No Rules, Just Good Choices

This post is mostly for my friend Jak. :) She has expressed an interest in my health plan and this will serve as a peek into my brain. The main thing I feel I need to convey is that I am not going to follow a "diet" per se. I can only share the choices that I make and give the explanation for them. A diet is something you do for a short term, that gives short term results, then you go back to your old ways and get fat and unhealthy again. A change is what I'm talking about. A change in the way you think, which therefor changes the way you behave. Forever.

Follow me down the back story road once more, real quick.  Inspiration. There's always something that sparks a fire in us. Never has it been some infomercial, or something being peddled to me. I cannot be categorized as a band-wagoner. When it comes to health and fitness, I'm not picking up the phone to buy P90X when I see their commercials. I don't jump on the opportunity to call Jenny Craig because they're having a special. I have never had the inkling to even look up Slim for Life, even though I hear their radio ad daily boasting, "Lose 30lbs for only $30!..supplements not included..."  I'm not interested in magic pills, points, starvation diets, or at home fitness do-dads. Nope, it's just not me. I am intrigued by the tangible, by things that are real, things that make sense, with real results, and real people to prove it to me. Hell, I kind of sound like an infomercial now, but I digress - inspiration.

My biggest inspiration has been my mother.  Not only is my mother a bubbly, warm, caring and all over amazing woman, she has had great success in getting HEALTHY over the past two years. I loom over my mother, she at 5'2", me at 5'7" (and by the way, I love to wear heels.... tall heels - so I REALLY tower over mom!). She has been close to 300lbs at her heaviest, and has always been obese, morbidly obese - ever since I can remember. There may have been a time when I was 4 that she was under 200lbs - but that changed when she lost her dad. We were overseas at the time, she was unable to attend the funeral. Grandpa died at a very young age and unexpectedly, so it was super hard for my mom, she was very close to her dad.  She ate to ease the pain, and was on a couple different antidepressants to try to manage, all which contributed to her ballooning. From then on, she yo-yo'd. For any emotion, it was eat.  Happy? Eat to celebrate. Holiday? Food food food.  Sad? Eat. Lots. It sounds bad, but really - isn't that the "typical American" way of eating?

Finally, mom decided to make a change (not a diet - a change) Two years ago she joined Food Addicts .http://www.foodaddicts.org/ She realized that she is, in fact, addicted to food. By utilizing weekly meetings, a sponsor, working the 12 steps, and adhering to a food plan, she has lost over 100lbs and is still losing an average of 1-2 lbs per week.  My mom is currently around 144 lbs (that was the last number she told me) and has been able to completely come off her high blood pressure medicine. She's added years to her life, and quality to her years. AND she's started exercising! My mom NEVER exercised! It's really, really amazing. So, clearly when I saw such an amazing transformation in my mother, I wanted to know what this FA thing was all about, and what their "food plan" entailed. Well - it's really quite simple. The basic principals are to abstain from all forms of flour and sugar, and to practice portion control (most items are weighed by the oz - simply use a kitchen scale). Sounds easy enough right?  Here's what mom's daily food plan looks like:

Breakfast -
2 eggs (or you can substitute any protein, black beans, 2 oz hard cheese, 4 oz plain yogurt/greek yogurt, 4 oz chicken, ham, anything you like)
6 oz fresh fruit (or frozen if you don't have fresh - or canned, but make sure it's in its own juice, not heavy syrup - if it was packed in syrup, just throw it in a strainer and rinse the syrup off)
1 oz plain oatmeal (measured before cooking) or other grain such as Uncle Sam's toasted whole wheat with flax seed cereal.
*If you go with yogurt for your protein, you can make a nice little parfait with your fruit and cereal! Yummy! Or, mix your fruit in with your oatmeal and have that with your eggs for a nice hot breakfast. Just remember, plain oatmeal, do not add sugar - sweeten with a packet of stevia if needed.

Lunch -
6 oz protein (again, anything you'd like - grilled chicken, black beans, fish, tofu, pork, beef, eggs etc...)
6 oz cooked veggies
3 oz starch (potato or brown rice - sweet potato preferred over white)
6 oz fresh fruit

Dinner -
6oz protein
6 oz cooked veggies
8 oz salad with 2 Tbsp dressing
3 oz starch

*Note: this is my mom's food plan. A man's would be different. A person just starting "program" would be different as well. Someone who does not need to lose anymore weight would be different, to sustain the weight.  Adjustments are made and the plan is personalized for each individual - but this is a good basic snap shot to give you an idea.

