“Food, Glorious Food” (as Oliver Twist sang)
I am a die-hard Foodie. I love all kinds of foods (and drink) and trying different things. But at this age, popping fat and sugar-laden foods into my mouth isn’t as carefree as it used to be. Sigh. What’s a body to do? The rules of the game are not a one-size-fits-all deal. You have to pay attention to how your body reacts to foods and do the right thing. So if you’ve overindulged and it shows, time to make some revisions.
Notice I didn’t say the word….gulp….”diet”. I DO NOT BELIEVE IN DIETS…..THEY DO NOT WORK FOR THE LONG HAUL because if you have a long time weight or nutritional problem, you need to fix the mental (oops, used that taboo word again!) issue FIRST and then start eating the right stuff…..forever….not just for two weeks after you lose an inch of fat around your tummy…..or for you who are addicted to scales and think you’ve lost fat when indeed it was only water weight.
I’ve grown up with a fast metabolism and being slim….so I was spoiled in being able to eat anything and everything….but guess what? AGE catches up. I had a rude awakening several years ago. I was getting ready for a Hawaii trip and tried on a new shorts outfit I hadn’t worn before. OMG….I could NOT get the shorts on!!!! Panic! So….with a couple of months before the trip, I started working my brain. I’d read about all kinds of diets in the past but I knew that wasn’t the answer. I’d also heard about the South Beach Diet so I bought the paperback version at Target and started reading.
Lo and behold….this isn’t a diet at all! It is merely a way of eating. It all made sense, medically, as it was all about the glycemic (sugar) index. It talks about how certain foods break down in the body and which ones turn into sugar right away and then to fat. So it teaches you about normal foods. For example, some of the worst foods you can eat are mashed potatoes, fruit juice, and anything white (bread, pasta, rice). Those foods are included in diets such as Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig because those diets focus on calories; not the glycemic index. These people who get on these diet fads and drink those protein shakes are killing their bodies because it is not whole food and not a normal way to eat.
I lost the extra inches (notice I said “inches” and not “weight”…..more to follow) and was able to get those shorts on. Hooray!!! So now the SB way of eating is my own. I keep to this strictly during the week and cheat a little on weekends if eating out. Do I eat dessert? Of course I do. You can’t deprive yourself of everything yummy. But I’m smart about it. If I have ice cream or a brownie after dinner, I have it right after so that the protein in my dinner can counteract the sugar and keep my pancreas from dumping a ton of insulin into my veins. Oh, and my ice cream serving is about 1/3 cup…..yes, really. The big, heaping bowls that I’ve seen people eat will kill ya.
Bottom line is you have to read the book first before trying it.
Going back to the inches versus weight thing, just a quick tidbit: About the first two weeks into a weight loss plan, all you lose is water. After that, the fat starts metabolizing. Your body will fluctuate during this process. I do not own a scale. I lift weights at the gym weekly so I am building muscle, which adds WEIGHT to your body. So if you are doing any kind of exercise/weight regimen, get rid of the scale. It will psych you out.
WARNING! For those of you who suffer from “Shoveling Syndrome” (inability to control what you dump in your mouth), do NOT go on a cruise!!! Ahhh…..a cruise. An escape from reality and the burdens of the world. “Hey, the food is free so I can eat whatever I want! Oooo….look at those desserts!” Or this one: “I don’t care what I eat because I’m on vacation.” The biggest mistake is going to the Midnight Buffet. Whose idea was that….to stuff yourself right before going to bed? Oh, I know. The Glutton Devil. Even when I was in my early 20s and on cruises, I NEVER ate at the Midnight Buffet…..but…..I would go one time to take pictures.
Meals do not have to be boring. Over the years, I’ve fallen into a routine, made some adjustments, and now try to think outside the box. So instead of a deli turkey and cheese sandwich, I threw together some cooked quinoa, farro (leave that out if you’re on a gluten-free diet), black beans, sautéed onions, minced garlic, and corn….drizzled lightly with grapeseed oil for moisture. Oooo….and guess what? I pulled those items off of the anti-inflammatory food chart (http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/ART02012/anti-inflammatory-diet). Easy peasy…..and yummy. A whole fruit on the side, such as a nectarine, completes the meal.
“How Do I Adapt?” We all see these absolutely dreamy recipes online or on The Food Network (I LOVE watching The Pioneer Woman) but our hearts and waistlines start yanking us in another direction. But…..you CAN enjoy these recipes and still hold true to your healthy eating guidelines. It’s a matter of adapting the recipe by tweaking some of the ingredients. I have listed some of the ingredients below for Skillet Chicken Lasagna, but here are a couple of tips to keep in mind:
- White is not right……and…..
