I can't believe the first quarter of 2013 is almost over already. I am not ready for this. It is all going way too fast. Deadlines keep slipping past me at work and I just barely give them a glance as I shrug, say "Oh well, there goes another one," and keep on trudging along, hoping that some day it all comes together. I know from experience that it will gel sooner or later. It usually takes a year at a new job for me to get a firm handle on things. After my first week at Castle Creations I predicted it would take two years. Every now and then I hope I was too bleak in my forecast and that a year is all it will take, but I'm pretty sure it will take two years for me to get all of the pieces pulled together. It's a good thing I love my job.
I've been working hard at the gym, so all is well on that front. Still Wheat Free, which makes me happy. My Food Plan for Life is holding me in good stead. All is well on the home front.
I need to get to work, too much to do before quittin' time tonight.
Have a wonderful Friday!!
Friday, March 22, 2013
Thursday, March 21, 2013
3/21/2013: Doing Fine
It has been several days since I decided to eliminate wheat from my diet and I am doing fine. My cravings have diminished considerably and I don't think about food nearly as often as I did before I quit eating wheat. I go longer periods of time between breakfast and snack and snack and lunch, so that I have found myself eating lunch mid-afternoon. This works out really well for me because dinner ends up being just a light snack. I've never done well with big meals in the evening and now I don't even want to eat a big meal. Since I am often working a little late, it's nice to be able to come home and just have a snack and not worry about dinner. It helps a lot that I cooked my meals last Sunday, so there is plenty of food in the fridge, though I am going through my veggies faster than I have in the past since I am putting some many vegetables in my eggs in the morning. I'll have to remember that for next week.
It's probably a little soon to talk about how 'wheat free' is impacting my weight, except that I have noticed that there seems to be fewer fluctuations in the scale. I have lost a little weight since Jack's birthday dinner, which I expected to happen. This morning I weighed 151.2 pounds. The interesting thing is the lack of fluctuation from day to day. But again, it's early in the process. It will be interesting to see what my weight line looks like in a few weeks and after a couple of months. Just a quick recap: My Food Plan for Life is No Dead Food (which includes no wheat products), except on special occasions, which need to be truly special occasions. On special occasions I can eat and drink whatever I want.
I have a big weekend coming up! I am going to Vail to see Carla and meet her new boyfriend. I am looking forward to meeting this young man that Carla is so crazy about. She tells me he is worth the trip! I am also planning on skiing on Sunday, for the first time in 30 years. That should be interesting. I hope all of the weight lifting pays off and I am not too sore on Monday!!
No other big news to report. I did get a couple of book recommendations from yesterday's post, so I will need to check them out. Other than that, it's just another day.
It's probably a little soon to talk about how 'wheat free' is impacting my weight, except that I have noticed that there seems to be fewer fluctuations in the scale. I have lost a little weight since Jack's birthday dinner, which I expected to happen. This morning I weighed 151.2 pounds. The interesting thing is the lack of fluctuation from day to day. But again, it's early in the process. It will be interesting to see what my weight line looks like in a few weeks and after a couple of months. Just a quick recap: My Food Plan for Life is No Dead Food (which includes no wheat products), except on special occasions, which need to be truly special occasions. On special occasions I can eat and drink whatever I want.
I have a big weekend coming up! I am going to Vail to see Carla and meet her new boyfriend. I am looking forward to meeting this young man that Carla is so crazy about. She tells me he is worth the trip! I am also planning on skiing on Sunday, for the first time in 30 years. That should be interesting. I hope all of the weight lifting pays off and I am not too sore on Monday!!
No other big news to report. I did get a couple of book recommendations from yesterday's post, so I will need to check them out. Other than that, it's just another day.
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
3/20/2013: Spring?
So much for getting to wear the new clothes that I bought a couple of weeks ago! It's cold out, with a wind chill of 19 degrees on the first day of spring. I guess I get to wear my winter clothes for another week or two.
Speaking of spring clothes, the Slim for Life ads on the radio are driving me nuts. The further I get into my Get Fit Initiative and the more I learn about diet and exercise and how important both are to our overall health and well being, the more irritated I get with "Get Thin Quick" schemes. The current ad touts "30 pounds in 30 days," for just $199! "If you've been lazy all winter, come to Slim For Life and get your body ready for those spring clothes." Yeah, right. Perhaps it is true that through some combination of mixes and powders and supplements and appetite suppressants and who knows what else you can lose 30 pounds in 30 days, but it is healthy? Really? Is it fat or is it some combination of fat, muscle, bone tissue, etc...? The urge to lose weight quickly can be irresistible. The day-in and day-out slog of eating right and exercising daily can get tiresome, it's true. I guess that's why, for me, I have to understand why I am doing it. It's not about how I look (well, maybe that's part of it) but it is about how I feel and how I am going to feel tomorrow, next month, next year, and 40 years from now. For me, this whole business of exercising every day, eating nutritious foods, and avoiding Dead Foods (including wheat) is about being fit and feeling great as I get older. It's about being able to do what I want to do when I'm 70 and 80 and 90 years old.
