Wednesday, March 24, 2010

"D" is for Digestion, "E" is for Elimination

OK.  That is so gross!  TMI!  Getting too real!
Well, you're right!  It is gross.  That's why no one ever talks about the big "E" and losing weight.  Except one lady, and I respect her.  Now.

I was in a Weight Watchers meeting in 1973 and the leader shared about how excited she was when she had a BM, because she knew that that was lost pounds goin' down.  I was shocked at the time.  But now I say "Bravo!"  And you should, too.  But my reasoning gets more, well, nutritional.  Unless you live in a box, you've probably heard about colonics, internal cleansing, laxatives, herbal teas and potions to get the inside clean.  In fact, food combining is also called "hygiene."  It gets you thinking that if you feel sluggish and irritable, if your skin looks bad and you just feel bad in general, could it be that all that crap you are eating is causing it?  That's not so far-fetched, is it?

To start off, good digestion is the key to good elimination.  Basically:  don't mix a bunch of crazy stuff together in your stomach, and then expect good health, good digestion or weight loss.  It doesn't work that way.  Simple foods in simple combinations will really help to put you on the road to weight loss.  Why not start with three foods at a meal at a time.  These are the keys for you.  Don't over-tax your already over-taxed system.  (Those binges are hell on your body!)  Just relax.  Take it easy.  Here's your current mission, should you choose to accept it:  Next time you go to a pot-luck (that dreaded diet-buster),  just relax and take a few minutes to "scope it out."  See what is available.  See what looks really good.  Then make your choices and eat only those foods.  Have seconds if you like.  But only eat those three foods that you have chosen.  You'll be amazed at how much better you feel.  You won't stagger away from the buffet all bloated and gross.  You'll feel more in control and you'll feel better about yourself.  Plus you'll get to watch all those other people stressing about what else to pollute themselves with.

Here are a few pointers for that potluck that I have gleaned from food combining teachings:
 
1)  Fruit is not dessert.  
And it's not dinner.  I'm gonna call it a snack.  So if you must eat fruit at a potluck, eat it first.  According to the food combiners, fruit is hard to digest in combination with other foods, but easy to digest on its own.  (There go your French desserts of cheese and fruit!)  In fact, when eaten alone, fruit passes very quickly through the digestive system, whereas meat takes a long time.  You don't want the fruit, which is digested in a few hours, getting mixed in with meat and staying in your stomach for 12.  That's called bad digestion.

2) Don't load up on bread.  
I know you've been told that bread has fiber, but even whole grain bread is a processed food.  Bread will plug you up.  (Remember rolling it in little balls and throwing it at the wall?)  Load up on vegetables, cooked and raw.  Vegetables have lots of vitamins and beneficial bulk that helps elimination.  Double whammy!

3)Don't eat dessert right after a meal. 
(Again, there go the French desserts of fruit and cheese.)  This may sound counter-intuitive, but it makes sense when you think about everything we have just talked about.  Eating dessert after a meal is wrong on so many levels.  First, you're not hungry! (Remember the rule about only eating when you are hungry?)  The digestive fires that signal you to eat are not burning any more.  Your body is no longer crying out for food, it's crying out for you to stop!  Listen to your body!  Second, you've already eaten your three foods!  If you put dessert on top of them it will be a real mess in your stomach!  Lastly, as you know, sugar is not doing you any good.  Lose the sugar and lose weight.
  
So, what to do if you really want that dessert?
My recommendation, and it has worked really well for me, is go ahead and eat an occasional dessert, just not right after dinner.  How about mid-afternoon, or mid-morning?  Or later in the evening.  In defense of the French, they really linger over a meal, so by the time they get to the dessert, it's hours later and their dinner is at least partially digested.  Americans, on the other hand, don't linger over dinner, and they don't wait to eat dessert.  Time to start some new, healthier habits.

