Health and Fitness, June, 2015

[RunKitty]

Thanks, Helia, Lady M, and RR. I ran again this morning. The next three days I will leave for work early, so won't have time to run. I get a lot of exercise at work, but nothing takes the place of running for me.

Weight is the lowest I've seen for more than a year.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Rosie What sort of chicken? Do you cook it up or is it something you grab from the fridge (or a tin in the cupboard.) I'm almost always short protein each day (today included) and have eaten tons of carbs. Some have nutrition (my shredded wheat, milk, fruit, veggies) others are sugars and bread-related. If I'm watching carbs, I can tell you my chocolate has way fewer than an apple but I know that apples should still be part of my day (although my chocolate has lots of iron and fiber.)

This is my second day having nuts (just 10g, weighed) as a snack and it is the first in a long time I've been under my calorie allotment for the day. Not sure there's a correlation but I'll keep up that snack.

[Harriet]

University of Virginia in the news right now, as of June 1, because of the "textbook altering" discovery that the lymph system doesn't stop at the neck, but extends to/from the brain, too. Up until now, no one knew the brain had any help from the lymph system, which we knew was busy helping the rest of the body all the time, in carrying away toxins among other things.

I saw this on the T-Tapp boards. This discovery is a big point of discussion for the T-Tapp folks, since the specific pumping of the lymph system is emphasized in those moves and they hear the phrase all the time.

The hope for this discovery is that now that we have to re-write the textbooks, and we know the brain can (should already) receive helped from the lymph system, maybe we can learn more about Alzheimer's, MS, autism, etc. Maybe we can find some reasons these conditions develop, how to keep them from developing, etc.

In this link, you can click on the small body-map and make it larger, so you can see how textbooks will have to be re-illustrated.

New map of lymph system, now proven to extend to brain

[Ramblinrose]

Kathryn...I either have a roatiserey (sp) chix that I buy from the grocery store or chix breasts that I cook, in the refrigerator.

I always cook extra chicken whenever I make it for dinner which is usually four times a week and keep it in a plastic container. With the grocery chix I pick off the extra meat and do the same thing.

Forgot I could eat Greek yougart, only fage plain because it is low sugar, as a protein so I ate a half a cup with some stevia and cinnamon for my sweet attack.

I can eat a square of chocolate as long as it is 72%. Or more. I just keep forgetting to buy it.

[Ramblinrose]

Meant to add...

When it comes to nuts I have to be careful not to over eat them.

I can have 1/4 cup of walnuts or 10-16 almond nuts one or the other once a day. I' count them out and place the nuts in snack zip-lock bag for single servings. That way I can just pick out a bag and not be tempted to eat more.I also eat string cheese... One piece a day for a snack.

My first three days of eating this way can be tough but after that my cravings disappear and I am not always thinking abt food. And that makes

it easy to stay focused and on plan.

I know if I deviate and eat something with sugar it can set me off on a binge.... Just like a true addict.

All processed food has sugar added to it. It's why it leaves you wanting for more.

Here's something I shared with LadyM ...1 cup of
Skim milk... Something we're told is good for us... Has 16-18 Grams of sugar while 1/2 and 1/2 cream only has 2 grams. Start readying labels and you will be blown a way ate the a out of sugar most people eat every day. Check out how much sugar your low fat yogurt has in it, you might be surprised

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

LadyM is using low-carb baked goods and I thought that might help me as I transition away from too many wheat-based carbs. Couldn't find them in our market (will try the health food stores, maybe today.) I love a PB&banana sandwich but the carbs made mockery of my attempt to lower carbs. It seems the days I plan/hope to start lower carb eating are the days that I crave them more than usual!

Anyway, while reading labels at my grocery store, I was reminded, once again, that anything low fat is likely to be high in sugar. And full fat is often so much more satisfying that the total calories ingested are lower than the low fat stuff.

As well, marketing often confuses things, making claims about 'diet' or low-cal versions that may technically be true but regular versions or whole foods are just as healthy. That's why I don't buy Lean Cuisine, but choose Stouffers regular versions.

Look at the difference between Lean Cuisine and Stouffers for the lasagna:

Cal 320 vs 320
Fat 8g vs 8g
Sodium 630 vs 670
Carbs 45 vs 39
Fiber 4 vs 4
Protein 19 vs 24
Sugar 8g vs 6g

Not a big difference. In fact, aside from sodium, the regular Stouffers is the better nutritional choice. This is an example of why it is important to read the labels and not just rely on branding.

I use the lasagna as a dinner meal (with a large salad) but for lunches, Stouffers has a number of choices under 250 calories so I keep a stack of those in the freezer to grab when there aren't leftovers.

[Nancy]

I did some yd wk 30 min for some exercise today. Got the stuff that was waiting and ready to go in the trailer on it for the dump run. Happy with that progress. Got the wheel burrow and 2 wagons in the back yd now ready to be used again.

[Ramblinrose]

kathryn...

I am eating something that will make you smile

Its called PB2 which is powdered peanut butter. You can buy it from Amazon, but its much cheaper at Cosco's. I don't remember if you have one in Canada.

