I ate meat. Lots of it. For the first time in four years. At the ninetieth birthday party there was lamb and chicken and ham and beef and salmon and tuna... and a few roast veggies. And trifle, sponge cake and cream; a vegan’s nightmare. Just as well I’m not vegan anymore. It was ok, as long as I didn’t think about what I was eating, because then I felt sick.
None of the reasons I became vegetarian have changed (mostly environmental issues, animal rights) but I figure if I eat mostly organic meat it’s not so bad. This sugar free thing has been driving me nuts. You’d think, after four weeks without refined sugar I’d feel a bit better, healthier, or something, but the grumpiness and lethargy hasn’t worn off completely, and I spend most of every day groaning “want chocolate, need chocolate, chooooocolate...”
Anyway, I’ve decided that since I’m cutting out sugar and grains (for a plethora of health reasons) I may as well give the Atkins diet a go. Hence the eating of meat. If I’m cutting so many things out, then I need to add a few things in, otherwise finding anything to eat is a problem.
Yeah, I know, a lot of people (including our very own Kim) have argued against the Atkins diet. Well, I hear ya... I agree with Kim’s points about the huge energy wastage involved in meat consumption... but I’m only going to eat meat for a couple of weeks, and then I’ll be back to my lentil and tofu regime. And I haven’t exactly been environmentally conscious with my binging sprees when I have been known to eat a whole packet of chocolate biscuits, a box of chocolates, a couple of donuts and a litre of chocolate milk in one sitting.
The thing is, the Atkins diet really makes sense to me. I know that when I eat fewer carbohydrates I feel healthier and have more energy. I know that grains and sugars exasperate my health problems, especially my allergies. The whole carbohydrate / insulin vicious cycle seems logical. And my mum and dad have been doing it for a while now. They’ve lost about 10kgs each, they feel healthier, they have heaps more energy, they don’t crave snacks as much, and they look so much better. I want all that. At the moment, I feel really fat. Don’t get me wrong; it’s not that I want to fit in with the stick figures in magazines and movies. My weight has fluctuated a lot the past few years, I’ve been slimmer than I am now, and also fatter, and I know that I feel best when I’m about ten kilograms lighter than I am now. Plus I’m outgrowing my clothes and I can’t afford a new wardrobe.
So, I’m giving it a go. And getting serious about it – weighing everything and counting everything (I had 20.15g of carbohydrates today) which means I’m eating a lot less than I was before – which is a good thing. I ate way too much, ate when I wasn’t hungry and then some. A change has got to be better. Right?
Oh, and the title of this blog? I'm not really guilt tripping. In fact, I'm kinda proud. A few more weeks I will be able to look chocolate in the eye and exclaim "you have no power over me!" And everything will start to break up and drift through space... ooooh trippy.
Posted by Fionnaigh at September 2, 2003 12:10 AMF****(as women?)in our society it's difficult to have a straight forward relationship with food.
I completely get what you're saying about the feeling healthier thing. Though as a word of warning, as if you probably haven't had enough, one of my friends did it for a while for health reasons and now finds her previously pretty sound attitude to food all screwed up. She's bingeing and eating foods she wouldn't normally eat all out of that place of previous deprivation.
I used to work in youth health and it blew me away that the most controversial of all the workshops we did was the one on natural eating run by WED's.
The idea there are no good or bad foods and that we can be healthy just by listening to our bodies was far more difficult for all of us to accept than our various places in Aotearoa under Te tiriti, and more controversial than anything in the area of sexuality.
Having tried the natural eating thing I realise it's absolutely not simple and most of the time I can't manage it but I still think it's the ideal.
I hope this doesn't come across like a lecture it's just I've heard myself rationalising dieting before, and your tone reminded me of myself. So maybe just read this as a message from jan to jan.
Posted by: jan at September 2, 2003 02:49 AMBut... but... Chocolate loves you! Just love it, fear it, do as it says, and it will be your slave! ;)
Posted by: Hayley at September 2, 2003 12:41 PMsheesh. I used to be vegetarian and stopping was no big deal. I had to go on a plane & didn't realise you had to order ahead if you wanted a vege meal. So got given this little lunch with one of those moochy chicken legs. Just thought I would try some & it was no big deal. No guilt or even thinking about it all that much - just stopped being vegetarian after that.
Posted by: bec at September 2, 2003 01:17 PMI know all about the Atkins diet, having done it before (lost about 10 kg on it). I craved chocolate really bad, and I did binge after it, but I still didn't put on as much weight as I had lost. I am currently back on the Atkins diet again, but this time I can eat Cadbury Lite - low carb, low sugar chocolate. It's great.
Posted by: Cheryl at May 1, 2004 10:21 AM