Food not only has the power to sustain life but to do many other things.  Food comforts us when we are feeling stressed or down.  It is an integral part of family celebrations and social gatherings.  It is a tradition connecting the present to the past.  Bonds of friendship and love are created and strengthened by cooking and eating together.  Many things are discussed and shared over dinner tables.

What We Eat

Food consumption has changed a great deal over the last 100 years.  We have gone from carefully planned and balanced meals to McDonald’s, Burger King, Pizza Hut and other fast foods.  Our bread has gone from the more dense whole grains with staying power to the fluffy white bread that seems to be gone within minutes of eating it.  After school snacks have changed from home-made cookies and fruit to Oreos and fruit snacks.  As a country our sugar consumption has gone from around a couple of tablespoons a day to about five cups a day.   I’m as guilty as the next person.  Fruit loops, Captain Crunch, Cookie Crisp and other yummy cereals are in my cupboard.  Fruit snacks and Red Vines are on my shelf.

We, as a family, are slowly changing what we eat.  Yes we still have cookies, but they are homemade.  Yes I still have chocolate milk for breakfast and it is still whole milk.  More on that in later posts.  What has changed is my snacks and lunch.  I actually eat them and it is no longer whatever I can find which is usually what I can put in my mouth without any preparation.  I have started having wheat crackers and sliced cheddar cheese for my morning snack.  Cottage cheese and fruit with my lunch.  I have actually been enjoying the few minutes it takes to make my food.  I had forgotten how much I like to cook.  I will be sharing some recipes as I find the ones I like the most.

When We Eat

I tend to forget to eat because I don’t ever really feel hungry.  My regular meal schedule was somewhat nonexistent.  I would often have a glass of chocolate milk for breakfast because I don’t feel well if I eat first thing in the morning, but I feel even worse if I don’t.  Then I would eat “lunch” sometime before 4pm and dinner around 5:30.  Sometime before I went to bed I would have a snack.  The problem with eating like this is that long periods between meals is that your body thinks that food is scarce and begins to store.  I was eating less but gaining more.

How do you tell your body it doesn’t need to store for the next famine?  Eat more regularly.  Every two or three hours is best.  I have breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner and evening snack.  I don’t eat a lot at each meal but that is the point.  I don’t have to eat a lot because I’ll be eating again in a couple of hours.  Now your body knows that food is plentiful and it will stop storing.

What is the difference?  Blood sugar.  When our blood sugar gets low for long periods of time our body starts eating stores.  Then when we eat again our body replaces the stores and then adds to them for when our blood sugar is low again.

Success!!!

This is the end of week one of my new nutrition program.  This last week I focused just on eating regularly and I am so excited by these results.  Four to six smaller meals at regular intervals every day.  Here are my results:

• Weight – sorry no scale on this program, occasional updates only.
• Bust – 46″ (no change)
• Waist 45″ (success! -1 )
• Hips – 51″ (forgot this one last time)
• Thigh – 28 (no change)
• Upper Arm – 15 (success! -.75)

I have to actually set reminders to remember to eat but it is definitely worth it.  This week I’ll be trying some oatmeal smoothies for breakfast.  I’ll let you know how it goes.  I got the recipes from theyummylife.com and am excited to try them.  Have a great Wednesday!

courtesy of theyummylife.com