I thought we ate well. I'll shop at four stores to avoid conventional produce on the dirty dozen list and buy organic. We don't eat junk. I don't buy Doritos or Coke or Lunchables. There is no high-fructose syrup in my house. I've stopped buying Yoplait or most other yogurts that have as much sugar as a Snickers bar. I rag on my kids about making healthy choices. They don't drink juice or eat candy or cookies. I grow a vegetable garden. We don't eat real butter or saturated fats. I pay premium for no-sugar whole wheat bread and buy only nitrate free lunch meat and bacon. I make baked goods maybe 1x every few months for a special treat. I don't buy sugar cereals or pop tarts or any of that stuff. I cook only whole wheat pasta. I don't buy sugar laden tomato sauce or peanut butter - just the healthy stuff. When we do have meat, 90% of the time it's chicken - occasionally red meat for a special treat or maybe fish if I can find a sustainable source on sale. I've made a real effort to stock us with healthy snacks - granola bars low in sugar, whole wheat crackers with hummus, pretzels and cheese slices, etc. Sounds healthy, right? Then why do I still feel like crap??
About a month ago, I turned 34 and for the first time in my life, I was really bothered by getting older. I looked in the mirror and said this is the worst I've ever looked or felt in my life. I'm not obese or even "overweight" by medical standards. But I'm the heaviest I've ever been and, well, I looked like I was 4 months pregnant. Technically I could squeeze into my pre-kids size, but not without a small battle, lots of sucking in, and baggy shirts to hide the muffin tops I'd been pretending weren't there.
But even more important than that, for the first time ever, I FELT old. I was tired and cranky and feeling less energetic than ever. I realized my days were about getting through them. Nights were about dreading the morning. For the first time in my life, I looked at myself and said, "This is the worst you've ever felt and looked. And if you don't change, this is the best you will ever feel and look...because you're getting older." Depressing? You bet.
Then there was the whole mom guilt card. If I feel poorly both physically and mentally, how can I be a good mom to my kids? They deserve the world and I can't give it to them if I'm not at my best. Then there is my husband. I want to be the best partner I can be, but that's not possible if I'm tired and grumpy. We want to enjoy life and hopefully live a really long one!
Enough was enough. I had gotten to the point where I wanted a life revamp because what I was doing wasn't working. I decided if I was really going to give myself a makeover, I better start at the beginning. My diet.
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So my first step after my birthday evaluation was to go on a "diet." Jon and I have dabbled in diets before - South Beach, etc. and have had moderate success, but clearly nothing we did was sustainable as a lifestyle or I wouldn't be writing this blog. However, one diet we tried last year, The Belly Fat Cure, really did produce some drastic results. The whole premise is to cut out all but 15 grams of sugar each day. That's a significant amount considering the average American consumes 189!! SCARY. Life got in the way last time I used this book and I fell into old habits, but I was determined this time and started right away.
I was religious and within 1 week of cutting out excess sugar, I dropped 5 lbs. Nice! And I felt better. I was sleeping well and waking refreshed. I was excited about the day. As for food, I was full. Most anything can be adapted to accommodate no sugar (no fake sugars either!) Choices were varied. I was happy. I thought, "This. Is. Working."
My next thought was - I have to get my kids doing this as well. If sugars were having such a negative effect on me as an adult, imagine the assault they were taking on their little bodies. So last week I sat down at the computer to start researching how to wean my kids off sugar - again, they don't eat Fruit Loops or drink juice. But we do like granola bars - they're fast and easy! And they eat pretzels and goldfish and other seemingly healthy kid snacks. But these are actually pretty poor choices sugar wise and I wanted to research alternatives. I wanted to get Crispier. That's when I stumbled upon this. And it completely turned my world upside down.
After spending 6 days doing nothing but reading and researching, I came to the conclusion that cutting sugar is only the tip of the iceberg if I really want to be a healthy mother raising a healthy family. I decided I need to look to our ancestors....apparently they were kinda badass food wise.
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