enJOY it

I mentioned awhile back that I had read Secrets to a Healthy Metabolism (on the recommendation of Cathy Zielske) and it had influenced my diet quite a bit. It has been on my list to write a post about it, especially after sharing so much of my food choices during Week in the Life.

To start, thanks to running and Bar Method, I have reached a weight I am happy with that works for me. Now, my goals involve maintaining, building more muscle and continuing to have a good relationship with food.

I should also say, I have struggled with food in the past. In college, I went on a crazy calorie constricting diet that took the weight off, but really messed up my emotions, sleeping pattern and life. I know for certain that calorie counting is not for me. It was addicting and terrible.

Because of past struggles, I am really happy to have a new outlook on food. Food is something that keeps me going and that I enjoy, but not something I stress over or worry about. I have been focusing on eating real food. Stuff that expires. Stuff that needs to be refrigerated. Stuff with minimal ingredients on the package. Stuff that's naturally colorful.

Real Food. What a concept.

And the focus of the book is Real Food along with an exhaustive list of reasons for why it's good to eat real. It's pretty science-y and reads a bit like a textbook. And at times, in the words of my friend veronica, "the author can be a little alarmist." And that's totally it.

But for me, at this point in my life, it was really great. I soaked up the information like a sponge and was bummed when it turned out Paul already knew about all that science stuff. He reminded me that he'd already told me a lot of it. But I guess I had to read it for myself to make the changes.

So what are the changes I've made?

1. no yellow cheese. Cheese is white when it comes out of the animal. Keep it that way.
2. no non-fat or low fat dairy. Except for milk, it's now whole everything. (I just haven't made the whole milk switch yet.)
3. I eat a bit of protein with fruit. (slice of cheese, swipe of peanut butter)
4. I eat all natural peanut butter – just peanuts and salt on the ingredients list
5. no extra stuff in my coffee except just a bit of milk.
6. I eat trader joes sprouted wheat bread
7. coconut water instead of gatorade
8. greek yogurt (I add a bit of honey for sweetness)
9. less sugar in general
10. no crackers or cookies in the house (which we don't have anyway)
11. I eat EGGS. Real eggs. I was an "egg beater" girl for years. And now I eat cage free eggs for lunch all the time.
12. real butter. No chemical crap.
13. more wheat flour when I'm baking
14. more greens (still really, really working on this.)

And what are the results after a month of this?

Overall, I am less hungry. I eat breakfast, lunch and dinner. But rarely need snacks. And when I do, it's fruit or almonds. Before this, I was eating low-fat or non-fat crap, but a lot of it. Basically everything that I have added to my diet has more calories : butter, eggs, all that non-fat dairy. But I have not gained any weight.

And more importantly, I feel so much better. The difference was really noticeable when Paul and I spent last week in a hotel room in Ventura. We were eating almost all our meals out and I felt like a sloth. I had a list of things to do while he was working and nothing got done. Instead I laid around the hotel room all day and bummed out. No good. Now, after almost a week of being back to my normal eating routine, I feel motivated and in general have a higher energy level. Much better for my health and sanity.

I think after a while of eating Real Food, what you crave changes. I really believe that eating better fuels better eating. It's like a ride. And that book helped me hop on.