Rethinking the word "Diet"

As you all know, my weight has been a struggle for me since puberty.  I was thin once. A long long time ago. Then hormones kicked in and I never looked back.  I have done many things in my life to try to lose the weight. Some have worked, some haven't, and some have been downright ridiculous.  I am at the point in my life now where I do not fall for "fad" diets.  They come and they go, never giving real results to anyone in the long-term.  I have PCOS, which really just means that, when it comes to weight loss, I'm screwed and "nothing will really work" - straight from a healthcare professional's mouth. I kid you not.

The more I learn about food and nutrition, the more I have been convinced in the past few years that we have all been duped by the government.  I am not a conspiracy theorist, I do not think this happened in order to purposely make us all sick.  But I do think that the Food Pyramid that we all know and love is a piece of crap.  "Whole grains are good for you, eat lots of them!"  "Healthy whole grains!" Pure crap, that is.  The government studied this for about .5 seconds before I was born and decided "yup, sounds good, lets get this country healthy". And since that proclamation, we have all become bigger and sicker than we ever have been in our entire history.  And I cannot tell you how tired I am at hearing the words "calories in vs calories out".  Just shut up already, clearly it isn't that easy, or we wouldn't have triathletes with a spare tire!  Give me a break!

Anyway, I ran across a book by Dr. William Davis called "Wheat Belly" that really made sense to me.  It isn't a fad, and it's based on solid science.  And best of all, it has reviews from real people like me who have become healthier following his way of eating.  My parents got me interested in this to begin with, specifically my dad.  My dad is not one to follow the crowd, or do something just because others are doing it.  And he researches everything to death before committing to it. I love that about him, because I know that if he has an opinion on something, it is likely based on hours of research and a sky-high IQ, and I can take it as truth.  As we talked, I got more interested and decided to start reading this book.  Halfway through, I decided to give it a shot for two weeks.  You can do anything for two weeks, right?

The basic premise is this:  wheat is killing us. Specifically gluten.  Wheat has been so insanely genetically altered since WWII that, genetically speaking, humans are closer to chimps than today's wheat is to "old wheat".  That's scary, isn't it?  All of this altering was done without any human testing. Looks like wheat, tastes like wheat, must be okay, right?  Wrong.  Very wrong.  The reasons are long and varied, if you are interested, I suggest you read the book or message me personally and I will tell you all about it.  His way of eating involves eliminating gluten (wheat) entirely, eating very low-carbohydrate, and loading up on proteins, veggies, and good fats. Yes, you heard me, FAT IS GOOD!  Stay away from the veggie oil, load up on grassfed organic butter, coconut oil, avocado oil, nuts, etc.

If you want to know more, personally message me or get the book, and check out his website at Wheat Belly Blog. You won't regret it. I am on day 7 of this way of eating and I feel great!  I have lost about 3lbs, I have not been hungry once, my IBS-D has all but cured itself, and I feel satisfied with everything I eat.  Will I keep it up?  I hope so.  I have never felt this good on any other "diet" in my life. I have always felt like I was missing something. I have always felt hungry, or deprived, or something.  To end this very long blog, I leave you with a picture of my supper tonight.  A wheat-free, low-carb homemade alfredo sauce pizza with chicken, bacon, and peppers, topped with mounds of mozzarella cheese. :)  Diet food people.  Rethink the word "diet".

Suffering the consequences of someone else's actions...

I am a planner.  I plan things.  I have the ability to swing by the seat of my pants, and I do on occasion. But generally, I plan.  I plan what I'm going to eat, what I'm going to do, and where my life is generally going to go.  However, "life", recently has had other plans.

My plan:  I was happily married with 3 step sons, had built a house, had a wonderful garden, had a career that was fulfilling that I enjoyed...the rest of my plan was to live happily ever after.  To live in this house until I retired with the love of my life.  This was the life I had always wanted.

Life:  I found out the "love of my life" cheated on me.  Again.  We went through this last summer, and we worked through it, or so I thought.  This summer, he did it again.  I had told him that if he ever did something like that again, we were done. So, we were done.  The beautiful custom-made house is on the market, and I am working on understanding what my life looks like as a single woman yet again.  Divorce is in the very near future.  I have lost my husband, my stepsons, my house, and my "happily every after" due to the actions of one individual.  Story of my married life:  suffering the consequences of someone else's actions.

I have moved past the sad, the angry, and I never got to the vindictive.  I stopped myself.  One day I said "Tracey, being angry at him is like being angry at a toddler who throws a temper tantrum.  It doesn't hurt the toddler, and it doesn't make the tantrum go away.  Might as well deal with the tantrum and learn from it."  So, I am happy, living my life how I want to live it, and not checking in with anyone.  I am more relaxed now than I was my entire married life, always worried about the next problem coming down the line...worried about the consequences of someone else's actions.  Now, my only worry is selling this beautiful house because I can't afford it on my own.  But that will happen in time.  The right buyer will come along.  Timing is everything.

I deserve happiness.  I deserve respect.  And I deserve a partner in life that I can trust without question.  God has a plan for me.  It may involve another long-term relationship, or it may not. It may involve staying in Rochester, or it may not.  But whatever it is, I am just going to hang on for the ride!