Hello from the accidental Pescatarian

Hello, my name is Robert and I joined Myfitnesspal today to mark another chapter in my weird journey to change my perspective on food.

A little background: Until about September 2011 I hadn’t considered what I was putting into my mouth in my 40 plus years. But time is not kind, my body changed, and I wasn’t feeling ok any longer. Headaches, allergies, heart burn, increasing blood pressure, and a bird belly all conspired to finally convince me that things had to change. I was pushing 180 lbs which, for my frame size, was not good.

I’ve watched family members and friends start down the road of pills and, honestly, it scares the crap out of me. Cancer visited some family and friends as well. That was my wake up call.

It started slowly, innocently. I had been reading nutrition articles for a while and had some ideas. First, I decided to eliminate any products I could obviously identify as having high fructose corn syrup or equivalent engineered sweeteners. (In retrospect, this is still the biggest challenge I face today.)

Second, I opted to cancel all visits to fast food chains. After a few months I opted to eliminate red meat from my diet. Soon after I decided to eliminate bread as much as possible (thank goodness for lettuce wrapped options.) At some point, I simply stopped eating land animal protein all together and eating increasing amounts of fish.

After about 8 months, I had lost about 20 lbs. But my new 160 lbs looked thin in a bad way. I’m pretty sure I was not consuming the nutrients I really needed as I wasn’t even tracking anything. On the plus side, my headaches, allergies, and heart burn are a thing of the past. I used to eat Tums like candy and now I don't even have Tums in the house any longer.

I relaxed things a little and have since put on about 7 lbs in the last 2 months. This was accomplished by starting most days with a home-made green shake that I mix up in a Vitamix blender.

Long story short, I’m here because I’ve done some deeper research into fish and realized I’m eating far too much of it and Mercury is suddenly a real concern. I love fish, all kinds of fish, and it’s been so easy to fall into that after eliminating land animals. However, due to the modern dilemma of pollution, daily fish is simply no longer an option.

Hopefully, Myfitnesspal will help me track what goes into my system so I can find a lifestyle eating habit that I can feel good about.) I’m fine at my current weight however I also need to start exercising. Confession: I haven’t stepped foot in a gym in probably 15 years.

Good luck to everyone and see you out there in high fructose corn syrup land!