Three and a half years ago I was home on maternity leave after the birth of my third child. I remember wanting to lose the "baby weight" that I was carrying around and at the same time feeling very strong urges to go into my kitchen and eat whatever was there. I was incredibly frustrated and I started thinking that something was really wrong with me. Why did I want to eat when I wasn't hungry? I was plagued by this question for most of my life.
I decided I was going to get rid of all of the sugar from my house. Why? Because I'm a "sugar person" and that's my go-to food for emotional eating (which can be any and all emotion I might add--good or bad).
I got out a big black garbage bag and I filled it to the brim. I was amazed at just how much of the food that was in my kitchen was sugary. I was depressing actually. I needed to get rid of it or I was going to eat it. I knew that. I am powerless when it comes to toxic food. I accept that and choose to arm myself with as many weapons as I can muster into my arsenal.
I didn't feel bad throwing it out either, because I knew at that moment that it was either going to be garbage in a landfill or be garbage in my body, so I let go of any guilt about throwing it away that I might have had. I mean, where would you want garbage to be? Your body or the dump?
It would still be another eighteen months until I was introduced to Volumetric, Nutritarian and Plant-strong eating. But I knew very well that there was a connection between processed and/or sugary food and my compulsion to overeat. I just didn't know that there was an antidote to it.
As much as I don't want garbage in my house, it has a way of making it's way back in time and again. Social events are a biggie. I use them as an excuse to get near my drug and abuse it. But as the years tick by, I have learned to be aware of myself. I know that if left alone with sugar, the sugar wins. So as soon as I recognize that I have a problem with a particular food, out it goes into the wastebasket. I refuse to bring home dessert leftovers from a party--only one thing can come of that and it's not pretty.
It's a learning curve and it takes years. I make mistakes and that's okay. I might start to binge on a food and then realize I have to get rid of it. Things that I would never have binged on years ago become new binge foods as the old stuff just isn't available to me anymore. I forgive myself and I move on. I know what my goal is, and I keep it in sight. I'm closer now than ever. My home has about nothing for me to binge on and that, my friends, is how I need it to be.
Fill Your Home With Good, Real Food
Just because it's Vegan doesn't mean it's good for you. Most processed/packaged food today that is labeled as "Vegan" is just more junk. I can see it's usefulness when transitioning from a heavily SAD diet to a plant-strong one, but it shouldn't be a crutch forever. Example? Even cookies, cake and candy are readily available now as vegan . . . come on! I know!
"Today with the number of people choosing to follow vegetarian or vegan diets increasing, there is a greater demand for products that cater to these consumers. Most major grocery stores are stocked with not only fake meats, but also butter, mayonnaise, milk, cheese and ice cream that contain not a drop of real milk or a milk by-product. In short, people like me can easily follow a parallel diet to everyone else – but ironically, some of these similar, yet different products are often more processed. This begs the question, are those of us who do eat a lot of those products really that much healthier than omnivores?" asks Andrew Wilder.
There's a great chapter in The Engine 2 Diet about how to read a food label. I really didn't know how do that until Rip put it on paper. But I quickly realized that most packaged food was going to be a thing of the past for me and my family.
So what does fill my refrigerator, freezer and pantry?
Veggies (fresh and frozen), fruit (fresh and frozen), beans and whole grains, primarily. Everything else is extra. It's a beautiful sight.
And not only that, my sugar fixation is pretty well gone. Over. Caput.
I'm finally free!
What's in your kitchen right now?
Have you done a mass clean out? Did it have an effect on you?
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