Sometimes I forget that's why I am doing it. Sometimes I don't want to get up in the morning to exercise (like this morning). That's when habit kicks in and I do it anyway. I really didn't want to get on the treadmill this morning. In fact, on the way to the gym I pretty much talked myself into walking for an hour since I really didn't feel like running today. But I did run, I just couldn't help it. Three or four minutes into my walk I decided I was being silly, I was there, I might as well run. I did take it a little easier than normal and ran at 5mph until I only had 10 minutes left in my hour, then I increased it to 6mph to make up for walking the first few minutes, so that I would get my full 5 miles in before my hour was up. So yes, in spite of my desire to skip exercise today, I ran 5 miles. But I have all my exercise in for the week, so far, and tomorrow is my rest day, so no more exercise until Friday morning. Yeah! I am ready for a break.
I read a lot about nutrition, health, and exercise to remind myself how important all of my daily habits are. I didn't love the book, "Thinner This Year," but it did help me decide to eliminate Dead Foods from my everyday eating. "Wheat Belly," was fascinating and caused me to decide to give up wheat. Since giving up Dead Foods and wheat, my food cravings have diminished considerably, just about disappeared, actually; reading those two books helped me solve a problem that I have been grappling with over the last couple of months. I don't know what I will read next, but I know I will be on the prowl for my next fitness related book soon. It helps to keep myself indoctrinated in the language of fitness. It makes it easier to consistently make good decisions if I am surrounding myself with the ideas, thoughts, and words of other people that take being healthy, seriously; even if these people aren't in my living room, at least their words influence my thoughts. Maybe some day this will all be old hat for me, just part of my life, and I won't have to give it much thought any more. That day isn't here yet. This still takes active planning and discipline on my part. And that's OK. Whatever it takes, it's worth it. I feel great and I know I will feel great again tomorrow!! What more could I want?
Speaking of spring clothes, the Slim for Life ads on the radio are driving me nuts. The further I get into my Get Fit Initiative and the more I learn about diet and exercise and how important both are to our overall health and well being, the more irritated I get with "Get Thin Quick" schemes. The current ad touts "30 pounds in 30 days," for just $199! "If you've been lazy all winter, come to Slim For Life and get your body ready for those spring clothes." Yeah, right. Perhaps it is true that through some combination of mixes and powders and supplements and appetite suppressants and who knows what else you can lose 30 pounds in 30 days, but it is healthy? Really? Is it fat or is it some combination of fat, muscle, bone tissue, etc...? The urge to lose weight quickly can be irresistible. The day-in and day-out slog of eating right and exercising daily can get tiresome, it's true. I guess that's why, for me, I have to understand why I am doing it. It's not about how I look (well, maybe that's part of it) but it is about how I feel and how I am going to feel tomorrow, next month, next year, and 40 years from now. For me, this whole business of exercising every day, eating nutritious foods, and avoiding Dead Foods (including wheat) is about being fit and feeling great as I get older. It's about being able to do what I want to do when I'm 70 and 80 and 90 years old.
Sometimes I forget that's why I am doing it. Sometimes I don't want to get up in the morning to exercise (like this morning). That's when habit kicks in and I do it anyway. I really didn't want to get on the treadmill this morning. In fact, on the way to the gym I pretty much talked myself into walking for an hour since I really didn't feel like running today. But I did run, I just couldn't help it. Three or four minutes into my walk I decided I was being silly, I was there, I might as well run. I did take it a little easier than normal and ran at 5mph until I only had 10 minutes left in my hour, then I increased it to 6mph to make up for walking the first few minutes, so that I would get my full 5 miles in before my hour was up. So yes, in spite of my desire to skip exercise today, I ran 5 miles. But I have all my exercise in for the week, so far, and tomorrow is my rest day, so no more exercise until Friday morning. Yeah! I am ready for a break.
I read a lot about nutrition, health, and exercise to remind myself how important all of my daily habits are. I didn't love the book, "Thinner This Year," but it did help me decide to eliminate Dead Foods from my everyday eating. "Wheat Belly," was fascinating and caused me to decide to give up wheat. Since giving up Dead Foods and wheat, my food cravings have diminished considerably, just about disappeared, actually; reading those two books helped me solve a problem that I have been grappling with over the last couple of months. I don't know what I will read next, but I know I will be on the prowl for my next fitness related book soon. It helps to keep myself indoctrinated in the language of fitness. It makes it easier to consistently make good decisions if I am surrounding myself with the ideas, thoughts, and words of other people that take being healthy, seriously; even if these people aren't in my living room, at least their words influence my thoughts. Maybe some day this will all be old hat for me, just part of my life, and I won't have to give it much thought any more. That day isn't here yet. This still takes active planning and discipline on my part. And that's OK. Whatever it takes, it's worth it. I feel great and I know I will feel great again tomorrow!! What more could I want?
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
3/19/2013: No Wheat, Day Three
This is the morning of my third day with no wheat, after reading 'Wheat Belly' by Dr. Davis.
So far, so good. I don't miss it at all, but then again, I wasn't eating a lot of it. I had dry toast with my eggs in the morning and sometimes I would have a sandwich for lunch. Not eating wheat has caused me to be a little more creative, but since the only processed food I was eating was bread, it's pretty easy for me to eliminate wheat from my diet.
This morning I sauteed a bunch of veggies to put in my eggs. There were way more vegetables than eggs, in fact the eggs barely held all the veggies together; it was yummy. I also had a grapefruit. I cooked this weekend so I have stuffed peppers, sweet potatoes, and garlic rosemary chicken in the fridge for my lunch and dinners. For snacks I am mixing frozen berries with plain Chobani Greek yogurt to get away from the sweeteners used in the pre-mixed yogurts. I also have walnuts, macadamia nuts, fruit and avocado for snacks. I'm certainly not going to starve.
