When people ask me how I'm losing weight and I tell them generally the next thing out of their mouth is..."Are you depriving yourself?" "How do you do that?" "Wow, I don't think I could go without my <insert favorite junk food here>".
Here's the thing. I'm not depriving myself; I'm not starving myself. I'm just feeding my body what it needs. No, your body does not need sugar, unhealthy carbs and grains. It needs clean fuel: lean protein, vegetables, healthy fats, and in limited quantities nuts and fruits. It's really that simple and it's nothing new except the lack of grains and legumes part. It took me until now to realize how simple this was. Every diet I've ever been on I never lasted more than a couple of weeks b/c I would cave and fall back on sugar b/c I was craving sugar. The only way to no longer crave it is to completely rid your system of it. Once you do that the amount of food you actually need is actually tons less than what you used to eat.
I do not crave or want sugar it's not that I don't have it around me either. It just doesn't appeal to me like it once did. My body craves protein and fat now. I don't get jitters or shakes like I once did if I went too long between meals. I wait for my body to tell me it needs fuel and I give it what it wants.
I was worried when I first started this that I wouldn't make it a week. That I would slip and fall back to diet soda or that I would crave chocolate. Here I am in day 12 and going strong, still no wants for sugar. I licked a spoon last night from some malt ice cream Leah was making just b/c she was raving about how awesome it was. I almost gagged from the sweetness. It was so sweet and sugary I felt like I had just put a cup of pancake syrup in my mouth. I'm sure 10 days ago that wouldn't have tasted as sweet to me.
So you're sitting there saying there must be side effects to this. There has to be it can't be all easy. Well, I'll remind you that the first 4 days I felt like a drug addict who cold turkeyed their favorite drug. In my case it was sugar and carbs. I experienced what some refer to as "carb flu". I was ill, like rundown, bitchy, and starving. My mind knew I wasn't starving though b/c I was feeding myself but my stomach was screaming. It went away, I was lucky it only lasted 4 days. For some people it can last weeks.
An annoying side effect for me is the sleep thing. I used to be someone who went to bed around 11pm, woke up at 6am, took a shower, and laid back down until 6:45am. The last few days I get tired around 10pm and I wake up well before 6am. I take my shower but there is no sleeping after I'm up. My body is like "screw you GTFO of bed... NOW!" It's pretty annoying b/c I like my sleep. I'm hoping that this will turn into me going to the gym early eventually.
I've lost convenience. I have to plan meals and take stuff with me. I can't just think oh I'll have a frozen meal or something. I have to think, hrmm I can buy this cut of meat and cook it this way and have it for this meal and that meal. There aren't really any "packaged" snacks for this type of eating.
Initial cost was a bit of sticker shock. Things like coconut oil, almond butter, and grass fed butter isn't cheap around here. Giant is price gouging the almond butter. I bought a jar from Trader Joe's a while back for $3.99. I can't remember ounces however it had like 14 servings at 2 Tbsp. The Giant almond butter I got was $10.99 and it was only like 16 servings a 2Tbsp. So needless to say my next trip near a Trader Joe's I'll be stocking up. It's great that Giant carries this stuff but sheesh they are proud of it. Kerrygold butter (grass fed) is $4.99. And I won't even go into the cost of grass fed meat... Additionally finding nitrate and nitrite free pork products is near impossible :( Giant carries all natural lunch meat fortunately and they are reasonable on that price it's only $1 extra per pound.
So I was dismayed when I started seeing the cost differences but I realized that even if I couldn't eat completely clean as long as I cut sugar, didn't eat processed foods, and didn't use vegetable oils I'd be doing most of what I should be doing. I'm saying this b/c I don't want people to get discouraged with the price of things. If you just cut grains, legumes, sugar, and stop eating processed shit you're going to feel so much better.
Tomorrow I'm going to be faced with my first social dilemma since changing my diet. I'm going out to eat in a large group setting.... I'm sort of worried people are going to think I eat weird, I'm worried I might cheat. Nah, I am going to stay strong and order my meat and vegetables and not touch the grains and sweets or alcohol.
Happy Friday Folks!
Lastly, I foraged for a new pair of five fingers sice my old ones were sort of meh for trekking. 
