eating at work

Is not easy. Most of the times I eat during lunch in our faculty room, with my colleagues. I really like that time, as I am lucky to work with a really good bunch of people, so this short break is filled with snarkiness, laughter, serious advice and discussions, small talk... A real break. The problem is that everyone sees what the others are eating. A few of my colleagues are taking dieting very seriously, either weight watchers or main stream understanding of "healthy diet", filled with carbs, low on fat and so on. A few times I engaged in a discussion about nutrition, but I gave up on it and simply sit and work on ignoring when they talk about the new system of weight watchers or low-fat low-calories bs.
But unfortunately it doesn't end there. They have to comment on my food. When I bring things like fish balls or similar then it's fine, the problem begins on the days I bring last-minute lunch, like hard boiled eggs with a small can of smoked sardines. or just eggs. They just can't stand the image of me eating four boiled eggs at once. They stuff themselves with ready to microwave "healthy" pockets, amy's and other crap with the list of ingredients longer than some of my students' essays. But then they ask "aren't you worried about your cholesterol?" to which I generally say simply "no". When I got annoyed with another question of that kind, I said, "You wish you had the cholesterol levels I have". Another time I eat my eggs (btw, we can't have meat at work, that's why it's more difficult to just bring leftovers) another lady doesn't even ask, but states "one of these days you will have a heart attack". Really? Because as much as being overweight is not necessarily a sure tell-all about the person's health, being obese gets much closer to that. And she is far beyond the chubbiness or normal roundness of a woman after giving birth or simply regular, average. I look and behave healthy, I am active and never complained of any health issues other than allergies. I don't think she knows about my Fibromyalgia, so in general I think I look healthy. But based on the fact of me eating four eggs (and rebelliously stating that sometimes I eat up to eight eggs a day) she is sure I eat unhealthy and am killing myself slowly.

I try to keep my mouth shut, because I don't like to be preached to myself either. And I don't want to look like a typical zealous neophyte. I was eating crap just a year ago... but I wasn't telling others what to eat, or that they are killing themselves.

There was only one person who approached me later on and simply stated that she was curious as to why I wasn't worried about my cholesterol. Now that is an intelligent approach. Ask for information, think about it and then make a judgment. I told her how much better I feel, how great my blood work came up, and summarized the basic minimum of the evolutionary argument. I gave her the Primal Solution, and probably will give her Good Calories, Bad Calories, because she asked why the "main stream" preaches something so opposed to what I was saying. I don't try to pretend I know everything, I don't have a background in science, I have troubles with explaining all the details... But I understood enough to feel good about my choices. And the results speak for themselves.

"healthy" knish

In the faculty lounge during lunch we often comment on each other's choices of food, exchanging ideas and sharing struggles (a few people try to lose weight). Today the hero of the hour (well, 20min) was home made knish. It looked very good, had no crust and according to the maker was also delicious. The person got the recipe from cardiologist which in the opinion of all present gave it a stamp of approval. Everyone assumed it must be healthy... I said nothing when I started to hear the ingredients... Apart from spinach and spices I wouldn't touch anything else in it. Egg beaters? Tofu? fat free mozzarella? Sad. I didn't say anything because I knew it was pointless. Between weight watcher, newborn conventional (fat is evil) healthy eater, cancer survivor on low-fat "healthy" diet and a couple others SADers* there was no point. It would only upset everyone, especially that most of them really think they know best. Obviously I also think I know best :) The only reason I feel better is that I have been researching nutrition and evolutionary science for quite a while now and don't take my health advice from color magazines.

I have decided to give PSMF** a try. Even though I didn't get into paleo in order to lose weight, I do want to shed the waist and legs/buttocks fat that I put on about a year ago. I switched then to a new anti-anxiety medicine and it caused enormous carbs cravings, no control in eating sweets and cakes, and made me 30Ibs heavier a month and a half later. I would like to get back to my wardrobe from the days before that.

I let myself eat too much of healthy and  paleo foods. I forgot that paleo means also eating according to the body's needs. Which means I should eat when I am hungry and enough to be satiated, not because I feel like it would be fun to eat a bowl of sour cream with coconut and banana. I think it is clear what I am talking about ;-)
So for a few days I am trying to keep on the low carbs but also cut on fat, with the minimum protein that is needed per day. This way the body is not starved, receives enough necessary nutrients but also is prompted to kick in serious fat burning. I will let you know how it goes - it's only day two.

*SAD - Standard American Diet.
**PSMF - Protein Sparing Modified Fast