My Bright Line Eating Adventure

Before I get into this, I just want to remind everyone that I'm just sharing my personal stories and what has worked for me - I'm not a medical professional and I'm not giving advice on what you or anyone else should do. This is also in no way sponsored, I'm just sharing because this has been such a great choice for me and my lifestyle. Cool, got it? Awesome!

I recently shared my story about my health and weight struggles over the past 20 years, and I promised that I would share a bit more information about Bright Line Eating and my personal experience with this lifestyle choice. I received a lot of amazing comments and messages over that post, so to everyone who took the time to reach out - I'm so grateful for the love and support, especially because it took me some time to finally want to share my story so publicly.

It was three and a half years ago when I hit my breaking point with my health and weight again - read the full story HERE, in case you missed the post - and I randomly came upon the Bright Line Eating book on Amazon. Instinctively I knew I wanted to read the book and look into this program. When I received the book it sat on my shelf for a few weeks before I finally started to read it. There were points in the book that I found to be initially overwhelming, as I knew I was about to embark on something that would be difficult to start with - and I wanted to take my time and not let aspects of BLE feel too much before they became an easy and achievable habit, which I knew it eventually would.

The premise of BLE is quite simple and makes so much sense to me - you don’t eat flour or sugar. You eat three meals a day, no snacks. You weigh your food (I know, I know, I never thought I’d be that person, but what a huge relief this has turned out to be. I no longer get consumed by trying to figure out if I’ve eaten enough or too much.)

I loved the book because it gave so much scientific research and really delved deep into the science of food and what it can do to our brains - it really helped to set the foundation for me, as I had previously taken sugar and wheat out of my diet, but didn't quite understand why taking it out was a good choice for me, and most importantly, I didn't know how to maintain a lifestyle without those two things (i.e. I started bringing sugar and flour back into my diet and quickly regained weight and again felt sick in my body). Of course, you can always start by checking this out online - https://brightlineeating.com

What I found helpful at the start was to follow the advice of the book/program very carefully. I decided to eat all of my meals at home and not go out to eat for the first few weeks, while I established these new habits and got used to this new way of eating. I took alcohol out for a long time and didn't add it back in (and in small quantities) until much later that first year. I made the conscious choice not to listen to anyone who had something negative to say about what I was eating and how I was choosing to live my life, which can be difficult sometimes (I got a lot of, but it's my birthday, you should just have a piece of cake comments...my response was always, well it's not my birthday, so no thank you!)

As I mentioned in my initial post, I haven't been perfect over the past three years on BLE.

And that’s ok. I'm personally not looking for perfection, ever. And I've also adapted a few things so that this works better for me (for example, I choose to eat fruit as part of my dinner veggie portion) and I do the program for 90% of my life, with a window to do as I please.

Last March when our first lockdown happened, I did get a lot of joy and comfort from the banana loaves my hubby would bake, and for the first time in almost three years, I brought wine back into my world. I gained a few pounds, but I didn’t allow it to stress me out or take over my life, as it had before. And then the holidays happened and by the end of it, I was back trying to squeeze into my favourite jeans and experiencing some stomach issues again. So I did a hard re-set in January and I’m back to eating clean and healthy, and feeling great again.

You might be wondering, so what kind of meals do you make? Well, I'll be sharing more of that as we go along - some of which I've already shared on my Instagram and here on this blog, but I have more to come - and another great place to get started is the BLE cookbook, which has some awesome and easy recipes you can try. Because trust me, eating just salads isn't very fun, so get creative.

THE BLE COOKBOOK

In January, inspired by my new and adorable kitchen, I decided to start cooking and the BLE cookbook has been the perfect place to start! The recipes are easy and fun to create and I feel like I've come a long way in a short time in my culinary adventures.

A couple of my favourite recipes include the stuffed peppers, their simple tofu recipe, and the Mexican rice. I still have quite a few to get through, so I look forward to making some delicious summer salads and sides, while I grill on my new bbq in the backyard - yay summer!

So where am I now? As I mentioned above, I'm now in my fourth year of BLE and I feel healthy. I’m appreciating my body for the things that really matter - the energy it gives me to do the things I love. I'm in a really great place and just so grateful to be able to share my story and the struggles that I've gone through.

Let me know if you have any questions and thanks again for connecting - make sure you follow me on Instagram, as I share a lot on stories and will be sharing more about my health journey as we move forward. @aldonabcreative

xo AldonaB

Disclaimer: The intent of this story is to share my personal journey - I’m not a medical professional, nor am I in any way providing any form of medical or weight loss advice; please consult your own doctor or medical professional for appropriate medical information/advice. This is also NOT a sponsored post, as previously mentioned, I am just sharing my journey and what has worked for me.