Category Archives: Food

Food, Thought Patterns

Grief-eater

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London-Types-6Beefeaters once protected their monarchs by tasting the liege’s food to see if it was poisoned. During times of stress and/or great sadness, I become the Grief-eater. I taste the king’s food, the queen’s food, the knave’s, the footman’s and the scullery maid’s! I am all in everybody’s plates – all to ensure the safety of the household (from my mood).

After leaving the hospital Sunday morning, my sister and I stopped at a store to pick up back-ache remedies. Once inside, all I could think about was the bag of Cheetos we passed. I told my sister in a rushed and maybe even panicked voice that I was going to get some popcorn. What I wanted was to get the Cheetos and a bungee cord to secure them around my neck with; but, I was going to go with the lower calorie popcorn treat. I figured that I could stuff myself like a little piggy and not kill my calorie budget for the day.

Then I read the back of the prepared popcorn bag.

Smartfood, my aunt Fanny!  All of the additives jacked up the calorie count to near Doritos levels. That’s not helping anything if I choose that popcorn! So, instead, I went with the pre-portioned cinnamon roasted almonds and granola mix packets. At least with those, I got some nutritional value out of the snack and the controlled portion size would keep me from eating myself into a stupor – even though I really wanted to eat myself into a stupor.

Even after I arrived at my house where there were no witnesses other than the cats (who are easily bribed with a can of tuna) I ate lots and lots of vegetables, nuts, and fruit. I’d love to say that my good behavior was the result of an iron will, but you’d all laugh at the obvious lie. The truth is that my good behavior was the result of last week’s kitchen purge. All of the bad stuff was gone and I had plenty of healthful options available and close at hand.

We still have to make it through the funeral and long months of agonizing grief; but, with a sound nutritional game plan in play, we can come out the other side without doing too much damage.

No,  a squash slice dipped in hummus does not give the same chemical thrill that I get from a strawberry cheesecake Blizzard; however, I can fit back into my cute blue shorts and that more than makes up the difference.

 

Food

Say Good-Bye to My Buns

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… and my biscuits and my pancakes and my baguettes.

I’m so bummed.

Almost exactly a year ago, on July 13th, I told you about my sister’s discovery that when she eats wheat, her knees hurt her more. I felt really sad for her that she could no longer enjoy bread without pain. Then I ate a sandwich.  Well, harumph! Guess what I discovered this week after just four days of eating clean. Yep, my knees don’t hurt nearly as badly and I haven’t eaten wheat since Monday.

Obviously, different people react to different foods in different ways (is that like using a double negative? did I cancel out a couple of those ‘different’s?). It’s chemistry. However, for many, wheat ingestion causes inflammation. As of when I woke today, I’m thinking that I am one of the many and I’m not at all happy about it.

On the up side, knowing the cause is most of the battle, right? If I know that wheat consumption makes my joints swell, then it’s like the old Henny Youngman joke:

  • Patient: Doctor, it hurts when I do that.
  • Doctor: Then don’t do that.

contorted catIt’s just that simple and it’s just that difficult. Stay away from wheat.

As anyone who has gone gluten-free or tried to go gluten-free can tell you, that stuff is just everywhere! It’s hidden in all kinds of prepared foods. Probably the easiest way to avoid it is to shop on the outside aisles of the grocery store, except the one that runs by the bakery, that doesn’t count. But, if you stay on the outside aisles, you stay near the perishables and away from the non-perishables. And, let’s just think about that for a minute. I really have to think twice about consuming something that claims to be non-perishable. With some notable exceptions like honey, the idea of food that doesn’t spoil is just horrifying.

I nixed baked goods from my diet this week, not because I had any suspicion that they caused me discomfort, but because most baked goods also contain sugar and are calorie dense. I knew that I needed to focus on eating plenty of vegetables and fruit this week.  At this point, my suspicion that wheat omission has made my joints less creaky is just that: a suspicion. In a couple of weeks, I will test my theory; but, for now, I’m operating on the assumption that my theory is correct. Even so, just like I do with the milk products I’m allergic to, when the cost is worth it, I’ll indulge in a cookie, pancakes or something. I will just have to want it badly enough to put up with the pain the treat brings.

