Eat to live, not live to eat.

I love food. I do. And I love meat, as anyone at the Hibachi grill could tell a few weeks ago as I slowly ate and (embarrassingly enough) moaned through my plate of steak and fried rice. But lately I've been thinking back on all those late night Mexican dips I inhaled - gobs of layered cream cheese, salsa, and cheddar cheese, shoveled into my mouth. And the mounds and mounds of red meat I consumed on a daily basis, bordering the acceptable level of pleasure as I ate it. I have been drooling, ooing, and ahhing over pieces of meat and gobs of fat. And then of course I would wonder where all this extra chub came from.
Then, one day, I picked up a book. First of all, please believe me when I say that I am not a read a book and jump on the bandwagon kind of girl. If an idea is beyond silly before I read a persuasive essay about it, I'm going to think it is loads of silliness after I read it. But for some reason this book made sense. It spoke to me. Actually, it basically yelled at me to get my act together. So, I started reevaluating my relationship with food. This is what I knew: I had no interest in eating vegetables, and although I love all kinds of fruit, I rarely ate any. Yep, I was your all American meat and potatoes kind of girl. This didn't add up to my dream of being a highly acclaimed nutritionist - and a skinny, fit nutritionist to boot. I'd been doing all of the studying, but none of the living.
So I made a change in my life. I figured why not? It was summer and I was in need of a new adventure. My first task was to take meat out of my diet. This didn't go over well with my family, who ironically enough own a beef cattle farm. And our beef is all organic grass fed Belted Galloway beef. Supposedly (at least according to my grandfather) the healthiest in the country. So I had to explain to them that I do not hate beef, I am not against using cattle for food, I just need a change in my life for the moment. I am pretty sure they are still not convinced, but thankfully I'm known to be a little loony, so they just brush my silliness aside.
Cutting out beef is very beneficial for my diet because it forces me to eat fruits and vegetable and really think a bout what I am eating, to make sure I get all the nutrients I need for the day. I have also found ways to make vegetables more exciting so when or if I go back to eating meat I will happily continue to get my daily vegetables in. I also realized how easy it was to get my whole grains through brown rice, brown rice pasta, and gluten free oats. And of course I eat a lot of nuts and beans to ensure I get all of my amino acids and iron (along with the vegetables).
I am also in the process of cutting out sugar. Interestingly enough it has not been as hard as I thought it would. Maybe because I have been dissatisfied with each morning as I step on the scale and my weight continues to increase. Or maybe since my mind is so set on changing my lifestyle and proving my family and friends that I can stick to it, I have had zero cravings. Which is amazing, because I love chocolate, even more than meat.
So meat was week one and sugar is week two. Week three will be dairy. But do not be confused, I am not becoming vegan. I still eat eggs, and honey, and I am not going to scour every ingredients list to make sure there is no whey powder or dairy of any sort, I'm already busy enough scouring them for gluten. No, I will just be giving up dairy, mostly milk and cheese. I hesitate to give up yogurt because one: I love it so much, and come on, I can't give up everything I love, and two: it is chock full of acidophiles and live bacterias that are good for you. But I will cut back.
Mainly this is an experiment. I do not intend to make this a permanent lifestyle change, unless of course it makes me feel a hundred times better and I continue to be healthy. But for now, I just want to see how it will affect me. And hopefully it will lead to some long term changes that will benefit my mood, energy, and intestinal health.