From Beefy Crunch Burritos to Broccoli

If you were to ask me a few months ago what are some of the meals that I eat most, I would have said Taco Bell’s Beefy Crunch Burritos, Barros Pizza, or a Carl’s Jr. Western Bacon Cheeseburger! Fast food was pretty much a staple in my diet, along with chocolate cookies, and other desserts. Now, if you were to ask me a few months ago if I would ever eat a diet without gluten, dairy, sugar, beef, soy, potatoes, corn, and a few other things, I would have said “No way Jose!”

But as of April 1^st I have successfully been on a diet without these foods for 30 days! (And honestly it is really not that bad!) This diet is called 30 Days to Fit, and it comes Arbonne, which is company that my wife works with. We have both been doing this diet for the past 30 days, and I really do feel a lot better, and it’s not as hard as it sounds!

For the past year I have been wanting to change my eating habits, but as many of you know that it can be very hard to do. For me, wanting to change wasn’t about losing weight so much, but more because of the way my body felt when I would eat unhealthy foods. I would feel tired, and sluggish. I realized that I was eating a lot, but I wasn't really eating the right foods and getting the right nutrients in my body. I wanted to eat food that made me feel good afterwards.

Eating healthy takes time and good planning. When you eat a lot of fast food like I use to, it’s really easy to get something quick. When eating healthy, it’s a lot harder to find food that is healthy and on the go. With my life right now, I am always on the go.  A typical week for me is working about 30-34 hours a week, going to school full time, going to mutual with the scouts every Wednesday night, trying exercise for at least 40 minutes a day, doing homework and spending time with family and friends in between. With that kind of busy lifestyle it doesn’t leave me a lot of time to prepare healthy foods, and so fast food became very easy and convenient. So basically going “cold turkey” with all those foods that I mentioned before really forced me eat healthy, and that’s why I wanted to do this diet because I needed something that was going to really push and force me to start eating better.

Another hard thing I’ve noticed about doing this diet is being in a social setting that revolves around food. A few weeks ago we were at my dad’s for dinner, and they were having homemade pizza, and chocolate chip cookies, which are pretty much two of my favorite foods. Throughout the night everyone kept talking about how good the cookies and pizza were, and it made me want to eat some so bad! It was really hard to not join with everyone and experience the deliciousness of the food. My wife can’t have gluten or diary even off of the diet because she is allergic, and this made me realize how hard it has to be for her to go to these social gatherings and listen to everyone talk about how good the food is, when she can never have it. I really gained a new respect for her, and all that she has to go through.

Once I started this diet, I kept thinking what am I going to do when the 30 days are up? Do I stick to the diet? Do I go back to my old ways? Do I try and come up with some kind of balance? After a lot of thinking I decided I’m going to try and stick with the diet as much as possible, with 2-3 cheat meals a week. Tonight at our family dinner I ate some of the yummy homemade pizza, but this week I plan on eating healthy meals throughout the week. 

In the scriptures it talks about doing “all things with moderation”. I think that applies perfectly when it comes to food. It’s okay to have some pizza, or a doughnut, or whatever it may be as long as it does not become our staple food, and we are still getting our proper nutrients. If someone like me who was the fast food, overeating, cookie, cake, doughnut, pizza loving king, could do this diet, then ANYONE can do it!

In the scriptures it talks about doing “all things with moderation”. I think that applies perfectly when it comes to food. It’s okay to have some pizza, or a doughnut, or whatever it may be as long as it does not become our staple food, and we are still getting our proper nutrients. If someone like me who was the fast food, overeating, cookie, cake, doughnut, pizza loving king, could do this diet, then ANYONE can do it!

I want to finish up with a few tips that I found helped me to eat better.

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• Find a good program that helps show you foods you can eat, and foods that you should not eat

One of my excuses for not eating well was that I never knew what was good for me or not. I knew nothing about nutrition when I started this, and I still don’t know a lot, but this plan has helped me learn along the way. I would highly recommend the Arbonne one. If anyone is interested let me know, and I can send you the PDF.

• Do the diet with someone

It would have been so much harder if my wife and I were not doing it with each other. It’s good to have someone that knows what you are going through, and can help motivate you. It creates accountability. 

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• Plan out in advance what you are going to eat

I would usually try to plan out a whole week in advance what I would eat. The first few days I didn’t plan anything, and it was so hard to know what to eat, and I found that I was always really hungry. When I started planning it out I was able to plan nutritious and meals that actually tasted great!  

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• When going out to eat decide before hand what kind of foods you will eat

 An example of this would be if you are going out to eat, decide before you go to the restaurant that you are going to get a salad, or something that falls within your diet. I went to Tia Rosas for a work lunch a few weeks back, and I told myself even before we left that I was going to get chicken salad, and when I got there I was not tempted with the other foods around me.

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• Remember how you feel when you eat healthy, compared to when you eat unhealthy foods

 Maybe ask yourself before eating something “How will this make me feel after I am done eating it?” Try and visualize it.

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• If you are always on the go, carry healthy snacks with you

 This will prevent you from going into a gas station and buying something that is bad for you.

• When going to a social gathering try and let the people who are preparing the food know beforehand what kind of diet you are eating

Since my wife can never have gluten and dairy we have to do this a lot. If you are afraid of people being offended don’t worry about that. Most people that we have done this with are always very polite and understanding about it.

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• Don’t go shopping hungry

This is something that I tend to do. It’s not good because if I am hungry everything in the store looks good and I end up buying more then I planned, and it’s usually not healthy foods.