Swappsies

There is no reason to deprive yourself of yumminess.  You can make yourself fabulous meals and snacks without busting the calorie bank.  My favorite comfort foods included creamy-buttery mashed potatoes, Doritos, lasagna, fudgy brownies, cheeseburgers, fries, Lays potato chips, Fritos and Tostitos Queso dip...and a whole lot more.  My downfall was that I was chasing the taste of fat instead of tasting the actual food itself.  This statement is worth thinking about for a moment.

 When you try something that is low-fat..often times the reaction is...well, not so good.  This is true for any change in routine whether it is waking up at a different time, adjusting to a new job or finding your way around a new grocery store.  New isn't bad, it's just new.  If you allow your body the chance to actually taste all of the different things that make up the meal it will always taste different because it is no longer being masked by all of that fat.

Fat, You Oxymoron
The truth is, you need to have a certain amount of fat in your diet for a few reasons:
- lets face it...it just makes things taste better
- vitamins use fat as a taxi to get from our blood to the tissues that need them most
- fat = energy (fat is not our only energy source...)
However, did you know that fat should only make up 10% of the calories you take in?
Keep in mind that animal fats (butter, cream, milk (other than skim), nicely marbled steak, pork etc) vs. plant fats (olive oil) are super high in saturated fats and should be avoided for weight loss and overall health in general. 

Don't stop making the things you love, instead:
-Change the way you make them.  Break down the ingredients and start cutting corners.  Look at the ingredients that contain the carbs, sugars and fat.  Replace those ingredients with low sugar, whole wheat/whole grain and low fat options.  It takes time in the beginning, but like anything else..it becomes second nature after a bit and it will become habitual.
-Add fiber where ever you can, whenever you have the opportunity 
-Bulk up on veggies.  Whatever you are making...find a way to incorporate a whole lot of veg.  Veggies have naturally occuring carbohydrates- the ones that the body actually wants and needs.  You would thrive quite healthily for the rest of your life you never took another bite of bread or pasta.  (My personal choice is to avoid carbs alltogether, but that is my personal choice.  Whole grains are listed in MyPyramid.  Always consult your PCP and/or nutritionist when developing a diet plan)  Having said that, everyone loves bread & pasta, so have it but only whole grain and small portions (check the recommended portions on the labels!) then bring on the extra veggies.  Another good thing about veggies is that they all contain their own important vitamins.  If you eat too much of one and not enough of the other, you won't get the balance you need.  In short- eat lots of veggies & mix it up!  Starving for more details?  http://health.ninemsn.com.au/family/womenshealth/694377/vitamin-balance

I just recently came upon a TV show that I absolutely fell in love with:  HUNGRY GIRL. The woman on this show is an absolute PRO at swaps!  She is my new idol.  I had been running out of ideas and feeling like I was getting into a food prep rut and then I stumbled upon her show.  She is amazing.  She breaks it all down for you AND she lets you know how many points everything is for all of you WeightWatcher's followers!  

Long live the palate!

Did you know that....

....you have 10,000 taste buds and they are not only on your tongue, they are also on your soft palate, your pharynx & larynx?  Which means that you are not only tasting food as you chew it but also as you swallow it.  
   

...the chemicals (both natural and engineered - which we want to stay away from) in food need to disolve in your saliva before they can bind to your taste receptors...allowing you to TASTE what you are eating? Which means the old wives tale of chewing thirty times before you swallow, actually holds water.  Another reason it is good to go slow is that some taste receptors detect substances in 3-5 seconds while others detect substance anwhere from 1-5 minutes.  Eating slowly really does have it's benefits.

...if you can tell what kind of food is in your mouth by its texture, that means you haven't chewed it enough?  

...digestion begins in the mouth?  Not only does saliva break down food while you are chewing but chewing also signals messages to the the gastrointestinal tract that triggers the digestion process.  Want more info: 
http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=george&dbid=36

                   vs      

...lack of sleep affects your body' s abilility to feel full/satisfied with food?  Leptin (sends messages of fullness) and grelin (sends messages of hunger) are hormones that compliment each other to tell your body that you are hungry or satisfied.  Lack of sleep drives leptin levels down and elevates your grelin levels...causing you continue feeling hungry..never satisfied with the following day's meals/snacks.  Want more details?  http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/guide/lose-weight-while-sleeping    Get some sleep and you'll feel full when you are full!

...the Japanese discovered another taste sensation in addition to sweet, salty, sour & bitter?  It is called umami and it is the taste of meat.

