First, some rules need to be followed and never broken. Do not eat reactive foods is pretty much a no-brainer. And once I started feeling good - like, good-good - I didn't want to eat that stuff anyway. It was kind of the first time in my "dieting" life that I didn't break a rule. And I put "dieting" in quotes because that's not really what I am doing, even though LEAP has helped me lose the excess weight I have been wanting to get rid of. I stuck by the rules, and it paid off in spades. Not just on the outside, either - my cholesterol went down 55 points. That is fifty-five for all of you who think I typo-ed that. FIFTY FIVE. As I say goodbye to 2012, this is one of my proudest accomplishments.
Another rule I had to follow was to track what I was eating. In the beginning, I wasn't eating enough - I wasn't planning my meals or making sure I had things with me for snackmergencies. When I finally did add up my meals, I realized some days I was eating less than 1,000 calories - no bueno! SO I made a conscious effort to make sure I was getting enough of what I needed - and then the magic started to happen.
I have also learned that there are LOTS of rules to break. So, I broke 'em. Here's a list of my bad-ass behavior and the rules I broke:
1. You can only have breakfast foods for breakfast. With a limited amount of items on my first phases, I had to think outside the (cereal) box. And eggs were one of my "yellow" foods so they were out (yellow has nothing to do with color, it is a "caution"moderately reactive food. Actually, thinking about the foods like a traffic light helped me a lot - green meant go, yellow meant slow down (for now) and red meant stop! I have recently begun to challenge some yellow foods, but that's another blog.) So it went for lunch & dinner too. I remember when my son was little - 5, maybe - and I was a single mom, out of money and low on food and it was close to paycheck time. We had cereal for dinner. His little 5-year old self looked at me in shock and exclaimed "We can't have CEREAL for dinner!" and I explained to him there weren't any 'rules' that said we couldn't. So we did and it felt fun and...naughty. Fast-forward 11 years and I was the one having oatmeal for dinner some nights, because it was good and on my plan and I was out of options. I would have oatmeal for lunch sometimes too (I know, I know, I am out of control). Cashews & cheddar cheese made a great lunch, and so did Udi's granola with almond milk. Never would have planned for that before.
This was my dinner the other night:
What is it? It's quinoa pasta, fried with a scrambled egg. In walnut oil. Now, a few months ago, I never would have thought to myself "Gee, I have a hankering for some quinoa pasta and an egg fried in walnut oil!" but then again, I had the world as my oyster, and I was in trouble from it. So, I have really become a whole new person with a whole new set of thoughts, and I have found a whole new healthier world because of LEAP. Have whatever you want, whenever you want - just stay on plan. (by the way, I can have eggs now- after 3 months I was able to "challenge" them and I did fine!)
2. Stay in your comfort zone to be successful. For this example of a perfectly broken rule, I shall use the pinto bean. Pintos were on my protein list for phase one, and I remember just ignoring them until I got kind of tired of my other choices, so I googled how to eat them. And the next time I made chicken I sautéed some pinto beans and onions with it and my world was changed forever. Like, for real. This is not drama. Pinto beans changed my world. My son actually requests them because he tried them and loved them. And I use them at least twice a week in my recipes because I am in love with this little bean. I would have never, ever tried pinto beans, EVER, were it not for LEAP. And it was an "uncomfortable" trial because I had no idea what I was in for. I am very adventurous by nature - I love to travel! - and LEAP brought that out in me in another dimension of my life. The food dimension. I have also become fond of apricots, dried plums (don't call them prunes now) and the spice cumin. I wanted to "bread" my meat in the worst way, so I threw my allowed spices in with some almond flour and "breaded" it. Heaven. (side note: don't flip meat too often, it tends to be crumblier than bread-breading) While choices are limited in the beginning phases, and you see things that are "new", give 'em a try! Even if you are not on LEAP and some of this language about phases and such doesn't make sense....getting out of your comfort zone is a healthy thing to do! Especially if your comfort zone involves highly processed foods and ice cream and cupcakes with gobs of icing. Because that's exactly what my comfort zone was, and I was sick from it. Not just sick in my belly because I ate too much crap, but sick on the inside with inflammation and bad feelings and low energy and fibromyalgia. The snacks I am finding now with LEAP friendly ingredients (see my Food for Thought post) are seriously as good - no, they are better - than the snacks I had before. Going to health food stores, and gourmet food shops, just to get food I can eat and feel happy about is new. And it's comfortable now :)
3. Give up all the things you love. This I was sure I would have to do. There was a tear in my frozen yogurt the night before I started LEAP. I mourned the loss of my beloved Disney Mickey bars on my next trip. But then, a few months into LEAP, I realized the food I thought I loved really didn't love me back. As a matter of fact, it hurt me (and love shouldn't hurt, y'all). And I found NEW things to love. Things that loved me back. Like the chocolate cookies I just made, and the potato chips with avocado oil and salt and nothing else. Yup, that's right, chocolate cookies and potato chips are part of my life now. they are just HEALTHY versions, and ones I can feel good about. I ain't givin' up nothin'. I remember Jen telling me (when I told her I loved cupcakes) that there was "probably something else going on" and it wasn't really that I loved cupcakes. Yup, that was true. And I just ordered a new cupcake book on Amazon (you can find it here) to make myself some healthy cupcakes that won't make me feel bad.
4. You have to spend tons of money on healthy food. At first, my grocery bill did go up. I had to buy a whole round of meals for me, and another round for my boys. But then, it evened out, and as I added things in, I was able to make things we could all eat. Like pork & sauerkraut. And when I made chicken, I left off the pepper and let them season it themselves on their plates. OK, so I confess we haven't had any "Quinoa pasta & eggs in walnut oil" family meals, but mostly we all eat the same thing. I haven't been able to convert them to my snacks - more for me, haha - but when I find something new at the store, I buy one, then if I love it, I go to Amazon and get a case of it. I just did that with Popcorner chips. 40 one-ounce bags coming to the doorstep of yours truly this week! And it's really not that expensive. I would much rather spend a few more dollars on healthy, wholesome food than shell out my $20 copay at the doctors every other week to figure out why I feel bad, or shell out my prescription money (did I mention I am off all my meds?) - you get the picture. And I am less inclined to go out to eat nowadays (when I make it myself I am sure of the ingredients - in spite of best efforts you just never know what you're gonna get!) so there's some savings. I actually eat LESS now. Because I am more satisfied with the food I am eating - no empty calories here! - and I do not graze all day, I eat less. So no, I am not spending "tons"more. A little more on ingredients maybe (like almond flour for my baking) but all in all, I am worth it, it is worth it.
5. It's all-you-can-eat since it's healthy for you. Did you know that a cup of cashews has 832 calories? Um, yeah. So I eat a quarter cup. And since weight loss is totally calories in, calories out, you need to pay attention to that if weight loss is one of your goals.
So there you go, I'm a rule breaker and I have never been happier. As I say goodbye to this year - the one that helped me finally find myself under all that extra weight - I believe Jeremiah 29:11 is coming true for me - that my hope and a future is ahead.
As you ponder what your resolutions are for this new year, add the word "because" after them to give them real meaning and give yourself a reason to succeed! If weight loss is on your list (as it has been even single year for me!) then consider what you really need to do to make it happen. Commit.
And go ahead...break some rules.
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