Lifestyle change

As a lot of you, know, my lady and I have decided to clean up our eating.  We've cut out all bread, white rice, pasta and cut way down on white potatoes and sugars.  We had previously eliminated soft drinks, artificial sweeteners and heavily processed food.  We have also now eliminated frozen convenience foods, like frozen dinners and my beloved frozen pizza.  I'm not a nutritionist or a scientist, but I do have a degree in behavioral science, so I'm doing this as a scientific experiment would be conducted.

Our expected results are pretty simple, feeling better and losing weight.  Sally is hoping for good health and getting rid of some unwanted weight.  I hope to be a better athlete and also lose some weight as well.  Diet can affect a lot of things besides our weight, like energy level, skin tone and really every fiber of our being.  She is over 50 and I'm over 60, there really isn't a lot of research done on older athletes, so in a way we are blazing our own trail.  There is information available and I'm actively learning as I go, then modifying to fit our lifestyle.

I started by going through the kitchen and throwing out all the stuff that we don't eat anymore.  All of it, every bit.  All the bread, the Ritz crackers, the frozen dinners the pizza, the pasta, everything.  Then I went to the market and restocked.  Fresh meats, chicken and fish, that we baked and grilled ourselves and then put into portion packages to take to work for lunches and eating at home.  I bought lots of fresh veggies and fruits and did the same with them.  Organic canned beans come in lots of varieties so they are easy to add to a meal and provide different tastes.  We have a container of good salad already prepared so we can just take some out, for an addition to a meal or as a meal in it's self.  There are always bags of fresh cut fruit or veggies to snack on or as a quick meal before exercise.

We are comparing notes after each meal as to how we feel.  Are we energetic or feeling bloated and needing a nap.  We should be energized by a meal, that means our bodies are processing it well.  If we are feeling lethargic then we know that we aren't getting what we need from what we ate.  By doing this we can fine tune what we eat, individually to each of us. Variety is important to ensure that we are getting all the vitamins and minerals we need.  With all the fresh fruit and veggies, fiber isn't a problem.  We are taking a fish oil supplement because our doctor recommended it.

We are keeping the tastes interesting with different spices, healthy sauces and marinates.  I'm using hot salsa for salad dressing and Sally is using a raspberry vinaigrette dressing for her salads.  We change up the ingredients for our salads and the flavorings for our meats and fish.  Since buying all fresh food we have to go marketing every couple of days, that allows us to change up easily.  We also shop the produce that is in season and at a lower cost.  keeping the meals from tasting bland, I feel, is vital to the success of our lifestyle change.

We started two weeks ago this coming Sunday and the results have been promising.  I have lost almost 7 lbs and Sally has lost some weight as well.  Both of us have more energy and I'm feeling less soreness from hard workouts.  We are just beginning but hope to keep this new lifestyle going.  We realize that we had to give up a lot of things that we normally ate, but most of that was for convenience, it's so easy to pop a frozen dinner, in the microwave.  But by processing the healthy food into serving sizes it's just and easy to eat better food.

I will continue to make periodic reports on how it's going and on lessons we learn along the way.  Because it is a learning process.  Discussion and sharing your own personal experiences are welcome.

Thanks for reading.

Dave