Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Annoyed, Overwhelmed, Lost

So you should know that I am on a quest to find the best eating plan for myself. I am already a committed vegan...but I'm also trying to figure out how to further improve my diet, balancing nutrition, taste, and weight-loss/weight-management. I have to admit, I'm a little weight-obsessed, which doesn't go well with my binge eating problem.

Anyhow, I had success in January/February when I created my Addiction Free Diet experiment, which was my own diet plan based on many of the principles I had learned from Natalia Rose's books. But then I had a binge and all my good work went down the drain. I have since gained 5 of the 10 lbs back and I just don't understand what my problem is. The obvious solution would be to just dive back into my AFDE plan. But I re-read Rose's books and "tried" to implement her principles again, but it just hasn't worked this time. I've questioned whether my failure was due to the fact that my eating plan just wasn't something that I could commit to life-long. But the truth is, it would have lasted if I hadn't binged, or if I would have turned it all around the next day and refrained from the urges to binge and overeat that followed. The binge created a snowball effect which has stuck me in a rut that I just can't seem to get out of. I can't find the passion for the diet I used to love; eating light to heavy, raw till dinner, eating proper food combos. Am I just being lazy?

Well, since then I have analyzed my diet, tried a few new things. Nothing has felt great. I still binge. I still overeat. I ate a substantial breakfast all week last week (as recommended by the book "Crave" by Cynthia M. Bulik to overcome binge eating) and I didn't see it improve anything. And when I think about all the different diet advice everywhere, it makes my head spin. One guide says to eat a big breakfast, another says not to eat until truly ravenous. Another says to eat 4 to 6 small meals a day. Another says to strictly count calories. Another says there is no need to count calories. Another says to eat lots of fruit. Another says to limit fruit. It really makes me feel so lost!

Here's what I personally have to work with: I know eating more raw fruits and veggies is good for me and I find success eating fruit and salads daily; I do not currently have the desire to be 100% raw; I do not currently have the finances to eat much high-raw besides daily fruit and salads; eating less calories helps me lose weight; sweets and junk food make me feel bad physically and emotionally, but I do have the desire to continue to eat sweets, as long as they are not part of a binge and do not lead to unhealthy choices and negative feelings

So shit, what do I do? Do I continue on with this "eating breakfast hungry or not" kick? Or do I go back to "don't eat until hungry, eat raw till dinner, light to heavy, with fruit being the first meal?" Financially, I like the idea of eating a bowl of cereal every day instead of worrying about how much it's going to cost to buy enough fruit to keep me feeling satisfied. Then again, am I really spending much more to eat 1 or 2 pieces of fruit every day?

I know this doesn't do much, but I just felt like ranting. I know I am so full of questions and I just annoy myself with them. I am way to obsessed about what I eat, but I really want to do what is best for my body, my health, AND my finances! Why can't there be a magical solution? Why does there have to be SO MANY different contradicting diet plans out there?

1 comment:

  1. It would be fantastic to have a magical solution! If you find it, let me know!

    I agree with a lot of what you have listed, how there is so much conflicting advice and doing well and then binging and feeling like you have ruined everything.

    At the moment I find a banana or two for breakfast keeps me going and then I have another mid morning and/or a green smoothie.

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