I'm starting this blog today because I commented to my mom that I missed reading hers, and thought, well, maybe I should chronicle my adventures in healthier, whole living!
Let me premise this - I love to eat. The opulent rotundity of my midsection stands testament to my love of finding the next delicious concotion to share and indulge. Let's face it, folks - I'm not alone in this. It's a biological imperative to enjoy food, otherwise, we'd probably starve to death. So I admit, I am a foodie, and I am always looking forward to my next culinary adventure! But I'm also big into eating whole, fresh, local, sustainable, and most importantly - natural foods.
I have been committed to eating better for a little over a year now, and I can see the change in my body, in my spirit, in my mind. However, I still struggle. Living in the city, I can name 5 fast food restaurants at the end of my street. (Taco Bell, White Castle, Rally's, Long John Silvers, Wendy's...you thought I was exaggerating...) So somedays I don't do so well. Recently, however (and what spurred such a radical change in eating) I have developed some food allergies. I've researched this and discovered that something like 85% of people have food sensitivities that they are unaware of, and yet only about 5% of those people are actually allergic. Their immune system just needs a recovery period.
So here I am, attempting to find some common ground with my body to discontinue this awful barrage of symptoms, and to admit that my life has become much more restricted because of these allergies, and I'm fed up with it! (get it, fed up?)
Stage left, we see the 4-day rotation diet enter. The premise is that you do not eat the same foods over and over and over, which will in turn, make you allergic. (What's wrong with eating chicken everyday?) So when I eat chicken, I do not get chicken (or anything made with chicken or chicken stock/broth) until day 5, and so on and so forth.
As I am planning this new menu (difficult, but getting easier), I am incorporating the grains I think I am okay to eat. I am doing my little research on the interwebz, listening to my body, etc, etc, and today I come across an article about how "grains are making you fat". Well, at first I just brushed it off. "I don't eat that many grains, so that doesn't apply to me."
But then it hit me.
It does.
My body has been trying to tell me, stop with the grains, even if they're whole. I struggled with this for a moment. Surely people have been eating grains for thousands of years without problems. It's a natural part of a balanced diet, I say. Well, turns out...not for me. I was reading more into this and how grains convert into stored sugar in body fat and all those awful, unappealing things.
So I was honest with myself. I'm no marathon runner. I don't need, pasta, rice, corn, bread, etc. In fact that only thing a big bowl of pasta (whole wheat!!) gets me is an unbuttoned pair of pants and an earlier bed time. What are grains giving me that I cannot get elsewhere? Nothing.
I am hoping to get to a place where bread and pasta and cous cous and a heaping bowl of polenta are enjoyed occassionaly, as something I eat because I want to and I like it, not because it has become a staple in my diet, and not because my body has formed a love/hate relationship (read: addiction/allergy).
At first I was irritated - having to cut out yet again something else from my diet. And how can I feed my chinese food and sushi addiction without rice?!?! And I was peeved at grains -- after all these years, and my endorsement of you, this is how you repay me, grains?! Last time I do you any favors.
But now I'm embracing it. Finding a healthier, happier body, and doing what it takes. It may be a long six months, and I may occassionaly break down and order pizza, but I am hopeful now, and ready to FEEL BETTER.
Ciao, Bellas
E.
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