Dietary Changes

Originally published: 9/3/2018

Original post: https://coalm.blogspot.com/2018/09/dietary-changes.html

Decided to focus on my diet after I noticed that I was increasing my weekly running mileage, but my weight was creeping higher and higher. I have been in the 190-195 pound range for years, especially since I have given up roller hockey and went to running as my full time exercise outlet. When I see the weight get to 195, that is my alert to check on what I have been eating and possibly make adjustments. Typically, a night of beer and/or barbecue would spike the weight a bit, so I could dismiss it as being too indulgent. As long as I did not eat/drink like that on a steady basis, the weight would stay in my self-defined safe zone. One day I noticed that the weight was not going back down, staying closer to 195 than to 190. I figured some changes were in order.
I had a good friend that had reaped the benefits of going to a Keto diet. I won't get into the specifics, but essentially, its a low/no carb - high fat/protein diet. The science behind Keto and other carb deficient diets is that you get your body to burn fat instead of carbs. You do this by not eating sugar/carbs (carbs get processed as sugar in your body). Then your body has no choice but to burn the fat since there's no carbs/sugars left. Since carbs fill you up, you need to offset the carb reductions with an increase in protein and fat. This could be right up my alley.
I did the research and noticed that there is a high barrier of entry to this diet and what seems like an even higher level of commitment. All new foods to buy (what is monkfruit?). Readily available foods I used to eat any time are now forbidden. This was not going to be easy. Instead of jumping in the deep end, I decided to take a more gradual approach. I created some customized guidelines for myself.
No potatoes - I had already mostly phased out potatoes from my diet, but now it was real. I had been eating fries out of habit, not out of desire.
Less pasta/rice - I'm married to a native Louisianan. Rice is going to show up on my plate from time to time. Smaller rice portions should do the trick. Removing pasta will be a battle.
Much less bread - I was having toast with my omelettes at breakfast. Those were easy to eliminate. Decided to eat half the bread on most sandwiches/burgers. I would either toss the top bun or cut the bread down to smaller pieces.
Beer on weekends - I'm a craft beer drinker. Almost every beer I drink has carbs out the ying yang. No more beer with dinner on week nights. If I need to imbibe, I go to spiked seltzer which has been a refreshing twist during this summer already.
No desserts - I was never much of a dessert guy anyway.
After only a week of using these guidelines, I saw the pounds come off. I weighed in at 191 before deciding to ruin my progress by drinking beer and eating carbs over Labor Day weekend. This 3 day weekend helped highlight some of the obstacles I may encounter using my guidelines
Sweet Tea - A few years back I switched from full on Sweet Tea to Half Sweet/Half Unsweet Tea. I'll admit that I am addicted, since its a staple when I go out for lunches. If I remove tea completely, I would probably offset by increasing my coffee intake. Bought some low glycemic sweetener just in case.
Pasta - Some of my favorite cuisines are based on pasta (Italian, Chinese, assorted southeast Asia fare).
Bread - The wife made some awesome sweet zucchini bread. That was extremely difficult to ignore. Cereal - For most of my life, cereal is all that I would eat for breakfast. Recently went to making eggs in some manner, but cereal is close to 50% of my breakfasts. The carbs are just too high, so cereal has to go. This will be phased out over a longer period of time.
Cheese/Crackers - I make a killer cheese dip. The cheese dip can stay, but its delivery mechanism will need to change. Still working on what that will be. Might be an actual spoon.
Dark Chocolate - If I drink red wine, I love to finish with some dark chocolate. Its more of a habit, I know, but the craving will be a battle to subvert.
Although I had some quick success, it was fleeting since I did not stick with it long enough. Looks like I can focus on my breakfasts and lunches, Monday through Friday. I would hate to force the rest of my family to change their diets just because I decided to change mine, so dinners will remain mostly the same.