So as you may recall, I previously attempted the 21 Day Transformation from the popular blog Mark's Daily Apple. I did quite well with the food portion but miserably failed the physical part. Well, I am ready to try again, only this time, it will be "mamma's way!"
For the past week, I have been eating a paleo diet almost 100% of the time. In fact, the only time I strayed was at two school functions where there were not paleo options and I was very hungry. I did not indulge, just ate a few bites to curb my hunger until heading home. Previously, I would not have done this. So what's the difference? Folks, it's called Emotional Eating. I capitalize it because it deserves a title.
Emotional eating is so common that I bet most of you reading this engage in this behavior. You eat for some reason other than hunger. For me, my triggers for emotional eating were boredom and fatigue. I love my job as a stay at home mom but seriously, there are times when Elmo gets a bit boring. I've known about this weakness for a long time and never did anything about it. It takes a mind set to conquer emotional eating along with some determination. You also need to know where this eating comes from.
Emotional eating often starts in early childhood. Your whining and your parent shoves a snack at you so they can finish what they were doing. Come on, admit it, we've all done this at some point in time. I always take snacks to the grocery store even when my kids just ate lunch. Then you start school and your given candy and sugar laden snacks as rewards. You learn that when your happy, eat. You fall down and scrape your knee so your given a popsicle to make it better. Perhaps your parents let you eat while you watch television? That too becomes a habit. So you see this eating can often start at a young age by well meaning parents who might be emotional eaters themselves.
This is where the primal way of thinking can really help you conquer emotional eating. In the primal world, you eat because your body needs fuel and perceives hunger, not because it is time to eat. During the 21 day challenge, your encouraged not to eat at your normal times rather wait until you perceive hunger. In order for me to do that, I had to keep me and my little Beaner busy last week. That really worked wonders for me. We had many play dates, trips to the park, and walks around the block. This also helped curb my hunger for sweets which is a big part of emotional eating.
So that was my big win for last week. I also stocked up on a bunch of primal food and cleaned out what I could of our pantry. Tomorrow, I start day one of the 21 day transformation. This time I'm focusing on the physical activity part as I feel I have the eating part down fairly good. I will however be implementing knew strategies regarding the food portion as they come up if I find I am lacking in them. One of those will be a carb counting day.
For tomorrow, our (and I say our because Beaner is in this whether she likes it or not) activity starts with just getting out for two activities. So me and the Beaner will take a walk in the morning and then after school I will be taking the kiddos to the park. Chasing the Beaner around our city parks is always a good work out.
As I go along on this challenge, my version will also include working toward a primal family. I was ecstatic that my primal donuts were a bit hit with the kids today and I hope to find more primal foods that they will eat. Even more than just the food though is the lifestyle itself. We live in a beautiful community with plenty to do so I hope to increase our outside time by double. With summer break fast approaching, I'm looking forward to lots of fun and exercise. So wish me luck and stay tuned for more progress and hopefully some recipes!
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