Isn’t that kind of a common theme for most of our discussions on food choices? We have to focus on eating those things that provide our bodies with the clean fuel it needs to operate and with the supplies it needs for repairing itself. And from time to time, only occasionally, when we really, really want it, we have to allow ourselves to grab our buns.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Food, Habits

Your Own Carnegie Hall

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Of course you know the old joke of the tourist who asks the musician how to get to Carnegie Hall. The musician replies, “Practice, practice, practice!” For the musician, preparation is key.  The same thing is true of your own personal Carnegie Hall, whether that’s losing weight, feeling better, or being healthier – prepare, prepare, prepare!

Yesterday, I shared some veggie photos and some of the habits that helped me be successful losing 94 pounds two years ago. Like I do, I got lazy, though, and strayed from those habits. As a result, I’ve gained a little bit of weight – around seven pounds – and I feel a lot more “gummed up.”

Now, if you’re anything like I was at the start of my personal journey, you just read “seven pounds” and said, “girl, pleeze!” Here’s an interesting thing I discovered on the healthier end of the weight scale and on the smaller end of the clothing scale: smaller numbers matter. When I was a size 20, I could gain seven pounds and barely feel it. My clothes still fit and I didn’t feel any worse than before since I already felt pretty crappy. At a size six, seven pounds make an enormous difference. Those pounds put me into an eight or even a ten for some items. And I feel every single pound. I feel bloated, puffy, uncomfortable, and, yes, fat.

That’s another thing, whether it’s seven ounces, seven pounds, or seventy pounds – when you feel fat, you feel fat. The feeling is exactly the same. That was truly a surprise for me.

10496177_10153025303969741_4478579920978344705_oAnyway, back to my point: the biggest habit to develop for yourself is to prepare. If I have peppers, tomatoes, and squash already cut up sitting there, I’m more likely to reach for them when I want something to go in my hummus; thus, I’m more likely to eat both the veggies and the hummus than I am to run to the store for chips. If I already have peppers and onions sautéed, I’m more likely to eat that roasted Portobello or that grilled, lean chicken breast – both of which are also already prepared. Those are at the ready and just need to be heated; so, why make the trek to Wendy’s? No need.

As a culture, we are all about easy and quick. Well, I’m sorry to break it to you, but eating right isn’t really all that easy or quick. However, it can be easier. It can be quicker. When we take a few hours, one day a week to plan and do some basic prep work for our meals for the whole week, we give ourselves a much greater chance of success.

You’re too busy? It costs too much?

What? You’re not worth the investment of a few hours of your own time? So fast food, diabetes and illness are less expensive than eating healthfully?

Girl, pleeze!

Food

Back On The Wagon

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I got a little static yesterday for comparing my food issues with alcoholism or drug addiction. While I will certainly never say that my struggle is as difficult as the one that recovering alcoholics or drug addicts have, I will tell you that it’s not easy to stay on the diet straight and narrow. (By “diet” there I mean eating habits, not a reducing diet, per se.)

I don’t know that I’ve ever admitted this in public and in all seriousness before – I am an emotional binge eater. When I am feeling worthless or hurt, I will eat absurd amounts of food – usually food that is high in fat, sugar and calories. I do this in secret and am deeply ashamed of having done it. That shame eventually leads to another binge. And the cycle goes on and on. I was always a little jealous of those with bulimia, as twisted as that is! They purged and were thin. I didn’t and was obese.

I’m not alone, am I? Some of you are binge eaters, as well.

Here are some of the habits (certainly not a comprehensive list) I used to help me lose the big weight. I’m using them again as I recover from yet another slip up.

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Food, Habits, Thought Patterns

Pouting With Puffs

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Cheese puffs, that is.

Yesterday, I shared with you that my boyfriend has dumped me. Since we weren’t in love, it’s not like my heart is broken. Still, any kind of total rejection like that stings and I have reacted to that stinging by applying the balm of Cheetos. Plus, I’ve gone back to my first loves – Ben & Jerry. I have friends who are recovering drug addicts and alcoholics. When their egos take a hit, they really struggle not to return to drugs or alcohol. I have a similar struggle with food. And I have fallen off the wagon.

