This is week a transition-week of sorts. I'm transitioning to a new diet. And by diet, I mean that in the most literal sense of the word. This is not temporary, this is my new lifestyle. Of sorts. I get to deviate every once in awhile.
I've studied (and been a part of) a few diets:
Atkins -- I participated for a few months, before demolishing a loaf of bread -- Vegetarian and Vegan -- again, a few months. But I sure missed my chicken...and ice cream...you get the picture; I've pondered joining
Nutrisystem; I've studied the
Mediterranean diet, the
Paleo diet, being Gluten-free and Sugar-free... Let's just admit that I have a serious problem with my weight and dieting,
shall we?
I've come to conclusion that out of all the "diets" I've encountered the Mediterranean diet seems to make the most sense to me.
Plus, women around the Mediterranean have fabulous bodies, so how can I go wrong? Ok, enough about my underlying motives, and on to the real stuff.
The Mediterranean diet is just that, it is centered around the different foods that peoples of the Mediterranean eat, and have eaten for centuries (
millenia?). My diet will be composed of fruits & vegetables, legumes, nuts & seeds; of predominantly fish, and some meat, poultry, and eggs thrown in there sparingly; of dairy,
glorious dairy; and get this:
wine. Yes, I am allotted one glass of wine per day. Why? Because it contributes to heart-health. So take that!
This makes sense to me logically. Afterall, the Greeks -- especially the Spartans, have you
seen those guys -- Romans (maybe a bad example, considering they invented the term "glutton", but ok...), Turks, Spaniards, Portugeuse... alot of folks have been thriving on this diet for hundreds to thousands of years. And they're healthy. Awesomely healthy! Sure, the Paleo diet makes alot of sense, but we were also living in caves, and had to forage/hunt/fish ALL day EVERY day to gather those foods that we lived on. I don't know about you, but I sit in front of a computer 8 hours of the day, and my refridgerator hasn't run away from me yet, so my activity level and metabolism just aren't up to that kind of diet. Not to mention I just can't quit you, Cheese!
The Mediterranean diet also teaches us to
sit down, and
enjoy our food. To eat with friends and loved ones, to hold a conversation. To be
social. This feeds us mentally, emotionaly, and spiritually, thus further nurturing our bodies in the right ways. When I first began this blog I was sitting down every night with my fiance and our roommate for dinner. Well, that's gotten away from us in the past few months as we've gotten busier, and our house has gotten more cluttered (thanks for bringing all that stuff in,
Babe!). No way this is gonna stand anymore! And it hasn't. Since Friday we've sat down to dinner together. Every. Night. And it's gonna stay this way.
Damnit!
Oh, and it's also
quite possible that I'll be modifying this diet further to eliminate Gluten from my diet. And trust me that's a HUGE step for me. So, no promises, ok?
This week won't be perfect. No, it'll be a step in the right direction, but I won't be able to get to the grocery store until this coming weekend, so I'll have to make do. Now, if I could just talk myself out of going to the Malaysian restaurant and hitting the salad bar instead.........
What would you call your "diet"? Are you a vegetarian, a meatatarian, a flexitarian? Have you participated in Weight Watchers, the Atkins diet, or another (possibly extreme) diet?
