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February 13, 2007
Eating Real Food
I have always been an advocate of eating the good food. By good food I mean meats, poultry, fish, pork, butter, dairy, eggs, whole grains, fresh fruits and fresh vegetables. Which makes me a fan of Nina Planck. She is full of the good common sense I have been trying to get across to others for years.
Along time ago I read a study about margarine and it scared me. Margarine is something like 1 molecule away from being a plastic substance. How could I ever let my kids put that in their bodies?
I am a fan of real foods, good foods, natural foods.
So, then, why am I fat?
Because I love bread, rice and potatoes and those things are like poison to me. They stay locked in my cells. I think I carry around every bite of rice, bread and potato I have ever eaten packed away in my body in the form of fat.
While I have been doing a very low carb diet I have not been doing a pile on the meats and lets eat all the fat we can diet.
I have been doing this in a very healthy manor.
Let me explain what I am doing to succeed in my goal of weight loss.
1. Not skipping breakfast. Starting up your body's engine with protein int he morning gets the motabilism revved up so you can burn calories at a high rate. Sticking with a protein rich breakfast of eggs and either sausage or bacon, sometimes ham. I drink decaf coffee in the mornings and early afternoon. I try to drink water as well. This keeps me full and I am not tempted to snack when I give the baby crackers between his breakfast and lunch.
2. Eating lean meats/fish/poultry/pork and a green salad for lunch. Sometimes I have deli meat (watch out, deli meats, hotdogs, and other processed meats have added carbs) and a flatout wrap for a sandwich with mayonnaise (0 carbs) or cream cheese (<1 carb), lettuce, and sometimes avocado with lemon juice and salt. The wrap adds 6 carbs. I don't seem to feel as well when I have the bread wrapper but when lunch fixings are light the wrap is a filler more than anything. I drink water or iced decaf tea.
3. In the afternoons I confess to drinking caff free diet coke. I am addicted. I might even have an advant edge chocolate fudge shake. Liquids keep you full and help to get past the urge to snack when the baby is having applesauce or pretzels or goldfish.
4. In the evenings I have lean meats/fish/poultry/pork, the standard salad with one of Ken's steakhouse dressings that are 1 or 0 carbs. (These salad dressings are the best on the standard market shelf. Don't buy the walden farms brands, they are not good and rip off your money.) I also work in other vegetables based on the carb count of the day.
- Green beans have 4 net carbs per serving and Italian flat beans have 3 net carbs, I opt for the lesser carbs Italian green bean.
- Brocolli - 1/2 cup steamed brocolli pieces is 1.6 carbs. Add butter and a little salt and pepper and it is perfect.
- Cauliflower - 1/2 cup is .8 (less than 1 carb!) when steamed. Add butter and a little salt and pepper and it is perfect.
- Avocado - a haus avocado has 3.5 carbs for the enitre thing. i usually have half sharing it with Colby.
- Baby Spinach - Less than 1 carb for a handful of greens.
- Romain Lettuce - 1 cup is .5 carbs. A 2 cup salad is a lot of salad!
- Iceburg Lettuce - 1 cup is .1 carbs that is almost nothing! I wouldn't even count that tiny portion of a carb.
- Pumpkin - 1/2 cup has 4.7 carbs. You can eat a slice of baked pumpkin the same way as you would a sweet potato. Butter and salt and pepper makes it perfect. (I have pumpkin in the freezer from the fall.)
- Yellow squash - 1/2 cup is 1.4 carbs, raw it is 1.3 carbs, you can do alot with fresh yellow squash, raw, stirr fried, baked as a casserole with butter, cream and cheese. Zucchini is even less and is very versitile!
I could go on and on and on - asparagus, turnips, collards, etc. really good stuff but not high in carbs and starch and natural sugars.
