I’m afraid to write this post. I feel like every time I share something big like this, I immediately sink myself and fail. I’m hoping that if I admit that up front this time, I won’t do it to myself. *fingers crossed*
My mom has talked a lot over the past year about how she has been dieting & losing weight, and the biggest change? Low (slow) carbs, cutting out bread & pasta, and cutting out high-fructose corn syrup. No “diet” – just making changes. I was inspired, but with our move & everything else, I made some changes to my diet but didn’t dive too deep. I knew she was losing weight, but it wasn’t until she wore a sweater on her birthday a few weeks ago that I know fit her completely different a year ago that I saw how much weight she had lost! Go Mom!
A few days after her birthday, while I was out Christmas shopping, I stopped in Anthropologie – but I didn’t bother looking at the clothes. I knew they didn’t carry my size, and that made me sad, frustrated, angry – a whole range of emotions. Dr. Donald Roland, a plastic surgeon specializing in breast augmentation, notes that most of his patients come to him with this body image issue. I feel that way all the time when I shop. Even though a huge portion of the women in America are technically Plus Size, plus size clothing is so hit or miss still. (Come on designers! Catch up with the needs!) Right then, as I stood in the store, I set a goal for myself that a year from now I want to be able to walk in there and buy a dress off the rack. I’m adding it to my Life List even.
Then I watched “Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead” last Tuesday. Talk about motivational! Oh my goodness! It is on Netflix, and if you want a swift kick to make you want to diet, watch it. Follow it up with “Food, Inc.” like I did, and it will cause a big shift if you’re like me. I’m fortunate that we already go to Revival Market for most of our meat, and I know they could probably tell me exactly where every piece comes from, plus they butcher things in-house. YAY!
As soon as I finished watching those movies, I decided to run with the motivation. So what if it was just days before Christmas??? I decided then and there, that very day, that it was time to change my diet.
By last Thursday, I was off of drinking caffeine. (Fountain Coke is my weakness!) I’ve cut way, way back on the “bad whites” – flour, rice, potatoes. I’ve nearly eliminated flour & therefore gluten as well. I’ve cut back on dairy, because I love cheese a bit too much. My goal is to consume 50% of the volume of what I eat as vegetables. The rest of my diet from meats, fruit and the occasional nut, plus ketones powder that can help jump start ketosis in the body.
I may get to the point of going with the Four Hour Body diet – I know so many people that have been very successful on it. The Crazy Sexy Diet book has also been mentioned many times. I have even considered juicing for 30 days just to really kick start everything, or at least doing a 5 day juicing fast. We’ll see. Ultimately, I know that in order to make it stick, I have to modify it and make it my own.
Diets never succeed. They might help get you started, but they are NOT sustainable. Life changes, and improving your eating habits overall? That will stick!
The whole reason I’m writing this post is so I can look back later and remind myself of why I started doing this, and how after a week of just drinking water and eating lots of veggies, I woke up this morning craving carrots! Not a bready starchy “goodness” full of empty calories, but carrots! And a BIG glass of water, not a Coke. That is already a HUGE change from a week ago!
Interesting side note – I’ve battled being congested for most of the month of December, and nothing seemed to help. Then I started this dietary change, cut out most of my gluten consumption, and viola! NO CONGESTION!!! Coincidence? I don’t think so.
I made it through Christmas without too much of an issue – I did sample a few sweets here & there, but any time I did I kept it minimal – and I ended up 2lbs down from where I was a week ago when I started. I’ll take that!
13 replies on “Learning to Love Veggies…”
Christine, I saw your post on Facebook that linked to this post. You can do it. I know because I ended a painful weight growth streak in 2011: http://www.brettmorrison.net/50 What I did sounds very similar to what your mom did with slow carb. I mention somewhere in that blog post if you are hungry simply eat more beans, greens, and proteins. The book and my results have me convinced that simple calories in versus calories out ignore many of the realities of how our bodies work. Also, to address one of your concerns, I did not cut out caffeine, I simply dropped the fake/real sugar and diary from my caffeine. I did succeeded in totally (and hopefully permanently ) changing my diet. I believe that much of that result is on the allowance of the cheat day. Let me know if I can help. Thanks, Brett
You’ve researched this and thought it through well. You always do when you become interested in something.
Good luck with it, especially the sticking with it. As you said, that’s what’s so hard to do – it has to become your lifestyle.
You’ll be getting a **lot** more vitamins, as well as less starch, glutens, etc.
You can do it!! 🙂
Learning to love vegetables is one of my resolutions for the upcoming year. I highly recommend Michael Pollan’s books. In Defense of Food talks about the very things you are doing in depth and Food Rules is an easy overview that you can refer to at anytime. As Michael Pollan says: Eat Food. Not a Lot. Mostly Plants. I’m working on it.
Hey, thanks for the compliment on how my sweater fit! Veggies are great but you will get hungry feeling quicker if you don’t have some protein and fats. So glad to see you start this! Motivates me to get back on it as I failed so miserably over the holidays. I am sending the last of my candy I made to the store with Al tomorrow!
love, mom
Thanks Tara for cheering me on!!!
Laanba, funny you should mention that – I came across Michael Pollan’s books at B&N yesterday. I might have to give them a whirl.
Mom, the sweater looked great! I’ve been doing a variation of it for months – but I *just* knocked out the “bad whites” and … bam! So much better!
When I started to increase my water intake, I noticed that my taste for carbonated drinks decreased. I guess when you’ve become to used to drinking water most of the time (and an occasional fruit juice and tea), sodas taste “harsh” already. You can do it!
nice post…i like it, very usefull. Good website for good thinkings… 🙂
i love veggies especially on a roast dinner , broccolli,carotts, honey roast parsnips, roast potatoes, mash and thick rich gravy…mmmm
This is NOT a diet but a new way of life. If that is true, why then say you can have one “cheat day” a week. How can you have a cheat day unless it is a diet. I still don’t understand a cheat day. It makes no sense at all to me even having read some about it.
I have experienced the same thing with cutting out gluten consumption and congestion. I don’t think it is a coincidence. I wish I were down 2 pounds after Christmas… I find it easiest to take the low carb route, although it can sometimes not be all that healthy. I love your writing, Christine!
Before the holidays, my skin allergy started to become very seriuos. The doc told me I have to absolutely cut out stuff that I am allergic to. That basically means I have to become a vegan. Since I am also allergic to soy beans, the doc told me I can have wite meat but absolutely no red meat. So my daily meal routine becomes small amount of white meat, small amount of carb (rice or potato, no wheat product what-so-ever), and LOTS of veggies. After the holidays, my skin is getting better and guess what, the side effect is I also loose some weight. Although it was painful in the beginning, I kinda getting used to the meal plan. Hope you can keep up and have a healthy body!!
You need to write more often Christine! And religiously!!!!