I am an avid follower of WellnessMama.com. It seems like her advice is just good sense. But I struggle with it at times. I've listened to the auto version of Pam Young's book on dieting, The Mouth Trap. It was funny and a bit of a stretch. Recently I just read A Year of No Sugar, and I loved it. It inspired me. Then I read The Skinny Rules by Bob Harper.
Ah, I thought. Here is what I need to do all laid out easily.
Until the second half of the book was his 30 day menu. I hate 30 day menus. If you ask me to change how I cook for 30 days I'm likely to order a pizza by day three. For breakfast.
So what advice do I follow? What sounds right to me (even though the Bible says, "there's a way that seems right to a man..." and follows that that way is not right to God. However, the Bible is pretty low on diet advice unless you're an Isrealite.)?
I like...
1. how WellnessMama promotes eating "real food" and cleaning your house and body with things that have no toxic ingredients. That makes good sense to me. If God made it, it's best in its original form. Meat. Vegetables. Fruit.
2. quitting sugar. Welll, I mean, I don't LIKE it. But it seems like good sense to me. Sugar has a terrible hold on me. I find myself eating it because I'm tired, happy, bored, sad, insert emotion here. And I don't feel full afterwards. And then there's the physical reaction: racing pulse, Hayden bouncing off the walls, Abigail melting down a few hours later, me snapping at the kids' when my blood sugar crashes or having trouble getting out of bed in the morning. I want sugar to be SPECIAL, not for random Wednesdays. And even then I want to eliminate as many of the negative effects as possible.
3. how Pam Young acknowledged that your inner kid wants some free reign days and it's okay to give in to three throughout the week. (But I'm annoyed that she updated her book to a "low carb" version and then continued to charge full price!)
4. how Bob Harper knows that we're all confused and tried to write down some simple rules to follow so you don't need to think about it.
So what's the problem?
Carbs.
Not pasta. Not tortillas. Not rice which I never liked in the first place.
Actually it's only a few carbs that are truly a problem for me. (Aside from things like cake and cookies which I'd like to be a special treat anyway.):
Pizza, which I have not found a truly good substitute for.
Sandwiches, which are so convenient for packing and everyone likes them.
Pancakes, which save me from the boringness of eggs (which I personally hate but I've eaten so many in the name of health)
And bagels at church (or any other instance of carbs being presented as a main meal component when I don't really have another option and I'm hungry.)
So here's my take on Bob Harper's Skinny Rules, changed to fit my needs:
1. drink a large glass of water when I wake up and before each meal (preferably while making the meal).
2. Drink water, selzer, tea or milk at the meal. (and light on the milk)
3. eat protein at every meal, and aim for fish at least once a week
4. Slash your intake of grains, all grains
5. Always buy apples and berries among your assortment of produce
6. No carbs after lunch at least five days of the week
7. read food labels! The fewer ingredients the better! No ingredients is the best!
8. No more added sugars whenever possible
9. No white potatoes
10. Make one day a week meatless to save my budget
11. No fast food
12. eat a real breakfast
13. make as many meals at home as possible
16. eat your vegetables! Make one veggie per person (approximately).
18. No eating after dinner
19. Get 8 hours of sleep
20. Plan three splurge meals (weekend breakfast, dinner where someone else cooks, pizza night, date night, or an outing with the kids that would be easier with sandwiches). PLAN THEM! And then work the plan! (which means I need to have enough ok snack food on hand for the second week after shopping.
