Category Archives: Food

Exercise, Food, Thought Patterns

Head Down, Butt Up and Power Through

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If you’re squeamish, turn away! We are going to talk about something dark, ominous, dreaded and terrible. (Dom. Dom. Dom.) The Plateau.

You’re dieting – eating right, exercising, got your positive thinking cap on.  The world is yours.  Until…a week goes by without weight loss.  Ten days go by.  Two weeks.  ACK! Panic! Hysteria! Stress. Depression. Carbs.  The dieting death spiral. We’ve heard horror stories about it around the campfire.  We’ve seen it.  We’ve hit it.  Still, we are surprised – surprised and hurt.  What to do?  WHAT TO DO?!

Rodent gaining a plateau in the Badlands
Rodent gaining a plateau in the Badlands

First, as my former boss Julie used to say, “Relax your nerves.”

When I hit my first one during The Big Shrink, I’ll admit it: I freaked.  Friends reminded me that I was working out more; so, it was likely that I was gaining muscle at the same pound rate that I was losing fat.  Why would the most logical answer be the right one?  Crazy talk.  Cut it out. I didn’t buy that easy answer.  I mean, really.

Did you notice that I said, “my first one?”  There were several – not countless, but I can’t tell you how many.  I stopped counting and started taking them in stride.  I changed my thinking and found some coping mechanisms.

I changed the way I viewed the plateaux.  I stopped thinking of them as obstacles or trials and saw them as just part of the process.  They were a resting place, like a rest stop on the highway.  They let me stop focusing constantly on progress and let me think a little more of how far I’d come and where I was.

If the plateau didn’t break, my first thing to do was to check the fit of my clothes.  If I was getting smaller with no movement (or even upward movement) on the scale, I knew that I was gaining muscle mass at the same pace (or even faster) that I was losing fat.    I said that I wanted to lose weight; but, the point of the program was to lose fat and get healthier.  As long as I was losing size, I was on task – no problem.

If, however, I was losing NEITHER weight NOR size, then my body had slipped into, you guessed it, freak-out mode. Our bodies do this – they will decide that we’re trying to starve them to death. They respond by going into survival mode, slowing down metabolism.  The first time my body did this to me, I gave it a little talking to.  That wasn’t as effective as I had hoped.  The next thing I did (at the advice of a friend who is a doctor and fitness freak fan), was to change my exercise routine and bump my calorie budget up by two or three hundred nutrition-dense calories for a couple of days.  My body didn’t know what to expect with the new exercise routine and the calories reassured my system that I wasn’t starving it to death.  It relaxed its grip on more fat cells.

In the last few weeks, this plateau issue has come up in conversation several times.  As with everything, the only advice I can give you is what worked for me.  If you are at a plateau, don’t think of it as a curse.  Use the time to take stock, give yourself credit for your progress and look at where you’re headed.  If it doesn’t break on its own, change up your activity and your diet.  Keep yourself active and your food clean, but shake it up a little.

Above all: keep the faith!  Keep your head down, your butt up and power through it! You’ve got this.

Food

O Candida

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…our home and native land. Oh, wait. That’s Canada.

We are talking about Candida Albicans – yeast. We tend to think of yeast infections as being either of the thrush or Monistat variety.  But that’s just limiting the yeast and it won’t be kept down by The Man!  Candida can be so much more and is really rather insidious.

candida-lYesterday I was grousing to my colleague Ed (you’ve met him) about how tired I was in spite of having slept a great deal over the holiday, he told me about a video he had just seen.  It was a segment from the Dr. Oz show in which guest Dr. Elizabeth Bonham describes a quick, self test to see if yeast could be the cause of your exhaustion: spit in a glass of water.  Within 30 minutes of waking, before eating or drinking anything, spit into a glass of water.  The saliva should sit on top of the water.  If it sinks or “jellyfishes” downward, you may have a problem.

