six week core evolution part 1: nutrition

PHOTO BY JAIMIEARNOLD.COM

After I finished school this past spring, life for my family grew (a little) less hectic.  I knew I wanted to make healthier food choices, but didn't really know how. I thought I would have to spend tons of time peeling, chopping, and cooking, planning my meals way in advance, never eating on the run. Between my children and my job, I wasn't sure I would be able to make the shift from the haphazard "meals" I was used to. I decided to meet with exhale spa's nutritionist Julie Starr-Wood.  I suspected I wasn't feeding myself and my family as well as I could be.  I wanted to learn more about nutrition so that I could try to improve our eating habits, in a way that would fit our lifestyle.

Having come from a Women's Studies background, I've read and thought so much about women's body image issues and disordered eating that I had a suspicious view of "dieting," and therefore nutrition.  (Just consider the famous book title "Fat is a Feminist Issue".) 

Here was my pre-Julie food philosophy:

• "Dieting" equaled leaving hunger unsatisfied.
• Eating light left a person hungry and looking for more food.
• Eating heavier foods left a person full and therefore they would eat less and still feel satisfied.
• The only truly healthy way to control one's weight was through exercise since dieting was restrictive, joyless, and only produced temporary changes.

  

Due to this philosophy, a typical day of eating for me frequently involved some combination of the following:

• bacon egg and cheese sandwich
• tea with cream and sugar
• oatmeal raisin cookies
• whole milk
• Ben and Jerry's ice cream
• pizza
• apples with lots of peanut butter
• pasta with cream sauce... you get the picture.

Fortunately, I wasn't binging on these foods, and I have a job and a practice that keep me active and stoke my metabolism.  I knew I hadn't been exercising as much as I normally like to, so I figured I was about 5 pounds heavier than the weight I like best for my body.  However, when I stepped on the scale at my nutrition appointment, I was surprised to learn that I was 10 pounds heavier than I would have liked.  (Due to my anti-diet stance, I rarely weighed myself.)

When I mentioned this to Julie, and told her what I considered to be my ideal weight, she was very reassuring.  She had seen my food records, and felt certain that I could easily incorporate healthy changes that would cause this little bit of extra weight to come off.  We discussed some of my beliefs about food and dieting (I don't think Julie ever used the word "diet" by the way.)  She asked me how I felt physically and I told her I was feeling quite groggy and tired a lot of the time.  I needed a nap after lunch just about every day.  Her initial advice was for me to temporarily eliminate dairy from my diet, especially "cream," and see if it made a difference in how I felt.  I told her I would try.  She also advised me to drink two 32 oz. water bottles with just a touch of 100% organic cranberry juice per day to help flush toxins out of my body.

Some of the new ideas I took away from this initial appointment:

• Whole milk is not more "natural" than low-fat milk, because it is not "natural" for adult humans to drink cows' milk in the first place.
• Peanut butter is high in saturated fat, so a little goes a long way.
• I can feel full without eating high fat foods.
• The heavy foods I was eating are a lot of work for my body to process, and were probably making me tired.
• Nutrition is not just for people who don't exercise, athletic people can benefit from choosing healthy foods too!  ;)

I know these may not sound like major breakthroughs, but believe it or not, they were for me!

Julie promised to email me an eating plan within a few days, and sent me on my way.  Eliminating dairy would provide enough challenge for those first few days anyway!  One step at a time... To be continued!