Comfort Food

I’m following a bit of a “comforts of home” theme on my blog this month…so along those lines…let’s talk, food. I never write food posts since I’m not a food blogger, but we’ve made some significant changes around here and I felt compelled to share. Here are some some actual dishes made by me. I‘m working on enjoying food again while speeding up my metabolism as I follow, “The Fast Metabolism Diet”.

I don’t share recipes here a lot (should I?) but I’m planning to lose about 20 pounds. Seeing the Better Homes & Gardens shoot was amazing, and I’m blown away by the outcome of the article. They did such a beautiful job!

What bothers me, is me. I hate what goes through my mind when I’m being photographed. It’s one of the reasons you don’t see many pictures of me on the blog…it always cuts to the core of my insecurities about my appearance. But this year? I’m determined to change that.

For 15 years, I’ve been in stressful jobs where I’ve been behind the wheel of a car as a software sales rep. Driving across four states per week wreaked havoc on my metabolism. Having a sales quota made the stress even worse.

I’m a PCOS Sufferer

Adding to the problem – I also have polycystic ovarian syndrome, and since we got married in 2014 I slowed my workouts due to an injury. This caused a continual weight gain. But once an editor of a magazine with a distribution of 37 million called…and I found myself having a bit of a panic attack about being photographed!

To be honest, I nearly backed out! How sad is that??!? 

A Pantry Purge

After we rang in the new year, I purged our pantry. The goal? Jump start my metabolism. Cut the coffee. Drink more water. Feel better.  

At a friend’s recommendation (who looks great!) I started following the recipes in the book, “The Fast Metabolism Diet”.  It’s fairly complicated, but so far I’ve lost a few inches, so I’d say it’s definitely worth it!  It’s like muscle confusion for your metabolism. I get to eat a bit of everything, and I find myself eating often (every 3 hours)…and, I’m full! Today I had organic chili with ground turkey. Mid-week, lots of meat, salad and fruit. On the weekends, you get all of the food groups combined + adding fat (nuts, avocado). You have to be willing to cook every meal which is a real challenge…but I’m forcing myself to get to the store everyday.

(I’ve included an affiliate link below for you to give it a try).

First, you need to understand the mechanics of the diet and buy the book. This explains the entire program.

Once you absorb that, you can also buy the supplemental cookbook below.

Read the preview on Amazon 

So rather than looking at it as a new year’s resolution, it’s really just a lifestyle change that I’m embracing – for all of us. Being home full time has definitely helped me embrace this change and has made cooking at home much easier. Packed lunches are also more common for the kids now that I’m home. I hate seeing my kids sick and really want to raise the bar on what I’m feeding them every day.

I want to enjoy food again, and I really think this might work for me.

Have you started any new healthy eating plans? Share your comments, successes or even your struggles. I feel your pain, but we can do it!