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!!