Wednesday, June 27, 2012

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I recently posted about some of the things that contributed to my downfall (see: Going up or down?) and I thought of something else that I should add...

I tried to fix something that wasn't broke.  To me, healthy eating means avoiding processed foods and not overeating.  But earlier in the year I read the book Eat to Live, which leans towards a vegetarian diet, and touts eating lots and lots of vegetables and fruits, as well as moderate amounts of legumes and grains (and now and then a little tiny bit of animal protein if one wants).   Oh, and no salt.  It sounded like a good plan and we tried it out for awhile, but it didn't fit us.  We quickly grew bored with vegetable meals.  Although I tried numerous recipes, I had difficulty finding delicious salt-free, meatless meals to prepare.  

The big stumbling block during that trial period was the "eat as much as you want" mindset.  Sure, that might work while eating vegetables, but for an overeater, that mindset is dangerous.  It messes with the hunger/fulness signals, thus it was hard to turn the "eat as much as you want" dial off when eating other foods, like grains and beans.  Worse, when we stopped following the plan, and processed foods crept back into our lives, the "eat as much as you want" seemed to be firmly fixed, whereas the hunger/fulness meter was broken.

Also, as a recovering sugarholic, the "eat as much as you want" of vegetables and fruit was dangerous... I ended up with too much sugar in my system from the fruit, which contributed to fatigue and fuzzy mind.  

So... I am back to My Healthy Eating Challenge.

Now, if I can just fix that blasted hunger/fulness meter!!

4 comments:

  1. I love fruit and I'm so-so about vegetables. Maybe I just need to find some more interesting ways to cook them...but see, the "cook" part is what makes fruit so much easier.

    What about starchy vegies like jicama? Where do they fit in?

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    1. Lynn, I love fruit too... and I realized after awhile that all I wanted was fruit and no veggies. Had to go back to limiting the fruit and eating salads every day.

      That is so funny that you asked about jicama. It's one of my favorite salad toppings and I was just wondering today about the nutritional factor. I should look that up.

      With starchy veggies and the Eat to Live plan, I think they ranked with legumes and grains, where you can have some in moderation. It's a little confusing because the book says a person can eat as much as they want of ALL raw vegetables, but of COOKED starchy veggies or grains, a person should only have one serving a day. I eat jicama raw, but I only have a few cubes on top of my salad for extra crunch (and I love the juicy sweetness).

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  2. I remember a post or a comment you made last year that really has stuck with me. It was about watermelon. I could eat a half a watermelon in one sitting (almost) but should I? No, too much sugar.

    Something my husband says to me on a frequent basis that might help anyone is .... "don't quit quitting". Love that!

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    1. Susan... mmm, now I'm hungry for watermelon! :-)

      Thanks for sharing the quote from your husband. "Don't quit quitting." Very true words. Sometimes quitting a bad habit gets tough, and it seems so much easier to quit quitting.

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