Health and Fitness, June 2020

[Harriet]

As homemakers, when we take care of ourselves, we increase the strength, stamina, resistance and optimism we have to enjoy life and to be nurturing to others, whether in our homes, extended families or community.

Welcome to our thread about benefiting health and fitness! We are challenging ourselves to greater well-being and encouraging well-being in our family members. Each of us is learning - recognizing needs and finding personal balance.

[Harriet]

My favorite veggie birthday meal at our favorite Mexican restaurant wasn't possible this year since I don't even think they are open and we couldn't have gone now anyway.

Instead, dd and HRH treated me to home cooking to commemorate my 4-year-mark without meat or fish. I'm thinking about learning to make an enchilada casserole recipe I found when I have more time.

Time away from my own kitchen, plus grieving, didn't really help me on the scale but I wouldn't have expected it to.
Certainly no exercise during that week and in that circumstance, with non-stop rain to boot.

I got my computer record-keeping up and running for June and July. I hope to at least record something every day.

[LadyMaverick]

commemorate my 4-year-mark without meat or fish.

Congratulations Harriet! This is a huge accomplishment!

[Harriet]

Thank you, LadyM. It's really second nature by now, so there's no effort for which I can take much credit. Dd is a great lover of traditions, though, and was truly disappointed this one was missed this year.

Finally I got up to a "21" on my daily dozen chart/list of 24. That was yesterday, and the best I've done this month. Otherwise, I've been hovering at 16-18. Making a veggie and lentil soup with home cooked barley in it has been helpful, and it makes the tummy feel content. Also finally finding tofu at stores again so that the usual recipes for smoothies and breakfast scrambles are as expected again. A favorite one of my smoothies can run my veggie/fruit tally way up and is so cooling.

Dd21 has fallen in love with "Caesar" salads, which are the same as you'd expect except she adds shredded Brussels sprouts and kale to the mostly-Romaine. She absentmindedly picks at this salad while looking at computer or phone and slowly fills up without getting a bunch of calories she didn't really want.

[Harmony]

Harriet, is DD21 vegetarian now too?

My new dr. is a fan of Keto.

[Harriet]

Harmony, dd has certainly grown to prefer what she's used to here. She likes a few foods that are not vegetarian and knows she can add them to our grocery list any time, we don't care - usually single-serving packaged frozen meals that she especially likes. She home-cooks a lot, though, for the whole house or just herself, and always chooses vegetarian. She makes Instant Pot rice meals at least twice a week, especially curries she ate while working at the Thai restaurant - Massaman is the favorite. She has the Air Fryer going about once a day. Her favorite quick meal is probably a frozen not-chicken-patty burger with lots of fresh fixings plus fries from the Air Fryer, which she dips into Sweet Baby Ray's Honey Mustard sauce (smile).

Up until Covid, some friends would enjoy meeting at fast food places and she'd join right in, but now nothing like that happens, so she's probably moved closer to vegetarian lately. Two friends are vegetarian (maybe vegan?), the rest are not. The young man is more of a meat-eater than she is, but also sometimes eats vegetarian, and when they (used to) eat out together I think they both just got whatever looked good to them.

It's good that we can just talk with our doctors about our eating now and no one thinks it's weird. Once upon a time (like when I was doing so much eldercare), doctors ignored it unless handing out lists of foods to avoid because of cholesterol. Neither our gen prac or my hormone dr really eat like us, but are able to talk knowledgeably about foods. I know my gen prac speaks highly of pesco-vegetarian (adding fish). My hormone dr follows Andrew Weil's guidelines, which right now I believe say limit to skinless chicken twice a week, and similar for fish.

[Harmony]

Harriet, that is all interesting. I always thought since God created all these foods, moderation and balance is the way to go. Then when I had so much trouble with cholesterol I went low fat which absolutely does not work without adding carbs...at least not for me. I find low fat easy to manage. Reading about Keto, it substitutes fat for the carbs (I'm sure you know all this) and I find I'm floundering just figuring out something to eat. I'm not a big meat/fish person, my portions of that were always small. And always much more turkey or chicken than red meat. You might not be eating meat, but you're eating carbs. One has to get calories from something!

