To "Diet" or not to "Diet"... that is the question.

Soooo... remember that resolutions post I had about not making any resolutions this year?

I may have just broken my resolution not to make any resolutions.

And the dumb thing is, I think it may be the ridiculous, most unnecessary resolution ever. And I'm not even sure I'm going to follow through with it. So, why am I posting about my stupid resolution and the high probability of its failing?

I'm just trying to talk it out, folks. No need to get all judgy. (Oh, it's not a word? It is now.)

Anyway, this whole... thing... started by reading this post. 

This is Diana. We go to school together. Diana just had a baby. Pretty much the most adorable baby ever. But that's not the point. She's decided she wants to get rid of any excess pregnancy weight she's put on. So, she's trying out the Paleo diet.

Neat, right? Well, I had heard of this diet before. In fact, I had heard about it on the news since one of the local anchors had tried it out.

It had piqued my interest because I LOOOOVE meat, I'm quite a fan of vegetables, and I'm not a huge dairy or bread eater. The diet seemed like the easiest diet I had ever heard of, and I vowed to someday try it.

Well, then Diana blogged about it, and I thought, "What the heck? Why not give it a try now? What do I have to lose besides a couple extra pounds?"

Sooo... I decided to give it a shot. Starting 2 days ago.

I went to the grocery store and stocked up on fruits and vegetables and stayed away from the dairy section and bakery. And I was off. I figured even if I failed, at least I was starting a habit of eating more fruits and vegetables and weaning myself off the sugars and sweets.

Well, my husband decided not to join me on this journey, so you can imagine the anguish when he peeled back the wrapper of a candy bar after supper for his dessert. He left the room to be nice, but I swear I could smell the chocolate from 3 rooms away.

I was NEVER a big chocolate eater until I got married. I could take it or leave it, and most of the time I would leave it. Sure, it was tasty, but it was never something I craved. And then I married Joel. The guy has the worst sweet tooth I have ever seen. If I let him, he would live on chocolate chip cookies and never be phased. He's not even that interested in food unless it's dessert. So, naturally, when we got married and I was exposed to this sugar fanaticism, I picked up a couple bad habits.

But I was strong. I stuck to my fruits, veggies and meats. I did give myself a little leeway by allowing myself the occasional cup of coffee (with a little bit of cream) and some popcorn for snacks. I figured I could allow myself that much since my eating had HUGELY improved just in the past couple of days.

But then I started to get obsessive. (And this is precisely why these types of things never work for perfectionists.) I started looking up more info on the diet, started obsessing over ingredients Was that little bit of cream in my coffee going to derail this whole thing? What if I used margarine over butter? What the heck is the difference between margarine and butter? Were the meats I was using lean enough? Should they be more organic? Was it okay to have some apple juice? I was standing in the dairy aisle at Target, close to tears, trying to figure out why they recommend using butter over margarine if butter has so much more fat and cholesterol????

So dramatic...

Anyway, I got the butter instead of the margarine because that's what the diet suggests, but then I just started obsessing over everything else, until...

I wondered what the heck my problem was. Why was I acting like a crazy woman over this???

I'm not overweight. Far from it. I'm at an ideal weight for my height. I don't have any health issues that require me to watch my cholesterol or glucose levels. I'm pretty dang healthy. Sure, I'd like to fit better into some jeans and dresses from a couple years ago that have gotten a little tight, but does it require this amount of obsession and anguish?

I'm going to guess not.

SO... where does that leave me?

Well, I'm not giving up completely. I definitely want to eat more fruits and veggies, and stay away from too much dairy and bakery. Pretty much, I'm just determined to eat healthier, but I'm not going to make myself crazy over it. That's the problem with diets. Too many rules, too many reasons to make you crazy. So, I'm doing away with the "diet" and going ahead with the "recommendations". (See? Doesn't that just sound friendlier? I think so. I think I can work with that.)

I'll keep you posted on how it goes, but for right now, I'm going to go have a couple bites of the candy bar my husband hasn't eaten yet.

What? I've been good...