Food Thoughts

Ok so I will be frank..I have avoided this diet forever. My clothes from 5 years ago don't fit and I am unhappy about it.

Deciding to blog, while doing, is helping me to stay on track about sensible eating and exercise..I only hope if anyone reads this, that it will help them to re-set their patterns too.

Some History

Years ago..diagnosed with higher than acceptable cholesterol levels I devised this diet..I did it because..I did not want to go on lipitor and ended up losing about 20 pounds and lowering my cholesterol by 120 points! My doctor told me I was the poster child.

I did it by eating a low fat high fiber diet. But I love to eat so I did it my way. Fast easy to make meals that were very tasty. I am a food lover so food has to be delicious or I won't eat it! Period!

I read Dean Ornish..Dr. Ornish advises his patients to give up meat and eat vegetarian. Good advice but not for me.

I used some of his ideas..while he advocates ceasing eating meat..I couldn't manage that, so I started considering using meats as tasty treats rather than the main thing on my plate. He advised a varied vegetarian diet rich in grains and vegetables. This I did buy into. After all, I had cooked wonderfully for my vegan daughter.

I also consulted and used the South Beach Diet, a very good diet in my opinion. The main thing I took away from that diet was information about glycemic levels..I am not an expert..not a nutritionist or chef so please take this as one woman's idea, but..essentially I learned that there were foods higher or lower on the glycemic index. Glycemic being about the foods' ability to spike your insulin levels thereby causing you to become even more hungry shortly after. I cook with foods, low glycemic foods because the higher level foods set you up to become hungry again sooner and one of my goals is to eat so I feel full. I hate being hungry.

Whole grains and leafy green vegetables are good for us and help lower cholesterol. They are also slower to digest and therefore make us feel full longer as well as keep our digestion functioning longer..using calories to do so. But very few of us know how to prepare them well, so that they taste reat and are easy to fix.

I try to keep my overall fat intake on the low sided and think about where those fats are from. I use good tasting extra virgin olive oil and avoid eating servings of cheese.Like meat, I use cheese as a condiment. Butter is another thing I try to avoid, using it only for flavor and in minute amounts. Small amounts of nuts, seed and avocado give us variety in the type of fats we eat and are good..As in 1/4 cut avocado or 8 almonds..not the whole bag!

Eating this way makes me feel more energetic and a sustained diet like the one I am describing, coupled with regular exercise seems to be what will keep my cholesterol, blood pressure and weight in check.

I am not into cooking every day or in a complicated manner so the simple things I cook, I use later for leftover based meals.

I try to drink lots of water. If I haven't been doing it for a while, I have to build up. At first it feels impossible but after a while I can drink a lot of water. The easiest test to see if you are drinking enough water is the color of your pee. It should be clear or pale..not dark. Dark indicates you are dehydrated.

I find alcohol impedes my diet in a number of ways. Liquor is empty nutritionless calories. It slows my metabolism and I lose my will power. A friend said it like this, "If I drink I will have the rice pudding for dessert" Also Isleep badly if I drank so my body does not have a chance to recouperate at night. So while I love good wine, I need to limit my intake.

Finally, I have made the connection that cooking healthy, tasty food for myself, serving it attractively and focusing on it while I eat it , it is honoring myself three times a day.

As Julia Child would say, Bon Appetit!