Health and Fitness, June, 2015

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Twins: are you using MyFitnessPal? If so do you want to try and friend me? So far Lady M is my only friend there.

I've been super emotional these past few days so ended up having a Dr. Pepper to comfort me. Not pleased about that but yesterday I didn't have any caffeine at all and didn't sleep at all well so caffeine isn't the culprit.

[Harriet]

Lynlee, I hope you continue to get the place you want in yoga class so you can be most comfortable with it all.

Glad that Kathryn could show LadyM a better way to look at the fitbit record.

Recent grocery buys to make sure I'm on the nutrition track have been mushrooms to saute

I want to try eggplant since book I'm reading is very high on them. I noticed some "sandwich" recipes with slices of eggplant as the "bread" which are really very different but pretty on a plate.

[Harriet]

" Book Report "

Continuing to read The End of Dieting by Fuhrman, in which the main thrust is nutrition to avoid unnecessary hunger by keeping the body's cells well nourished. Then our bodies won't be nagging us for nutrition, which we misinterpret as hunger for just any food (on which we get fat/unhealthy).

Of course there's disagreement between nutrition experts over exactly what the best nutrition is. Fuhrman comes down on the side of a vegetable-based diet, but in contrast to Ornish, for instance, thinks we should include fats, which he believes can come, in great part, from nuts and seeds. He's disappointed in the no-grains authors because he thinks a distinction should be made between less healthy and more healthy grain choices.

Fuhrman has six DAILY guidelines, for which he suggests making check-off charts ( the guy must be a genius about human nature, lol ) :

* eat a large salad as the main dish for at least one meal.
* eat at least a half cup, but preferably closer to a cup, of beans.
* eat one large (double-size) serving of lightly steamed green vegetables (chew fully).
* eat at least 1 ounce of nuts and seeds (1.5 for men). Favor walnuts, and hemp, chia, flax, or sesame seeds.
* eat some cooked mushrooms and raw and cooked onions.
* eat 3 fresh fruit servings. Favor berries and pomegranate.

He likes combining a variety of these into each meal, since:
* fat in nuts and seeds increases absorption of phytochemicals from veggies.
* vegetables will slow absorption of sugars in fruits.

And he gives a lot of specific info about why some foods are more nutritious than others, and how to cook for best nutrition.

For limiting grains, he suggests sticking with "intact grains", such as steel-cut oats or wild rice.

For limiting meat, he suggests either a full 5- to 7-ounce serving once a week, or small amounts in recipes several times a week, with some non-meat days.

It's not surprising that he believes if people would actually eat like this, disease, suffering and premature death would all be greatly eased, including the cost to families in both big $$$ and tragedy/heartache.

What may be surprising, is that he makes a case that there would be less crime ( ), and in general people would be able to become more intelligent and successful.

[Twins' Mom]

Hummmmm, Harriet. Book sounded interesting until last paragraph! Nonetheless, I am checking out review on Amazon. I need to start doing a weekly library trip to ck out books there, and do an hour or so of genealogy while I'm there.

It looks like I need to find my friends through email? If I PM LadyM and Kathryn with my info can you friend me?

I need to get some challenges going on my Fitbit soon, too.

Kathryn, you asked in the PWYC about my Fitbit calibration - I've never calibrated it to my step, figuring that whether it's right or wrong it's consistent from day to day, and I tend to look at steps instead of miles anyway. I had put my fitbit on when I got out of bed this morning, so I had some steps when I headed out to walk, just don't recall how many. After an errand with ds and walking through grocery I'm almost to 5K steps.

[Sunny]

I have been reading all the interesting information here in this thread. I have been stuck at my current weight for quite some time now and in fact have gained some back that I had previously lost. We eat fairly healthy, mainly because of dh's diabetes: mainly a balanced diet with protein, veggies and fruit, small amount of carbs, and very little sweets. My downfall is the sweets - as in ice cream! I don't like the feeling of going to bed with an empty stomach, so that's when I snack the most.

Anyway, I know I need more accountability, so I will try to post here and also restart posting on Myfittnesspal..I haven't done that since the beginning of the year when I was sick. Kathryn...you could add me on Myfittnesspal if you want; and anyone else here also. My id is JayElle608.

[Nancy]

Back from a walk pullimg toddlerN in the wagon medium sized walk. Nice change, on the way we were joined by a dog took it dog that his owner was delighted to have him back. I told him their other dog tried to get my chickens last week.

[Harriet]

lol, Twins' Mom, that does have a pie-in-the-sky sound to it. It's the idea that more clear-headed thinking results from better nutrition, and over time then, better educations, with people able to live up to potential, etc.

He says, "... poor nutrition early in life predisposes people to antisocial and criminal behavior and lowers intelligence. ( he gives a citation here - cites 6 studies ) Violence, prison, and diminished intelligence are consequences that we don't currently associate with an unhealthy diet. We have been conditioned to believe that the source of one's calories doesn't matter."

Oh, noticing in PWYC that you may have access to the book - this discussion on page 101, brought up again p 157.

Sunny, I know to avoid late eating, too, but sometimes mess up! Enjoyed seeing the photos of Minnie and Blondie in Outdoor Spaces. They must be good activity partners.

[Harmony]

I can't do too many electronics or gadgets along with dieting... as electronics triggers my nervousness and that triggers my appetite! I can do charts and check-off lists etc. Right now I have a small white board mounted inside one of my hutch doors where I am writing my weight. I saw a commercial for something where the dieter was marking off weight numbers that way and I though- wow what a good idea! I know I'm behind the times with all this, but whatever works, right?

I go back to the dr. and for labwork in a little over a month, so I have started back on another diet. I'm focusing on cholesterol numbers which I think will result in weight loss also. I've been eating mainly vegetables and some fruit and some carbs (but no cookies, etc. or ice cream). Today's shopping trip to store had me buying cauliflower and broccoli, vegetarian soup, beans and more beans, some lean turkey, oatmeal, watermelon, cabbage, salad greens, zucchini, fat free cottage cheese. I've been doing a little wee bit of olive oil on the salad, because I can't do seeds or nuts for healthy fats. I've given up most all cheeses and ice cream, butter, and sweets.

Harriet, that book sounds pretty good. Is it new? I wonder if my library has it. I don't think I can stick to a diet that's too much one way - no carbs or no fat. I just can't stay with it. But what you quoted is very much like what I'm doing now...so maybe I won't land in jail now, haha!

Right now I'm motivated...because I hate going to dr. and hearing her lecture. She's a little skinny thing and probably doesn't have to watch because she's young. Hard to have a dr. like that! Next time around I'll look for a chubby dr. I've been doing an apple in the evenings when I need a bedtime snack. Oh, yesterday I had some water-packed tuna fish too.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

For those on MyFitnessPal who want to add me as a friend, I'm there under

CanadianFlybaby

Twin's, you can add me by going to your profile, then click on Find Members and enter my username. The option to then send a friends request will come up.

I just added Sunny that way.

I figure sharing our user names for MFP is safe here and it is quicker than looking up your email address (plus if you are like me, not every account you have uses the same email address!)

[Twins' Mom]

Ah, just added Sunny and Kathryn!

Weight finally dropped just a bit when I weighed this morning. Have logged meals two days and yesterday walked over 10K steps.