First Post!

Hi there!

I'm putting together this blog mostly for myself, but figured if anyone else wants to follow along that this might be some valuable information.

Basically, I'm starting out on a journey to become more healthy. I'm 5'8", and currently 26 years old. At its highest, my weight read close to 230 pounds. I've been heavy for most of my teen and adult life, partially due to poor discretion on my part, but also partially due to the foods I was brought up eating.

A couple years ago, I decided to cut out one unhealthy element from my diet: aspartame. After having done some pretty thorough research, I decided that this was one thing my body could do well without. It took me three months to get past symptoms of withdrawal, including headaches, extreme fatigue, and horrible moodiness. Once the aspartame left, my weight began to slowly but steadily increase. I believe aspartame is to blame for my weight stagnating (not losing, but not gaining either) so seeing weight gain was actually a good thing to me! (Crazy, huh?)

After gaining weight, I decided that high fructose corn syrup - especially in the form of sodas - was the next thing to go. I used to be dependent on sodas for caffeine and energy to get through the day; slowly but surely, using natural sources of caffeine (such as tea) and other forms of natural sugars (fruit) I was able to beat my soda addiction. I now will occasionally drink a soda, but at a rate of one or two a month as opposed to the same number in a single day.

Removing these things from my diet was certainly a good thing; I was, however, disappointed to find that my weight would still not go down, despite daily exercise and good eating habits. It was then that I looked for another common factor in my daily diet, and I found it: Enriched flour.

Enriched flour is in just about everything. It's more pervasive than high fructose corn syrup - which, by the way, is in all manner of food things you might not think needed sweetening. Doing some research, I discovered that enriched flour, despite its sounding "good" (enriching is supposed to make things better, right?) it is actually very, very bad. Enriched flour has been processed to the point of having very little nutrients left, and so it is enriched in order to add some of those nutrients back in. The down side is, the nutrients added are not the same nutrients that left; in this sense, enriched flour is probably the farthest thing from "natural" you can find.

My decision, then, was to cut out most of the enriched flour I consumed on a daily basis - and believe me, I found it everywhere. In my cereal for breakfast. In my bread for lunch. In those goldfish crackers I ate for a snack. In the pasta I had for dinner. It's tricky to get rid of; even many of the food items advertised as being "made with whole grains" do have whole grain flour in them, but it's just mixed with the enriched stuff.

Last week, I began my challenge: remove all of the food in my diet that has enriched flour, and see what it does for my body. This is what I did when I got rid of aspartame, and then sodas/high fructose corn syrup, and the difference in my health was apparent.
Because temptation is great, I allow myself two cheat meals a week; these cheat meals have to be taken on the weekend only. (And that's Saturday or Sunday; if we happen to have a long weekend due to a holiday, that does not give me extra cheat days!) I also allow myself one cheat snack over the weekend, with the stipulation that it must be a correct serving size. So when it says only sixteen animal crackers, that's all I'm allowed. Count it out & put it in a bowl; don't eat from the bag!

The first week was hard to get through. I have piles of now-junk-food sitting in my pantry or on the countertop, just looking at me, begging to be eaten. Goldfish crackers. Cheez-its. Granola cookies. Animal crackers. Mac and cheese. I love mac and cheese.

A long trip through the grocery store told me I don't have too much to worry about, though. There are a lot of good whole-grain options for foods I might like to eat! Triscuits, for example, are whole wheat flour. Whole grain pastas are being offered, as are whole grain tortilla chips. I found a bounty of whole grain or alternative items in the gluten-free section of my local Publix supermarket. So it does exist; this is just going to have to be a lifestyle change, swapping one for the other.

I would like to point out that I am not actually attempting a low-carb diet. What I am doing is rearranging my eating habits so that it consists of whole grain flour in the foods I eat. This does add fiber, to be sure, but it also adds complex carbohydrates that would not ordinarily be allowed in a low-carb diet. Also, I am not avoiding high-carb fruits or vegetables (I love potatoes too much for that!!) nor am I avoiding the occasional piece of candy or chocolate. I'm simply replacing enriched flour with whole grain flour. I may occasionally use low-carb recipes, as they tend to run in line with the ideals I have in mind. But I might also serve rice with my fish, or eat meat on whole grain bread.

My plan is to share here some of my findings in the challenge; what works, and what doesn't. What tastes good and what is horrible and should be avoided at all costs. Recipes, tricks and tips for replacing enriched flour in my diet. If you are on a similar journey, or have any input, I would love to hear from you! It is always easier to take on a challenge of this scale when you know there is support.