Saturday, October 4, 2008

Food Diary

One of the things that The Mood Cure Book recommends is doing a food diary. I was really resistant to the idea, because it just seemed like a huge hassle. I already knew that chocolate made me crazy. I mean one M & M puts me into an agitated frenzy and I get a headache. So if you can't eat chocolate what more do you need to know? I decided I had to do something though because I was seriously miserable. I never really understood depression. I'm sad to say that I always figured people with depression just need to go for a walk and they'd feel better. So I when I was so depressed that it scared me I decided I better actually take this book seriously, since I couldn't find a doctor to help me.

I took a cheap notebook and divided it into sections. I would write down each meal, what I ate and then how I felt after I ate it. For me the feelings are pretty immediate. If I eat white bread or pasta for dinner, I'd get a mild headache, but by morning I'd wake up crying. Anything with obvious sugar is instant death. I might have an acute sense of my own body. A lot of women I talk to say if feeling bad after eating sugar was that immediate they wouldn't eat it either. Pretty much what I figured out is. . .I need a lot more protein. So a typical day of food for me is:

Breakfast - cold cereal and a boiled egg

Snack around 10am - nuts or fresh fruit

Lunch - one piece of Squirrely Bread (sprouted whole grain bread) with meat and cheese, or if I really feel adventurous, peanut butter and low sugar jam, a pickle and maybe some more fresh fruit

After Nap Snack-(around 4pm)Go Lean protein shake (vanilla)

Dinner - Some kind of meat, with lots of fresh vegetables. Preferrably something green, then some other vegetables. Lately we've been grilling yellow squash and onions in a basket on the grill, or frying fresh green beans in olive oil. This is the first year I've actually eaten what we've grown. So if we're having hamburgers, I try to eat only one side of the bun, Mexican, I try to eat one tortilla. I'm powerless to resist chips and salsa, but I break the chips in half and try to eat as much salsa to one chip as possible. Potatoes are better for me than rice, but brown rice is better than white. I really try to avoid pasta. Whole grain is better, but I still feel pretty down after eating it.

After Dinner Snack - Another Go Lean protein shake, if I'm dying for something to eat.

So looking at this menu it seems pretty barren of treats, and it is. I figured out, it just wasn't worth it to me to cheat, because I'd wake up crying. That being said, I seem to be able to "tolerate" Mallards ice cream once a week. (Yes I'm shamelessly plugging my favorite ice cream store) Actually now that I've been doing "The Mood Cure" for about a year and a half, I can cheat once in a while, but if I know I'm going to eat some sweets I need to really eat a good meal before hand with a lot of green vegetables and a lot of meat. I also need to excercise outside if possible. I'm totally afraid to think what my cholesterol is, but right now jumping off a bridge is more a risk than a heart attack.

I have lost weight eating on this diet, but then again we also were building the house. Right now my weight seems to be creeping up. I'm a little worried that its the menopause midrift weight happening. How do those 60 year old actresses stay so thin and beautiful? So eating differently really made a huge difference, but it was only the beginning. . .

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