Category Archives: Food

Food, Habits

Measuring Up

1 Comment

measuring cups and spoons

If you’ve looked at my Project 40 worksheets this week, you’ve noticed that there are measurements for everything I’ve eaten. Since I am counting calories, I have to measure everything. And, frankly, I’d forgotten just how tedious that is.

I mean, really. I break out the measuring cups and spoons for every little thing. That extra step isn’t all that hard; but, it’s just annoying, you know? Annoying as it is, I truly believe that it was integral to my success during the Great Reduction.

Serving sizes are crucial, particularly when you’re dealing with calorie dense items or packaged items like dry cereal or cheese. Do you know what 3/4 cup of raisin bran really looks like? I sure don’t – not without my measuring cups! Let’s say that I pour out what I think is 3/4 cup, add what I think is 1/2 cup of almond milk and scarf it up. But, let’s say that what I actually poured out was a whole cup of cereal and 3/4 cup of almond milk. In that instance, I ate 57 calories more than I thought I did. And, let’s be real, without measuring, I probably missed the mark by more than just 1/4 cup. Whether I document them or not, those calories count…..and they add up.

Pennies make dollars. Inches make miles. And ounces make pounds – whether I’m gaining or losing.

 

Cravings, Food

Gimme Some Sugar!

1 Comment

So, I started Project 40 Monday morning at about 4:00. (Hey, I work third shift; I have bizarre sleeping hours even on my days off.) By 7:30 I was already having sugar withdrawals. I knew they would be coming, but that didn’t make them any easier.

sugar

While I wasn’t blogging for awhile, I was eating. And I was eating all the stuff I know is bad for me – processed foods with refined sugar. I even fell off the vegetarian wagon for several days and ate shepherd’s pie that I had made with some ground lamb that my father had left here and that I had thawed in error. (While the shepherd’s pie was tasty, my stomach issues over those days weren’t really worth it.) In general, my system has been in absolute chaos! It was anarchy, I tell you!

And, as it is with anarchy, when I tried to restore order, my efforts were met with stiff resistance – particularly from the sugar junkie cells. As you no doubt know, sugar activates the pleasure centers of the brain in ways very similar to both cocaine and heroine. Still, sugars, both naturally occurring and added, are in nearly everything. We can’t totally avoid it; but, what should we limit ourselves to?

That’s tricky because there are no USDA guidelines like there are for nutrients since sugar isn’t a nutrient. So, it depends on who you ask as to how much is the right amount. I recently found an article on the American Heart Association’s site which recommends no more than nine teaspoons of sugar per day for men and no more than six teaspoons for women. (The World Health Organization uses similar guidelines.) To translate it into units on nutritional labels, that’s 36 grams for men and 20 grams for women. Okay, that still doesn’t have much meaning for me; so, let’s look at the sugar content of some things I’ve been eating:

So Delicious Cashew Milk Salted Caramel Cluster frozen dessert (yum) – 18 grams per serving  – 4 servings per pint and, really, who doesn’t just eat the whole pint at once? So that’s 72 grams. Yikes!
Zero candy bar – 31 grams
Bojangles sweet potato pie – 28 grams
Hershey’s with Almonds – 19 grams
Kettle Chips Backyard Barbeque flavor – 1 gram per 13 chips (13 chips?! Get real!)

In the past month, I’m pretty sure that I’ve eaten three years worth of my sugar allowance. Now my brain has gotten used to it and weaning the grey cells off the white stuff is going to be a battle, any way I look at it. Still, it’s a battle I’ve won before and I won it with apples.

So, my kitchen is well-stocked with apples and for the next week or so, I won’t worry about my daily sugar intake as I reach for an apple when the cravings hit really hard. If Project 40 works like the Great Reduction, I won’t have to reach for the apples for very long. The Sugar Monster will slumber once more and all will be peaceful in the kingdom.

Well, kinda.

Accountability, Body Changes, Food

Just For Me

5 Comments

Love yourself

My friend Kent read yesterday’s piece and, like the wonderful friend he is, said, “Time to be blunt. I didn’t see the weight gain until YOU mentioned it.” That may be true; but, I saw it and my vision is really the most important one here – as long as it stays realistic.

