Bye Bye Jorge!

After 5 days with no weight loss, I have bagged the low carb / low sugar idea. I just don't have enough trust in the plan to wait it out. I think I need to do what I know works - weight watchers or calorie counting. Of course, I don't really want to track and all that. But if I want to get thinner I need to just shut up and do it.  


I am glad I tried Jorge Cruise's diet though. It definitely raised my awareness of sugar content and carb content. I did like the food - but it was a not my normal way of eating so it didn't feel natural. It felt forced. 


This is probably ridiculous but I am thinking of buying an iphone so I can track my points easily.  :)

Bye Bye Sugar.....

Things have been crazy lately with Halloween and then Emily's birthday. On top of all the usual chaos activity, Evan has been sick. He missed 10 days of school! He had strep followed by a sinus infection. It was stressful because he had a fever the whole time. He is well now - finally. 


Last night Emily had five friends sleep over to celebrate turning 12. We took them to an indoor rock climbing center and it was awesome to see how fearless and fit they are. Girl power! They are still sleeping.


I am trying something new foodwise. It is the Belly Fat Cure by Jorge Cruise. The idea is to eat fewer carbs (120 g a day) and less sugar (15 g a day). Typically I reject fad diets. When I want to lose weight I either count calories or do something sensible like Weight Watchers. I decided to do this diet for a few reasons:


I think I need to shake things up a bit and give my body a surprise. Now that I am 43 losing weight is harder and may take a new approach.


While I have never heard of Jorge Cruise, his diet was endorsed by people I believe to be widely respected and conservative medical professionals such as Dr. Oz, Christiane Northrup, and Pamela Peeke. Christiane Northrup is a best selling author and ob/gynecologist who writes about women's health (but not diets). Pamela Peeke is an MD who writes sensible eating plans for women. She emphasizes a holistic approach - reducing stress, exercising, eating well. I was quite surprised to see them supporting a "fad diet".


Christiane Northrup actually wrote a forward for Jorge's newest book stating that she has always struggled with her weight and eating less sugar has changed that for her. I was impressed.


Anyway, some foods I eat regularly that have too much sugar in them for me to eat right now are: skim milk, yogurt, "healthy" granola bars. I also have to monitor my fruit intake carefully. My typical breakfast of yogurt and a banana actually has 20 grams or more of sugar! I also can't eat oatmeal. the oatmeal itself is fine but the two tablespoons of brown sugar I add are not.  (I don't enjoy it without the sugar.) It is surprisingly hard to eat only 15 grams of sugar. Everything has sugar in it - even carrots!


I do have mixed feelings about not eating things I consider healthy (like skim milk). I am definitely still skeptical about this. In the back of my mind I can hear Slim Katie saying "Don't do anything to lose weight that you don't want to continue to do...." Such smart advice.  But maybe my body is sensitive to sugar. I also know that I never eat enough protein. So, I think this is worth a try. I hope eating less sugar will help me crave it less. It may also help my frequent headaches.