Can it be called a "diet" if foods are not cut out of my daily victuals, but added in? If so, then I am on one. It was Scott's idea. It's more effective this way - every time I come up with a plan to change our eating habits for the better, he's not motivated and it doesn't last. But this time, not only did he approach me, we've set it up as a cooperative goal so we BOTH have to accomplish it to win. So far it seems to be working.
We are to eat a minimum amount of fruits and vegetables and drink a minimum amount of water each day. My water requirement is less than his, as is my body size. The benefits to this new plan are multiple and as follows:
1) Clearly, fruits and veggies are good for us. They provide essential vitamins and minerals and reduce the risk of many diseases, including some types of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, kidney failure, etc.
2) Fruits and veggies are pretty filling for the low number of calories they contain. This means that if we eat more from those categories, we will not be hungry enough to snack on potato chips all day long or eat only other, high-calorie foods instead. Scott also says that often he will think that he's hungry, but actually he's thirsty - so if he drank more water he would eat less excess food by misreading his body's signals. And of course if he always has a bottle of water with him, he won't feel the need to carry a soda instead.
3) Eating fruits and veggies begets eating fruits and veggies. I often try to buy fresh fruits and vegetables, but we don't eat them fast enough. So then half of them get thrown out, and next time I'm at the store I don't buy them. A few weeks later I'll try again, but the same thing happens (the main exception here is bananas - we eat a lot of those). I've had more luck with strawberry yogurt than fresh strawberries. And then, since there are no fresh fruits and veggies in the house, clearly we don't eat them. And the vicious cycle continues. But since we HAVE TO eat them now, we DO - and then I buy more and then we have them in the house (and they're not wilted or moldy) and we eat them. And the gentle cycle continues.
I've never had a problem eating fruits and vegetables because I dislike them - (except PEAS and TOMATOES - gross gross gross) - I just don't usually think about eating them. It doesn't really occur to me. The same holds true with water - I don't drink soda or Kool-Aid in place of it, but I don't drink many liquids period. I do like to buy orange or cranberry juice and I'll drink those, but besides that (and hot chocolate on winter mornings) I don't consume liquids. I never think about it. I rarely feel thirsty, and when I do a small swallow of a refreshing liquid will usually slake my thirst.
So the purpose of the new "diet" is twofold: 1) To eat healthier by actively adding fruits and vegetables to our meals AND thereby decreasing the desire (and room in our bellies) for less healthy foods, and 2) To MAKE HABITS out of eating fruits and veggies and drinking water.
Wish us luck!
2 comments:
Yay! We are working on that too, but it seems to be so hard! How do you buy your produce? (and don't give me any smart-aleky comment like you buy them at the store) ;) Do you buy for a whole week? Whenever I seem to buy fresh stuff it goes bad...
I would *never* be a smart-aleck.
I try to buy for a whole week, though sometimes I have to replenish our supply partway through (it's usually 4-5 days in, which means that I don't truly go twice a week, but more like 3 times in 2 weeks).
Something that helps is buying a few fruits like cantaloupe or pineapple whole, and then cutting them open after 3 or 4 days. That way I bought them in the same trip, but they don't start going bad until halfway through the week. I also sometimes use more canned or frozen vegetables (frozen are as healthy as fresh as long as you don't overcook them, but canned aren't as good for you) towards the end of the week.
Some fruits and vegetables last better than others, of course, so part of the trick is to eat those later on in the week if you don't want to make a second trip to the store. But sometimes you just have to.
Does that help?
Post a Comment