What I mean is this: I’m the one who has to feel comfortable in my own skin and, right now, I don’t. I feel bloated, thick and weak. I don’t like feeling this way, particularly since I now know what it feels like to feel svelte and strong. Okay, maybe I wasn’t exactly svelte in everyone’s definition, but I certainly was in my own and I want to feel that way again.

I don’t like feeling winded when I walk up one flight of stairs. I don’t like feeling like I have rolls of fat on my belly. I don’t like feeling like I have no control over my appetite. Frankly, right now, I do feel winded, fat and out of control. My feet, knees and hips hurt. I’m the only one who can change that. I changed it before and I can do it again.

Now, if you look at my activity sheet from yesterday, you’ll notice that there are no structured exercises or accidental exercises listed. That’s because I was so worthless that I wasn’t worth the 12 cents for the bullet to shoot me. Working nights is more tiring that I ever imagined when I worked a regular schedule. I just don’t rest as well during my work week. So, at least once a month, I sleep most of 24 hours on a day off. Yesterday was that day.  You’ll also notice that I did not consume enough calories.

I should consume at least 1200 calories per day just to fuel my basic bodily functions. If I consume fewer than that, my body will react by going into starvation mode, converting all calories to fat. I will also become listless, confused and will feel cold all the time – at least that’s what happened when I consumed too few calories during The Great Reduction. I will have to plan my meals better so that I get the calories I need to function and to burn excess fat efficiently.

Whether I want to look better or feel better, this endeavour is all about me, really, isn’t it? It’s what I want for myself. It’s not that I look or feel just horrible now; but, I know what it feels like to feel better and I want that again – just for myself.

 

Accountability, Exercise, Food, Habits

So This Happened……

Leave a comment

When my friend Rebecca first suggested I write this blog, it was with the idea of sharing how I had lost 94 pounds and how I maintained that loss. Except that I haven’t. Maintained the loss, that is.

As I’ve told you, it all started last Fall when I got that Depro Provera shot. I started gaining weight; but, it didn’t end there. Now, here we are, eight months later. As a contraceptive, the shot worked great! I don’t have a human baby growing inside my belly; however, I’ve got a gigantic food baby growing everywhere! I see this 40-pound monster on my forearms, my thighs, my ankles and, of course, in my mid-section.

dawn

That’s right. I’ve gained 40 pounds – the weight of a full water cooler bottle. Ugh. BUT! This morning is the dawn of a new day. I decided yesterday that today would be the day I took control again. And here we are.

I have set up a new goal in my Lose It! account. This goal is to lose 1.5 pounds per week until this 40.8 pounds is gone. The app estimates that I will reach my goal by December 30th and has given me a daily calorie budget that will let me achieve this. Of course, I’ll be tracking all of my food and exercise on that site; however, if you look at the top of this page, you’ll see a new section called 2015 Project 40. Under that section, I will post my daily logs. I’ve created a spreadsheet to track my estimated calorie intake and calorie burn. You’ll be able to see at a glance what my menus are and what my workout routines are. (I’ll try to link items in the spreadsheet with items in the menu section; however, that may be beyond my technical skill. We’ll see.)

My regular posts will continue to be about food and whatever else I feel the need to talk about; so, I will likely not address that whole endeavour here often. However, the Project 40 section will always have updated sheets allowing you to track my progress and to help you with your own! If you want a copy of the spreadsheet to use for yourself, just email me at the Contact the Goddess link above and I’ll be thrilled to send one to you!

Here we go, friends!

Food, Vegetarian, Whole Food Plant Based Lifestyle

The Birth of a Bean Freak

1 Comment

Nearly 48 years ago, my parents brought me home from the hospital, wrecking my sister’s run as an only child. I’ve been wrecking shaking things up for her ever since. Poor thing.

