Healthier Food Choices – The Consequence of My Slowing Metabolism
Slowing metabolism is just a fact of life. It’s unfortunate, but we all have to come to terms with it. There’s no question that Mr. Jo and I love food. We have learned the hard way that we can’t eat the same things we used to all the time without adding inches to our waistline. The great news is that healthy food can be delicious too! Plus, it energizes us to raise active, happy kids. Over the years, we have adapted our food choices to our lifestyle and our slowing metabolism.
Growing Up – Twinkies for Breakfast
In our household growing up, the goal for breakfast was to get something in your tummy. Whether it was white rice porridge, shredded pork jerky pastries, my mom’s homemade queso, leftover birthday cake or Hostess twinkies, as long as we ate something, my parents were happy. I’m sure the other kids at school would have loved to have breakfast at our house!
My parents worked a lot while we were growing up, so it was often up to me to figure out dinner for us kids since I was the oldest. I would drive my sister to McDonald’s or Wendy’s to pick up dinner several nights a week. I was a competitive gymnast back then, so the calories just burned right off. Too bad I can’t make that claim now, thanks to my slowing metabolism.
I didn’t find out until later that diets high in saturated fats increase the risk of heart disease. Also, too much sugar can cause obesity and diabetes and a lack of whole grains can lead to colon cancer. That’s scary stuff.
The Slowing Metabolism Starts
I began paying more attention to my food choices in college after I quit gymnastics and my metabolism started to slow. Sadly, I could no longer have burgers and fries for dinner every night and still maintain a healthy weight. When I started researching how to eat healthier, I realized for the first time that I had been making bad food choices my whole life.
Wheat bread was a new concept to me. Brown rice went against everything I knew. Not eating fried foods and desserts whenever I felt like it was a big change to get used to. Nevertheless, I was determined to eat and be healthier, despite my slowing metabolism.
MSG is my Nemesis
I also realized during college that monosodium glutamate (or MSG) gave me severe migraines. It can cause a host of other side effects in different people. So, I cut out all MSG from my diet, which meant I couldn’t eat a lot of my favorite Chinese foods. Thankfully, MSG began to get a bad reputation and a lot of mainstream foods don’t have MSG in them anymore. Check out my MSG-free Beef Noodle Soup Recipe and my MSG-free Zha Jiang Mien Recipe.
Learning to Cook
During the summer before medical school (or what I like to call my last summer of freedom), I learned how to cook by watching the Food Network. I realized it was so much easier to eat healthy when you know and can control what goes into your food. Over the years, my taste buds have adapted to a healthier diet, and now I actually really enjoy a lot of healthy foods.
How we do Food
Since Mr. Jo doesn’t cook, I pretty much do all of the grocery shopping and cooking. That’s good for everyone since we would only have cookies and pulled pork from a package if it were up to him. Sorry, babe, but it’s true.
Even regular grocery stores have many organic options now, so I try to buy organic whenever possible. I look at the ingredients list and nutrition facts on pretty much everything and try to minimize refined sugar, preservatives, additives, flavor enhancers, and artificial anything. You never know what kind of long term health effects all those additives can have.
I also try to feed my family the recommended portions of 1/2 fruits and vegetables, 1/4 lean protein, and 1/4 complex carbohydrates. The less processed, the better.
I try not to be dogmatic about anything in life, so I look at food the same way. My family and I still enjoy our favorite foods once-in-a-while, even the unhealthy ones. We just try not to overdo it.
When we travel, all bets are off. It’s time to indulge!
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