No sugar. No butter. No oil. No ghee. No wheat. No carbs. No fizzy drinks. No alcohol.
Isn't that what people keep saying to you, when you say you want to lose weight? There's lots of helpful advice that floats around about what to eat, and what not to eat. And you really cannot take it seriously.
I wrote a piece on my blog some months ago, about how women are conditioned to want to lose weight. I was, too. And then I had to shift my intention to achieve and sustain wellness, instead of a dress size, or a particular weight per se.
That's what the challenge is also about for me. To understand what I think of as wellness, so that, in the coming challenges, I can achieve it.
So this interview I found on The Atlantic has been relevant reading. Dr Robynne Chutkan talks about her book, Gutbliss: A 10-Day Plan to Ban Bloat, Flush Toxins, and Dump Your Digestive Baggage. And this part really hit home for me:
It's really about the 80 percent rule. Most of us are “toxing” 80 percent of the time and detoxing 20 percent of the time. And we should really think about flipping that—we should think about detoxing 80 percent of the time. And I’m not suggesting anything extreme. Today I did some work at home, I made a fruit and veggie smoothie for breakfast, went to spin class, I met some people for lunch, and I had a kale salad with roasted chicken and a big bottle of water. Nothing so profound, but all healthy stuff that made me feel good. And if you're doing that 80 percent of the time, you can tolerate that 20 percent of debauchery in whatever form that might be, whether you’re drinking a bit too much, or not exercising, eating the wrong food, having too much ice cream. And then we don’t have this need to constantly be detoxing and cleansing all the time.
Try to maintain these healthy habits about 80 percent of the time, and then 20 percent of the time you’ll have something that is not necessarily the best, but that you enjoy. It means you can go out to dinner and not be so rigid or careful about what you eat, but that most of the time you are paying attention. Because there’s this incredible disconnect I find in medicine today (and obviously there’s lots of commerce involved in this), that promotes the notion that disease just falls out of the sky and there’s no connection between how you live and what happens to you from a health point of view.
Over this week, I've been keeping track of what I eat and how I feel, emotionally and physically. So far, the days on which I eat less processed and sugary foods, I feel better. Eating a small banana first thing in the morning is always a good thing for me. Smaller meals help, but not always because sometimes I end up eating much less than I need to, and then have a big midnight snack, which is totally counter-productive.
Eating slowly, quietly, and with gratitude is perfect. (I know this sounds a bit cuckoo but it works - as you fix your plate, just think about how wonderful the food is, and how healthy it is for you. Make sure you aren't eating a Big Mac as you say this. Your body is not an idiot.)
And if I really want dessert - which is usually a small lemon tart, or the new banana caramel tarts that Le15 stocks! - I eat it in the afternoon, or early evening.
I haven't achieved the fitness goals at all, I have to confess. There has been some walking, but no yoga. (Not pleased at all.)
