About a month or so ago, I was discussing with James and Melyssa all about proper eating habits and portioning, etc. We all talked about over-indulging and the good and bad about eating things you like vs. things that are good for you as well as the ever-strange “it takes 20 minutes for your brain to know your stomache is full” story. It was a good conversation, especially as it sparked off more discussions between Chantale and I afterwards.
Honestly, I think Portions are what is the most evil these days. My mom has always had a problem with portions and I always explained it away with the truth -> when she was a child and growing up in postwar Italy, the poverty level meant food was gold. When she made it over to Canada and my parents got used to life here, my mother always went out of her way to ensure there was ALWAYS food available. This meant and still means that the contents of one weekend meal could actually provide food for an entire week if portioned properly.
Now, we’re not that bad at home but there are times when I do realize that in trying to “dress-up” a plate of ensure variety, I’m just adding stuff instead of portioning. It’s the North-American mentality. Think of how ripped-off you feel if you spend a bundle on a meal and NOT get a huge plate. More is not always better. And how many fast-food places fill you up with garbage to cover the lack of food? Tell me, have you ever had a trio at McDees? If you didn’t drink that huge cola, would you feel “full” or fulfilled? Probably not.
Anyhow, it was after that weekend discussion that I made a decision to watch my portions. I had been keeping an eye on what I ate at lunch and/or during the day but never felt any better since I would pretty much be starving by the time I went home. However, with Chantale’s new schedule, the family went into a new routine. My days are much better. I still have a toast in the morning and drink a coffee on the train in. During the working hours, I will snack on one or two fruits a couple of hours apart with perhaps a meal in the middle (being either a sandwhich or a small leftover). On the train home, I’ll snack on a granola or cereal bar. But, evenings are completely mixed. Most often, we don’t get to eat until about 8pm or so because of the time we devote to Kyle. With the fact that we get up so early comes the realization that by 10pm at the latest we could be asleep. Thus, it doesn’t make sense to eat a “regular” meal at that time. We’ll usually have a small something – basically half the portions we would eat were we to be eating at 6pm. It works out well because it fills the need for food without filling us up.
The strange revelation has been that this weekend I decided to weigh myself because I was curious. I’ve been having some difficulty with my pants recently and needed to check something. Yup. Somewhere along the way I lost 10 pounds. I’m actually 15 pounds lighter than I was at my last yearly physical back in January.
Lifestyle changes. That’s the solution. And a very pleasant surprise since I was worried about my weight, especially as the “holiday” season is approaching… 🙂