Don’t shed a tear! She gets hers, lemme tell you. She’s hardly helpless. In fact, I might even go so far as to say that she set me on my current path to becoming a complete bean freak. See, here’s how it started (and how I’m totally blaming her):

In her 20s, Chele spent a few years living in Germany where they were huge into recycling – even in the 80s. She really got into it – both in deed and in spirit. She got used to “reduce, reuse, recycle” and brought the ideas home with her. Once stateside, it was tough to recycle anything much more than aluminum cans; but, until there were actual recycling programs, she continued her mission to reduce and reuse. And was she ever an evangelist about it! I’m pretty sure that there were times I threw things away that resulted in some discourse ending in, “Can I get an AMEN!”

You see, unlike my sister, I was still a giant, spoiled, American baby. I bought things. I used them. I threw them away. Disposable anything was just fine with me. I gave no thought to excess plastic or packaging. I went to Kroger, bought what I needed, consumed it, then threw the remains in the landfill, never giving it a second thought. Well, not a second thought until the Earth Queen got ahold of me, anyway. This went on for years – her fussing, me ignoring – until I lived in New Orleans where the city had a recycling program. Since it was not big deal for me, I separated my plastic containers and put them in the bin. I started recycling in the laziest of ways. Still, I started.

After Katrina, we moved to Tennessee where I met my friend Sean who is also an advocate of recycling. He didn’t really give me grief about it, though. He just told me where I could take it and how easily we could set up collection bins on my back porch. Before I knew it, I had bins for plastic, steel cans, cardboard, aluminum, glass and paper. The truth is, I’m not entirely sure I set these up. It’s possible that he did it while I wasn’t looking. Still, nearly ten years later, I still recycle everything but plain paper (they don’t take that anymore, but sometimes I shred it and add it to my compost pile).

So, you see? It’s totally their fault! Between Chele and Sean, I began to be aware of the environment and the impact on it my choices have. This made me fertile ground for the vegan message, particularly after becoming such a fan of veggies during the Big Reduction. Even realizing that they all have their own agendas, films like Fat,Sick and Nearly Dead, Vegucate, Forks Over Knives, Fed Up and Food, Inc. found a willing convert in this nascent Bean Freak.

So, it’s been nine months since I started my vegetarian experiment – nine months with a total of maybe six servings of meat. Eggs and dairy have fallen by the wayside in the last couple of months – except when they are in something processed. (I’m not turning down a slice of cake to avoid a little egg.) And, as I’ve told you (and my sister, ad nauseum), I feel better than ever.

My sister, who is visiting me this week, is getting the full-on vegan treatment (Except for that cow’s milk she insists on drinking in her tea) whether she likes it or not. We’ve had black bean burgers, wild mushrooms, portobellos in peanut sauce, Jamaican Black Beans with pineapple chutney, cashew and almond milk frozen desserts. It’s all good stuff! Can I get an AMEN!

(I work tonight. Watch for her at the Wendy’s drive-thru as soon as I leave.)

Body Changes, Whole Food Plant Based Lifestyle

I Would Like to Vuy a Bowel, Pat

1 Comment

For ages, my friend Joey’s standard greeting was, “Hey! How you doing? How’s your bowels?” I have no clue why, that was just Joey. He was sort of a cross between Barney Fife and Kramer – always a little edgy, always a little off the cuff and always funny. Anyway, as I’ve been transitioning my menu choices, I’ve been thinking a lot more about Joey’s greeting.

Because, friends, let me tell you, my intestines have never been happier!

Without going into all the gory details, I’ll just tell you that as a child, I was intimately familiar with the taste of Fletcher’s Castoria. I often had a difficult time going to the bathroom and it’s something that has followed me into adulthood. IBS attacks when taking clients to lunch plagued me during my days in sales!

Not on a whole food, plant-based diet, though!

When I was going through the Big Reduction, I made sure that at least 75% of my meal was fruits or vegetables. And that made a huge difference in my system. Incidents of stomach upset and tear gas production decreased dramatically and I was thrilled! However, as I’ve shifted away from all animal protein, those incidents have decreased even further (as long as I stay away from soy).

