The first weekend on spuds is complete.
It was both easy and hard. Easy
in that we knew what to eat. Hard in
that it’s really hard for me to just eat one food. I know, why am I still doing this if it’s so
painful?
I’m learning a lot about myself already. It’s like I can see some things more clearly
when I step back away from food and just eat to sustain life. Physically I’m not craving anything but
fruits and veggies. I’m craving the
variety from my plant based diet. I want
to crunch on a salad and eat a banana something fierce! I’m taking this as a good sign.
What have I learned about me and moderation?
What have I learned about me and moderation?
For someone with food issues, moderation is very
difficult. Moderation is no issue to my
skinny friends who don’t really care about eating nor attach any emotion to
it. They can eat the one cupcake and be
satisfied. For others, it triggers a sweet
tooth and opens a whole world of “possibilities”. The story I tell myself is that “it’s in
moderation, I’m not eating the whole plate of cookies or the whole gallon of
ice cream”. Some people do that and the
fact that I don’t means I’m not that bad right?
I’m not a true food addict right?
I’m not sure of the answer to that question but I do know that food is a
drug used at times to deal with stuff.
My stuff is just not big enough to need a whole gallon of ice
cream. OK, so what does that mean? The trigger is still the same. The emotion causes a reaction. The reaction makes you reach for something to
soothe the emotion. If you don’t drink
or smoke or take medicine the obvious choice is food. It’s the comfort in cold weather, when you
have a cold, when you are depressed, when you come in from school, when you
need a hug, when you are broken up with your favorite someone. It’s the celebration at every get together
from birthdays to ball games. There is a
food for everyone’s problem. It’s what
you deserve after a good weigh in, after a hard week at work, after a marathon. And the foods that we turn to only fuel
addiction. The types of foods that are
addicting have three things: sugar, fat
and salt. (Did you know that this is why
they coat the fries at McDonalds in sugar before they put them in the fryer? Is it any wonder they are addicting? Nope.
They planned it that way). So
there are physical reasons we are addicted to the bad food and mental cues all
around us that make it almost impossible to NOT fall in the emotional eating
trap. The food industry spends billions
to make sure you do.
So what now? You can’t just never eat an Oreo again or
swear off potato chips for life can you?
Well, if you are an alcoholic would you seriously think you would be
asking yourself that question about your favorite drink? The answer is YES you can. Will it be hard? Yes!
And if you are on the side of the fence where you have not broken the
physical addiction then this may sound impossible. If you have no support group in your life to
help you even want to stay on the straight and narrow it would seem unrealistic
to think you could. But I’m proclaiming
today in front of my two readers that I will be here for you. If you want to say no to the triggers in your
food world I will take a stand in front of you and show you how it’s done. I don’t want to be a slave to food
anymore. I will make an alternative that
is low in sugar, fat and salt to everything I love and enjoy food on my
terms. I will share these recipes with
you and give you the mental tools as I learn them to continue on this journey
to incredible health.
What I have learned so far...
- To start you have to reset your taste buds. You can do it with juices or spuds or any other cleanse you might want to try. There are some things I learned that are critical in that process. Take a B12 supplement, maybe vitamin D if you don’t get much sun and take a Probiotic. This is an affordable one if you need an option: Physiq Probio. You would take the probiotic to bring in good bacteria. As I have said before in an earlier blog , the gut determines what you crave and health of your organs. Very important to have a good gut biome!
- As you are cleansing, learn how to eat better. I have an earlier blog that also gives a list of instructions if you want to choose the plant based lifestyle. .
- Get support. I’m just started a closed group on facebook called “Journey to Incredible Health”. If you want to join you can search and find it and request membership. I want to support those who want to eat better and I will post recipes and inspiration on this page. I would love to hear what motivates you and what struggles you are having and maybe as a group we can all join in to help. Or maybe you want to just sit back and be a silent participant. That’s ok too.
OK that’s enough for tonight. I did not expect to say all that but the
words started flowing through my fingertips and before I knew it I was
committing to stuff J Thanks for journeying along! I have a testimonial from another Spud Fit
veteran coming next week AND I have blood work from the start of the
challenge. I know everyone loves to see
bloodwork – the proof is in the blood!
More later!
FIRST, I love and admire you...I have sat here Crying and reading. I can tell you that I was never this big. I got tired of being bullied and just started eating after she daily told me that my smile and physical beauty made her sick. I ate when I was sad, happy, bored, angry...ETC. I am ashamed of me now. I have NO accountability/help at home. I need to lose 80 pounds or I am going back to the wheel chair soon. I am sick and tired of being tired and sick. I have been thinking about this every since you started. My biggest fear is the food tease I get ... I know something has to be done now before it is too late. I fear not being strong enough to do this alone. I hate going public, but I need help. I cannot hide any more. I am too big. The doctor says I have to be 115. That is a long way from 199.
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