It's only been a few weeks since my new doctor suggested that I radically overhaul my diet to address my various health issues, but I'm already noticing huge improvements in the way I look and feel.
Basically I'm going with clean eating, which means that every food I eat should ideally still look the way it did when it was harvested. That means processed foods are out (I'm fudging things a little with canned beans and tomatoes). Dairy is also a no-go, which I'd already figured out on my own except that I had to be forcibly separated from my last holdout: cheese. I've discovered the joy of kale (why didn't anyone ever sit me down and explain how wonderful kale is?) and I can whip together an amazing soup or salad at the drop of a hat these days.
It took me about a week to figure out how much food to bring to work. I have my usual Shakeology shake in the morning, then my main lunch at 11:30 and a smaller meal (usually a salad or a veggie smoothie) around 2:30 p.m. My company recently bought a Vitamix blender for us all to use and they provide fruit and vegetables for smoothies. What great timing!
Did I mention I gave up caffeine? For whatever reason, it was completely painless this time. Now I drink the juice of a half lemon mixed with water every morning and it's fully as energizing as coffee without the mid-afternoon withdrawal period.
I lost ten pounds pretty much immediately. All of my allergy symptoms vanished within a week. By the end of the second week, my heartburn was gone. It's really been quite amazing.
My energy levels have also bounced back. I was really in the doldrums when I started, but now I'm going to two yoga classes a week and walking as much as I can. I'm looking forward to taking a running clinic in a couple of weeks to see if I can make improvements there as well.
I know this all sounds kind of fringe-y and granola, but it's working so incredibly well that I can't fault it. I'm getting plenty to eat and I'm not getting tired of it at all despite the fact that I haven't even started consulting the cookbooks I bought at the beginning.
I'm looking at this as a permanent lifestyle change rather than a diet. Whenever it occurs to me that I might have eaten "x" for the last time, I'm perfectly okay with it. If that's what it takes to feel and look healthy, it's worth it.
My husband is not joining me in my new eating habits except when something I make for myself smells really good and he decides to have some. That's probably going to remain somewhat of an inconvenience indefinitely, but as I mentioned when I first brought up these changes, this is something I need to do for me.
I'm looking forward to seeing where this goes. It's pretty exciting so far!
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