Today is Day #15 of my 100 day challenge with myself. I now have 2 weeks of data to use in seeing how changes affect my health. It isn't much since it is a short time frame but the learning process can at least begin.
I am motivated by tracking and analyzing the actual numbers and watching what happens. Recording the facts and seeing the results make it real to me. This week I ate some ice cream while staying within my goals for all categories. However, the next day my blood sugar jumped up 20 points higher. Duh……..
Positive results -
** Weight continues to go in the right direction. I have lost 5.1 lbs in the past 2 weeks.
** Fiber goal was reached 6 out of 7 days this week without having to use OTC supplements. Adding a cup of beans to my daily intake was the solution I was seeking. The added benefit is beans are a great food to eat in other areas beside fiber.
** Heartburn & GERD has greatly improved.
Fiber thoughts……After I did more research about fiber I realized that my daily fiber goal was too high. I was using the general guideline provided by the U.S. Institute of Medicine. It recommends 25 grams of fiber each day for women under the age of 50, and 21 grams of fiber each day for women over 50 years old. That seemed too broad for me to believe. I'm wondering if a 100 lb woman needs the same amount of fiber as a 300 lb woman? Nah…..I'm thinking not. Further research shows according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, you should consume about 14 grams of fiber for every 1,000 calories you consume. That sounds more believable to use as the baseline. I am totally okay with exceeding fiber goal, I just want a number to use to not go below. I used this formula in the spreadsheet to determine how many grams of fiber to set as my daily goal. I'm eating 1200 calories so the formula is =(1200/1000)*14
Protein thoughts…..The amount of protein needed has been determined by body weight until recently when the studies show older people (aka…Me!) should have a different formula to determine the correct amount of protein. The most commonly seen guideline is ….Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA): 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram (2.2 pounds) of body weight per day. However, after reviewing additional evidence,
an international group of physicians and nutrition experts in 2013 recommended that healthy older adults consume 1 to 1.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight daily — a 25 to 50 percent increase over the RDA. (That’s 69 to 81 grams for a 150-pound woman, and 81 to 98 grams for a 180-pound man.) Its recommendations were subsequently embraced by the
European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism. I use this formula in the spreadsheet to set my daily goal =(weight/2.2)*1) I am unsure whether to use 1 or 1.2 so I'm choosing the lower amount. This is going to be a big change & challenge for me to get that much protein in each day.
Carb thoughts……My biggest concern that I want to put some focus on = My blood sugar #'s are continuing to bounce between pre-diabetic and diabetic numbers. This week I added carbs to my categories being tracked. I suspect carbs are a key component to getting blood sugar #'s to come down. I have no intention of going low carb because vegetable & fruits have carbs. What I want to do is reduce carbs without giving up eating healthy food and see if that will be enough to reduce blood sugar #'s.
Next week.....I will be traveling 5 days this next week on a mission trip. I expect that keeping up with my detailed tracking will be a big challenge. I have decided worst-case scenario is I block out these 5 days and not use their data. I will be sleeping on a bunk bed in a dorm room so I assume my sleeping will be compromised. Food will be provided so the opportunity to make good choices could be limited. Regardless of how those 5 days turn out (health-wise) I want to not get discouraged and simply start again when I get back home. I want to treat these 5 days as a bump in the road and not a total wreck.
1. Know what you want.
2. Go after it relentlessly.