Food Obsessed

Hello Friends;

In case you didn't know, March is National Nutrition Month. What better time then for me to blog about my food obsession.

I'm pretty sure that I am not alone in this obsession. Just take a look around and you will see that I have lots of company. Fortunately, for me, I am obsessed with finding a way to eat a healthy, satisfying diet that keeps me lean, strong and happy.

Standing in line at the grocery store yesterday I saw bags of fried pork rinds and thought, "I'm really glad I'm not obsessed with those". Now, some organic dark chocolate or grain sweetened chocolate chips is definitely where my obsession starts to kick in!

Recently, I blogged about going Primal. You can find out more about The Primal Blueprint at marksdailyapple.com. I'm making my way there, slowly preparing by using up things that won't belong in my nutrition plan once I go Primal. David is currently reading The Primal Blueprint and is really liking it and becoming very motivated by it. I promise to continue to keep you posted on our progress.

Recently, I saw a commercial about constipation. Actually, let me correct myself. I saw a commercial about a remedy for constipation. The commercial didn't really talk about why a person might be constipated and how to make some dietary changes to alleviate that uncomfortable situation, it just encouraged it's viewers to take a pill or two every day and VOILA! promblem solved!! I see this so much in commercials. Nexium is another good example. For those of you suffering from heartburn, again, don't bother making dietary changes, just take a Nexium or Zantac a day and again VOILA!! no more heartburn.

There is no doubt that we are a nation that is food-obsessed, but we are also a nation obsessed with getting rid of the excess weight often caused by our unhealthy food-obsessed habits. It's a vicious cycle. Overindulge on the weekend, start your diet on Monday morning. Been there, done that and I am DONE WITH THAT!

I know that I am on a bit of a rollercoaster of a journey when it comes to my diet but I know it's a journey worth travelling. Problem is there is so much conflicting information out there that sometimes it's hard to know what's right, what works and what's just plain crazy. Okay, the plain crazy ie: The Cookie Diet, they are pretty easy to spot. But how much protein, carbs, fat to ingest in a day, how many hours in between meals, what foods to eat together for optimal fat burning, yadda, yadda, yadda, it just becomes overwhelming to me. As a personal trainer and someone who has done a fair amount of reading about nutrition, I have bought into the "Eat every four hours" theory and often encourage my clients to do the same. What I have found though, is that my day becomes driven around mealtimes. I MUST eat NOW! It's been 3 hours and 59 minutes since my last meal! I believe that this way of eating works for many people, especially those who are disciplined and are eating clean. But, if I am being honest, it's not really working for me. I am not achieving my goal of feeling comfortable in my skin and with my current body fat percentage. So from here on out my goal is to eat whole foods and eat when my body tells me I'm hungry, that's if my body remembers how to do that!

I encourage all my food-obsessed friends (you know who you are) to reevaluate what you have been doing nutritionally and see where some practical changes could be made. Please share your thoughts as they will be helpful to those of us in food-obsessed rehab :)

Happy Eating!