Whole food diet update

Well, it's not been a good whole food week. Three breaks in it! Argh!!

The first was breakfast a couple of days ago. I ran out of granola so I had peanut butter on toast. I really could have decided to have oatmeal but with it so hot out, that option did not appeal to me at all!

The second, was when I came home to my darling husband's cooking - fish and chips. At least they were done in the oven. I made myself a plate of veggies to go with it.

And last night, I stopped at Burger Pit on Hwy 11. They make fantastic burgers and their fries are fantastic!! We are headed away for the weekend and in the hustle and bustle of getting ready, I did not plan dinner.

So, what have I learned?

Again, I realize the power of planning. I cannot count on my husband to have prepared a healthy meal for me when I get home on Tuesday's and Thursday's at 8:00pm. So, I will need to have something in the fridge and ready to go. I will have to make those two meals on Sunday or Monday.

If I'm going to eat granola everyday, I should really make more before I run out! And, make a double batch so that I don't have to do it every two weeks. It only takes about a half hour to make, but in the summertime, a half hour is sometimes hard to find in a crunch!

That leads me to my next realization. No matter how much I think that summer is going to be relaxing and that I'll have all kinds of time...I don't! Summertime is really busy! We don't have a single free weekend until Labour day. Then, I start working Saturday's again. Summertime is also filled with spontaneity, that lacks a bit more the rest of the year. So, again, planning has to take centre stage if I want to successfully follow a whole food diet. And let's face it, I'm a small business owner and a Mom - my life will always be hectic, not just in the summertime.

We leave today for a weekend in Tobomory. I packed my granola in little baggies for each breakfast. I also made three salads and put them into large ziplocks (I will do this every week - the ziplocks don't take up much room in the fridge, and I can put a paper towel in the bag and squeeze out the air to maintain freshness). My snacks are packed (1/4 cup of nuts into snack baggies) too so all that I have to worry about is suppers. Supper is usually easier to make whole food choices with because any restaurant that doesn't have a drive through has some kind of meat, rice, and veggie option.

The one thing that I am so pleased about, is that despite the three slip ups, I have not jumped off my bandwagon! Each day, I try again to make it a whole food day. That speaks volumes to my attitude change. The old Kerri would have said "this is obviously too hard to do in the summer, I'll start again in September". Yhea me, pat on the back, and carry on.

Yours in health,
Kerri Fullerton ND

Why a whole food diet?

I decided to start practicing what I preach (where nutrition is concerned) last October. After having my son a year earlier, I decided that it was time to stop having so many excuses. I wanted more energy, I wanted to sleep better, I wanted clearer thoughts again, and I wanted to be a healthy size.


I started with some simple changes (note that I said simple, not easy). As a general rule, I eat only three meals per day. I've never been comfortable with the 'eat every three hours' thing. If you're eating fibre rich foods, it's not necessary and snacking is where people tend to eat the most packaged foods. This is where blood sugar imbalances occur. I am not willing to go hungry though, so I allow myself one snack per day if necessary and I try to make it a handful of nuts and some fruit.


The other change that I made was that I stopped eating anything that I couldn't stop at one. For me, that means all sweets and some crackers (I can eat a portion of Triscuits but could easily eat the box of wheat thins!). For a friend of mine, it's bacon and chips. It's an evolving list as I go along. I've added a few things back in and taken a few more things out.


Since the end of October I've lost 24lbs, 3 inches off my chest, 4 inches off my waist, 4 inches off my hips, and 3.5 inches off my thighs.


Not bad considering that I've never gone hungry or eaten a bar or drank a shake.


Now, in the past, this weight loss would have been unnacceptable - taking 8 months to lose 24 lbs would have been too slow. I would have given up and decided that it wasn't working. Thank goodness that I had a new attitude this time.

Last week I did my monthly weight and body measurements so that I would have an accurate starting point for the whole food diet that I am embarking on for the summer. I will share with you what kind of changes happen with my body, my sleep, my energy, and my mood.


The first week (last week) of my whole food diet was a little rough. With the long weekend at the cottage and friends over for the week before, I was not prepared at all! No groceries, no meal plan for the week. This is key folks - planning makes healthy eating possible. So, I ate granola (recipe in this month's newsletter!) for breakfast, salad for lunch, and meat, rice and veggies for supper. Not exciting, but it worked.

Friday night we headed to my in-laws for the weekend. I learned another lesson - don't expect your husband to tell anyone about your new diet adventures! We arrived to pizza. Oops. Now they know what I'm not eating. I did eat the pizza since it was already ordered, payed for, and sitting there. Had it not been, I would have made myself something else.

What I will do differently next time is this - I will pack more of my own foods. I did pack my granola for breakfast, fruit and some nuts for snacks. Next time I will bring some salads too.

Already in a week, I have more energy and my bowels are very happy. Can't wait to see what this week brings!

Off to do some meal planning for this week. I've pulled a few recipes off of vegetariantimes.com to try. Stuffed tomatoes for tonight!

Yours in health,
Kerri Fullerton, ND

Whole Foods Diet - how realistic is it anyway?

Food engineering is a bit of a funny term. It does not refer to Farmers or to Chefs', but to scientists who try to find ways to make fake food taste good and make you think that you're getting the same nutrition as what real food has. They have been working hard, and been very successful.

When I started my practice over 6 years ago, I used to say 'eat more whole grains', and people knew what I meant. Now - that's not the case. When I say 'eat more whole grains', some people think that I mean buy Wonder Invisibles for their sandwich bread. I also used to be able to tell people to eat 35 grams of fibre each day and they could just read labels to know if the food had it. Now, there are all kinds of isolated fibres (like inulin) that do not have the same effects as intact fibres (like bran). But without a distinction on the label, people are lost.

So really, the safest and best diet to follow would be a whole food diet - one that does not include processed foods at all. But how realistic is it to eat only whole foods in today's world? With family obligations and work it does seem a little daunting.

Well, I'm going to give it a go. For the month's of July and August, I will eat only whole foods - fruits, veggies, legumes, meat, dairy, nuts and seeds, and whole grains. That means, no breads, pastas, crackers, cereals, baked goods - just whole food. I gave up sugar about eight months ago so at least I have that step down already.

I asked my husband if he would do it with me ... he laughed pretty hard. 'Not eat bread? Are you kidding?'. For the purposes of this experiment, his refusal actually works to my advantage. Most of my patients are faced with families that are not interested in changing their diets this much. So I will be able to tell you about what it's like to be the only one in the family eating a whole food diet. I will be able to share how I've been able to have family meals without cooking three meals!
I will blog about my experience and well as any body changes that may occur.

I will post here every Friday with a thorough update of how things are going, what recipes that I have discovered, and I will tweet more regularly about the day-to-day challenges and insights.

I hope that you will join me (or at least follow me) on this adventure and share your thoughts and questions as I go along.

Yours in Health,
Kerri Fullerton, ND