I have a confession to make.  I need to loose a few pounds! 

One day, I realized that my svelte figure of my late 20's and early 30's was long gone and I missed it.  When I realized that the "Cellulite Bandits" had stolen my cute butt and replaced it with cellulite, I decided to take action.  That is action in the form of a DIET.

The word DIET alone is enough to cause an anxiety attack.  You see I am one of those people who hate to be told no and you should ought to....!  For some unknown reason I want to say no right off.  But I digress.  The point is that I want to get healthy for myself and my kids.

With that being said, I shared my realization with my best friend and she wanted to join me on my health quest.  Because, she like me had realized that the "Cellulite Bandits" had visited her as well. Great moral support and some competition.  That helps ease the pain of the DIET.

We set our goals and placed a little wager, just to make things interesting, to see who would make the first goal.  Now comes the hard part. Loosing the weight and choosing a DIET.

If you haven't noticed that there are 3million different diets out there.  All of them promising amazing results in just a few days.  Like the "Lemonade Diet", this wonderful diet says that you will loose about 8lbs in 10 days.  If you last that long.  This wonderful plan consists of nothing but "Lemonade" made with cayenne pepper and maple syrup, and herbal laxative tea.  That is it no food.  Needless to say this one is definitely not for me.  I like food and hate sitting on the pot all day.

There is also the Atkins, Weight Watchers, The Zone and the The Blood Type Diet.  These all sound wonderful and really do work.  However, the main problem for me is the fact that you have to do too much. For example, with Atkins, Weight Watchers and the The Zone you have to count everything you put in your mouth, measure everything you eat.  Too much pressure. The Blood type Diet, this one almost had me sold, but you if you have a odd blood type you are really restricted.  For example, if you are type O negative you can't have any dairy, soy, sweetener of any kind but molasses, wheat or anything with gluten.  Pretty much if you are in this group, from what I can tell you will be eating Bladder wrack (a type of Sea Kelp), dipped in molasses with a dash of pepper.  NO THANK YOU.

The thing is that diets like the ones above really do work and have, in my opinion, a lot of really valid ideas and thoughts behind them.  But, one thing I have realized in this quest is that if you hate the process you aren't going to be successful in getting healthy. It was with this thought  I realized that I hate counting calories and carbs, I don't really like a lot of meat, I like fruits and veggies, and I like carbs. With that being said, the above diets won't work for me and will only make me focus on the fact that I am on a diet.  So with that being said it is off to plan B for me.

I am going to follow the Eat This not That school of thought. This for me and my family will work best.  You see the beauty of this plan is that I still get to eat what I want within reason, my kids won't be eating Bladder wrack Molasses Pepper Soup followed by a Cayenne Lemonade Maple Syrup chaser (how ridiculous does that sound).  The main principle behind this new way of eating is  that you use substitutes for the bad things in recipes or just choosing apple slices at McDonald's over fries.  This I can do. 

For example, instead of sour cream I have started to use Plain Greek Yogurt. It can also be used in a variety of ways like using it to replace ricotta cheese in lasagna. It has less carbs (sugar than regular yogurt) and more protein. Plus you are getting all the benefits of the good bacteria that yogurt provides.  If you are following the Atkins diet this is a thumbs up choice. As for me I just like the taste of it with some fruit in it or some yummy granola. With all the goodies not a good Atkins choice.  The possibilities are endless.  And the ideas and options abound. 

I guess for me is that I want to rid myself of the "Cellulite Bandits" and I know that getting healthy is more than just food.  It is a process that takes time, dedication, and persistence to all things inside and outside to make it really work.  With that being said, I plan to start my journey, as all journeys of a thousand miles, with small steps.  That first step is not dieting but by making healthier choices when I eat.

So watch out "Cellulite Bandits" and to my dear friend the "Man Candles" are Mine hahahaha.

Lindy