Several weeks ago I posted about a new eating plan. Here were the key points:
- Ditch the scale
- Give away clothes that don’t look good or don’t fit
- Eat consistently, real meals, every day. Make time for true sit-down meals.
- Eat whatever you want to eat. Nothing is off limits. 🙂
- Mantra: “I will have good days and bad days but my value is not determined by my weight and I intend to nourish myself at the start of each day.”
So – i have to say – it has been so good! I’ve had lingering hormone issues (PCOS) from some nutritional deficiencies in the past (several years ago) and this plan has really helped my health improve.
Here are some resources that I found helpful. They are articles about thin PCOS-ers (women who have PolyCystic Ovarian Syndrome but are not overweight), about restrictive eating habits, and recovery from disordered eating / eating disorders.
- Restrictive eating disorder spectrum: fertility and pregnancy
- Is it too late for me to recover from restricted eating behaviors? (ages 26-52)
- Do i need 2,500 calories?*
- PCOS treatment options**
*I had trouble getting in this much food each day at first but I got used to it and my body has adjusted. I did not gain weight (actually lost 1-2 pounds).
**This article raises a few good points such as – 1) thin PCOS-ers should not fast and 2) they should eat higher carb. To be honest I don’t know how much I buy into the rest of her recommendations (such as cutting out entire food groups) but I do think that it’s important to be eating regularly and enough carbohydrates so your body knows it can rely on you to give it fuel.
One more note is that eating this way seems to have helped my stomach calm down. My IBS is having a period of remission and I couldn’t be happier.
Great news on your IBS symptom being in remission!
I have IR with PCOS, lowering my protein intake, eating a lot of fat and fewer carbohydrates were necessary for me. I get most of my carbs from veggies, little fruit and no grains. I’ve gone from being obese to a normal weight. I don’t have problems with Intermittent Fasting. I try to follow the Primal Blueprint lifestyle. It wasn’t until after reading Wheat Belly that I really got the point……
“Wheat raises blood sugar higher than nearly all other foods, including table sugar and many candy bars.”
“Davis is quick to say that conclusive research doesn’t exist to quantify wheat and gluten’s role in IBS and acid reflux, he has “personally witnessed complete or partial relief from symptoms of IBS and acid reflux with gluten removal from the diet many hundreds of times” with his patients.”
Welcome back to the salad girl!! Love it. I say do whatever works for your body – I don’t have your problems, but I am happy to hear the IBS is on the back burner!
Awesome news Maggie. Carbs=happiness 🙂
I’m so happy this works for you! To be honest, I’m not sure whether it would for me (I’d eat too much sugar and dairy which I don’t tolerate well at all), but probably it’s just that your body needs to have *some* state of health so it can give you trustworthy signals of what it wants. Anyway, I’ve eaten some more carbs as well lately (legumes, brown rice, starchy veggies like hokkaido squash – not fruit though), and it makes me feel better. 🙂