Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Changing my eating habits

Like everyone else (99.9% of women) I've spent my life dieting and despairing about my body and how my clothes fit (or don't fit), about exercise (or lack thereof). As I've grown older wiser, I've realized that my body doesn't like carbs. My mouth and my head and my heart L.O.V.E. carbs, but not my body. My body hates carbs so much that it hangs on to them with this death grip and doesn't allow them to just give me energy and get burned out of my body. Oh no...my body insists on holding them hostage until in futile despair they turn into fat and decide to permanently set up camp on my butt, my arms, my shoulders and my back! (For some reason my legs always stay super skinny and if you combine super skinny legs with a chunky little body, well I look like a baby chick!)
So since January 17th I've been cutting down my carbs to only about 20 per day. You would think 20 carbs would be plenty but one slice of wheat bread has 10, one medium apple has 17, one home-made pancake has 20! And that's without adding syrup! My beloved tortilla chips have one carb per chip and I've been known to eat the whole bag...oops, did I just tell the world that? Well no, cause only about 7 of you really actually read what I write, so it's all good!

So if I can't eat carbs what do I eat? Well lots and lots of lean meat, especially chicken which I adore! My favorite way to eat it is in chicken salad; chicken, dill pickles, hard boiled egg, mayo, tiny sliced up fresh jalapenos, onion, salt and pepper...Yum! I could eat buckets of it. I've also been eating quite a bit of cheese, in cubes and string cheese and my favorite Babybel cheese rounds. Have you tried these? Delish!


I've also been eating lots of vegetables, zucchini, celery, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower and a really odd one that I'd never tried before but find that I absolutely love it. Jicama!


Doesn't that photo look like a big, round, crusty piece of delicious, warm, fresh bread....*sigh*. But no, it's actually Jicama. Jicama is a root vegetable that looks like a turnip. I eat it raw, but I understand it can be cooked. It has the consistency and crunchiness of an apple so I'm finding myself wondering if it could be baked with cinnamon and perhaps some Splenda (to keep those evil Warlord carbs in check)? Anyone know?

I'm finding myself addicted to it. It's not sweet, but not without flavor either. It's hard to describe. In order to get to that white goodness you have to watch a youtube video instructing you on how to prepare it (at least I did cause I had no clue). Lots of people douse it in lemon juice and chile powder and salt, but since lemon has carbs and chile powder and salt would just add sodium (which I don't need) it's best just to eat it naked! Eat the jicama naked I mean... not me! Wow, somehow that still sounds bad doesn't it?

Eating this Atkins Diet based way has been fairly easy for me, but then again I'm not a sugar/chocolateholic, I'm more a popcorn/chips &salsaholic. I've lost 13 pounds so far and I've been riding my bike about 4 miles per day. I could probably do more than 4 miles but I tell myself I've given up chips & salsa, do I also have to do an extra mile? I find I can talk myself out of almost anything!

11 comments:

  1. Wow, great job, Alicia! I'm a huge dairy product girl and eat enough that I should have turned into a cow by now. (Or goat, since they are my favorites...) But I'm also a huge sweets girl, so I tend to throw a little bit of sweet cereal into my yogurt in the mornings. Sadly, I'm not huge into red meats so I have to get my protein from other sources, which tend to be eggs since my Mom raises chickens. But I am a huge chicken meat fan. I could eat that all the time!

    Hopefully, my legs will start cooperating and I can start running again when it warms up!

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  2. Wow, 13 pounds. You go girl. I did really well when I was on South Beach but the hubby is a fried meat and potatoes man and I just got so tired of making 2 meals and always eating differently. I might have to rethink SB. I wish a knew a recipe for Jicama but not many fresh vegetables make there way into our house.

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  3. I love your humor and your ability to laugh at yourself.

    You're right about the carbs. If you reduce them, you could smoothly loose weight . Pickles and spices are not much recommended as they open up the appetite.

    Good Luck to you in your attempts to acquire healthy eating habits!

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  4. Della - I'm with you on the red meat. I really don't care for it either. Every once in a while a steak but it has to be done perfectly. I'm so anxious for nicer weather so I can go play tennis again. Yay!

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  5. Donnie - I had to laugh when you said not many fresh vegetables make their way into your house. I know what you mean, prior to this I might have lettuce but that was just for making sandwiches. Now both crispers are full. Tonight for example I fried up lean center cut pork chops, one for dinner, one for lunch tomorrow. Then I nuked a zucchini for 3 minutes and "voila"! Dinner!

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  6. DUTA - Thank you my friend. I can't take myself too seriously so I have to laugh at myself :-D

    I wish I had known about carbs when I was younger, like after having my two kids. I remember I would try to diet by eating tons of popcorn, all day long! That's just a huge carb! No wonder I never lost weight, never had energy and was always hungry!

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  7. Good for you! I too love Jicama. I've been eating it since I was a kid. It does have a fair amount of natural sugars in it. But, it's a far better alternative to chips. Keep eating healthy and losing the weight.

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  8. Wow, I would love your commitment! I am struggling with not eating chocolate and sugar treats. I have given up carbs okay, but I keep ending up binging by the end of the day on a chocolate bar, ice cream, jelly beans or chocolate covered raising. I just want to cry! Any advice?

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  9. That's totally awesome that you lost 13lbs and 4 miles is great. I don't eat many carbs either and even though I miss bread sometimes, my butt, hips and thighs don't. LOL! I eat jicama as well with guacamole instead of chips. I dip the jicama. I love it. I miss eating chips and guacamole and every now and then I indulge but it's nice to have a substitute. I don't eat dairy so you're lucky to have cheese. I eat nuts which can be delish....Good luck with all of the changes and congrats on the weight loss!

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  10. u rock mama!!!! So glad to hear you are happy!!

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  11. Good for you Alicia. You have more willpower than I do. I love carbs too. I didn't realize that lemons and apples contained carbs. That's news to me.

    Yesterday, I really wanted to go to the thrift shop and find a bike to buy. I've been thinking about it for quite some time. I'm glad to hear that you have lost 13 pounds. That isn't easy to do. You go girl. Woot! woot! Yippee!

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