On Food, Cooking, And Why We Eat What We Eat
Some folks may have noticed a marked lack of carbohydrate-laden foods in my lunch and dinner postings. The reason is simple: we have followed a reduced carb eating plan for the past two and a half years.
This is because roughly two and a half years ago I was diagnosed with insulin resistance. To make a long story very short, this means my body does not handle large amounts of carbs well. The last research I did states that this is genetic in origin, having to do with the "thrifty gene" that enables us to store fat for the lean times. (A Google search will bring up lots more details.)
Unfortunately, at this time there is no cure; fortunately, it can be controlled by controlling one's carb intake. Of course, the minute I heard this I thought "oh, no, you mean Atkins?!?". My doctor, who was the one who suggested investigating the reduced carb approach, said absolutely not - I also had elevated liver levels that made Atkins a bad idea for me.
I realized pretty quicky that if I was going to make any changes - and it was actually that *we* were going to make changes, since if I was changing how I ate my husband was going to have to change along with me because I was NOT cooking two meals - I needed to be honest about what changes I was willing to make, what I was and was not willing to give up. And it would be me who made those choices.
This meant that most published, pre-scripted diets were not going to work. While most of them usually had some sound research at their base, all of the ones I read started exhibiting food prejudices when it came to the nuts and bolts of the diets they were selling. For example, they would state that all X is bad and should NEVER be eaten, except for this particular X, because THEY like it. Well, if there are going to be exceptions, I'm the one who is going to choose my exceptions.
I also couldn't do a NEVER/ALWAYS plan. I just can't. I can do a most of the time/once in awhile plan. I'm smart enough to know that "once in awhile" doesn't mean "every other day". So I turned to the web to read everything I could on the current state of knowledge regarding insulin resistance and the effects of diet on weight and health. Things sure had changed since I was a kid and it was all just about "will power".
Along the way I had an important epiphany: food was NOT the problem, food was the SOLUTION. What if I could find foods that were in plan that I liked just as well as those I was not going to eat all that often?
This realization dovetailed nicely with a separate, unrelated realization I'd had before this problem hit the fan: I'd become a lazy cook. I'd always loved cooking, I'd always been inventive, but due to personal issues unrelated to food and moving to Colorado where the continuous cornucopia of good and fresh and interesting foods just wasn't available, dinners had become starch with bottled sauce and meat. Boring.
The result of all of this is a reduced carb plan pieced together from the research I did, tweaked and modified based on our own experiences. From
The Insulin Resistance Diet, I lifted the basics of 30 grams of carbs per meal, balanced with at least 15 grams of protein.
While that doesn't sound like much, 30 grams of carbs is a cup of cereal in the morning, two slices of bread at lunch, and another serving at dinner. Put that way, it doesn't sound so bad.
I added that my goal is to keep it under 100 grams of carbs per day - that adds another 10 grams for the random carbs found in everything. This is 1/2 to 1/3 the amount of the daily recommended carbs in the current government pyramids; hence, reduced carb, not low carb or no carb. We don't always hit those goals, but you have to start somewhere!
The majority of what we eat then became protein and vegetables. Fat was also important, as it is fat and carbs that create that sense of fullness, so without enough fat we'd never feel full.
There's a lot more to it, of course, but the bottom line is: it worked for me. My blood work is boringly normal and I've lost 130 pounds. Or I should say it's still working, as we're not planning to stop eating this way - we LIKE the food and we like the results.
And the food has been wonderful. I still seek out new recipes and foods that fit in the plan, and have become a much better cook for it. I discovered that I love kale.
I found out how good pureed cauliflower is - never mind the carbs or lack thereof, it's GOOD. I learned that while I have a sweet tooth it's not a sugar tooth, and many of the artificially sweetened products satisfy my desire to experience the taste of sweet very nicely.
This doesn't mean that we never splurge and eat off plan. In fact, we plan these splurges, usually once a week. We have found that it's not what you do once a week, it's what you do for those other 20 meals that makes the difference.
I won't ever say that this is the right eating plan for everyone - I'm not a doctor or a nutritionist, and I'm convinced there is no single best eating plan for every body - all I know is that this is what works for me. I truly enjoy the food I cook and eat - it's important to me that this change isn't penance or punishment, but simply a change of lifestyle. Things cannot get better without change.
There's a lot more to it of course, but I've tried very hard not to put everyone to sleep!
Marcia.
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