Diet (and by diet I mean lifestyle not cabbage soup), is a key component to improving health, fitness, goals, and all aspects of wellness!
There is an overwhelming obsession in our nation with being thin…. but with millions of diet fads how can we tell whats a hoax and what works. I as many women my age have tried as many diets as Hugh Hefner has women, and they all seemed the same. You would get all pumped up to start on Monday, and by half way through the week you were either sick to your stomach from the same food, or feed up and bingeing. I got to the point I was so sick of dieting that I decided I would just drink Coffee Bean for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. If it worked for the Olson twins it could work for me!
I was starving all the time, and the more I worked out the more weight I gained. “How could this be”? Not only was I counting fresh air as points in my weight watcher program, but I had seen the gym more than my apartment, and the lbs were not dropping!
Right around this time I found out I was gluten intolerant. There were not the abundance of products out there that they now have today (8 years later), and I was at a loss for what to eat. I began researching and finding new ways that I could eat what the average american does, but make it healthy and taste good too! I removed all the processed food, and started to eat more fresh nutrient foods. When my friends would come over, or we would go out to eat all of a sudden my food looked and taste more appealing to them than theirs.
I began to create gluten free dairy free recipes like pizza, lasagna, cookies, cakes, pancakes, even Thanksgiving dinner and everyone that tried it had the same response: “This doesn’t even taste healthy”. and that is when it all started to make sense; the light at the end of the DIET tunnel. If you don’t feel like you are on a diet, but you still feel like you are getting those foods you love there is no obsession. We do not have to be perfect, think if it like an ATM The more deposits we make (ie healthy choices) the more money we have, if we make a with-drawl every once in a while (ie cheat), it is not going to drain our account because our deposits still out weigh the debits.
My husband always uses a good quote, “there is a reason the word DIE is in diet”. The more you restrict, the more you shut down, and in the end you are not healthy at all. All I did was make a few small changes that made a lifetime of difference. Since not eating dairy or gluten I now rarely get sick, I have more energy than ever before, and I feel healthier overall.
In the weeks to come I will be posting several of my most popular recipes… try them out and begin to make those small tweaks that will lead to a healthier way of life. If you are able to eat healthy and still make it taste delicious why not give it a try!
Fit Chic