I believe I have the solution to weight loss for people like me that crave bread, sugar, and white rice (just to name a few things). Protein. Now, I'm just working on a raw theory here, and I'm pretty sure everything I'm going to say has been said before in some form or another in the 1,000,000 books out there on weight loss, on any of the weight loss reality shows, and in every other blog on this topic, however, I still believe its importance gets overlooked time and time again.
Mostly I mean ignored by myself- someone who continually struggles with ups and downs of weight loss. If I had my way, I would eat nothing but bread, pasta, rice, and sweet doughy things followed by chocolate candy. Occasionally I would have fruit or veggies, but I could do just fine on a diet of all carbs. THIS IS HORRIBLE. I know this is horrible for me because when I cut these things out, I feel amazing. I have energy. I'm not consumed by thinking about when I'm going to eat my next carb. I feel more full, longer.
It is this sort of "experiment" I continually conduct on myself that leads me to believe that people who crave carbs need to eat more protein. You need to ween yourself off the refined carbs and sugar, and eat protein. I've noticed this week that I have been getting by (meaning going for long periods of time without feeling hungry or having a craving) on very little food. This is odd for me. So, I started to look at what I had been sustaining myself on. A bag of cooked off chicken parts that my boyfriend Dave brought home from work the other night. Also, some whole grain bread and hummus. There is an entire tupperware container of cookies that Dave's mom brought over the other day that I haven't even touched, nor do I want to. Protein!
Now, I'm not going to go off the deep end and start the Atkins lifestyle or anything like that. I just need to continue with my increased protein intake. Carbs beget carbs, and I've traveled down that road one too many times. If I want bread, I'll have whole grain. If I want something sweet, there is fruit. I've started researching the Paleo-diet types, and those are intriguing to me. I think I could slowly evolve (or devolve?) into a diet that is similar to what early man ate. I'm not a fan of dairy, so I could easily get rid of that...and nobody needs to be ingesting processed foods and high fructose corn syrup! The hardest part of eating paleo-style would be the expense of grass-fed meats. Like I said...it would be a slow change if I do decide to go that route.
Perhaps I need to tattoo "Protein" on the backs of my hands as a constant reminder.
i love this!! i need to send this to the other half of C&C music factory and also my friend R who's always doing the cavewoman thing lol.
ReplyDeleteThis is hard. Yeah we should not eat sugar and white flower period. BUT you have to have carbs every day. Unlike other parts of your body, your brain works ONLY off glucose- you have to have carbs for your brain to function. That's why people who do things like Atkins have issues with memory loss, etc.
ReplyDeleteCarbs should be the prodominant food in your diet- but they should be good (ie not the scone I am eating), whole grain. The Dalles Chronicle runs this column by Dr. Gott. He does the no sugar, no flour diet. Basically anything with added sugar or added flour (even whole wheat flour)is out so the carbs you do eat (brown rice, oatmeal) is really good for you. Carbs are fine- just not refined carbs.
I want to do this diet at some point when I can be picky with my diet. But now, concentrate on eating whole wheat and no cookies. I also try to think of alternatives- like I LOVE jam scones but I could make toast with jam and be equally content. So I am going to try and do that instead.
This is long!
You know what I've discovered? Mangos. They're like 99 cents at TJ's and omg.. it's like Hawaii in your mouth.. I know it's not protein but I look forward to having one at least a couple times a week lately as a treat. It's awesome.. and I'm barely eating sweets - tho I'm drinking way too much. That's my weakness but I'll get better when I'm employed. It's oen of my only joys right now. ;)
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