Phase 2, Milk and Dr. Mercola.

Yesterday was one of those days where I did NOT feel like working out. I wanted a nap instead. I laid down for 10-15 minutes and that was enough to get a second wind. I worked out. I felt a million times better. So much better I took all four kids to the park (we walked). It was freezing so we only stayed for five minutes. But we were all feeling good when we got home. I made them all hot cocoa and felt pretty good after pushing a double stroller uphill. I'm glad I've stuck with this. I can tell my body is stubborn and isn't wanting to let go of what it needs to let go.
I have finished phase 1 of "Burn". On to phase 2, "Push". Excited to start that on Monday.

In the meantime, I've been reading on different diets. My mind is a little blown right now. There are so many opposing views with research to back them up. You're pretty much left with before and after photos and people's raving reviews of how they feel.

So I'm currently looking to implement Dr. Mercola's No-Grain Diet. It's similar in some ways to the popular paleo or cave-man diet. It involves removing gluten from your diet first. That leaves you with a few alternatives such as rice, corn, quinoa. These are grains, but they are gluten-free grains - or at least don't have the inflammatory aspect of gluten that wheat, barley and rye have. Even just cutting out wheat will feel dramatic. It's in almost everything. Gluten is glue. We eat glue everyday. Now I wonder why our fat wants to stick around?

Besides cutting out grains, I'll be cutting all processed forms of sugar. Natural sugars found in fruits and vegetables are fine. Honey is fine in moderation. I really like my flavored liquid stevia. I put it in coffee, yogurt, and anything else that I want to be sweet.

After cutting most grains, gluten and sugar out of your diet, of course you should add a lot of vegetables, plants and animal-based protein. This limits dairy, but in this stage you can still have cheese and natural yogurt (unsweetened). He suggests cutting out pasteurized milk. For one thing, if it's pasteurized that means all the enzymes along with any calcium is totally dead. So you're drinking dead milk. Plus they add chemicals to add shelf life. We have been buying organic milk from Costco. I found it a little disturbing that the expiration dates are 2 months from the date of purchase. Somethings not right there.

I keep reading all over the place that what we eat will shape our body three times more than how we exercise. That boggles my mind. I always thought that if you work out you can eat what you want. Apparently the opposite is true. Working out is very necessary to build lean muscle and aid in fat loss. But diet is even more important in fat loss and not by cutting calories, but by means of fuel-burning and overall function.

I've been reading more on how animal fat is actually good for you. That is just shocking to me. More on that next time.