Guide to Cheating for Blue and Pink!
Guide to cheating for BLUE!
Uh-oh! Cheating!
Whether it was an intentional cheat (just HAD to have that Diet Coke!) or on accident (got busy and missed a meal), cheating happens. And it’s OK! I promise you that none of us boy moms ate perfectly HE diets day in and day out. We missed meals and ate things that we probably shouldn’t have like bacon and Diet Coke. I know that I did! And I promise it is ok.
In case you need it, the HE Diet nutshell version is here: http://genderdreaming.com/forum/tryi...l-version.html
Oh heck! I had a diet drink!
I’ll let you guys in on a little secret - I don’t even think diet drinks sway pink. I think they’re totally neutral in moderation and may even sway BLUE when drunk to excess, particularly for those who have underlying autoimmune disorders http://genderdreaming.com/forum/gend...me-thread.html (please note, I do not want any blue swayers drinking aspartame on this basis. Thinking it’s a good idea to risk an autoimmune flare to sway blue...well, as someone who has an autoimmune disease I will tell you from the bottom of my heart - it is NOT a good idea. This is all sheer speculation on my part and it is NOT worth any level of risk to experiment with it!) My point is simply that if a diet drink finds its way down your throat on occasion it WILL NOT undermine your sway.
Oh heck! I had to eat (insert name of forbidden food here)!
Once in a while eating a forbidden food is not a big deal! When I warn you guys against things like bologna and hot dogs and bacon and ramen and rice krispies it’s because there are all those sway diets out there that are based on sodium and sodium alone where people are eating these awful meals of rice krispies with rice milk for breakfast, iceberg lettuce and tomato salad with bacon and ranch dressing for lunch, and Top Ramen with cut up hot dogs for dinner and thinking they are swaying blue because they’re eating a lot of sodium but they’re getting barely any protein or other good nutrients, and the fat they’re getting is a higher % of Omega 6 (many processed meats and ramen and rice milk and ranch dressing have lots of Omega 6 fats!). And that’s not to mention the health costs of the nitrates and sodium in those foods.
Things like protein and nutrient rich foods and a higher % of Omega 3 fat will help you have a better sway, and sodium has never been proven to sway blue AT ALL regardless of what other people will tell you. So when I warn you off of certain foods it’s to try and get you to not follow this style of diet and not because occasionally eating a hot dog will ruin your sway. Eating a food now and then is fine! Eating them all day every day is NOT fine.
Oh heck! I missed a meal or a snack!
That’s ok! Most of us with all boys, while we do tend to be all day grazers and have big appetites, did miss the occasional meal now and then. The important thing is that you do eat when you can and not make a habit of skipping meals regularly.
Oh heck! I really, really can’t bring myself to include full fat dairy!
While I do think full fat dairy is great for a sway, if you don’t want to include it, that’s at your discretion. I DO want to really strongly urge you to stay away from milk replacers, though. The reason for this is that some pretty good new evidence has emerged that indicates the kind of vegetable fats that are present in high amounts in milk replacers sway strongly pink and we saw lots of opposites among the people who were drinking the most milk replacers (especially almond milk, but I don’t know if it’s because almond milk is especially bad or if it’s because almond milk just happens to be the most popular).
If you aren’t having full fat dairy, I strongly, strongly urge you to stay well away from EPO, chia seeds, and flaxseed. I really don’t want anyone taking flaxseed powder or oil anyway as it is very, very likely harmful during pregnancy and I’ve all but given up EPO as again I think it’s making opposites, but it is especially important to avoid them if you aren’t going to be getting the good dairy fats present in full fat milk, yogurt, and cheese! EPO and flaxseed oil contain the vegetable fats that when you are ingesting higher amounts of them, may sway pink. So anyone who is not getting tons and tons of animal fats like those in full fat dairy, needs to stay away from EPO, chia seeds (occasionally is ok, I do not want anyone having chia seeds daily when swaying blue or pink either for that matter), flaxseed (stay away from this anyway in anything other than occasional dietary amounts), and drinking milk replacers in anything more than very occasional use.
Oh heck! I can’t eat 9-11 fruits and vegetables a day!
It’s ok. Most of us with all boys never got that many fruits and veg in a day either. It’s just a goal to aim at. If you eat 3 fruits and veg a day that’s better than zero! But by aiming high, even when you fall short you’ll still be getting a lot more fruit and veg than you were.
Also, remember that coconut water, lemon water (provided you drink the equivalent of one lemon a day), fruit and vegetable juices, beans, and potatoes all count for fruits and veg in the way that we count them. And servings are smaller than most people think so you very well are getting more than you realize!