Shake Your Money Maker 

One of the best things you can do for yourself is to exercise (for so many reasons but the reasons are another topic).  I know what you are thinking and that's because I was in the exact same boat.  I don't know exactly where you are with your weight or health, but I do know that when I was at my heaviest and my unhealthiest, I was feeling depressed, unattractive, frustrated, anxious in any social situation, isolated and trapped in my own body.  All diets I had tried had failed and all attempts on an exercise regimen had done no good- I felt that I was too far gone.  All of those feelings were real to me and effected not only myself but everyone around me.

So where do you start (besides a dramatic nutrition make-over)?  Buying the newest DVD series or exercise equipment off of a paid program on TV didn't do me any good, but at least I had the interest, the desire to change myself.  It turned out that all the exercise equipment in the world couldn't help me.  What I needed to do was move. What really did it was adding ANY movement to my habitual routine, any movement out of the ordinary.  I made small changes and they grew and grew and grew until I found myself in my own exercise program. 

     

What I mean is, at first I made little changes to my everyday habits such as: taking the stairs instead of the elevator, parking as far from the store/post office/bank etc as possible, no longer asking my daughters if they could "grab" this or that for me-I got up and got it myself (just to tack on a few extra steps at every opportunity), pushing my weight up onto my toes- then down again(calf lifts) over and over while I standing at the stove cooking dinner, doing gentle stretching while watching T.V.  In addition, I started walking every other day- first for 5 minutes, then 8 minutes, then 11 minutes, then 16 minutes then, 21 minutes.  After that, I felt so good that I shifted my attention to distance and began increasing that and before I knew it, I could easily handle 2.5 miles at a brisk pace.  Every little bit really does help.  If you don't start somewhere, you will never finish- and you have beaten yourself.  Just take the first step- no matter how small, and build on it. 

                          

Here is how to succeed:  Be realistic, make a promise to yourself & stick to it, keep a journal.  If you set an unrealistic goal, you will fail.  If you fail, you will find yourself depressed and back in the vicious cycle-I know how that feels.  Break away from all that. 

• Make a realistic goal- a challenging one, but one that you can keep.  For instance promise yourself that four times a week (every other day) you are going to walk for 5 minutes (assuming that is outside of your normal routine- if you are already doing that or something similar...GREAT!  Increase that by 5 minutes).  
•  Schedule yourself an "appointment" with yourself to walk.  Be consistent with the time so that it becomes a ritual- don't do it at 6am one day, 3pm the next, 7pm the next.  Write your "appointment" down in your planner or on the calendar, hold yourself accountable (your the only one who will!)  Don't chose a time that competes with something else like your favorite show or when you usually start dinner- forcing yourself to change the routine you already have set for your self is not a good idea in the beginning.  You are more opt to follow through if you ADD this into your schedule, not rearrange your schedule to allow for it.  Don't allow anything to break that commitment to yourself, not a phone call, not a pop-in visit (chat while you walk!), not feeling tired or down (walking always makes you feel better)...nothing. 
• Keep a journal.  Pick up a simple note book and predate according to your new walking routine (ie 3/1/12 on one page, 3/3/12 on the next, 3/5/12 on the next and so on.  On each predated page, record your goal (activity & time) and what you actually accomplished.  This is also an excellent place to record your meal & snack choices (every nibble and bite too!) so that you can have a visual and be accountable for all your food choices and not just the meals and allotted snacks.  When you can actually see what you are doing for both exercise & food choices, you can see what is causing success or what is causing you not to succeed and make the changes accordingly.

You can do this!  Start small and build on it.  Why not give it a shot today?

Am I a Cheater?

I hate the word cheat.  If I use the word cheat, that insinuates that I am dieting and I am not- I am living a new and healthy lifestyle.

No matter how healthy a person I am, no matter how much willpower or self determination I may have, lets face it- I am only human.  A human with real cravings and a real sweet tooth.  Now and then I do have something that isn't on my "healthy list" but I don't call it cheating, I call it a reward.  A reward for taking care of myself, for my determination.  Here is the catch...

