I'm on the road, in search of food — food for my body, food for my mind, food for my soul. I dedicate this blog to peanut butter, my best friend. Food is what we're all about. Cheers!

Thursday, August 14, 2014

August 14, 2014 — The End Of My Weight Loss Diet And Beginning Of A New Diet For Life!

I am amazed at how quickly these last eighteen months have gone by! I have really enjoyed the focus on creating three well-balanced and attractive-looking meals each day. And I am learning a bit about photographing food too!

I reached my goal of losing 22 pounds several months ago (yay!), and then I continued to lose 8 and 1/2 pounds more — arriving at the final total of 30 1/2 pounds lost on this special diet. Wow. I never could've imagined it.
  And "special" diet it was too! Very special, in that the food was delicious, nutritious, plentiful, balanced between yin and yang, balanced between carbohydrates, proteins, and fats, and balanced between strengthening and relaxing, serious and fun.

I learned how to broaden my choices and outlook on everything. (And I am still always learning more.)

I made sure to eat vegetables from each of three categories: Root, Round, and Leafy Green. 

Root vegetable examples: daikon root, carrot, burdock, and parsnip
Round vegetable examples: onion, squash, dried beans, lentils, and cauliflower
Leafy green examples: kale, collard greens, broccoli, lettuce, and dandelion leaf

I varied my methods of cooking. Pressure-cooked, boiled, steamed, sauteed or pan-fried, baked vegetables, casseroles, breads, and pizzas. High heat, low heat, fast, slow, with oil and without oil.

I learned how to measure out enough food onto my plate that would satisfy me and give me enough strength to last me until the next meal. I practiced my chewing and paying attention on my food and the here and now. I spent time appreciating the delicious ingredients that took so much time and effort to finally arrive at my table.

I discovered good nourishing snacks that refreshed me in the afternoon, like a cup of kukicha tea with soy sauce that replenished my salt reserves lost from perspiration during hot summer days and exercising, or a cup of "Morning Tea" that also included ginger root, kuzu powder, and a bit of umeboshi to revive me after eating a lot of restaurant food. A handful of almonds roasted in tamari (storebought) satisfied my cravings for a little fat and salt.

I increased the amount of raw vegetables, especially while we were traveling and eating out in restaurants. I reintroduced raw green salads to my diet after realizing that I had become too rigid in my thinking!

Whenever I could, I included seaweed in my diet: kombu cooked with the beans and soups, wakame, nori, dulse, arame, and even mekabu (wakame sporophyll).

What do I want to do next? 

Well, there is one thing that I want to do for sure, and that is learn how to cook all those wonderful dishes they served at French Meadows Macrobiotic Summer Camp! And I want to see if I can find some of the tools they used, like the light-weight square-edged vegetable cleaver, the very practical and useful strainer-ladle, and the Asian grater with the two-directional holes.

I am also looking forward to visiting the many web sites of all the teachers at camp, and some day I hope that I'll get the chance to visit some of the restaurants around the country that were recommended to me, like Seed Kitchen in Venice, California!

And so today marks the first milestone of a great idea that I have, which is to design and create my own weight-loss plan, my own diet, and my own life, and I can highly recommend it to anyone! Cheers and Bon Appetit to all of us!

Related Blog Articles:
Dinner Impossible?
Happy New Year Of The Snake — Finally Letting Go Of 22 Pounds Of Excess Weight
No More Sugar 

Sunday, August 10, 2014

Approaching the End of My Weight-Loss Diet

This coming Thursday marks the end of my special 18-month macrobiotic diet that I created in order to focus on losing the last 22 pounds of excess fat from my body. By coincidence, Thursday mornings have been the time that I've been weighing myself each week, and so it is fitting that I will do my final weigh-in on that day.

I'm curious to see how much I weigh since last Thursday, when I discovered that I had lost five pounds while I was at camp, and whether being back home has made me gain some of that weight back. Ahhh, camp! I finally went to French Meadows Macrobiotic Summer Camp for the first time. It was so wonderful. I have much to say about it, and will be writing about it in my Camp Review 2014.

Food! Food is good! 

For 18 months I have eaten very well. I've been well-satisfied. I have not starved, nor have I felt deprived. I've developed my intuition about food, what to eat, how much to eat, how to enjoy and appreciate everything that I eat and how to enjoy and appreciate every decision that I make about eating it.

I can hardly believe that I have finally gotten over the hump! The hump of not being able to lose the weight despite everything that I tried to do. For years! And now, looking back, it seems so easy! So simple! And it is. The key thing that I have learned is that I am constantly changing, constantly adjusting to my environment, to my condition, to my circumstances, and I have the tools to recognize what I need and what I need to do.

I've learned from my consultation with Cynthia Briscoe at Macrobiotics America, from reading Julia Ferre's books on Food and Intuition, and from my time at Macrobiotic Summer Camp, how important it is to broaden my food choices, and not get stuck in a rut of always eating the same simple foods day in and day out. I've learned how important it is to serve myself a satisfying meal, so that it lasts me to the next meal without feeling hungry or wanting in between. In order to be satisfying, the food has to include carbohydrates, proteins, and fats, it has to taste good, and it has to be enough to make me feel happy but not full.

Exercise and movement is very important and I still have much to learn about it! How not to overdo it, for example, and how to recognize that many of my activities (like housecleaning and gardening) are actually really good forms of exercise! Breathing, deep breathing, of fresh, clean air. Smiling. Laughing. Resting. Reading a good novel. Playing! Working hard. Washing dishes! Cooking. Discovering brave new worlds...

Macrobiotics is all about food and the good life. Cheers!

Related Blog Articles:
Designing My Own Weight-Loss Diet
Draft #1 — My Weight-Loss Diet Plan
Happy New Year Of The Snake — Finally Letting Go Of 22 Pounds Of Excess Weight
My Special Weight-Loss Diet Plan For 18 Months — Started on Valentine's Day, 2-14-2013
My Daily Diet Report — Getting Ready For My New Weight-Loss Diet