Let me start by saying that I’m not a big advocate of dieting. I’ve tried a few different diets and have never stuck to any of them. I truly believe that to be your healthiest self, you need to exercise and eat good, clean food! I know how hard it is. I have two young kids that may literally be the two pickiest humans on earth. I’m sure other parents would argue that their children deserve that title, so needless to say, we’re not alone.
Let’s think about this for a minute though. Because my children are horrible eaters, does that mean that I should be? Should I give in to their demands and give up on their health, as well as my own? Of course not. As a mother, this is one of the hardest things I’ve had to deal with in my life. I never could have imagined how much I’d care about and stress over what other people eat. But, as any loving mom knows, I do.
So this is it. I’m throwing out all most (let’s be honest….) of the garbage, processed crap in my house and replacing it with organic, healthy, clean, REAL food! If it’s not here, the kids will eventually have to get used to eating better stuff, right? Yeah, that’s what I thought. It won’t hurt my husband and I to start focusing more on what is going in our bodies either. After all, we’re not getting any younger.
We kept hearing about The Dolce Diet: Living Lean
The Chick Pea Salad
It’s so delicious and so easy to make. Just throw together some baby spinach (and kale if you have any – I didn’t), cut up strawberries, cucumbers, onion (preferably red, but I used yellow and it was still awesome), chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans), chopped walnuts, tomatoes (optional), feta cheese and drizzle with olive oil and vinegar. Perfection!
My Husband’s Take On The Dolce Diet
I’ve been eating the recipes and eating our own clean recipes for 2 weeks now. I’ve lost maybe a pound, but my weight is maintaining, but I’m feeling different on this diet then the many other ones I tried before. I’m not struggling with eating these cleaner foods. I struggled trying the 4 hour body diet eating beans and eggs for every meal. I struggled on Paleo diet, Atkins first week (several tries), and whatever else I followed my wife into doing. I introduced my wife to this diet. I’m an MMA fan and have been since the very beginning. As a fan of the sport and a mixed martial artist myself, I follow the fighters due to watching so many fights. Mike Dolce used to fight in the IFL which is a now defunct MMA league that was a really cool concept and had some awesome shows. Dolce got his big break by KO’ing some dude in quick fashion as a later replacement. He was on the Ultimate Fighter show as well, however, he has since taken a long leave of absence using his knowledge of strength training and weight management to help other fighters.
What The Dolce Diet Is Not
Its not a diet! Its a way to eat healthy forever. Its about stopping the hamster wheel of eating processed crap and eating foods your body can absorb and make use of. No matter what diet plan or eating plan you ever use you have to change your mental attitude first. Look at the Biggest Loser tv show, its all mental. With Mike Dolce’s honest look at himself in this book it was easy to relate too. Not in the I can deadlift and squat 500lbs way, but in the “I’ve been eating it all wrong way.” Today’s Thanksgiving and we took a break to eat unclean for 1 day, however, it was a mild cheat day as we had a lot of vegetables.
Typical eating plan for us:
2-3 eggs scrambled with almond milk, spinach, onions, pepper/salt, peppers if we have them, occassionally a white cheese like mozarella. I’ve chopped my cheddar intake down to nearly 0. I also used to hate almond milk, but somehow on this diet 2 weeks in I like it.
Other items we’ve tried
-east coast french toast
-oatmeal bowl
-smoothie
Snack is usually 1 piece of bread with natural peanut butter, or avocado spread.
Green tea with agave is my new thing. I’ve been drinking green tea off and on (I go in stages), but never with agave before. I only use agave now as my sweetner.
Lunch currently tends to be a salad of some sort – always balsamic vinaigrette that we make. Nothing processed.
Dinner example: quinoa, roasted cauliflower, and stir fry chicken cooked with a little chicken broth and then some soy sauce. + another salad sometimes.
Later snack or dessert: organic strawberry (greek) yogurt + cinnamon + half banana
I don’t mind eating these things forever as a base and making wise decisions while out.
November 15, 2011