There is a fine line between an occasionally reward and slipping back into the mentality where my subconscious begins to try and convince me that it's okay to do more indulging because:

• a bite here and a bite there is OK because after all,  it is just a bite and I have been doing so good that it wouldn't even offset the good I've done
• I can have two portions of that because it is the "healthy" version of this which is way fattening and loaded with sugar, so really I am not making a bad decision, I am still doing good
• everything in moderation...if I just have a little bit to "satisfy" me then it won't effect my goal
• since I have already had a bite of it, I have trashed my day so I may as well finish it
• I will eat this and then make it up later by not having dinner or taking an extra long walk (does that ever end up happening?  NO!  In addition, skipping a meal is bad news..a topic for another day)

The truth is it isn't OK to cheat.  Cheating opens the door to old and bad habits, especially if you have not made it to your first year anniversary of your new healthy lifestyle.  Cheating is the gateway drug to overindulgence. 

Make a conscious decision to stick to your plan all week- no rewards until you have earned one.  Once you have, get something (just one thing such as a dessert- don't choose dinner as your indulgence because collectively- it is one thing), something that you really love- something that you have been looking forward to, but stick to the serving size- in other words don't reward yourself with two pieces of cheesecake...that is a binge not a reward ;)  If you don't want to indulge sinfully, choose something that will just do the trick.  My reward is a chocolate hershey's kiss or a Nature's Valley Granola Thin.  (Notice the first ingredient is WHOLE GRAIN ROLLED OATS).

 

I choose this for two reasons:  1) The serving size is just one and each one is individually wrapped.  There is no guess work here.  If you go back for another one, you know you are having too much.  2)  It has just enough chocolate to make my tastebuds happy and keep my fat/sugar/carb count under control.

My rewards are not once a day, they are are once a week.  I actually have a day picked out for myself so that I can count on it.  I get to Saturday, I have done well for myself all week, I treat myself to a reward and then I get busy doing something else.  Usually I fix myself a nice cup of coffee first so that after I         S  L  O  W  L  Y   eat my treat, tasting every hue of yummyness, I pick up my coffee and move on.  This puts a definate beginning and a definate end to my reward.  No seconds, I have moved onto my coffee.

Take good care of yourself, making healthy choices and then be kind to yourself and give yourself a reward once a week. 

One lump or two?

Portion size has never been a real concern to me.  In February of last year, my nutritionist turned a light bulb on in my head and it all changed.  Check out the below recommendation portion sizes then meet me below  :)

Portion size is always an issue.  Today, if you go out to eat the portions you are served are massive, often three times the healthy portion size.  60 million Americans, 20 yrs or older, are obese.  (A person is considered "obese" when their Body Mass Index (BMI) is 30 or greater.  A healthy BMI is 18.5 - 24.9  Before I lost all the weight, my BMI was 41.  Now it is 24.4.  What is yours?  Find out:  http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/bminojs.htm  9 million children and teens between the ages of 6 & 19 are overweight!  For details: http://www.getamericafit.org/statistics-obesity-in-america.html
Look at the difference in portion sizes over the last twenty years:

                   

In a day of super sizing and preservative city, it is no wonder that we are taking in way more than what is necessary to sustain us.  But just because you are given this massive amount of food at the restaurant doesn't mean you have to eat it.  YOU are in control.  If you find that you lose control when you go out because of pressure from your company or you feel awkward limiting your portions because you are focusing on what the person across the table is thinking then either don't go OR ask the waitress to bring a take out box with your meal and put half of it in the box as soon as it arrives.  Seriously.  You have to start somewhere.  Every little bit helps.  Start now.  YOU are in control. 

That is all when you are out at a restaurant (I have drastically changed the frequency of eating out because it is so hard to control what I am putting into my mouth calorie wise vs. when I cook my own food, I know how much olive oil, salt, sugar etc I have used), what about when you eat at home?  I made a few changes which have made a huge difference for my family and I. 
1)  I use a small plates- not dinner size plates.  If you use a dinner size plate, the correct portion sizes look so tiny.  You feel deprived.  Use a small plate (this may mean you need to go out and purchase some new dishes) at every meal and then you are already shrinking your portion size.  If it doesn't fit on your plate- don't eat it.
2)  No more buffet style eating
I prepare a nice dinner for my family and I serve them a healthy portion -healthy as in recommended- not healthy as in robust ;).  Then I put it away.  Seriously, I put it up on the counter in left over Tupperware.  If anyone wants seconds after they have finished their entire meal (yes-even the veggies), they can have a bit, but it isn't laid out on the table for the taking.  What happens there is that it tastes so good, so you reach for more.  I have made it refilling our plate inconvenient and I have taken it out of the equation by removing it from the table.  Out of sight, out of mind.

