Okay, I haven't been on for a LONG time so forgive me if any of this sounds redundant. I just had to share this amazing book I finished reading called 'Master Your Metabolism' by Jillian Michaels. If you don't know who Jillian is, she's the relentless taskmaster of a trainer from The Biggest Loser and personally, I would love to have her kick my butt any day. However, whether you love her or hate her, this book will blow your mind!
Jillian shares her own struggles with weight (yeah, can you believe she's had to struggle!) which was quite inspiring. I think many of us who obsess over our weight have demons of one kind or another regardless of how thin we are at the moment. All I know is that this is part 2 of an epiphany I had about a year ago. I was eating a granola bar (sounds healthy right?) and decided to look at the ingredients. It wasn't the first time I wanted to find out what I was eating but it was the first time that I asked myself, "What exactly am I putting into my body?!" Over half the ingredients I couldn't understand much less pronounce. And I wondered, if food is fuel, what is this doing to me? Or worse, what is this doing to my family?
I say that reading this book is part 2 of my little revelation because it explains what exactly preservatives and a plethora of other chemicals and toxins found in the environment are doing to our metabolism and overall health. Jillian writes, "Our nutritionally deficient, dieting, stress-dominated living and toxin-filled eating has abused our endocrine systems, hormonal balances, and metabolisms to make weight loss nearly impossible." From there it just clicked. It made sense to me.
While I can't afford to make every single change Jillian suggests in her book because some are environmental, not just dietary, I have been trying my best to consume whole foods whenever I can. As Jillian puts it, "If it didn't have a mother or it didn't grow from the ground, don't eat it." Yes, it does cost more to eat whole foods and it takes more preparation and planning. But I've noticed my family actually consumes less food because the food we eat is so nutrient dense we aren't filling up on empty calories. We also don't waste as much food because we have to eat our food before it spoils, which happens faster when there aren't any preservatives. Thus, in my experience, I spend about the same on groceries as I did before. And the best part? I don't ever feel like I'm starving myself.
So pick up this book! And don't just read it, study it. Use it as a reference even if you don't go along with her meal plans, the book can be used as a tool to know HOW to eat and WHAT to eat. Remember, weight loss is 80% dieting!!