Yesterday I was not nearly as hungry as I normally am in the afternoon and I did not have my normal 2:00 - 3:00 meltdown, which is when I usually start looking for something sweet to eat. In fact, I was not hungry for lunch until about 1:30. I did notice that I got hungry earlier in the morning than normal, but I think that is because I unwittingly ate a very high glycemic index fruit for breakfast, a mango. I had my yogurt snack at about 10:00 though, and then I didn't think about food again until 1:30, when I decided I should probably eat my lunch. I wasn't really hungry at 1:30 and I think maybe I ate more than I needed to yesterday because I am just used to eating a certain amount of food. Today, I am going to pay more attention to just eating what I feel like a I need to eat, instead of eating the entire portion I pack. By the end of the day yesterday I felt like I ate a little too much, even though I ate fewer calories than I normally eat in a day. Interesting...
I am going to try to get more creative with my veggies and my fruit. My goal will be to eat one new (or at least seldom eaten) fruit and vegetable each week. Everything I read tells me that the best thing I can do with regard to my diet is eat a wide variety of foods. I probably already have a wider variety in my diet than the typical American, but I get stuck in a rut, just like the rest of us. So I have decided to have some fun in the produce section and always make a point of picking up something that I have either never eaten before or that I eat very seldom.
My Food Plan for Life is going well. It helps me a ton to know that the Dead Foods are not an option. I don't even think about snacking on something that is not nutritionally sound. I don't know why, but it is so much easier when the crap is just not an option. I guess it is the same thing I talked to Julie about, which is reducing the number of decisions I make about food. When I pack my snack and lunch in the morning, I know that is all I am going to eat that day. I don't even have to consider whether I'll eat the cookies getting passed around or the candy at the receptionist's desk. I don't have to decide over and over and over again to not have something to eat. I already made that decision, last week, when I defined my Food Plan for Life. No Dead Food in my normal day-to-day eating. The only time Dead Foods are permitted is for a special occasion, which must be a true special occasion. For me, it is a plan that is working.
My workout this morning was tough! I like my new trainer, Joshua. Today we focused a lot on balance and whole body exercises that used free weights and whole body movements rather than isolating muscles on machines. I need to ride a bike at lunch today. That's the hardest thing for me to get in, the two lunch time workouts. I get so absorbed in my work it's hard to pull away, yet I know it is the best thing I can do for myself. I'll get it done today.
So far, so good. I don't miss it at all, but then again, I wasn't eating a lot of it. I had dry toast with my eggs in the morning and sometimes I would have a sandwich for lunch. Not eating wheat has caused me to be a little more creative, but since the only processed food I was eating was bread, it's pretty easy for me to eliminate wheat from my diet.
This morning I sauteed a bunch of veggies to put in my eggs. There were way more vegetables than eggs, in fact the eggs barely held all the veggies together; it was yummy. I also had a grapefruit. I cooked this weekend so I have stuffed peppers, sweet potatoes, and garlic rosemary chicken in the fridge for my lunch and dinners. For snacks I am mixing frozen berries with plain Chobani Greek yogurt to get away from the sweeteners used in the pre-mixed yogurts. I also have walnuts, macadamia nuts, fruit and avocado for snacks. I'm certainly not going to starve.
Yesterday I was not nearly as hungry as I normally am in the afternoon and I did not have my normal 2:00 - 3:00 meltdown, which is when I usually start looking for something sweet to eat. In fact, I was not hungry for lunch until about 1:30. I did notice that I got hungry earlier in the morning than normal, but I think that is because I unwittingly ate a very high glycemic index fruit for breakfast, a mango. I had my yogurt snack at about 10:00 though, and then I didn't think about food again until 1:30, when I decided I should probably eat my lunch. I wasn't really hungry at 1:30 and I think maybe I ate more than I needed to yesterday because I am just used to eating a certain amount of food. Today, I am going to pay more attention to just eating what I feel like a I need to eat, instead of eating the entire portion I pack. By the end of the day yesterday I felt like I ate a little too much, even though I ate fewer calories than I normally eat in a day. Interesting...
I am going to try to get more creative with my veggies and my fruit. My goal will be to eat one new (or at least seldom eaten) fruit and vegetable each week. Everything I read tells me that the best thing I can do with regard to my diet is eat a wide variety of foods. I probably already have a wider variety in my diet than the typical American, but I get stuck in a rut, just like the rest of us. So I have decided to have some fun in the produce section and always make a point of picking up something that I have either never eaten before or that I eat very seldom.
My Food Plan for Life is going well. It helps me a ton to know that the Dead Foods are not an option. I don't even think about snacking on something that is not nutritionally sound. I don't know why, but it is so much easier when the crap is just not an option. I guess it is the same thing I talked to Julie about, which is reducing the number of decisions I make about food. When I pack my snack and lunch in the morning, I know that is all I am going to eat that day. I don't even have to consider whether I'll eat the cookies getting passed around or the candy at the receptionist's desk. I don't have to decide over and over and over again to not have something to eat. I already made that decision, last week, when I defined my Food Plan for Life. No Dead Food in my normal day-to-day eating. The only time Dead Foods are permitted is for a special occasion, which must be a true special occasion. For me, it is a plan that is working.
