Today starts my journey of eating exactly what I want, when I want it. I followed this way of eating yesterday for about half the day, and I was shocked to see my weight actually down a few pounds in the morning. Not half bad!
I worked a night shift yesterday, so I woke up about 45 minutes ago. Were I less tired, I would have taken a picture of my meal. It was gorgeous!
This morning, I woke up and I really thought to myself, "What do I want to eat?" I grabbed my loaf of fresh crusty italian bread (chicago style) and cut a thin-ish slice. I drizzled it lightly with olive oil and topped it with sea salt and fresh ground pepper. I then proceeded to make a deconstructed sandwich with 2 ounces (roughly, no measuring here anymore!) of medium rare thinly sliced top sirloin, a couple tablespoons on bruschetta topping, and about an ounce (or more!) of feta cheese.
Oh. My. God. It was delicious. I haven't allowed myself to enjoy bread - really enjoy it - in years. It was far better than my best memory, I may have given myself a little too much feta, as I ended up with a thumb-sized portion being eaten plain simply because I couldn't eat it all on the bread. A little feta goes a long way! But it was creamy and imported from Greece - and tasted like heaven. I foresee some tomato, cucumber, and feta salads in the near future. Drizzled in Greek olive oil. Mmmmmmm.
The hardest thing for me is that my brain keeps trying to guess at the calories. I keep labeling things in portion sizes and trying to count it out. I do stop myself; this isn't a healthy way to think, after all. The whole point of my experiment is "What happens if I stop stressing and live?" Stressing isn't getting my anywhere!
I'm going to make some soda for the rest of the day and perhaps pick out a few little snacks for work in case I get a craving. I think 2-3 dolmas and a small bag of dried pineapple will be sufficient since I only plan to work 5 hours today. That way, if I get hungry, I have something sweet and something savory that I love. I think in a few days when I need to shop again, I'll be picking up some tomatoes, cucumbers, and dark chocolate. I wish it were summer - cherries sound fairly incredible as well. I really like the thought of buying whatever it is I crave.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Eating to love, not just to live
Something hit me today. It may sound so simple, so obvious, but the truth is, most women don't realize it.
We shouldn't be eating to live. We shouldn't be restricting ourselves to foods that we just simply think are "okay" or decent in the name of losing weight. We should eat what we honestly love.. That may sound a bit crazy at first, but really - hear me out. Do you truly love french fries or fast food? Do you love processed foods or high fat potato chips?
We like these things, because they have fat and salt that our bodies crave, but if you put a bite in your mouth and truly savor it, most of you will realize that you don't actually love these "indulgences" at all. On the other end of the spectrum, how many women eat things like rice cakes or celery simply because they are low in calorie? Why do that to yourself? When you eat bulk amounts of food you simply tolerate, it just makes it more likely that you will binge on the foods you crave - mainly sugar and fat and salt.
I for one am sick of the pattern of eating next to nothing or pure junk. That's why I've decided to stop dieting and to start living. Eating to love, for once.
My thought is that if I eat the expensive, indulgent foods that I truly love, I will find that I stop craving junk foods and that I will never actually need to diet. I expect my weight to stay the same or decrease, because I will no longer diet and then cheat on the diet. I will simply eat the foods I love in the smaller, healthier amounts that they should be eaten in. This food blog will detail how my eating has changed and how it is affecting my body.
Why eat to love?
I noticed that when I tried to restrict calories or carbs because my weight is slightly higher from a holiday weekend or vacation, I had a tendency to binge at the end of the day. Just two days ago, I went all day eating nothing but lean protein, only to lie in bed and polish off a full box of nerds candy that I received for Easter. Why do I do this to myself? Sure, I'm up about 10 pounds, but really, who isn't after a holiday vacation?
Today, I went grocery shopping. I started out thinking, "I'll just get low carb foods I enjoy. I can skip the dolmas and hummus until I'm down 10 pounds." But then it hit me: Why was I skipping foods I love - relatively healthy foods at that! - just because of some temporary water weight? Why keep the cycle going of diet - binge - diet - binge?
Instead, I picked up the hummus and the dolmas. I also got some cheeses I truly love (fresh parmesan, fresh imported Greek goat cheese, Australian cheddar), some high quality roast beef, some crusty italian bread, wine, fresh bruschetta topping, greek yogurt, dried fruits (pineapple and golden raisins), asian pears, artichokes, and shrimp. For me, these are the foods I truly love. For you, they may be something totally different. The point is, I told myself that everything was allowed and not to worry much about the price. Then, I picked out what foods I truly wanted to eat.
Tomorrow will start my first full day of eating to love.
We shouldn't be eating to live. We shouldn't be restricting ourselves to foods that we just simply think are "okay" or decent in the name of losing weight. We should eat what we honestly love.. That may sound a bit crazy at first, but really - hear me out. Do you truly love french fries or fast food? Do you love processed foods or high fat potato chips?
We like these things, because they have fat and salt that our bodies crave, but if you put a bite in your mouth and truly savor it, most of you will realize that you don't actually love these "indulgences" at all. On the other end of the spectrum, how many women eat things like rice cakes or celery simply because they are low in calorie? Why do that to yourself? When you eat bulk amounts of food you simply tolerate, it just makes it more likely that you will binge on the foods you crave - mainly sugar and fat and salt.
I for one am sick of the pattern of eating next to nothing or pure junk. That's why I've decided to stop dieting and to start living. Eating to love, for once.
My thought is that if I eat the expensive, indulgent foods that I truly love, I will find that I stop craving junk foods and that I will never actually need to diet. I expect my weight to stay the same or decrease, because I will no longer diet and then cheat on the diet. I will simply eat the foods I love in the smaller, healthier amounts that they should be eaten in. This food blog will detail how my eating has changed and how it is affecting my body.
Why eat to love?
I noticed that when I tried to restrict calories or carbs because my weight is slightly higher from a holiday weekend or vacation, I had a tendency to binge at the end of the day. Just two days ago, I went all day eating nothing but lean protein, only to lie in bed and polish off a full box of nerds candy that I received for Easter. Why do I do this to myself? Sure, I'm up about 10 pounds, but really, who isn't after a holiday vacation?
Today, I went grocery shopping. I started out thinking, "I'll just get low carb foods I enjoy. I can skip the dolmas and hummus until I'm down 10 pounds." But then it hit me: Why was I skipping foods I love - relatively healthy foods at that! - just because of some temporary water weight? Why keep the cycle going of diet - binge - diet - binge?
Instead, I picked up the hummus and the dolmas. I also got some cheeses I truly love (fresh parmesan, fresh imported Greek goat cheese, Australian cheddar), some high quality roast beef, some crusty italian bread, wine, fresh bruschetta topping, greek yogurt, dried fruits (pineapple and golden raisins), asian pears, artichokes, and shrimp. For me, these are the foods I truly love. For you, they may be something totally different. The point is, I told myself that everything was allowed and not to worry much about the price. Then, I picked out what foods I truly wanted to eat.
Tomorrow will start my first full day of eating to love.
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