Today, I hit 90 sugar-free days. I’m tired of not eating sugar, but the loss of sugar is no longer my biggest food-related deprivation. My decision to cut back on the amount of food I eat every day and to eliminate dairy products (mainly cheese and rice crackers) from my diet seems to be working. When I stepped on the scale this morning, it told me I’d lost 18 pounds since the last time I weighed myself six weeks ago.
My clothes have felt looser. My bathing suit is starting to hang on me. I don’t look much different, but the scale (a new one I bought at the start of this lower-my-cholesterol-weight-loss journey) doesn’t lie. It’s not only sugar I’ve given up. I’ve removed cheese and most snack foods and replaced them with fresh fruit and vegetables. My doctor told me that losing 30 pounds will lower my cholesterol. That’s a daunting goal, but I’ve given myself three years to lose that weight permanently.
One reason I’ve lost weight so quickly is because (I believe), I’ve been skipping dinner two or three nights a week. I take classes at night, and eating dinner can be problematic. By the time I get home from school, I’m too tired to eat. If I really want a snack late at night, I eat a handful of cashews or some fruit. It’s not as much fun as eating a brownie or a bowl of coffee ice cream, but it works.
Here are my new rules:
1) I write down every single thing I eat every single day. I found an old notebook in a closet, and I keep it in my purse, next to my phone. I want to be able to look back and see how much food I eat every day. I do think writing it all down helps me notice when I’m eating out of boredom, not hunger.
2) I know I will feel hungry every day, all day, and that’s the price I’m going to pay, possibly for the rest of my life. I’m eating a very healthy diet—fruits, vegetables, lean meats, healthy fats, a few grains like rice and oats, a nutrition bar now and then. And I’m eating plenty of food.
3) I measure the volume of food I eat. Instead of piling rice on my plate, I measure one cup. On a recent morning, I ate one cup of sugar-free oat cereal, plus a banana, oat milk and one cup of blueberries.
4) Snacks are allowed, as long as they are mostly fruit or nuts, and I write them down in my little notebook. This has been helpful when I feel really hungry, and I have another hour or two to wait until dinner.
5) I can eat anything I want when I eat in a restaurant, including dessert. This rule has helped also because I don’t feel deprived when I go out to eat. I try to order salads and fish, but allowing myself eat whatever I want makes the experience enjoyable, not stressful.
6) I cut out all dairy products. No more organic New Zealand cheese, which I love. No more sour cream. No more whole milk Greek yogurt.
7) No refined sugar, except for an occasional Kind Bar or a nutrition bar that has less than 5 grams of refined sugar.
8) When Trader Joe’s has those chocolate mousse cakes again (probably at Halloween), I can eat as many as I’d like. Period.
9) I’ve started lifting weights, a bit. I don’t enjoy weight training, but for anyone over 50, weight training is essential because we lose muscle every year. I don’t like brushing my teeth either, but I sure like having healthy teeth. Likewise, I want to maintain my muscles, so I’ll be lifting weights forever.
10) I swim for 30 minutes, 3-5 days a week. I had to take a week off because our pool closed, and I felt terrible. I hate swimming. It’s gotten a little better because I bought waterproof headphones that play music and podcasts while I’m swimming back and forth in the lap pool.
11) I eat protein with every meal. If I don’t have time to cook, I make a protein shake, which tastes sweet and chocolatey and seems to quell my hunger.
If all of this sounds like a lot of work, yes, it is. But I’m going to grad school to prepare for a new career, and I see this physical transformation as part of a new start. I’m not going back to eating sugar and more food than my body can metabolize, nor am I going back to my old career. This is a one-way street.
Will I be able to tolerate eating less food and doing more exercise for the rest of my life? Maybe I’ll get too tired of feeling hungry all the time. Maybe I’ll slack off on exercise and allow myself to eat more food. Maybe I’ll fall off the wagon again and go on a months-long sugar-eating bender.
I don’t know. Keep reading to find out.
In the meantime, here’s a recipe for a slow-cooker one-pot meal made out of black beans, lentils, red peppers, mushrooms, onions and chicken thighs. I seasoned it with a couple of hatch peppers I’d roasted, a little tamari and some fish sauce. It was surprisingly good, and so, so easy. Stir all the ingredients together in a slow cooker or cast-iron Dutch oven and let it cook for eight hours or so.
Slow-Cooker Chicken Thighs with Lentils and Mushrooms
Slowly cook chicken thighs, red peppers, mushrooms, lentils, black beans and onions in a slow cooker or Dutch oven, and it all blends into a thick, delicious stew or soup that keeps well in the fridge, is low in fat and high in flavor.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds chicken thighs, halved
- 2 red peppers, diced
- 2 medium onions, diced
- 1 pound white or brown mushrooms, quartered
- 1 cup dried green lentils, washed
- 2 15-ounce cans black beans, not drained
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 2 hatch peppers, roasted
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon tamari
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- Fresh parsley, for garnish
- Sesame seeds, optional
Instructions
Stir all ingredients together in a slow cooker or a cast-iron Dutch oven.
Cook on low heat for 5-8 hours, stirring occasionally.
Serve in bowls or over rice.
Garnish with chopped fresh parsley, and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
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