3)  Your outta here!
After everyone is nearing the completion of their dinner (first helping!), I start talking about dessert.  (Dessert is a whole other blog topic, so just assume that is healthy too for now ;)   )  As soon as we start dessert, I pack up all the dinner food items and put it away.  No picking while cleaning up.  No seconds just because it tastes good.  If the temptation is removed, it helps A LOT!

Portion or serving size is a an under discussed topic.  Before February of 2011, I rarely even glanced at the serving sizes on food packaging.

(There is so much more on nutrition facts to discuss.  I'll save the dirt on reading labels & nutritional facts for another day)

 I ate what I wanted and made sure that everyone else could too, even if that meant buying two or three of whatever I was making so there was enough to go around.  I have always been careful about what I served and how much I served my little punkins, but when it came to my husband & I, we were eating more then we should've.  Now, everything that goes into my mouth (and each member of my family's mouth) is under portion control.  I do weigh food, but I also use the eyeball method (shown in the second picture).  Each night, my goal is to make enough for dinner so that there is just enough for everyone, again making it difficult to go for seconds and thirds. 

When you really think about it, we are machines.  Machines only need enough fuel to perform their duties.  There is absolutely no need to put more in (calories) then we are taking out (energy needed to perform).

You pay your bills, you take your dog out to pee, you bathe your kids, you deserve to take care of you too.  You are important enough to spend quality time preparing healthy meals and to spend the time determining what your body needs.  Bon appetit.

20 Things to Do Instead of Munch

1.    Make a fabulous cup of coffee
2.    Take a walk
3.    Call a friend
4.    Paint your nails (if you are a guy...Armor All your car/truck interior)
5.    Read a book
6.    Start a project for a friend or family member's birthday gift
7.    Surf the internet for a succulent & healthy dinner recipe
8.    Go to the library
9.    Say a prayer
10.  Re-organize your closet
11.  Do something nice for someone else
12.  Clean out your car
13.  Do a load of laundry
14.  Put on your favorite song then sing and dance like no one is watching
15.  Do some simple stretching
16.  Write a letter to someone special
17.  Take a hot shower
18.  Go to the park
19.  Vaccum
20.  Play a game with your kids

What time is it? It's time to eat! WOOOOOHOOOOO!

One of my downfalls was that I was always eating.  Most of the time it wasn't even a conscious decision to eat, I just ate all the time.  If something great happened, we would go out for a beautiful dinner to celebrate.  If I was bored, I had a snack.  If we had company over, we'd all snack.  If I was visiting someone elses house- hungry or not, if the snacks were out, I'd snack.  If the kids were having a snack, I had a snack.  If the kids went for a nap and I finally had a moment to myself, I would have a snack.  Making lunch for the kids?  Couple nibbles of that.  Up late?  Snack.  Movie night with the hubby?  Snack time!  Emotionally upset...oh, wait..a snack can fix that.  Depressed from the state of myself...screw it, what's the point anyways right?  May as well have another snack.  Cooking dinner?  Tasted this and that until it was just right and guess what? If you add up all of those snacks, I was eating the equivalent to 5-6 meals (full meals) a day (calorically speaking). 

One of the first things I did that started me down my healthy living path was to figure out why I was turning to food.  My ahh ha! moment was when I read a book that somehow had me and my skeletons pegged.  See link for detail:  http://www.webmd.com/diet/personality-type-diet-what-it-is   A real eye opener.

I love food.  Always have, always will.  I grew up surrounded by people who love food.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with loving food, after all...without it, we would be no longer.  BUT...there is something wrong with living to eat instead of eating to live.  I know that is such a cliche' but if you stare at it long enough and really break it down, it is so true. 

Meals and snacks should be scheduled.  Although this helps you to sustain a certain amount of energy all day long, regulates good blood glucose levels and makes it easy to calculate fat/carb/sugar intake..I don't do it for all that.  I do it for control.  There isn't much that is under our control these days.  But there is one thing I can control...I CAN control what and when I eat.  I have breakfast @ 8am, snack @ 10:30am, lunch @ 12:30pm, snack @ 3:30pm, dinner @ 6pm and a final snack @ 7:30pm.  I keep a tight ship and stick to the schedule.  If I don't, then it is too easy to slip back into a bite here and a nibble there.  This way, you know it's time to treat yourself and you don't have to feel guilty.  It is kind of like a game for me.  What is more important -schedule everything else in our lives...car repairs, children's doctor's visits, trips to the grocery store, errands, H&R Block appointments...are we not important enough to schedule a few moments with ourselves throughout the day?  It gives me the opportunity to slow down.  I am a mother of twin three-year olds and a five year old (all girls).  Schedule is my middle name.  I have found so much more energy just from making sure that my body has what it needs to keep on chugging along. 

