Food, Habits

Nuts About Movies

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It’s not secret that I have an unhealthy relationship with kettle corn. I think I’ve mentioned it, oh, like a bajillion times. And, just so you know, popped corn doesn’t have to be sweet for me to indulge in it. Oh, no! I also enjoy it with just butter and salt – the more butter, the better! If it’s almost soggy, I’m still good with it. When I go to the movies, I usually get some. I love it when I go with my friend David because he always remembers to ask them to alternate between layers of popcorn and drizzles of butter. That way the buttery goodness is the whole way through the bucket. That’s right. I said bucket. Bags are for amateurs. (Unless you’re at home and it’s the movie butter microwave bag. That’s totally allowed.)

So, on Saturday morning after I got off work, I stopped by Red Box and got three movies for a marathon later in the day. I was still 100% juicing that morning; so, I lamented that I would have no snacks while I watched Dallas Buyers Club, American Hustle, and About Time; but, I hadn’t had a movie marathon in quite some time and was willing to forgo snackage.

MrPeanutfaceBy the time I sat down to watch the movies, I’d already nearly face-planted twice in the hallway and had decided to add some solid foods to the juice. Still, I wasn’t going to eat popcorn which really has no nutritional value whatsoever. I couldn’t think what I could snack on that would be acceptable. The answer came to me when I was at Tractor Supply Company buying food for my horde. Right there next to the door was a big display of salted, roasted peanuts…in the shell!

Perfect!

Peanuts in a can are just a hazard. I can dip my hand in there and just keep on eating until my reasonable snack has become a 2000 calorie monster. But, peanuts in the shell are different – they have a built in governor…the shell! I have take the time to shell them, which makes me slow down. Sure, they’re messy; but, I have a vacuum and I’m not afraid to use it.

By eating peanuts in the shell, I get the saltiness that I want (which also helps raise my blood pressure a little bit). I also get oil to help my chapped lips, and I get protein from the legume. All kinds of winning going on there.

My dad has called me a movie hound for years since I watch so many of them. And, I’ll admit it: I am pretty wild about the movies. Or, I was. From now on, I’ll be nuts about them.

 

 

Body Changes, Exercise, Thought Patterns

Memories of Beast Mode

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I’ve never climbed Mt. Everest and, unless they install escalators and coffee shops the whole way up, it’s unlikely that I ever will. Just watching movies about it makes me feel cold and winded. In spite of my inexperience, I’ve made a couple of assumptions. For instance, I assume that the first climb is the most difficult. Subsequent climbs probably aren’t a cakewalk; but, I assume that, in those climbs, there is both comfort and confidence in the knowledge of a previous successful climb.

Bodhi, my workout, um, partner
Ferocious Jungle Kitty Bodhi, my workout … um … partner

Yesterday, I did my exercises (planks, leg lifts, squats, sit-ups and push-ups) and I struggled with them. Part of the struggle was more with the Ferocious Jungle Kitty Bodhi who was “helping” me plank. (He’s really not as helpful as he thinks he is.) The rest of the struggle was with my muscles that are just weak! As I did my three sets of ten push-ups….with open hands….on my knees, I remembered when I was kickboxing. I was able to do my push-ups on the first two knuckles of my fists and on my toes. I could do sit-ups until I got bored with doing them. I was strong – stronger than I’ve ever been in my life! I was practically G.I. Jane, man! I was a beast!

I was. But that was two years ago.

Rats.

Just thinking about it made my spirits flag and sapped my energy. At that point, I had a couple of choices:

  1. I could continue down that road of thinking about what I lost – what I let go, really – my strength and fitness. I could revert to my old self-defeating thought patterns that end up with me in the freezer section with a spoon, or
  2. I could strengthen my newer, empowering thought patterns that end up with me being a beast.

I chose to feed the right wolf.