- Fat is just that
| Original Ingredients | Adapted Ingredients |
| Bow tie white pasta | Whole wheat/whole grain pasta (do not use rice pasta….too high on the glycemic index) |
| Jar of marinara sauce | Marinara sauce – low or sugar-free |
| Whole milk ricotta cheese | Part skim or fat free ricotta cheese |
There……that was easy! You’ll still get the same goodness from the flavor combinations without the gobs of fat dripping from your arteries.
Here’s a little story about the milk thing. I grew up on whole milk…..and then I chose a career in healthcare. Little by little things started to come to light…..information and real life events with seeing patients in the hospital die from heart disease due to arteriosclerosis (fat/plaque build-up in the arteries, which eventually blocks the blood from getting to the brain and other vital organs) and I started researching my foods. Hmmm…..looks like I need to cut back on the milk fat. OK. Easy. Bought fat-free milk. Whoaaaa. Cannot do cold turkey! OK….back it up. Whole milk again…..then started mixing whole milk with fat free. Too much work. Dropped to 2%. Yes, OK. After a while, dropped to 1%. Yes, I can do this. After a while, dropped to fat free. NOOOOO. So back to 1% and I’ve been doing that for years. Life is good.
Oh, wait. I’m hearing some of you out there. You’ve heard about different kinds of “milk”. Here’s the deal: Humans do NOT easily digest cow’s milk. Fact. So yes, there are alternatives but you have to do your homework and decide what will work for you, nutrition-wise as well as budget-wise. Sugar-free almond milk is a terrific alternative…..but…..are you allergic to nuts?…..can you afford the higher price? Also, almond milk is high in fat….although a good fat….but too much of a good thing = a bad thing. I’ve discovered sugar-free coconut milk (http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/health-benefits-coconut-milk-2031.html). It is loaded with health benefits and is a healthy fat…..similar to the fat from an avocado. I use it mainly in my smoothies and sometimes with cooking. But I still use plain old 1% cow’s milk for my cereal 4 times a week, and my body is OK with that. Oat milk is also a great alternative.
SUGAR!!! I think we all know about the down side of too much sugar intake. So here’s an alternative: Xylitol. This sweetener is low on the glycemic index, and also has some health benefits. It can be used like sugar, so in that blackberry cobbler, 1 cup of sugar = 1 cup of Xylitol. If you use it, whatever you do, DO NOT GIVE ANYTHING WITH THIS PRODUCT IN IT TO YOUR DOG (but who in their right mind is feeding junk food to their dog anyway)!!! If you want the full scoop, go here: https://draxe.com/nutrition/xylitol/. Another option is stevia (same as truvia), but you cannot bake with it, nor is the amount equivalent to sugar (i.e. much less stevia is required for same level of sweetness as sugar).
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Now, let’s take a look at two concepts regarding ingredients: Budget versus time. For example, spinach:
- Easy on the budget = Purchase bulk spinach, wash, dry, cut leaves from stems
- Ah, the EASY button = Packaged, pre-washed spinach leaves, snip bag open with scissors, and done. Now, if you want to feel like you’ve actually spent a little more prep time, you can manually open the bag, taking care not to have the contents fly all over the kitchen.
Thinking Outside of the Box
Raise your hand if you find yourself stuck in a routine with, say lunches. You have maybe a handful of lunch choices that you keep circulating…..and you’ve done this for how many years? Here’s a suggestion: If you do not find yourself particularly creative, it’s OK to go to outside resources for a little help.
I had gone into a healthy smoothie café and grabbed one of their take-home menus. One of the items was a bowl…..you know, stuff thrown into a bowl to make a meal. The ingredients looked intriguing but of course I didn’t have the amounts. No worries. I just guessed. Here is one example:
Roasted Red Pepper & Pesto Bowl
Layers:
- Fresh spinach
- A blend of quinoa, farro & brown rice mixed with pesto (about a cup of everything combined)
- Sliced grilled chicken (I just boil my chicken breasts or use Trader Joe’s grilled chicken strips)
- Oven-roasted red pepper, red onion, and zucchini – cut in bite-size pieces
- Drizzled with roasted red pepper sauce (I used Creamy Roasted Red Pepper Dressing from the local gourmet market)
Refreshing and totally yummy. You can do a Mediterranean spin on this: Substitute the pesto with zesty Mediterranean sauce, and the dressing with tomato-cucumber tabbouleh.
