August 22, 2017

How should I be eating?

I looked at the empty potato chip bag in front of me. I chose to eat them even though they were off of the menu. And I think I had a few cookies as well. Now I was agonizing about the need to start over or whether or not I should just give up now.

Then I woke up.

Week two is over - which puts me at just about the halfway point. I'm no stranger to food dreams, being lactose intolerant, I know what it's like to dream that I've eaten dairy even though I generally avoid them and sometimes enjoy dairy-free alternatives ... but still, the thing that bothered me was how I rationalized my junk food by the same principle I'm trying to learn: to be mindful about what I eat. Perhaps that's because I know that on the other side, I'll have to incorporate them back into what I eat - hopefully with me in control and not my sweet tooth.

I made a recipe for Chocolate Chili last night and it's already half gone. I made some Prosciutto-wrapped Fritata Muffins a few days ago and have been eating them steadily. And I had Sweet Potato Chili before that. I did discover that my co-workers can't stand the smell of roasted brocolli or garlic and herb chicken, so I've had to try to get creative about my work lunches.

I keep on thinking about the reintroduction part - most people who do a Whole30 do so to figure out which foods are messing with them in which ways - what's causing this issue or that. I already knew that I was lactose intolerant and I don't eat dairy. I know that awhile ago, I bought some coconut bars thinking they were a non-dairy product, but it turns out I was wrong and they didn't make me feel good. So there's no need to reintroduce those into my diet. I'm not worried about other food groups at the moment.

It's just - I was never a really big fan of eating my vegetables, I'd often choose rice. And when choosing sweets, I'd never go for the healthiest ones out there - I'd go for the sugariest of them all. When it comes down to it - I'm not really sure what a balanced nutritional meal looks like when all the food groups are on the menu. How should I be eating? I think I'll do some research and try to come out of this by learning to make better choices about what I eat.

But I saw this food documentary awhile ago that claimed that the old nutritional pyramid wasn't really based on any true scientific research about what constitutes a healthy diet, so it was replaced with a MyPlate diagram. Harvard also offers a Healthy Eating Plate idea - which is pretty similar, it just tweaks the proportions of what we should be eating.

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