You can see you have the ability to mix it up. Most things are permissible as long as they do not have four or sugar in them. That immediately steers you toward eating whole foods, fresh foods, minimally processed foods. The measuring helps you maintain appropriate portions - but I have to say by no means is this a restrictive plan. 1 oz of oatmeal is what comes in the instant packets. 6 oz of cooked veggies is about one and a half cans of green beans. An 8 oz salad is a really nice, really big salad. 6 oz of protein is a filling portion.

I think that most of us can honestly say we eat portions that are WAY too big.  This is mostly attributed to the growing portion sizes fed to us by the food industry in America - also see - Then vs Now , so it's important to weigh your food until you get an accurate understanding of how MUCH food you're actually supposed to put in your face! :)

As for me: the food plan my mom uses is my baseline. I do not adhere to it strictly myself, but it is the BONES of how I choose to eat. Here are a few ways we differ:

• Meat. I tend to choose non-meat proteins. That's not to say I'm a vegetarian - I do eat meat on a rare occasion, but most days, I do not at all. Why? I know that animal fat at body temperature is solid, difficult to digest, and creates a bloaty, gassy environment in my bowels (Hello! Let's avoid that!) I also feel that we, as humans, were not meant to be carnivorous. We do not have sharp teeth and claws like, say for instance, a lion, and our bodies are not built to digest animal meat. Therefor, I mostly opt for black beans, tofu, fish, soy, eggs, cheese etc... Great info on non meat protein here
• Dairy. About the only dairy I will eat is organic, locally produced cottage cheese, or Greek yogurt, and only occasionally. Or maybe a really, really nice artisan cheese from the local organic farm. I can't resist a good, hand crafted cheese! All other dairy, cow's milk, sliced cheese, shredded cheese, etc is all out the window. The why of it all? Commercial dairy products are mass produced from milk cows, who live their lives in a factory assembly line with their udders attached to milk pumps. Cows, by design, are not meant to produce milk forever. They're meant to produce milk for their calves.  Because of the mass production aspect, cows must be given hormones and antibiotics to keep them from forming bacteria and puss in their udders and to keep the bacteria from getting to us. Gross on all accounts. Aside from the adverse affects of antibiotics and hormones in humans, and the unethical treatment of animals - guess what? I'M NOT A BABY COW. What's the natural purpose of cow milk? To nurture and fatten up baby cows. That's why it has so much FAT in it, and we then remove the fat to drink it? I'm trying not to be the size of a cow, thanks.  The only milk humans should ever drink is HUMAN milk, and for it's natural function: to support an infant's first year of life. This is one of those "duh" issues in my mind. No milk for me, no thanks. More on milk -  http://saveourbones.com/osteoporosis-milk-myth/
• Organic. That's right, the big O! :) Organic.  I try to eat real, farm grown, locally produced, sustainable, non pesticide sprayed, no hormones, non genetically engineered REAL food as much as possible.  My favorite source, Greenling, delivers these nutritious goodies to my door!  Also, organic food is more nutrient dense! More on the case for organics here. 
• Sugar. Pour some sugar on me!!! :)  My mom's food plan strictly adheres to NO SUGAR, and no flour.  That's jive to me! BUT - I do make a few exceptions when it comes to the sweet stuff. There are low glycemic natural sweeteners that have health benefits that I will sometimes use. A low score on the glycemic index indicates that a food item has a low affect on your blood sugar. High fructose corn syrup is the devil of all sugars. White refined sugar is a close second. I find the natural alternatives to be rather delicious, nutritious, and for me, acceptable to use sparingly. One is raw organic honey. Raw honey is not liquid, it is solid at room temperature because it crystallizes. If it's runny, clear, and comes in a plastic bear - it has been heated and filtered, is not raw, and has lost its natural enzymes and nutritional quality.  The other is organic raw agave nectar. More on honey and agave nectar. 

There's a lot more fun stuff for me to cover - but I'll be covering much more in the posts to follow!