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| Typical extended family dinner spread |
The answer to that question for me has always been - duh, eat it! Joe is the love of my life, but food has always been my first love. Everyone in my family loves to eat, and we grew up on large extended family dinners on Friday nights, and large food fests for birthdays. We would also have a fresh set of dishes for dinner EVERY night. My mom sacrificed her free time after work so that we would always have 2 kinds of meat, fish, and at least 2 vegetables dishes for dinner, along with a pot of soup that my grandfather would start at 4pm.
Because I grew up understanding that love = food, food began to = good feelings, happiness, etc as I got older. Food and I always got along, especially if food = soup. Slowly, as I wandered farther from home, food began to come in tastier/sugary forms, and more convenient forms - frozen dinners, animal cookies, chips, cheesecakes, etc. What I wasn't noticing was that the food I was eating was containing more and more empty calories, and less nutrition.
We were able to realize this only after going on the South Beach Diet. It has been a life changer and it has helped convert my taste buds to like "healthy" foods. Going two weeks without processed foods, carbs, and sugars have helped me eliminate my addiction to those types of foods.
It's hard to believe, but once you go without these foods, your body will adjust and you actually won't miss it! I'm shocked as anybody because I used to be so addicted to junk food! And after two weeks of not eating carbs (well, you can cheat once in a while), even cardboard will taste good and thus, at this point, you can introduce brown carbs back into your life.
Here's a quick summary of how I choose to eat these days:
- eliminate all junk food, processed food
- eat "brown" carbs only - whole wheat bread, rice, whole wheat pasta, egg noodles made with wheat.
- start the day with omelet and steel cut oatmeal (instant oatmeal is actually not good for you!)
- snack 2x a day - nuts/yogurt/cheese
- replace white potatoes with sweet potatoes
- load up on lentils, beans (you could never get bored, there are so many kinds!)
- okay to have a "cheat" meal if you follow up with a meal of less meat/more veggies/legumes
I know that my healthier eating habits will sometimes disqualify me from being an "eater," a title that I have worked hard to earn. I still love delicious food, and I love variety, but just the quantity that satisfies me has gone down. Perhaps other eaters will want to eat with me, because now I'll actually be willing to share! :)
Good South Beach diet website
Kalyn's Kitchen - I love her recipes - she makes healthy eating taste great! For those who want to skip the most restrictive phase (phase #1), just look up recipes for Phase #2 (brown carbs, healthy eating phase)
