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General Weight Loss Tips

Working Lunch and Late Dinner

burgerandchili Working Lunch and Late Dinner

Lunch was late and eaten right in front of my computer. Josh graciously (and unexpectantly) brought home burgers and bowls of chili from the local drive-in sort of place. Their chili is homemade and really good and spicy.

latedinner Working Lunch and Late Dinner

Dinner was late too. We weren’t hungry until 9:30 and I was in the mood from something light because lunch was so heavy. I put this together under 10 minutes. Wild caught salmon cooked with organic butter, salt and garlic. I love salmon and rarely think it needs more than a little butter or olive oil and salt. The sweet potato was heated in the microwave and topped with butter, garlic, cayenne and salt. Mixed greens salad with my creamy dressing.

I’m getting the hang of these healthier meals. I think there’s a myth that I probably bought into at some point in my life that healthful meals were expensive and needed to be planned out. I thought they would take longer? Who knows. Anyway, this meal was about $4.50 each and the bulk of that expense was from the salmon.

What are your favorite, cheap and quick dinners?

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Life Food

dinner2 22 12 Life Food

This is hands down my favorite type of home cooked meal. It’s quick and easy to put together, healthful and most of all, delicious. I used to believe that healthy food equaled boring and plan food. For me, “diet food” was gross and unappealing. Low-fat, low-carb, low-calorie. It was cold and bland, like cottage cheese. And then I came to my senses and realized that this isn’t diet food at all, this is real food. It’s satisfying and flavorful.  It’s food that makes my heart sing.  It’s life food. No sacrifice here.

dinner2 22 12x2 Life Food

Whole wheat couscous with garlic and olive oil, topped with sauteed mushrooms and fresh parmesan.

dinner2 22 12x3 Life Food

Roasted butternut squash (I swear, the most dangerous vegetable to cut!) with sea salt, olive oil, garlic and cayenne. Roasted at 425 degrees for 30 minutes. And a dark mixed greens salad and cucumbers with my own creamy dressing.

peanutbutterballs Life Food

For dessert I had four peanut and date balls. Which are exactly as they sound: roasted, salted peanuts and pitted dates in the food processor with a dash of vanilla and water. Form into balls and store in the refrigerator. They are addictive and taste a lot like peanut butter cookies, or the dough.

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Why Paleo

Thank you guys for the support on yesterday’s blog entry. After deciding to start a “no factory food week” and being introduced to Paleo, I thought it only made sense. Paleo is minimally processed (depending on what you choose to eat) and that is what appeals most to me. It isn’t “low carb” or meat heavy like the name shows it to be.

It’s not that I’m convinced scientifically that this way of eating is better because of our long ago ancestors, it appeals to me for it’s lack of crap. The thing that bothers me the most and something that I will have to deal with in the coming months is criticsm to trying something new. But here is what bothers me the most…

A sample day on Paleo (not unlike what today promises to be):

Breakfast: eggs and fruit

Lunch: some sort of mixed greens salad with roasted vegetables, olive oil and lemon dressing

Dinner: (we’re going to a cookout) grilled steak and vegetables, sweet potatoes

This is how I aim to eat no matter what I call my eating plan: counting calories, paleo, tomato, tomäto

Now if I announced I’M ON WEIGHT WATCHERS AGAIN, and decided to go the processed food route. No one would say anything.

Please help me to understand this mentality?

When I try something new that is different from what you do it’s not my way of saying, you’re doing it wrong. It has nothing to do with you. It’s my way I trying, again, to find something that I can do long-term to lose weight. How I lose weight has nothing to do with anyone else, but me. And when I’m successful, it won’t matter how I got there. When my blood test shows better numbers, when I’m less depressed, when I’m less foggy, when I don’t have to hide food or lie about food, when I’m not trying to stuff my feelings with food, when I can fit into an airplane seat without an extender or shop in any clothing store I like— that is what will matter the most. Not that I chose vegetables, meat and fruit. But, I can’t have all those precious things without making a real decision about how much and what I consume. A decision that is very hard for me to make when staring bread right in the eye when I know I can have it, but not too much. Maybe one day, but not today. I’ve known this for a very long time.

In my day to day life I noticed I was eating way too much processed foods. My sandwich thins, mayonnaise, pickles, meat that isn’t local, cereals, frozen meals, nutrition bars…I could go on. This doesn’t mean I won’t have organic-nitrate-free bacon or pure organic bars if I want it, but I want less ingredients in my life.

Just yesterday we switch our cat food to a more expensive brand. About a week ago I noticed one of our cats was (how shall I say) leaking. It was gross and smelly, so I took him to the vet. She told me that he needed more fiber in his diet. Fiber that he wasn’t getting from his very commercial (and cheap) cat food.

I looked at the ingredients of his new cat food and could pronounce every single ingredient: chicken, oats, sweet potatoes, kale…you get the picture. And then we went to compare it with his old cat food that was half the price and out of a paragraph of ingredients I could pronounce two: corn and soy. I was stunned. We decided it was cheaper in the long run to give them better food with less vet bills, so fancy cat food is where we went. This story is not unlike our own.

What is better for us? Not you. Not the guy down the street. But us. I struggle with my weight. I struggle with overeating. This is why I’m here. I’ve been here way too long to not be somewhere different. The food that consumes my thoughts the most are the same foods I shouldn’t be eating except on very rare occasions.

Allowing refined flours and sugars in my life doesn’t work for me. I want it to work, oh help me, if I could control myself around pizza, hamburgers (with the bun), cereals, bread and anything remotely sweet, I would have done it by now. I just can’t for longer than a few days. And then I’m consumed again.

I’ve been down a similar road before, yes, but this road is one with less meat, more vegetables, more fruits and more planning and creativity. This is not the time for sideways looks, questions, doubt… all I ask is this: if you don’t agree, keep it to yourself. Trust that I will find my way myself. Unsolicited advice does not look good on anyone, it says: you know better. you’re doing better. you make all the right decisions.

But do you know better for me?

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