Everything contradicts everything else

These are two versions of a low-carb food pyramid. You can see, even when the basic tenants of a food plan are agreed upon, execution varies widely. Personally, my diet is something of a mix between the two. When I'm not "cheating" (a word and concept I hate, since really who am I cheating on? Myself? It's not like I'm hiding anything from myself! What I'm doing is choosing to eat off plan.) I eat a lot of egg and protein, with a huge salad for lunch most days. The salad varies, but is usually comprised of cabbage, brussel sprouts, collards, and/or brocolli slaw. There is always some form of meat involved, and I might throw in zucchini or kohlrabi. I also usually add a small amount of raisins, a serving of almonds, and minimal dressing.

Last week didn't go well, and it took me the better part of the week to figure out why. I'd reduced carbs, and for some reason also reduced my liquid intake. Whenever I change the non-water I drink, it affects the amount of water I drink. I've been drinking Kombucha, and for some reason this had the same affect as drinking soda, in that I didn't drink my water/unsweetened tea as well. This led to thirst, which I interpreted as a salt craving. Instead of drinking my water/tea, I ate chips. Not ideal.

I realized at some point in the last week that I haven't lost any real weight for about 10 years now. Yeah, I dropped 10 lbs once when I was running every single day. My body can't take that kind of stress over the long haul though, and once I had to stop the weight came right back. At this point I'm not dieting to lose weight, though my mental image of myself is at least 40 lbs lighter. What I'm trying to do is eat healthy, eat only when I'm hungry, and not overeat when I am hungry.

I also realized I've spent too much time reading about people who follow the Beach Body plan, who use meal replacement shakes. I've gone back and forth about trying them, since they appear to work for some people and I haven't tried them yet. I keep coming back to 2 problems with this, though. First, meal replacement shakes are not real food. My metabolism is broken already, and I'm trying to heal by eating food as close to it's original state as possible. The more processed, the less I can be certain I know what's added. Companies are not required to disclose EVERYTHING they put into our food. There's also the whole "anything fortified is bound to have iodine, which I need to avoid" thing.

I decided I'm going to try my version of a meal replacement shake. It's basically a berry, egg, and leafy green smoothie, somewhere close to 200 calories. I'm hoping if I have this for breakfast before I leave for work, that will shift my food plan back several hours, reducing the desire to eat later in the evening. Ideally, I would finish my salad in late afternoon and not be hungry until the next day. Alternatively, I could have the same smoothie for dinner. An added bonus is the sweet taste without too many carbs and no artificial sweeteners.

I did have some good news this week. While at the Dr. for a sinus infection, I had her test my thyroid levels. I'd stopped taking the prescribed medication, and am managing the disease with a gluten free diet combined with a bugleweed supplement. Apparently this is working, because my levels are within the normal range.