For those concerned that I am ruining my health by restricting carbs I appreciated your concern. I also want you to see that a low carb lifestyle is about making choices based on how your body reacts to certain foods. I can choose the baked pumpkin instead of a baked sweet potato. I can have the cauliflower instead of mashed potatoes. I can have green beans instead of sweet peas. It is also a good thing that I love salads. I am eating alot of salads.
I am not starving myself, even though sometimes I think I am starving. Mostly that is because I haven't drank enough water. Do you know that in most people the body's signal for being thristy is confused with hunger, therefore we eat instead of drink?
Into my meals I have added some things that work well for me like the low carb pasta, and the carb count milk beverage. I eat cheese and sour cream (in moderation).
I am just being VERY careful and making myself aware of what I am putting into my mouth and therefore into my body.
Paying this close attn to what my body tells me is the reason I am beginning to melt away. I have lost 11 pounds in the past 3 weeks according to the bathroom scales. I don't feel like I have lost anything whatsoever but the scales say I have. The weight is coming off easily right now and I know I will hit those bumps in the road where nothing comes off but I am trying so hard not to sabatoge myself from the start.
I am gaining willpower daily to look at the chocolate cake on my counter that my kids have for dessert in the evening and not even want a bite.
I am not kidding myself either. I know the weight will come off in time. I know it will be long row to hoe in this garden that is my life. But I am willing to work at it. I am smart. I am not doing a stupid fad diet. I am changing my eating style and lifestyle. I have to develop a new relationship with food. That is hard part.
Do you know when you are sitting and eating a good meal, relaxed and enjoying yourself that your brain floods your body with oxytocin? It does! That is why many of us fat people associate food with love. That is why we drown our sorrows and comfort our hurt feelings with food.
Today our weather forecast is for severe wintry weather, snow and ice mix. School is canceled. I have the wood stove in the kitchen hot and it is warming the back of the house. In the livingroom the fireplace is cheery with the flicker of flames. The perfect day for chicken soup.
The woodstove is doing double duty. I have my big heavy stockpot filled with a chicken, water, chopped onion, peper, salt, garlic and other herbs bubbling away.
When the chicken is cooked I will divide the broth into 2 pots. In one I will prepare traditional soup with potaotes, carrots, noodles etc. In a second pot I will prepare soup Colby and I can eat. I will use asparagus tips, cauliflower and maybe some low carb rotini.
Sure I could make the entire pot low carb but Steve and Gracie like potaoes and carrots. They like the way I have always made it. They will also eat it the new way I fix it but they prefer it the other way. It takes very little effort to prepare both. Everyone will sit this evening at the table and enjoy steaming bowls of soup and a salad. We all will have a full warm tummy and the oxytocin will flood our bodies.
The end result I think is being happy in what you are doing. I am very happy right now. I am looking forward to the day when making the choices become automatic and the longing desire for a waffle dripping with butter has passed and I won't remember it or miss it.
I am willing to work every single day for every pound that comes off my body. I am working for success. I am doing so in the healthiest way I can.
For me this works. For you it may not work. I am not interested in a get skinny quick diet and then the day after I reach my goal weight the pounds start packing back on. I am changing my life in more ways than one.
I hope those of you struggling to get control of your body and to get more healthy much success. I hope you are doing it the smart way so that you can have a chance to maintain the loss and enjoy your new thinner body.
I am tired of being the fat girl and my weight flip flopping. It took all these years for something inside of me to click to be able to do this.
My mind is focused. My body is following. It is all uphill now. I am working on it one day at a time. Knowing you all are watching (and some of you are waiting for me to fall flat on face) and I want to be an inspiration to you. I want to be your cheerleader as well.
Thank you for supporting me. Thank you for inquiring about my health. Which, btw, I am healthy as a horse. I have not one medical disorder or disease other than I am just fat.
Thank you for coming with me on this journey. Somedays I need to hold your hand to get through the bad parts. Thanks for being here.
