How's that diet going? Are you feeling better? I am! I can feel the weight of Bush's presidency dropping off!
This diary is long again.. it's always going to be long I fear because I'm covering a week in one blog. I tried to break it up a bit more this time but if you have trouble reading it here you can already come to kasandra.us to read it then come back here to comment.. awkward I know.
I'm heading out for my weekly splurge (IN THIS AWFUL WEATHER) but you can talk amongst yourselves till I get back!
January 10th, 2009
Stevia, Cinnamon and Honey
These three natural products are the only things I use to sweeten anything. Additionally, I sometimes eat prepared items with cane sugar. I am certainly not going to claim that any of these are not processed foods. Stevia is the most highly processed whether I use the liquid or solid form followed by Honey (processed by our friends the bees, thanks gals!) and cinnamon which is primarily ground. I'm going to start talking about Stevia today. If I have space I will follow up with some discussion of the other two items, if not, maybe tomorrow.
Stevia rebaudiana has been used as a sweetener by South American native peoples for hundreds of years before the advent of whites to America. The leaves themselves are more than 30 times sweeter than sugar and the extracts can be upwards of 100 times sweeter than sugar with.. NO CALORIES. Yes that's what I said.
Stevia is a natural sweetner that has no calories!
Why haven't you heard about it before? I know it will come as a shock to you but it seems the FDA has been in bed with big business and has passed a lot of rules so that Stevia is not allowed to be sold as a sweetener. I'm borrowing this from Wikipedia (I love that place!):
In 1991, at the request of an anonymous complaint, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) labeled stevia as an "unsafe food additive" and restricted its import. The FDA's stated reason was "toxicological information on stevia is inadequate to demonstrate its safety." This ruling was controversial, as stevia proponents pointed out that this designation violated the FDA's own guidelines under which any natural substance used prior to 1958 with no reported adverse effects should be generally recognized as safe (GRAS).
Stevia occurs naturally, requiring no patent to produce it. As a consequence, since the import ban in 1991, marketers and consumers of stevia have shared a belief that the FDA acted in response to industry pressure. Arizona congressman Jon Kyl, for example, called the FDA action against stevia "a restraint of trade to benefit the artificial sweetener industry." Citing privacy issues, the FDA has not revealed the source of the original complaint in its responses to requests filed under the Freedom of Information Act.
Stevia remained banned until after the 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act forced the FDA in 1995 to revise its stance to permit stevia to be used as a dietary supplement, although not as a food additive — a position that stevia proponents regard as contradictory because it simultaneously labels stevia as safe and unsafe, depending on how it is sold.
Currently, forms of Stevia have become legal to use as a sweetener because Cocacola and Cargill (those lovely people who make that melamine that the Chinese put into our dogfood. milk and gods only know what else..) have patented it. Does the hypocrisy never stop? Take it as a warning never to believe the FDA and to always learn to think for yourself.
Before you go out and buy your first Stevia, you should be aware that there are significant differences between manufacturers. You see, Stevia has different molecules that cause sweetness under the heading of steviosides including rebaudioside A. Some steviosides leaves a bitter, licorice resembling aftertaste, but Rebaudioside A does not. So you want to find a brand with a higher percentage of rebaudioside A to reduce the aftertaste if it bothers you (taste is such a personal thing). I use KAL or pick it up at Whole Foods.
There are two versions, the liquid and the powder. The powder is mixed with fiber (have to say it's a food additive you know!). Each form has it's uses. I use the liquid for sweetening teas, salad dressings, sauces etc. The powder I use for a very special purpose: CHOCOLATE!
What good is life without some chocolate. Heck, I have chocolate almost every day! What I don't have is chocolate bars, Hershey's kisses or any other overly processed food.
Start with a good quality cocoa. I know that Dutch processing potentially eliminates some healthful effects but I love it's creamy, smooth, non-bitter goodness and frankly, I'm not eating chocolate for it's physical health benefits, it's mental health benefits are sufficiently wonderful reasons for indulging especially when I can eliminate the negative of too many calories especially fat calories.
Cocoa has 85 calories per half cup, 6 grams of fat, 25 grams of carbs and 8 grams of protein, it even has my favorite thing, fiber (14 g). That's a lot of chocolaty goodness but it's even better if you make it into a powder coating to spread on your fruit snacks. You won't use nearly that much but you'll be amazed at how satisfying a dessert or treat it is.
Recipe:
1/2 cup cocoa
2 tablespoon cinnamon
1-2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon stevia (or to taste)
Mix it in a shaker such as you'd use for sprinkling parmesian cheese.
Cut up fruit of choice, the smaller the pieces the more you can coat with chocolate, find the size that suits your mood. I find apples are perfect when I want a little crunch and bananas are great when you want that creamy goodness but I also like pears, strawberries, kiwis (the fruit not the bird), orange slices and even pineapple! Don't forget to count the calories from the fruit! With a large apple that's about 110 calories plus a quarter of your sprinkling mix at 25 calories gives you a 135 calorie delicious chocolate snack!
