Habitual Nourishment–At least I’m not Gaining

This past week has been a spiral downwards into bingeing (Carm says I am far from bingeing). I don’t know what happened – maybe some emotional eating, a bit of frustration, and a weakening of resolve led me away from good choices. I may not have lost any weight, but at least I didn’t gain any.

Looking over my food log for these past few weeks I can see that it doesn’t take much to stop the weight loss. In fact, it seems that any SAD eating derails... (must remember this)

Part of my problem is that I’ve gotten sick and tired of cooking all the time (this seems to happen every time I embark on this journey), combined with the colder winter weather which calls out for comfort food. I don’t have any quick to make, comfort food, healthy fare in my repertoire – I suppose I’d better make it a priority to find some promising recipes.

I did sit down and scour the internet for motivating quotes that I can pin on the fridge and bathroom mirror. My hope is that during the weak moments I can be reminded of why I am doing this, and that it is just a matter of changing my thinking to be successful. I tried to keep them positive and not guilt producing.

Here are a few of the examples. The first one is mine, while the rest came from various places on the internet.

Nutritional Excellence is the path to good mental health.

Rule your mind or it will rule you.

I’ve done a lot of reading in the past week about both short and long term side effects of various medications, including on the Eat to Live web site. Dr. Furhman has said that he has had success treating bipolar patients with a nutrient dense diet (0 sugar, dairy, wheat, and extra omega 3s); many were able to reduce their medications, and some even get off them altogether. This is my main motivation to keep on track. This HAS to be my goal. Even a reduction is A GOOD THING.

All that said, I have given myself a few nights off: our family Norwegian Christmas, Christmas Eve and day, and New Years Eve. Then, no more excuses, at least for a little while.

Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
Oct 20 (0)	21	22	23	24	25	26 (-3)
27	28	29	30	31	Nov 1	2 (-4.5)
3	4	5	6	7	8	9 (-6)
10	11	12	13	14	15	16 (-5)
17	18	19	20	21	22	23 (-8)
24	25	26	27	28	29	30 (-10)
Dec 1	2	3	4	5	6	7 (-10)
8	9	10	11	12	13	14 (-10)
15	16	17	18	19	20	21 (-10)

  = good day  = a small diversion from Eat to Live   = oh, oh (#) total pounds lost

 

Put all excuses aside and remember this: You ARE capable.

Habitual Nourishment–Just how nourishing?

I haven’t run my foods through the caloriecount.about website for a while to double check that I’m getting all my nutrients. I like to check now and again, mainly so that I can refute claims that I can’t be getting enough protein if I’m not eating meat, and where do my calcium and iron come from… A plant-based diet CAN be healthy, as long as you keep away from process foods and too many grains, especially wheat flour.

The amazing thing is that with such a nutrient rich diet my body is not hungry all the time, in its drive to meet its nutritional requirements. Sure, sometimes I think about a chicken shwarma, or bowl of pasta, but I consider those cravings more of an addiction, rather than the need for nutrients.

The results show that I’m on track nutritionally. Fats are a little high (too many seeds and nuts); iron is a little low, but just a smidge; sodium was higher than I expected, but since the doctor told me to eat more I guess it is okay – and it shows just how much sneaks into our food even when we are trying to keep the number lowish!

We were out of mixed baby greens and I suspect if I had them for lunch, along with the spinach in my smoothie (too frozen to add yesterday), then even my iron number would be well above the RDA.

 

If I had to choose a religion, the sun as the universal giver of life would be my god. ~Napoleon Bonaparte

Habitual Nourishment - 8 Weeks/2 months

Like week 7, week 8 has not been so great with no weight lost for the second week in a row, partially due to adding salt back into my diet as per doctors orders… I've mostly been eating well, but there have been a few derailments. I'm trying not to let it discourage me too much, or take it as an excuse for abandonment of the plan.

We had to make a trip to a nearby town on Friday for me to get some blood pulled. Since it was a fasting blood test we left the house without coffee or breakfast… well, you can probably guess that the local greasy spoon, with their breakfast special of bacon, eggs and white toast, was too tempting to resist. Hopefully I learned my lesson though, as I didn’t feel so great afterwards, plus I could barely keep my eyes open the rest of the day! It seems that I am a slow learner…

 

Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
Oct 20 (0)	21	22	23	24	25	26 (-3)
27	28	29	30	31	Nov 1	2 (-4.5)
3	4	5	6	7	8	9 (-6)
10	11	12	13	14	15	16 (-5)
17	18	19	20	21	22	23 (-8)
24	25	26	27	28	29	30 (-10)
Dec 1	2	3	4	5	6	7 (-10)
8	9	10	11	12	13	14 (-10)

  = good day  = a small diversion from Eat to Live   = oh, oh (#) total pounds lost

Habitual Nourishment–End of Week 5

I had a really good week – all green days with no slipups, small or large. I didn’t do the exercise that I should have though… only a few times on the treadmill.