This, of course, means that my adorable blue shorts cannot contain my burgeoning backside. Time to call a screeching halt to all of that!

And on Sunday, I did.

After I had a cheeseburger, crinkle fries and a vanilla soft-serve cone from Karin’s Kustard. This was to be my last junk food meal for awhile; so, I wanted something especially naughty. I got the hook-up at Karin’s. Their cheeseburgers are too yummy, but it’s the crinkle fries and soft serve that I love most. Seriously, if you’re going to have fries, in my opinion, anything other than crinkle fries is just a waste of time and calories. (By the way, rather than fueling me, the meal made me super sleepy.)

I hit up Aldi then came home and cleaned out the refrigerator. I threw out the sketchy bottles of wine, the high-fat and sugar dressings and the dairy milk. Out went some really scary squashes and a couple of containers of I-don’t-even-know-what. I put the Alouette and the last of my Mississippi State Edam cheese in the freezer to eat in moderation some time later. (As an aside, if you’ve never had Edam cheese from the Mississippi State Dairy Science Department, do yourself a favor and order a ball. You’ll thank me later.)

Wallace kitty checks out the newly restocked fridge.
Wallace kitty on smackeral patrol.

In went the Aldi’s loot!

Lettuce mixes, baby kale, arugula, broccoli, cauliflower, and almond milk hit the shelves. Honeydew melon, watermelon, and grapes soon followed. Bananas and lemons went into a pretty bowl on the counter. Eggplant, some carrots, some yellow squash, and some Portobello mushrooms were roasted for consumption later this week.  I chopped sweet peppers, some onions, some yellow squash, some portobellos (they were on sale) and some carrots to go with grape tomatoes and spinach into salads, omelets or to dip in hummus. I stocked the cabinets with dried beans, tuna packed in water, oatmeal, dried cherries and cashews divided into single servings (it’s too easy for me to eat too many otherwise). I can practically hear my cells rejoicing over the selection!

This week will be all about the veggie and fruit consumption. I’m going to be straight with you – my body is going to rebel at some point. I’ve let it get used to refined sugar again and it’s going to pitch a toddler tantrum for sweets long about tomorrow. I’ll have to respond to it just like I did to my son when he was a toddler. I’ll tell myself, “Princess (b’cause you know I call myself Princess), that is unacceptable. You stop that this instant! You may not have that Twix. You may have these grapes.” In all likelihood, my body will still pout about it for a couple of days, throwing mini-tantrums here and there; but, I’ll have you with me and that will keep me strong.

Well, that and the fact that I threw out the Cheetos.

 

 

Accountability, Food

SitRep – ACK!!!!

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I’m a huge NCIS fan – the original NCIS. (I keep asking Santa to bring me Jethro Gibbs for Christmas; but, he just brings me kitchen implements and hair thingies. I think Santa doesn’t understand just how serious I am about this.) On the show, they are forever talking about “sitreps.” Now, in the spirit of Abby and the gang, Ima give you the latest situation report for the Goddess.

yikes-catOkay, so remember AGES ago when I said that Satan invented stretch fabrics? Yeah, well, I’m pretty sure he’s behind PMS, too, and I am reasonably certain he sits on the board of some baking companies.

For the last couple of weeks, I have been an absolute slave to my hormones. Good grief! Thankfully, this degree of craving is a very rare occurrence; however, when it happens, it takes me WEEKS to recover. And have I been craving apples? greens? lean meats, maybe? Oh, my goodness not a chance. It’s been all about the Ho Hos, honey! Yes, that unholy trinity of wheat, chocolate and sugar has had my number for days now and I can feel it in the fit of my jeans. Thankfully, we seem to be at the end of this sugar siege and the damage isn’t irreparable.

But that’s the thing, isn’t it? As long as we’re still on this side of the grass, the damage isn’t irreparable.

Or, at least most of it isn’t. Joints damaged by decades of extra pounds cannot currently fully heal; but, they can get better. Even diabetes can get better with a carefully controlled diet and exercise – or, shoot! Just with a carefully controlled diet!

