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Food: Friend and Enemy
I must say one of the things I have had to get used to is eating the right foods.
I love to cook, so fortunately I can pretty much cook the foods we need to eat. Since my restrictions are pretty wide-ranged – no dairy, no glutens/wheat, no meat of color and no sugar – it actually makes it easy to focus on fish, vegetables, fruit, chicken/turkey, eggs, etc. What’s been harder to do is find recipes that fit with these foods. (Recently I discovered a really great recipe for shrimp bisque. Instead of cream or milk, it called for me to cook brown rice and then put it thru a food processor. That takes the place of the dairy and is really good.) I am challenged to be inventive with cooking on the diet. Sometimes when the rest of the family wants red meat, I just cook me up some fish – I love tilapia.
I have always bought the best ingredients – like organic everything I can get my hands on – so I doubt I am saving much money. But that’s O.K.
For breakfast, I have oatmeal (quick 1.5 minutes in the microwave) with fruit on top and soymilk or rice milk. Really good-tasting to me. I also recently found gluten-free frozen waffles, yummy with a boiled egg on top. Protein for breakfast is really important to keep me feeling full through lunch.
I was at an important reception in Washington, DC, and, as is often the case, all of the food being passed by waiters contained cheese or wheat. I just refused them and waited to have a really good dinner of scallops after.
Frankly, it’s not worth cheating on the diet, as it just means I get back my IBS and reflux - AND I have to exercise more to “use” up the calories. Not worth it.
Besides, I like the mantra, “you are what you eat.” Now on to my lunch of egg salad on rice bread – I like that, too.
The Diet – How It Works
For me it’s about me changing the expectations of food/eating as I have known it for more than 50 years. Yes, I know that the Mediterranean and Asian people live long and better than we do in this country and the Western Europeans do too. What I really didn’t know was how to eat, and cook, like they do. It’s not just extra virgin olive oil.
We eat too much of the wrong foods. Wow!! That’s a concept. We eat like we did when were in our teens. – with the metabolism of a youngster. At our age, we can afford to eat out often and those portions are WAY too large or fast-food terrible. So what are the best practices for good eating?:
(Some of these are adapted from the great new book of Michael Pollan, “Food Rules: An Eaters Manual.” Get it!)
- Don’t buy from the middle of the food market – go directly to fresh food growers or farmers.
- Don’t eat processed foods. One rule of Dr. Jennifer Landa is don’t eat anything that comes from a box. Or as Pollan says, “if it came from a plant, eat it; if it was made in a plant, don’t.”
- Cook your food yourself. It means it more pure good food and less expensive and you can be creative. (If you feel you don’t cook good, the only way to cook good is practice, practice, practice.) I think it’s really wonderful to see men cooking for themselves and their family. It’s like teaching people good eating habits by example.
- STOP eating BEFORE you are full. A friend of mine orders food at restaurants and never eats more than ½ of what’s on the plate.
This may seem difficult but like most habits if you do it enough soon it becomes normal and good for you – like regular exercise.
Customized Nutrition
The diet. That dreaded word. For me, in the quest for better hormones, nutrition and health, my decisions about what to eat play a significant role in my progress. So I am o.k. with beginning a new diet to improve my health and get my body in tip-top shape.
Didn’t take an MD to tell me I needed to reduce my calories, but I needed direction as to what diet to follow and I wanted it to be connected with everything else I needed to do. I have been on cholesterol/triglyceride-controlling prescription drugs as well as two drugs for reflux. I wanted those issues to be addressed to get me off prescription medications and lose weight. The scale for body mass to height indicated I was pre-obese and should be 20 lbs lighter.
Dr. Landa gave me the diet that I will share with you. (Keep in mind: Since the BodyLogicMD program is customized, don’t conclude that my diet will fit others.)
No wheat/glutens (they just turn to sugar calories and put on weight, and likely contribute to my occasional Irritable Bowel Syndrome); no dairy (to address my reflux as well as reduce fat); no meat of color: beef, lamb, ham, bacon; NO JUICES (sugar); no “anything in a box, bag or bottle sodas, chips, candy, ice cream, crackers, or ‘instant anything’, etc.” Almost all of those items have sugar and chemicals you can’t pronounce.
Sure makes shopping easier. I go to the supermarket and whiz past 90%+ of everything in the store. I love to cook, so it’s also great to be creative with recipes that fit the diet restrictions. I can do this.
AND I am beginning to lose weight. – 7 lbs so far. Now onto a muscle-building regime to get some of my belly fat back to where it belongs — muscle.
Food, Food, Everywhere and Not a Morsel for Me
Did your mother tell you not to go food shopping on an empty stomach? My mostly Irish Mom did. Using that same logic, I was thinking I'd better eat before I wrote this post.
I just posted about the physical results of my tests. Now I’ll review the issues of nutrition that I need to follow. The restrictions verge on tedious, but at least I am mostly not feeling hungry all the time.
First, my issues related to food intake are: terrible reflux (was taking two meds for that daily); the gut issue; irritable bowel syndrome. I had that recently confirmed while having the wonderful colonoscopy experience. (Men, colon cancer is curable if caught in time – get the colonoscopy!). And, you’ll recall, I wanted to lose 20 lbs. in four months.
O.K. SOOOOO here’s the story on food. No meats of color, no wheat (bowel thing and reflux), no sugar – that includes juices. Most likely the best advice of all: nothing in a box, bag or bottle (sodas, chips, candy, ice cream, crackers, “instant” anything). Gee, I can have everything else. Oh, I forgot – no liquids from things that squirt. Profound, isn’t it. Someone must have been up all night determining what to call that category of food.
O.K., O.K. I can do this. I’m eating fish, chicken, turkey (yuck), pork (yea), green, purple and yellow veggies, apples, pears, berries (sounds like the bear I am) and nuts. Nuts!
O.K.: I want to be a maniac about this, but I know Dr. Landa is right and it will work. Already I am not taking meds for reflux – except what supplements she prescribed. That’s good. No reflux and no intestinal cramps for IBS. After three weeks I’ve lost about 3 lbs.
Not O.K.: I traveled recently by airplane to visit my 94-year-old parents before the holidays. Stopped on the way to change airplanes. I’m in the airport at lunchtime famished (having gotten up at 5:30 a.m. and only eaten hot oatmeal). Well guess what? I searched every eating establishment, twice, in the secure area of the airport and there was NOTHING I could buy to eat – I couldn’t even steal something to eat. (Never do that.) Did you know that airports sell NOTHING good for you? Well, except for Cinnabon sweet rolls. Damn they smell good! Lucky, I had a health bar in my briefcase. I bought some water. That was my lunch. Not good, but I felt honorable – for a few minutes at least.
On my return the same thing happened, at lunchtime again. I was so hungry I went to a Burger King, ordered a chicken filet sandwich – hold the bread, the lettuce, and the mayo – just the fillet. I know it wasn’t good food either, but I ate it.