Okay, so I’m no beast today. But, like the climber, I know I’ve done it before. It really does give me comfort and confidence that I can do it again. While my schedule and budget don’t allow for kickboxing anymore, I do have a living room floor and can do a great deal of strength training using my own body weight. While I will still be on my open hands, resting on my knees for tomorrow’s push-ups, I know that in a few weeks, I’ll be on my toes again. And, in a few more weeks, I’ll be back on my knuckles.

I am strong. I am determined. I am capable.

And I’ve climbed this mountain before.

Food, Thought Patterns

Turns Out, Everybody DOES Have One

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….an opinion, that is.

You know that childless friend who sees fit to tell you how to raise yours? Repeatedly? How about the coworkwer who is 100 pounds overweight who wants to tell you how to lose weight? The couch potato cousin with all the great workout tips? The broke brother who wants to tell you how to run your business?

Right. C’mon! You know them and so do I. These last couple of weeks I’ve heard from a lot of them. And you know what I did with their opinions? I put them right where I put every other piece of junk mail I get – in the trash.

The truth is that most people will give you an opinion on anything and everything, whether they actually KNOW anything about it or not. I’m sure that I’m guilty of it, as well. I try very hard not to tell someone what they “should” or “ought” to do. I’m not in their shoes. I don’t have all the facts. I am not qualified to tell anyone what they should or ought to do! And, guess what. No one is qualified to tell you that, either.

I can tell someone what I might do in their situation as I understand it, but I cannot tell them what to do. Even this blog doesn’t tell you what you should do or ought to do in order to make healthier choices. In this blog, I tell you what I’ve done and what has worked for me. I tell you my opinion based on my experiences, not my advice based on yours.

In regards to my juice fast: I’ve had people tell me that I wouldn’t be able to handle the physicality of my job without adding protein to the juices. (They have no idea how much protein a person needs in a day or that plant supply protein. They certainly had no idea how much a participant ingests on the reboot.) I’ve had people tell me that I should drink more water. (They had no clue how much I was already drinking.) Wrong and, oh, yeah, wrong.

I’ve also read accounts from and actually spoken to people who have done the juice fast. Them, I listened to. They’ve done it. They’ve walked the road and, although my body will not likely respond exactly like theirs did, they can give me a fair idea of the lay of the land. The thing that made me modify my original plan was a medical condition I’ve had for years that, frankly, I’d forgotten about and didn’t factor into the equation.

So, I’m going to break my own rule here and give some advice.

To those of you trying to make healthy choices and changes in your lives:

  1. Do not listen to anyone who has not already successfully made those changes.
  2. Listen to anyone who has successfully made them.
  3. Educate yourself and figure out what works for you.

To those of you who know someone who is trying to make healthy choices and changes in their lives:

  1. If you have successfully made those choices and changes for yourself, offer them positive encouragement and share the benefit of your experience.
  2. If you have not successfully made them, offer them positive encouragement (and maybe join their effort), or
  3. Keep your pie whole shut.

And, in the immortal words of Forrest Gump, “That’s all I have to say about that.”

 

Food, Uncategorized

5 May Get You 10 (or 15 May Get You 5)

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On Friday, I was so tired that I forgot to include the list of changes to that point:

  • My ears and sinuses cleared. I don’t know if allergens cleared from my environment or from my diet, but my head is a lot clearer. I didn’t even realize that my ears were stuffy until they weren’t!
  • My hands and feet are not swollen when I wake. My feet still hurt after being on them the whole time at work; however, when I wake, they are pain-free as are my hands.
  • My knees hurt less. After my shift on Thursday, I right knee was complaining…loudly. However, it did not wake me from my sleep (which is has done under similar circumstances in the past) even though I took no pain relievers.
  • My lips are super chapped. I mean like not since I took Acutane have they been this chapped.
  • My mouth was relentlessly dry and had a wretched taste. Wretch. ed.
  • I sleep more soundly. I don’t know if that’s the fatigue or the lack of chemical stimulants. Whatever it is, I don’t care. I’m sleeping great!
  • I’ve lost five pounds.

