Dietary Update #2

I have a confession. I took a hiatus from my diet.

Everything was going good through this last friday, but then saturday I just couldn't take it anymore. So I had pasta, and diet soda, and potato chips. Today I had more soda. I just got so tired of eating such a restricted diet, and I really didn't notice any major changes in how I felt. So I called it quits.

Well, sort of. I did make a few changes that I will continue to incorporate in my diet. For example, my snack of choice at work is now an apple and peanuts, instead of potato chips and chocolate. I feel good about that, and I can do it with no problem. I also realized that I could use a little more fiber in my diet, and some of the home-cooked meals that I have taken with me for lunch will become regular staples for me, such as lentil soup on rice. I am also more conscious of how many vegetables I am consuming with my evening meals, and how I can add more of them into the foods I cook. I also had my eyes opened to how satisfying certain healthier fast-food options are, like the BK Tendergrill Salad (BK has paid me no money to say that). But I just can't give up diet soda. Maybe I can drink it in more moderation, or just limit it to specific days of the week.

Really, the hardest part of my little experiment was that it takes time and energy to make healthy, natural meals/snacks. A lot of preparation time is needed. Sometimes it's just a lot easier to pop in a microwave meal for lunch, or grab a bag of chips instead of portioning out the right amount of cottage cheese into a small container, then rinsing off some veggies to eat it with. And if you want to save on time with the healthier foods, you often have to pay for it by spending extra money for the convenience (i.e. pre-cut veggies, individual portions for things like yogurt and cheese, prepared salads).

During the 2 weeks I ate this way, I think I dropped a couple of pounds. Whether this was due to better nutrition, or simply a modest reduction in calories, I do not know. My gut instinct (no pun intended) is that a diet such as this, paired with a good cardio program (perhaps 20-30 miles jogging per week), would be one of the best methods for slimming down that I could come up with. I could probably drop 8-10 lbs. of almost all fat in about 8 weeks if I did something like that. But I'm not doing any modeling anytime soon, and I would like to eat some chocolate after I finish my burger. So there it is.