Wednesday, April 28, 2010

case of the hump day blah's

i’m in a funk today. i think it’s partly because i had too much sugar yesterday. i’ve been almost 100% sugar free for quite awhile but yesterday i went on a sugar binger…which carried over in the morning when my friend brought rice krispie treats in to work. they seem so light, airy and innocent but they aren’t!

anyway i’m feeling down…haven’t been losing weight, i have no money yet we’re going to vegas in 6 days and i have to get my mom a b-day gift as well as a mother’s day gift, we’re taking a girl at work out for a b-day lunch where i know that i won’t choose a healthy option and i have no idea where “aunt flow” is. gah, i’m doing NOTHING to boost myself up or think positive here am i? plus my blog has no food relevance today, does it?!?!?

mmm…food. you know what? i’m going to embrace eating “junk” today. i’m going to have something sinful and delicious and i’m not going to feel guilty about it, not one single bit! not only that, i’m going to spend the rest of the day finding positivity in everything and smiling a lot. it makes a world of difference to think positive!!!

Monday, April 26, 2010

HFCS


recently, a past co-worker of mine sent me a video to watch about the evils of high fructose corn syrup. i have yet to watch it but i’m guessing that i’ll agree with a lot of what the video has to say.

last year when i first saw one of those pro-HFCS commercials, i had to laugh. they talk about how HFCS isn’t bad for you when consumed in moderation. if you do your shopping at a standard supermarket, just you TRY to consume hfcs in moderation. it’s in just about everything!!! i mean seriously, when you make mayonnaise at home, do you add sweetener? no! when you make soup at home, do you add sugar? no!

these companies are adding HFCS to just about anything they can. why? well, 2 reasons come to mind: it’s cheap to manufacture and it’s addictive. add something addictive to your product and people will keep coming back for more. pretty smart. i wonder if that’s taco bell’s secret…i could eat that stuff EVERYDAY!! but i digress…

so what’s one to do?

i say, take the extra time to make your meals from scratch. i know it sounds like a hassle but take it from me, it’s do-able!

i was a 100 calorie pack, diet frozen meal, pre-packaged low calorie/low fat food junkie for years. then my boyfriend got a job at whole foods market. all those things i’d learned as a child, being raised by parents who were very focused on natural foods, came flooding back. the foods i was eating were packed with additives and HFCS. i started thinking more about what i was eating and came up with a few things to make eating “clean” easier:

 i buy frozen fish that can be quickly defrosted for dinner.
 i buy dry beans (pinto, navy, garbanzo, black, etc..) that we can then cook & freeze or use for chili, soup, refried beans, etc...
 i buy whole chickens; once we’ve eaten it or used it for make-ahead meals, we cook down the bones for broth.
 we don’t get to the farmers market much but i always try to have fresh veggies on hand. two mainstays are baby spinach and vine tomatoes, i can add them to just about anything! typically we also have carrots, celery and onions.
 i make sure to have natural PB or walnuts and raisins around for a healthy, snack when my tummy feels rumbly.

i’m not very good at following recipes or buying specific ingredients to make a recipe (i always forget a few ingredients!) but i find that i can usually whip up a pretty good meal from what we have on hand. usually it doesn’t take much longer than it would to heat up a frozen meal and i find myself more satisfied.

i think that eating foods with HFCS often left me feeling hungry so quickly because once the sugar burned off, the feeling of being satiated went away. not to mention that once i have food with sugar or HFCS, it sets me off on a snacking binge.

all that being said about eating clean and healthy and avoiding HFCS…i just had a big cheese burger and fries. one of my direct reports had no car and no lunch partner today so i went out with her. i guess occasional junk food won’t kill me. plus, it just reinforced how much i like eating healthy…i feel like a greasy blob right now.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Acceptance and enjoyment


for the last month or so, i’ve been focusing on eating cleaner and more balanced to lose weight. i found that eating more protein, nuts and olive oil helps me stay full longer but despite the lower calorie intake, i’m still not losing. i guess i need to increase my activity level more than i need to lower my calories.

the interesting thing is that for the first time in many, many years, i find that the lack of weight loss doesn’t have me depressed. i think that’s because i feel so good about the foods i’m eating. i haven’t had fast food in at least a month and the few times i did go out to eat, i made choices based what i was in the mood and used portion control rather than just getting the “lightest” thing on the menu and feeling cheated out of something i really wanted

also, i have begun to enjoy creating meals again and i enjoy eating them too! in the past, when i “dieted” i ate a lot of stuff that was low in fat and calories but crammed with fillers and totally over-processed. most of the time these foods and snacks left me feeling empty and wanting to eat more. i still have my snack-y moments now but adding nuts, olive oil and even a little butter now and then has really helped. it’s so great to eat a balanced meal rather than an accumulation of foods that are low in fat and calories and TASTE.

in the past dinner would have been a lean cuisine or a salad with the lowest calorie, zero fat dressing i could find.