We all have candida albicans in our bodies.  We need it; however, it can grow out of control. When it begins to run amok, we get thrush, genital yeast infections, skin infections and, yes, fatigue. Several years ago, I had a months long battle with strep.  Course after course of antibiotics has my system still so unbalanced that it doesn’t know which way is up.

If you think yeast may be keeping you down, you can take these steps to restore balance:

  1. Reduce your sugar intake – take baked goods, ice cream, candy, and processed cereal out of your diet.  You will even want to cut back a little on your fruit intake. Yeast LOVES sugar. You’ve got to starve it.
  2. Increase your fermented foods intake.  I said foods. This is not to say that you are now on a liquid diet of cabernet for two weeks.  (Tragic.  I know.) Sauerkraut and kimchi are good.  Dr. Oz doesn’t mention yogurt, but I used to add a serving of yogurt or kefir to my diet every day.  I’ve already had my kefir this morning; so, I’m putting that back into the rotation.
  3. Take a probiotic supplement. Choose one that has at least 25 billion live active organisms.
  4. Eat garlic.  The doctors suggest eating one to two raw garlic cloves a day.  I haven’t tried this and cannot speak to its efficacy to anything other than killing your social life for a few days.  I’ll try it and let you know. You might not want to visit during this time, just wait for a phone call.

Dr. Oz has a lot to say on this subject and I’m too tired to write more; so, check him out here.

This video (about 9 minutes long) from Dr. Whiting disagrees with Dr. Oz on some points and explains some other points. I warn you, though, he’s got a product to sell; so, bear that in mind.

Here’s another interesting site – again with something to sell, but still interesting.

I was thinking to close with a few more bars of  a twisted version of O, Canada! – remember, I’m a hockey fan, I know all the words and sing the anthem of the North American hockey mothership; but, I don’t want to offend my sweet Canadian readers.  Plus, I’m just too tired and fuzzy to come up with it!

Exercise, Food, Habits

Soprano Funeral Dirge

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angelAs I told you when I started blogging, my health was the motivation for me to change my lifestyle. I had this moment of clarity at a regular check-up when my blood pressure was high enough that I was not allowed to leave until it came down. At that moment, it really hit me that either I changed my lifestyle or I might not be around to meet my grandchildren. It crystallized for me that this was my do-over and that it might be my last one. That sounds like a little hyperbole, but it’s not as outlandish as it first appears.  I’m in my mid-40s – five years younger than the (as of yesterday) late James Gandolfini.

The actor carried a great deal of fat around his middle, the most dangerous fat distribution.    As we discussed before, abdominal fat is linked to higher rates of cardiovascular disease.  Reports are that Gandolfini died of either a heart attack or a stroke.  Now, I realize that I’m making some assumptions here when I don’t have all of the facts.  I do not have any kind of insider information.  I’m going with the cause of death reported in the media (dangerous to trust anything in the media, I know). And I’m making a connection between that and his appearance.  My conclusion is reasonable.

The man was only 51 years old. How old am I? How old are you? How long before my beloved ice cream gives me a stroke? How long before that heart-attack-in-a-sack goes off in your chest?  Will we survive the wake up call or will it serve to wake someone else?

Why risk it? We have to make the changes we need to make today.  Eat more vegetables. Eat less refined sugar. Eat less flour. Eat cleaner, more natural foods. Increase your activity.  Walk more. Sit less.  Move.

I never had HBO and never watched The Sopranos; but, I’d seen Gandolfini in other projects.  I appreciated his talent and am saddened that he’s dead.  The real weight on my mind right now, though, is the wife he leaves behind and his children – a teen-aged son and an infant daughter who will never know her father.  It is for them that my heart breaks.

Exercise, Food

Gassing Up

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When I was the interim manager of a travel agency in Starkville, MS, a coworker joked about going over to Columbus to this Mexican restaurant to “gas up.”  The food was really good, but his assessment was right on the money; so, out of respect for each other, we scheduled those trips on Fridays.