While none of the Forks Over Knives books has specifically mentioned decreased digestive complaints as a result of following the lifestyle, in my experience, constipation, diarrhea, bloating, and excessive and biohazardous gas production are all gone!

It’s a really nice change.

Food, Whole Food Plant Based Lifestyle

It Tastes Just Like…..

1 Comment

No. No, it doesn’t.

That Skinny Shake (blend: 3/4 cup Almond Milk, about 15 ice cubes, 1/2 tsp Vanilla, 1-2 Tbsp unsweetened Cocoa powder, 1/3 of a Banana) that’s supposed to taste just like a Frosty? It doesn’t. It’s entirely possible that it was operator error and that I just messed it up – you know, on account of how complicated the recipe is and all. I know that mine had some chunky ice pieces in it since I have just a regular blender and not one of those Ninja blender things – or even a regular Ninja. I’m pretty sure you need one or the other to get the ice cubes crunched down small enough. So, in my experience, you know what tastes like a Frosty? A Frosty!

And I’m sure you’ve seen the faux soft serve recipe where you take bananas you’ve frozen in pieces and put them in a blender or food processor, blending until smooth. Tastes just like soft serve! Nope. No, it doesn’t. However, this one does have a nice texture, great taste and versatility. This one I really enjoyed and will do again. I’d even be comfortable serving this to guests as a dessert. Plus, I didn’t have a Ninja to do it.

In preparing recipes from my Forks Over Knives cookbooks, I’ve used familiar ingredients in new ways and I’ve used some unfamiliar ingredients like nutritional yeast. I was pretty leery of that one. What in the world?! When I opened the container, I saw yellow fish food flakes and I smelled….cheese. Well, not cheese in the deli-case-cheese way, but, cheese in the cheap-store-brand-dried-mac-and-cheese way. It threw me off, I have to admit – much like that time my Aunt Jo made rose petal jelly (it was a beautiful pink color, but it freaked me out to be eating something that had been solely a scent up until then). Back to the nutritional yeast, I made the cheesy sauce recipe for my baked ziti. It’s not bad; but, the jury is really still out for me on it. The texture is a little off and the color is not what I expected – it’s kind of a mustardy color and doesn’t make me think cheese. Prior to making this change, I wasn’t much of a cheese sauce person anyway since my system has never liked it. So, perhaps that’s the source of my indifference with the vegan cheesy sauce. Or, maybe it’s the Frosty thing: it doesn’t taste exactly like it.

In the course of changing my menu choices, I’m bound to run across things I like better than other things. In this initial run, I’ve found that I really like the sweet potato oatmeal (although I had to double the oats since the recipe as printed was WAY too sweet for me), the creamy polenta with wild mushrooms, the Jamaican black beans with pineapple chutney, the red lentil dal and the breakfast crumble. Really, the baked ziti was the only thing I wasn’t crazy about and I’m still working with it to find variations that I do like – like adding stir fried vegetables. I’m working on creating something I like rather than on recreating something I once liked.

I’m still adjusting to my choice to eat a Whole Foods Plant Based diet and I imagine that I’ll be making that adjustment for some time to come. I think it will be easier and a whole lot more fun if I explore and discover foods for what they are. If I spend all my time trying to recreate the flavors of animal-based foods without using animal-based ingredients, I’m pretty sure I’m going to spend a lot of time being frustrated……

……….and wishing I had Ninjas.

Food

Updating Grandma’s Cooking

2 Comments

Both of my grandmothers were fantastic cooks. Mamaw (my maternal grandmother) was a country cook. She made wonderful fried chicken, scratch biscuits, peas, butterbeans, and coconut cake the memory of which makes my mouth water nearly 30 years after she died. Nannie (my paternal grandmother) was, well, I don’t really know how to describe her cooking style. She cooked more complicated things than Mamaw did. Although of Danish descent herself, she learned to cook Italian food from her cousin’s mother-in-law, Mama Venucci. As a result, Nannie made the best lasagna and ravioli you ever put your mouth! Although as different as chalk and cheese, both women were nothing short of incredible. They were strong. They were determined. And they set a mean table cooking with lard, butter, dairy, fat back – all that yummy stuff!

