FOOD

FOOD

This was my lovely lunch yesterday - my BLT salad with sour cream and guacamole for dressing. Mmm mmm good!

Yes, many of us are overweight, and many of us are chasing after the answer of how to fix ourselves. We obsess over the latest diet, or the latest exercise routine. Constantly jumping from one diet to the next, leaving out this food or that (food allergies are a different matter), and when all is said and done, most of us end up right back where we started, or worse, weighing more.

Well, I'm no better than anyone else. I do admit that I obsess (at times) about something "new"  that I read. Or that I stop eating whole food groups - you know those low carb, low fat diets. Yeah, I think I've tried them all. I can't tell you how many weight loss plans I've paid for and started to follow, sometimes not lasting more than a couple days, sometimes lasting months even. But you know what? With everything I have learned nutritionally over the years, I'm no better off than I was before I started the search.

And all those diets I mentioned. Well, they all start to sound pretty much the same. Go ahead. Start comparing them: Paleo, Atkins, Low carb, Low fat...and lets not forget calorie counting (oh please, let's!) When you come right down to it, there are really only a couple options. Yeah, the rest usually have a little twist, but when you come right down to it, there's nothing new out there.

 I  recently read something that really struck a chord in me and I want to share it with you. Yes, it's another "program" if you will, but I could do this for the rest of my life if I wanted to.

I am just beginning to learn about Brad Pilon's Eat Stop Eat program where you don't count calories, and you don't cut out food groups, and you don't have to make elaborate meal plans ahead of time to match up your foods just right. After all, is that really the way God meant us to eat?

Does anyone remember the passage in the bible in Acts 10 where Peter (of course it was Peter!) refuses to eat something the Lord tells him to eat? Here it is: Peter went up on the housetop to pray, about the sixth hour. 10 Then he became very hungry and wanted to eat; but while they made ready, he fell into a trance 11 and saw heaven opened and an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners, descending to him and let down to the earth. 12 In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. 13 And a voice came to him, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” 14 But Peter said, “Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.” 15 And a voice spoke to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed you must not call common.” 16 This was done three times. And the object was taken up into heaven again.

I think of this verse often and take it to heart not often enough. Basically, if God made it, you can eat it. You know what that leaves out? Anything that comes in a package. (Because unfortunately, nothing truly healthy for us comes in a package, does it?)

So back to Brad's program. It's called Eat Stop Eat. You can check it out here: http://mydirtcheapebook.com/eat-stop-eat/
This plan is based on another biblical idea called fasting. It's not about starving yourself, it's about fasting one or two days a week depending upon how much weight you need to lose in order to be healthy.

I've just barely started on this, but what I'm finding is that letting go of all those food do's and don'ts is really hard!!! But that shouldn't be! If I choose to be healthy, and I do, then that means I should eat healthy. That doesn't mean I won't slip and let myself have a treat now and then, but it does mean that I will eat healthy most of the time and not obsess over what I eat.

Food was meant to be the fuel for our bodies, but it was meant to be enjoyable too. So eat when you're hungry; eat slow enough to let your stomach register when you're full; and don't obsess about the whole process.

I'll be the first to say that it isn't so much what I eat as what I don't do. You got it, I'm sure. I hardly ever exercise, but I am learning that it isn't the quantity, the hours and hours of workouts (that I don't have usually), but the quality. So one of the simple changes I've made is that I've bought myself a stand up desk. I can't wait! Sitting is so bad for us and standing is actually good for us, as well as being an exercise unto itself. So from here on, I choose to stand, especially after I sit all day at work!

I hope this has been helpful, or enlightening, or at least informative or affirmative.

Until next time...