I did go to Curves on Thursday with Christina. I’m happy to say that I’m not in as bad shape as I thought I was. I can’t breeze through the workout though! I’m not sure yet if I will join at the end of the trial... if I do it will be because of the great visit with Christina!

After that bit of work-out I was in the mood for a bit of a treat. So I cooked up some brown & red rice, and grilled zucchini, portabella mushrooms, and red pepper. I topped the rice with the grilled vegetables & steamed kale, and served it with a bowl of garlicky hummus on the side. Yum. I forgot to add the tofu though – it had been marinating in some chili garlic sauce and would have been a good addition. We always have some sliced cucumber (1/2 an English cucumber each!); last night we had some sliced red & yellow pepper as well. The whole meal was very satisfying :-) and right on plan. I was trying to get a healthy version of the chicken shwarma plate, and I think this did the trick for me. No greasy, salty chicken, or fried potatoes. No fatty garlic sauce, or rice bathed in oil. No feeling yuck the next day!

I consider Friday to be a huge success! We had guests for dinner (a cabbage, kidney bean soup – vegan of course), with cucumber, celery and red pepper on the side. I made the bean bread (cumin as the spice), and served it topped with hummus and roasted red pepper for the first course. Now here is where my success comes in. Trudie had brought a plate of homemade, triple chocolate brownies... I was reasonably tempted, but kept my head and passed. I also passed on the red wine (although a glass is allowed). So a totally GREEN day! (edit: later in the day Trudie called to suggest that the next get together be a potluck and she’ll bring a meat dish! I guess some people have a hard time giving up their animal protein…)

We were at the grocery store checkout – I usually snoop at what the people around me have in their carts. Well, the lady behind us had a loaded cart with packaged foods, pork roasts, cream cheese, and two lone zucchinis. The greens accounted for less than 5% of her cart. Ideally, fruits, vegetables and beans should make up 90% of our diet. All nutrient and fibre rich foods.

What was in our cart? Ten cans of no-salt added diced tomatoes, 1 bottle of cranberry vinegar ($0.44!), and one tube of fresh cilantro. The diced tomatoes were on sale – we saved about $10! I’ve never tried the herbs in a tube, but sometimes I want a bit of cilantro in a dish but don’t need a whole bunch, which usually rots in the fridge. My fingers are crossed that it will do the trick. (note that our cart never used to be so healthy – we were never big meat eaters, but there would have been bread and pasta galore.)

We’ve been trying to reduce our salt intake – I use a lot of canned beans and tomatoes – wowzers! Unless you buy the salt free ones they have a TON of sodium. We’ll run thorough what we have left in the pantry and start using no salt added cans. Or maybe I’ll start cooking my own beans, although that is a bit of a pain.

On the Hypertension Canada site, I came across this study on the effects of “dietary pulses” (legumes) on blood pressure. Pulse eaters showed a significant reduction in BP.

Our final meal of the week (Saturday night) was water stir-fry green beans, mushrooms and red peppers, a little bit of rice (a mixture of brown, red and wild), and 1/2 salmon fillet. We had oranges for dessert, and then I tried the Eat to Live Chia hot chocolate. What a meal!

And all that leaves me down 3 pounds this week! For a total of 8 pounds in 5 weeks. Of course there are the health benefits as well. I don’t feel deprived at all – there is plenty of fruit to satisfy my sweet tooth, and having a bedtime snack of chocolate peanut butter “ice-cream” smoothie, or chia pudding with fruit, satisfies the craving for a extra special treat. If I cut that treat out I’d possibly lose a bit faster, but maybe I’d just be tempted by other things instead. One change I will definitely be making is replacing the peanut butter with almond butter in my smoothie as that will better meet my 1oz of nuts required for the day (pb is not a nut).

