I know, I know. Seems ridiculous, right? I know what many of you are thinking because it has gone through my mind a time or two and that is 'How on earth am I to get to that "perfect" size or number without them? Please, don't tell me diet and exercise for the umpteenth millionth time!' Well, this is where my eureka moment hit me! Ready to hear the mind blowing, earth shattering Aha! moment that I recently discovered??? My weight is not my problem. Yep, I said it! It is and always will be a number, and one that will continually go up and down depending on the month of the year, day of the week, and time of day. It is unavoidable and completely natural. Now, don't get me wrong. I am not saying gaining 25 to 50 pounds or losing it is normal except if pregnant. I am talking about the few pounds that we seem to gain towards the end of the day after all the water and food that we consume during the course of our wildly complicated day. The minute we lose the concept of weight being a problem we set ourselves free from the torment of our self-imposed, TV pushed prisons. We can look at food in a different manner. One that is what it has been so willing to be for us and that is nourishment and medicinal in nature. Yep, you heard it here. I said medicinal!
I have recently begun an overhaul of everything that I eat from reading labels for saturated fats, sugars, carbohydrates and the list goes on and on. What I have found is that we as a society eat what is quick and easy to prepare as our work and home lives are pulling us in hundreds of thousands of directions. Feeding our families and ourselves something from a box, fast food establishment or take-out is so much easier than slicing, dicing, baking and waiting. Trust me! I have been there and done that, but due to my lupus not getting better but slowly getting the best of me, I decided enough was enough. I had pretty much started over with granola, yogurts, more fruits and veggies to see if I could feel a bit better still focusing on that dreaded number on the scale. I thought I had the perfect concoction to rid me of those pounds and thus feel tremendously better in the process. Problem was I not only stalled on my efforts with the scale, but I did not feel an iota better. Almost defeated in my attempts I pushed on to find out what was causing this horrible plateau in my weight loss venture. Boy was I surprised when it hit me that I was focused on the wrong thing. Weight! I needed to focus on my health first and foremost, and I figured that my weight would probably take care of itself. So, with some trepidation I set out again, but this time really reading labels and focusing on what exactly I was putting into my body. The shocker came when I realized I was eating 'healthy' but these products were stocked full of ........SUGAR!!! Yikes!
Sugar is the culprit in so many venues leading to not only diabetes but inflammation in the body which was something that in lupus I needed less of, but I had no idea that I was consuming so much. On average in the early 1900s, I read that the average daily consumption of sugar was around 15 grams a day. Not as much diabetes, heart disease, etc... back then. Fast forward to today, and the average person eats approximately 125 to upwards of 150 grams of sugar a day! Unbelievable but true I am afraid. So, it was with this eye opening jolt that I transformed my daily intake of sugar focusing on fresh fruits (2-3 daily) and tons of veg. My gut griped for a week or so, but I eventually got used to it, and I have continued to exercise about 30 minutes six to seven days each week. I am now getting about 20 to 30 grams of sugar a day, and it definitely took some getting used to, but I am already feeling some benefits. My fatigue while still ever present has abated a little, and I have an overall sense of joy too. Weird, but true! Now, as far as my weight? Well, that's started moving down too! I had been stuck at a number for months, but now it is finally moving downward. I have to say I am thrilled, but not for the weight. No, I am thrilled that I am finally starting to feel better, and it really does not have anything to do with my scale. So, I broke up with my scale over the last week, and I am not sad one bit about it. So long and farewell! I am on this journey of health for good, and I can not wait to see what changes the future will bring with this new way of thinking too! Sure, it takes time to chop and dice, but not nearly as long as I thought, and it is gives me warm and fuzzies all over knowing that my children will adopt this way of thinking at such a young age. They, hopefully, will not ever have a relationship with their scale the way I have over my lifespan.
I hope for everyone reading this that it will in some way help you to focus on health being the ultimate goal and not what a number on a scale reads. I would not be a pharmacist without stating a drug taken to suppress our appetite or cause weight loss could end up shutting kidneys down, destroying a liver and possibly death, and it has been proven over and over again that once off the medication, people gain back the weight lost plus more! Our bodies are beautiful, awesome machines that if well fed will hum with pleasure for decades mostly avoiding nasty side effects of heart disease, stroke, chronic pain, inflammation and more. A pill begets another pill for maintenance, and a program will ask you to buy into a maintenance program. We do not need someone else to feed us. We need to relearn to feed ourselves and save a ton of money in the process!
All the best friends,
Katrin
Challenge yourself with something you know you could never do, and what you’ll find is that you can overcome anything.- ANONYMOUS
No comments:
Post a Comment