I've been reading a lot of Nerd Fitness lately and one thing that really stood out for me is that he always emphasizes that if you want to be fit and lose weight, 80% of that effort is going to be from eating a healthy diet. Now, I've seen this advice in other places too - you will see it talked about a lot on r/loseit as well.
For me, this actually wasn't the case. I lost the majority of my weight not through changing my diet but through exercise. Sure, I ate a better here and there, I had more veggies with every meal, I tried to cut back on the cake, but I didn't do anything extreme. Of course, Nerd Fitness will tell you those are exactly the right little steps you need to take.
Now I find myself not wanting to go to the gym for two hours every day but rather be able to continue to lose weight through an hour or less of running daily and start up weight training. I think I've hit a point where I'm ready to take the next step up in being healthier, which for me is more of a re-haul of my diet.
I think the Paleo diet is dumb. It has a dumb name and a dumb premise and I think people are on it for mostly dumb reasons. But here comes Nerd Fitness and his stupid reasonable posts making me rethink at least some of the ideas behind the diet. I have no desire to go full Paleo. I am fairly confident my life would have no meaning without birthday cake. BUT another BUT, it does make a lot of sense to me to start severely cutting back on super processed foods including refined sugars and flours. I don't think I need to completely give them up to be healthier, but after a lot of research on top of this article I am convinced that in order to take the next step in being healthier I really need to start eating a hellavah lot more veggies and delicious meat fat and a hellavah lot less carbs.
It's hard, man! I learned that I am not at all creative when it comes to making meals. Beau and I went out and bought a food processor yesterday so I'm going to chop me up some veggies and experiment with attempting to be more creative with pairing them with grilled chicken and steak to take to work for lunch. I have been meaning to eat more eggs anyway, so the food processor should make it less painful for me to prepare veggie omelets with bacon in the mornings for breakfast.
That was/is my biggest issue really. They make it so easy to just grab those Hot Pockets off the shelf and scarf them down after a mere 60 second nuke in the microwave, don't they? The hardest part about trying to eat naturally is not going to be the food part. I already have a love for meat and veggies and nuts and fruits. The hardest part by far is going to be actually taking the time to make my damn meals.
But more but, hey, I managed to get off my ass to go out and run every day, didn't I? Yes, I did. I will concur you kitchen! Prepare yourself! And prepare my meals while you're preparing yourself!
Processed foods are the very devil to avoid. And according to 'The Omnivore's Dilemma' apparently we are eating oil. Oil->Fertilizer->#2 Seed Corn->Beef/Pork/Chicken + Corn Syrup, all of which is transported at every step via (you guessed it) more oil.
ReplyDeleteSo you're absolutely right - eating well doesn't take willpower so much as planning and time, that's where the real effort comes in.
Well here's hoping I can be less lazy this weekend! I'm trying to think of it like exercise. When I first started exercising the hard part was just getting up and starting to move. That part got easier and easier. So I'm hoping it will be the same with preparing my food. Once I get up and moving and actually set out to do it, it should get easier.
DeleteIve been following Natural Hormonal Enhancement by Rob Faigin for the past 2 months. Its based on macro-nutrient cycling. Most of the time relatively low carb punctuated with 2 high carb, low fat dinners per week. Theres a bit more to it but thats the just of it. Basically, protein foods and lots of veggies. Typically processed foods are loaded with carbs so I've been eating healthier than at any time in my life and while I dont like to dwell on numbers, I have lost over 26 lbs. It could have been more if I exercised more often. More importantly, my blood pressure has dropped from 160/89 to 123/84.
ReplyDeleteAs the title suggests, The whole program focuses on hormones, and how we influence them every day by the foods we eat, how we exercise, and lifestyle factors like stress and sleep patterns. Unlike any other diet I have ever seen, this one does not demonize any foods so nothing is forbidden, provided you moderate your indulgences and more importantly, time them correctly in your eating cycle. And just knowing that nothing is off limits, lessens the cravings for crap, and you end up sticking with the healthy stuff for the most part.
I do agree with you though, that the hardest part is staying prepared and cooking. Our microwave and fast food culture has conditioned us to expect instant meals with zero work. Healthy eating, whatever diet you choose, refuses to comply with that paradigm.
Check it out on amazon or if you ask nice I might let you borrow my copy. :P
First - good for you! That's great! Second - Thank you! That actually sounds exactly like the sort of thing that I would be interested in. I will have to look it up on Amazon. I might still borrow it depending on how poor I'm feeling. lol
DeleteI think I do have some big issues when it comes to stress and eating, and I've definitely been trying to not think "well I can't eat this again" more like "if I want to eat this, I should go out and jog first." That's actually helped me a lot with cravings. But I do support any diet that doesn't right out tell you it's not ok to eat something. That definitely makes it 1000x harder to follow, stick with, or make actual healthy changes/habits.