling pretty good and today I was able to wear a pair of jeans I couldn't zip a month ago.  So, there's that.  Who needs chocolate?

I survived my first week on Whole 30

Wow.  I am not sure why I am so amazed, but I am.  I have eaten completely "on program" for a whole week . . . of Whole 30.  That means I've been eating protein and vegetables, a little fruit and a little healthy fat.  No grains, no dairy.  No Diet Coke. 

Truthfully, at this moment, I'm kind of hungry, but it's extremely late, so I'm going to bed.

You are not supposed to weigh yourself during the thirty days of this program, but I confess that I cheated on that front.  I weighed myself several times and as of this morning, have lost 6 pounds.  (I know!)

I have gone up and down the same dumb pounds for a long time but this is a new low weight . . . not just the same five pounds that I lose and gain over and over.

So, tomorrow begins my second week.  I hope this is really It, the magic beginning of a success.

I hope that I have enough traction to finally stop revving my engine and sliding off the road.

Whole 30 Update

I've just finished up my second day on the Whole 30 thing.  I don't really know what to call this plan. It's very similar to a low-glycemic plan.  It's Clean Eating.  It's eating whole foods.  It's Paleo, sort of, but not as restrictive as the diet described in a Paleo book I read awhile back.  I'm doing my best to focus on what I can eat and not remind myself what I can't eat. 

I am eating this:

Meat, eggs, fish
Vegetables
Fruits
Healthy fats (nuts, coconut oil, olive oil, avocado)

That's pretty simple, right? 

I'll tell you what helped me the first day.  I had to take my daughter to soccer practice so I knew it would be a hassle to cook that night.  I happened to have some leftover cooked roast (actually, it was a tri-tip but I'd cooked it in the CrockPot like a roast). 

So I made soup.  I filled my CrockPot half-full with frozen vegetables.  I added the roast, a can of tomatoes, broth, some water, salt and pepper and let it cook all day.  Easy and filling.  And healthy!

I even had it for breakfast the next morning because I'm always pretty rushed at breakfast time.

Anyway, so far, so good, though my head is achey because I'm giving up Diet Coke again (because of the sweetener in it). 

Verdict and a Plan

Okay, so the Three Day Challenge went great.  Felt great, very virtuous and lost 2.6 pounds. 

Then I celebrated my birthday and came down with a cold. 

My plan now . . . starting Monday . . . is to do the Whole 30.  (They've now kind of fiddled and turned it in the Whole 9, but basically, the Whole 30 is thirty consecutive days of eating protein, vegetables, healthy oils and some fruit.)

It's kind of like Paleo, really mostly just eating whole, actual food. 

I read this book (which I found unexpectedly on my Kindle):  It Starts with Good:  Discover the Whole30 and Change Your Life in Unexpected Ways.

I wanted to start on February 1, but realized that it makes more sense to prepare over the weekend and get started on Monday.  (I didn't anticipate this stupid cold which is bumming me out.)

Anyway, so that's the plan, Stan.  Join in or just watch . . . but I'm ready to make a big change.

Three Day Challenge

Last night, I was texting with a friend and we came to the conclusion that what we really needed was a Three Day Challenge.

I thought it was a lovely idea and maybe we could start on February 1 but she said, "tomorrow?" and I said, "okay."

So today, I ate whole, unprocessed foods, starting with old-fashioned oatmeal with an apple chopped into it.  (Seriously, chop up an apple and cook it in the microwave for two and a half minutes with your oatmeal and it's quite delicious.)

I'm hoping that three days will help me realize that I can actually do this, one day at a time, without freaking out at the idea that I can never again eat cupcakes, because face it, cupcakes are not going away forever.

Who wants to live in a world without cupcakes anyway?

So tomorrow, Day Two.  I'm ready!