I wrote yesterday about my decision to head back to the gym. I received overwhelmingly positive response, and wanted to thank everyone for their comments and support.
I have been both a healthy and unhealthy eater throughout my life. As a child, I was a picky and poor eater.
We are responsible for our health, but a myriad of factors make it difficult to eat well. I had conditioned myself to enjoy sweet and salty foods, I enjoyed the entertainment of eating and I was unaware of just how deleterious my diet was to my health.
I changed my diet in earnest about 2-years ago, and this will be my last time doing so. After eating poorly and skipping exercise for several years, especially around age 40, I was a mess.
The first step I took to address my poor diet was dumping sugar and adding fiber and HDL. I knew that the dietary abuse I had sustained at my own hands had made we inflamed and weak. I stopped eating anything from a box and started eating nuts, leafy greens including kale and beans.
The next step was increasing my water intake while stopping my intake of energy drinks, soda and beer. Yes, these were adding thousands of calories weekly to my diet, and cutting them out reduced my unhealthy weight. Simply ceasing sugar intake through liquids I was drinking instead of water made a huge difference.
After I had reduced my sugar intake and increased fiber to replace the unhealthy mass. I was eating a lot of calories in general. It’s easy to overdo it on unhealthy food because it raises and then rapidly lowers blood sugar to make you hungry. I needed to stabilize my blood sugar with fiber and vegetables that could do so. I needed to fill myself with reliable food that was an efficient and positive energy source. I added more lean meats and eggs to my diet to do so. In essence, I needed to begin to replace my old nutrient-deficient choices with nutrient-dense choices. I was choosing to eat more protein, fiber and HDL while refusing to choose sugary processed food. I had to be realistic in my needs for energy and mass and I had to be mindful. This step required writing a meal plan a week in advance so I could ensure I was removing nutrient-deficient fuel and replacing it with nutrient-dense fuel. Being mindful of my goal and writing a plan made all the difference.
Once again, thanks for reading this. If one person changes their dietary habits because of this post, I will be happy, and I’m glad to say I feel better and have lost and kept off 20-unhealthy pounds. Leave me a comment about your change and if you plan on making a positive dietary change in 2023.
Sources:
- Pixabay