My three kickboxing classes have reminded me about gassing up correctly.  For Saturday morning’s class, I remembered to get up in time to prepare the only breakfast that gives me enough energy to make it through that workout – a bowl of old fashioned or steel cut oatmeal with chia seeds, milled flax seeds, cinnamon and a mashed banana.  I’ve tried cold cereal.  Nope. Eggs, bacon and toast. Nope. Pancakes. Nope.  For me, this is the only breakfast that fuels me properly.  It’s my best way to gas up.  I have to eat it at least 60 minutes before class, but no more than 90.  Fewer than 60 may have me nauseated, but more than 90 and I run out of gas before the third mitt drill.  For my son, it’s different.  He needs to eat two hours prior and he needs a meal heavier in protein.

Speaking of protein, I have been hit this week with some pretty strong cravings…..for chicken and eggs. I know, right?  We’ve talked about cravings before and I truly do believe that they are often direct communication from our bodies addressing a specific deficiency.  When I think of food cravings, sugary foods usually come to mind.  My body is usually feeling tired and is demanding something for quick, ready energy; so, it creates visions of chocolate donuts dancing in my head.  Right now, my body doesn’t need the extra energy – it needs those amino acid chains. Right now, my body is telling me that it needs protein.

Working and building muscles – with push-ups, ab sprawls, squats, etc – actually damages them with tiny tears.  Protein repairs that damage, making the muscles stronger than before.    After hours of aerobic and isometric exercises, my aren’t ultimately feeling tired – they’re feeling damaged; so, my body is giving me A Chorus Line with barnyard fowl. (Take a moment and envision Bob Fosse choreographing for chickens. That’s priceless.)

Chicken Barn Dance by Matthew Finger
Chicken Barn Dance by Matthew Finger

Preparing for exercise, exercise itself and feeding your body afterwards are all crucial and, I believe, all very individual.  Walking is less effective for me than for many I know.  Lifting weights is good for everyone – but different weights and in different manners.  My body craves meat. You may be fine as a vegan. It’s all about YOU – your body, your metabolism, your heredity, your lifestyle.  Because it’s so personal, I think it’s important to educate yourself and to consult a professional.

In my profession, I hear it regularly: people have read this book, watched that show or listened to something else.  More than many, I can appreciate the value of self-education; however, I still go see my doctor for annual check-ups, you know what I mean? So, as you change your fuel and activity, talk with a doctor, a nutritionist, or a personal trainer.  When you see your doctor, your healthier stats are reported to your insurance carrier (which can have great effects on your rates, depending on what coverage you have.)  As for nutritionists and personal trainers,  health and fitness are ALL they do.  They’ve read more than you and I have time to.  They are educated on the subject – sometimes for years – and they know their professions.

You can make significant headway on your own, sure; however, this is what these people do. They are too valuable a resource to waste.

Food, Habits, Thought Patterns

The Cassandra Effect

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Cassandra by Evelyn De Morgan (1898, London)Recently, I’ve been identifying with Cassandra – you know, the daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba.  With her fair skin, curly red hair, and blue eyes, Greek mythology portrays her as intelligent, beautiful, charming, and elegant.  Check, check, check, and check. She is also shown as friendly, gentle and a great Scrabble player.  Oh, yeah – and insane.  I made up the Scrabble part, but the insane thing is totally there.  But, wait! She was insane for good reason.  Apollo.  (Wouldn’t you know that a man would be involved?) Because of her beauty, he gave her the gift of prophecy. But, he hit on her, she blew him off, he cursed her.  Her curse was that, although she could foresee the future, no one would believe her. Cassandra is the original queen of I Told You So.

Maybe it’s middle age. Maybe it’s new knowledge. Maybe it’s conceit.  Whatever the root, I seem to spend a great deal of time these days thinking, “If I had only known then what I know now.” With my new career, I have the zeal of a convert.  This new knowledge is fascinating and so very useful that I feel compelled to share it with people I know. Everyone I know.  Even the ones who don’t want to hear it. It’s possible that I’m the tiniest bit obnoxious about it.  Just the tiniest bit, mind you.

When I quit smoking, I never really became a non-smoker.  I didn’t become one of those who crinkled their noses at the smell of smoke or gazed condescendingly at smokers. Six years later, I sometimes gaze at them with jealousy, if you want to  know the truth, but never with condescension.  Oddly enough, I can’t say the same thing about food. I’ve gotten really weird about that.

Last month, I went to the Renaissance Festival because I still like to play dress-up and because they have Scotch eggs there. While there, I was nearly physically ill with what I saw – whole families of obese to morbidly obese people eating turkey legs, funnel cakes and fried potatoes.  The lines for the food vendors were ridiculous all day even though authenticity wasn’t on the menu – I’m pretty sure Elizabethan Brits didn’t wander around noshing on chocolate dipped cheesecake on a stick.  I watched as America’s future disabled stumbled around with hands holding literally thousands of calories.  Worse than the adults eating garbage were adults feeding garbage to already overweight children! The view from my high horse was truly amazing.

I’ve told you all I struggle and I lose (these days as often as I win, it seems); so, I’m seated squarely in the middle of a glass house here as far as food goes. I see health insurance rates rising. We all see the panic in the media; but what we don’t see are things we can actually do about it.  Losing weight and eating more wholesome foods are two things we can do to reduce our healthcare costs.  I don’t suspect it – I know it.

Before making these massive changes, I was in the doctor’s office at least once, if not twice, a month.  I didn’t feel good.  Various complaints, but the common thread was feeling tired and run down. Since changing my diet nearly two years ago, I have been to my family doctor…once.  For a rash on my nose.  Once.

We’ve got Medicare and Medicaid helping the retired and the needy in our society and we need those.  I wonder, though, how much health care for avoidable disabilities is costing those programs. I’m talking about people who are disabled because of poor lifestyle choices, not by genetics or misfortune but from diet and exercises choices they made.

The country is getting fatter.  This is a health crisis now; but, if we don’t address it, it’s going to be a financial one in the near future, as well.

Food

Eating Locally and Seasonally

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Eating closer to the ground – that was one of the things I decided to do early in my lifestyle change.  No more processed food (or very little). No frozen pizza. No canned spaghetti sauce (although Newman’s Own makes some good, reasonably priced options). No dinner in a box.  Whole foods.  Doesn’t that sound so earthy and precious?  The truth? At first it was a huge pain and sometimes it still is.  Whole foods mean a whole lot of planning and preparation.  Regardless of the inconvenience, whole foods are better for us. Period. And probably a lot less inconvenient than daily insulin injections.

Food is more nutritious when picked closer to ripeness and when eaten in season.  Here are a couple of handy guides for seasonal fruits and vegetables in Tennessee: Tennessee Seasonal Fruits and Vegetables and TN Harvest Calendar.  You can Google and find other guides appropriate to where you live.  I include these because: 1. I live in Tennessee, and 2. it’s my blog, I can do what I want. 🙂

I love going to the farmers’ market.  I love meeting the people who grow my food, knowing that my money is going to support someone locally, and knowing that the food is fresh and just recently harvested.  I’ve read some articles that say that frozen food has just as many nutrients as fresh food.  I think that has a lot to do with the fresh food you compare it to.  Are we talking vegetables and fruits that ripened on the vine or are we talking stuff that was picked early, packed up and shipped halfway across the world?  I’m pretty sure that what Trish brings to the Franklin Farmers’ Market has a whole lot more value to my system that what I can pick up from my grocer’s freezer (which, incidentally, is still miles ahead of the stuff in cans).

Back in April, we talked about keeping a variety of fruits and vegetables in your diet and how that helps with success. I encourage you to find a farmers’ market close to you and take a tour.  Go see everything they have to offer.  Try something new.  Buy something that scares you a little, even!  Kohlrabi still creeps me out; but, I’ll make you a deal – I’ll try it if you’ll try something new.  Tell me what you tried, how you prepared it and what you thought of it in the comments section.  C’mon!  Let’s eat something interesting!

