The first step in getting serious was cleaning out the pantry. Let’s be honest, it’s hard to say “no” when the cookies are calling you from all the way across the house. I did this step for the first time back in October, but I had gotten a bit sloppy with my grocery buying habits and had to go back to spruce things up a bit.
Basically, I got rid of the nasty food additives and started eating healthy, whole foods with ingredients I recognized and could pronounce. My diet plan comes from Jillian Michaels book Master Your Metabolism
Without giving away the whole book, here is the basic list:
- Hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated fats
- Refined grains
- High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)
- Artificial sweetners
- Artificial colors & preservatives
- Glutamates (e.g. MSG)
There is a lot of information in the book about hidden sources of these nasty things in our foods. The most interesting side effect of cutting these things out is that my taste buds have changed. After about a month of eating this way, I made a dessert with a lemon cake mix. I had to throw it out because I could taste the chemical colors and preservatives in the mix. I cannot drink Cokes anymore because they are disgusting. At Christmas I bought some cranberry Sierra Mist. I kept pouring myself a glass with all the anticipation of yummy bubbly goodness. I would drink about 3 sips and then leave the rest. The Coke went flat after about a week and a half so we threw it out. Flavored yogurts are out. They give me a sugar rush while still in my mouth! I can’t believe I ever thought that much sweetness was good!
Now I eat plain yogurt flavored with frozen berries. Sometimes I add my own sweetner (Blue Agave Nectar is my sweetner of choice these days). I have cut the amount of sugar in my coffee by half and have switched from using half-and-half to using whole milk as creamer. When I used half-and-half after about a week of not using it, I could feel my mouth coated with the fat–yuck! Fruit tastes sweeter than it did before cutting out HFCS.
I am convinced that having sugar added to everything has made our tastebuds insensitive to the sugar. I didn’t decide to stop eating flavored yogurt. After about a month of avoiding HFCS I tried some yogurt. I had gotten my wisdom teeth removed so I was on a soft-foods diet. I ate two bites and couldn’t handle the yogurt anymore. With the coffee, I just sort of realized one day, “this is way too sweet,” so I cut back on the sweetener.
I cleaned out the pantry and discovered that real food tastes amazing and fake food tastes, well, fake.
Other Fitness February Posts:
