Let’s talk diet, fat-free, sugar-free, chemical-filled and preservatives, AKA my diet for about ten years. Yum right?
Even after graduating treatment from an eating disorder I still had quite a few hang ups. This has nothing to do with Mercy Ministries and everything to do with recovery being a PROCESS.
I still had my “foods”, the “good” 
and the “bad” list and I counted calories like a mad women. I ate pretty much the same things all the time and didn’t really go outside my tiny, tiny box. In fact, I am pretty sure for a whole year I lived on coffee, diet coke, pretzels, and Progresso chicken soup-double yum. Partly for convenience (I was a busy college student) and partly because it was low-calorie, fat-free and the calories were memorized (no math, bonus!).
After a friend shared about her transformation with a whole foods diet, I decided to take the plunge and change my diet. This was a super slow, super long process that was not easy. It took a whole year (felt more like a century) and there were certain moments where it looked like I wasn’t going to make it…
I remember giving up one of my last addictions, powdered creamer. I know, I know, disgusting… And trust me, the thought of it now makes me want to straight vom. But, at the time sprinkling that ‘ish’ in my coffee every morning made my life. Well, I was to the point in my journey that it had to go… Devastating was a huge understatement. I use to buy a two-pack in bulk from SAMs (I know, I know) and I had a huge full one left… I remember taking it and shaking it over my running garbage disposal as my husband laughed at my ridiculousness and I slowly died inside like a cocaine addict… No, I’m not dramattic at all 😉 .
So, as you can see, this wasn’t easy for me. But, it was oh-so rewarding. Everything got so much better. I had so much more energy (I guess one can only live on salt, caffeine and powder for so long), my skin cleared up (yeah 25 year-old “adult acne” is a thing), my hair and nails grew at a ridiculous rate that I can no longer keep up with (it might just reach the floor), I began to really enjoy food and even cook (gasp!) and overall I just became a better version of myself- win!
So, where to begin with all of this…
When I first meet with a client or someone who finds out that I am a Nutritional Counselor, one of the firsts things they ask me is “what’s the first thing I should change in my diet?” My always response is: “remove all sugary drinks and soda (EVEN and ESPECIALLY diet soda) from your life.” In many ways it really is that easy…
Sugary drinks (soda, coffees, teas, and juices) are the number one contributor to obesity AND diabetes in America. They make you thirstier, dehydrate you, spike your blood sugar, and make you crave even crappier foods- boo. This is ESPECIALLY true for diet soda-double boo. In fact, diet soda is worse.
I was so addicted to diet soda that I had to take extreme measures to break the habit. I watched a ton of videos and read a bunch of articles about what soda does to the inside of your body and how crazy the chemicals are in it to perfectly clean grout, your engine, remove hair die, remove oil stains, perfectly clean your toilet- blah, blah, a thousand times blah!!! So, if you want to make some small changes or are making a huge life change and need a place to start, remove the sugary drinks and don’t look back!! I promise you won’t regret it. 🙂
Also, I am a total believer in “crowding out”. Crowding out is the idea of adding something new into your diet, which pushes the foods you are trying to remove out. When crowding out soda, I added sparking water as well as lemon to my water (I’m addicted) . I am not a huge plain water fan (I wish I was)… So, doing these minor changes really worked for me and I haven’t looked back. 🙂
P.S. I am going to continue to give you guys tips from my whole transformation journey. This is just the beginning, so buckle up! 😉 To get information specifically catered to your health and fitness needs, contact me to set up a nutrition consolation.