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Accountability, Exercise, Food, Habits, Thought Patterns

Satan Invented Sweats, Yoga Pants and Stretch Denim

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..and in related news: Tennessee woman buried in clothing avalanche, sizes 6 to 20.

We all know better.  We know that it is physique awareness suicide to wear stretchy pants more than three days running.  After that, you might as well wrap yourself in an elastic muumuu and call it a day.  It is over. So, during my unemployment/knee recovery/eat-a-thon, I stayed away from the sweats and the yoga pants like I should.  I kept on slipping into my blue jeans, thinking that they were an accurate gauge of size during the time which shall be known henceforth as The Great Regain.  Pah!  More the fool me, right?! (Say “yes.”) My trusty denims weren’t denims at all, but were STRETCH denim.  (Gasp in horror.)

messy-closetI’ve heard Oprah say that she has every size in her closet from eight to elastic.  Mine was the same, making my room look more and more like an episode of Hoarders.  That kind of clutter has a deleterious effect on my mood; so, this weekend, I tackled it.  I had a box for clothes to give away, one for winter clothes to go into storage, and one for adorable summer clothes from last year that are a little bit too small.  Actually, I had two of those and some of those clothes are a lot too small.

I tried most everything on until I started berating myself for gaining weight back. The head trash wasn’t doing me any good; so, I adjusted to keep from generating any more of it by not trying on any more, just guesstimating the rest.  I divided the clothes that didn’t fit into two piles – the ten pound pile and the twenty pound pile.  Some things should fit me nicely in ten pounds, others will have to wait twenty.  Regardless, they are all going to have to wait and, in the meantime, I have to be able to breathe; so, they cannot be hanging in my closet looking at me accusingly day after day.  pile of clothesNobody needs that kind of attitude, not even from natural fibers.

The bad news is that I do have clothes that don’t fit.  The good news is that I conquered head trash generation while sorting them and I’m working on getting back into them in a calculated and orderly way:

  1. I have committed to walk 25 miles each week from now until 8.31.13 for the 501st Support Battalion 300 mile challenge.
  2. I have only good, nutrient-rich food in my refrigerator and a menu planned out for the week.
  3. I have a support system in person, on Facebook and here to keep me honest and on track.

Exercise, diet and support – the three keys and they’re all right there.  By the end of June, I’ll be into the clothes in the Ten Pound Box and by the end of July, I’ll be in the Twenty Pound Box.  I just have to keep my eye on the prize, my head in the game, and my rear out of Satan’s fabrics.

Accountability, Cravings, Habits, Motivation, Thought Patterns

Fatigue: Success Saboteur

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I. Am. Exhausted.

Starting any new endeavor takes an enormous amount of energy, and it doesn’t matter what kind of endeavor it is: weight loss, new job, new baby, new puppy, new home, whatever.  You know this.  I know this.  Of course, there is knowing and there is KNOWING.

With my new professional position, I am moving into a state of KNOWING.

New knowledge, friends, clients, situations, and experiences are invigorating; however, I am a middle-aged woman, not the battery bunny.  Long hours away from home are wearing me out and are beginning to have some not-so-great effects, a few of which I noticed yesterday:

  • overeating,
  • bad food choices, and
  •  over-analysis head trash.

My body is tired.  But, because it doesn’t know that I’m doing this on purpose, it is now beginning to register the fatigue as a threat to survival.  As a threat response, it’s telling me that it needs more food.  My hunger alarms are blaring like it’s a London air raid and I need to Keep Calm and Get My Fanny into the Tube.  I know that the threat is not real; however, my basic life functions don’t and right now they are buying all the air time and running commercials for food in my brain.

drive in intermissionAnd the commercials they are running are not for apples, mangoes and lean meats, either.  No, sirree!  I’m getting messages that my organism is in danger and we need high calorie items! It’s like the old drive-in commercials: I’ve got peanut butter cups, ice cream pints, and pastries dancing across my mental screen.  My conscious mind knows that the danger isn’t real, but my brain is still creating massive carbohydrate cravings.

My brain is also thinking too much.  It is my nature to over-analyze.  You can stop reading now because I’m certain you don’t deal with this same issue (yes, I’m rolling my eyes). I was doing a mental post-mortem driving home after an event last night.  I concluded that during the evening, I had likely developed a bad case of what my mother always called Diarrhea of the Mouth.

Speaking with these three really nice women, I realized that I was probably talking non-stop, but I could not shut up! A good conversation partner talks, then listens.  A poor conversation partner talks, then talks, then waits until it’s their turn to talk again.  I’m pretty sure I was the latter, not the former. Laura, Linda, Katherine: I promise that I will bring duct tape to the next function and you can just slap a strip on me when I start running off like that again.  My apologies, ladies.

Alienating people is bad; but, that’s really not the big, long-term danger for me.  The real danger was in berating myself as a boor on the way home.  The head trash – I’m a jerk, nobody likes me, I might as well go in the backyard and eat worms – will sabotage any and every effort, whether social, personal, external, or internal. Just like I said yesterday, I have to recognize that the trash is there and pluck it out before it does damage.

At the moment, I am not so tired that I don’t know the source of my hunger, cravings or self-doubts.  Because I know the source, I can (and, really, must) correct it.  I must address the fatigue before it causes some real harm.  I must take care of me.

Now, for those who have nodded your heads throughout this piece, who is taking care of you?

Eating Out, Habits, Thought Patterns

Corning’s Loss, Our Gain

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This is the United States where eating out is a national pastime. When I was growing up, there were only a couple of places in Brookhaven open for breakfast – Kerns Cafe and Brown’s Cafe (neither of which exist anymore).  The Round Table and Dog N Suds were open at lunch.  The Dog N Suds was also open for dinner. Sometimes, we would drive to Hazelhust to have dinner at Max’s or over to Georgetown for fried catfish at Al’s Fish Camp.  I think we might have had a Kentucky Fried Chicken in those days, as well.  But, you get the picture.  We ate out infrequently and had few choices when we did.  Now, I have a choice between Backyard Burger, fried chicken, eggrolls and Dunkin Donuts all at a single truck stop in the middle of nowhere!

corning casserole dishMarketing students hear how Corning Glass nearly failed because it didn’t see that Americans weren’t cooking at home anymore.  My grandmother and my mother both had complete sets of Corning casserole dishes.  You know the ones I’m talking about – white with either white flowers or vegetables on the side and that heavy, heavy glass lid.  Every pot luck, church dinner, holiday meal, supper club and family get-together saw tables laden with them. Check your cabinets. Do you have any of them?  I don’t.

And I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we cook less but are fatter than ever.

I’ve talked before about cooking and how cooking your own food is vital to weight loss success and a healthier body.  I am convinced that this is true.  Hidden sugar, salt, and god-knows-what make us gain weight and retain water.  They subject us to cravings.  They alter our body chemistries in ways we don’t even understand.

Friends encouraged me to start this blog because while Valerie Bertinelli and Oprah Winfrey can lose weight and look great, most of us do not have personal trainers, chefs or life coaches on speed dial.  Pre-packaged diets are successful because we don’t have time to plan.  We don’t know what to plan.  We just don’t know where to start.

I am coming to believe that a great part of my earlier success was that I was working from home.  Planning nutritious, balanced meals was much easier then than it is for me now and, frankly, I’m not doing all that great a job of it yet.  However, this weekend, I began to take my personal life back in hand.  I am a creature of habit, a person of routine.  I am still developing one that contains time for housework, laundry, exercise, meal planning and preparation, work time and networking time.  Oh, and sleep.  Sleep would be good, too.  While I’m nowhere near done, I made significant progress this weekend and that feels good.

I would love it, though, if you would continue to share what works for you!