Fast Food for Thought...

A really good friend of mine forwarded me a great article about "healthy" fast food.  I just felt a shiver putting those words in the same sentence.  It got me thinking again about what we as a group know about healthy eating.  When we see the chicken wraps at McDonalds and notice it's "all white meat" "low in calories" do we automatically assume it's healthy?  I think for a majority of American's yes we would.  I have even had to stop myself and think about it.

Here is the article I read that I agree whole heartedly with: Tom Venuto - The Double Edged Sword

Now we have Jamie Oliver telling us the same thing.  Eat whole foods.  Prepare your own meals.  Look at the ingredients!  If you can't pronounce it and you don't know what it is, WHY would you put it into your body?

This is a struggle I'm constantly having to work through.  See, I love food.  I love to cook food.  I love to read about food.  I love to order food.  Food is WONDERFUL.  Food is also fuel...Ok, now that just put the breaks on.  The first time I came to the realization that food wasn't here just to make me happy and satisfy my senses I was taken aback.  I had never ever in all my life thought of the notion of food being fuel.  Sure, I remember my mom making me stay at the dinner table until I ate my green beans. (It was a phase, I grew out of it) and as a parent I've told my kids they need to eat healthy foods to grow big and strong.

I guess when it came to my children I had realized that they needed the healthy food to grow.  But as an adult I had complete and total reign over what I was to eat.  I was no longer growing therefore, why would I need to have 5 servings of veggies and all the rest?  Then I realized that when my baby was 5 I was still fat.  I still looked pregnant.  I even had someone ask me when I was due.  I knew I had to do something about it but still I stubbornly held on to my limiting beliefs.  I would cut calories, drink diet drinks, slimfast, and the like.  I would lose maybe 10lbs and then put it right back on.  I purchased Richard Simon's Dance Your Pants Off! Yes, I still own it too.  But I didn't dance my pants off.  It didn't work because I was missing the key ingredient in weight management.  Food.  Food = Fuel.  You get out what you put in.  Wow, what a concept.

Then in the winter of 2002 I saw this ad for a program called Power 90.  30 minutes a day?  I could do that.  I went online and looked it up.  I saw all these other people doing all these other Beachbody programs and doing well!  It had a nutritional component.  That is when I realized that this was for real.  I finally took the plunge and in February of 2003 I ordered Power 90.  I started in March.

The program came and I got to work taking my measurements and recording everything.  I looked at this folder that talked about food.  There was a chart of foods, they called it Michi's Ladder. I knew I needed to cut calories to lose weight but to think of my food as fuel?  This chart made eating healthy easier than I ever thought possible.  Food was put into categories.  I knew which cuts of beef were better than others, which veggies where better for me.  I realized that when I started eating healthy whole foods I started feeling better.  I stopped getting sick as often. I had more energy for my workouts!  Now I was just a babe in this area.  I needed the simplest way to eat healthy and Michi's Ladder worked for me. Now I just eat up everything I can find on nutrition.  I don't aways practice it.  But I study it.  I am constantly working on putting my knowledge into practice.  It's hard.  I'll admit it.  I lost almost 40lbs back in 2003.  I kept it off until 2006 when I had two surgeries and a car accident.  Now I'm working on getting back into shape again.

I have the knowledge.  Now I just am working on putting it to practice.  I have many friends who are helping me along my way!  They are amazing and are my rocks!  This is another thing that is important to becoming a healthier you! Having support.

I think I will save that for yet another long rambling post.  Because I love my friends, they deserve their own page!