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| Jan 30, 2016 Glucose 30 day average = 80, Celebrate! |
WHUT????
* There are no food photos or lengthy food descriptions in this post* You are welcome!
I would like to provide guidelines that I use when deciding what food to choose. Remember, I count myself as a food addict (age 6-46) who has been in recovery for just shy of 5 years.
I've been at a normal weight for almost 4 years, 40 years of overweight, obesity, morbid obesity and binge eating like there was no tomorrow.
Here's my criteria for choosing foods to eat to maintain my weight, to keep from getting type 2 diabetes, and to remain food sober.
What works for me for choosing food to eat. Here's what I ask myself
1. Will this food trigger me? (meat, non starchy veggies, low inflammatory natural fats are okay)
2. What fasting and 2 hour post glucose values be? ( high 60's to high 80's most of the time)
3. Will this food produce migraines, acne, joint pain (dairy & nuts)
4. Am I eating because I have a non-hunger need?- HALT-B- hungry, angry, lonely,tired, or bored
5. Am I choosing foods that keep me from the life threatening disease of food addiction?
If I sat down and ate the foods that I "LOVED" in an addict way, well I would be morbidly obese again. I'm not alone, many other folks ( MILLIONS of people) abstain from flour grains, sugar for both food addiction treatment and other health reasons. The normal is to abstain from refined flour and sugar for treatment.
Don't get me wrong, I love my Paleo, Low Carb High Fat food template. I eat plenty of food. I am not suffering with low fat, terrible tasting food, clutching to every last point. Nope. Here's my Instagram Account of my common meals. I eat until I'm full, I stop, I repeat 3X per day. I weigh my proteins, I track my food.
I retrained my food template, I eat foods that keep me well. There is no food Switzerland for me.
I beg you- if you are LOVING your food and going to eat moderately because you "LOVE" food and "YOLO" and any other excuse your brain can come up with, grab a glucose meter. What are your fasting glucose readings, 2 hours post readings?
Did you read Refuse to Regain's blog post about knowing your body?
For me that means monitoring my glucose and periodically getting an HA1c, hs-CRP, a triglycerides and other blood work that monitors silent inflammation markers
Your body will choose your foods, your body will give you feed back to what works and what does not. It's tricky to override the messages that the disease of food addiction will send you. I LOVE lots of food, but my disease is out side of my car, I have the doors locked and I don't let it in. The disease knocks many times and I LOVE to kick it away for another day.
Here's what didn't work in the past:
1. I chose grain filled, low points breads, cereals, muffins- hey, I LOVE those!!!!
2. I knew my glucose was high but looked the other way 2 years. ( headed to type 2 quick)
3. I had migraines and knew nuts and dairy could trigger, but I chose moderation and the disease.
4. I ate for false sugar fixes- numbing out any sort of emotion.
5. I had really high hs-CRP and joint pain. I really thought that was normal at age 40!!!
Before a you adopt a diet guru's suggestions- be sure to collect enough n=1 that honors your bodies genetics and reaction to the environment. So many times we are told to moderate with devastating out comes. Those people who can eat everything, that's nice, but they won't be around to help you pay your medical bills and help you out for a very, very preventable - in most cases, situation.
Know your body, check your blood markers. Choose wisely. I promise I will not make millions on this blog post. But that's okay. :) Does anyone else get tired of the moderation message dressed up in a popular personality? My food template picked me. N= 1.
Food Sobriety is worth more than millions, it's priceless!
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| My half year glucose data, staying under 100, Jan 2016 |
I agree with everything you posted here, Karen. The majority of people who lose weight can't really eat in moderation in my opinion, especially if they have lost significant amounts of weight and were binge eaters in the past. I follow someone on instagram out of curiosity because she is a fairly well known fitness professional who used to compete, and she preaches moderation (I got tapped into her because she has some free exercise programs, and I agree with some of her tips). I think moderation works for her because she never was fat, she is still fairly lean, she doesn't eat most grain products, and she doesn't eat a lot of dessert though she does eat protein bars. I think she preaches this moderation idea because it works for her, and she looks down on people who are strict with their intake (she states it's okay to be strict, but the message she relays is to critique that food lifestyle). I just think her message is not a help for a lot of women who want to hear it's okay to be moderate, but who, if they really don't down to it, should not moderate.
ReplyDeleteI know we all have to choose what works for us. I consider myself an abstained of grains, but my diet is nowhere near as clean as yours (you are a rarity). I am working to get better with my eating each year and cleaning up my diet. And I have hit so many milestones in my weight loss that I am proud of myself. And that's why appreciate your view of food/lifestyle. You know the benefits of no grains and no sugar, and you encourage people to adopt this lifestyle, yet you don't look down on those of us who are not one hundred percent there yet--and I'm one of those people who is almost there, but not quite.
Yes, - moderation works for the never morbidly obese pretty well. Probably genetic. That's cool, you'll eat what you can get away with - Mark Sisson's mantra. But, even he has given up his wine habit and gone to only occasional glasses as he ages.
ReplyDeleteI'd eat more bars and Paleo junk food if I could get away with it, it does taste good. For a yo-yo dieter and professed food addict who may or may not be in recovery to promote bread eating to a large society of men and women who are diabetic, pre diabetic, and who are prone to heart disease- without glucose data, HA1c data, triglycerides, hs-CRP is so misguided.
Wheeeee, look at meeeeee, I LOVE bread (yes you are are food addict, I LOVE my addictive food too). I eat the bread every day, Oprah says. If Oprah used WW centers to host OA meeting based 12 step programs focusing on abstinence while counting points, extending to AA, too- as a community service- that would be one thing. I would support that. What is going on now is WW share holder profit boosting. No amount of money can buy food sobriety. NO amount. It's available to anyone who wants to put in the physical and mental work.
Who knows, maybe Oprah will be another Paula Deen and get paid to promote Metformin (many docs are using it as an anti-aging/anti-cancer drug- nothing a LCHF diet wouldn't do, but whatever!)
In a growing diabetic and morbidly obese country and in recovery myself, I shake my head on weight maintenance island at this sad, ironic turn of events. Onward, Ali. You are where you need to be right now. Keep up the good work. Your genetics will guide the way. My pain (lack of pain) is a huge motivator. My body will reward me with a migraine if I thing macadamias are something I'm craving, so my body needs, it, so I should eat eat WHEEEEEE. I hate using my vacation time for migraines.
Take care. Glad not everyone is buying moderation in hook line and sinker! Well if you are a WW share holder- well, you are king or queen right now. We'll all pay later with coverage for others insurance. We all do these things by our own hand. I was obese by my own hand.