Eat eco, lose weight

Two eco-conscious writers share how they lost weight by following earth-friendly diets.

Tue, Jan 06 2009 at 1:44 PM

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Not ready to take out the waistline on your jeans yet? If your new year’s resolution’s to lose a few pounds, the blogosphere’s full of personal advice — some of them actually healthy and eco-friendly advice!

Sweet-toothed bakers’ll be especially interested in Ariela’s story. The blogger at Baking and Books went from 160 lbs to 129 lbs — and shares her experience in How I Ate My Cake, and Lost Weight Too. Her sweetest tip? Budget your sweets:

I allow myself sweets twice a week. What this means is that although I post a lot of baked goods on this blog, I only bake once a week. And if I bake a batch of 30 cookies, I’ll save 4 of them as my “sweets allotment” (2 per serving) and I give the rest away. Same for cake - 1 slice is mine and the rest is shared with others. Giving away freshly baked goodies is not only good for your waistline, but it’s a great away to make friends.

Foodie writer Mark Bittman’s diet might work better for people who tend to blow their diet come dinner time — because his plan lets you do just that. Mark lost more than 35 lbs through his Simple Till Six plan. The gist: Eat vegan and unprocessed foods until 6 pm, then eat whatever you want for dinner. The results, Mark says, were “striking”:

My results were striking. I had little trouble eating this way, I began feeling and sleeping better, and I didn’t think much about it for a month or two. It just made sense. A month later, I’d lost 15 pounds. A month after that, both my cholesterol and my blood sugar were down, well into the normal range (my cholesterol went from 240 to 180). My apnea was gone, and I was sleeping through the night.

Both plans emphasize cutting back on refined foods — especially refined sugar — and eating lower on the food chain. In general, my own eating habits follow these two principles — though I have to say my policy on sweets and food before 6 pm are more haphazard and lax. I did make one diet-related resolution this year though: To drink less. The goal isn’t really to lose weight, but to enjoy better health.

What’s your eco-diet resolution for 2009?

Photo by a.drian

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