At first, I thought I’d do a 30-day reboot. When I learned a little more, I discovered that 30 days was just way too long; so, I thought I’d do 15 days. Turns out, that was a bit too long, as well.

My stomach is, let’s use the word: persnickety. Too much liquid of any kind makes it feel nauseated. To get the number of calories I needed per day, I needed to drink more juice than my stomach was happy to handle. As a result, I was ingesting less than 600 calories per day. That’s not nearly enough.

Swooning-75827349014I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: we must listen to our bodies. On Saturday afternoon, after five days of juice fasting, my blood pressure became really low – around 92/64. That was low enough to make my vision black out when I stood. Now, don’t freak out. Relax your nerves. This has happened to me before. In fact, when I was young, I took medication for it – postural hypotension. My blood simply runs a little thicker than most and results in low BP sometimes. (That’s what Dr. Frank said, anyway.)  Whatever. The end result was that I nearly pitched head over keister down my hallway on Saturday. So, Saturday night, I listened to my body and ate.

And, man, did I go hog wild! I had steamed kale, a romaine salad with walnuts and balsamic vinaigrette, a sweet potato and an orange! I salted the kale; but, the salt and the vinaigrette were the only additives I used.

I felt better.

So, I’m going to continue juicing; but, on a more moderate scale. I typically eat six times a day. I will juice for at least two of those and will continue to eat my fruits and veggies for the other meals. I also plan to add some legumes and tree nuts for added protein.

I know that this juice reboot has worked for a lot of people and I would even say that it worked for me, in spite of my cutting short the 100% juicing portion. My primary reasons for juicing were to: 1. decrease the pain in my hands and feet, 2. decrease the pain in my knees, and 3. lose 10 pounds. Well, the first two goals were achieved in five days and I’m halfway to the third one. I’m calling this a success!

Juice on! (in moderation, for me)

Body Changes, Food

Dragging on Day 4

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breville juicer in actionI love this juicer! It is super efficient and really easy to clean. I have a couple of tips for you, though:

  • don’t put new produce in the chute until the blades have completely stopped spinning. It doesn’t make a huge mess or anything, but it does bounce the stuff around a lot.
  • watch the pitcher. I didn’t and ended up with cucumber juice all over the counter.

So, I immediately tried a couple of the recipes from the book: sporty spice and Joe’s mean green. I really like the sporty spice with it’s beets, carrots, basil, celery, oranges and lemons. I will peel the beets next time, though, as it ended up being a little too earthy tasting. I used the rinds of the oranges and lemons, and I’ll do that again. The overall sweetness kept them from being too bitter and I actually liked the flavor. I’m glad to get those extra nutrients, as well. As for the mean green? I’ve got a problem, there. I don’t like it and it’s a huge part of this whole program. I’ll have to find another green juice recipe to substitute for it.

I am really surprised at the amount of pulp created in the process. I had no idea how much insoluble fiber was in vegetables, I guess. Anyway, I saved it – vegetable pulp separate from fruit pulp – and plan to make some vegetable broth and some fruit tea. There’s no way I can use it all like that, though; so, my flower beds are going to be getting some serious compost!

I like the juice and the idea of the program; but, I have to admit that my commitment is wavering. I am so exhausted right now, it’s just unbelievable – that’s why I’m so late publishing today. And, I’m hungry. I don’t know what I’m hungry for, which makes it easier to stay with the program; but, I want to eat.

All of the testimonials I’ve read say that this is normal – and the people I know personally that have done it say the same thing. All the other participants went through these same struggles and they all assure me that they are short-lived and I’ll feel better than every in just a day or two. I certainly hope so!

Check back with me on Monday to see if I’ve broken through!