I’ve said it over and over again: this isn’t a one time fix-it thing. It’s not like earning a diploma – once you get it, it’s yours forever. This is a lifelong process. When you reach your goal weight, you don’t get to stop watching your intake and fuel burn, reverting to your previous eating habits – not if you want to keep the weight off. No, this lifestyle is a series of choices – every time you fix your plate, every time you chose the stairs over the elevator. With every morsel or movement, you are choosing to remain healthy or choosing to regress to poor health.

As I sit here writing this, I have a cold – my third since Autumn. When I was eating a mindfully balanced diet, I had no colds – not one. Now, I was also working out of my home and my contact with the outside world was more limited than it is currently. However, even then, my son was living at home and we all know how germy kids are. (We love them; but, they’re like plague rats – carrying everything!) I have been eating poorly and certainly not in a regularly balanced way since October and my health has suffered. I’ve had these colds, my skin, hair and nails are dry and damaged, my joints hurt, my spirit is low and my digestive system is in constant turmoil. By not choosing to be healthy, I’ve chosen to be unhealthy. So, in short, my sitrep is ACK! However, again, the damage isn’t irreparable.

Time to get my culinary tools out and start fixing! Are you coming?

Food

Snake Oil Sales Are Alive and Well

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500Snake-Oil-Ad

Every night, during the course of a shift, I process literally hundreds of orders for supplements, herbs, vitamins, and god-knows-what all. Most of the things I see are to aid in weight loss. They all make extravagant claims on their labels complete with proof-positive-photos of real people – just like you(!) – who have used the product and who have gone from ghastly to gorgeous, practically overnight and with no change in lifestyle! Woo hoo!!!!

Yawn.

Mmmk. Here’s the thing: no one but the manufacturers of these supplements are touting their benefits. Heeeeeeeeellllloooooooo! Just for fun, let’s look at a couple of them:

Garcinia cambogia – while there are some television personalities and several companies who endorse this miracle fat-buster, the science just isn’t there. As far back as 1998, clinical tests were being done on this panacea for portliness (ya like that one?) and, yep, you guessed it, in the blind tests garcinia cambogia performed no better than a placebo. In fact, some preparations have been pulled from the market because of possible links to liver damage. That leads us to ..

Hydroxy-this, Lipo-that, Xena-something else – in spite of being once endorsed by recent medical school graduates, celebrities and people just like you and me (wink), these supplements have been specifically noted as the source of some liver damage related to garcinia cambogia, a major ingredient. Another main ingredient found in some of them is (or was, I don’t know that they can use it anymore) ephedra which boosts metabolism, raising body temps, blood pressure and heart rate, which can be dangerous for many. Basically, this is OTC speed. It may work in the short term or it could kill you.

There are SOOOOO many supplements, cleanses, miracles out there that it’s fatiguing just to contemplate them all. Some of them are endorsed by entertainment doctors, but I’ll bet your family practitioner wouldn’t send you out for them. Don’t take the word of someone on television, or someone at the gym, or even a strawberry-blonde Goddess whose you read (religiously, I’m sure). Do your research! Read the ingredients, look at the claims, examine the science and make informed decisions.

The companies manufacturing and selling these drugs don’t care about me and they don’t care about you. What do they care if their product shortens our lifespans? They’ve got a house on St. Bart’s, for heaven’s sake. What do they care about the life of some housewife, some student, some retiree in Lexington, El Paso or Eugene? They don’t. That’s your job – to care about your life and your body. It’s your job to do what’s best for it.

And, while I don’t know all the answers, what I do know is what worked for me and it’s that plain, old, stick-in-the-mud answer of diet and exercise. Eat lots of veggies. Control your portions. Exercise for 30 minutes a day, even if it’s just taking a walk. Give your body what it needs and it will do the rest.

There’s only one way to lose 15 pounds of ugly fat overnight – Madame Guillotine. As for supplements and snake oils : caveat emptor.

Exercise, Food, Thought Patterns

Instant Moutaineer

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sir-edmund-hillary-gear_49924_600x450Hey! My son lives in Tacoma. Let’s go up for a visit and climb Mt. Rainier. To the top. Next week.

