In mid September, I began a quest to become slimmer and healthier. The challenge was to find a 'diet' that I would stick with and that would not be so strict, that I would become frustrated or bored with it.
Now, I have done the Adkins diet, the South Beach diet, the Mediterranean diet, the Cabbage Soup diet, the AHA diet (by far the worst and impossible to keep doing it for very long period of time), and many, many others. The only one I had half a chance of sticking to was the Mediterranean diet, because most of the food on this one was flavorful, if sparse. See, I like food. No, check that, I LOVE food. I am a foodie, lock, stock, and barrel. This is partly the reason I ended up in this predicament. Food isn't just sustenance to me, food is my hobby, my comfort, my way to relax, my way to celebrate, my way to show love. Put simply, food is a part of me.
How does a 'foodie' stick with a diet when the food is basically tasteless, sparse, and repetitive? This has been my conundrum for many years. However, in my quest to eat fresher, local, and sometimes self grown, I have dug up recipes from my Mediterranean and Sonoma diet books, which both emphasizes the preparation of food, using seasonal and local ingredients, while avoiding processed or prepackaged foods. So when I decided to create a plan that would work for me, part of my homework was already done.
Now let's get to heart of the issue with me and that four letter word DIET. Diet to me, means suffering. It means denying myself something that I really want and torturing myself with foods, that frankly, I would rather go hungry than eat. So I had to do a little mental work first and combat my phobia of diets. To start with, I decided that a diet wouldn't work at all. Because diet, to me, has such a negative meaning that I tend to self sabotage or avoided dieting all together. Dieting means to fail and this time, I was not going to fail.
So I reflected on the things that worked for me in the past. Things that satisfied me, appealed to the foodie in me. I realized that food is an event in my life and try as I may, that was never going to change. So I decided to quit looking as food as a negative. Bad, wrong, forbidden and make my deep love of food a good thing. So no dieting. Instead, I was going to formulate a lifetime way of eating that not only could I live with, but I would be excited about.
Years ago, I was a patient at an Eating Disorder Clinic. One of the first things I learned from the helpful staff was, to control your weight, no matter what diet you are on, there is only one important thing you need to really be aware of: How many calories you take in verses how many calories you expend. It's simple mathematics. The more calories you take in, the more activity you need to do to burn those calories. High protein or high carb diets are not sustainable, or even healthy for you for long periods of time. With this in mind, I had to finally face the fact that I was A: eating way to many calories, many of them empty, non nourishing, and B: that I have a very sedentary lifestyle, seeing that I sit at a computer for 10-12 hours a day. So I did some research, found out how many calories I need to maintain my present weight and how many calories I needed to consume to lose 1-2 lbs a week. I was actually a little shocked to find that I was allowed quite a bit more than I assumed. Now all I needed to do, was make myself eat food that was better for me and would be worth more nutritionally and to get my butt moving.
Now that I had my calorie allowance and scheduled two exercise classes per week, it was time to deal with the food. I did an incredible about of research and found that I don't have to eat food that is tasteless, repetitive, and minimal. What I needed to do is become aware of the cost of things calorie wise and to change my way of thinking. Was fast or easy, and the time it saved me, really worth the cost I was incurring in other areas in my life?
Since food is my hobby and I already did a lot of searching for recipes in magazines, cookbooks, and online sources, I challenged myself to find great recipes, with mostly fresh ingredients, that are healthy, as well as low calorie. It wasn't long before I struck the mother load. You have no idea how many great sources there are out there for fantastic recipes. I currently subscribe to several great magazines, such as Cooking Light and Eating Well, and also read loads of blogs, but my favorites are Mother Rimmy's Cooking Light Done Right, Cheap Healthy Good and The Picky Eater. What I have discovered is that I can have amazingly good food, still remaining the consummate foodie, while eating my way into good health. Healthy does not have to equal blah.
I eat awesomely good food. Food that not only tastes out of this world, but looks stunning on the plate. My best friend teases that I make food art and I guess I do. I am so proud of my creations, that I send pictures to her and my mom, to brag about my dazzling meals and their low calorie count.
I have my favorite recipes, but mostly I change it up and make sure I have variety. I have stretched some and made dishes, using ingredients that I would not have normally considered before. Fennel and lentils now show up in regular rotation. I also try to eat a lot of in season produce and of course, if possible, local. There is something about knowing the farmer, the land, and the farming methods that give you a special sort of peace of mind. Most of my farming friends grow organic veggies that are far superior in taste and quality, than much of what I can get at my local big name store.
I get asked a lot about the cost and the time. I'll address the cost first. Sure, good ingredients cost more than the processed or mass produced stuff. And have you looked out the price of organic, hormone free meat???!! It's simply criminal!! But I have learned to watch for sales and freeze my quality meat. I have also gotten out of the habit of buying a lot of stuff by bulk, that will only spoil before using, instead choosing to shop more often for produce in smaller, usable quantities. I plan my meals for two weeks, choosing recipes that will use a lot of common ingredients, and calculate exactly the amount that I need, so there is no waste. Carrots can find themselves shredded into a a sloppy joe mix, roasted with a chicken, or cut up into a soup. Right now I am doing the same thing with fresh herbs, until I can get my herb garden going again.
Another thing I do to even out the cost of my groceries is to cut down how often I eat out. Sure it seems cheap to go to fast food restaurant, buying more for your buck at the dollar menu, but in the end what do you have? Crappy food that makes you feel horrible and will only last one meal. The meals I make can feed me for days. What I don't eat, I freeze and take to work for lunch. And let me tell you, I eat very well. Almost everyday I eat like a gourmet. I have actually found that I'm not spending any more in the long run.
Now about the time. Sure, it's more time consuming to chop, stew, saute, braise, grill and roast, than to throw something in the microwave, but a lot of time I prepare several meals, or prep ingredients on the weekend, to make my work week easier. And don't forget about those homemade meals I have packaged up,labeled (with contents, calories and date frozen), and stored in the deep freeze. I can pull a couple of those out, warm them up, make a quick salad or fresh side dish and voila', a quick, easy, scrumptious, but most importantly, a healthy meal!
I love the whole experience of cooking, so preparing these meals are kind of a stress reliever for me. Since I have embraced this new life plan, I am 30 lbs lighter, a heck of a lot healthier, and so very much happier on the whole. I will blog more about this subject later. Expect recipes and pictures, but until next time, keep it simple, attempt to be greener, and do something productive that you love. Bon Appetit!
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