Reflections...

Photo Credit: www.blog.zap2it.com

Have you all seen this commercial for the new Cool RanchDoritos Taco at Taco Bell?  I watched it the other day and thought about how when I was a teen/young adult, I thought Cool Ranch Doritos were the tastiest thing on earth!  Now I probably wouldn't touch them with a 10’ pole. I've been learning so much about how these types of foods are engineered to our tastes and to make our brains react in a way that we want more, more more!  I am currently reading “The End ofOvereating” by David A. Kessler, MD. and it’s driving that point home even more. 

The further I get away from the processed foods, the more I wish I would I have known these things sooner.  Like 10 years ago would have been nice (maybe I would have never become overweight.)  Or even to have been raised eating real food would have been awesome.  My parents were not overly-dependent on processed foods when I was growing up, but once I was old enough to make my own decisions about what to eat, I made terrible ones and nobody told me differently.  If they had, I probably wouldn't have listened anyway. 

Of course, those years I did Weight Watchers, I lived off Smart Ones frozen “meals”, Slimfast shakes and Campbell’s "soup to go".  I guess we all have our “gateway” foods that (hopefully) get us on a path to better health.  As I sit here fluctuating between 5lbs of bodyweight and a percent or two of body fat, my biggest concern is this:

WILL I KEEP IT OFF THIS TIME?

I feel like I could never go back to eating a lot (or even very much more than a little) of processed foods and I don’t think I’ll ever go back to eating gluten grains or refined sugar, but what if I do?  What if this isn't the “be all, end all” that I think and hope that it is?  Then what?  I have already come to the conclusion that I will need to change things up as I go.  My body has different needs when I am trying to maintain vs. when I am trying to lose.  I just hope I don’t ever get out of control and pack on 30-45 lbs again.  You hear it all over the place: “Paleo isn't a diet, it’s a lifestyle”.  Hubs and I are even guilty of saying it.  I just hope we’re right…