Body After Baby: Food as fuel

Ok, well, seeing how it was the week of my son's first birthday, there was a party to plan and cake was involved, I am not surprised that I didn't lose. My Monday weigh-in took place during a time of tummy upset and I don't really think my weigh-in was accurate and therefore I am giving myself a free week as far as weigh-in goes.

Exercise was on this week, as usual.

Now, on to other matters. Namely, diet.

Obviously, I gave up even trying to track. I just plain don't stick with it. I was doing really well, though, making good food choices and not having so much sugar until the funfetti cupcakes came along and now my sugar addiction is back in full swing. Yesterday, I was tired and felt kind of icky so what did I do? Rummaged in the cupboard and ate crap all day, that's what! Pretty much did the same today. Cabin fever is kicking my butt. Rather, cabin fever is enlarging my butt.

I pulled out some old diet information I had from back when I lost the baby weight from Logan. It is essentially a figure competitor's diet--super clean with prescribed amounts and types of protein, carbs & good fats per meal. Back when I did it before, it was pretty hard to stick to until I got used to it, but was quite effective in getting me to where I wanted to be. I'd love to do it again, but I need some discipline.

Actually, what I need is to stop vieweing food as anything other than fuel.

Food is fuel to keep us alive and healthy, plain and simple, but so much garbage has been introduced into our food, making so much of it FAKE food. Why? Because fuel is no longer our number one priority when we eat. It's TASTE. (Convenience comes in a close second.)

The tastes and textures so many of us have because accustomed to, however, come from added sugars like high fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners and trans fats. Sure, that stuff can taste great but it's toxic junk for your body!

It's not easy to overcome, though. So many of the foods that are touted as "healthy," "natural" and "good for you" are actually full of garbage.

Have you ever been to a Weight Watchers meeting? I haven't for a few years, but back when I did go, I found it interesting that many of the women (it was all women when I went) seemed more interested in their appearance than their health. It was like they weren't really willing to make a change. They wanted to spend their Points on foods that tasted sinful, which resulted in an awful lot of Splenda being consumed. I hate that stuff. I hate that it's hard to impossible to find any non organic yogurt or chewing gum that doesn't have fake sweeteners in it.

The best diets I have come across are the ones that have you eating foods as close to their natural state as possible. If it grows, it's good! That would be lean proteins, fruits, veggies, whole grains and dairy.

It sounds great. I have Tosca Reno's "Eat-Clean Diet" book and the "Eat-Clean Diet for Family and Kids" and both make it sound so appealing. In reality, it's very hard. How do I turn down those Peanut M&Ms that are calling out to me, or that McDonald's Coke (or McDonald's ANYTHING, really?) in favor of some green beans and a piece of chicken. I want the stuff that tastes good! It's lab-designed to taste good and make us want more!

But face it, that's not really a good way to treat the one and only body you've been given!

Anyway, I am going to try to work on eating better and getting some of the junk out of my diet. I won't promise to be perfect, because I know I won't be. I'll still have the occasional pizza or whatever, but I need to retrain my mind and taste buds to realize that it doesn't have to be every day.

How about you? What's your relationship to food? Is it simply something to fuel your body or is it more than that? How healthy are the choices you're making? How REAL is the food you're eating?

For me, Body After Baby isn't just about losing weight. It's about making changes to be healthier. Thanks to Samantha at Mama Notes for doing it. She's going to be taking a break from Body After Baby, and I might not do my weekly updates (or maybe I will) but I'm not going to keep plugging away at it!

Have a great week!