1-3-11 and Thoughts on The Food Plan

Thoughts on Food

(The results of my day are at the end of this diatribe)

I am an admitted sweet (especially with chocolate) and dairy fan.  I know that these are the biggest culprits in my past weight gains in terms of "bad" foods consumed.  Sugar, especially white refined sugar, has a horrible effect on the body (on the pancreas, the joints, pretty much everywhere) and mood.  My past was full of a sugar addiction and miserableness wrought in cookie dough, ice cream, and creamy chocolate, especially in my teens and twenties. 

Through my thirties my body began to respond in strong negative ways that I wasn't willing to live with any longer.  No longer did I like the way I felt the next day after a day of sugar.  I didn't like the foggy brain feel, or the out of control feeling, or the beating up on myself feeling, so  I stopped eating so much of it, and also gave up aspartame, which was contributing to all of the mood swings. 

Now I'm kind of a sugar snob.  My chocolate has to be high quality and fairly dark.  It's very satisfying this way, and I eat far less and there's less around to nibble on.  This reminds me of a conversation I had with a fella I dated a few years back (he was diabetic, 300 pounds, and hoarded everything...)  His perspective was that he could get more for his money by buying the 1 gallon store brand tasteless ice cream.  If that gallon of ice cream were in my house on a regular basis, I, too, would probably weigh 300 pounds.  My argument is that if I'm going to have ice cream, it is going to be part of a pint size, of the very best tasting ice cream around.  That way I feel satisfied if I go the ice cream route, and I would crave it less, and be less apt to mindlessly eat it just because it was there.  Even though the sugar consumption has been greatly reduced, I am near the highest weight ever.  This may very well be due to the slowing of metabolism in my 40's, which means I get to exercise more and more efficiently.  This is another topic for another day!

So, sweet and creamy, that has been the childhood and early adulthood issue... a few years back I met with an acupuncturist who taught me yoga, alternate nostril breathing, and prescribed herbal remedies through a powerful 10 week program he was offering.  He was also a teacher at the Chinese Medical School I was attending.  He helped me realize many things, one of which was the Five Element thought that a person's cravings for sweets was related to their ability to allow in the sweetness of Life.  Since that time, I have worked on allowing and knowing that I deserve the sweetness of life, the utter joy there is to experience.  This has definitely helped me to find the sweetness in other places than in food.  Now I use the herbal stevia to sweeten my Life through food if sweetness is desired.  Unfortunately through the holidays we had many more sweets around including the colossal zebra cheesecake I spent two days making for Christmas.  The good news is that I didn't eat nearly as much as I could, and actually stopped at a thin slice.  After spending so much time making it, it was fairly unappealing, and the sliver I did have was more than enough to satisfy any sugar/cream cravings for a long long while. 

The most difficult thing at this point for me to greatly reduce, is cheese.  When I first started My Food Diary in August, my saturated fat calories continued to be too high, and I knew it was going to be easier to just not bring real cheese into the house (except when my kids are home, for them).  I love cheese, and will probably, at some point, use EFT to quell the craving, which has also greatly reduced over the years.  If it is in the house, I will eat it, it's an easy easy snack.  Too easy. So, cheese gets to be a "special" treat for when we go out.

I am married to a Vege-Pescatarian who doesn't drink alcohol, which is very helpful with eating healthy foods.  I rarely eat meat.  I am not committed to vegetarianism completely because I do enjoy a nice juicy steak once or twice a year, and very occasionally get a protein boost from free-range chicken. I am happy that Richard eats fish, because I enjoy fish too.  I don't miss the meat at all.  I've never had the compelling urge to be a closet meat eater, so bonus for me!

I don't miss the alcohol at all either.  I will still have an occasional glass of wine (once every 3 or 4 months) or recently (with this past semester in pharmacy school - which is not so good) a margarita here or there.  I can live with it, or I can live without it.  This is a nice feeling and saves a lot of empty calories!

My goal with the food for this New Plan, is to make the calories I eat as nutritionally packed as possible as well as making sure I am eating foods that I can foresee being incorporated into my new permanent plan after all the weight is lost.  I don't see this new plan as temporary by any means.  This means eating lots more vegetables, and a few more fruits.  It means making good choices in breads (since I love bread, too) I also make sure that I'm eating enough fiber, usually in the form of black beans, steel cut oats, flaxmeal, and whole grains.

Given these parameters, I enter the foods into My Food Diary as I consume them, and let the program calculate the nutritional values of my day to that point so I can easily see what I have left and can make my future decisions accordingly. 

Today's Goals:

Five Tibetans:  15 repetitions, which felt REALLY good after the Brain Integration Therapy from yesterday

Alternate Nostril Breathing:  9 inhalations/exhalations

Meditation:  A Course in Miracles, Lesson 55

Exercise:  45 minutes on the elliptical, most of it within target heartrate range plus a walk with Richard after he returns from work.  This, too, felt amazing!  This is a very good energetic day!

EFT:  The "Before" pictures in the previous blog entries.

Today's Menu:

Breakfast:

1/2 c. steel cut oats, cooked, with 1 TBS ground flaxseed

1/3 pear

1 c. matcha green tea

1 c. Joint Juice

Calcium/Magnesium supplement

Fish Oil

Morning Snack (before going to the store, so not hungry): 

1 slice leftover Beaujo's pizza (with feta cheese, no meat, with artichoke hearts)

1 c. vanilla Wallaby yogurt

Lunch:

Almond Jalapeno "Cheese" sandwich

Zero calorie Lifewater

Stevia Chocolate Almond Drink

Tofutti Cutie (non-dairy "ice cream" sandwich)

Dinner:

Buenatural ~ Vegetarian Tamales 2 tamales

2 TBS 505 Southwestern green chile sauce

1 cup Fresh Express ~ Baby Blends ~ Spring Mix

4 Carrots ~ Baby
8 pieces Almond Dream ~ Almond Bites

 Bummer!  I know it was the Beau Jo's leftover feta pizza for the salt and saturated fat.  Maybe before bed I will have an apple, so I can remedy the frowny face for total calories.

On a happy and good note, it was an active day, and aside from a little achy heel pain, I feel great!!

It's a new day tomorrow!  I was excited to see some reduced salt versions of my favorite foods at the store, so we will see how they work in my plan.

Until tomorrow! Great Joy to You!