I'm not sure I'm buying it

Paleo, Primal, whatever.  I'm not buying into the basic philosophy of our bodies not being "evolved" so we can't eat this or that.  No, wait.  Technically I do agree with the idea that our bodies haven't evolved to use these foods.  It's the whole idea of evolution that gets on my nerves.  Doesn't it make sense that our bodies having adverse reactions to highly processed foods would support us not evolving?  If we were created this way from the very beginning, then it makes sense that we should eat the foods that were created for us in the forms that they were created.  In other words, eat foods as unprocessed as possible, in their natural state, as they were created.  The more humans "mess" with foods trying to "improve" them, the fatter and less healthy we are becoming.  However much I may disagree with the basic philosophy of these eating plans, I do agree with the eating plans to a great extent.  Why?  These plans advocate eating things as unprocessed as possible.

I have been eating low fat for decades and I just keep getting fatter and fatter. The low fat, high carb, highly processed typical American Diet is clearly not working for me. I'm tired of being fat, tired of being tired, tired of my body hurting and (a fairly new development) tired of being breathless. Currently I weigh 180 pounds.  On my little 5' frame this is waaaaayyyyyy too much! I plan on drastically changing my diet in three days.  Why then?  Well, tomorrow is Christmas Eve.  It's when my family has a big celebration with lots of highly processed, yummy junk food.  Christmas Day always consists of leftovers from the night before. I don't have time to find delicious substitutes, so I'm going to enjoy the time with family, try not to over do the junk and start guilt free the day after Christmas. 

I plan to post my progress, including what I weigh, what I eat (with links to recipes if I use a recipe I find online) and most importantly, how I'm feeling.  I hope this will eventually be a story of victory, my story of victory over poor health, fad diets, and the battle of the bulge.  I don't anticipate that this will be easy, but I don't think it will be an insurmountable task either.  Organization and pre-planning are not my strong suits, but I will adapt and hopefully will be able to share some busy working parent tips and tricks with you.  I'm a little nervous and a little excited.  I hope that as time goes on, I can be an inspiration and resource for others.  But for now, I'm just looking forward to the first step. 

Actions Speak Louder than Words

I spent my drive home today mentally railing against my daughter's boyfriend.  He's coming over for dinner tonight, about 10 days after I found out that my daughter is pregnant, and about 5 hours after finding out that he has lost his job....again.  I was playing the whole conversation that I'm going to have with him in my mind, which was easy, because I don't plan on letting him talk.  I had the whole speech typed out for you, but I deleted it, because there is a more important lesson at stake here (for me).  The gist of the speech was this, "Actions speak louder than words."

I stopped by the store on the way home to pick up some potatoes to go with dinner.  I also grabbed a bag of cookies, because I'm stressed and stuffing my face is what I do when I'm stressed.  After the quick stop, I jump in the car and continue to drive the rest of the way home and I continue to rant and rave (in my mind)  telling this guy how his actions say he only loves himself, and how my daughter has made all the sacrifices in the relationship and he has never had to suffer the consequences of his actions because she steps up and pays his bills for him. (That was a nice, long, run-on, rant-ish sentence, wasn't it?)

And then it hits me.  Actions speak louder than words.  How many times have I said I wanted to lose weight?  How many times have I said I want to be healthy?  How much have I hated being out of breath from the slightest activity?  And yet, there it was in the seat next to me.  The truth.  A bag of cookies.  I love cookies (or whatever other junk food strikes my fancy).   I love cookies more than my body, more than my health, more than I want to lose weight, more than my sweet family.  I prove it every time I choose to shove all those unhealthy calories in my mouth risking that I may shorten my life and not be here for my kids/grandkids/husband.  I prove that I love my immediate cravings for junk more than I love every wonderful person in my house over and over again.  I just keep on choosing the junk. Well, actions speak louder than words.  I told the boyfriend that it's time to step up, time to make sacrifices, time to take responsibility.  Yes, it's time, for him and for me.