Health and Fitness September, 2011

[Harriet]

I was wondering what you meant about the berries, OKay, and now I see I didn't use the right word, there. It was the doctor's rec of "The New Atkins For a New You" very strict low-carb diet book by Eric Westman, in which it was a minimum of 14 days before I could have had any fruit, beans or nuts. I guess other low carb plans allow berries all the time? When I stopped at 8 days I thought I would break the 3-minute mile getting to the kitchen and eating whatever I wanted. When there had still been no appreciable weight loss the 8th morning, I was saying no way to 6 more days of feeling the way I felt.

Nancy I have heard so many good things about prunes lately. Even Dr. Oz is suggesting Metamucil lately. I always thought of Metamucil as being for people who were sick and I can't get that out of my head. It seems weird to ingest something that is not a food (although I take vitamins, don't I).

OKay I will look for flaxmeal muffins, that sounds good. I don't think I've seen tortillas with that much fiber - are these flour or corn?

[OKay]

We aren't following a particular Low Carb diet plan (I don't have any of the low carb books). I just mostly read low carb forums & recipes and learn from their success/failures of what works and what doesn't.

We get the tortillas at WM - they are called Mission carb balance. We also get pita bread (oat & flax) and Lavasha bread for more low carb options in the bread category. For lunch today I made pizza using the Lavasha bread as the "crust". A thin layer of Ragu sauce (high in carbs but I used small amount) followed by sauteed onions & bell peppers, ground hamburger meat and good portion of mozzarella cheese. DH declared that pizza was better than awesome!

The one minute flaxmeal muffin recipe can be found here. I doubt this would taste good to anyone who is eating "real" bread, but it taste wonderful to someone who is a bread lover and hasn't had hot bread in weeks/months.

[Nancy]

Harriet I think Metamucil is made from a cactus plant.

I've done my walking for today.

[Harmony]

DD gave me a big canister of a generic fiber powder to make a drink from...and I tried it. Not very nice tasting; didn't dissolve very well, some stuck to the sides of the glass like concrete. And gave me instant acid reflux. I used to use those fiber chewable tablets, they weren't a problem with the acid and didn't taste bad, but I thought they were pricey. Guess I need to go back to just watching the fiber in stuff. I'm so tired of raisin bran every day. Prunes cause me acid problems too. If I didn't have this darn acid problem life would be so much easier.

By the way, DD got the canister of fiber powder, some friends brought it over wrapped up for birthday present for DSiL when he turned 40!

[Lynlee]

I believe Metamucil is (flavoured) psyllium husk.
3 things with my breakfast gluten free grains& seeds keep things moving for me -
chia seeds (I started with less than a tsp), a dried turkish fig, and a desert sp of sesame oil. Missing any of those makes a difference.

[Nancy]

I got my walk in yesterday pushing the stroller w/ dgd in it! It was a nice time for both of us but a challenge to pry her away from the TV. I think she was feeling a bit on the puny side.
Drat I forgot to get my flu shot yesterday.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Metamucil is something that dd needed on a regular basis for some gut diet the doctor put her on so I have her leftovers now.

I used it for travel. Flying is dehydrating as well as disrupting to one's regular routines. Add in a different time zone and my body goes nuts. Then I read about using fibre capsules as a jet lag solution so added to my routine.

The first night after landing, I take 5 capsules and keep that up nightly until my body switches to my normal morning BM. I get one the very first day after a flight but then my body switches off so I have to keep it up 2 - 3 days. Then I gradually reduce down by one capsule a day. Because I'm off for such long trips, I can do that, someone flying out for a week should just as well keep up the capsules all the time.

I was checking out a diet a few years ago and it was pretty regular, but portion controlled eating. The only thing special was having a glass of water before each meal to wash down their special capsules. Turns out the capsules were psyllium so I realized it was a variation on the old laxative diets from the 50's and 60's.

What I found interesting was how little I lost when I had to do the bowel cleanse for my scope. That proved to me my diet was high enough in fibre (which makes sense since WW gives you credit for high fibre foods so I have a lot in my diet.)

[Nancy]

I've been taking my walks just not had time to post.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

I'm going to have a productive October on the health front so am starting at the end of September. I've been on the scale and I'm slowly increasing my water and my exercise after both got cut from my life last week by the upset to my routines.

I've made it onto the treadmill 3x this week and my water intake is back up to a minimum of 8 glasses. I'm trying to drink more milk too.

I'm cooking the meals each night and while they aren't stellar, they are better than us going out every night (which is what happened last week because of the entertaining.) Lunches are slowly improving as I now have leftovers to eat. And all the snack food from the meetings (here for breaks) is gone.

Of course, next week we start all over with dh running a course here. But there are only two people participating so I won't need as much food. I'll do muffins again (my muffins are small and not too many calories unlike store-bought) and I'll bring in another fruit tray from Costco for the mornings and do up a veggie tray for afternoons. That plus cheese and crackers will be my only responsibilities on the cooking front (plus our dinners; we won't be going out with the students.)

So that takes me to our Thanksgiving weekend when we'll be traveling. That may be a challenge but I'll deal with that one meal at a time. I've promised dh that we'll have fish and chips the first night on the road. And I'll bring lots of water for myself. There's Subway as well and most restaurants have a salad with meat option so I should be ok if I really concentrate.

My personal goal is to get to 165 by the end of the month. That was where I was at the middle of the July. Even 3 weeks ago, my goal was to be at 160 but then I gained weight instead of losing it last week. My goal is very aggressive so I'll have to restart WW fully and probably double my exercise if I want to make it. If I could develop the resolve to cut 'white' (sugar and flour) all the better.

My goal for the end of the year will be 155. If I make the first goal, the second one will be more manageable. And that will put me down about 25 pounds for the year. But at this point I'm only down 10 pounds and struggling to maintain that progress.

In the 'dream' department, getting down to 145 before my next trip would be wonderful. Then I'd have 5 pounds left to my goal weight and could do it while on the ship (which is actually my 'fat camp.')

But first things first, get to 165, fast.

[Nancy]

I too need to get back on my water intake routine.
Mowed and walked for exercise yesterday & housework.