One more thing, I take vitamins daily as well. I take a multi-vitamin but I also supplement with extra calcium, potassium to help my body use the calcium and to prevent leg cramps, vitamin C, B-12 to keep my immune system high, and E for my heart. If you plan to go on a restricted diet plan take your vitamins!
I am probably leaving out tons of things I have been thinking about so if you have a question please ask.
I don't have time to spellcheck. I will do so later. I am publishing now because I have to feed the baby, settle Gracie with a home from school activity and help Colby by proofreading her paper due tonight. I'll be back later to spellcheck.
Posted by Angie at February 13, 2007 07:13 AM
Comments
Thank you for writing this! You have an amazing outlook on losing weight....by approaching it as a lifestyle change. I am trying to cook healthier for my family and I appreciate the tips/recipes. Thank you!! I have a co-worker who has lost weight by diet pills and starvation and she just doesn't understand how she is hurting her body in the long run.
Posted by: Ashley at February 13, 2007 09:02 AM
You are a smart woman. I never doubted that for a second. :) You are blessed with many friends who care about you, who will cheer you on * like I am doing* and question like I did to make sure you're staying healthy. We wouldn't want our friend to beun healthy now would we... which is why I'm happy you are healthy and are willed to stay so.
Now.. Can I have a bowl of that yummy soup? :)
Posted by: Jennifer at February 13, 2007 10:39 AM
Will you come over and cook for me? It all sounds so yummy when you describe it.
Posted by: Bethany at February 13, 2007 10:57 AM
You have amazing will power and a great talent in the kitchen to back it up. I am so proud of you, Ang. I know you will be successful!
Posted by: MommaK at February 13, 2007 01:52 PM
I love this post. You are an amazing, inspiring woman. A beautiful child of God. I'm so glad you are my friend.
Posted by: CPA Mom at February 13, 2007 01:58 PM
Way to go Angie! I am here in your corner cheering you on! You can do it and so can I. I am doing weight watchers. I want to change my eating habits and my lifestyle and I plan to do it over time.
I am about a healthy life style not a quick fad diet either!
Posted by: kate at February 13, 2007 03:35 PM
I'm glad you're keeping hydrated! Take good care.
Posted by: liz at February 13, 2007 08:38 PM
Angie, I admire the way you become focused on a goal. You are losing weight the right way and you will be less likely to pile it back on after the diet. I wish I could get motivated.
Be care ful of all the sodium in the deli meats, especially hot dogs!
Posted by: kenju at February 13, 2007 11:46 PM
Sounds like you are doing all the right things.
Except one. When you describe yourself as fat you deny yourself the respect and love that you would have for a stranger. Stop putting yourself down.
You are a marvelous wife, mom , friend and blogger. I would feel happy w/ 1/3 of your talent.
You can lose the weight but will not heal until you think differently about yourself. I have psoriosis and believe me it does not define me.
If people have comments I consider that their weakness and not mine. The world is full of people who will judge you. Do not join them.Hugs and cheers from the bee- I am now joining your diet. You have cheered me on .
Posted by: the bee at February 14, 2007 02:32 AM
You are doing awesome!! I enjoy logging on and reading about your success. It really is an insipration - keep it up and just ignore the naysayers.
Posted by: Marcie at February 14, 2007 08:14 AM
Bravo!
Posted by: That Chick Over There at February 14, 2007 08:24 AM
Bravo!
Posted by: That Chick Over There at February 14, 2007 08:25 AM
Wow. Good luck to you! I have been struggling with this for 10 years now, every since the birth of my first baby. Four kids later, with my youngest now 3 1/2, I still want for the motivation to set me on the right path. It is an up and down battle that I am sick of. With about 20 lbs to lose, heck, I'd be happy with 10, it wouldn't take all that long, relatively speaking, but going for just one day without my favorite junk foods proves unbearable. I've done the low carb thing and yes, it works, but I never stick to it and the weight creeps back up. One day, one day, one day........
Posted by: Kristi at February 16, 2007 01:41 PM