Nothing like the years whipping by to make you realize that saying “yes” is more rewarding than hemming and hawing and putting things off for another time. And that includes saying yes to new foods and new ways of eating. Normally I would say I eat a decent diet, with the odd bag of Smartfood thrown in for good measure. But more and more I have been reading that the way we feel is strongly related to what we eat. Garbage in, garbage out, right? I’ve always known that, but sometimes I go on automatic pilot and make the same things, and my frugal nature makes me often more concerned with using up what’s on hand than considering how much actual nutrition is in a meal. On that note, I decided to try a 3-day eating plan.
Having following many Cosmopolitan magazine…a-hem..diets (1/2 a grapefruit, black coffee, and toast with no butter, anyone??), I swore I would never do one again. But this was not a diet; weight loss was not the goal. This was a 3-day “gut reset” that I stumbled upon online. Nowhere in the article did it say “You can’t have meat or dairy or simple carbs” but the suggested meals did not contain said things. Now, I am a confirmed carnivore, and I enjoy dairy, but for 3 days, I can give up just about anything. Except wine. I could not give up wine (and I didn’t).
The idea was that eating the suggested foods would give your digestive system a bit of a reset in terms of allowing healthy bacteria to populate and give it loads of fibre. Wonderful husband decided to “come along for the ride.” So, we hit our local Farm Boy and got the necessary ingredients. We decided to start on a Friday so that we were home for most of the 3 days lest there should be any undesirable side-effects. There were not. In fact, I found myself feeling pretty energetic and it was fun to try something new. It was also quite eye-opening to see how chalk full of goodness a meal can be and I realized we are not eating all that well in comparison.
So, am I giving up dairy, meat or carbs? No, I enjoy eating foods of all kinds, and the idea of cutting out any food group in its entirety does not appeal to me. But we will choose to make meals once in awhile that may not involve one or more of those groups. And I’m sure that will not hurt the pocketbook or break the scale, which is also nice!
Will you take a bite out of life and try something new to eat this week?