Food!!!

I promised I would write a blog about my journey with food and it is hard one to write because I do not believe that there is one solid food path that suits everyone. I firmly believe that we need to adapt how we to our personalities and lifestyle. Every person experiences life differently an as such have different likes and dislikes. Foods worth the sacrifice of extra calories to me would be ridiculous to some and vice versa.

  I grew up on meat and potatoes and the typical processed fare of the 1980's such fruit loops Kraft Dinner and a nostalgic favourite of mine cheese whiz. I was however fortunate to have spent a lot of time with my grandmother who knew the old ways of preparing everything from scratch. In the fall we would make pies, can everything from her crazy huge garden, make jam you name it we did it bread, pizza dough the list could go on all day. So while I was corrupted by chicken tonight
commercials and that silly rabbit pimping out trix to kids I still had an understanding of real food.

  At 15 I became a Vegetarian it probably took me 15 years to really design a proper eating regiment because I was so far corrupted by crap food. I have been on weight watchers felt restricted and angry counting their stupid fucking points excuse my language but I'll always be bitter over the day I wanted porridge and I had already consumed too many points! I was on south beach it was effective till I resumed my love affair with bread. I followed the Canada's Food and I've had a nutritionist. I have also read hundred of books and my weight has yo yo'd from pudgy, thin and obese.

  Two things happened when I had Violet and realized that in my opinion I was a fat cow 1. I realized I needed to break the chain because I loved this little person so much I would die if she ever felt this bad about herself. 2. I needed to be fit and healthy to be the parent I wanted to be to her. I never wanted to be the parent that was to tired and out of shape to keep up or the parent so obsessed about food that it was inherited by the child.

  I needed to completely change my eating habits as well as my ideas about dieting. I did two I read naturally thin by Bethenny Frankel and 2 read everything I could about properly nourishing my body.
Bethenny's first rule is your diet is bank account that like your fiscal budget food needs to be viewed in terms of its worth to you. If you overspend eventually you need to make up for it. An example from my life is I want dessert every night well almost. I know a dessert ranges from 100-500 calories which could blow a whole day of workouts. However I am not a snacker so for me it evens out. If I know I am eating out instead of restricting myself to something on the menu that is dissatisfying and restrictive I can choose to eat very carefully the day before and after to balance it out. It is a budget I find this way of viewing my eating very helpful, sometimes it is an extra workout or a day without dessert but I never feel guilty about indulging I think that is key.

   Guilt about enjoying the foods we love makes us fatter than the food. We feel that we blow our diet because of a piece of cake and voila Pandora's box is open and so our fridge become and all you can eat buffet. There are 10 rules in her book and I love them all. Another I love is taste everything eat nothing by this she means that a lot of the time we can be satisfied with bite or two instead of the whole thing. There is a point of diminishing returns in her own words she says that moment the stops tasting as good as the first bit you stop.

   In addition to following Bethenny's Rules I also cut out processed foods this way extremely difficult. I keep fine tuning my eating always in search of the healthiest way to prepare delicious foods that keep me satisfied. The reality is that no one is going to stick to an eating plan where they feel unsatisfied with everything they eat. I learned that I quite enjoy fermented foods and drinks like kraut, Kombucha, Kefir etc... I also really enjoy eating now I google different recipes all the time. I keep it exciting. For me a diet of the same 5 healthy dished does not work. I need variety food must be an experience for me. In future blogs I will focus on how I made classic dishes like pizza much  healthier, how to make yogurt, kombucha and ferment foods and many other topics. Please feel free to ask questions and suggest topics that you would like me to cover I am up for researching things because I am always eager to learn more.

My Journey Part 1

On February 4th 2012 I was in full blown labour with my daughter Violet and intense contraction my life was about to change forever, this was the happiest day of my life yet all that was going through my mind was god dammit I'm fat, fatter than ever I am disgusting I hate this. I did not allow anyone to take photos of me and Violet in her first week because I was too fat. I am vain to a fault and if I do not look and feel fabulous I cease to live.

  I had been thin before I knew the calories in calories out formula and I always worked out at cardio is my addiction but something was missing what? By the time Violet was 3 months old I had lost 30 or so pounds the pregnancy weight but let's face it I was fat when I got pregnant so I was still fat after  losing the pregnancy weight.

  When I got married I was is pretty decent shape then a sudden family tragedy led me to be so bereaved that I just slept all day only crawling out of bed to eat or do cardio ( it was not keeping me thin but it was keeping as sane as possible given the circumstances). I gained 27 pounds from the 30th of June 2010 to the 30th of October 2010 and that was pure Pizza Hut and Doritos to be quite honest.

  After Violet was born I struggled to breast feed her due to a tongue tie, torticollis and severe reflux. I spent most of her early life waiting for doctors. On the family end my husband and I were getting a lot of grief from his family over how we chose to live our lives and our unwillingness to relinquish control of our lives and our relationship to them. After couples counselling we were able to understand that we need not feel guilty about putting our needs first and that for Violets sake we needed a peaceful environment that was stable and loving.

  We had a clean slate it was amazing what living for our own happiness did for us and Violet. I read Naturally Thin by Bethenny Frankel and I followed her eating guidelines such "your diet is a bank account" I started to view food in term of if it was really worth it and quite often is was not. Another guideline I loved from Bethenny was you can have it all just not all at once this wrung true Oliver and I use to go all out every time we ate bad led us to feel guilty and binge again and again. I loss 20 pounds effortlessly reading Naturally Thin and I recommend it to everyone who asks what I did.

 I was happy with weight loss but I was not there yet. I was doing a lot of great cardio including Turbo Jam and Turbo Fire from beach body.com and it did wonder but now I needed to bite the bullet and strength train. I was afraid of failure and I kept putting off then I stumbled on Jillian Michael's Body Revolution (thane.ca) it had a schedule and I vowed for 90 days come hell or high water I would do it. Let me tell you when she says you may feel like vomiting, see stars and feel like your dying she was telling the truth. After 90 miserable days in Jillian's words I did not recognize myself anymore I was now the weight I was at my wedding but with more muscle than when I trained in gym.

 Week 12 was wrought with anxiety of what to do next so at the wend of week 12 I started again with week 1. In retrospect maybe not the best idea to do the same program twice but at the end of round 2 I was looking even better. Then my greatest fear my 17 day road trip through the south so many fattening foods. I got up to work out at 5 am almost everyday. There was not a day I did not workout in 17 day. My friend and I bought weights and did body revolution in the hotel rooms even the small ones. I counted calories using mynetdiary app on my iPhone and in 17 days I lost 1 pound woo hoo I did not gain I was thrilled.

 My last day in Miami I stared Les Mils Combat I am currently in Week 5 already I have lost an inch from my waist impressive at this point in the game. I really love Les Mills. This is my first instalment  my next blog entry will cover my food journey in depth. If this blog helps one person claim their health then it is worth bearing my soul.