Sunday, June 25, 2006

Something weird is going on

I think I'm starting to eat like a normal person.

Whoever that is.

As you long-time readers know, I've been following the Glycemic Index plan offered by eDiets, which combines high-quality carbs with low-fat protein and limits sugar. Other plans are available, but I've long thought I was insulin-resistant, and the GI plan made the most sense for me. I get a flexible meal plan and shopping list every Monday morning, which also is my weigh-in day.

Lately, probably the last couple of weeks, I haven't been eating breakfast, other than coffee. I get up and get started with my day, and before I realize it the morning's gone. Sometimes I'm so busy I don't remember to eat until 1 or 2 in the afternoon. But even if I'm not busy, I'm not thinking about food or rummaging through the pantry. Frequently I eat my planned mid-afternoon snack instead of lunch.

I sometimes go for hours – hours – without once thinking about food, or feeling hungry. I frequently feel thirsty, and I'm drinking four or five half-liter bottles of water every day … without thinking, "Oh, I need to get all my water in."

This is new territory for me. The only other weight-loss plan I've tried was Weight Watchers – a good program, and one on which I initially lost 32 pounds after the birth of my son. At that time, more than 30 years ago, WW was a prescribed plan, with 'legal' foods, limited and unlimited foods and foods we never ate. We learned to mix tuna with mustard instead of mayonnaise, and we ate it, whether we liked it or not, along with liver once a week.

The thing WW taught me was to always be thinking about the next meal or snack. I couldn't wait for the next opportunity to eat. If I got hungry prior to mealtime, I had a long list of 'free' vegetables; I could eat as much lettuce, radishes, celery or French-style green beans as I wanted.

Yum.

What worked for me was the meal "prescription" – here's what you eat, and here's when to eat it. I've gone back to WW several times, and have not been able to successfully maintain even a small loss on any of the newer incarnations of the plan. That's not to say it doesn't work. It just doesn't work for me.

After six months of the Glycemic Index plan, I think my body has learned that I will feed it what it needs. I'm not binge eating, I'm not sneaking, I'm not tempted by things not on the plan.

The visit to my daughter's earlier this month, when she was going to do the intervention about the icing, was probably the turning point. When sugar is not part of my diet, I don't fight food. If that's what it takes to not fight food, then I'll do it gladly. In fact, I think I'm finally at the point where I can do whatever it takes.

I've fought with food since I was in grade school, and I'm tired of fighting. I'm feeling so good right now, so … normal. I've no idea if it will last.

I can only hope it will.

3 comments:

Ms. X said...

I can so identify with you on the sugar thing! It does horrible things to my body, but it also makes me crave more sugar and things I know I'm not supposed to be eating. I've always felt I was sugar sensitive because it's almost like a drug for me, whereas most people I know can eat something sweet and not be effected (or so it seems to me).

Right now I'm doing the Medifast plan, but eventually I will be transitioning to a plan very much like the low glycemic model, because I just know my body can't handle sugar, and it's something I'll have to accept for the rest of my life.

But like you said, if it makes us feel better and we're not fighting food or obsessing over it, it's so worth it.

Vickie said...

I might be missing something -
but Debbi -
if you are following a glycemic index philosophy, I believe that eating at regular intervals and eating all your planned food are vital..

If you are skipping meals and not eating all your planned food - I might be wrong, but I think you might be playing with fire . . .
vickie

Debbi said...

Vickie, you're absolutely right that the GI plan means eating frequently and at regular intervals. I'm not skipping anything on purpose; I just realized that after six months, I could get busy doing something and not think about food!

Still pretty amazing to me.

Believe me, I'm not quite so busy today, and I've been following the "prescription."