Anyway its sort of like powdered sugar. You mix it with water and you get peanut butter
You can also bake with it or add some to your health shakes.
Here are the stats for 2 TBSP

PB 2
Calories 45 13 from fat
total fat 1.5g
sat fat 0g
cholesterol 0
sodium 94g
total Carbs 5g
dietary fiber 2g
sugars 1g
protein 5g

Laura Scudders all natural PB
Calories 200 from fat 140
total fat 16g
sat fat 2.5g
trans fat 0g
cholest O
Sodium 90mg
total carb 6g
fiber 2g
sugars 1g
protein 8g

http://www.amazon.com/Plantation-PB2-Po ... ywords=pb2

As for bread many of my friends eat a brand called Ezekiel 4:9 which is described in the Holy Scripture Verse "Take also unto thee Wheat, and Barley, and Beans, and Lentils and Millet, and Spelt, and put them in on vessel and bake bread of it." It is sprouted 100%whole grain bread made from freshly sprouted organically grown grains, which means the grain was alive when used to make the bread. It is flourless and low glycemic.

You can find it in the cold storage place in the health food area of your grocery. They also make a raisin bread and English muffins. I like mine slightly toasted, but I can eat it right out of the fridge as well.

I also have a recipe for almond flour bread which many of my friends doing the 100 sugar calories do. I'll look for the recipe and post it here.

http://authoritynutrition.com/ezekiel-bread/

See there is more than one way to skin a cat

[Ramblinrose]

Here is my Migraine Diary. I can't get to the original source so I will recreate it here. BTW there are many free charts posted on the internet. Just google Migraine Diary for one that you might like better.

I made mine on a 8.5x11 piece of paper holding it long ways.
My first heading is Date. My categories are listed vertically. I divided the rest of the paper into columns for each day.

It looks like this ....

DATE: ___ ____ ____ ____ ____

and I draw a vertical line between each dash. I don't label it Mon, Tue, Wed However when I am filling it out I do it this way

June 11 June 15
Thur Mon

Here are my category questions.

* Date:
* What time did your migraine begin?
* What was the severity of the pain on a scale of 1 (mild) to 10 (severe)?
* What were your symptoms (e.g., vomiting, nausea, sensitivity to light sound and/or smell?)
* What may have triggered your migraine (e.g., alcohol, food, additives, stress, change in weather, sleep pattern etc)?
* What did you use to treat your migraine (medicines, ice, making the room cooler)?
* How long did it take to feel pain relief?
* Did the pain return? If so, when?
* Did you experience any side effects?
* Did you have a migraine hangover, how long and effects?

I don't answer my questions in complete sentences. For example in the hangover effects column for one day I wrote " felt dizzy, lousy, difficult to recover normal self, hangover lasted 2 days"

For What were my symptoms one day I wrote...head hurts, right eye sound slight smell, can't talk... but on another day for that same question I wrote...pain behind eye, right nostril closed.

On the bottom of my page I attach a 3 month calendar. I have a calendar blotter on my desk and on the bottom leftt there is a small three month calendar. I cut it out and attach it to my migraine diary. I consider this one of the most important elements of my diary. Every day that I have a headache, I mark the date on the three month calendar with a yellow high lighter. As I get headaches, a patter starts to appear. Soon my cycle becomes clear and I can document what is happening.

If someone is still having their periods, I tell my friends to circle the "start date" in red or another color. That way they can see if there is any connection between their periods and migraines.

You get the idea. I've charted every thing I can think of. When it comes to foods I only list something I ate the night before a headache if was something strange that I don't usually eat. However I have noticed if I eat an unusually high carb and/or sugar the night before my headaches AND it occurs during my cycles, that does seem to trigger a worse migraine. I've also noticed that my sleeping patters seem to play a part in my headaches as well. That's why I started taking Zoloft again because it helps me sleep. It also makes it MUCH harder for me to loose weight.

So I'll just keep on keeping one. Sometimes I feel like a scientist trying to solve my headaches. Data, data, data....

Harmony...you might want to add a column or two since you spend so much time at your computer. Do you tend to get your headaches the day AFTER you spend all day at the computer. Do you get it in the in the middle of the night after a long day sitting in your computer chair? Do you think your Thyroid might have something to do with yours?

Figuring our triggers is the best preventative medicine there is. What triggers cluster headaches is a mystery even to the doctors and scientists. My luck I know

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Rosie: Thanks for the link to the Pb2. The reviews on the internet are interesting. Mainly the observation that the good fats from the peanuts are removed, therefore it is less filling and certainly less nutritious if you are looking for good fats in your diet. If all you want is the taste, using it has promise, for example, whipping with a cream to make a peanut butter cream to use as frosting or filler. Or mixing in with ice cream.

I have the Ezekiel bread (the raisin) in the freezer right now. I find it fine and should actually use that up to make cinnamon raisin french toast. That would make a fine lunch some day. Here the bread is only in the freezer sections of the organic section of my main supermarket or the health food stores in the area (of which we have an abundance because it is a trendy neighbourhood.)