As we all know, any part of a well-rounded weight-loss program includes a diet overhaul.  Unless, of course you happen to get Mononucleosis and lose 30 pounds in six weeks, and have to stay home and end up playing all your kids X-box games.   Of course that was when I was in the military and there wasn’t the need to count sick leave hours and worry about losing pay, because you stayed home until you were “battle ready”. 

My little tiny puppy, who in all actuality, is no longer tiny at all, had Giardia when he came to our home.  I was thinking, in a kind of demented way, that it might be good to get a case of Giardia.  I am a huge fan of diarrhea, but not green frothy diarrhea.  I decided that was not one of my more brilliant ideas.

So, on to more sensible plans of attack. I did quite a bit of research on diets.  I sense I may teetering over on the line of going into a full metabolic syndrome, based on the way I have gained weight so dramatically and the pattern in which the fat on my body has stored itself.  According to the NIH website, the following are things that set you up for metabolic syndrome:

A Large Waistline – I have this.  At first I thought I had a tumor in my stomach because this mound appeared out of nowhere.  On the plus side, it is good for balancing plates on, when sitting on the sofa, eating.

A High Triglyceride Level – I am not sure about this.  About a month ago, I went to my Primary Care physician to have labs drawn, as a baseline.   I have called numerous times to get the results, but it must be a big secret, because no one will call me back and tell me what they are.

A Low HDL Cholesterol Level – See above

High Blood Pressure – I did have a scare with my blood pressure, it was elevated when I went to my Primary Care doctor, it was 160/100, they put me on medicine, which made me itch all over and cough.  Luckily I had an appointment with my Cardiologist the next week, and they took my blood pressure several times, even the Cardiologist took it, and it was normal, 120/70 with a pulse of 64. My Cardiologist said maybe I had “White Coat Syndrome” and I said that doesn’t make any sense, because you (the Cardiologist) have a white coat on, and my blood pressure is normal.  We laughed.

High Fasting Blood Sugar – still no word on the lab results.

Based on the above, I need a diet that will minimize insulin spikes, and reduce the intake of carbohydrates that cause an increase in insulin levels.   My sons, being bodybuilders, sit around and drink egg whites for protein, mix oatmeal in their protein drinks, and ingest 6 meals a day, which mostly consist of baked chicken and brown rice (I am buying about 20 pounds of chicken a week for their meals), with a handful of spinach stuffed into their mouths.  I cannot do that.  They say, it is not about the taste, it is about the macros. I say, it is about the taste, because if it tastes like crap, I won’t eat it.  They say “Get over it.”

After researching all the diets out there, The Zone, The Ketogenic Diet, and a plethora of other diets, I have decided upon the Mediterranean Diet – which focuses on clean, basic foods such as fruits, vegetables, beans, fish and very little red meat, which is fine with me.  I like the Mediterranean Diet because it is colorful.  I have this thing about a plate filled with different colored foods.  It seems much more appealing to me.  Have you ever noticed that most fast food are all a varying degree of brown?  Here is a picture of a plate of food from Popeyes.  Yuch.

I found a book – The Mediterranean Diet – Glycemic Index – which is perfect.  It is easy to read, it makes sense and it has some great recipes, all of which call for ingredients I have actually heard of and can pronounce.  I will let you know how this works.

PS. I don’t know what happened with my font today, but I can’t seem to change it, and I have to go to work, and I am already behind in my posts.  AARGH!!!

Photo credits:

WebMD.com

Mayo clinic

Popeyes