In an earlier post I outlined the structure of my food plan.  I get a lot of questions about what I eat, so I figured I should give some more detail in this.  The short answer is that I eat healthy flavorful food.  Often.  My food plan can be amazing if I am willing to put the work in and be creative.  Preparation is always key.  I eat six times a day: breakfast, lunch, dinner and 3 small snacks.  I now eat every 2 to 3 hours. I weigh all of my food. When I was actively compulsively overeating I rarely ate in the morning, and binged in the afternoon and at night.  Now I find I am never over-hungry at any given point during the day.  I also make a list of everything I plan to eat in the morning.  I have someone I share that list with, and I stick to what I committed to eat.  If I ever decide that I want to become a vegetarian or vegan, I can do so on this food plan.  There is a lot of flexibility.

The nutritionist at Milestones in Recovery in Cooper City, Florida gave me my food plan.  It works for me, so I stick with it. I am trusting my nutritionist with my life.  I view my food plan as a life saving prescription.  There were several reasons why this chose this particular facility.  The first was the level of independence  they give their patients.  We lived off site from the actual treatment center in an apartment complex.  We were required to do our own shopping and food preparation.  We also had to help each other navigate the food plan and how to shop for the type of foods we were allowed to eat.  As an adult living on my own, this was essential.  It would do me no good to go away for a month where someone prepared my meals for me.  I desperately needed to be able to learn how to live and take care of myself.  All of the patients were over 18, and everyone was there voluntarily.  If you are curious about their program, please visit their website: http://www.milestonesprogram.org.

I never was much of a cook before I went to treatment.  I wanted fast, easy carb loaded food, and I wanted it in bulk.  The binges were mindless and had little to do with taste or enjoyment.  Now I eat more mindfully, and I work hard to make my meals flavorful and satisfying.  I had to make friends with my spice rack.  I also started a small herb garden.  I never had much of a sweet tooth, but it still is tough to give up all sugar.  I am allowed to have some artificial sweeteners, but I prefer not to use them.  I eat a lot of plain Greek yogurt, and I will sweeten it with sugar free and alcohol free vanilla flavoring made by Frontier.  It is expensive, and I have only ever found it at Whole Foods.  For me it is worth it.

I still drink coffee. I am only supposed to have 2 8 oz cups a day, but  I usually have 3 or 4. This is my the one area I do not follow meticulously. For other beverages, I mostly drink water or lemon/lime seltzer.  If I got out to lunch or dinner, I may have an unsweetened iced tea or a diet coke. I use unsweetened organic soy milk in my coffee.  I don’t have to use soy milk, but I prefer it.  Even when I was a kid I did not like dairy milk.  I cannot have juice.

Traveling can be tricky for me, and I travel a lot for my job.  Once again, it all comes down to planning and preparation.  I bring a food scale with me on the road.  I also bring some non-perishable foods that can cover the four main areas of my food plan (protein, fat, carbs, and fruit/vegetables).  Some of my go to travel foods are raw almonds, unsweetened apple sauce, and Mary’s Gone Crackers (these are made primarily of brown rice, quinoa and sesame seeds).  Almonds can serve as protein or fat on my food plan, apple sauce will cover fruit, and the crackers are a carb.  I do my best to eat at restaurants, and then I fill in the gaps with my emergency food as needed.

It took some time to get used to weighing my food on a scale.  I was willing to do anything though, and I found that the scale was actually  a comfort to me within a few weeks.  I never have to worry about eating too much or too little.  I never feel stuffed or deprived.  I always just feel comfortable.  My friends, family and colleagues are now accustomed to seeing me with my food scale.  I don’t mind using it in public.  I do what I have to do.

Following my food plan keeps me sane.  That is the main reason why I follow it.  There are some additional side effects that come along with the food plan, though.  I am healthier.  I have a genetic blood disorder that seems to stay under control on this plan.  I have to be careful about high iron levels in my blood, but my blood work is clean now.  I am also losing a lot of weight.  I only weigh myself every month or so.  I do not have a scale in my home.  I do not know what my high weight was when I went to rehab, but I would estimate that it was around 310-315 lbs.  The last time I weighed myself was around a month ago, and I think I weighed around 230.  I do not own a full length mirror.  I mostly notice my weight loss because my clothes just don’t fit anymore.  As soon as my clothes get too big, I bag them up and give them to charity.  Focusing on weight loss and my body shape or appearance is just not healthy for me.  It is not why I follow my food plan, and I know I am in a dangerous place if that is the reason why I follow it.