Remember Sara? She’s my coaching client in Italy that did my 24/7 coaching program. Here she writes about her nutrition struggles:
When I started following Shawna’s program of workouts and diet, I really underestimated the importance of the diet. I was all for the exercise side of things, because I was sure all that jumping around and sweating was going to do me some good, but the diet?
Nah… I figured I already ate an extremely healthy diet anyway, why should I change?
Let me just explain that I am gluten and lactose intolerant, so I already ate in a “special” way that pretty much automatically cut out all those nasty, fattening food traps like excessive carbs or fatty dairy products. And since gluten and lactose are hidden ingredients in almost all prepared products, I have been forced to eat fresh, natural foods and cook from scratch. I live in southern Italy and the market for packaged gluten-free foods has not arrived here as I know it has in North America.
I know, you’re thinking . . . Italy without pizza? without pasta? no gelato? Ladies, it hasn’t been easy!
And yet, since I had decided to do Shawna’s program, I decided to just make the leap of faith and do it whole hog, diet and all.
I had to make a few adjustments here and there because of my particular dietary limitations, but besides that, I followed the diet to the letter regarding which type of food to eat when and in what quantities.
At first it seemed strange to me to be eating so much protein each day. I also wasn’t used to snacking on a handful of walnuts or tuna on rice crackers.
I started realizing that my previously “healthy” diet actually had a lot of fat-producing holes in it.
For one, quantity control. Eating too much of a “good” food is still going to add calories to your daily total.
For another, I had an excess of sugar in my diet. At snack time I automatically sought out something sweet. I had learned how to make lots of delicious cookies and cakes with gluten and lactose-free ingredients. Just because I could eat them, however, didn’t mean they were all that good for me. Or they weren’t fat and calorie-free!
I started reading Shawna’s info about food and diet and learned there was a whole science behind eating to feed your muscles and kick-start your metabolism.
I’ll leave it to her to explain the details, but for me what I once just thought of as plain old food, i.e. something you eat, but not something you really analyze, it started to really become part and parcel of my whole body-changing journey.
After the first couple of days, the “clean food” prescribed on the diet started becoming a normal way of eating for me. The greatest miracle was that I stopped craving sugar the way I did previously. I found I didn’t even think about cookies and cake at snacktime. I automatically reached for the walnuts or the fruit.
Although, now that I think about it, the really great miracle is the change in how I feel. So strong, so healthy, inside and out. The diet that I had undervalued at the beginning has turned out to be a key player in my new lifestyle!
Me again….the struggles that Sara experiences are pretty normal, but the point I want to make is that she was able to overcome them with some knowledge, tenacity and support.
If you need some support, you can see if you qualify for my coaching program HERE and you can check out the nutrition program that Sara used HERE.
Remember Sara? She’s my coaching client in Italy that did my 24/7 coaching program. Here she writes about her nutrition struggles:
