Beginnings

This blog is really just for me. I've spent the last few weeks reading Dr. Joel Fuhrman's new book The End of Dieting. About 8 months ago, I was introduced to Dr. Fuhrman's way of thinking when a group of friends started talking about his revolutionary book Eat to Live. I bought a copy and devoured it. The things written in the book made sense. All of the things that I had been being told by "health companies," who wanted to you be dependent on their products, by personal trainers who hadn't actually taken any nutrition courses and were just repeating what they were told, as well as doctors who wanted to give you medication to curb your appetite but did little else to help you, all these things were wrong!

I have tried pretty much everything in my quest to lose weight. Years ago, I began by learning about eating better, and everything that I read pointed to cutting calories. You do this by cutting your portions. You do this by cutting out all the good things and eating chicken, rice and vegetables. I had a trainer who gave me a two week plan that had oatmeal, salad, chicken, rice and broccoli in it. That was it! I got a half cup of oatmeal for breakfast, 6 oz of chicken and a half cup of rice, etc. By the end of the day I was so hungry. After a few days of this, I didn't feel better, I felt worse. I had no energy, I was hungry, tired and grumpy.

I had another trainer who told me that I was eating too many vegetables and that this was going to make me fat. I needed to be eating more meat and grains. Needless to say, I didn't lose any weight with him and actually gained weight.

In my quest to find out what actually worked, I realized that nothing worked. A friend told me about this revolutionary new diet fad called the HCG diet. I ordered the drops and began doing the diet with her. I lost over 40 lbs with this diet. But I was calorie deficient. I was hungry. I stuck with it, but I was miserable. I have since gained all that weight back and more. I know that this was not the right way to lose weight.

I had a doctor recently tell me that there were only a few ways that I could lose weight. I could take some pills or I could have weight loss surgery. When I asked him about nutrition he said that he didn't know much about it and he would stick with the pills. I couldn't believe that a doctor was actually telling me that the best way for me to lose weight was to take pills. To stick objects in my body that have horrible side effects. When I mentioned Dr. Fuhrman's book and listed some of the basic principles that he shares in his book, my doctor said, Well, I don't know about that either. I wouldn't recommend switching your diet. It's just not good for you to switch like that.

For those who aren't familiar with Dr. Fuhrman's methods, I would recommend reading Eat to Live, but let me give a basic summary.

Fruits, Veggies, Legumes, Seeds and Nuts, Whole Grains. In a nutshell, if it grows from the ground and hasn't been processed, it is good for your body. If it has been processed, not good for your body. He recommends eating as much vegetables as you can, several servings of fruit in a day, at least a cup of legumes, a small portion of seeds and nuts, especially if you are trying to lose weight. He gives scientific explanation for everything. He backs all of his claims up, and he makes it fairly easy to follow a plan. This isn't a diet, this is a lifestyle change. It's not just about losing weight, but making your body as healthy as possible.

The problem for me is, I like my foods that I shouldn't be eating. I like sugar, I like pizza, I like burgers. I have struggled for months to make this change. However, this time, it's going to stick. I need to make a healthy change not just for myself, but for my husband and my daughter. I want to have the energy to keep up with my daughter. I want to be healthy enough that I can live a longer life. I want to be able to teach my daughter how to eat and take care of herself, so that she doesn't have to go through being overweight like I have. I want to make this change!

I will be posting as often as possible, not only listing what I've eaten, but how I've exercised, as well as posting pictures of myself on a weekly basis. Hopefully this will document a change, a permanent change.