Treat Yourself Better!!

Just over a week ago I was talking over lunch with one of my colleagues and I was saying how I had been feeling so lethargic lately and that I knew it was directly due to not eating so great. Later on, at home I started thinking about what foods/diet I need to eat to feel better. Whenever I decide to eat differently, always for weight loss, I cut so many different food groups out of my diet. Over the years my go to has always been cutting the carbs and increasing the fats and proteins. I have done this on and off for over 15 years. After doing this recently I realised I was only dropping weight slowly, suddenly my go to diet wasn't working and I was feeling super tired and really flat.Then I started eating everything and anything, not sure why, it was just some sort of knee jerk reaction. Then, before I knew it, I was the heaviest I have been in my life! Now, obviously, I have never been a thin gal but this was ridiculous!! Of course the result of this was, well, I felt like crap!!!! Mentally I mean.

So what was I going to do? Keto? Intermittent fasting? The 10 day challenge? A juice cleanse?

Nope, it really got me thinking. Before all these diets and things we (ok, I) started trying, what was wrong with just normal everyday eating? I remembered how as a kid I always ate a simple balanced diet. We woke up and Mum had breakfast ready for us, porridge or eggs and toast, even griddle scones (a Scottish thing I think, google it, they were yum!). I had fruit or something small for morning tea and then usually a sandwich for lunch. We had a huge variety of dinners including meats and salad, vegetables, legumes and pasta and on occasions we had dessert. We always drank water with dinner. There was always fruit in the house, never soft drinks unless visitors were coming over. On Thursday nights we would all share a block of chocolate (FYI I can easily finish a block on my own these days!).It was a simple diet full of home cooked food and very little junk or preservatives. It was a perfectly balanced, healthy way of eating.

So last week, that is what I decided to do. I'm just going to try and eat a balanced diet. I have been making sure I eat breakfast, have been taking fruit for morning tea and a sandwich for lunch and then cooking fresh food for dinner.( I'm lucky because I don't really have a sweet tooth, and realised that chocolate, cake, icecream etc were really always just a mindless excuse to binge with very little gratification. Eventually maybe I will develop a better relationship with those types of foods.)

One of my Breakfasts this week

I have to admit, it has been difficult! I find breakfast the hardest. I've skipped breakfast for so many years that I really struggle with eating in the morning, and I'm not used to feeling full so early. It is almost as if I have trained myself that it is healthy to feel really hungry in the morning. Consistently eating carbs for lunch has had me feeling a little too full for dinner some nights. And my biggest struggle has been that I have to convince myself I won't pack on the kgs if I eat a healthy salad sandwich every day, or legumes or corn for dinner. I'm having to retrain my mind in order to change my past eating mistakes. I have really screwed up my thinking about food and it's effects on my body and mind.

I have been tracking my calories and Macros, purely to ensure I don't over eat or over do it with any particular food group.

Burrito bowl for dinner (Yup I love my steak pretty rare)

I had a day after the first few days that I felt really sick, I'm not sure if it was something to do with adapting or if I actually had a bug. I had two days where My face was crazy swollen, I'm not sure if that was an allergic reaction to something or because I was skulling a 30ml shot of Apple Cider Vinegar everyday (I found out later that you MUST dilute ACV because it is an acid that can burn your esophagus and your lungs and can cause reactions).

Then a couple of weird things happened.

1. I had some cheese and crackers at a friends house and DIDN'T feel too guilty! (baby steps)

2. I actually dropped 0.8kgs !! (now I know on any other 'diet' i would have lost more over a week, but I know this will be a longer process)

Another delicious breakfast

My energy is slowly coming back and I really do intend to start working out (I do. I swear) but one challenge at a time! Right now, I really just want this to be a total lifestyle reset. And that is what it feels like. It feels like I'm slowly resetting the way I have wired myself to think about food and my eating habits. I really haven't been kind to myself over the years and it is definitely time for me to start!!

DM xx