You can also have fun creating different smoothie combinations, but…..here is something very important to keep in mind: Stay away from frozen yogurt. Let’s take a look at this issue. Frozen fat-free yogurt = higher sugar content. Frozen sugar-free yogurt = higher fat content. Why? It’s all about the manufacturer making a tasty product. If you take one away, you have to add more of another. So I just forget the frozen yogurt and use unsweetened coconut beverage (thank you, Trader Joe’s!).
Speaking of smoothies, this reminds me of another nutritional point. I have read a lot about doing the 5-meal-a-day regimen. Note that this means SMALL meals; not your usual size meal. The benefit of going with this regimen is that it keeps your blood sugar at a stable level throughout the day (i.e. not allowing it to go into highs and lows during the day, and you never want to feel really hungry). But here’s the catch: In order to maintain an appropriate calorie intake for your body type and level of exercise, you most likely will need to have a sleep/wake schedule that will allow you to be awake for about 16 hrs. a day. So if you get up at 6 AM, you have your first small meal at 7 AM…..then 10 AM….2 PM…..5 PM…..8 PM. This will not be easy for some folks so don’t feel bad if you can’t manage that. Honestly, I cannot do this. I tried but found that after I had my power smoothie at 2 PM, I was too full to eat again at 5 PM. Oh, and just as an example, here is one of my smoothies: unsweetened coconut milk, kale, avocado, pineapple, and fresh lime juice (note: NO frozen yogurt, NO ice, NO fruit juice). Anyway, the bottom line is calorie intake based on your body type and amount/intensity of exercise.
UPDATE: When I was working part time and up at 5 AM, I WAS able to get my small meals in….and because I was doing South Beach Phase 1 & 2 (having a printed guide and recipes is helpful for me so I don’t have to think too much…ha). So I’d have my breakfast at 6:30 AM, snack at 9:30 AM (e.g. celery stick with Laughing Cow Light cheese….or Oikos Triple Zero yogurt…..or 15 almonds…..or hard-cooked egg….or a stick of string cheese – ah, the multitude of choices), light lunch at 12:30 PM, snack at 3:30 PM ((LOVE Trader Joe’s Mediterranean and Aldi’s Roasted Red Pepper hummus with raw red/yellow/orange bell peppers), dinner around 6:30 PM, and dessert later (South Beach chocolate mousse made with part skim ricotta cheese – yummy!).
Attention wine drinkers! One big “diet” killer for older folks is having that glass of wine every night. I don’t but I have friends who do, and suffer the consequences with weight/blood pressure issues. Wine = fermented fruit juice = sugar = fat.
March 2016: For a few months I worked part time. That meant getting up at 5 AM and going back to business casual dress. SHOCK! I struggled to zip my slacks and skirts. What the heck happened??? The year 2015 was full of high stress events: selling the family home, moving across the country, starting school for a new career, adapting to my new environment. So my eating habits took a flying leap…..off the cliff. No wonder I was bulging out of my Speedo swim suit! GASP!!! Soooo……I made the commitment to go back on South Beach Phase I, and then Phase 2. When I say “commitment”, I mean COMMITMENT = no cheating!!! For example, the book says you can have up to 15 almonds a day…..I count them out! Do you think it’s not hard when I open my freezer and see all of those brownies calling my name? Off limits…..for now. I NEVER cheat. If I did, there’d be no point in doing the plan at all. Within 6 weeks, I lost that pesky fat that had slowly creeped upon my body. Now I feel great again and am back to following the South Beach principles on a regular basis. Thankfully, I nipped it in the bud before it got too out of hand. It sneaks up on you. I just messed up this past year with everything going on. A bit of a challenge for me as I am a foodie and love trying new things……but I got back to normal and felt great about my success in overcoming that ugly monster!
My motto is: “If I can grab it, I need to lose it.” Haha
Oh, here’s something interesting. When I started my part time job, I had peripheral edema….maybe 1+ (translates as feet/ankle swelling)……at the end of each work day. I’ve never had that issue so it was disconcerting…..even though I use one of those foot stools. But…..while I was doing SB Phase I, I noticed that I was no longer have the edema issue….at all. Interesting. Not that my sodium intake was any less as I always stick to a low sodium diet anyway.
Well, that’s my story and I’m happy that I’m getting back on track! My body thanks me.
