It's just about the end of week two of my six week plan to lose the last ten pounds. This week has gone much better than last week! I have stayed away from the unhealthy snacks, and I have gotten in some gym time and some great walks. I also made some big changes in my diet.
I have been having difficulty with digestion, gas and bloating lately, and it has been quite painful. The obvious solution is to cut out whatever I am consuming that's making me feel this way, right? So I decided to experiment a little bit. Firstly, I know that I am lactose intolerant. I don't drink milk (unless it's in a latte), but I do eat cheese and occasionally, ice cream. Any time I eat yogurt, which isn't often, I feel like it just sits in my stomach like a rock. Now, I am going to give up dairy completely, and see where that takes me. I absolutely love cheese, and I generally eat it at least once every day, so I'm going to miss it, but the rest I can live without quite easily. That's the first thing.
Secondly, I have cut out gluten and wheat. I have been feeling lately that I'm just not digesting it properly, and wheat is a large part of my diet. I eat whole grain toast every morning, and we have pasta a few times a week as a family. What I have done is substituted wheat and gluten free bread for my toast, and I bought brown rice noodles instead of pasta. Honestly, I already feel better! I also do a lot of baking with wheat, so I bought myself a gluten and wheat free muffin mix, and used almond milk instead of milk and apple sauce instead of oil to lower calories and dairy content. Then I added some nice chunks of apple and lots of cinnamon, and they're actually pretty good! So now I have my own snacks to eat that are just as tasty, but lower in calories and easier on my stomach.
Another thing I am doing now is making a conscious effort not to eat loads of red meat. It is also something that sits in my stomach like a rock, and to be honest, I am just not a steak and potatoes person. I like ground beef in my spaghetti sauce, but I am just as happy with ground turkey or chicken. My husband on the other hand is a typical man, and has been feeling starved of red meat because I have been cooking predominantly chicken and fish. This weekend however, I bought lots of beef and pork for him, and got myself a package of chicken breasts that I put into single portions and froze. That way, I can cook a meal for the family, and just throw on a chicken breast for myself so I don't have to deal with the beef.
I mentioned that I have stayed away from unhealthy snacks this week too, which I am really proud of! I have had plenty of opportunities to chow down on pastries, cookies, licorice and all manner of goodies, but I haven't done it! The only treats I had were actually pretty good for you. I had one small bar of dark chocolate with my coffee on Saturday, and I had a couple of dried fruit and nut bars as snacks yesterday, which are made with all natural sweeteners (honey, raw sugar) and only nuts and dried fruit. So I feel awesome about that. For movie snacks I had air popped popcorn with a little bit of seasoning and no butter. I also made myself some oat bars with oatmeal, honey, a teeny bit of butter, cinnamon and a ton of raisins. They are only 110 calories each, and though they are a little dry (the recipe needs some tweaking), they are delicious. I think something just snapped in my head after my escapades last week with the cheezies and chips and stupid junk. I felt pretty rotten all week, and I made a firm decision not to do that to my body anymore! I don't feel good when I eat those kinds of foods, so why on earth would I eat them? Especially when there are healthy foods out there that taste just as good (in my humble opinion).
I am truly hoping that by doing these things I can figure out what is bothering my stomach, and in the mean time, it will help me drop a few pounds. If it works, then I will certainly continue on this path! So far, I've done really well in my resolve not to eat the cheese as I am slicing it up for the kids, or munch on snacks filled with wheat, dairy and other things I want to stay away from. I will keep you all posted on how it's going, and what I find works and doesn't work. Plus, I will be posting some healthy recipes for muffins, cookies and yummy treats that you can give your kids without all the guilt. Though I hate, despise, and loathe cooking, I actually enjoy baking, and I have been trying lots of new and healthy recipes in the past few months that are worth sharing.
I will be posting an entry tomorrow after I weigh in to see how this week went on the scale. Until then!
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