There’s a reason I don’t diet: the minute I decide a food is off-limits, I suddenly have an uncontrollable urge to eat it. Which is exactly what happened as I attempted the “real food challenge” over the past week. I swear I’ve never wanted sugary cereal and ice cream and cheese crackers so much in my life.
But an increase in my energy levels and an unmistakable feeling that I was doing something really good for myself kept me (mostly!) on the straight and narrow. Along the way, I made several interesting discoveries:
*Real food can be fast food. I initially struggled to avoid prepackaged fare because cooking seemed to take forever. But as the week went on, I got smarter about throwing together meals when I was in a hurry. In fact, one of the most delicious dinners I made–turkey burgers with cheddar, corn on the cob and sliced tomatoes—took all of 10 minutes to prepare and cook.
*Prep is key. Hunger is the enemy of healthy eating: if you’re starving and a cookie is the only thing in your house that doesn’t require time on the stove, guess what you’re going to put in your mouth? I avoided this trap by making really big pots of food—specifically white rice and lentils with carrots and onions—in advance. When I was really hungry, I grabbed some from the fridge instead of going through the hassle of, say, grilling a chicken breast and washing salad greens. It also helped to have fresh fruit and nuts on hand—they make great running-out-the-door snacks.
*Treat yourself. Just because you’re not eating sweets out of a plastic container doesn’t mean you should ignore your sweet tooth. I baked a batch of lemon blackberry muffins from scratch and ate those throughout the week—and I swear they were more satisfying than any pre-made item I could have purchased at the grocery store. I’ll share the recipe tomorrow.
*Real food cuts the crap—literally. It’s obvious that a lot of processed foods (think cookies and French fries) are super high in calories, whereas many “real” foods—think fruits, veggies and lean meat—are not.
But eating unprocessed food reduces calories in other ways, too—specifically because it cuts out condiments like mayo, ketchup and syrup, which according to at least recent one study, can lead people to consume an extra 300 calories a day. When you do the math, those 300 extra calories can add up to a pound of weight gain every 12 days.
That may explain why I lost a pound last week without counting calories—and with plenty of simple carbs (white rice), fat (olive oil) and other so-called fattening foods, like steak. It wasn’t my intention, but I won’t complain.
–Camille
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Camille
