Since I started this thing a few weeks ago, I’ve lost about 13 lbs. I haven’t lost much lately, but I think that my body was just catching up, and another drop should be right around the bend. So what’s my diet been like? It’s amazing, if I say so myself. I’m not really depriving myself of anything. I just eat smaller portions now. I really think that’s the key. People are being told that they absolutely cannot under any circumstances have foods that they like. And this is a “Lifestyle” that they must maintain for the rest of their lives. What a horrible thing to lay on someone! I say if you like bread and ice cream, then eat bread and ice cream damn it! Just don’t eat a loaf of bread every day and then lay around the house, and don’t eat the whole pint of ice cream while you veg out in front of the TV. Eat your bread with a nice sandwich because bread really is good for you! (Also, you look like a dweeb eating a “sandwich” on a plate after picking everything off the bread.) Eat your ice cream, but just have a small scoop or two in a bowl with fresh fruit. Then put the ice cream away, and don’t go back for seconds. Hide the stuff in the back of the freezer so you forget it’s there. Try not to eat just to eat, but eat to fuel yourself.
I’ve been actively trying to eat as few processed foods as possible, and to tell you the truth, I feel great. I no longer use margarine. It’s real butter (unsalted) or nothing! When I make mac & cheese, it’s no longer crap from a blue box. It’s all homemade from scratch and baked casserole style if possible. It’s tastier and leaves leftovers for a week, so it’s cheaper than box junk too! Real butter, you say? Yes! Read about how margarine is made and you’ll never touch it again. The heat vegetable oil in the presence of hydrogen and nickel as a catalyst to saturate the fat, and make it full of icky trans fats, as opposed to real butter where you can just whip cream until it firms into butter. Also, whole foods seem to leave me feeling less “run-down” after eating too.
I’ve found that whole foods are generally cheaper, fresher, and taste much better than their “convenience cousins”. Homemade food doesn’t take that much effort to make, but once you spend 45 minutes cooking something and put your heart and soul into it, you can really tell the difference between it and the mutated TV dinner that claims to be just as good. Seriously, take a look at the labels on most of your convenience food. It’s full of salt and compounds only a chemist could love (or pronounce!). If you are really eating to fuel yourself, whole foods are the highest quality gas you can get and unlike the gasoline analogy, it’s cheaper than the low grade, full of who knows what convenience store gas of convenience food.
Here is a cheap popcorn experiment for you to try. I did this, now I can’t eat microwave popcorn at all. Go buy a large heavy gauge stainless mixing bowl if you don’t have one, or don’t feel like putting that one on the stove. I got mine on sale at Sears for like 9 bucks. Go to the grocery store and buy peanut oil (about 3.50), popcorn salt (79 cents for a shaker, or put regular salt in the food processor for a bit), and a small bag of popcorn (about a buck). The popcorn should be close to the expensive microwave junk. Ignore Orville’s smiling face and look probably to the bottom of the shelves for the real treasure. Take your supplies home and in the mixing bowl put 3 tablespoons of peanut oil, ½ cup of popcorn, and ½ teaspoon of popcorn salt. Popcorn salt is much finer than regular table salt and will get in all the popped kernel’s nooks and crannies. Cover the bowl with aluminum foil, poke holes in the foil, and shake the thing over medium heat on your stove. It will take a little bit to get going, but once it does, keep shaking! Once the popping slows down, take it off the heat and pull off the foil. Toss the kernels around a bit and serve right in the bowlJ. You’ll never want to touch the crappy microwave stuff again.
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I picked up some panniers at the bike shop so I can carry all the crap I have, and have been doing a couple days per week on the bike. It’s a 15.5 mile ride one way, and there are some killer hills that I can do 40 mph down on my loaded up hybrid, but have to climb at about 7 mph. I haven’t lost anything lately, but I’ve been getting compliments recently from people I haven’t seen in a few weeks or months who say they can tell I’ve lost some weight. Those always help and really give me motivation to keep at it. I mean really, who wants the compliments to stop?
