Adventures in food

So it's been exactly 3 weeks since I've started making changes to my diet. As a reminder, the exercise was to restrict the sugar, carbs, grains and dairy I would eat after lunch, while still not going overboard in these categories with the rest of the meals. The end goal was to increase my intake of daily fruits, veggies and protein and reduce the rest because I'd have less options for snacks and dinner. I've kept a strict diary of everything that went into my mouth during these three weeks, you can see it here if you're curious. I haven't gone Paleo overnight, far from it, but I tried to inspire my cooking from it. I even bought a book of Paleo recipes and started collecting ideas from websites I've come across and that have been recommended by friends who are in the process of doing the Whole30 challenge, more or less ad infinitum.

And it's been challenging, not only because it made me go out of my comfort zone and forced me to learn how to cook, but because it removed some of my coping mechanisms. It is no secret that I've been having quite an emotional attachment to food, because it's been making me feel good. I love everything about comfort food, but I am convinced that in quantities larger than my body can handle, all this "comfort" ends up making me sick. It's a vicious circle and it's been interesting to see how I can cope without giving into little daily cravings. And the answer is, I'm not so sure. If you haven't read my previous post, it looks like I'm struggling with short episodes of depression that keep poking at me every so often. I am thinking that reducing both exercise and comfort food, my most trusted therapies, I let some of that depression coming back to haunt me. But don't be alarmed, it's really not that bad. I feel that as soon as I'll go back to my 10h+ of training, all these issues are going to take care of themselves.

Now, weight wise, I don't think I've lost much, maybe 3lb so far. I would need to lose 2 more lb in order to win my Diet Bet, but I won't make a scene if I don't. I think I have given myself a good routine and eventually the weight is going to come off, especially if I increase the amount of exercise. Anyway - 3 weeks later, I don't feel magically "better", I didn't get any epiphany related to food either, but I feel stronger with regards to cravings and I am happy that I've started to cook more and make better choices at least half of the day. It's a move in the right direction for sure.

Below is a compilation of meals I had in the last 20 days:

I am going to keep on eating this way, I don't see a reason to stop - it's totally manageable and I believe that health wise, it can only be good for me. And once a month, just like I did today, I will allow myself to indulge in a favorite dessert. This month, it was chocolate mint ice cream at Demetre's. But of course. It was as awesome as I could remember it.

And now, reset. Bring it on, December!!