No black and white when it comes to losing weight and being healthy!

So It's Monday and I am feeling so much better since I am off herbalife. My friend insists that she has never heard of anyone having these issues on  herbalife ever. She said I am probably allergic to something else, like milk or the soy protein. Ok, I am willing to be flexible and look into that, except, I have been drinking milk my whole life and dairy has never before been a problem for me. She also mentioned that the soy might be a problem for me and although I don't believe I eat a lot of soy, Maggie tells me that there is much soy in many things we eat and we don't even realize it, and I am not having any other problems with anything else.

But something interesting to share......A few years ago, my brother introduced me to the "Eat right for your blood type" diet and it is basically a list of foods that, depending on what blood type you are, there is a list of foods that are highly beneficial, foods that are allowed but are neither highly beneficial, but they are allowed, and then there are off limit foods. For my blood type O+, I am suppose to be mainly a meat eater. I am suppose to primarily eat lean protein, and apparently, my blood type does not digest dairy products well. There is a very small amount of dairy that I am suppose to be eating, but there is nothing in the dairy category that is highly beneficial for me. There is so much more, but I don't want to make my whole blog post about this diet. But it just proves to me that I am not crazy and I am not a wimp for not wanting to stay on herbalife because not only did it not make me feel well, it is very heavy on the dairy and very low on lean proteins, which is the opposite of what I should be eating. Although I don't follow the Type O+ diet to the "t", I do try to be aware of what I am eating and I do limit certain things. Like, I LOVE guacamole, but avocado is off limits to me according to that diet. Well, I don't eat gauc everyday, but from time to time, I do partake of it and I think that is ok because ultimately, I think balance is the key. 

I think this is all about healthy eating there is no black and white when it comes to eating healthy. My Scottish Uncle use say, "Everything in Moderation" (Which always sounded so profound with is Scottish Burr). But I think he hit the nail on the head. I think if you eat right 80-90% of the time, and allow yourself something you enjoy the other 10-20%, that is a good balance. You can't eat all bad all the time and you can't eat all good all the time because you will feel deprived and soon all good all the time quickly leads to all bad all the time, which makes it hard to get back to all good all the time, which isn't even practical or realistic. (wow, anyone else dizzy after reading that?)

Eat Healthy = 80-90%
Sensibly treat your self = 10-20%

It's all about balance! Think in terms of gray, not black and white.......Get the pharse, "I cheated" out of your vocabulary. It's not black and white, it's not your on or your off, it's making good choices the majority of the time and allowing some frivolities a small portion of the time. If you lose control, again, it's not black and white......It's a gray area.....Ok, you went crazy, but just fix it for the next meal and move on. You ate it, it's over and done with, move on and do better next time. Beating yourself up over it will just make you feel bad and may lead to more bad eating and more bad choices. It's so important to forgive yourself, and don't forget to stop and smell the roses......If your rose is in the form of a chocolate bar once in a while, go for it, enjoy it and most important, no guilt!!  

So, one more thing.......I weighed this morning, cause as you know, Monday is my weigh day. The scale told me a sad story......The story was that I gained 2.6 pounds. 3 pounds last week tells me that I gained 5.6 pounds in two weeks of being on herbalife. The moral of the story is, herbalife just isn't for me!

But the really great news is, I am not discouraged. I have been back to following a healthy plan with some great food. I had a great breakfast today, a yummy, yummy lunch (I actually video taped it.....lol...Maybe I will post it here.) and when I get home, I have a great pot of chili cooking in my slow cooker and it's packed with ground turkey, black beans, kidney beans, garbanzo beans, onions, crushed tomatos, a little tomato sauce and some chili powder and other yummy spies. I can't wait to eat that when I get home.

I have really learned over the years that eating to decrease your body fat and eating to be healthy doesn't have to be boring, or plain or yucky or gross or restrictive. I have worked hard to find a way to love what I am eating. The areas I still struggle with are my food addiction, the emotional eating (this is what gets me in the most trouble) and eating to celebrate and not always being able to control my portions when in a celebratory situation. But I am working on it, I am aware and I will never give up!

The other area I really struggle in is the food prep. Not because it's all that hard, because it really isn't. But I get lazy and often times I am busy. Sometimes I just think I have a spoiled brat mentality and I need to put on my big girl panties and get over it. It was pretty easy putting my chili together, and I have all the fixin's for a nice beef stew and I also have the fixins for a turkey sloppy joe, also made in the slow cooker. It's all a matter of making it a priority ad leaning not to be lazy!

I am going to get this weight off and be healthy if it's the last thing I do!!

Two quotes I'd like to end with that have impacted me are;

"Between you and every goal that you wish to achieve, there is a series of obstacles, and the bigger the goal, the bigger the obstacles. Your decision to be, have and do something out of the ordinary entails facing difficulties and challenges that are out of the ordinary as well. Sometimes your greatest asset is simply your ability to stay with it longer than anyone else."

~ Brian Tracy

"Don't be discouraged. It's often the last key in the bunch that opens the lock. "

~ Unknown