The Contrast Principle

Okay, I admit it. I'm not perfect. No one is. I try, but I always fall short - and probably always will. And so will you. But it's okay. I strive to be By Design at least 90% to 95% of the time (or more), realizing that if I only achieve 85% I'll still experience 95% of the benefits. But, there are times when it's hard for me to Eat by Design. Or, more honestly, when I just flat out choose not to.


This weekend was one of those times for me. If I'm going to go off-track (an off-track meal is one that is NOT By Design), chances are it will be with sugar. I can forgo the breads, pastas, rices, potatoes, chips, etc. with really no effort at all. However, sugary snacks like candy, cakes, cupcakes, ice cream, candy bars, chocolate, etc. require a lot more restraint on my part. Well, this weekend was one of those weekends where I just didn't restrain myself too well at all. I can blame the time of the month, I can blame stress, there are a lot of excuses that I can give for why I went so off-track this weekend, but none of them really matter - and they aren't really the point of this post, either. The short story is, I went off-track several times this weekend. I even ate a few dinner rolls and I haven't even been tempted by bread for about 6 weeks now.


I wasn't totally off-track. All of my meals this weekend were By Design. It was the snacks in between the meals that weren't. I still trained. In fact, I put up my heaviest weights to date this weekend. For example, in the seated incline leg press, I lifted 435 lbs! I deadlifted 110 lbs., and benched 105 lbs.


Anyway, back to my point. After a weekend full of sugar like I had, I have to tell you, I feel like crap today. I'm slow, sluggish, my brain is kinda foggy, I feel hungover. I have a sugar hangover. I can only imagine what is happening to my insulin levels. YIKES! I have a mild, dull headache and I'm hungry. I actually woke up hungry this morning and I haven't done that since I began eating By Design. I mean, I usually don't eat my first meal of the day until about 12 or 1 pm. So for me to wake up hungry and to be hungry all day definitely clues me into the fact that my body chemistry has changed.

While I'm not proud of the decisions I made regarding the foods I ate this weekend, I am grateful for 2 reasons. First, it is the perfect way to illustrate The Contrast Principle. What's The Contrast Principle, you might ask. Well, I'll tell you. For so much of my life (particularly the last 7, almost 8, years of my life since I first got pregnant) I had grown accustomed to eating, moving, thinking and doing the same way. As a result, I got accustomed to feeling a certain way that was totally 100% congruent with the choices that I was making for my health. While I didn't feel 'bad', I wasn't 'sick,' I wasn't in pain, and I didn't have a specific complaint or concern, I just didn't feel great. But, I became so used to feeling that way, that I didn't even notice it. Sick was my normal and I didn't even know it! However, after following the Life By Design principles for the past couple of months, I began to set a new normal for myself. I got healthier and began to reset my body chemistry. 'Healthy' was becoming my new normal. So, when I went off-track like I did this weekend, I was re-exposed to how I had been feeling before without even realizing it. Am I making sense? It took me going back to my old way of living and feeling to realize how much I appreciated my new way of living.

The second reason for my gratitude is this: I never believed I had a problem with a high carbohydrate diet. I have never had any indication of difficulty with insulin resistance, in 3 pregnancies I never once had to worry about getational diabetes, my blood pressure has always been low to normal, etc., etc. Generally speaking, I thought that I could eat whatever I wanted and it wouldn't affect me. However, after being on a high protein, moderate fat, low carbohydrate diet for so long, I can say with absolute certainty that high carbohydrate intake affects me! I am feeling it today. I needed this. I needed to see just how much of an impact sugar and breads make on my general feeling of health and wellness. I needed to make this point to myself. I am not immune to carbohydrates affects. Not in the least.

Think of it this way: If you add a drop of red food dye into water that is already pink, it's not going to make much of a difference. However, adding a drop of red food dye to clear water is going to have a huge impact, isn't it? Going overboard on sugar one weekend when I was living an off-track life didn't make much of a difference. However, going overboard on sugar after I've done some hard work to "clean up and purify" my water, is making a HUGE difference. The drop is still the drop; no more, no less. What's different is the liquid that the drop is being added to.

The same holds true for chiropractic and we see it all the time in our office. Because the benefits of maintaining a clear brain-body connection are sometimes gradual, people tend not to see/notice/experience them. However, if they go away from care for any length of time, they will often return saying things like, "Wow! I didn't know how good I was feeling until I started to feel bad."

So, what did I learn from my lesson this weekend? Well, I learned that even though the benefits of living by Design have been gradual, they are present and they are profound. This was made abundantly clear through the Contrast Principle. Now, does this mean that I'll never go off-track again? No, not at all. I'm sure I'll go off-track many, many times. But when I do, I won't stray so far, or for so long (one snack, once in a while, definitely not many snacks in such a short time period). And when I do go off-track, you can be sure that I won't be beating myself up, but I will be working twice as hard to get back on-track.

Yours in health,
Jodi

One Month Later

Wow! I can't believe a month has passed already since my last post to the blog. So much progress has been made. I can very proudly say that the kids are now Eating By Design. We've gotten past the cereal upset and have settled on eggs, bacon, paleo pumpkin pancakes and paleo pancakes, and fruit salad as favorite breakfast items. We started with fresh fruit salad as a replacment to the cereal because my kids LOVE fruit and will eat it all day, every day if I allow them. While all that fruit isn't totally By Design, I decided that it was far better than sugary cereal and milk. FAR BETTER. However, in my quest to transition our family to By Design, I stumbled across some great recipes for pancakes that are completely By Design and totally yummy! I've topped them with some pure maple syrup or a few slices of strawberry and they LOVE them! I love them too, because I can make an extra large batch when I have time and freeze them for later. Or, I pack them in Little H's lunch-topped with some almond butter and she has the makings of a great lunch!

As for my fish oil. I'm done with super saturation. I started out by taking GNC's Triple Strength Fish Oil but I needed so much of it (11 tbsp) that I just couldn't stand it. So, I switched to Carlson Labs Very Finest Fish Oil and it is SO much better. It's is much more potent, so I only needed 4 tbsp/day vs. 11 tbsp. I started giving it to the kids, too. Just 1 tsp/day for them and they really enjoy it. Little H actually asks for it, while Little J gulps it right down in some water. I've heard of using fish oil as a dressing on a salad. Hmmm...I might have to give this a try.

The combination of the fish oil and Eating by Design has really made some improvements in how I feel. As Jamie says, "sick had become my new normal" and I didn't even know it. I used to wake up every single morning with stiff and sore feet. Some mornings they would be so bad that I would stumble and hobble around like Frankenstein until the loosened up. However, since I've begun implementing the By Design principles, I can honestly say that my feet no longer hurt in the morning. Not at all! The inflammation in my body is definitely receeding, while my energy levels are sky rocketing!