Eating Outside the Box

While my focus right now is much on eating to manage my blood sugars while pregnant, I have actually been on a 3 year journey to change the way I eat in general.  It all started when I took a nutrition class and learned the difference between whole grains and refined grains. I had been having episodes of hypoglycemia, some that were pretty scary.  I made a complete switch to eating only whole grains and overnight saw a complete obliteration of hypoglycemic symptoms.  I was astounded at the difference this made.  And that's when I really started getting interested in how my choice of what I put into my body affected my health.

I suppose 3 years seems like a long time to be "working" on my diet, but I'm a big believer in baby steps when it comes to changing lifelong habits.  I think I have a much better chance of sticking to something if I pick one or two small manageable goals at a time to work on.  I certainly have done my share of extreme diets for trial periods, but always come back to implement one or two things that I learned while on that diet.  It's easy for me to stress about not making changes fast enough, but then I figure that if it takes me 5 years to transition to a completely healthy diet that I keep for the rest of my life, it will certainly be worth the time it took to change.

Through research, trying out new foods, and becoming perhaps a bit more ornery in my old age of 31 :) I've developed a very strong passion for how I want to eat.  It has ruined me for convenience foods and for eating out at almost any restaurant.  It is always difficult to live in any way that is significantly different than the norm of your society, but the strength of your convictions will determine your success.  When friends and family don't eat the same way, it is definitely a struggle.  I suppose that is one good thing about being on a strict diet for gestational diabetes.  I have to eat my perfectly measured meals at very specific times, so whenever I leave the house I have to have my meals and snacks premade and packed, and keep my phone close so that my alarms can remind me exactly when to eat and when to test my sugars. Because of this, my friends and family get used to me showing up at a restaurant or picnic with my own food and declining theirs.  They understand because of the diabetic pregnancy, and I feel that this sets me up for more understanding when I continue to make similar food choices after my second daughter is born.

I certainly have to contribute my ability to devote so much time to what I eat and the foods I make for my family to my wonderful husband for carrying the financial burden for our family and allowing me to stay home.  I had made some great improvements to our diets while I was working, but staying home really allows me ample time to study, prepare meal plans and shopping lists, and cook from scratch.  If it's one big fat lesson I've learned, preparation is most definitely the key to making better food choices.

So how would I summarize my goal diet in general? While I've tried exclusion diets (vegetarian, vegan, raw) I prefer to implement a better balance between animal and plant foods instead of excluding certain ones altogether.  The one exclusion I do make is crap food.  That's right, crap food.  Anything processed, from a box, or anything that is only available to us through the use of technology. 

So here is my current list of dietary goals for myself and my family:

• Eat foods from their natural sources in their natural forms with their natural proportions. Avoid eating parts of foods only available through technology (like adding vital wheat gluten to bread recipes, see next point.)
• Avoid "foods" that are only available to us through chemical technology or technology that could not be replaced by manual labor. Certain home appliances that ease preparation are certainly ok in my opinion.  I use a grain mill, food processor, blender, etc.  I feel these appliances allow us to eat foods we otherwise still would have eaten but with less effort.  Refined grains, on the other hand, we could not make with manual labor so they are definitely out.

• Get the majority of vitamins, nutrients, protein, calcium and fiber from plant sources. This is SO EASY to do it's mind boggling.  As I will cover in another post, I have broken down a week's worth of food to show where I'm getting all my nutrients.  I was so amazed at how easy it was to get all the stuff I needed primarily from plant sources.

• "Accent" diet with healthy animal products in as natural a form as possible, being very careful to not exceed protein recommendations by eating too many animal products. As a result of some of my research, I believe that eating too much protein from animal sources is a major problem with the American diet.  More on this in a later post.

• Strive to choose organic produce as much as possible, especially any produce or product that involves corn. I strongly believe that Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) products are the Sci-Fi villain of our day.  They sneak into almost every boxed food on the shelf and our only current safeguard is buying organic.

• Eat only natural whole grain carbohydrates in a reasonable proportion.  Currently 30g per meal/snack - can be raised slightly after baby is born but this current 30g proportion is working very well for me.

• Incorporate some foods and spices that are known to be incredibly beneficial to our health. From my various diets I've learning about some foods that are so good for us.  Foods like coconut, cinnamon, raw cocao, chia seeds, wheatgrass, etc. have health benefits that are definitely worth a trip to the natural foods store.

I feel that I have finally settled on a good set of goals for my diet and for the foods that I serve my family.  While it may yet take some time to convert my entire family to eating in such a healthy way, I strongly believe that we are making great progress towards eating outside the box.