I am the queen of diet bandwagons. I have done Atkins, South beach, Cabbage soup, various cleanses, juice fasts, raw foods, veganism, and many other diets. My weight over the years has gone up and down. I just am one of those people who struggles! Every joy filled birth of a baby is followed by a super motivated few weeks of eating ultra healthy and then a burn out and lots of self loathing. I get motivated again and start that cycle over. I feel most frustrated in the mornings standing in my closet before church trying to find something "cute", or when I am about to see an old friend that knew me when I had a metabolism. I fret over profile pictures and wear lots of yoga pants in between my "good weight" phases because I WILL NOT buy clothes over a certain size. (I tell my self that I don't deserve them.)
So here is where I tell you about my new bandwagon, except it's not. I believe I found a way of thinking about food and life that can be my nutritional transportation through this life as I journey toward heaven with my family.
A book called Trim Healthy Mama has been such a blessing to me. The long and short of the actual eating is not to mix (good) carbohydrates and (good) fats. If you have a higher carb meal full of delicious (unprocessed) carbohydrates you keep your fat grams low. Still though, we are careful with carbohydrates! If you have a fatty meal, full of scrumptious nuts and cheese, you keep your carbs very low. You leave time between those meals so your body is only using one fuel at a time. Guess what? It helps you feel great and lose weight!
The book is SO MUCH more than that. I was convicted about how I often go on a diet and leave my family in the convenience food dirt! Mommy has a salad, kids have chicken nuggets... sad! The authors talk about feeding their families well. I have started making my husband's lunch, everyday- not just sometimes, it's a discipline for me, but I love him enough to do it. The book talks about our responsibility as Christian wives to keep in shape for our families! We want to be full of energy, not irritable and grouchy. It has empowered me to make sensible choices and not desperate "oh no I need to loose weight NOW" choices. I also don't need to go to great lengths to buy special foods only found at high end grocery stores, if I don't want to.
I enjoy talking to women about Natural Family Planning because I find that this method of spacing my children is most respectful of my natural fertility (yes I have 5 kids but we wanted them all and I've been married for 13 years, so lets do the math on how many I physically could have, It works is all I'm saying!) NFP contributes to my feeling valued and never used with in our sexual relationship. As oppose to keeping myself from getting pregnant by ways that disrupt my natural state. This way of eating is like that for weight loss and health. It works with your body and helps get your head in the game too. It took a good week after I finished the book too feel more confident in what to eat and when. I refer to the book constantly. I have been making some new things that my family loves (some they hate) I don't feel obsessed with a way of eating. I feel like food fits into it's rightful place. I enjoy it and I know the things I am putting in my mouth, and those of my sweet family, are good and contributing to their long term health.
I also keep praying. Praying for temperance, praying for humility, and patience. I fell strongly that all the things we need to cure diseases were given to us by God in our foods and other things found in nature. (not that we don't go to the doctor when we need to) I have confidence in Him to lead me to the right things in all the situations of our life. I am grateful for this book. I wanted to share.
