Long Time, No See

Wow – what a break! I seriously did not mean to be away from blogging that long, but I have to admit it has been a fabulous break!  For the holidays, I went home to Texas and saw my family.  I also hurt my shoulder and put on a couple pounds.  So now I’m trying to normalize my eating again and work out more.  Unfortunately, my gym is closed for another 2 weeks, but I’m making due in my apartment with workout videos, yoga, and my twist stepper.

I’m not going to lie though, gaining weight ALWAYS freaks me out, regardless of how little the amount is.  And this time it especially annoys me since I was already at a weight that I wasn’t completely comfortable with.  I’ve been thinking of trying to implement The No S Diet for 21 days to build the habit, which isn’t so much a diet as it is a way to structure your eating.   Basically it’s no snacks, no sweets, and no seconds except on days that start with S (Saturdays, Sundays, and Special Occasions).   You can eat one single plate of food, 3 times a day, Monday through Friday — which when you think about it, is how our ancestors ate.  Reinhard Engels, the man who created the diet, cites a Harvard study in which they found “90 percent of the increase in calorie consumption in men in the United States since 1977 has come from between-meal eating. For women, it’s 112 percent — calories from meals have actually gone down”.

I’ve also been thinking about cutting down my sugar consumption for a while now.  I mean, sugar isn’t necessary for my diet (at least not refined sugar — I don’t personally think fruit is bad though I know some people do!).  And I think I have an addiction to it.  Because when I start thinking about cutting it down to only two days a week of being able to eat actual sweets (not zero sugar on other days, just no actual desserts, please see Engels site for more details), I start to freak out a little bit.  That’s how many sweets I’m eating.  This isn’t just a weight issue, it’s also a HEALTH issue, which is of primary importance.  Not only does diabetes run in my family, but so does cancer.  The fact that sugar can cause cancer cells to grow more quickly due to excess insulin freaks me out a little.  I just plain need to stop eating it so much.  If you want an example, I probably ate 3 chocolate chip cookies (though small ones) and 4 small meringue cookies today.  Obviously not AWFUL, but I don’t need so much sugar, especially when you add up all the naturally-occurring sugars I’m eating in a day. Eating dessert every day isn’t a normal thing, and unfortunately, that’s what I’m doing now.  If you want more information on how bad sugar is for you, I encourage you to read Zen Habit’s post “Beat the Sugar Habit“.

Anyway, so I’m going to try to implement the 3 meal system tomorrow.  I’m not nearly as concerned about no seconds or no snacks as I am about no sweets at this point, so if going a long time between lunch and dinner is unbearable, I will add in a healthy snack (read – not tons of added sugar!).

I know people who have read for a while will think I’m giving up on intuitive eating, but I don’t think I am.  I still get to choose what/how much I eat at my meals (Engels encourages people who follow his plan to start off with large plates of food until they become more aware of how much to eat to keep them okay until the next meal).

Speaking of meals, I’m convinced that I’m slowly becoming a vegetarian without really even meaning to.  Now, I’ve never been a HUGE fan of meat in the first place.  It’s just not my cup of tea (sacrilegious coming from a Texan!)!  But even the smell of meat cooking has made my stomach turn lately, and I couldn’t even down one bite of beef stew tonight.  It’s quite strange.  This is going to cause major issues because my husband LOVES meat (think pork chops, roast beef, steak – the heavy stuff).  If I can’t even pretend to like it anymore, it’s going to create some interesting meal times in our house!

So now on to the fun stuff! I can tell when family members have been reading my blog closely, especially when I get ALMOND BUTTER and NATURALLY NUTTY PB for CHRISTMAS! How awesome is that?!?

Thanks Mom and Aunt Del!

At least I’m getting my protein elsewhere!

In other, non-food related news, I’m also trying to be more “low-maintenance” this year.  I would love to wear less makeup and spend less time with my hair.  I’m the girl who showers and does her makeup and hair EVERY DAY, no exceptions.  And I usually fix my hair by blow-drying it straight and then going over it again with a straightening iron.  However, I’ve noticed while looking at hold pictures that my hair looked so much better when I didn’t use an iron on it.  I also think I look better in pictures when I DON’T have a ton of makeup on (just mascara and leftover foundation).  Granted, I now use mineral makeup instead of liquid foundation, so that’s one step, but I’d like to go even more natural.  Mainly, I feel like putting lots of goop on my face can’t be that great for my skin.  We shall see how this all goes!

And for higher goals for this year, I’d like to live by the word “authentic” and try to be more “me” in every day life.  I feel like I put on a mask so much of the time (being the good, nice, polite girl) that I sometimes get lost in it and no one ever really gets to know me.  And those of you who know me really well should know I’m not as nice as I may seem.  Ha! Hopefully not in a BAD way, I’m just more mischievous than most people probably realize.

Well, this has been a LONG post.  I really, truly hope to start blogging on an every day basis – also on my goals for this year!

Enjoy your Thursday night – hope to see you tomorrow!  (Crossing my fingers…)