Friends, Not Food

I've been talking for a couple of days about wanting to do a post on my newfound realization that food is intended to be fuel for the body.  And the more I thought about it, the more it reminded me of this:

Source

Remember: fish are friends, not food.  I'm not exactly sure why, but it totally reminded me of "food is fuel, not __________" (you fill in the blank).

I love Finding Nemo and have now used it as inspiration a couple of times.  For instance, my Road I.D. has this etched into it:

Source

But yes: I have been meaning to talk about food as fuel for quite awhile now.  Today marks the start of week four of the Abs Diet, and it is amazing how different I feel already.

As a reminder, here is the diet in a nutshell:

• Eat five or six small meals each day
• Try to incorporate as many super foods as possible into each meal

It is not at all restrictive; in fact, several of the meals are - essentially - dessert.  I could drink one of the smoothies for every meal and be a happy girl!

Since I've been following this plan, it is amazing how healthy I feel.  I stay full for a really long time because I'm eating the proper nutrients, and I can tell when I didn't eat what I should have because my body tells me it's not satiated.  For instance, there have been a couple of times during my workout where I realize I shouldn't have skipped my afternoon snack - or that I should've eaten it later than 3:00 - because I was running on empty.

There is no way I would've been that in tune with my body even a month ago.

Another part of the diet is the free day.  While it seems counterintuitive to eat crap, David Zinczenko (creator of the Abs Diet and editor-in-chief of Men's Health) insists upon having one day per week where you throw out all the rules:

• "It will help you to learn control.  If you can make it through six days of healthy eating and reward yourself for your effort, you'll develop mastery over the human desire for instant gratification."
• "It'll help you change your body.  A successful diet plan is about how you eat most of the time, not how you eat all of the time.  It's about learning to eat healthier foods, not sacrificing tasty treats for the rest of your life.  And a high-calorie day of eating, now and then, can actually help you lose weight by revving up your metabolism."

The free day is very important to me, as much of my social activity revolves around food.  I like to eat and cook delicious things, my friends like to eat and cook delicious things, and we like to eat and cook delicious things together - or try out the fun local restaurants Des Moines has to offer.  

While I've definitely been taking advantage of the free days (usually Saturday afternoon/evening and Sunday evening), it's starting to kind of take a toll on me.  For instance, I did not do a very good job this weekend.  On Saturday, I ate a skillet of grease for brunch and then a bowl of ice cream in the afternoon - followed by wine in the evening.  On Sunday, I ate crab cakes with a cream sauce for dinner - with a glass and a half of wine.

Needless to say, I felt so gross this morning.  Yes, all of the food was delicious, but I'm not sure all of it was worth the icky feeling of today.  Perhaps I should stick to one free meal instead of a whole day of gluttony.

It's amazing how eating healthy can really, truly affect your sense of well-being and your ability to be "in tune" with your body.

I honestly feel so much better when I'm not eating junk.

And on that note, here was tonight's dinner:

Chili Mac, with Jack - courtesy of the Abs Diet.  It was so good, and the portions were huge!

And right now my stomach is trying to tell me it's hungry.  I might whip up half a smoothie so that I don't wake up in the middle of the night with a growling tummy.  My Fitness Pal is telling me I still have ample calories left for the day, so I'm going to go use 'em up!

G'night!