Sunday, June 22, 2008

Eating Consciously

All weekend long I've been preparing myself to jump into a cleansing diet that my friend Jessica told me about. Since I quit smoking over a year ago, I've become quite the emotional eater, and this is probably one of the reasons why I've put on some poundage. So, beginning tomorrow and continuing on for the next two weeks, here is what my diet is going to look like:

1) cabbage, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, broccoli, broccoli sprouts
2) parsley, cilantro, chard, kale, watercress, mustard greens
3) orange, lemon, lime
4) garlic, onions, eggs, daikon radish
5) artichoke, asparagus, beet, celery
6) carrot, apple, pear, berries
7) two servings (size of the palm of my hand) of protein: lean beef, chicken, turkey, fish
8) 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
9) half my body weight in ounces of purified water

Bascially you pick two things from each group (except for 8&9, obviously), and those things make up your meals and snacks for the day. The idea is to not have any white flour, sugar, caffeine, gum, stabilizers, MSG, or sugar substitutes. Organic, baby!

Roy and I are embarking on this journey together. We are going to modify this diet a bit, adding in some beans, simple salad dressings, and cucumbers. Even so, I'm a little nervous. I've never actually dieted before. But the time has come for me to really pay more attention to what I'm putting into my body and to change the way that I feel and think about food.

Lately I've been looking around and noticing that there are so many overweight people everywhere. I think that most people are like me: we eat things because we want them. They satisfy some emotional craving, or they're just yummy. We also use food as a way to connect with others (think: major holidays or just a lunch get-together with the girls). Perhaps there's nothing wrong with that, but the obesity problem is telling me a different story. We as a culture are obsessed with food. There are books and blogs and TV shows that revolve around food. And honestly, I don't have a problem with that, but I do think that we tend to use food as an emotional crutch as opposed to an actual source of nourishment.

I anticipate that I will probably feel like crap for the next two weeks, and I hope I can have the discipline to carry this out. I plan on writing down what I eat every day and hopefully exercising a lot.

Let the cleansing begin!

4 comments:

ssinca said...

I'm curious to see how this works for you...I'll let you be the guinea pig and may have to try it if you are successful!

weezermonkey said...

Little Bunny Foo Foo!

amber said...

i would agree that we are a nation obsessed with food. however, that in and of itself is not a bad thing. i'd say that much of europe is obsessed with food, too. the difference being that they eat really good food and in normal amounts. in the US, we gorge on crappy fast food and in ridiculous amounts. :/ couple that with a sedentary lifestyle and that leaves you with a real problem.

i've been participating in stress eating the past few months and that hasn't helped the waistline at all. but usually, i try to have a good relationship with food. i've done the eating kicks where you deny yourself everything under the sun and they just don't work for me. everything in moderation, you know.

good luck on your cleansing diet. like all diets, i'd say just take it one day at a time. :)

Angie Eats Peace said...

Good luck, that sounds like it will be tough at first, but you will be surprised how good you can make all those foods taste with a little creativity.