Body Changes, Food

Warning: Low Battery

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I had SO hoped to avoid this! By transitioning into the juice fast over a span of two weeks, I had hoped to bypass the fatigue Joe warns about in his book Reboot With Joe Juice Diet. Members of the online community report feeling fatigue in the first week, as well. But, since I spent all that time easing my way in, I had really thought I’d avoid it.

low batteryNuh-uh.

I was so tired after I got home from work that I thought I might have to lie down and take a nap in the 20 feet from the car to my front door. Only two things kept me moving: two of my feral kitties letting me know it was time for some groceries and the sight of my new juicer waiting on my doorstep! I’ll be breaking that bad boy out a little later and will give you a full report tomorrow on how it works for me.

In the meantime, I want to share some other changes I’ve already noticed:

  • Since Tuesday, the scales show a weight loss of three pounds. I am hopeful that this is not water weight since I started drinking some juices and a lot of water as I prepared. In addition, I stopped drinking soft drinks, which usually sheds some water weight all on its own.
  • I can see weight loss in my hands, forearms, face and waist. 🙂
  • The acne that arrived to confound me last week is healing much faster than it normally does. Whew! I mean, I want to look young and all, but I don’t want to look 14.

In spite of my fatigue, I am motivated by my progress. I did a few floor exercises after work – some planks, sit ups, squats, push ups and leg lifts. I held the planks (front, left, right and reverse) for 60 seconds each and did three sets of ten of each of the others. I think I’ll do these exercises on alternating days. That’s my plan for now, although we established yesterday that my plans are subject to change.

Just like my body is.

Food

Isn’t That Always How it Happens?

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The driver on a road trip asks, “Do you need to use the restroom? This is the last one for about 60 miles.” “Nope,” you reply. “I’m good.” Ten minutes later you are a human Twizzler and you’re thinking that the side of the road is looking pretty good.

Isn’t that how it always happens? You’re just fine until someone makes a suggestion, then a few minutes later, you’re miserable.

MGM lion filmYesterday, I shared a couple of changes I’ve noticed even before I get hip deep into this Reboot. One of the changes was a decrease in hunger pangs. Seriously, I haven’t heard my stomach growl in two weeks…until last night. I committed to really starting this Reboot and the imps in my brain are telling the terrorists in my tummy to send off panicky feelings of starvation. My stomach rumbling sounded like the start of an MGM movie! I powered through it, though. I drank my bottled juices and had some herbal tea. The lion sleeps tonight.

As I also mentioned yesterday, I had planned to start making juices/smoothies right away since my wonderful juicer wasn’t scheduled to arrive until next week. However, before I broke out the blender, I got a message from Amazon saying that my juicer actually shipped yesterday and will be here by tonight! I. AM. PSYCHED. Because I’m so close to being able to do it exactly as prescribed, I’m just going to keep with the bottled juices until tomorrow when I can make my own.

I’ll tell you what, this whole juicing thing has been and continues to be such an education for me! I had planned to continue drinking my little Bolthouse Farms juices thinking that they would be okay. Then I started looking into their pasteurization methods to see how many nutrients were destroyed in the process. I found this article: Don’t Fall Victim To These Tricky Juice Labels and am now annoyed that the bottled juices I’ve been getting from the grocery store aren’t nearly as good for me as I thought they were. Oh, sure, they’re better than a pint of ice cream; but, they are not as nutritionally sound as the labels led me to believe. Silver lining: I then went in search of a juice bar near me where I can stock up before work and score! I found one – Pa Bunk’s. I’ll stop by there this afternoon to get me through until tomorrow when I can really start this thing.

Have you noticed how many times I’ve said “I had planned?” As I move through this process, learning more about the world of natural and bottled juices, my plans change almost as quickly as I make them. It reminds me a great deal of when I first started this journey three years ago. I had a basic framework for how I needed to eat and what I needed to do; but, I made mistakes and tweaked my program as I went along. As I learned, I altered my course. I hadn’t thought that I would be doing the same thing with this juicing experiment; but, I’m glad I was wrong. It will be a bigger adventure this way and it will be much more fun to share with you.