dinner now is: a beef or buffalo patty with ½ serving of shredded cheese on a bed of baby spinach and veggies that have been drizzled with 1 tsp of olive oil. or fish baked with a little olive oil, tomatoes, artichoke hearts, capers and olives served on top of sautéed spinach.

i’m not eating a lot of butter, nuts, full fat cheese or oil but i’m incorporating enough to eliminate that empty feeling, that urge to eat more because my meal didn’t satisfy me. it feels good…now i just have to focus on exercise

Monday, April 12, 2010

my new brekkie fav



fage 2% plain greek yogurt, sweetened with ½ packet of truvia; topped with oats, walnuts & raisins. it is simply one of the most delicious flavors combos i’ve come across in a long time!

it almost makes up for not being able to find horizon yogurt in my local stores anymore...almost.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

fed up




i’m fed up! fed up with myself.

last night i ate a healthy dinner and decided to have a few ounces of red wine. 3 ounces led to 6, then 9, then 12, then 16. four ounces of red wine a day is considered “drinking in moderation” for a female. if that’s the case, then i had 4 servings of wine, definitely NOT drinking in moderation! but that’s not the issue so much.

the BIG issue is that after i had the wine, i ate. i had four 4” x 3” wheat free crackers, a cheese stick and an apple with way more than a serving of peanut butter.

i realized this morning that losing weight will be just about impossible if i don’t increase my exercise and if i continue to drink.

by drinking, even if it’s just 1 glass, i’m sabotaging myself. losing weight as one gets older is hard enough without self-sabotage.

i’m lazy and i love my booze; this will be a struggle but it’s something i NEED to commit to. if i don’t, i’ll find myself so overweight by my mid 40’s that the possibility of getting healthy will be too overwhelming.

i’m done being angry with myself, i’m done being fed up, i’m done making excuses! today is DAY 1 and i’m going to be healthier and extremely mindful of what i eat. i will focus on creating wholesome and tasty foods but most of all i will increase my activity level, i will limit drinking to 1-2 nights a week and avoid late night binges at all costs!!!

Monday, April 5, 2010

one hike a week does not warrant an eating free-for-all



have you ever overeaten just because you know you’re going to be doing a lot of exercise and then overeat some more because you did do the exercise?

i fall victim to this line of thought each time i do a strenuous workout…heck, it even happens if i do a little workout!

last week was bad because we had a birthday lunch for 2 co-workers, a potluck at work and dinner with the boyfriend’s dad and stepmom. i ate fairly well but not great at the birthday lunch, i ate horribly at the potluck (can you say TWO slices of cheesecake?!?!?) and chowed down on chips & bean dip at dinner with the ‘rents. and let’s not even talk about the alcohol i consumed during the week…

so what rationale did i use? a 6 mile hike with an elevation gain of 1,000 feet. yes, hiking can be tough and it burns a lot of calories but could it possibly burn the 4160 extra calories i consumed during my food-fest? no!! i’d say it burned closer to 800 of those calories. no wonder my weight and body fat % went up when i stepped on the scale today.

this is my life: lose a pound, gain 2; lose 4, gain 6. the activities involved in gaining are so much more pleasurable; eat, drink and be social. no wonder losing is hard, it’s not as fun.

i do try to make being healthier fun. i create interesting meals even though i’m usually the only one eating them (eat), i switched to 1 glass of red wine most evenings (drink) and i’ve started hiking with my friends on saturdays (be social). so i’ve got the eat, drink & be social steps covered; i should be successful, right? wrong. somehow i still fall short of my goals and it is beyond me as to how i fix it. well i do know how to fix it, have a little freakin’ self control!!! and THAT is my biggest area of weakness.

i don’t think anyone is reading this blog but if you are and you have any success stories or good ideas, i would love to hear them. thank you

Friday, April 2, 2010


yesterday i decided i really wanted fish for dinner; the outcome was tilapia baked with tomatoes, capers, marinated artichoke hearts, lemon juice and just a touch of butter. i also made asparagus satueed in a little olive oil.

tilapia baked with tomatoes, capers & artichoke hearts
2 4 oz tilapia fillets
4 small tomaotes
6 - 8 marinated artichoke heart quarters
1 tbsp capers, rinsed
1/2 a lemon for juice
1 or 2 cloves of garlic, flattened/smashed a bit to release flavor
salt & pepper

1. grease or spray a 8" x 8" baking dish
2. season fish on both sides with salt and pepper
3. lay fish in pan, mine overlapped a bit in the middle
4. shave 3 or 4 very thin slivers of butter for each fillet and arrange on fish
5. cut tomatoes in half and then quarter each half; arrange on fish
6. place 3-4 artichoke heart quarters on each fillet
7. sprinkle capers over the fish and drizzle with juice from half a lemon
8. cover with tin foil and baked for about 15 minutes at 425. I was a little negligent about documenting the time it took to cok so check it at 15 minutes. If fish flakes with the fork at thckest part, it's done. If it doesn't just pop it in for a few more minutes at a time until it does flake.

Serve with your favorite vegetable and ENJOY!