And they both died of heart disease.

I think of them often when I’m cooking; but, yesterday, I felt like they would have been standing in my kitchen shaking their heads at me. I sautéed onions, mushrooms and peppers without using any oil. Sacrilege! I made pasta dishes without cheese. Horrors! I fried nothing. Oh, good lord! And I cooked no meat. (Somebody get the smelling salts.)

I’ll tell you straight up, too, it was weird as all get out. I’ve never browned onions without some butter or olive oil. Well, I hadn’t until yesterday, that is. And you know what? They tasted just fine. I made the red lentil dal, Jamaican black beans, baked ziti, pineapple chutney, and sweet potato pie oatmeal. I was missing ingredients to make the other dishes; however, what I did make was all VERY tasty! In addition, while I thought that the recipes would make meals for this and maybe one other week, I’ve got enough portions in my freezer for at least a month of lunch and dinner entrées. With fresh veggies or a salad as a side, I’m set up really nicely!

In The Forks Over Knives Plan, the authors encourage new practitioners to identify their personal needs, giving themselves the greatest chance of success. They instruct us to prioritize the following personal needs: Health (preventing or reversing disease), Pleasure (having food that looks and tastes good), Ease (having convenient meals) and Acceptance (keeping people from looking at you sideways).

Since I work nights, ease is the most important of the list for me. If you’ve ever worked third shift, you can relate to this. Sleeping during the day is difficult and less restful for me. As a result, I tend to sleep more hours to get the same amount of rest. While I do have three days off each week, I sleep for at least one of them and typically find myself fairly inactive on the other two. On work days, forget about cooking. I’m not giving up an hour’s worth of sleep to prepare my food. So, I really do need to be able to thaw and go, making today’s efforts a real plus for me. For side dishes, I can throw together one huge salad a week, apportioning it out daily, and steaming veggies is a snap.

Just as Nannie was always prepared with spaghetti gravy in the freezer for quick, emergency meal, I’ve got individual meal portions for weeks of healthful eating with little daily effort. I’m taking the wisdom of my ancestors and combining it with a new approach to food.

Cooking, Dairy Free, Food, Vegetarian, Whole Food Plant Based Lifestyle

Revival of the Fittest

2 Comments

So, like I said, I got my books and I’ve dug into them. However, just reading them isn’t going to get me where I want to be, now is it? I’ve got to put my fanny in gear and get with the program.

And, yesterday, that’s exactly what I did.

Sunday night, I looked through the recipe book, planned my menus for the next week (Actually, since many of the recipes make four servings and freeze well, the meals will last for more than just the one week.) and made my grocery list. Then yesterday, I grabbed my grocery bags and headed out to Aldi and Kroger. Many of the items I bought were larder stocking kinds of things like nutritional yeast, chia seeds, dried beans, canned diced tomatoes, and spices. I tell you that because I had to say it to myownself at check-out so that I wouldn’t hyperventilate at the totals. Nearly gave myself a stroke, I did! Now, normally, I look in my refrigerator and cabinets to see what’s there and I concoct something edible with the ingredients (the ketchup pizza being a notable exception to the edible thing). However, as I fully transition into this Whole Foods, Plant Based lifestyle, I wanted to make some proven recipes so that I can learn to cook without butter, oil, cream or even cheese. It’s not like I used cream or cheese all that frequently to begin with; but, I have no idea how to make sauces creamy without them. Using the recipes in the Forks Over Knives books, I’ll learn how to do that.

Now, let’s take just a minute because I can hear some of you rolling your eyes at me. I’ve gone off the deep end – no animal protein. What?! Have I lost my mind?! And I used to be such a nice girl! Well, the nice girl thing may be a bit of a stretch; but, otherwise, I can totally get where you’re coming from. I used to dig into a rack of ribs like someone was going to steal it. I enjoyed my steaks so rare that some of them may have moved. Hot, buttered bread, okay, hot, buttered anything was a favorite. Although allergic to dairy, I love ice cream enough to make the bathroom my home for hours after eating it. I was a carnivore who loved all things dairy. Now, what am I? Some kind of bean freak?!

