another boring health-related ramble

[floatingleaf]

So, this morning the scale showed 149 lbs. That's like... WOW. Almost two pounds down since Wednesday. Not that I'm complaining, but I don't quite understand why I'm doing so well all of a sudden. I haven't been exercising much, to be honest... I just eat low-carb and low-calorie stuff most of the time. My lunches & dinners are about 60% veggies, and I snack on fruit in between. With an occasional light cereal bar, a bunch of rice crackers or a fat-free yogurt here & there. Plus some whole-grain cereal in the morning (with 1% milk, because skim milk just doesn't look or taste like milk at all to me :P). Every once in a while I would have scrambled/soft-boiled eggs, and/or 1-2 slices of high-fiber bread with low-fat cottage cheese. Regular, 'greasy' cheese is pretty much gone from my diet. Do I miss it? Sometimes I do, though by now I'm pretty sure it was largely responsible for some of my health issues (insomnia & migraines, especially). See, I used to snack on large chunks of cheese right before bedtime (because it was the easiest thing to grab from the fridge whenever the hunger pangs struck around midnight). Of course, it's never a good thing to eat something heavy soon before you go to bed; and it's even worse to do it on a regular basis. But, specifically, I have read somewhere that cheese - consumed in large quantities - can cause headaches and/or disturbing dreams (any slow-to-digest food consumed late at night may cause sleeping problems and/or disturbing dreams, imo). Which would really explain a lot for me. *sigh* Ironically, I only see the connection now that all those unpleasant side effects are gone. But since I do see it, I'm not likely to start gorging up on Monterrey Jack again anytime soon.:P

I also avoid all kinds of sweets and sugar - though I still put a little honey in my tea. But then, I never really had very strong cravings for sweets; salty and greasy stuff is much more dangerous to me.:) Like, you know... smoked fish, for example (delicious, but PURE FAT OMG). I used to have that for supper too, sometimes, with a generous helping of pickles on the side. And then I drank the vinegar from the pickle jar, because it tasted too good to just go down the drain (weird?... maybe - but not if you grew up somewhere in Eastern Europe, I guess). Yep. What a lovely midnight snack. Headaches & disturbing dreams, anyone?...

So yeah... basically it's a case of the pleasure not being worth the pain afterwards any more. Like with alcohol: I don't drink it, because it doesn't give me enough heaven to balance out the hell I would get from a hangover (but I figured that one out years ago... LOL). Or staying up all night, which was only fun as long as I could actually manage to get some decent sleep during the day. Growing old, am I?... Well... maybe. But if getting older means not finding it so difficult any more to have a serious approach towards one's health... then I guess it's not such a bad thing, after all.

Comments

[helynhighwater.livejournal.com]

You may notice that the less you eat the heavy cheese and other problem foods, the less you crave them. I was like that with soda as a teen. I got on a kick one summer where I really liked iced tea and started drinking it most of the time and after a while, soda just wasn't appealing anymore and soda makes me burp now where it didn't as a kid. I only drink soda now if it's all that's available or it's something that's only very lightly carbonated.

Honey in the tea is actually good for you. Natural sugars are always better than processed. Sounds like you're doing great on getting healthy food in you.

[floatingleaf.livejournal.com]

You may notice that the less you eat the heavy cheese and other problem foods, the less you crave them.

Very true. I used to consciously avoid the cheese & bakery sections at the grocery stores, casting longing looks about as I passed them; now I just walk on without a second glance.:D

As for soda, I quit drinking that crap long ago.:) It was something new & exciting when I first came to the US to visit my parents in 1998... but I soon got fed up with the sticky taste, and now it just makes me go 'ewww'.:P Sweetened fruit juices were harder to ditch... but once I got used to drinking plain water, I stopped craving them too. The honey in the tea is pretty much my only indulgence in the liquid department.:)

Sounds like you're doing great on getting healthy food in you.

Indeed. And you know what's the best thing about it? I actually enjoy eating healthy food. It tastes great to me (well... most of it, anyway). It was never a question of "but I don't LIKE vegetables" in my case. It was only laziness and ignorance that made me shove 'fast'n'easy' processed foods down my throat. Ugh. NO MORE. I basically acted like I didn't deserve the effort it would take to actually feed myself something good. And sometimes it's only about 30 minutes away from the computer, you know? ;)

[helynhighwater.livejournal.com]

Good for you, hon!