The 99th Day

Tomorrow is the official end of my 100 day real food challenge.

For the last 100 days, I've tried my best to follow a minimally processed diet.  I eliminated refined sugar and high fructose corn syrup.  That step eliminated most commercial breads, condiments, cereals, frozen foods, snack foods, and desserts from my diet.  I also switched to brown rice and 100% whole wheat bread and pasta.  Whenever possible, meat, eggs and milk were organic. Drinks have consisted of water, milk, tea, coffee and red wine.

I had some predetermined cheat days such as holidays, birthdays, and Super Bowl Sunday.  I also had some cheat days that just sort of happened.  I could use my husband's old standby excuse -  I WAS ROOFIED! -  but the truth is the days that just happened mostly happened when I failed to plan better.

Taking this 100 day food challenge was definitely the best thing I've ever done for myself in terms of changing my relationship with food.   Dramatically changing my diet really broke the hold that food had over me.  I could not maintain portion control of crappy processed food.  I am sure that I would have kept failing over and over with that, as I have in the past.  There are both physiological reasons - the food is purposely designed for us to crave it - and emotional reasons why that couldn't work for me.   But changing everything? Well, it changed everything.  I'm in a good place, and I love it!

I feel AMAZING.  I can't really stress that enough.  My energy is good and level, as are my moods.  I never seem to have problems with bloating or water retention.  I rarely have cravings for anything.  The only time I notice cravings is after I've had a cheat meal.  Of course!

The challenge has been beneficial for the family, too. My kids have always been good eaters, but they are eating so much better.  I don't think I will ever have them preferring brown rice, but they tolerate it now and have no problem with whole wheat pasta.  They are eating more fruits and veggies including things I never thought they would touch - who knew that both of them would love roasted cabbage with fennel seeds??  

Andy is doing great.  He's lost 20 lbs since getting on board on January 1. His blood pressure is fantastic.  A few months back, he had a health scare that gave us both a jolt.  I love fiercely and I'm prone to freak-outs.   That poor, poor man.  I made him crazy in the weeks it took to determine what was going on with him.   Fortunately,  the kind of diet we are eating now can reverse the situation and most importantly keep it from turning into something very bad.  So, yeah, he is never going to get a break from me!  And if I was motivated before, I am easily 10x as motivated now.
 
During this challenge, I lost 15 lbs, which only happened when I got serious about portion size.   I have struggled at times with eating too much of the high calorie stuff that meets my guidelines such as cheese, nuts, and tasty "real" food items that I bake (whole wheat banana bread, pumpkin spelt muffins, granola, etc).  I will probably always struggle with this a bit.

What's next?

Without a doubt, I am committed to this way of eating for life.   However, I will add a bit more flexibility.

For instance, there are some meals  I haven't made in the last 100 days that my family really misses like baked sweet and sour chicken with jasmine rice.  Or chicken thighs with soy sauce, ginger and brown sugar.  Or Cambodian style chicken curry made with Massaman curry paste (sugar!). Or things made with packets of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing.  LOL.

So I have decided that one day per week I will prepare an "Old Family Favorites" dinner - each week a different family member can pick one dinner for me to prepare without restriction.  Have at it, Fam!  I'm curious if I will even want to eat those dinners.   All of the meals I mentioned in the paragraph above?  I used to love them!  Now, I really don't desire them.

I will also allow myself to have one non-restricted reasonably sized dessert on special occasions - and I really do mean special occasions, not an impromptu dinner outing on a Wednesday or something.  That's if I want it.   I really have lost my desire for chocolate.

And that right there is the craziest sentence I've ever typed!

Oh, wait...here's the craziest sentence I've ever typed:

I haven't had pop (soda) in over 4 months!  I can guarantee that is NEVER coming back to my diet.  I accidentally took a sip of Diet Coke a few weeks ago and immediately spit it out. So nasty!


As mentioned before,  I love Michael Pollan.  If you are at all interested in this real food thing, I highly recommend reading his books In Defense of Food:  An Eater's Manifesto, Omnivore's Dilemma, and Food Rules.  And certainly watch the movie Food Inc. It was really that movie that gave me the courage to even try to eat like this.

I found this nice whittled-down version of Michael Pollan's "Food Rules" that you can print and take with you to the grocery store.  Honestly, if you follow this advice, I don't see how you can go wrong.

Real food and good health await you! Go get it, girl...or boy!