Thursday, February 3, 2011

A new OLD way to eat...

At last, I"ve come to an understanding, for now, of a better way of EATING. Thanks to a family relation, we've been pointed in the direction of the "Blood Type Diet" which led to "Food Combining" and that led me to "Sequential Eating."  I can't say it was an easy transition for any of us. It's not like we had been eating terribly or anything. We have been a "whole grain", somewhat Organic, Grass Fed, Free-Range, Low Sugar kind of eaters.

Sometimes, I think I was born a few millenia too late, or at least a century. But, God doesn't make mistakes.  He has put me here for a purpose in this time and place. There is SO much wrong with our American Diet. Coming from a European country, I understand what FRESH is and I appreciate it.  Its certainly cheaper and more convenient to eat all the processed stuff (junk) that's out there, but is it really worth the ease and convenience?  It does not take that long to chop up some Romaine Hearts, a pepper, some baby carrots, or to throw together a quick homemade dressing of ingredients that you can pronounce, let alone spell!

So, what's our excuse then?  We want what's best for our children right? We want to live a long healthy life, cancer-free? Disease-free? or how about....medication free?  On average, woman my age, the one's I know, take about 5 meds a day for something. For something they could probably fix with some adjustments in our diet.

I was really struggling one week into this diet, not because I didn't like eating the food or anything, I just kind of missed the bacon and pasta dish  I had recently came up with and was moaning to my husband about it. He pointed out, lovingly, that maybe my difficulty with eating better was that I was addicted to easy & even yummy food, or a way of eating that was necessarily the best thing for my body. I had not thought of it that way. Food can be an idol too.

Okay, enough of this heavy stuff. But, now you know the why, kind of.

So, it's new for my family but it's OLD in the sense that we are eating more of a Paleolithic type of diet. More raw, nuts, seeds, less carbs, available proteins.  Kind of like Bible times food. 

I've been doing a lot of reading, researching on the internet which I will share in time.  The basis of our new way of eating is this: Loosely following our Blood Type diet with an emphasis on our beneficial foods. Following the Food Combining Diet, which starts with fruit alone for breakfast, followed 30 minutes later with Ezekial Bread. Lunch is usually carbs and veggies such as Salad, pasta and veg. Dinner is protein and veggies. Lastly, we are following the Food Sequencing Diet which in essence is, eating your food in digestive order for the most assimilation of nutrients, ease of digestion, and least amount of energy spent. We eat watery foods first, raw vegetables next, then cooked veg, a carb or protein last.  The stomach will make layers of these foods if eaten in the proper sequence and will digest them in the order eaten. So it would be best to not take a bit of each type but finish each type before moving to the next.  When I read about this I thought immediately about 5 course meals! IT makes so much sense! Soup, salad, etc... And it works!

We are approaching the 3 week mark now. I've lost 6 pounds. I feel better over all. It does take some time for the body to detox the old "sludge" of some bad habits. I've found lots of new recipes and ideas because I have never eaten meals without meat before.  It's forcing me out of my comfort zone but I'm taking it on as a positive challenge for my family. I love food and want it to taste good. I need variety. 

I also have not found any recipe books or recipe links in any of my research related to any of these "Diets" so I will be posting stuff that fits in, but anyone can use as well.  At some point, I would like to write a cookbook!

Don't worry, my next posts won't all be about me chattering about "Diets."  I hope to post many good recipes that work in our home!

Cheers!
The Lunch Lady

3 comments:

http://childrensalopeciaproject.blogspot.com/ said...

All great stuff. I wish I could eat better, bad excuse but one day I will, when I grow up!! You should have Bill do a "Beer Man" blog about organic beers?

Unknown said...

Hi, Hannah. It's Dave Zwald, from Maryland. Your subject is one of my favorite subjects. I'm always trying to do "just a little bit better" with our intake. As you say, it is SO hard in our society. Convenient junk food is so easy to come by and usually inexpensive.

Pat is quite health conscious, like you, a nurse, works hard and exercises, but she has taken a med for high cholesterol for about 5 or 6 years now. Recently as we applied for new health insurance, the insurer added an additional premium just because she takes one medicine. She doesn't even take a large dose, and she has worked hard at bringing the cholesterol score down with attention to better eating. So, there you have it...bad eating habits cost in more ways than one!

I am convinced that our epidemic of diabetes, heart disease, and cancers are largely related to our diets in this country. There was a time that Anne Arundel County, where I live, was supposedly the #1 most dangerous place to live in the US for cancer...don't know if that is still true...but if it was true...I couldn't help but think about all those Chesapeake Bay crabs we eat in this region. Ever seen what a crab eats?

I have joined an intense workout group again...a bootcamp. We are also emphasizing "eating for performance" and it is so eyeopening. It is so easy to eat out of boredom or due to stress, etc. Our trainer points out that some of us "eat to medicate", (another eyeopener, when you consider one's daily habits) and we have all learned what our proper intake "should be". It's a daily challenge to stick to it.

That was a good lesson about the layering of food. Someone mentioned last week that if the food item has more than 5 ingredients in it, they aren't eating it! Somewhat of a similar idea there.

I enjoyed your article and I hope you write more.

All the best to you and Bill, and the boys,

Dave

Doc Drew said...

Very Nice LUNCH LADY!!!
Dr. Drew