Small Slice

I've noticed that I've got quite a few new readers (Hello!) and I'm getting quite a few questions about my diet and exercise efforts - I thought I would take this week to talk a bit about what is working for me.

Oh yeah, and I'll post my menu for the week, too.  Heh.

I read a book by Dr. Will Clower called "The Fat Fallacy."  He explains why the French aren't an obese population, even though they eat rich, fatty foods.  It was a quick read, and made a lot of sense.  I've been trying to apply the principles to my diet ever since.

Basically, it boils down to eating natural foods, in small portions, while sitting at a table.

I'm the first to admit that our family dinner time is anything but peaceful and serene.  With a three-year-old, a six-year-old and a seven-year-old, I am struggling to keep their behinds in chairs for an entire dinner.  The idea of enjoying a leisurely family meal is something I'm still working towards.

But the transition to eating healthy, natural foods has been surprisingly easy.  The kids have never been big eaters, so I'm taking any complaints from them with a grain of salt.  They eat enough to keep them active, so I must be doing something right.

So, what do I mean when I say "healthy" and "natural" foods?  The food industry makes a lot of "healthy" foods that are full of artificial ingredients and mystery chemicals.  We've been taught to fear fats and sugars in all their forms.  Carbs are bad.  Eggs are bad.  We think nothing of eating chemically-laden foods, without even being able to identify what exactly we are eating. 

I'm trying to stay away from packaged foods, in general.  I am trying to eat food that I can look at and easily see that it grew on a tree, in the dirt, or had a mama.  Apples.  Chicken.  Potatoes. 

If I do use packaged products, I look at the ingredients, and find brands that I can identify every single ingredient on the label.  If I can't, I put it back. 

I purchase whole-fat dairy products for my family, and enjoy them gleefully.  I buy real cheeses, natural yogurts without dyes and synthetic flavorings.  I use real butter and heavy cream, and olive oils.  I don't buy anything that says "food" on the label.

We've been told for years and years that the way to a healthy diet and weight loss is to replace natural foods with chemically-altered versions.  It doesn't make any sense to me.

The problem is that people like me want to have our cake, and eat it too.  We want to eat all of our favorite snackies, and not have to pay for it.  We tell ourselves that it is practically virtuous to eat foods with Splenda instead of sugar, or to have a Diet Coke instead of a milkshake.  Aside from the fact that many of these foods are contributing nothing in the way of nutrition, they are keeping our cravings for junk food alive and well.  We may be saving a few calories by eating a low-whatever version of Doritos, but the whole problem is that we shouldn't be eating Doritos at all.

I'll admit, the hardest part for me was eliminating snacks from my diet.  Those mid-afternoon hours were my weakest point, and I would often find myself armpit deep in a box of cereal, or grabbing a handful of crackers on my way through the kitchen.  I would mindlessly eat until I cooked dinner, and then eat a full dinner.  It was never a planned snack.  It was always just a handful of this, a few of that.  And you know what?  That stuff adds up.

So, how can I call eating full-fat foods and carbs a healthy way to eat?  How could I possibly lose any weight eating like that?

It is all about the portion control, and the speed at which you eat.  The adult stomach is the size of your two fists.  Put your two fists together on top of your favorite dinner plate.  It is horrifying to contemplate how much food we can put away if we allow ourselves. 

The first thing I did was to pack away all my full sized dinner plates, and begin to serve dinner only on salad-sized plates.  I filled half the plate with fruits and veggies - and then put a smaller-than-I-thought portion of whatever main entree I was serving.  I have been lazy about documenting my dinners recently, but if you go to the left side of the blog, I have a photo album of some of my dinners. 

By including a rich sauce, cheeses, cream, olive oil, whatever... my dinners were surprisingly satisfying and I rarely felt the need to have more than the food on my plate.  I will allow myself to have seconds if I am still truly hungry 20 minutes after my last bite.  This is rare. 

As someone who loves to sample while I cook, I've had to really work hard to keep my food only at meals.  It is something I struggle with, nightly.  But those extra mouthfuls make a difference.

By sitting down at the table, and enjoying a balanced meal, I'm appreciative of the flavor of the food, aware of how much I am eating, and I'm in control.  When I try to cram a meal into my mouth out of a paper bag from a drive-thru, I'm not even tasting the food I'm eating.  I'm just inhaling it, and I'm not in control. 

This is all about having a healthy, balanced relationship with my food.  If I want fried chicken, I have some.  If I want ice cream, I have some.  The key for me is sitting down and tasting it, enjoying it.  Not wolfing it in front of the TV or in the car.  By paying attention to what I'm eating, I eat less, and I'm satisfied.

I'll continue this tomorrow...