The Weight Issue (2)

From April 9, 2008

So I put my family on the diet recommended in The Schwarzbein Principle and for 4 weeks we ate better than ever before in our lives. All the meals were very filling and nutritionally sound.

The only thing I didn't like was the use of so much meat. Every meal was centered around meat, and this made me rather uncomfortable. We try to eat meat "sparingly" and not with every single meal. But I rationalized it as a temporary measure, something like a drastic measure-- just until we got the sugars out of our systems.

I did not lose any weight, but I noticed differences in my children almost immediately. My 2nd youngest child (my pickiest eater, to an extreme) became happy and cheerful the majority of the time, rather than moody and irritable. I attribute it to her eating much more protein than her usual diet which consisted mostly of carbohydrates and junk food. We were all in better moods.

The kids still had snacks (though healthier), and their nightly ice cream (Breyer's natural). The drawback was the higher cost of food (as much organic as we could find, and the higher volume of meat) and the higher price of maintenance (time spent cooking and preparing meals). Our refrigerator is the largest one we could fit in that space, and we didn't even have enough room for all the extra produce. We ended up having to buy one of those small hotel refrigerators for the extra produce.

We loved the food, but once Nutcracker season started (four of my girls are dancers) and all the other extra-curricular activities, it gradually began to phase out. I kept it up for as long as I could, and still incorporate as much of the menus as I can, but it is definitely not time-friendly for a very busy family.

More next time...