Nutrition fact: Avocado is one of the world’s most perfect food and is the best form of fat, outside of coconut milk. Everyone needs a certain amount of healthy fat. There are a lot of online sources for this, but for now, here is an example: http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHealthy/FatsAndOils/Fats-101_UCM_304494_Article.jsp#.VjJb8yvLm6Q
Here is another source about vegetable oils in the form of fats: http://eatlocalgrown.com/article/11435-top-3-healthy-cooking-oils.html
One more nutrition alert……
There are programs (e.g. Purium, Shaklee) that involve drinking shakes. I just don’t agree with drinking your foods. From my research, whole foods are still the best and healthiest. The most effective form of fiber comes from whole foods, not a supplement or powder you mix in a glass of water (my mom did that method and still ended up with colon cancer). I eat only whole foods and throw in some chia seeds (added to cereals). I poop (GASP! She said “the word” in front of everyone!) every day and there is absolutely no odor! No one’s poop should stink. If it does, that means you have toxic stuff clogging up your innards. Toxins = disease = body part break down. If you’re not going every day, time to check your eating habits.
***Side Note:
Eating healthy will keep us going physically so here’s the kicker: It’s OK to “go off the plan” occasionally. For example, when you have company for dinner, are you going to serve them sugar-free, fat-free yogurt and a plate full of greens? Of course not. So pull out the stops for your guests and go for broke. Use half and half, white pasta, regular cheese, etc. Treating friends for dinner is about flavor and the company; not about a stiff cheese that isn’t exactly soft and gooey, or foods that seem a bit lackluster. You are a smart person. You are not going to eat like this all of the time; in fact, rarely. You are not going to gain 10 pounds overnight from one meal. Your arteries will not harden from one serving of lasagna that is melt-in-your-mouth oozing with cheese and bursting with flavor. This lovely balance in life reduces stress and brings you to the point of “ahhh”. It just goes back to keeping everything in check. We all have different bodies, different chemistries, different lifestyles, and different genes. What works for one person will not work for another, and so on. The key is finding “your thing” and sticking to it!
November 2016
Losing Weight vs. the Hormone Issue
How many times have we heard obese women say that they can’t lose weight because they have a “hormone problem”? I’m not talking about women who are a few pounds overweight. I’m talking BIG.
Fact: There is nothing in this world that can prevent you from losing weight, except for your own mind. I know this sounds harsh but their excuses are cop-outs because they don’t want to admit that they have a psychological problem.
Certainly, you can have hormone deficiencies that can CONTRIBUTE to weight loss challenges, such as hypothyroidism and increased estrogen (both are easy fixes). But then you have the brain issue. Here are some firsthand examples:
- A 25-year-old gal who was morbidly obese — After her first pregnancy, she went on Weight Watchers and I actually saw her losing weight! It was exciting! Then she got pregnant with her second child and it all went out the window. That second child is now 9 years old and his mom is heavier than ever. We’d do an occasional fast food thing at the mall and she’d eat french fries, hot dogs, and Mexican food loaded with cheese and carbs.
- A 50-something gal who was also obese – I watched in horror as she shoveled in the M&Ms; at the same time saying, “I just don’t understand why I can’t lose weight.”
These women have eating disorders; pure and simple. They desperately need professional counseling as well as working with a professional nutrition therapist to drop the bad habits and relearn how to eat.
I just can’t tell you how sad it is to witness this. So PLEASE…..if you are like these women, PLEASE admit that you need help. At this point, since it has been going on for so long, you will not be able to do it on your own.
Same goes for women who undergo gastric bypass surgery. What they’ve done is recognize the problem – first step – but instead of going to first base (discovering the root cause), they jump to third base and have a major surgery loaded with severe side effects, and possibly death. I know three women who have done this. Each one loses some weight initially, but then they go back to their bad eating patterns, stretch out their stomachs, and regain the weight. Thousands of dollars down the toilet, as well as lingering digestive disorders.
So what happens if you do nothing? Here it is, pretty much in this order:
- Cholecystitis, and removal of gallbladder…..now you have to take medication your entire life because you lack the bile necessary to break down food.
- Pain in the knees……your knees are not designed to carry excessive weight every single day, and eventually they will give out; leading to full knee replacements.
- Heart disease……your heart can only manage so much stress (excess weight is very stressful to the body)…..after a while it will start to get tired and then you go into congestive heart failure; leading to lifelong use of diuretics and eventually end-stage kidney disease.
But going back to the sad part: You can tell these women about all of the stuff that will lead to an early death, but they usually won’t hear it……because they need psychological counseling…..nutrition therapy. So ladies…..your family and friends love and care about you. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE admit you have a problem and seek help.
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**Solid nutritional practices are foundational to healthy growth and development, which continue throughout our lifetime.**
https://www.therapyforchristians.com/blog/bible-verses-about-eating-healthy
10 Bible Verses About Eating Healthy That Will Motivate and Inspire You
