Friday, July 23, 2010

Fake food, real food.

I am a "nutritional information junkie" who is confused by all the information I've read. I've spent a lot of time being overweight and undernourished, and I've tried to remedy this by following assorted low carb, low fat, low calorie, raw food, vegetarian/vegan diets. All of them worked for a time, but I walked away from each of these feeling frustrated, dissatisfied, and plagued by cravings.

Recently I lost 26 lbs. in 11 weeks on a low calorie, low fat, mostly "fake food" diet consisting of prepackaged meals, shakes, and bars. This diet also included some real food - a minimum of 3 servings of vegetables and 2 servings of fruit per day. It worked for a time because it alleviated thinking/planning what I needed to buy or prepare to eat - a true "no brainer" type of diet. Initially I got thinner and I felt better. But somewhere around the halfway point I started feeling weak and unhealthy. I proceeded to the maintenance class. A majority of the folks in that class still had a lot of weight to lose. I wondered what we were all maintaining, aside from doughy bodies on a freak food diet. Feeling sick and tired, I felt like I was on a road headed nowhere (and an expensive road at that).

I desired health and decided to ditch the fake foods, tossing all the boxes, powders and bars.

Enter Real Food. My new approach to a healthful diet involves eating only real food. No fat free or low fat, no artificial sweeteners, and no processed white flour products. Back to eating the kind of food our great grandparents raised our grandparents on. Simply put - no crapola.

I am experimenting with the information found in the book Nourishing Traditions, by Sally Fallon and Mary Enig. I'm testing it out to see what works for me and what doesn't. It seems to make a lot of sense - though it's early to tell, so far, so good.

No comments:

Post a Comment