Over Fed, Under Nourished...

I firmly believe that most overweight people are severely malnourished. This isn't solely due to their diet, although for many it is a diet of nothing but brown and white....bread, meat, potatoes. It also has to do with how an overweight body processes food, absorbs nutrients and even how it produces them itself. For example, being overweight seriously impedes vitamin D absorption.....malnourished. Overweight people have different bacteria in their gut that may not effectively manufacture B vitamins....malnourished. They are more likely to suffer from candida overgrowth which can lead to absorption issues....malnourished. I know for myself I have been  over fed and under nourished my entire adult life. 2 weeks ago I started on a new path of eating and I am starting to feel WELL nourished.

I told you all before that I am working with a lovely nutritionist Nanda. 2 weeks ago today I started on a new journey, a journey that will put me back in touch with myself and start to heal my relationship with food. The first 2-4 weeks are all about detoxing some of the "bad" stuff out of your system in an effort to understand the effect that certain foods have on you. It has been interesting and I have been pretty damn good. Things I am supposed to eliminate:

• Artificial sweeteners of any kind  Haven't touched the stuff
• Wheat and gluten  I have been pretty good...there was that one pizza night and a company party at which I had one roll but I stopped at one roll and to me that is success!
• Coffee  Hardest thing for me to give up but I did it for a full week. The last week I have had 5 coffees in total which is a far cry from my 3 or 4 daily before. When I get stressed I crave to the point that I NEED coffee...can anyone say adrenal burnout?
• Dairy  Outside of the fated pizza and the cream in my coffee I have gone without dairy and I think my skin is loving me for it even though I am still detoxing.
• Refined sugar  Well Halloween did happen so I had a bit of chocolate and then I did have a small blizzard the other night.....hmmm better add that to the dairy list as well.
• Processed foods  Outside of my confessions above I have had zero processed foods.

Ok so I haven't been perfect but perfect is not the goal. I am thinking about what I am eating but not obsessing. I am no longer on autopilot. I am not a slave to the scale (although I did sneak a weigh in today and I am down about 8 pounds!). Nanda said something to me that made perfect sense. She said "Crowd out the bad foods" meaning eat so much of the good stuff that there is little room left for the bad stuff. That is EXACTLY what I have been doing. I have been eating veggies and fruit every colour of the rainbow, I have been drinking a super nutritious shake every breakfast instead of drinking two coffees, I have been eating sprouts and kale and squash, I have been drinking a whack load of water, I am eating beans and chia seeds.I am taking a handful of supplements but only taking what my body requires. I am taking fish oils every time I eat. I am cooking from scratch. Basically...

 I am nourishing the shit out of this body of mine!!

I feel energetic, I feel balanced and I feel lighter than I have in years. My focus has changed from weight to health and even though I have said that more times than I care to admit, I feel like this time I mean it. The 8 pounds I have lost excited me but the fact that I am not crashing in the afternoon excites me even more. Still have lots of work to do but I am on my way, one kale chip at a time.