My workout this morning was tough! I like my new trainer, Joshua. Today we focused a lot on balance and whole body exercises that used free weights and whole body movements rather than isolating muscles on machines. I need to ride a bike at lunch today. That's the hardest thing for me to get in, the two lunch time workouts. I get so absorbed in my work it's hard to pull away, yet I know it is the best thing I can do for myself. I'll get it done today.
Monday, March 18, 2013
3/18/13: Wheat Belly: I Feel Duped!
I am about halfway through the book, 'Wheat Belly,' by William Davis, MD, and if half of what he says in his book is true, I feel like we have been completely and totally duped. Duped by whom? you may ask. I'm not sure I know the answer to that question. Scientists? Doctors? The government? Big Food? All of them, I guess. First of all, let me warn you that I am a little bit of a Conspiracy Theorist when it comes to Big Food (companies like Monsanto and ConAgra) and the public. While I understand the benefits of bigger yields per acre when it comes to feeding the populations of the world, I don't believe for a second that Big Food has an ounce of altruism at its core. It's all about profit margins and stock prices. Produce food as cheaply as possible and get people to consume as much of it as you can. Who gives a rat's ass whether it's good for them or not? Best scenario possible: Get them addicted to the stuff that is cheapest to produce and charge a lot of money for it. Oh yeah, and while we're at it, let's genetically modify the seeds so that they can't reproduce and you have to use our fertilizer and bug spray to keep the crop alive. Oh, and don't forget to patent the seeds while we're at it, so if any of our crops end up unwittingly on another farmer's field, we can sue him for not buying the seed from us.
Yeah, I'm jaded. Yeah, I don't trust Big Food one little bit. Yeah, I am into the whole buy local eat local movement, though I don't get to farmers markets and that sort of thing nearly enough. I certainly believe in eating food that looks like it did when it was alive and growing, food that hasn't been transformed and processed into something completely different from what it was to begin with.
All of that said, I believed "them" when "they" said whole wheat products were good for me. I believed them completely, hook, line and sinker. I read my labels. If "whole wheat" was not the only type of flour in the bread, I didn't buy it. I avoided breads with labels like "whole grain." I was smart enough to look at the list of ingredients and see that the "whole grain" bread was basically enriched white flour with some whole grains thrown in for color and texture. I really didn't think my two slices of dry whole wheat 45 per calorie slice of bread in the morning was doing me any harm at all. The opposite, in fact. I believed that bread had some nutritional qualities to it. Whole wheat bread, until yesterday, was not on my list of Dead Foods. Until yesterday. Now, after reading Dr. Davis' book, I think it is highly possible that wheat is the worst culprit of them all.
This is just one book by one guy and, while he sites several experiments over the last 30-40 years that provide support for his theories, it doesn't appear as if there have been any large, controlled experiments that conclusively prove that wheat is the culprit when it comes to our bulging waist lines and increased incidences of illnesses such as diabetes, celiacs disease, and cancer. On the other hand, the circumstantial evidence appears to be overwhelming. The studies and experiments that he sites are pretty impressive. It appears as if "they" have known for sometime that "whole wheat" is not the health food it has been cracked up to be.
Dr. Davis sites the high glycemic index of whole wheat bread as one of the prime reasons wheat is bad for you. On the back of his book he says, "Did you know that eating two slices of whole wheat bread can increase blood sugar more than 2 tablespoons of pure sugar can?" No. I did not know that. He blames the increase of large waistlines over the last 30 years on the changes that have occurred in wheat. Basically, he says that the wheat we eat today is not the wheat our parents ate when they were children. Wheat has been cross bred and cross bred and cross bed, to the point that it is barely recognizable as the same plant it was when the song, "America the Beautiful" was written. There are no longer "Amber waves of grain," that flow in the breeze like an ocean in the fields of America. The fields are now filled with dwarf wheat, whose short, stout stalks can support the larger heads of grain that are now characteristic of the wheat we consume. This dwarf wheat is amazing. It has a much higher yield per acre than the grain of yesteryear. It is drought and temperature tolerant. In can be grown in many different climates. It is helping solve the world's hunger problem. While all of this is true, Dr. Davis tells us in his book that this cross bred beyond recognition wheat has never been tested to make sure it is still healthy for us to consume. According to Dr. Davis, because this wheat was not genetically engineered, it was just carefully bred, scientists assumed that it was basically the same wheat. But it's not. Chromosomally, it is a very different plant. And Dr. Davis says that those differences have everything to do with why we are fatter and sicker than we have ever been.
Dr. Davis gives a lot of examples of studies that support his theories and of people that have transformed their lives by not eating wheat. He sites evidence that negative effects of wheat on our health have been known for decades. And yet, we are told to eat many servings of "Healthy whole grains," every day. Dr. Davis claims that wheat is the culprit behind our food cravings, our afternoon slumps, our inability to "stop at just one." Dr. Davis claims that wheat is the culprit behind a lot of things. He suggests we give it up and see what happens. He has me convinced to give it a try. Yesterday was my first wheat free day.
