Tim's blog, week 6: All about food

Tim Castallo

This has been the toughest blog for me to write to date. As it turns out, I’ve also been wrestling with some life decisions during my weekly deadline, so this blog is a little late. Consequently, I have a few days of behavior that don't exactly align with my new healthy lifestyle. Sometimes I wonder if there is some master plan that coordinates challenging periods of my life, if for no other reason than to help develop a sense of humor around my ongoing search for self-improvement.

No numbers this week. I missed two days of wearing my device and three days of reporting my food. Some of you might think I’m becoming complacent, and you wouldn’t be entirely wrong. I’ve been feeling a little rebellious and resentful toward this little thing on my belt that seems to be ruling my life. I go through periods of feeling how unfair all of this is and that the rest of the world is walking around eating whatever they want, when they want and they’re in perfectly good health. Yeah, I know that’s not true, and some of you may be thinking, "Wow what a downer," or "Boo hoo hoo," or as my eight-year-old likes to say, “This is the world’s smallest violin playing a sad tune just for you.”  Hey, it’s hard changing one’s habits, and sometimes I have tough spots. As a friend of mine says, things don’t get better until they get real. So after a couple of days of self-doubt followed by some soul-searching, I’m back on track, feeling energized and moving forward with a more positive outlook.

Now, on to today’s topic: Food.

Yes, I love it and I don’t really trust myself when it comes to creating boundaries. This is a major reason that I’ve avoided this particular blog around shopping. Here’s how a typical shopping trip used to go: I would practically run through the store, throwing anything in my cart that required as little preparation as possible, would fill my belly and had a long shelf life, because that would prevent having to come back to the store for weeks at a time. Without going into the long, drawn-out psychological issues associated with this relationship with food, let’s just say that eating this type of food left me feeling temporarily full, but it wasn’t healthy for me or fulfilling, and it did nothing more than drive my blood sugar through the roof and make me feel slow, bloated and sloth-like.

Here’s my new strategy when shopping, and I’m not perfect at always keeping to these guidelines but I’m improving. The guidelines are as follows: I go when I have time, I’m not hungry (very important) and I'm not pressured to be somewhere. I walk the aisles and I read the labels (by the way, my son really hates this).  I weigh options and I try to allow myself treats within reason. There is one thing I know about myself – I will eat whatever I buy, which is good! Yesterday’s trip was very successful, and I brought my receipt to work today so I could give an idea of what I bought at the store: Egg Beaters, low-fat cottage cheese, almonds, sugar-free Jello, boneless chicken, whole wheat bread, cucumbers, spinach, green beans, celery, sweet potatoes, pasta and frozen turkey meatballs. I give myself a “thumbs up” on this week’s trip.

Here’s what I’ve found to be helpful in the shopping and logging food process (and I’m not always compliant). Logging food that I eat helps me create boundaries around shopping and eating. It makes me conscious about how often I’m eating, what I’m eating and how much I ate. When I use the food logs properly, I’m accountable and when I don’t it’s impossible for me to know if I’m improving or if my “self-will has run riot.”

One last comment about food – people will inundate you with information about nutrition, what’s healthy, what you shouldn’t eat, what you should eat, what causes cancer, what will probably kill you and the reason their distant uncle developed gout. Some of this information is helpful, some is probably based on facts equivalent to what you would read in the tabloid magazines and some maybe just makes people feel helpful toward your cause. I try to consider everything in moderation. I know I’ll have good days and days where I’ll eat food that probably isn’t very healthy. It’s all about being able to sustain a new path for me so sometimes a French fry or two (okay, okay, or 20) is understandable, as long as it’s followed by some green veggies and a long walk the same day. Remember: This is about my health, and for me, progress is better than perfection.

Next week’s blog will be around about my diabetes.

Tim Castallo is a coordinator for mHIMSS.