In late October, Kirk asked if we’d change how we ate. I am not going to lie and say it has been easy. With teens at home, I have to work around them as well. But as we enter the Second Trimester, I have learned a lot this time about what works for us and what doesn’t.
When we started in earnest in November, I was committed to making high-protein/low-carb dinners but wasn’t quite ready to give up carbs. I made bread and rolls quite often and made a carb side for the boys with dinner. I started to see results, which made me realize we could go further.
That we went pretty hardcore at it this time:
- High-protein
- Low-Carb
- Lots of vegetables
- Fresh fruit
- No seed oils
- No processed food
- No added sugar/sweetener
- All cooking is done from scratch with base ingredients
I saw this comment a while back, and it hit home about my daily decisions. I don’t always have to remove “x” from my diet, but I must be mindful. Sugar is one area I have real issues with, though. Consuming it awakens something profound in my body, and I cannot stop my craving for it. So if I go without, it is that much better.
I took my middle son to Mexican the other week, and I had my meal without tortillas and avoided the tortilla chips. I realized I have little self-control once I start noshing on salty snacks. One chip becomes 40 chips. I enjoyed the carb with lunch, which was rice, and I felt no guilt over that because I had made a choice. I didn’t feel bloated and tired after lunch, so it was worth it—one carb, not three separate ones.
The first trimester is always one of change. You have to see what works for everyone, and it is more complicated with children involved, especially if they are teenagers. I still make them bread for their lunches, but I have noticed that one of them is becoming interested in increasing his protein/lower carbs so that he gains muscle (he is built like his Dad, so he will have no issues putting on muscle). I have watched them get excited about vegetables, which they always ate, but now are happy to see them. I prepare them in different ways, and this makes them eat more.
The other is I forced myself to get on the scale and see where I was about 2 weeks back. I do not have a positive relationship with weight scales, going back to being a child. When I was in 6th grade, our teacher had public weigh-ins weekly, where the popular girls did the weighing – and loudly called out their weight to embarrass the bigger girls. I had hit puberty in 5th grade, far ahead of most of the girls. I’ve always been “bigger,” even at my skinniest in college. The number wasn’t as bad as I feared, and I was only 5 pounds over the weight I would claim on the paperwork medically. I could deal with that. I am now down to that number. It’s not a specific goal; I have to be a certain number. But it does help to know where I am and where I need to get to. For now, it’s weekly weigh-ins to monitor whether our eating is helping.
Solidly in the second trimester, I am learning more about what to eat and when, and I am experiencing the feeling of hunger. I realized I used to feel hungry rarely. Eating on a schedule, true hunger didn’t have time to show up. I also find I get full faster, as our food is denser.
~Sarah