 

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Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
Oct 20 (0)	21	22	23	24	25	26 (-3)
27	28	29	30	31	Nov 1	2 (-4.5)
3	4	5	6	7	8	9 (-6)
10	11	12	13	14	15	16 (-5)
17	18	19	20	21	22	23 (-8)

  = good day  = a small diversion from Eat to Live   = oh, oh (#) total pounds lost

Habitual Nourishment - Evangelize

Sunday was another day of recovery from the shwarma, but I still managed to make a good supper. It started off being just simple sautéed bok choy with leftover black bean salad, but by the time I finished (1 hour later), there was ginger, garlic, hot peppers (too many), mushrooms, red pepper, a hot pepper sauce, and grilled tofu. Whew. No wonder I succumb to take out every now and again. Cooking healthy meals seems to always turn into a giant endeavour that takes and hour or more; however, having tasty meals does make it easier to stick with the plan – no feelings of deprivation to derail.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday... all good eating days. Green, green smoothies; giant salads; and vegetable and bean rich suppers have kept me full. And the good news – the pointer on the scale has started to move again (the desired way!).

 

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These last few days I’ve been fighting off the urge to evangelize... I’ve been re-reading “Eat to Live”, and I’ve also been spending time on the ETL website reading the forums, and the success stories (there are over 3600 to chose from). With all that information swirling through my head it is difficult not to spout off at any opportunity. It just seems so obvious that this is a healthy way to eat compared to what others consider healthy...

Many people think they are eating a healthy diet, but what facts are they basing it on? Plant based, whole food eating has so much science behind it that is is hard to refute. Unfortunately I’m not good at keeping a whole bunch of scientific study references in my head so often don’t make the best arguments. One of the differences in this diet is that it isn’t solely for weight loss (although that does happen when you are on the “6 week” phase). Following a plant-based eating plan has been shown, in case after case, that it reverses heart disease; reverses diabetes; reduces and even eliminates auto-immune diseases; and even has an effect on depression (but unfortunately does not “cure” bipolar, but may help symptoms). Sick people on several medications have been able to get off them after following this plan. How can you argue against that?

Coincidently, since I started ETL in October, my mood has only been good. The first few days I thought I was a bit hypo-manic, but on further thought I believe I was just feeling the contrast between feeling kind of yuck with what I was eating and the good of better eating. This is the longest time in a long time that I’ve been so stable – and in the dark days of November, it is almost guaranteed that I’ll have down days. Diet or not I’ll take it!

Another interesting thing, again related to how good I feel, is how a “normal” diet makes me feel. A few years back when I first started loosely following ETL I noticed how good I felt. The thing is that before I didn’t realize that what I was eating was making me feel yuck! It was only the contrast of closely following the eating guidelines that showed me the difference. In the last few years as I’ve gone off and on it has become even more clear that eating “normal” foods does not agree with me. Last Friday was a bit of a test in that regard (with the chicken shwarma). I felt horrible for 2 days after eating it! It was a pretty extreme test, but my resolve has hardened even more.

Courage is never to let your actions be influenced by your fears. ~ Arthur Koestler

Habitual Nourishment–End of Week 4

Friday: I gave it much thought through the day, and mostly because I wanted a break from cooking (I was getting cranky about it), we had chicken shwarma plates from the takeout place. It was good for about 2 bites, and then the chicken was disgustingly salty and greasy, the sauce and rice were oily. But did I stop? No. I ate and ate until I was ready to burst. We also had a bottle of bubbles with our meal. It was good for a few sips and then the flavour clashed with the greasy garlic of the shwarma. Did I stop? No. I drank my share.

Bother.

There must be another local take out option. Our options are Lebanese or Chinese. No Thai or Vietnamese. So I guess I'd better just get used to cooking day upon day, week upon week...

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Saturday I felt sick and nauseous all day. My brother and his kids were coming for lunch so I made a healthy lentil soup with pumpkin and 2lbs of green beans; that was the only thing I was able to eat all day. Lesson learnt? I doubt it...

When friends called for us to drop over for dessert I waffled – then I decided that we’d go and I’d allow myself a tiny piece of the cheese cake she had made, and a glass or two of wine. Well… okay… but I would have been better off without either.

Stepping on the scale Sunday morning for the weekly weigh in proved me right – instead of weight lost this week I actually gained a pound. %&*T^*

That’s no reason to give up, but instead toughens my resolve towards better health.