So there is this huge "Gluten Free" thing going on right now. Many nutritionists say to ignore the gluten free foods on the market. Most of them remove gluten and replace the gluten with sugars and fats. It's just another marketing scheme, like the "fat free" cookies and salad dressing that starting making us fat 20 years ago. Even Dr. Davis says that you don't need to worry about being gluten free if you don't have Celiacs disease. Apparently there is wheat in a lot of things that you would never imagine, such as dry roasted nuts and chewing gum. I am not going to go as far as to avoid incidental trace amounts of flour in such products. I am going to avoid all wheat products such as bread, rolls, muffins, cakes, cookies, breaded anything, bread crumb, crackers, etc... My Food Plan for Life now includes not eating wheat.
This morning has gotten away from me. It's 8:05 and I must go to work. Today is day two, wheat free. I'll let you know how it goes.
Yeah, I'm jaded. Yeah, I don't trust Big Food one little bit. Yeah, I am into the whole buy local eat local movement, though I don't get to farmers markets and that sort of thing nearly enough. I certainly believe in eating food that looks like it did when it was alive and growing, food that hasn't been transformed and processed into something completely different from what it was to begin with.
All of that said, I believed "them" when "they" said whole wheat products were good for me. I believed them completely, hook, line and sinker. I read my labels. If "whole wheat" was not the only type of flour in the bread, I didn't buy it. I avoided breads with labels like "whole grain." I was smart enough to look at the list of ingredients and see that the "whole grain" bread was basically enriched white flour with some whole grains thrown in for color and texture. I really didn't think my two slices of dry whole wheat 45 per calorie slice of bread in the morning was doing me any harm at all. The opposite, in fact. I believed that bread had some nutritional qualities to it. Whole wheat bread, until yesterday, was not on my list of Dead Foods. Until yesterday. Now, after reading Dr. Davis' book, I think it is highly possible that wheat is the worst culprit of them all.
This is just one book by one guy and, while he sites several experiments over the last 30-40 years that provide support for his theories, it doesn't appear as if there have been any large, controlled experiments that conclusively prove that wheat is the culprit when it comes to our bulging waist lines and increased incidences of illnesses such as diabetes, celiacs disease, and cancer. On the other hand, the circumstantial evidence appears to be overwhelming. The studies and experiments that he sites are pretty impressive. It appears as if "they" have known for sometime that "whole wheat" is not the health food it has been cracked up to be.
Dr. Davis sites the high glycemic index of whole wheat bread as one of the prime reasons wheat is bad for you. On the back of his book he says, "Did you know that eating two slices of whole wheat bread can increase blood sugar more than 2 tablespoons of pure sugar can?" No. I did not know that. He blames the increase of large waistlines over the last 30 years on the changes that have occurred in wheat. Basically, he says that the wheat we eat today is not the wheat our parents ate when they were children. Wheat has been cross bred and cross bred and cross bed, to the point that it is barely recognizable as the same plant it was when the song, "America the Beautiful" was written. There are no longer "Amber waves of grain," that flow in the breeze like an ocean in the fields of America. The fields are now filled with dwarf wheat, whose short, stout stalks can support the larger heads of grain that are now characteristic of the wheat we consume. This dwarf wheat is amazing. It has a much higher yield per acre than the grain of yesteryear. It is drought and temperature tolerant. In can be grown in many different climates. It is helping solve the world's hunger problem. While all of this is true, Dr. Davis tells us in his book that this cross bred beyond recognition wheat has never been tested to make sure it is still healthy for us to consume. According to Dr. Davis, because this wheat was not genetically engineered, it was just carefully bred, scientists assumed that it was basically the same wheat. But it's not. Chromosomally, it is a very different plant. And Dr. Davis says that those differences have everything to do with why we are fatter and sicker than we have ever been.
Dr. Davis gives a lot of examples of studies that support his theories and of people that have transformed their lives by not eating wheat. He sites evidence that negative effects of wheat on our health have been known for decades. And yet, we are told to eat many servings of "Healthy whole grains," every day. Dr. Davis claims that wheat is the culprit behind our food cravings, our afternoon slumps, our inability to "stop at just one." Dr. Davis claims that wheat is the culprit behind a lot of things. He suggests we give it up and see what happens. He has me convinced to give it a try. Yesterday was my first wheat free day.
So there is this huge "Gluten Free" thing going on right now. Many nutritionists say to ignore the gluten free foods on the market. Most of them remove gluten and replace the gluten with sugars and fats. It's just another marketing scheme, like the "fat free" cookies and salad dressing that starting making us fat 20 years ago. Even Dr. Davis says that you don't need to worry about being gluten free if you don't have Celiacs disease. Apparently there is wheat in a lot of things that you would never imagine, such as dry roasted nuts and chewing gum. I am not going to go as far as to avoid incidental trace amounts of flour in such products. I am going to avoid all wheat products such as bread, rolls, muffins, cakes, cookies, breaded anything, bread crumb, crackers, etc... My Food Plan for Life now includes not eating wheat.
This morning has gotten away from me. It's 8:05 and I must go to work. Today is day two, wheat free. I'll let you know how it goes.
Saturday, March 16, 2013
3/16/2013: Let's Talk About Food
I haven't blogged for a couple of days for a couple of reasons. First, I didn't have a lot to say. It seemed like many of the struggles that I have been dealing with the last couple of days were the same struggles I had been dealing with all week, BORING, and I was pretty rushed yesterday morning with a 7:45AM meeting scheduled with a vendor. Now it is Saturday morning, the budgeting is caught up for the week, Jack is still all sleepy in bed, and I have a nice quiet time to blog a little.
Food. How do I manage food for the rest of my life? To me, that is the biggest single question to which I need a real and lasting answer.