I do love my veggies, though. Never been a big fruit eater, except I like melons and canned peaches and unsweetened applesauce. I guess those are out now. 2 days without much carbs and today my brain was mush. I kept forgetting things. Hoping that goes away. Tonight I had a great bunch of stir-fried shredded cabbage in olive oil and a little butter, chicken breast, and a little unsweetened yogurt (though it is fat free) and I don't know how that stacks up to a nutrient list.

Dr. has me doing a fiber drink and I'm only doing 1/3 a day as recommended amount so far because my poor belly is saying enough! Hoping I get used to it. I don't like it because it has added sweetener which I'm supposed to stay away from.

This Dr. wants me to do bone density test, which I know will be absolutely horrible. I told her I don't want to be on meds that load me up with dead bone cells... and she said there may be something more natural we can do... so perhaps this lady is more amenable to that stuff. My last dr. definitely wasn't...

If anybody has any tips, please chime in. I'm open to all suggestions.

[Harriet]

Harmony, I eat SO much carbs, yes! I'm not sure what you mean by doing without carbs, exactly. I think you mean you are not having flour products, for instance. But you seem to be avoiding apple and melon? ... so I don't know. We may not be speaking of the same thing. If you think of carbs as all the plants, I live off of carbs, and plenty of them.

We have hefty meal plates here, if it helps to know that, with lots of starchy vegetables like the different potatoes, plus beans of at least one or two kinds every day, all kinds of grains from rices to oatmeal to barley, etc. Rarely any oils. And we do pasta, sometimes a brown rice pasta but other times just ordinary. Of course there are salads and fruits, but that doesn't mean we aren't filling up on filling things, too. I just basically try to aim for Nutrition Facts' daily dozen (Dr. Greger). If a plate looks like it's half starches, that's fine.

Another way of looking at it for weight maintenance is nutrient density (calories per pound, knowing everyone will be eating their usual same weight of food a day - 3 to 5 pounds depending on the person). In other words, as much from the low nutrient density part of that scale as possible, which goes from non-starchy veggies to fruits to starchy veggies to grains to beans. Avocados would be next and getting a little high, but I have one every once in a while. Beyond that is the dairy, which does cross the line into high density and I probably could reduce that for the sake of some weight loss and to move the cholesterol down more. Bread comes in varying ranges of healthy-ish to not healthy at all. Dd can handle it well - I can't, so I avoid most. Highest calorie density is oils and in our house only HRH still uses some in cooking, insisting things will stick to pans if he doesn't - I prove every day that's not true, but he can't believe it.

We are NOT always on track with what we plan - we had cookies today. Absolutely not able to say our days are to be held up for scrutiny. We just don't get too excited about it anymore when we get off-track - no food police.

I am not expert on fats but Twins' Mom goes by a way of eating that she's learned a lot about them. LadyM is learning a combination of her way-of-eating and intermittent fasting. RunKitty, I believe, is including less dairy than me.

[Twins' Mom]

Good day! I think this is the first time I've posted here this month.

I'm keeping up my steps and trying to keep my diet fairly clean. I eat a balance of protein, fat and carbs, but no "fast carbs," i.e. the ones with the high glycemic index. So I can eat fruit and beans as carbs, little or no flour, white rice, potatoes, pasta, instant oatmeal etc.

My weight has bounced up and down within a range. This a.m. was the first time I dropped below 160. Of course, that's fleeting and I know that with weighing every day, there is always a range of weight, not just one number. I do keep a 10 day running average too to see what the stats say and round off the extremes.

[Harmony]

Ok, when I say carbs I meant grains mostly, anything with added sugars, veggies grown below the soil (carrots, potatoes). All the goodies are gone, cookies, ice cream etc. that I should have eliminated a long while ago and I'd kept trying.... What I will miss is the rice, beans (that'll be the first thing I add back in when I can) and any kind of pasta which I'll try to stay away from. Sweet potatoes for sure I'll miss. Cereals, oatmeal a no-no. If I get weight down I'll see what I can add in. Last time I did this I lost almost 20 lbs but when I started adding back in I went right back up.

Harriet, I would gain weight eating the way you eat. Maybe I'm not active enough. Looking at my thyroid numbers, those numbers have remained the same for years...and this dr. says they are wrong and upped my dose. Maybe that'l help? I did notice after just 2 days I woke up very early feeling brighter.