The Diet

In November 2008 I weighed 148 pounds. During that year I weighed as little as 145 pounds. It was in November that I was diagnosed with severe depression, began taking depression medication, and my life changed. Last year I tried getting my weight back down to 155, I managed to make it down to 163 at best.

Early last year while running with Nate Sanel, he was eating an Almond Butter and honey sandwich  with flaxseed on it. I turned my nose up at him, said yuck, and listened to him tell me about the new diet he was on. When I saw him in June he was a completely different person.. and then again in August out at Leadville the guy was a machine. Nate started in the low 170's and made it down into the 140's for weight. You could see every cut on this guys body, veins popping out. While in one sense it was kind of gross, I'll admit I was jealous, in awe and deeply respectful of what he had accomplished during the year. A lot of what Nate was doing was running insane weekly miles but it went deeper then that, Nate changed the way he ate and he eventually wrote about it on his blog.

I read Nate's post and really took it to heart. I look up to this guy more then I think he knows. He's the biggest success story (in every phase of life) that I know. So I dug around a bit more. I read the index of where certain foods lay on the Glycemic Index (GI). I read excerpts of the book he read, I talked to Sarah about it.. I mulled over it.. and stalled and stalled and stalled. I'm the pickiest eater any of you know. My favorite foods are Pizza, Steak and Cheese, Chicken Tenders, Grilled Cheese with the crust cut off and Macaroni and Cheese. My friends used to call it my "Orange Diet" because everything I ate was the color orange. Last summer I quit soda for 2 months. But when I didn't lose much weight, even while running.. I started drinking soda again.. and drinking more of it. I weight 165 in June.. 171 at the Vermont 100 in July.. And then, I weighed in at 178 Pounds on January first of this new year. I've never weighed so much in my life... and I was angry as hell.. but.. Step back for a few minutes..

The whole idea of a diet excited me, but the idea of changing the things that I ate.. did not. I heard on the radio just two weeks ago that, "Researchers say the obesity epidemic is related to the cost of food. Sources say that the woods we are supposed to eat cost too much money for the average American. The foods we can afford, are causing us to eat unhealthy foods that cause weight gain." NO CRAP! But I thought about this. When I was much younger, I was the youngest of four children. My mom and dad both worked, Dad sometimes worked some odd jobs. I remember going to the city dump to pick aluminum cans, copper and brass out of the trash pile to turn it in for money. That money would go towards buying eggs for us to eat that week. Please don't get me wrong. My parents worked VERY hard to feed our family of 6. My father got his GED at 40 something years old. Neither of my parents have a college degree.. they work hard. They work their hands to the bone, always have, always will. They put on the table what they could. Super processed meats, potatoes, canned vegetables... portions were small and we best eat everything on our plate. Be damned if anything went to waste.

After reading Nate's Blog in September, I downloaded the Book he spoke of to my iPad. It's called UltraMetabolism: The Simple Plan for Automatic Weight Loss By: Dr. Mark Hyman. Because of my diet apprehension, I showed Sarah how to read it and put her to work. She read a bit.. then I slowed into it and started reading myself. It didn't take long into the book to begin to understand that.. it was time for a change. For my life, for Sarah's life (especially with her diabetes).. the time was now. So on Christmas I was opening gifts and in my lap appeared the Ultrametabolism cook book. The jokes started rolling on about how no one in the family could see me eating ANYTHING that was in this book. A giggle here a guffaw there. I was pissed at myself.. that I'd gone this long in my life without the change.. that I had allowed my family to rib and joke.. and get their jokes in at my expense. So I decided... January 1.. it was on.

After weighed in at 178 pounds we started the detox phase of the diet. Immediately out of our diets went soda, candy, sugar, junk food, hydrogenated anything, high fructose corn syrup, processed and fake foods, alcohol and caffeine. I wouldn't say that before the beginning of this diet that I the diet I had was particularly "poor." I ate healthy, I ate well.. sorta.. But this.. became one of the bigger challenges I'd had in some time. But tied of feeling like a slob, my stomach skin tight from stretching out.. it was time. I dove into the detox. Two days in.. I was all ready feeling with drawls from certain foods I had to cut from my diet and the with drawls got even worse. Night sweats, nightmares, trouble sleeping, headaches, anger, annoyance.. you name it.. I was living in hell. But after the one week detox phase we worked into Phase 1 of the diet.. and cut more out of our life. Gone was dairy, honey, anything with gluten, nothing with flour. Gone were High GI foods and meat is now Turkey, Chicken or Lamb.

I've really been learning to cook with lean meats. Chicken and Turkey has become a staple in the house. I'm actually eating fresh vegetables (no canned), couscous, Quinoa, flaxseed. I've stuck to this diet every day so far and at last weigh in I'm down to 171.8 pounds. Thats right, IN TWO WEEKS I've lost more then 6 pounds. I'd tell you the secrets of this diet, but I don't really believe in that. I really feel that if YOU want to lose weight, you'll do the research too. The basic premise of this diet is, however, to change the way your body thinks. From burning sugar to burning fat and boosting your metabolism. You eliminate many of the foods in our lives that case allergic reactions or inflammation.. then slowly reintroduce them into your life (phase 2) to see if they do cause a negative reaction. These are the basics.. the rest is up to you.

So.. I've changed my life. I am eating things I never thought I'd be eating on a daily basis. I'm 2 weeks away from taking my last depression medication. I'm back to running with a current streak of 20 days.. and I'm losing weight on my way back to the 140's. I've got my eyes set on a return to Leadville for redemption. I'm oiling the machine, literally, and I'm on the way.

I've really given a lot of thought to this dieting thing. I like how the name of the book has the words, "Simple Plan" in it. yes.. the plan is indeed simple. The work is not. There are what seems like an endless supply of weight loss programs out there in the world. From Atkins (who ironically died of a heart attack), to Mediterranean, to Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers. I'm not going to sit here and tell you what works better, best or doesn't work at all. I'm not a dietitian. I don't know your body, your struggles, your hang-ups. But here is one thing I do know.. from personal observation/conversation and experience... people have a million reasons..sorry... EXCUSES to do nothing at all. This is the time of year when people start off great with their fitness resolutions. By March, they've run out of time for one of a half dozen reasons. I'm one of those people... no matter how far I've run.. I've had reasons to not eat right.. or better. This was my first step.. get rid of the reasons and get to work. I hear of people who want to "borrow" a friends Weight Watchers plan instead of paying for and doing the work in going.. and doing it themselves. This is step one.. You MUST help yourself before anyone else can help you.

While I did state above that buying healthier foods is a bit more expensive on the wallet; I'm not going to contradict myself a little bit. Before this diet, I could do my gorceries in about a half hour tops. Shopping has been quite the experience now. People at the groceries stores are animals. They ravage the aisles to get whatever it is they want/need and they do it wihtout care or any real thought. Now that I've been forced to slow down, read the labels and look for those whole products, those products that cost a bit more, I do my groceries in about an hour and a half. The time it takes goes down a bit if I go on the off hours at the store. My gorcery bill is anywhere from $30-50 more per week then it used to be. HOWEVER.. the money I am saving by not going to fast-food establishments, buying unnecessary snacks or drinks.. wow.. there's my weekly $30 right there. So while buying food is a bit more expensive; the choices we make put better value into the investment of our lives.

(off soap box)
SJ