I have thought a lot about the 'Younger Next Year' book and why it changed my life. After glancing at the newest "stay thin" book out there by a popular author at the bookstore last night, I know the answer. 'Younger Next Year' explains why I need to exercise. That book cemented in my head, forever, why I need to exercise an hour a day six days a week for the rest of my life. It wasn't a bag full of tricks saying do this and do that. It didn't offer easy tips and tricks for being healthy. It wasn't a collection of cute ideas for manipulating myself into doing what was good for me. The book explained to me, in a straightforward and simple fashion, why I need to exercise every day. That knowledge motivates me to get up every day and do something that does not come at all naturally, exercise hard for about an hour.
Before reading the book I would have told you that, "I knew I needed to exercise." Well, I guess, "I thought I should exercise," would be a better way of putting it. After reading the book I no longer have a choice. I exercise every day and will continue to do so for the rest of my life.
I need that same conviction regarding Dead Food. 'Thinner This Year' calls all food that is worthless as far as nutrients go, Dead Food. She's talking about candy, chips, cookies, cakes, white bread, french fries, pop, alcohol, etc... I like that expression, Dead Food. I am now using it as my word to describe any food that does not pack a decent nutrition per calorie punch.
'Thinner This Year' is helping me get there, intellectually. I have been thinking more about Dead Foods, lately, and the impact that they have on my organs, blood, bones, brain, etc... I have not finished the book yet. I think it is likely that when I am done reading the book, I will re-read it and blog about it, similar to how I blogged about 'Younger Next Year.' That process really helped cement the knowledge in YNY into my brain.
In addition to reading 'Thinner' I have been listening to a lot of people talk about food and I've been paying particular attention to people that are fit. As I am developing my Food Plan for Life (Oh, I like the sound of that!), I know it has to be simple and sustainable. It also needs to be clear cut. It can't be fancy. There need to be clear guidelines. On Thursday morning, this is what I decided:
As part of my day-to-day diet, I will eat no Dead Foods. None. Nada. Nil. Zero. As in, no tootsie pops, no butter scotches, no peppermints, no cookies, no ice cream, no french fries, no chips. If the food lacks essential nutrients, I just won't eat it as part of my daily "this is what I eat to stay alive" regimen. I'm talking about my daily habit of food. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, etc... Day-in-day-out, my eating will be about consuming nutritionally rich food and avoiding Dead Foods.
But, and this is a real and true but, and this is the but that makes this plan doable in the long term, I will allow myself the luxury of eating and drinking whatever I want on special occasions. Now, I do need to be judicious in what I consider a special occasion. Jack's birthday dinner is a special occasion. Going out to dinner on a Thursday night because I am tired and don't feel like cooking is not. A co-worker bringing cookies in for St. Pattie's day is not a special occasion. A BBQ at work is not a special occasion. A child or grandchild's wedding, birthday or graduation party is a special occasion, as is a sibling's or parent's. A date is not a special occasion, unless it is for an anniversary or celebrating a promotion or something awesome like that. Going to a ball game is not a special occasion. Having lunch with friends at a restaurant is not a special occasion. Vacations are not special occasions. Going to dinner with Carla at her fancy restaurant in Vail will be a special occasion. In a nut shell, special occasions must be special. There is something to celebrate. It's not just daily life, it's a moment that is meant to commemorate something that is important to me and those close to me. These events will happen every now and then, not every week.
I have lived this plan for two days, so far, and I like it. The hardest part is afternoons at work. I get intense sugar cravings in the afternoons. I think I am just looking for a pick-me-up, since I can't take a nap. I have decided I may try a small cup of coffee at about 2:00, to see if that will help. I will have to pay special attention to whether or not that affects my ability to fall and stay asleep at night.
I like this plan because it is cut and dry. I know what is good for me and what's not. I am beginning to understand how damaging it is to my body to consume Dead Foods. It's getting easier and easier for me to look at a cookie and see it as a "yuck" instead of as treat, reward, or a crutch to get through the day. Yet, I know if I am exercising everyday and my daily food habit is healthy and nutrient rich, my body can process away occasional bouts of junk. The thing is, I have to avoid rationalizing that it is OK to eat a little junk everyday, because that little becomes some, and that some become some more, and that some more becomes a lot. This is my Food Plan for Life: I will consume no Dead Foods except for on truly special occasions. On special occasions, I can eat and drink whatever I want.
Speaking of special occasions, we did have a special occasion yesterday. It was Jack's birthday!!! We had such a lovely evening. First of all, Jack really liked his presents. I bought him three new shirts and three pairs of shorts and a set of Briton soldiers, the West Point Cadet Color Guard. He was pleased with the new clothes but he loved the soldiers. They are pretty cool.
