The Tale Of How I Learned to Eat For Health And Weight-loss
I now know how to correctly make and eat things like apple fritters! It's all about ingredients and fuel combinations!
For quite a few years I was more Garfield-like than Cat Womanish in appearance. This was in large part due to a metabolism that was slower than a sloth on barbiturates combined with an autoimmune disorder. The word sedentary has never appeared in my behavioral vocabulary, and during my extended body metabolic malfunction I went hard, worked, played sports, farmed, etc... I also never felt good at all, and the only reason I continued pushing forward was due to mental fortitude, or perhaps I was just mental.
Representation of former me on a good day
Doctor after doctor couldn't figure out what ailed me, and being somewhat of an investigative, independent sort I began researching a solution to my predicament. Like any solutions, it didn't come easy or without work, but I can honestly write that I figured it out, and here I am two years later and over sixty pounds lighter. Not only have I kept every pound off but I'm also getting over the shock that results when people call me tiny all the time. I mean, wearing a size four is nice, but honestly it's the feeling awesome part that I love more than anything.
So how did I do it? Well, I started with the wisdom that these two ladies shared with the world back in 2012. The fundamental way of eating put forward in Trim Healthy Mama is the cornerstone to my success. Granted, I have taken what they shared and molded it to my own needs, but credit needs to go to these two ladies for getting me started on my journey to wellness. Their book is over 600 pages of insights on the how and why to eat the way they suggest. I followed their plan without cheating for six months and it changed my life. I'm sure your local library has a copy if you want to investigate it more thoroughly.
The main idea of their way of eating is:
Protein is invited to each meal.
You either eat:
A protein and fat based meal (Otherwise known as an S for Satisfying meal)
A protein and carbohydrate based meal. (An E for Energizing meal).
Starch and fat are never combined, and sugar takes a hike out of your life. For the best results there is a daily goal of eating every three hours.
There's also low carb, low fat, high protein options called Fuel Pull meals that you can mix into the eating fray.
The cool thing about this way of eating is that you are never, ever hungry!
You can mix up your meals any way that you feel like and still stay on plan, you just need to have three hours in between each meal. Want an all S day, do it. Mix and match the meal types, the whole thing is about keeping your blood sugar in check and metabolism revving. There is a little bit of a learning curve, for most likely a lot of what is suggested goes against everything you have been told your entire life about food, but the results and feeling of well-being awesomeness speak for themselves.
There are no magical supplements involved or killer exercise routines. In fact, I lost every ounce of that sixty pounds without any additional activity beyond what I do in a normal day. I just added in exercise recently for the overall tone and health benefits. Your body wants to be healthy, you just have to find the right song for it to dance too!
In the next post of this series I will show you all what I typically ingest for a breakfast meal on an average day and share some of my favorite breakfasty recipes.
Also, I don't follow the THM way of eating verbatim. I have adapted it to fit my own needs. A disgusting cheeseburger piled high with cheese and sauteed onions finds it's way into my belly on occasion for we only get one life, and it is important to enjoy things. Now that I am where I want to be I can enjoy the occasional off plan food, but honestly I don't even like sugar heavy foods anymore, and the way I feel after eating them makes them a rarely sought after choice in my realm.
There is always going to be a noodle bowl and dim sum place in my life!
Note: The authors of the Trim Healthy Mama plan are Christian and their faith shines through in everything that they do. As I know there are many different philosophies and faiths shared among us all, I just wanted to put out a heads up regarding the religious content in the book. The well researched and successful nature of what they have shared with everyone is worth a look!
And as always, all of the images in this post were taken on the author's relatively sugar-free dusted iPhone.