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Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
Oct 20 (0)	21	22	23	24	25	26 (-3)
27	28	29	30	31	Nov 1	2 (-4.5)
3	4	5	6	7	8	9 (-6)
10	11	12	13	14	15	16

  = good day  = a small diversion from Eat to Live   = oh, oh (#) total pounds lost

Habitual Nourishment–Almost to the End of the 1st Month

I am trying to keep my focus on eating for optimal health, rather than just calories and losing weight. I think my change in outlook is helping me stick with the program. I am still trying to lose weight (and celebrate every pound gone), but I'm not playing around with calories to squeeze in a cookie. I think that cutting those addictive, toxic foods out 100% has helped tremendously with cravings. And as a "bonus" I feel better than I've felt in months. I have more energy, my thinking is clearer, I'm sleeping better, the benefits go on...

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Here’s how it has gone so far this week:

Sunday night we watched "Extreme Pigouts"; in the past all those hamburgers and ice cream would have had me heading for the fridge; instead, I was grossed out and thankful for my supper of healthy vegetables and beans.

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When I weighted myself on Wednesday I saw no downward motion on the scale. I had to struggle a bit to keep my resolve, but I reminded myself that it is good health that I'm aiming for and not just weight loss. Also, I have been exercising more, so perhaps I'm just building muscle (a girl can dream right!).

I went to Curves with Christina this afternoon. I've never been before and was a little apprehensive about how out of shape I'm in. As it turns out, I'm better than I thought. The instructor showed me how to use each machine (I thought of our dancing lessons and wondered how many times she'd have to show me...), and then I'd try it out. For the next circuit I did them myself, with the instructor giving tips and reminders. It was fun. As Christina dropped me off she hoped that I wouldn't be too sore today, and I'm not! Next visit I'll make sure to really use my muscles to get the full benefit.

I have been eating to plan, but maybe a bit too much. My bedtime snack (1 cup almond milk & 2 T chia seeds with some fruit mixed in) has possibly too many calories (there's that calorie thing again); to compensate I've stopped putting almond milk in my morning smoothie. Maybe I should try cutting out the nuts that I'm eating (20g) as I am having seeds. I'm supposed to have nuts and seeds everyday for their healthy fats and other nutritional benefits, so maybe if I alternate days...

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Thursday: Still no downward motion on the scale. Still resolved to keep eating healthily. Speaking of "healthily", which is it: "healthy" or "healthily"? It always bothers me to see "I'm eating healthy" or other such phrase, it just doesn't seem like the proper word. Isn't that the same thing as saying "I'm eating a hamburger" - is healthy the thing that they are eating? I don't know - it just bugs me! Comments please to set me straight!

I did "day 1, week 1" of Couch to 5k today. That really put me in my place! It is an ambitious 9 week program to get me in shape to run 5km. Can I do it? Will I stick with it? Only time will tell! But I'll tell you that I barely made it through the first session, and now I'm totally exhausted (a few hours later). Yikes!

It was my hardest day to keep with the program. I had serious cravings for chicken shwarma but didn’t give in. I DID change my bedtime snack to healthy chocolate peanut butter icecream (frozen banana, frozen almond milk cubes, 1 T coco, 1 T peanut butter). A bit of decadence but still with the plan.

And then… I had a bowl of popcorn. Was that a terrible divergence – no (popcorn is allowed in limited quantities). But it wasn’t on MY plan. I think being discouraged weakened my resolve a bit… I haven’t decided yet if it still counts as a green day, or has to be logged as a yellow one…

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Friday morning: scale is still stuck. Trying not to get discouraged. Some people on the ETL forum say that their weight goes in fits and starts – nothing and then 2 or 3 in one day – I’m hoping!

Be intent upon the perfection of the present day. ~ William Law

Habitual Nourishment - Week 3–becoming habitual

You’ll have to excuse me, but I’ve decided to just post my habitual nourishment posts here and do away with the other blog. I don’t have much to say there, so I might as well say it here. Feel free to skip these posts!

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The week started off on a good foot; aside from my (final) encounter with quinoa. That was not fun; I love quinoa and hate to lose it from my diet.

Monday we went into town to purchase a blender that was on sale (Ninja Kitchen System 1500). My current blender was a little gutless for some of the things I wanted to make with it. This one is crazy powerful – it made “icecream” in seconds with just frozen almond milk cubes, a drizzle of liquid almond milk, a frozen banana, 1/2 T peanut butter, and 1 T coco powder. Oh my gosh it was good! The blender should also be able to replace most of the things I used my ancient food processor for; that’s a good thing cause the blender is HUGE, and with all its giant attachments I need to move the old fp out of the kitchen!

