Herbal Vegan Woman

I’m about 50 pounds overweight. I have PCOS and insulin resistance. That makes it harder to lose weight, but not impossible. For a while I was doing The Insulin Resistance Diet, which was great. It made me feel better. I get lightheaded and woozy when I have too many carbs. But after a while that diet wasn’t good enough. I would still feel lightheaded, dizzy, headachey, like I had low blood sugar. I would still be hungry right after eating (no, I wasn’t taking blessed thistle or any other appetite stimulants at the time). I searched online and found a diabetic diet and decided to try it. The Insulin Resistance Diet basically says to eat half as much protein as carbs. But the diabetic diet I found said to eat roughly equal amounts of protein and carbs. I estimate I eat about 90 grams of protein and 100 grams of carbs per day. Here is the website I found the diabetic diet on. I don’t follow it exactly, but it seems like an excellent idea. I started to feel better after balancing protein and carbs. I was less hungry and I lost a little weight. Only about 5 pounds, but that was more than I’d been able to lose before.

I honestly think I stopped losing weight after the 5 pounds because I can’t afford to buy new pants. ! Crazy, no? But it’s true. I find myself eating handfuls of nuts and things I’m not hungry for. Probably just to keep my weight up. I believe that’s what I’m doing. I just recently got a hold of some hand-me-down pants a size smaller than what I wear, so I’ll see what happens. Hopefully, I’ll let myself lose 10-15 more pounds. Every little bit helps.

I’m also not eating low-fat, and I probably should be. I feel better eating a low-fat diet. But since I’m a vegan I need to eat things like nuts for protein. Along with beans and soy. I could probably cut back on the nuts, though. No handfuls eaten randomly when I’m not hungry, for instance! Also I eat full-fat salad dressing. I try to have a salad every day, for the raw food enzymes, which I believe are necessary and good for me. I have a few vegan salad dressings that I love that are pretty full of fat: Annie’s Naturals Goddess Dressing, and Annie’s Naturals Shiitake & Sesame Vinaigrette. I’ve noticed that when a salad dressing is low-fat or no-fat it is usually full of sodium or sugar or MSG or aspartame. They put bad stuff in it to give it flavor. Full-fat dressings are more natural, at least the ones I buy. I tell myself I’ll use them sparingly, but I don’t really. They taste too good. I think the key to my going low-fat is to find an alternative to salad dressing. Taco sauce and mustard are vegan and low-fat, but not salad friendly. Maybe I should try vegetable broth of some kind? Vegan gravy? Something. Vinegar, lemon juice, who knows?

I’m also a compulsive overeater. When I get stressed out I eat a lot of chocolate. Brownies, cake, candy bars. Chips and dip too. Not good. If I can keep myself from getting stressed out I do okay with that, though. I can resist goodies most of the time. It’s just when I’m going through a stressful phase that I fall off the wagon. I got into a cinnamon roll craze recently. Too many different things going on in my life. I think I’ve got it all sorted out for the moment, though. Hence, this blog entry.

It’s kind of hard to be a vegan when you have insulin resistance. A vegan diet is naturally full of carbs. Good carbs, like whole wheat bread and brown rice, but carbs nonetheless. I try to avoid eating a lot of fruit even. I eat a few raisins now and then, but that’s it. I try to focus on vegetables instead. Fruit makes me lightheaded, vegetables don’t. I eat very few carbs with meals, like one little taco shell, or three Triscuits. Yes, really! With plenty of beans and soy and nuts and vegetables. I’m not starving, I just eat fewer carbs than the average person.

My plan I guess is to start eating less fat and stop eating when I’m not actually hungry. I also have big plans for starting an exercise program, but I’ll talk about that in my next blog entry. And I’ll post more entries on how my plan is working out for me too. As the weeks and months go by. But that’s it for now.

‘Til next time.