Choose snacks that you like!  No, I don't mean that you should grab a snack size back of Doritos for your 10:30am snack because you like them.  What I mean is, compile a bunch of things that you love then turn them into healthy versions.  If you find yourself craving chicken parmigiana, figure out a way to make it in a healthy way. (I have a great & super fast chicken parm fix!  But that's for another day :)  Ask yourself, "Self, what corner's can I cut to shave off calories/fat/sugar?"  After a while, this will become second nature.  Cook with fresh herbs and preservative free & MSG free ingredients so that you can really taste what you are cooking, instead of eating what the food industry has added to get you hooked.  Then you will really love to eat what you have prepared to eat and what you have prepared to eat will help sustain you.

To Carb or Not to Carb? That is the question.

There are so many diet fads out there...Jenny Craig, Atkins, SouthBeach, ediets, Slimfast, WeightWatchers, Nutrisystem...just to name a few.  I have had success with weightloss with a bunch of them, but none that ever lasted.  I would shed some weight and be so happy, then I would gain it back and then some.  Why?  Because it is "a diet". 

When people go on "a diet", they follow a short term set of standards to get a desired result.  When they begin to see the results, they figure that it is safe to go off of the "diet" or they relax their rules.  Or they get bored with the rigid rules of their "diet" or the foods that their "diet" allows them to eat.  I feel the word diet should be thought of as "food and drink considered in terms of its nutrition, qualities, composition, and its effects on health".  In other words, a person's diet is what they eat everyday- not just a bunch of prepared meals or shakes they consume for a month or so just to get a quick fix weight loss.  The only way you can lose a bunch of weight and keep it off is if you look at everything you eat- EVERYTHING, on a day to day basis, forever.  Only then can you begin to build a nutritious and balanced diet and reap the benefits of doing so.

Why is "carbs" such a dirty word, especially when trying to loose weight?  The short answer is that carbs are eaten in the wrong manner...through over-processed snack foods which are cheap, easy, and packed with empty carbs which get broken down into sugar super fast.  What does your body do with all the extra sugar?  See link for detail:  http://www.adeloja.org/tag/simple-sugars   Carbs occur naturally in all fruits, veggies, low fat dairy & WHOLE GRAINS.  Those are the carbs that your body wants and needs- yes, I said needs.  Your body actually needs a certain amount of carbs (actual amount depends on your sex & body size) -of all the calories we  consume on a daily basis, 50 - 60% of them should be derived from HEALTHY carbs.  Your body requires this in order to keep your brain & central nervous system fueled properly- otherwise your body begins to "steal" energy from other sources...this can be a VERY DANGEROUS SITUATION.  See link for further detail:  http://women.webmd.com/guide/high-protein-low-carbohydrate-diets   So, cutting carbs out entirely is just not an option (it is also an impossibility).  It is the carbs in white potatoes, white bread, sugars, syrups, doughnuts, cakes, cookies, chips, crackers and any other overly-processed starchy food that are the "dirty carbs".  It may taste spectacular & fill us up for the moment, but a moment is fleeting and you will have just stuffed a huge amount of "empty" (no nutrients- all bad stuff) calories http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/beware-empty-calories  into the body that you are trying to change.  Then, the moment is gone and guess what?  You are hungry for more.  It is a nasty cycle and the food industry counts on it.  http://addiction-dirkh.blogspot.com/2009/04/how-junk-food-works.html   But you don't have to choose it.  Every little change helps.  You have to start somewhere.  Start here.  All you have to do is be in control of you.

Follow one simple rule...if it isn't whole grain- don't eat it.  Period.  That means that you will probably have to purge your cabinets almost entirely.  It is expensive, at first, just to restock your pantry and it is time consuming to review the ingredient labels on everything you reach for.  But, after a week or so, you will know what foods to grab for, it will be second nature.  It takes a little while for your taste buds to get used to the change but it is for your health, your well being and your body will thank you for it in wonderful ways!  Whole grain starches are made up of fiber as well & we all know what that does for us :)  Check the list of ingredients for WHOLE GRAIN WHEAT FLOUR or WHOLE GRAINS- the closer to the top, the better.  Don't trust the flashy packaging...if it doesn't say whole grain in the listed ingredients- don't buy it.