Monday, March 15, 2010

A Sticky Wicket: The Problem with Sugar

It's time to talk about sugar.  
I've heard some overweight women say, "I've never had a problem with sugar, but give me a loaf of garlic bread and I can't resist" or some such nonsense.  I think that is pure subterfuge, which means, when we are addicted we try to divert attention away from our addiction.  I know this.
So.  Let's get real.
I think if we do, we will admit that most of us have a sugar problem.  But why?  Because it's addictive.  (Think "white powder.")
If you really enjoy eating refined white sugar now and then, and you are really able to control yourself, go ahead (you're the boss), but your body is not going to get any nutrients from it.  (To quote the apostle Paul, "All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable" 1 Corinthians 10:23 :))  And sugar frequently comes in a lethal mix with trans fat and chemicals.  What it comes down to is this:  You want to be thin and you want to be healthy.  
So try this experiment.  
Go without sugar for one day.  Just 24 hours.  By the next day you will be amazed how sweet everything tastes without it.  And when you eat it, it will taste too sweet.  It will have lost its hold on you.

This is your mission.  Should you choose to accept it.

Oh, by the way, your tummy will go away, and you'll start sculpting your waist.  But you think I'm kidding...

Monday, March 8, 2010

Eat Real Food!

Do you love watching the rich and famous?  Those women at the Academy Awards look so fabulous!  How do they do it?  How do they stay so thin?
Well, I don't know all their secrets.  But I do know one, and I'm gonna tell you:

THEY EAT REAL FOOD

You are acting like you don't understand what I mean, but you really do.  Is stuff that has a long list of chemical ingredients "real"?  Of course not!  It's a bunch of chemicals.  And when your body gets chemicals instead of food, it doesn't know what to do with the crap.
I can almost hear the internal dialog:
  
Stomach:  "What the heck is this?"
Throat:  "How should I know?"
Stomach:  "Well, what should I do with it?"
Throat:  "Just store it as fat!  Gotta go!  Incoming!"

Of course, this is pure conjecture on my part, but not so far-fetched.  We all know what junk food can do to our figures through personal experience!
The first step on your road to thin is to eat healthy food.  Remember, we are not talking about limiting calories.  Low calorie food is often fake food full of chemicals.  The funny thing about real food is that it seems to have a built in self-limiting switch.  I could definitely eat my way through a package of Albertson's chocolate chip cookies (and I have:  it's a personal nemesis), but I would never think of eating a whole bag of carrots or sunflower seeds (by the way, get some seeds in the shell and start munching if you're hungry.  They have an amazing amount of vitamins and minerals!).  There are a lot of foods out there to love.  If you love yogurt and want something sweet and creamy, do not get that chemical-laden kind!  And no high fructose corn syrup!  Believe it or not, you can find fruit-juice, honey, or maple-syrup-sweetened varieties.  Any highly refined sugar is a real enemy to your desire to be thin.  Let's talk about sugar next time, sweetie.  For now, find some real food and go eat it.  If you're hungry, of course.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

The Rules

All diet plans have a set of rules. Hmmm. So let's make some rules for our diet plan, which is really not a diet, it's a way to change a fat mind into a thin mind, so the body will follow. So I guess our diet is a diet for your mind. :)

Anyway, I hate diets and I have always hated diets because there are so many "don'ts." (I guess I'm just a little rebel. But I saw Kirstie Alley on Oprah last week and she said she didn't want people telling her what to do any more, either. Go Kirstie! I think she's gonna make it this time.) So I like to put my rules in terms of what you can do. However, I do have 2 rules which are in the negative. Here they are:

Rule #1: Never eat unless you are hungry
Rule #2: Never eat before going to bed

That's it!
Of course, Rule number one has a corollary that is pretty cool (you're gonna like this one): Always eat when you are hungry! Talk about a great diet! That's pretty liberating!

I want you to work on understanding this, grasshopper. Meditate on it. Embrace it.
There is only one caveat: you have to eat real food. No preservatives. No junk. (We'll talk more about this later.)

Even Rule #2 has one exception: If you really are hungry, you may eat salad. Put dressing on it, of course. We are not rabbits. But no preservatives in that dressing, please. Be good to that body of yours.

Rule #1 and Rule #2. Get to know them. Get to love them.

Til next time,

Aren