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Monday, May 16, 2011

Practicing what you Preach

So as much as I love the raw diet, the raw diet does not love me back.  Sad but true.  But like I said in my challenge a couple of weeks ago, you have to listen to your body and do what works for you.

After the holiday, I started doing raw and have been at it for the past 6 months with periodic meat benders.  As psychotic PMS style symptoms, grain cravings that have caused me to eat cheese pizza, and PMS like mood swings started coming back into the picture, I had to reevaluate what was working for me and what was clearly not.

When I met with my nutritionist hero over a year ago, he told me that grains did not work for me.  I shouldn't even eat the healthiest grains, like quinoa and brown rice.  He also told me to keep my fruit intake to a minimum and NO sugar- not even agave or honey.  This is due to blood sugar issues that I have.  So what have I been doing?  Not listening, of course!  I have been eating a ton of fruit, lots of brown rice protein powder, buckwheat groats, agave, and honey.  At first, I was okay, but then months and months of eating like this has sent my body back into horror furry.

So I decided to start eating my nutrition plan diet again.  Meat, eggs, vegetables, some fruit (only low glycemic- berries, grapefruit, green apples), butter and olive oil, Greek yogurt, coconut milk and water, nuts and seeds.  All of these products organic.  My goal is to keep my raw balance at 60% raw- 40% cooked.  So far, the change is working wonders on how I am feeling.  I can't believe the shift in my cravings.  A couple of weeks ago, I couldn't get enough fruit, raw chocolate, protein powder and wasn't really feeling veggies.  Today, I shit you not, I ate two mixing bowls FULL of salad (and I will probably be shitting myself later).   I didn't even put olive oil on the second salad!  When I did get a mild sweet craving, I mixed a little bit of coconut water and plain, unsweetened coconut milk.  It tasted like HEAVEN!  So here is what my day looked like:

Breakfast-
1/2 c. blueberries
1 c. greek yogurt
8oz kefir water to drink

Lunch-
1 chicken breast
3-4 c. salad with 3 tbspn olive oil
1 whole avocado
1 c. radish sprouts

8oz coconut milk
1 oz coconut water

Dinner
5 c. salad with no dressing
1/4 c. blue cheese
1/4 c. walnuts

It was odd not to snack all day.  I have been grazing and grazing on the raw diet.  It seems like I am seeking food all day long.  Since I started back on the old regime I had no desire to snack.  I felt full.  Some people thrive so beautifully on the raw diet.  I am so jealous of them!!!  I wish I could make it work.  But from now on I am going to practice what I preach when it comes to listening to my body and doing what works for me.

p.s. I dropped a little more body fat!!!   Thank you Crossfit!!!!  I am very interested to see what happens to my body composition after making these changes.  As of today, I am 19.5% body fat, getting closer and closer to my goal of 18% ;0)  YAY!!!  Hopefully this dietary change won't impede my progression.

3 comments:

  1. Hey Janie! I'm so glad you're feeling better! It's tough because sometimes the diet we think is best for us is not. Kudos to tuning in and finding your rhythm!

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  2. That's great that you're listening to what your body wants!
    Ooh I want to try Cross Fit so bad!

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  3. You guys are the best!!! Thank you for being so supportive!!! Amy- Crossfit rocks! You should totally try it. I started 6 months ago and cannot BELIEVE how much I love it. Not only is it making positive changes in my physique, but it is making positive changes to my psyche as well ;0)

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