Maybe not yet, but I can totally see myself getting there. Particularly since my cookbooks have arrived and I’m going to learn how to cook with new ingredients and how to use familiar ingredients in a whole new way. And, don’t even think I’m going to be eating grass and twigs.  My refrigerator and freezer are soon to be stocked with:

  1. Sweet Potato Pie Oatmeal
  2. Portobello Florentine
  3. Breakfast Fruit Crisp with mixed berries
  4. Red Lentil Dal
  5. Creamy Polenta with Wild Mushrooms
  6. Baked Ziti
  7. Polenta Pizza with pesto, caramelized onions and potatoes
  8. Jamaican Black Beans
  9. Pineapple Chutney
  10. Whole Grain Penne Primavera
  11. Stir Fried Bok Choy and rice in garlic sauce
  12. Black Bean Burgers
  13. Black-Eyed Pea Burgers
  14. Curried Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

Nope. No grass and twigs here, friends. It’s gonna be good eating at the Doty Hjem! And every single recipe is designed to give my body varied and complete nutrients for better health, and to give my taste buds a big, ole tent revival with every single bite!

Hallelujah!

Accountability, Body Changes, Cravings, Emotional Eating

Vodka on My Breath

4 Comments

I haven’t written in awhile. There have been several reasons; but, the chief reason was that I have been unwell and, in my illness, I felt like a fraud. The Positive Thinking Blog Goddess was having trouble thinking of reasons why brushing her teeth on her off days was necessary. Hardly positive thinking in anyone’s book, I’d say. To me, writing about making good food choices, good health choices or positive choices of any kind would have been tantamount to standing up as a sponsor at an AA meeting with vodka on my breath.

How could I talk about it with any conviction if I knew that I was failing at it in my everyday life? How could I talk about making healthful dietary choices when the primary components of my own diet were popcorn and Hershey’s with almonds?

Since November, when I got the Depo-Provera shot, I have been trapped in a binge-eating nightmare. All of the old, unhealthy language has reemerged to strengthen those old, unhealthy habits. I have felt completely out of control and powerless to do anything about it. My body has been screaming for sugar and salt – mostly sugar. My first thought upon opening my eyes has been, “What can I eat?” Literally, that has been my very first thought. I dream about food. I make good choices at the grocery store, then eat candy out of the vending machines at work or I make a stop at the drugstore for a box of Russell Stover caramels. And the internal litany that accompanies every sugary bite that I take is, “Look at you! You can’t control yourself. Sure, you were thin for awhile, but you’re fat again now, aren’t you? Go ahead. Eat another one.”

Despair-300x199That is the kind of language that kept me trapped in an obese body for decades. No. It’s not the kind of language that kept me trapped. It is the language that kept me trapped.

I have felt myself spiraling down and have been unable to stop it. So, now, even my stretchy pants are tight and my blue jeans aren’t even in the realm of possibility. While certainly nowhere near my heaviest, I am fatter than I have been in three years and I am angry and humiliated about it.

I’ve talked to several people about the depo shot and have heard the same thing over and over – women who took it experienced significant weight gain. I was so focused on the result I wanted from the Essure procedure that I didn’t fully consider the consequences of the preparation stage. I should have done more research. I expected that my doctor would not follow a protocol that would not be the best for me as an individual – this is a doctor I see, at best, once a year. I still think that she’s a good doctor and I will continue to see her; however, I will never again blindly follow a procedural protocol without educating myself. Please understand that I’m not blaming her. I am responsible for my health choices and if I choose to blindly and completely hand over full control of my body to another human being, I am accountable for the results – even if it’s significant weight gain.

I’m taking steps to regain control of my life and my cravings; but, I’m a long way from being in control. So, what you’re likely to see here over the next weeks and months is what my friend Rebecca wanted me to write about in the first place – my very real and sometimes ugly struggle to get my body, mind and spirit back to a healthy place. It’s not always going to be pretty and some days, I’ll write with vodka (or chocolate) on my breath.