Last night we went out to dinner to a little restaurant just off the Plaza called Cafe Trio. We had been there once before, so we knew we would like it. We like the atmosphere. The food is good. The service is great. They have a piano player in the corner. It feels special, and it was a special day, so it was the perfect place to go. This was definitely a special occasion, so I knew I would eat what I wanted to eat, but it was interesting, when I looked at the menu I automatically rejected anything that was ridiculously calorie intense. For example, I like scallops. They taste good, they are low in calories, I tend to look for them on the menu when we go to nice restaurants. Cafe Trio had scallops on the menu; yep, they were coated in candied pecans (yes, I said candied) and were served in a frangelica cream sauce. Really? Come on. Let's take an innocent 75 calorie protein and convert it into a 1000 calorie mess, why don't we? Yeah, I skipped the scallops. They weren't even tempting. We split an appetizer, toasted ravioli. They were nutritionally worthless, I know, except for the tomato sauce, but they were light and tasty. A nice treat, nothing more, nothing less. For dinner I chose a beet salad with an add on of a few ounces of Ahi tuna. It was perfect, delicious and just the right amount of food. Even though we were enjoying a special occasion, I didn't gravitate toward the high calorie, heavy options on the menu. Just the opposite, I gravitated away from them. I did enjoy a couple of drinks, though. The restaurant has some fun specialty cocktails. And I shared Jack's birthday desert with him. They even brought it out with a candle in it and I sang him happy birthday. I really enjoyed treating Jack to this special meal and celebrating my husband on his birthday. I find it interesting that even though I could eat whatever I wanted according to my Food Plan for Life, what I really wanted to eat for dinner was a salad with beets and Ahi tuna.
Something that is worthy of a note and that I need to consider for future celebrations; the alcohol made it difficult for me to sleep last night. I was tired and fell asleep hard by 10:30 or so, but around midnight I woke up and could not fall back asleep for a couple of hours. This was caused by a combination of two things, the alcohol and stressing about work. I am pretty sure if I had not drank alcohol last night, I would not have woken up, but when I drink, I tend to wake up in the middle of the night, after the alcohol as "worn off." Then the stress kept me up. My sleep is important to me. I don't drink very often, but it is quite likely that I will tend to drink even less when I remember that it keeps me from sleeping well. I think it is worth paying attention to, at the very least.
I guess that's it for now. Life carries on. It's a new day, I need to exercise, go bowling, and make my husband a special birthday dinner. He gets his Swiss steak today. Lucky man!!
Food. How do I manage food for the rest of my life? To me, that is the biggest single question to which I need a real and lasting answer.
I have thought a lot about the 'Younger Next Year' book and why it changed my life. After glancing at the newest "stay thin" book out there by a popular author at the bookstore last night, I know the answer. 'Younger Next Year' explains why I need to exercise. That book cemented in my head, forever, why I need to exercise an hour a day six days a week for the rest of my life. It wasn't a bag full of tricks saying do this and do that. It didn't offer easy tips and tricks for being healthy. It wasn't a collection of cute ideas for manipulating myself into doing what was good for me. The book explained to me, in a straightforward and simple fashion, why I need to exercise every day. That knowledge motivates me to get up every day and do something that does not come at all naturally, exercise hard for about an hour.
Before reading the book I would have told you that, "I knew I needed to exercise." Well, I guess, "I thought I should exercise," would be a better way of putting it. After reading the book I no longer have a choice. I exercise every day and will continue to do so for the rest of my life.
I need that same conviction regarding Dead Food. 'Thinner This Year' calls all food that is worthless as far as nutrients go, Dead Food. She's talking about candy, chips, cookies, cakes, white bread, french fries, pop, alcohol, etc... I like that expression, Dead Food. I am now using it as my word to describe any food that does not pack a decent nutrition per calorie punch.
'Thinner This Year' is helping me get there, intellectually. I have been thinking more about Dead Foods, lately, and the impact that they have on my organs, blood, bones, brain, etc... I have not finished the book yet. I think it is likely that when I am done reading the book, I will re-read it and blog about it, similar to how I blogged about 'Younger Next Year.' That process really helped cement the knowledge in YNY into my brain.
In addition to reading 'Thinner' I have been listening to a lot of people talk about food and I've been paying particular attention to people that are fit. As I am developing my Food Plan for Life (Oh, I like the sound of that!), I know it has to be simple and sustainable. It also needs to be clear cut. It can't be fancy. There need to be clear guidelines. On Thursday morning, this is what I decided:
As part of my day-to-day diet, I will eat no Dead Foods. None. Nada. Nil. Zero. As in, no tootsie pops, no butter scotches, no peppermints, no cookies, no ice cream, no french fries, no chips. If the food lacks essential nutrients, I just won't eat it as part of my daily "this is what I eat to stay alive" regimen. I'm talking about my daily habit of food. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, etc... Day-in-day-out, my eating will be about consuming nutritionally rich food and avoiding Dead Foods.
But, and this is a real and true but, and this is the but that makes this plan doable in the long term, I will allow myself the luxury of eating and drinking whatever I want on special occasions. Now, I do need to be judicious in what I consider a special occasion. Jack's birthday dinner is a special occasion. Going out to dinner on a Thursday night because I am tired and don't feel like cooking is not. A co-worker bringing cookies in for St. Pattie's day is not a special occasion. A BBQ at work is not a special occasion. A child or grandchild's wedding, birthday or graduation party is a special occasion, as is a sibling's or parent's. A date is not a special occasion, unless it is for an anniversary or celebrating a promotion or something awesome like that. Going to a ball game is not a special occasion. Having lunch with friends at a restaurant is not a special occasion. Vacations are not special occasions. Going to dinner with Carla at her fancy restaurant in Vail will be a special occasion. In a nut shell, special occasions must be special. There is something to celebrate. It's not just daily life, it's a moment that is meant to commemorate something that is important to me and those close to me. These events will happen every now and then, not every week.
