As human beings we are caught in a world of wanting more and more, striving for abundance. From the moment we are conceived we are marinated in an embryonic fluid full of our mothers worry about not having enough money, time and support to raise us. Welcome to scarcity. We are then fed baby food that is “designed” for our health, as if mother nature’s effort is missing something and we need more. We look around the planet and exploit and eat everything unlike any other creatures here.
Since our bodies have learned to live in a lack of abundance it is always looking for more. As much as we try to enjoy a glass of red wine or a chocolate to reward ourselves we do not have the appropriate enzymes to manage overabundance and our stomach cannot synthesize it and these foods in the long term create an inflammatory reaction. Since we have all become borderline hoarders of stuff, the collective energy puts us in an out of control accumulation mode. We are piling up larger and larger fat reserves and our level of insulin remains on high alert. After we have totally trashed ourselves then we go looking to supplements to “cure” our problem that is, in reality, the reflection of everything that is going into our mouths during and between every meal. The reality is that no pill is capable of fixing it.
After twenty years of research we know it is not how much we eat but what we eat, we simply eat too much of the wrong things. We have bought in to the conditioning of reward and abundance. “If you are good, then you can have something sweet”, ever heard that in your head? This is how we are motivated anymore. We also associate everything that we do with food. I still find myself deprived if there is not a restaurant involved in an outing, it just does not seem celebratory. People turn on a football game and our next thought is to find a bag of chips and a beer, everything accompanies food. Food is no longer for nourishing our bodies, it is to turn on our senses and have a feel good moment. “Healthy Granola Bars” and other trendy ideas are simply compressed carbo bombs ready to go off in our trendy stomachs. These tainted messages have convinced me many times that I was a health nut, but the truth was I was nuts for thinking I was healthy.
To break the cycle I am focusing on proteins, which are the fundamental building blocks of the body. Proteins promote cell growth, help the muscular system, hormones and bile acids, among many other things. I have blown off carbohydrates that just end up in the body as sugar anyway. It is the same poison.
So what are my tricks for the right nutrition?
1.) I shop the outer ring of the grocery store, only venturing into the canyons of guilt for certain items which I limit to extra virgin olive oil, brewed ice tea with no sugar, vinegar, organic beans in healthy cans and steel cut oatmeal. Everything else is fresh and whole from mother nature.
2.) Every morning I measure out three tablespoons of oil into a small bowl. That is my daily ration of oil. I cook many things with vegetable consomme and then use the oil and vinegar “sauce” at the moment of serving or use a paint brush to glaze over anything that I cook on the grill.
3.) I try to have a lot of vegetables prepared and ready to serve with my proteins. One of my favorite veggies is to use cauliflower and make mashed cauliflower all spiced up with some garlic and it tastes just like mashed potatoes.
4.) I eat three times a day at least five hours between each meal. This keeps my insulin from spiking and begging for carbs. If I am hungry, three glasses of water does the trick.
5.) Lastly, I care about what I eat. Anything processed I no longer equate with satisfaction and pleasure. I try to see food as fuel not a pre-requisite for a party and a deserving celebration. I see a meal as a relaxing time not a buffet that I need to conquer because I am in scarcity mode and feel like this could be my last meal on the planet.
I have lost 38 pounds so far and I can say that I have my days that I fall back into oblivion but as I lose the weight it becomes less and less. Old habits are spewing their last ditch efforts to derail me but the strength of my body and the wholeness that thrives on real food is beginning to take over, day by day. There is no perfect diet, no perfect weight loss plan, but the ultimate secret is abandoning scarcity and convincing your body that it has all it needs to survive.
From the other side of life,
Lori Morrison.