Needless to say, Monday I over ate; sure, everything was on point, but there was just too much of it.

Wednesday I went shopping with a friend, but instead of eating out, I brought fresh celery, red pepper, grapes and walnuts. Not as much fun as going out for Pho, but healthier, and hopefully weight loss promoting.

Thursday was another outing, this time to a “ladies night”, with wine… needless to say it wasn’t a perfect green day…

I’ve started to have a chia seed pudding as my bedtime snack. It might be adding too many calories, but it is adding a good dose of omega-3, and calcium, as well as several other benefits:

A standard 2 tbsp (24 g) serving of chia seeds contains:

• Calories: 117
• Protein: 4 grams
• Fat: 7.4 grams
• Fibre: 8.3 grams

It contains all eight essential amino acids and a host of trace minerals and micronutrients. To put it in easy comparative terms, each 2 tbsp serving of chia offers:

• Five times the omega-3 content of a 1/4-cup serving of walnuts
• Twice the iron and magnesium of a cup of spinach
• As much calcium as a half-cup of milk
• As much potassium as a third of a banana
• More than twice the fibre of a cup of oatmeal

 

My resolve held fast on Saturday morning, even though I was sorely tempted by the smell of Carm’s toast. I usually try to time my smoothie to his toast time, but had let it slip a bit. I sat in my chair wavering a few minutes, and then reminded myself that I don’t feel so great after toast, and that surely, a tasty smoothie would do the trick. So up I got and started the long process of assembling all the ingredients (today was hemp hearts, broccoli, carrot, zucchini, celery, cantaloupe, cranberries, tofu, kale, spinach, frozen apple, frozen banana, frozen almond milk cubes, and finally a few cups of icy water). Whew! What a production! It did hit the spot though, and the desire for toast disappeared.

All in all it was a good week, with only 1 small transgression (two glasses of wine on Thu); if I weren’t trying to lose weight the wine would have been okay. I was down 1 1/2 pounds – not too bad, especially given that I ate and ate  – sure it would be good for it to be faster, but this way I’m more likely to fit into my skin ;-)

Note to self: do NOT add raw ginger to smoothie – yuck – perhaps if you are a ginger fan it would be good, but since I barely like it to in the first place…

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Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
Oct 20 (0)	21	22	23	24	25	26 (-3)
27	28	29	30	31	Nov 1	2 (-4.5)
3	4	5	6	7	8	9 (-6)

 

  = good day  = a small diversion from Eat to Live   = oh, oh (#) total pounds lost

 

Such as are your habitual thoughts, such also will be the character of your mind; for the soul is dyed by the thoughts. ~ Marcus Aurelius

Habitual Nourishment - Green Smoothies

A good start to the day that leaves me feeling energized!

Yesterday:

Today:

The blender had trouble with today’s smoothie, too many big chunks. I’ll have to do some more chopping tomorrow!

Note that these are not flavour sensations… they don’t taste horrible, but they aren’t milkshakes either, but knowing that they are so nutritious I never have difficulty drinking them.

Also, frozen blueberries are a good addition, but unfortunately turn the smoothie into a gross brownish colour. So I save my blueberries for something else! In fact, today I’m going to try making “icecream” with blueberries, chia seeds, and almond milk. I’ll let you know tomorrow how it worked out.

 

Maybe we need to re-engage our smart, energetic youth around the world to be farmers and find fresh, green technologies that will feed the world more fresh greens.  ~ Ellen Gustafson

Habitual Nourishment - Have Faith

It has been ages since I posted, and now it is time to get back to business. I gained 8 pounds over the summer (6 before I even went on our cross country trip). So now it is time to pay the piper and get back on the road to weight loss. I am now 25 lbs away from my goal.

How will I start? Slowly at first. I am cooking more healthy meals and trying to stay active around the house. As the camping season winds down I’ll get more strict with food choices and get back on the treadmill.

I’d like to get down to my “wedding weight” in time for our 25th wedding anniversary next summer. Can I do it? I just have to get the motivation and keep it!

 

Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.
Norman Vincent Peale

Habitual Nourishment - No Wonder I’m Going Crazy…

I guess I’d better take more notice of where I am posting things! Maybe I am going crazy after all.

On a nourishment note though… things are going badly. I just can’t seem to summon the will to cook, and certainly not the will to not eat bad things. I don’t know if it is summer? Or just a phase? But I’ve got to get over it soon as I’ve almost put back on all the weight I lost in the spring – dooh. And to top it off I just don’t feel that great when I’m not eating properly.

