LE Introduction

A question I get asked frequently is, "Emily, what's your secret to getting thin?" As many of you know, I have slimmed down a bit over the past three years. In high school and early college I was constantly trying different methods of dieting, always wanting to change my figure and never feeling very confident. It seemed like no matter what I tried, I couldn't achieve and/or maintain my target weight.

But, in the fall of 2007 my degree required that I take a nutrition course. I enrolled in a class taught by Jack Brook at Mt. Hood Community College. What I learned in that class was a catalyst for me to start changing the way my family and I ate. I consider that class the diving board from which I jumped into the world of practical and sustainable healthy eating.

Before I lose your interest, I want to emphasize the words PRACTICAL and SUSTAINABLE. I know that I've read countless nutrition blogs and almost always stopped half way through them when I realized that the authors of the blogs were total nutrition whackos. Either they want you to spend a fortune buying all your groceries at the ridiculously priced health food stores, or they tell you to eat the craziest foods that require hours of labor and planning in advance. I don't dig either of those ideas. Instead, the way that I eat is doable. It is important to me that my method of eating is practical and sustainable, otherwise I will stray from the course. I'm hoping that you find the tips I share with you reasonable.

I also want to add a few of disclaimers before I start into this series (Bryce says I am the "Queen of disclaimers").

First, I'm not intending to brag. I am familiar with the battle to lose weight. And had it not been for the gift of the information shared with me, I would still be in that struggle. I hope you know that I approach this blog series timidly and humbly, only with the attempts of trying to help.

Second, I don't want to make it sound like being thin is that big of a deal. It's not, really. There are many things in life that are bigger deals. I figure if you have read this far in this blog, you may be interested in dropping a few pounds. Well, hear this loud and clear: Losing the weight that you are hoping to lose won't make you totally happy. It won't solve all your problems. And, along the same lines, you need to know that how much you weigh is not a measure of your value and worth. Which leads me to disclaimer three...

It is my hope that you would throw your scale away. Just get rid of it! Healthy eating IS NOT about a number, or about the amount of weight you lose, or how much you like the way you look. Healthy eating IS about taking better care of your heart, giving your body more and better energy, thinking better, sleeping better, aging better, and overall feeling better. Drop your desire to be skinny. Increase your desire to be healthy.

And lastly I want to say that I am no nutrition expert. One nutrition course hardly qualifies me to be writing blogs about nutrition. All I am going off of is the fact that the way I eat has helped me lose weight and keep it off. I don't know all the technical science behind the advice I'll give and I won't delve into any sort of physiological wordy mumbo jumbo. I'm just going to keep it simple.

I am still figuring this out, but I think LE (Let's Eat) will be a four to six post series. I am hoping to complete the entire series within a two to three week time period, but I'm not holding my breath (so don't hold yours either). I don't want this series to get in the way of my other blogs. I like feeling free to post whenever and whatever I feel inspired to write, which may or may not be LE posts. But, I do feel inspired to share this information in general, so that is why I am starting this series. I don't want my "secret to getting thin" to be a secret. Because, after all, we're all in this life together! Let's share what we know.