No excuses!

I had a day of travelling for work yesterday. Not unusual in my job and it will probably get more prolific now that our Government has FINALLY sorted themselves out! It would have been easy to forget all of the commitments I've made to myself over the past few months, and in particular since the beginning of this week with the PB Challenge, but no doubt I would have regretted it later. So, I really planned my day in my head the night before, ensuring that I was fully prepared to keep on track with my eating.
A 5:00am start pretty much ruled out any exercise for the morning... And as I had already planned my 18 hour fast from Tuesday night dinner to Wednesday lunch, I didn't need to worry about breakfast. (I won't go into fasting now, but will post on it at a later date - here's some reading from Fitness Spotlight if you're really keen!)... I would have my usual water with lemon juice first thing in the morning (seriously, who can stomach food at 5:00am anyway!) and planned on getting a cup of tea at the airport.
My day went reasonably well, but I made some interesting observations. Society really does have a warped view of eating, if the food options I saw throughout the day are any indication! I guess we can blame conventional wisdom, but it takes all of my willpower to bite my tongue.
Waiting in the Qantas Club before my flight, breakfast options were various cereals and toast, and some fruit. We were then offered breakfast on the plane. I politely refused of course, but even if I had been eating, the offerings weren't even remotely Primal. Weet-bix, a blueberry muffin, low-fat yoghurt, and orange juice. Morning tea at the meeting was a selection of "flourless" chocolate tortes - catering for the gluten free diet - and a fruit platter. Lunch was a combination of sandwiches, wraps, and rolls, mini quiche and some more desserty cakes (not gluten free this time). The gluten free option was a greek salad, which I could eat, and there was also a caeser salad, which I ate but avoided the croutons. I also scooped out the filling from a quiche! If the salad wasn't offered, the 'grain-free' choices were slim to none. On the way home, we were offered an afternoon tea on the plane - plum strudel cake.
It should be obvious to you by now how carb-centric all of this food on offer was! If I had eaten everything that had been available to me during the day, I would have been left feeling seriously bloated and heavy. I don't even want to think about what it would have done to my digestive system. The other issue you will see is how laden with sugar that food is. The weet-bix was the only breakfast offering with minimal sugar. The tortes might have been 'flourless' but I'm guessing were still made with copious amounts of added sugar. Sauces on the sandwiches and salads, and more desserts only add to the concern. And on the plane, I saw one guy eat his studel cake with a cup of coffee that he'd added 4 sachets of sugar to!
I really do hope that we eventually wake up to the damage we are doing to our bodies by eating all this sugar and a diet that is predominantly carbohydrates. Although I think people are aware of the dangers of eating too much sugar, society still blames excess fat consumption for our obesity. And as for low-carbohydrate diets, many flawed studies continue to feed people the myth that they are unhealthy for you. Without public awareness of just how much sugar is added to our food, and how our bodies process and use carbohydrates for energy (excess carbohydrates are stored in the body as fat!) many will continue on oblivious, thinking they are doing the right thing because their diets are low in fat. If you consider the menu that was on offer for me, it certainly would have been low in fat and that is enough to give most people the green light to eat away, regardless of the ridiculous ratio of carbs to protein and fat.
I was fairly happy with how my day panned out eating wise. By the time I got home though, I was wrecked, and so didn't get my usual exercise in. Still, I managed to maintain a predominatly primal eating style while away from my safe haven of home and work!

Put Down The Fork!

If only it was that easy to learn from Family Guy! Granted, there may be some merit in Brian’s words, and many people would do well to consider this advice, however if there’s one thing that eating primally has taught me, you really need to consider the type of food you are eating as well! The context of calories that you eat plays a huge role in your total body composition.
I heard recently about a workplace where there was a group of women, all overweight, committed to losing weight. Not an unusual story I’m sure. Also not unusual were their daily lunch habits. Maggi 99% fat free noodles, Continental low-fat cup-of-soup, and replacement shakes. By limiting their calories and fat intake and following conventional wisdom, these women thought they were doing the right thing. As you already know, I’m a fan of eating food with as minimal processing as possible, and so regardless of the fat content, these daily lunch choices will almost certainly continue to lead these women down the path to obesity.
These women couldn’t be accused of not putting down the fork! Those meals aren’t exactly large portion sizes. I don’t know about you, but whenever I’ve eaten one of those noodle dishes, I’m looking for more food ½ an hour later! And this is where the next dilemma comes in. These women feel like they’ve eaten a healthy lunch and therefore when Tom’s birthday mud cake comes around for afternoon tea, they don’t feel guilty in helping themselves to a slice. They are still hungry and rationalise that their fat free lunch offsets the copious amounts of fat and sugar in the cake!
This is where conventional wisdom fails. Why restrictive diets don't work. Yes, they may work initially but they are not sustainable. Can you imagine eating 2 minute noodles every day?!? Constantly being hungry and feeling guilty if even an iota of fat touches your mouth?!? Those shake replacement meal diets are the worst! Unless you are prepared to give up your regular meals for the rest of your life, evenutally you are going to have to start eating normal food again, and without strict commitment to eating the 'right' type of food, the weight will pile back on again.
Another poignant observation is that not one of those women was ever seen eating a salad for lunch! Rarely did they touch a piece of fruit. I dare say that they could up their daily food intake, and minimise their hunger in the process, if they swapped their noodles for a BAS (big ass salad!). Mark has an awesome Choose Your Own Salad Adventure post to give you an idea of how you can make amazing lunches on a daily basis. Imagine being able to eat more food but lose weight! Salads have become a highlight of our day, even for my husband who is not really a lettuce man! I've been inventive in using left over roast pork to make a pork & apple waldorf salad (minus the dressing) or left over lamb chops to make a grilled lamb and pumpkin greek salad. Avocado (an amazingly healthy fat) has become a favourite addition, as have many different types of nuts. The possibilities are endless and the food is so much tastier than those bland noodle/soup/frozen meal options!
The great thing about the Primal Blueprint is we’ve stopped counting calories. When the bulk of your food comes from vegetables and fruit you don’t need to! It’s so liberating. After I got over the initial feeling of guilt when eating that full fat yoghurt, or the best bit of the chicken (the skin!), it was really refreshing to not have to keep track of everything that goes into your mouth. Of course, we are still aware and mindful of our eating habits, but with a weekly and daily plan, and careful shopping each week, the process becomes simple.