I eat real foods. Whole foods. Foods without preservatives. Foods with ingredients I can pronounce.
Why? I'm glad you asked.
The earliest memory I have of being conscious about my weight is in second grade. Consequently, you name the diet, I've tried it. Body for Life? Check. Weight Watchers? Check. 1200 calories a day? Check. I'm not here to say those diets don't work. I certainly lost weight on all of them. But none of those diets were anything I could sustain long-term. So I yo-yo'd for nearly thirty years.
On top of my struggle with my weight, I used to get headaches an average of 5 days a week (sometimes more), and I had very little energy. I slept nine to ten hours a night and still yawned all day at work. While I wanted to treat my headaches and lethargy with my diet instead of the medicine I was taking, the task seemed too daunting. Then my mother, who has no history of cancer in her family, was diagnosed with kidney cancer in June of 2010. Her diagnosis, as you can imagine, served as the huge wake-up call that I needed to get serious about what I put in my body. In talking to a friend about all of this, she recommended the book "Real Foods: What to Eat and Why" by Nina Planck. I read the book and never looked back. I can't recommend the book highly enough. But more than anything, I can't urge you strongly enough to cut out processed foods yourself. Since June 2010 I have completely cut out processed foods. Within six months, I had lost 18 pounds. And best of all, I no longer have headaches!
The beautiful thing about a real foods diet is that there are few ingredients (that I can pronounce) that I don't eat. I just tweak recipes when necessary to cut out processed ingredients. I no longer count calories or fat grams, and yet I've lost weight. As far as I'm concerned, and even in spite of my years of struggling with my weight, the weight loss is no more than an added bonus. More than anything, I feel better than I've ever felt. I very rarely have headaches, and I no longer feel tired all the time.
I'm not going to lie. This diet is not the cheapest I've tried. But the more I read and study, the more I am convinced that the processed food we consume is at the root of so many medical problems in the world -- from cancer to heart disease to chronic headaches. We have one life and one body, and it's vital that we take care of that body. Why is it that we're willing to spend money on clothes, gym memberships, manicures and pedicures, but not on the food that will best take care of our body? I challenge you to cut out processed foods yourself and commit to eating only real foods. I think you'll be amazed at the results.
Happy eating!
Why? I'm glad you asked.
The earliest memory I have of being conscious about my weight is in second grade. Consequently, you name the diet, I've tried it. Body for Life? Check. Weight Watchers? Check. 1200 calories a day? Check. I'm not here to say those diets don't work. I certainly lost weight on all of them. But none of those diets were anything I could sustain long-term. So I yo-yo'd for nearly thirty years.
On top of my struggle with my weight, I used to get headaches an average of 5 days a week (sometimes more), and I had very little energy. I slept nine to ten hours a night and still yawned all day at work. While I wanted to treat my headaches and lethargy with my diet instead of the medicine I was taking, the task seemed too daunting. Then my mother, who has no history of cancer in her family, was diagnosed with kidney cancer in June of 2010. Her diagnosis, as you can imagine, served as the huge wake-up call that I needed to get serious about what I put in my body. In talking to a friend about all of this, she recommended the book "Real Foods: What to Eat and Why" by Nina Planck. I read the book and never looked back. I can't recommend the book highly enough. But more than anything, I can't urge you strongly enough to cut out processed foods yourself. Since June 2010 I have completely cut out processed foods. Within six months, I had lost 18 pounds. And best of all, I no longer have headaches!
The beautiful thing about a real foods diet is that there are few ingredients (that I can pronounce) that I don't eat. I just tweak recipes when necessary to cut out processed ingredients. I no longer count calories or fat grams, and yet I've lost weight. As far as I'm concerned, and even in spite of my years of struggling with my weight, the weight loss is no more than an added bonus. More than anything, I feel better than I've ever felt. I very rarely have headaches, and I no longer feel tired all the time.
I'm not going to lie. This diet is not the cheapest I've tried. But the more I read and study, the more I am convinced that the processed food we consume is at the root of so many medical problems in the world -- from cancer to heart disease to chronic headaches. We have one life and one body, and it's vital that we take care of that body. Why is it that we're willing to spend money on clothes, gym memberships, manicures and pedicures, but not on the food that will best take care of our body? I challenge you to cut out processed foods yourself and commit to eating only real foods. I think you'll be amazed at the results.
Happy eating!