I thought I had it all figured out; but, it turns out there is so much more to learn. Isn’t that how it always happens?

 

 

 

Body Changes, Food

Slightly More Than Half-Cocked

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You know those people who plan and schedule their haircuts on a regular basis and far before they have a follicular crisis? Well, I’m not one of them. Nope. I wait until my hair is making me crazy before I call up Miss Marla to see when she can squeeze me in. Similarly, I decided I was going to do this Reboot before I had everything I needed to do it. And while I still don’t have everything, I’m starting anyway.

Breville RM-JE98XLYesterday, I ordered my juicer from Amazon’s Warehouse Deals. (If you haven’t gone to the site, take a minute when we’re done and go on over there. Okay, you’ll be fascinated and it’ll take more than a minute; but, head on over. If you don’t care about packaging, you can get some phenomenal deals!) I ordered the Breville RM-JE98XL model. Joe Cross has done the research and he really loves the juicers from that company. I was able to get this one (with free shipping) for a little under $100, the same price I would have paid for the NutriBullet, which wasn’t exactly what I wanted. (I bought the last one at that price, though; so, you’ll have to pay a little more if you want one.) I’ve seen the same juicer listed elsewhere priced from $130 to $220. I’m pleased with the deal I got and am TOO excited for it to get here! With the free shipping, though, that may take a whole week.

I’m not waiting that long to get started (see paragraph one); so, this morning, I headed out with my list and my charming little Goodwill Red Riding Hood basket to hit the farmer’s market. I didn’t find everything I needed; so, I also went to Publix and to Aldi. Good grief at the produce! My refrigerator shelves are groaning under the weight of it all! Until my juicer arrives, I’ll use the blender, then strain some of the pulp out to make smoothies. I am really anxious and excited to see how my body responds to this massive infusion of nutrients. Since I have been kind of getting ready for this for several days, I’ve already noticed a few things – some good, some not so good.

In the Giddy-Up column, we have:

  • decreased joint, hand and foot pain
  • increased energy
  • decreased hunger pangs
  • the feeling of more stable blood sugar levels
  • no caffeine jitters

In the Giddy-Gone column, we have:

  • increased acne (This happens anytime I increase my water intake, though. Pimples that were mere possibilities before become immediate realities. I expect this to settle down this week.)
  • (how to put this delicately?) an intestinal system that would make a Formula One racing team jealous of its speed and efficiency
  • sticky mouth (Not that I recall ever having eaten paste, but my mouth feels like I imagine it would if I’d been sucking on a glue stick.)

All-in-all, I’m still really excited about this and am thrilled to be Juicing On!

Food

In the Starting Blocks

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After a week’s worth of prep, I’m ready to start my juice fast today. Although I did eat a salad with balsamic vinaigrette on Wednesday, and a spoonful each of baked beans, potato salad and banana pudding at a cookout on Saturday, the rest of the days this week have seen me eating only granola bars and bananas, and drinking a variety of fruit and vegetable juices along with coconut water.

You couldn’t see me; but, I totally shivered when I typed that – coconut water. So, Joe Cross says that I need to be drinking a ton of this stuff every day because of the potassium it contains. Basically, coconut water is like natural Gatorade. He recommends that I drink the unsweetened, unflavored kind. Um…no. I tried it, y’all, really I did. I even tried it at that super-cold temperature you use when you serve crappy wine so that no one can really taste it. Nope. Coconut water tastes like sweaty grass. Plus, it’s not exactly in my budget – a liter ran me about four bucks. At that price, I’ll mix what I have left with fruit juices that mask its taste enough that I can drink it; but, I’ll not be buying any more. Sorry, Joe. I’m just going to have to throw a few bananas in with my juices every day. For me, that’s noconut water.