Oh heck! I ate some refined grains!
That’s ok. Refined (white) grains vs. whole grains is one of the big gray areas with swaying. We honestly are not sure what is better for blue. While we originally thought that whole grains were better for blue, we have had great results with PCOS pink swayers eating whole grains so it may be that whole grains sway pink anyway. And many of us with all boys ate white, refined grains like pasta, white rice, and white bread and got boys doing that (I know I did - especially pasta, I can’t stand whole grain pasta!) So if you prefer white refined grain products, go ahead and eat them, but they may make you gain a lot of weight on HE Diet and you’re probably better off not eating huge amounts of grains of any kind while doing HE and getting your carbs for your protein + carbs recommendation from those fruits and vegetables we were talking about!
Oh heck! I ate sugar!
That’s ok! While I know they say sugar sways pink on some sites, we have never found that to be true and many of us with all boys ate plenty of sugar. The important thing is that you’re eating MORE than just sugar when you eat it, like having sweets with a meal, or having something sweet that has protein with it (like a Larabar, or some nuts and dates). The patented girl mom meal of a Diet Coke and a candy bar is not a good idea for your blue sway because your blood sugar will rise and then crash and then be very low until you eat again.
If you do end up having a sugary treat without having any protein to slow down your blood sugar roller coaster ride, that’s ok. Just eat a little sooner. Don’t let yourself get shaky and hungry from eating sugar and then nothing for several hours. If your blood sugar goes up from eating sweets, just eat again before it has time to crash! So if you’re out and about and and eat a cupcake, that’s fine - when you get home, before your blood sugar drops, follow that cupcake up with a yogurt and your blood sugar will stay up - still swaying blue for you!
Oh heck! I can’t eat this much!
Are you feeling stuffed to the gills? Gaining weight and you’re only a few days into the diet? Don’t panic. It is fine to eat less. I had to make the HE Diet as thorough as I could and cram in every possible goal that may sway into one megadiet but it is impossible to do ALL those things every single day. It’s ok to do some of them one day and some of them another or to pick and choose the things that are going to work for you. All you need to do is eat more than you were eating and/or eating more than you were eating when you got your girls! It is not the rule that you have to eat all that stuff in one day or especially at one meal!
Remember, the important thing is the protein + carbs at every meal and snack. This can be meat and fruit or meat and a potato or meat and bread or meat and pasta. It does NOT need to be meat and pasta and a potato and a roll and a fruit salad at every meal and snack! NONE of us moms of all boys eat that much food at one sitting (usually although I’ve certainly had my moments LOL).
Another thing to consider is letting go of the magic foods approach. It’s really not going to be possible to eat BOTH the things that the old school sway diets advocate PLUS the HE Diet. It’s just too much food. This ends up with people trying to squeeze in 3 bananas a day in addition to the HE Diet (and trying to eat everything on the HE Diet every day even though you don’t have to!) It is just plain too much! Again, all you need to do is eat more than you were eating before (so if you have no children yet, just eat more than you have been) especially more than you were eating when you got your girls, if you have girls already. That’s IT! It’s just that easy. You don’t even need to count calories if you don’t want to!
Oh heck! I had to drink alcohol!
For alcohol to sway pink, we have to drink 1-2 drinks a day for weeks. An occasional drink or even a night out where you (or DH) really overindulges is not going to undo the good of your sway. If you have the option, it may be that red wine and dark beers are better for blue but it’s almost certainly very minimal and so I’d just have whatever you like when the subject comes up. Plenty of people have gotten boys when drinking moderately and it is fine to have the occasional beer or glass of wine or margarita when swaying blue.
Oh heck! I really, really can’t give up coffee!
Coffee has been a pretty strong pink sway for us. If there’s ANY way to give it up on a daily basis and switch over to tea (and it doesn’t need to be green tea which is not so yummy, it can be good old regular black/orange pekoe tea - I got 4 boys drinking that!) then that’s great. But let’s say you’re out and about and are dying to hit Starbucks...go ahead. It will be ok. Once in a while is fine! Just keep it sensible, skip the doubleshot and artificial sweetener, have full fat milk or even cream for a little boost of those good animal fats that sway. And be sure to have some real food sooner rather than later to avoid a blood sugar crash (especially if you have sugar in the drink!) Oh and maybe no cinnamon, not in coffee and not in chai tea either, since cinnamon can lower blood sugar levels. Unavoidable dietary amounts of cinnamon on occasion are fine, but if you have the option to skip it, skip it.