Are you still doing your silly 'grain free thingy'
That was a question that I was asked today. It was because the person asking wanted to share a pastry treat with me but the over all theme of people that are NOT doing it is that it's 'silly' and that 'grains are good for you'.
It stands to reason... Canada's Food Guide suggests that you eat 6-7 servings of grains a day. What's a serving? Glad you asked. It's 1 cup of brown rice. So they're suggesting that you eat SEVEN CUPS of rice a day.
Okay... let's just at least check and see what they recommend for protien... being someone that has had great success on The Zone (similar to versions of South Beach), I know that carbs, fat and protien should be eaten in a balanced ratio.
Canada Food Guide suggests that you eat 2 servings of protien a day... that means that one of your meals and all of your snacks (if you snack) are protein free... I guess that makes sense because you've got seven cups of rice to eat!
It's really unfortunate that a federally funded program such as Health Canada has changed so little in the last decades... No allowance seems to have been given for any other WOE (way of eating) other than filliing up on simple carbs.
What's worse is that the food guide RECOMMENDS you eat soy... you can go hang with your friend Google for a while to see just why that's a terrible TERRIBLE recommendation.
Also on the 'tips' is 'use soft margarine'. Uh, that stuff is one molecular structure away from being plastic. It's terrible for you... the softer it is, the more crap they put in it... it also recommends that you steer away from 'butter'.
Also in 'tips'... Have meat alternatives such as beans, lentils and tofu often'. OMG, you get two measly servings of meat a day and they want you to substitute often for carbs?? That's insane... INSANE!
So while it's still annoying and offensive to be judged for your food choices, it's not exactly surprising when the common sentiment is that it's heart healthy and responsible to consume grains and grain by products.
That being said, I have had great success being grain free. These people see only the way I look and not how I feel. Which again, is annoying but understandable.
So I know that the reaction to my new plan of joining my friend Tara on the Whole30 plan is going to get even more dirty looks.
In order to do it, I shouldn't have to change what I do too much... no dairy, which isn't that big of a deal... coconut milk in coffee works and I don't NEED to eat cheese and ice cream.
No alcohol... again, not much of a problem... patio season is over (said as I type with stone cold fingers) and I've often gone months between moments of drinking.
No grains or legumes... already doing that.... even tho I write forlourn love letters to peanut butter on a pretty consistent basis...
No potatoes... no problem.. I always forget about potatoes anyway so 30 days isn't a killer
No artificial anything ... no problem... I've grown quite attached to food that doesn't have an arms length of 'ingredients'...
30 days... Tara is starting on the 16th and I think that's reasonable for me too. 30 days brings me to October 16, which works fine because my dinner party is on Oct 20th, altho since it's MY dinner party, it shoudln't matter one iota... Roasted pork with home made ceaser salad and my sister's 'crack' crackers with pate (will check the ingredients on that) sounds pretty dang yummy and completely made of whole foods...
Go to Whole9 if you're interested in joining or even just reading about it...
2 comments:
Our "food guide" is infuriating. Hard not to laugh except that it's really not that funny!
The food guide is just that - a guide. It's a suggestion, which we all have to alter in order to make it suit our personal ways of eating.
Case in point, its based on a daily intake of something like 1800-2000 calories per day (for women). Most of us do not burn that many calories in a day, so we should not be consuming that number. They also 'suggest' that we get 2 1/2 hours of "moderate to vigorous activity" each week - most of us don't do that either (Shannon is probably the exception!).
It doesn't matter what WOE you choose to follow - ultimately, it all comes down to calories in vs. out. You have to use up all the calories you eat, otherwise you gain weight - so either we have to do more exercise or eat less food. Aside from that, its just a matter of where you choose to get your daily requirement of calories - you someone could eat nothing but doughnuts and still lose weight, provided they made sure that they ate fewer calories than they burned. They'd just spend most of the day starving, because those 3 doughnuts wouldn't be very filling.
Eat whatever way makes you feel good. Personally, I'm sticking with my peanut butter sandwich.
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