- Avoid sugar! (other than the kind naturally occurring in fruits and berries)
- Avoid gluten and other processed carbohydrates (this does not include the carbohydrates naturally occurring in vegetables)
- Avoid most dairy products (Greek yogurt and some cheese is the exception)
- Exercise at least 30 minutes a day (Yoga was a specific suggestion)
- Drink LOTS of water (Adding natural lemon juice is OK as is organic teas. I use Stevia to sweeten my teas)
- Eat natural foods such as fruits, berries, nuts, vegetables, greens, beans, organic eggs, natural chicken & turkey, seafood... (A good rule is that if it grows and can go bad then it is probably good for you. If it doesn't, it probably isn't.) (Red meat should be limited)
I started following these rules today. I know, they seem pretty strict. I am just going to do my very best. I did hit a bit of a wall of exhaustion after dinner. I forced myself to go to the gym to do 40 minutes of moderate cardio and that woke me up. I am quite convinced that I suffer withdrawal symptoms from all the processed foods and sugar especially. That is why I usually cheat at night and usually within the first week (day 4 has been my most common day that I lose control on in the past). I was very tempted to cheat a couple times today, but I told myself the benefit of good health in the long run outweighs relieving the temporary withdrawal symptoms in the short run.
My plan is to do very low carbohydrates for the first few weeks. This means no grains (such as rice since I cannot eat gluten anyway). After the first few weeks I will add the rice and some gluten-free carbohydrates back into the diet to make it more sustainable. This way I should get some better results the first few weeks and readjust my taste buds and metabolism.
Today's menu consisted of the following:
Breakfast: 3 organic eggs over-easy
Lunch: Blueberry smoothie made with Greek yogurt
Snack: Handful of walnuts
Dinner: Baked chicken breast tenders, "mashed" cauliflower, and green beans
Snack: Handful of walnuts and peanut butter smoothie (I got the smoothie from the gym for free so I may have accidentally cheated here. I will make sure I do not in the future, but it was free, and I know it was low calorie because the gym owner told me so. ha ha)
Today's exercise consisted of the following:
40 minutes on a treadmill alternating between speeds 3 & 4. 2 miles total. (Slow 2 miles I know, but it has been months since I ran so I made sure to take it really easy so I will feel like doing it again tomorrow.)
Well, I suppose this post is long enough. Hopefully, this blog will keep me motivated and help someone else who may be just starting out as well.
