Changing Our Views of Food: From Friend to Fuel

My family enjoys eating at Chick-fil-A restaurants. Their chicken sandwiches are good, the waffle fries different from other chains, they play Christian music in their stores and almost all of the employees I have encountered there are genuinely cheerful and seem to have a knack for customer service. I also like a quote by S.Truett Cathey, the founder of Chick-fil-A, "Food is essential to life. Therefore, make it good."  Many of us in America have gotten too comfortable with our food being "good" and have forgotten that our relationship with food is not that it be our good friend who is there for us when we are in need but it is a fuel for our bodies to function.

 I have two daughters, ages 15 and almost 9, and I have been trying to lose that "baby weight" ever since the day they were born. I grew up in a house with "good food" and my family tells me on a regular basis that I usually prove to have continued that tradition of yummy baked items, sugary sweets, rich sauces, and fresh baked bread varieties using real butter, heavy cream, olive oil, whole milk cheeses...well you get the idea. When I cook, or at least in the past when I cooked, flavor, consistency, appearance, etc. were all that mattered. The nutritional value of the item cooked wasn't the top priority. I grew up a meat and potatoes farm girl and married a meat and potatoes farm boy. All that high-fat cooking has changed as I have learned to use spices, vinegars, flavored oils, Stevia, and low-fat substitutes for many of my previous basics to make delicious very nutritious dishes. The pay off for this change of cooking style is a weight loss of 24 pounds, increased muscle, and considerable improvement in my running and exercise.

I had been running 3-4 times a week prior to the weight loss, but I simply couldn't get past a certain point where I would be simply exhausted and not able to advance to the next level. I was exercising but not really changing anything about how I ate or how I thought about food. Now, food is fuel and although I still want it to be good, I have done a little experimenting and found other ways to make it good without defeating my weight loss progress. The main thing I have changed is how I think about food. I no longer look forward to sitting down with a huge, plate spilling pile of food and stuffing it all down my gullet because "it tastes so good". I eat just enough to get just "full" then I move on to something else like reading, exercising, blogging, or getting school lunches ready for the next day. My stomach has obviously shrunk and can't hold as much food as it did in the past.

I still have about 30 pounds to go but the loss is on a steady slope. If you have been trying, without success, to lose those stubborn pounds, try changing how you think. Food is fuel and your body really needs a small amount of it to function. It just needs a lot of the nutrients in green vegetables, lean protein and water (I drink a gallon a day!). Large amounts of carbohydrates and high amounts of fat will not lead to sustained loss. The reason is simple:  carbs are the easiest fuel to burn so the body burns it first, fat is the next easiest to burn, and lastly proteins. Proteins are the most difficult for the body to burn because of the amino acid chains the body has to break in order for the cells to process them. I discovered that I was "blessed "with a body that does not efficiently process carbohydrates and that by continuing to eat lots of carbs and fat, my body wasn't burning what I had stored as fat. Almost eliminating simple carbs, except for green leafy vegetables, eating a balance of lean proteins, mostly fish and poultry and a small amount of good fats, with exercise, led to my weight loss.

Recently, in the last week, I have started to add back very small amounts of carbs to my daily diet, and continue to eat lots of green leafy vegetables and lean proteins without gaining even one pound. I choose carbs that I really enjoy like small, and I do mean small amounts of chocolate, good breads, and wine.  My running has taken off and I am seeing muscle definition. I feel great and look great and still have a way to go to the finish line. So if you are hoping to feel better and look better, change your relationship with food. Redefine your association from "comfortable friend" to "necessary fuel". Look for 2 new recipes under the recipe tab, one for the kids and one for the waist watching buff in all of us!