Riiiiiight. Any idiot knows that you have to plan, prepare and train before tackling a mountain like that. Then, why on earth do we think that we can climb the mental mountains of major personal and lifestyle changes without any preparation at all?

‘Fess up. How many times have you resolved to lose weight, start exercising or whatever, started off all gang-busters, failed miserably and wondered how? I estimate that I’ve set those goals more than 20 times. I estimate that I’ve failed to acheive those goals more than 20 times. (Once, though, I did manage to quit smoking for a couple of years before I relapsed. That was before I acknowledged that I am a nicotine addict, not a habitual smoker – important distinction, realization and admission, let me tell you. With that distinction, I’m a seven year non-smoking nicotine addict.) With that track record, why not give up? Why try again?

Because, like L’Oreal says, I’m worth it.

Like They (the infamous They) say, the definition of insanity is doing something the same way time after time, expecting different results. I finally did it differently. I finally figured out that I couldn’t go from couch potato to marathoner  or from a size 20 to a size two overnight. (Let’s get real here, without mummification, I ain’t ever going to a size two.) I started listening to my body and approached the changes as lifestyle changes rather than as “going on a diet” or as “starting to workout.”  I couldn’t go from eating 92.4 grams of sugar each day (the average American intake) to 25 grams (the American Heart Association’s recommended daily maximum) in one stroke – stroke being the operative word, every time I tried it, my system went into fits of apoplexy and complete rebellion. The system-wide, cellular response was, “Hell to the no.” The smart approach for me was the same one many take when quitting smoking – the gradual one.

I removed processed foods from my diet, but initially replaced many of those sugars with added servings of fruit. To stave off cravings, I ate treesful of apples those first few weeks. As my system got used to getting natural fructose instead of high-fructose corn syrup or sucrose, I was able to decrease the number of daily fruit servings to one or two. Weight loss began in a way that my system could live with.

As I’ve struggled with my attitude in the last few months of 2013, I have failed to monitor my diet. I have failed to keep sugars and wheat in check. I have failed to eat enough vegetables or, really, anything even approaching a balanced diet. I’ve eaten all the wrong things in all the wrong proportions.  But….

I’m worth it, remember?

So, I begin a new year on the calendar and in my mind. My refrigerator is stocked with veggies. I’ve got dried fruit and nuts for snacks. I’ve got lean meat in the freezer. My nutritional arsenal is full and my mind in the right place.  I begin the process of training to summit my mental mountains which are every bit as daunting as Mt. Ranier even if they don’t include a visit with my son.

Food, Thought Patterns

Whirlpools Suck

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whirlpoolAs you all know, I’ve been depressed now for several months…deeply depressed. If I had a friend in the mental place I’ve occupied these months, I’d be very concerned for them – as many of you have been for me, which I appreciate. Ultimately, the decision to fight this condition is mine alone. I’ve made a few attempts to pull out of the whirlpool pulling me under; but, none of them have been consistent enough or thorough enough to make a difference. As a result, the whirlpool has become stronger – stronger to the point that I’ve found myself shaking my fists at the sky asking if I could get a break already. The answer, if there has been one, was apparently “no.” The latest set-back has been largely my own fault, though.

I’m sick.

My workplace is germier than any kindergarten in the world.  Hourly employees who live from paycheck to paycheck go to work when they’re sick.  They don’t have a choice. I know. I haven’t missed a shift, either, in spite of the lung cooties I’ve got going on right now. It’s not my fault that I work with Typhoid Mary. It is my fault that my immune system was compromised.

In my depression, I failed to do some things I’ve advised you to do over and over again – exercise, eat nutritious foods and balanced meals. I have not given my body the nutrients it needs to defend or fight for itself.

As I said, the decision to pull out of the whirlpool is mine. The first step to that was to go grocery shopping. This week, I went to Aldi and came away with all kinds of vegetables, eggs and nutritious snacks. I’ve already begun feeding my body what it needs to heal itself. It’s just the first step; but, I’ve taken it.

After a few days, I’ll take another. One at a time.