I have lived this plan for two days, so far, and I like it. The hardest part is afternoons at work. I get intense sugar cravings in the afternoons. I think I am just looking for a pick-me-up, since I can't take a nap. I have decided I may try a small cup of coffee at about 2:00, to see if that will help. I will have to pay special attention to whether or not that affects my ability to fall and stay asleep at night.
I like this plan because it is cut and dry. I know what is good for me and what's not. I am beginning to understand how damaging it is to my body to consume Dead Foods. It's getting easier and easier for me to look at a cookie and see it as a "yuck" instead of as treat, reward, or a crutch to get through the day. Yet, I know if I am exercising everyday and my daily food habit is healthy and nutrient rich, my body can process away occasional bouts of junk. The thing is, I have to avoid rationalizing that it is OK to eat a little junk everyday, because that little becomes some, and that some become some more, and that some more becomes a lot. This is my Food Plan for Life: I will consume no Dead Foods except for on truly special occasions. On special occasions, I can eat and drink whatever I want.
Speaking of special occasions, we did have a special occasion yesterday. It was Jack's birthday!!! We had such a lovely evening. First of all, Jack really liked his presents. I bought him three new shirts and three pairs of shorts and a set of Briton soldiers, the West Point Cadet Color Guard. He was pleased with the new clothes but he loved the soldiers. They are pretty cool.
Last night we went out to dinner to a little restaurant just off the Plaza called Cafe Trio. We had been there once before, so we knew we would like it. We like the atmosphere. The food is good. The service is great. They have a piano player in the corner. It feels special, and it was a special day, so it was the perfect place to go. This was definitely a special occasion, so I knew I would eat what I wanted to eat, but it was interesting, when I looked at the menu I automatically rejected anything that was ridiculously calorie intense. For example, I like scallops. They taste good, they are low in calories, I tend to look for them on the menu when we go to nice restaurants. Cafe Trio had scallops on the menu; yep, they were coated in candied pecans (yes, I said candied) and were served in a frangelica cream sauce. Really? Come on. Let's take an innocent 75 calorie protein and convert it into a 1000 calorie mess, why don't we? Yeah, I skipped the scallops. They weren't even tempting. We split an appetizer, toasted ravioli. They were nutritionally worthless, I know, except for the tomato sauce, but they were light and tasty. A nice treat, nothing more, nothing less. For dinner I chose a beet salad with an add on of a few ounces of Ahi tuna. It was perfect, delicious and just the right amount of food. Even though we were enjoying a special occasion, I didn't gravitate toward the high calorie, heavy options on the menu. Just the opposite, I gravitated away from them. I did enjoy a couple of drinks, though. The restaurant has some fun specialty cocktails. And I shared Jack's birthday desert with him. They even brought it out with a candle in it and I sang him happy birthday. I really enjoyed treating Jack to this special meal and celebrating my husband on his birthday. I find it interesting that even though I could eat whatever I wanted according to my Food Plan for Life, what I really wanted to eat for dinner was a salad with beets and Ahi tuna.
Something that is worthy of a note and that I need to consider for future celebrations; the alcohol made it difficult for me to sleep last night. I was tired and fell asleep hard by 10:30 or so, but around midnight I woke up and could not fall back asleep for a couple of hours. This was caused by a combination of two things, the alcohol and stressing about work. I am pretty sure if I had not drank alcohol last night, I would not have woken up, but when I drink, I tend to wake up in the middle of the night, after the alcohol as "worn off." Then the stress kept me up. My sleep is important to me. I don't drink very often, but it is quite likely that I will tend to drink even less when I remember that it keeps me from sleeping well. I think it is worth paying attention to, at the very least.
I guess that's it for now. Life carries on. It's a new day, I need to exercise, go bowling, and make my husband a special birthday dinner. He gets his Swiss steak today. Lucky man!!
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
3/13/2013: Slow News Day
There is not much new to talk about today. It's mid-week and I'm working through the things I need to work through.
I made a new exercise schedule last night and pasted it to my chart. My weekly schedule is now: Three full-body strength training workouts (1 hour each), 10 miles running (two 5 miles days), 1500 meters swimming and 76 minutes biking. If the weather is nice and I can get outdoors, the bike rides will be longer. Jack and I play racquetball almost every week for a little over an hour and, now that it is getting warmer, we'll probably start to do some hiking, too. I still need to double up some days so that I can get a day off in there, but I am happier with 3 full body strength days than 2 lower body days and 2 upper body days. I look forward to getting outside to run and ride my bike.
Other than that, there is not much new to talk about. Jack's birthday is Friday. He is taking the day off and it is supposed to be a gorgeous day, so that's cool. I'm glad he gets to have a pretty day for his birthday.
I made a new exercise schedule last night and pasted it to my chart. My weekly schedule is now: Three full-body strength training workouts (1 hour each), 10 miles running (two 5 miles days), 1500 meters swimming and 76 minutes biking. If the weather is nice and I can get outdoors, the bike rides will be longer. Jack and I play racquetball almost every week for a little over an hour and, now that it is getting warmer, we'll probably start to do some hiking, too. I still need to double up some days so that I can get a day off in there, but I am happier with 3 full body strength days than 2 lower body days and 2 upper body days. I look forward to getting outside to run and ride my bike.
Other than that, there is not much new to talk about. Jack's birthday is Friday. He is taking the day off and it is supposed to be a gorgeous day, so that's cool. I'm glad he gets to have a pretty day for his birthday.
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