I have a supper planned of leftovers – brown rice with butternut squash (healthy, but a lot of carbs), and roasted green beans. Tomorrow I have some tofu that has been marinating with garlic and basil. I’ll sauté that with 2 tomatoes and a can of cannellini beans and some more basil. I haven’t made it before, but it sounds easy and tasty.

Another supper I have planned this week is roasted portabella mushrooms with a thin slice of marinated tofu and roasted red peppers. We’ll eat it in a bun which ramps down the health factor, but it is still on the good side of the line!

All this is much better than the scads of take-out food we’ve been eating!

Habitual Nourishment - Weekly Weigh In–6 Weeks Done

I didn’t keep my promise to myself, but on the other hand I kept things in check and even lost a pound. That’s 7 lbs down in 6 weeks – not exactly stellar, but at least I’m moving in the right direction.

In the last week there were several events to navigate, including a birthday party at Bierstube and of course Mother’s Day. Some of these were a total bust (birthday), while others were not too bad. I seem to have trouble with moderation though – it is all or nothing. Almost as if I were addicted to sugar and fat…

Looking at my chart I can see that I haven’t had a “good” eating day for 2 weeks – what’s up with that? It seems that cheese and crackers, chocolate, or maybe even a glass of wine sneaks in every day.

Again, this week I didn’t log my foods. Keeping track of everything that I eat seems to motivate me. It seems such a pain, but perhaps it is worth it!

 

Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
Apr 1 (0)	2	3	4	5	6	7
8 (-3)	9	10	11	12	13	14
15 (-4.5)	16	17	18	19	20	21
22 (-6)	23	24	25	26	27	28
29 (-4)	30

Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
		May 1	2	3	4	5
6 (-6)	7	8	9	10	11	12

= good day = within calories (maybe), but not 100% Eat to Live = oh, oh (#) total pounds lost

Habitual Nourishment - Car Day

Yesterday was a mashup of activities (including getting our new car and selling the old one) that made cooking healthy meals difficult. Nothing was really terrible and I did stay within 1200 calories (I think), but nutritionally it was a big bust. It just goes to show how much care has to be taken in choosing your foods to get the proper nutritional profile. And we know that good health is not just about the number of calories we consume!

I started the day on the right foot, but missed the spinach and tofu in my smoothie. From there it was down hill – cheese and crackers for supper? And my snacks – what happened to the celery and hummus? Our excuse for the trip to the ice cream parlour – going for a drive in the new car!

Habitual Nourishment - Weekly Weigh In–Five Weeks Done

It was a disappointing week of emotional eating and weight gain, followed by a week of camping and other excuses. Why oh why can’t I go through mood events without weight gain. Why can’t I say “I can” rather than “I don’t care”. Somehow I have to get a handle on this problem, but I’m not exactly sure how. Perhaps if I try substituting a pleasurable activity? The problem is at a certain point I don’t really care, which makes it difficult to not sabotage my progress.

At least with all the extra exercise that I get when camping I made up the 2 pounds that were gained in the previous week. Imagine how well the numbers would have looked if I had kept up with healthy eating.

The crazy thing is that I know I feel better when I avoid “bad” food (and feel gross when I do eat it), and I truly believe in the health benefits of a low-fat plant-based diet, but it is almost like an addiction – all logical thought goes out the window and I must have that bad food.

You can see by looking at my little chart how bad it was. It is no wonder that I that I lost no weight for the last two weeks. Talk about a stall. I didn’t even bother logging my food in Calorie Count – there was no point…

The good news is, this week is a new week and I can try to do better! No excuses! I have 2 weeks before the next camping trip and 3 weeks till my first goal date.

Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
Apr 1 (0)	2	3	4	5	6	7
8 (3)	9	10	11	12	13	14
15 (4.5)	16	17	18	19	20	21
22 (6)	23	24	25	26	27	28
29 (4)	30

Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
		May 1	2	3	4	5
6 (6)

= good day = within calories, but not 100% Eat to Live = oh, oh (#) total pounds lost

Habitual Nourishment - Epic Failure

I think I’m only going to write about my successes, as it seems that the failures are mounting up. It seems I’ll take any excuse to indulge, and yesterday was one of them. At least we were with friends and had a good time.

I have great admiration for the people to stick to it and loose 100+ pounds (or any large amount of weight for that matter) – how do they keep their resolve?

