While I weigh a lot, the fact is I haven't been on many diets. I was down to 200 pounds or so in 2006, all from just dietary changes. I've never done Weight Watchers, crash diets, or the like. I have always eaten a diet low in carbohydrates. In the past this has been under 30g/day not counting fiber, to give you an idea of how low.
This past year after I got out of the hospital in October 2009, I found Mark Sisson's website about the Primal lifestyle. The basic premise is to live a life by eating and acting in the ways our genes designed us to. That is, not eating or doing anything whenever possible that our dear old ancestor Grok wouldn't have done. Also the community of folks are cool and easy going people, which I really like.
There are a few reasons I've chosen what most would consider an 'odd' way of eating. I'll be honest upfront: I have an eating disorder. I hate to admit it, but after talking with people and working on my recovery, it's quite obvious that food has replaced my heavy drinking. It's an addiction, combined with bad choices on my part. This has given me the freedom to be able to eat and get used to having food around again in order to make sensible choices.
What I eat: meats, vegetables, fruits, eggs, nuts, cream, butter, olive oil, coconut oil. Everything organic/free range when possible.
What I don't eat: grains (including wheat, corn, oats, rice, or any others), processed sugar, any processed foods, unfermented soy, legumes, peanuts.
What I eat in extremely small amounts: dairy, bananas, honey, apples, dates, figs, other high sugar things, stevia.
Now, this is "low carbohydrate" not by design, but as a result of what the diet is, but because it eliminates most processed foods (including flour/grains which I consider processed). It requires a bit of prep. It is also more costly than eating grains, but not more costly than buying gobs of processed crap. I buy all organic and usually spend 70-80/week for groceries with a day or two extra of meals. I'm still trying to figure out how to cook for one, but that seems to be the magic number for about 8-10 days of food plus a few extra meals to freeze or store in case I can't get a ride to get groceries. No excuses for eating poorly! ;)
It may seem like a lot to feed one person and probably is by the standards for a lot of folks. Right now after neglecting my health for so long, I consider it an investment against later medical bills. Heck, if I got a gastric bypass that would be well over ten thousand dollars. The goal is to avoid that surgery if possible.
$70/week gets me:
- 3 dozen organic cage-free eggs
- 1/2 pound of cheese of various sorts
- 5-8 pounds of meat and fish
- 15 pounds of greens and vegetables
- 2 pounds of fruit
- misc. stuff such as nuts, nut butter, coconut, herbs, condiments, oil, vinegar, etc.
I drink tea or water rather than soda. I treat soda like dessert - it's an occasional treat. This is mostly because when soda's around I inhale food faster than an industrial vacuum. It gives me beastly cravings for now.
One thing to note is that I'm fairly assertive about my diet now, but I also take things in stride. If I have to go somewhere that's bad for me, I either don't go, or ask if we might attend a better restaraunt. I have been fairly pushy about this in cases where I absolutely can't control my addiction (chinese, pizza), and so far everyone has understood.
