Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Thank you Biggest Loser...it IS all about choices.

Something has been on my mind lately, and here is what I'm thinking...(let me know if I'm crazy)

Basically I've been thinking for several days about the vegetarian diet. I watched a video a few days ago on A Healthy Kitchen's Blog and really got some food for thought. (For her blog, click here: http://ahealthykitchen.com/). Like I said before, I don't think I could ever go completely vegetarian, but I am open to trying new things, and I really want to see what kind of impact eating more healthily in this way affects my body- so I think what I'm going to try is going faux vegetarian for awhile. I've basically already been doing this for three days- just trying to be more mindful of the choices I make and choosing less animal products. I really never realized before how much animal products I eat- I eat a TON. Pretty much everything I eat has either cheese, milk, yogurt or some other dairy, eggs, meat or other animal thing going on. I blame it all on the protein diets I've been on in the past to increase muscle mass. Anyway, this morning I had eggs for the first time in 3 days and I could definitely tell a difference in the way my body reacted. Not a bad reaction at all- as others have pointed out- the protein definitely makes you feel more satisfied longer. It felt good to eat eggs again after not having them for 3 days, but I've also enjoyed how much lighter and healthier I've been feeling from all of the fruits/veggies and whole grains I've been eating.

My roommate went through yoga training a while back and one day she came home and told me about something she learned in class. She said it was on nutrition and the teacher basically was really pushing healthy eating while doing so much yoga. (Esp people training to be yoga instructors because they're doing it all the time and really go through some radical changes physically) She said while she understood all people couldn't go vegetarian, she encouraged all of the students to definitely do a day on, a day off type of thing for awhile to help them get more used to eating less animal products and be more in tune with their bodies. My roommate is super skinny anyway so she wasn't interested in this diet, but I was immediately intrigued because as I thought about it I realized, most people I know that are into a lot of yoga, and most vegetarians I know (who are serious about it) are thin. What's the correlation here? Don't get me wrong, I am NOT saying animal products make anyone fat by any means. I know it may sound that way. What I'm really saying is that I think there is definitely something to be said for people who are on such a strict diet of fruits/vegetables and whole grains. You can't be vegetarian and not be mindful of what you're putting into your body...which is yet another thing I'm fascinated by as far as this whole thing goes. I think this is what I'm going to attempt to do for awhile to see how it affects me. I'm going to try a 3 days on, 1 day off type of thing, where I eat veggies and whole grains for 3 days on, and then I can eat "normally" (meats and dairy included) on the day off. That means 1-2 days out of the week I'll be doing meat and dairy, just to see the difference. I'm going to do this for a month I think. Month of October sounds really good. (I love that I'm making this up as I go, btw)

I think this will be good too because just within these last three days I've REALLY become more aware of my food choices. The scary thing is that I eat so much animal products that I'm nervous I won't know what to eat. Even in these three days it's been a little difficult too find things to eat. But I think in the end it will broaden my horizons and at the very least, I can always go back to eating meat and dairy at any point. I'll have to invest a little time in looking at new recipes and trying new things, but when was that ever bad? If after a week I hate it, I'll quit. I'm good at making "adjustments" along the way whenever I don't like how things are going anyway. I'm curious more than anything to see what happens to my body- will it get stronger? Weaker? Will it lean out? Will I start to lust after flesh and go on the prowl like a tiger? Who knows...but I encourage men everywhere to watch out! Haha- ok, that was lame, I admit it, but I couldn't help it. :)

That's it for tonight...Happy eating friends!

D

4 comments:

  1. I hope it works out for you. I think I could go one day on, one day off, but it's hard not to eat animal products for me. I think eating healthier varieties (lean cuts of chicken instead of fat slabs of bacon, for example) is about as far as I'd go in the direction of vegetarianism. :)

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  2. You're my shero, more power to you. I wish I had your resolve, but what about fish, can you eat fish? I had a friend who was a serious vegitarian for many years and never ate anything with eyes. Is that true? Thanks a million, good luck, come ans me at www.spitnglue.com.. keri

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  3. Good for you- cant wait to see how it goes!

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  4. Keri- I'm not a serious vegetarian, so I'm not sure- but I will probably keep eating fish because I like it and I think it's healthy for you. But your friend had a great point- "anything with eyes" does sound kinda creepy..

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