I think I’ll go through our old photo albums and get a few photos from around when we got married (my target weight) to post around the house – will they inspire or discourage? (on edit – looked, but not very many of me as I was always the photographer – and those with me in it I’m wearing baggy clothes – so I’ll just have to have an image in my head).

That’s it for today – I’m going to curl up in a corner and wallow in my guilt and misery. Or maybe I’ll get on the treadmill and chalk it up to experience.

Habitual Nourishment - Family Meal at My Parents House

I knew we were having supper at my Mom’s last night so I planned ahead. I made sure to have a proper breakfast (smoothie) and a good lunch (salad, and I remembered the chick peas). I even did 50 minutes on the treadmill!

Since mom was serving prime rib with all the trimmings I knew I better come prepared so I made a big salad… which I forgot…

We did stop at Costco to pick up a box of mixed greens so I felt a bit prepared.

My initial plan was to eat my salad and forgo all the other stuff. I’m afraid I’m just not that strong. I stared at those baguettes with cream cheese and smoked salmon (in fact I made them) – they were in my face for ages – but I held out. I was weakening though. As supper preparations were underway my plan started evolving to just having a tiny piece of beef, and just 1 Yorkshire pudding. The sweet potato and steamed broccoli were of course a go (thanks Mom for not adding a cheese sauce to the broccoli, and pulling out my sweet potato before adding the sugar).

I tried to resist it all, but the idea of moderation seemed more and more attractive. And then there’s the fact that my Mom’s a good cook and surely I didn’t want to insult her (well, that is a bit of a stretch cause Mom is not that petty, but it seemed like a good excuse). Plus there were Yorkshire puddings and the package said just 30 calories each (not including the 1/2 tsp of butter). Yorkshire pudding is one of my favourite foods.

So I did it. I loaded my plate up with salad, squeezed on some broccoli and sweet potato, added a tiny piece of meat and one Yorkshire pudding. And enjoyed.

When I logged the meal I saw that it stayed within reason and aside from the high fat and cholesterol it wasn’t all bad. Except for the ice cream and cake. They made the meal topped out with around 48 grams sugar, most of it added (that’s 12 teaspoons gag).

You know how everyone thinks red meat is the best source of iron – compare 4oz of prime rib with the mixed baby greens. Also compare calories and fat. Which is the healthier choice?

Thankfully I had my smoothie and salad to keep the daily totals in reasonable ranges (except for calcium and potassium). I did go over calories for the day, but not much (assuming my estimates were good).

You can see the problem I have with sticking to a diet – there is always something to foil me. I should make a chart to track which days I stay on course – it might motivate me? (I love charts and graphs!)

Habitual Nourishment - Learning How to Eat

I realized after I posted yesterday that it sounded like I always knew how to eat a healthy diet. I did not! In fact I had a diet much like the ones I was criticising – lots of processed foods and sugary treats.

When I worked I’d eat my breakfast once I got to work. Which meant a choice of big fatty muffin, bagel piled with cream cheese, toast with peanut butter (this one wasn’t too bad). Whew – nothing like starting the day with tons of fat and sugar!

I rarely brought my lunch to work, so again it would be takeout. I can’t recall choosing a salad very often, but instead had a fatty pasta (white pasta of course), or hamburger, sometimes even cookies and chocolate milk, or some other unhealthy choice.

Since I’d had a big lunch supper would be a simpler affair of just kraft dinner, popcorn (with butter of course), porridge, canned spaghetti, or goodness knows what else (I honestly can’t remember).

It was BAD, really BAD!

Of course I gained weight, and of course I tried to lose some of it, but I was never successful for long. I did a low fat diet for a while (hence the magazine hanging around from 1994) – I lost weight, but it wasn’t in a healthy way (low fat cookies laden with sugar, angel food cake, etc.), and certainly not sustainable. I tried ‘The Zone’, I tried ‘The Fat Flush‘. They were complicated combinations of food that I was never completely convinced were healthy. Not to mention that I couldn’t stick with them. I was clueless.

Then came a blood test that showed my blood sugar was in the pre-diabetic range and I had high cholesterol. I ignored it. Then another, and another. Finally one of my doctors gave me a lecture and also recommended reading ‘Eat to Live’. That was a turning point for me. It was simple and seemed to make sense in a health sense. Several years ago I stuck with the program and lost a bunch of weight. Then I fell back into my old ways of eating out at work. I was too lazy.

