Day Forty!

I mentioned yesterday how the Roman culture is based on one meal a day. This is a culture actually based on fasting. Fasting means to go a long period of time abstaining from food. When I think of fasting I think of Gandhi or prisoners who are protesting by the use of self harm. But really the definition of fasting is based on not eating for a period of hours.
But actually a lot of people fast without thinking. If you get up in the morning and only drink coffee and don’t eat until lunch time, then you are fasting. 


The teenage culture these days are based on fasting, for example; they go to school without breakfast, don’t eat lunch, and then go home to eat a snack and then dinner.


Let’s take a look at what I eat (I am in the action stage of my lifestyle) compared to Dr. Laurie (who is in the maintenance stage of hers).
What I eat now,-
Sometimes breakfast consisting of 2 eggs and tomato.
Lunch- Tuna salad
Dinner- Low carb meal
Dessert- Grapes and cheese 
Compared to what I used to eat recently, which was anything at anytime at anytime I wanted.


What Dr. Laurie eats-
Breakfast-coffee
Lunch- an egg or meat
Dinner-small low carb portion
Dessert- Grapes and cheese 


On the weekends or holidays Dr. Laurie will have breakfast or eat something special and outside of her diet.


The difference between our eating habits is that Dr. Laurie found what works for her in regards to keeping the weight maintained. I on the other hand obviously have some work to do as I am still having a hard time grasping that I DON’T need three square meals a day. 


Some people are adamant that they need to follow the three square meals a day rule. They don’t realize however that they are overeating their energy output. 


For example Dr Laurie recounts;


Once upon a time, there was a mom. She weighed at least 300 pounds. The 300lb mom had a daughter. The daughter was overweight by at least 60lb’s. When the daughter went to high school her eating habits changed. She stopped eating breakfast and lunch. Unfortunately the mom was so based in eating three square meals a day that the family was at war. So the daughter started to hide her uneaten lunches under her bed and in her drawers in her room. This became the start of an eating disorder. 


Fasting is actually based in listening to your body for when you are actually really hungry. Not when you hear a gurgle, or feel a little uncomfortable, but when you are HUNGRY. Your body will let you know.


You might be thinking “well this isn’t right! We need a constant flow of calories and substance to survive!” This is really only true for children or very active adults. Children need three meals a day because they have so much energy to extol but as you grow older you become more sedentary and therefor can handle less calories each day. Do you need as many calories to sit at a desk as a kid who is growing, and running around, and screaming, and wriggling around all the time? No. You don’t. It is hard for me to get how few calories I need each day too.