I did drink a lot of plain water over the week, though, and not one single soda. As I told you last week, I drank my last Diet Coke on Friday night. By Sunday, a universe was being born in my head. I could barely lift it off the pillow. To be honest, my head didn’t completely stop hurting until Tuesday. Even until Friday I would have sold a kidney for a cold Diet Coke; but, the cravings have decreased since then. When I go into a convenience store, I find myself heading for the cooler more out of habit than anything else.

GemüsedrinksIn addition to plain water, I’ve enjoyed Vitamin Water Zero with no artificial sweeteners. The lemonade flavor is my favorite. I also like those flavored waters by Dasani; but, I worry about the sweeteners they use since I can’t find them listed. I’ve also followed Joe’s advice and replace my morning cup of coffee with a cup of hot water with lemon. It’s not nearly the same as my personal CDM/French vanilla brew; but, it’s a warm drink that has some flavor and my body seems to like that.

As for juices, I drank a few Spicy V-8s. And I’ve bought some of the Naked brand – Green Machine, Berry Veggie, and Orange Mango: but, their juices contain more sugar than I really want in each serving. I prefer the juices from Bolthouse Farms. Their Mango Ginger + Carrot is my favorite! They also make a Daily Greens juice that is just stupid nutritious! The flavor takes a little getting used to, though, so I like to mix a quart-sized bottle of it with a 15.2 ounce bottle of their Green Goodness. It makes the Daily Greens a little sweeter, but doesn’t wreck the nutritional value with all that sugar – natural or not.

This week, I’ll start with the 5-Day Reboot, then go from there. I thought I had a line on a great used juicer, but the seller flaked out on me; so, I’m going shopping today before I hit up the local grocery stores for my veggies. More tomorrow on what I find in both categories.

So, even after an astrophysical headache and Diet Coke DTs, I’m still resolved and ready to get this underway! Let’s get juicing!

 

 

Thought Patterns

One of the Club

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On September 11, 2001, I worked for an aircraft charter company in Latrobe, PA. That’s right. I worked in aviation. I worked less than 40 miles from where the passengers of United flight 93 wrested control away from their attackers.

In the days that followed, Americans shared feelings of anger, disbelief, shock, horror and sadness at those coordinated attacks. Members of the aviation community shared additional feelings of outrage that the things that we love so much – aircraft – would be used in such a vile and deplorable way. The club of Americans had a set of common feelings and reactions. The club of airplane geeks aviation professionals shared an additional set.

By now most everyone knows that comedian Robin Williams took his own life this week. That’s actually why I haven’t written for the past couple of days. I feel compelled to say something about it; but, I wonder what I can possibly add to what has already been said.  I will say this: the club of fans shares feelings of disbelief and sadness. The club of the chronically depressed shares additional feelings of dejection that one of our members has lost his fight against the demons.

The Demon Fighters’ Club is kind of a sucky club to be in, truthfully. We don’t really even have a choice about whether or not to be a member. We don’t have a cool clubhouse, handshake or secret code. We don’t go on exciting field trips to interesting places. We just go into the darkest, most hopeless parts of our minds where the demons of depression live.  We have lost members before – Freddie Prinze, Marilyn Monroe, Ernest AND Margaux Hemingway, Junior Seau, Wade Belak, Brian Keith, Sylvia Plath, Kurt Cobain, Tony Scott and so many others. Too many. They fought as long as they could; but were finally overwhelmed.

I can’t think that anyone would choose to have chronic depression or any other mental illness; so, as I said, we don’t really get a choice about belonging to the club. When we are well, however, we do have a choice about what we do with that membership. We use it to share our experiences. And because we, more than anyone else, know the signs of an episode, we watch out for each other. I believe that the conversation we need to be having right now is that the demon of the disease lies to us. It tells us that no one cares, that no one wants to hear about it….again. We MUST remember that this is a lie and we must reach out to each other. The disease tells us that we are one. Alone.

But we’re not. We are many. We are one of the club.

 

 

 

Thoughts about everything and nothing in an effort to be a better person than I was yesterday.