When we retired my blood work was off again, so this time I really stuck with it. I lost weight, but more importantly I developed a sheaf of recipes that fit with the plan. Unfortunately I let some bad food seep back into my diet, but thankfully at least kept with cooking healthy meals at home. So here I am again, still with some weight to lose, but this time I’m going to be more scientific when I move into maintenance (which won’t be for a while…).

The book has been a god-send as it has taught me a healthy, and reasonably sustainable way to eat and cook.

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Yesterday was another successful day. I managed to fend off the cake that Carm brought home from his mom’s, and (this was a bit tougher), freshly baked bread.

Breakfast and lunch were the usual smoothie and salad. For supper we had grilled zucchini (1lb weighed raw), sautéed red peppers, some sun-dried tomatoes (not packed in oil), onions (2), garlic, and fresh basil ; and a cooked sweet potato (1). All of this was tossed together and divided between Carm and I. It was served over a bed of mixed brown rice (brown, red, wild) and some white kidney beans. There were no complaints about the taste and it was totally filling.

My only red box yesterday was because I was slightly under my target calories – and it isn’t because I was trying – I couldn’t eat all the allocated food as it was.

Habitual Nourishment - Off to the Right Start

I'm starting this blog to help me on my journey to better health. I believe that a whole foods, plant-based diet is best for health and weight loss. More and more doctors are coming to this realization and promoting this healthy lifestyle.

Several years ago my doctor gave me a book called 'Eat to Live' as my blood sugar and cholesterol levels were elevated. I stuck with the program for several weeks and lost weight. But demands of work, and a lack of commitment led me back onto a "standard" diet which led to more weight gain and a return to elevated blood numbers.

Finally a few years ago I again made the commitment. I've found and developed many recipes. The vast majority of the meals I cook at home adhere to these principals. Both my husband and I enjoy the food. However, we still succumb to unhealthy choices when eating out, or eating at others homes. This has led to a yo-yo of weight gain and weight loss, but thankfully over the last year we are slowly reducing this up and down effect. But we aren't there yet...

My goal for the next several months is to lose more weight, get more active, and become more committed to this lifestyle.

O Tannenbaum

I played around with caloriecounter.about.com to put in ingredients to my morning smoothie that I’ve been sharing with Grace. This morning I put in 1/2 cup of parsley as well and after looking at its nutrient profile I’ll be adding it all the time.

It has a lot of calories, but 70% daily calcium and 56% daily iron, not to mention A, C, etc. I don't worry about the sugars as except for the bit from the molasses they are all from fruit.  It is a good start to the day :-) And it leaves me feeling energized.

1/2 banana, 1/2 cup blueberries, 3 cup spinach, 1/2 cup parsley, etc.

I also spent some time on the internet looking at fabrics… I brought in the carpet from the camper and lined it up with the chairs that are also from the camper.  I found one that I really, really liked, but on closer inspection it was dry clean only, and spot clean with some solvent. WTF! So, back to the drawing board. This is supposed to be fun right – I’ve got to remember that there is no deadline.

Oh dear – closer inspection of the trees in the grove at the front of the house revealed that at least 1/2 of the spruce trees have either broken in half or are so far bent to the ground that they will surely break as well. Some of them just had side branches ripped out. My stomach just felt sick looking at them. They were mature trees, over 20 years old. Some of them were over 25 feet. Hopefully new growth will come out of the broken stumps – I wonder what we can do to help them?

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas tree,
How lovely are your branches!
In beauty green will always grow
Through summer sun and winter snow.
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
How lovely are your branches!
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas tree,
You are the tree most loved!
How often you give us delight
In brightly shining Christmas light!
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas tree,
You are the tree most loved!
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas tree,
Your beauty green will teach me
That hope and love will ever be
The way to joy and peace for me.
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas tree,
Your beauty green will teach me.

Songwriters: TRADITIONAL/SCHWARTZ

Fox in Socks

This morning Bella was raising a racket, barking at the back door. I jumped up to quiet her, glancing out the door to see what the fuss was about. A big, scruffy fox was standing in the backyard staring at the house. He stood looking at the house for several moments and then slowly trotted off towards the hay field.

The dogs have been running down to the barn every chance they get - I hope that doesn't mean that Mr. Fox has taken up residence there.

Tonight for supper we had roasted sweet potato tossed with the zest and juice of 1 lime, garlic and chopped jalopeno, It was good. Add in some roasted brussels sprouts and lentils and we had another healthy meal. Dairy Queen for dessert would be good though ;-)