That's enough for today. <H3>My weigh in was pretty much as expected today:</H3> 228.8 lbs, up 1.8 lbs from yesterday. It will drop tomorrow and be gone by Monday or Tuesday at the latest. Later I will take a picture of my chocolate powdered fruit and add it to the diary but I don't want to wait till ten tonight to post this!
January 12th, 2009
For those of you hoping for a shorter diary from me.. this is your day! It's after midnight and I haven't even finished my reading for the day so I'm just going to touch what I've eaten yesterday and what I weigh today:
Yesterday's food choices:
2 cups of salsa
1 apple
1.5 onion
Lots of Salad
broccoli
2 oz of goat cheese
Baked Tater
Total Calories: 1094 Protein: 14.2% S. Fat: 13% U. Fat: 13.3% Carbs: 59.5% Fiber: 32.7
Today's weigh in:
228.4 lbs 43.4% fat 41.3% water, 15.3% other
I'm coming back down from Friday still. That's not making me happy. This Friday I will be more cautious with my break-over eating. However, I'm at -5.2 lbs of fat now, this is two lbs of fat less than last Friday. Maybe I'm putting on muscle as my water % is back where I started.
January 13th, 2009
More movement is a good thing. Studies have shown that those overly active fidgeters tend to stay thinner throughout their lives than those of us that sit totally still. It makes sense. Really, it's energy in minus energy out that matters. According to the Mayo clinic fidgeting accounts for the biggest difference in BMR so take a few extra steps, stand up frequently, move your feet and hands. <H3>They call it NEAT, Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis. </H3>The study shows that the calories burned by non-exercise activity varies between 15-60 percent in different individuals. This amount of energy burned includes the energy you use to do your job or keep up your home. Now, you probably can't do much to change the physical activity involved with your job, I sure can't. In the winter I have to sit for hour after hour studying, searching for papers to read, designing experiments. But you can move more. Everyone can.
You don't have to make a big deal about it. I wiggle my feet almost constantly--when I'm alone of course you don't want to drive your friends crazy! Tap my fingers, twirl my hair, wiggle my shoulders.. tighten those buttocks up while sitting in one place! Go on, you know you need to.
Of course that may not be enough on it's own to lose weight but maybe that's enough to break even in life. Even if it is.. our goal here is to lose weight. So let's say we add a little bit to that without getting anywhere near the dreaded 'exercise' level. I started by standing up during each commercial break and if I didn't need to do something else, I walked in place. I try to echo that when reading, or writing, or.. doing anything where I'm just sitting. It's not long enough to become boring or tiring. It's not so often that I can't get things done.
After a while I started putting a bit more energy into it.. actually marching in place and moving my arms. Just for two minutes. Not so hard. You've heard all that stuff about parking further away and walking, taking the stairs (as if I COULD at 300 lbs. That's all great, if you have the time. If you have the energy. If you physically can.
I want to be an ecologist, I have to be able to go into the field and get data. When I started I couldn't walk two blocks. Three weeks ago when I had no car and no food I walked six miles round trip to the grocery in a blowing snowstorm and I was just a little tired. You too can feel like that again, if you want, if that's your goal.
I don't do anything exotic, I don't hit the gym regularly, I don't do anything aerobic. I just move more. Now that I'm back to trying to get more fit I put on music during the day and dance around while I do the dishes or vacuum the floor. Everyone should have their Risky Business moments!
In the spirit of complete honesty, I do have a treadmill now that I've started to use again because it's winter. But I did not have one when I lost the weight the first time. It's not necessary. It's sitting right in my living room because I didn't have anywhere else to put it (it does fold up when not in use). It faces a television, and it has a book stand on it. I try to walk a mile 5 days a week. The idea is not to ever let it get boring. So, I read a book for fun. Being a PhD student I don't have time to read novels for fun so that's my 'treat' for walking.
Now for the bad news... I consumed 1180 calories yesterday and managed to put on weight.. way back up to 230 lbs. but.. I took off fat, I've lost 5.4 lbs of fat now. I can only guess that I'm perhaps putting on a bit of muscle, might have a little water gain. For now, I'm sticking to my game plan. If it continues to be problematic I might have to set my calorie goal lower but there's no way I should be gaining weight on 1180 calories a day. Maybe I'm walking to the fridge at night in my sleep but I didn't find a half eaten turkey-leg with teeth marks in it! (Yes, I looked).
OK you spent enough time reading this blog, stand up and walk in place, or dance, or just jiggle like you've got St. Elmo's fire, who cares what the neighbors think!
January 14th, 2009
Honey is good and good for you. OK that's trite but it's true. Honey is known for it's antibacterial properties, but it's also a meat preservative and has antioxidants. In addition, it helps speed healing of moderate burn wounds And it will sooth a scratchy throat. But all of this is only true if it's raw unpasteurized honey. Pasteurization destroys enzymes that are good for you in any natural product. While it's good if you are buying your foods from large corporations who don't keep their food processing chain clean enough, but if you want actual healthy benefits then you have to eat it raw.
The down side of honey is, it's almost all carbs = 4 calories per gram. But the carbs are at least from fructose and glucose (as opposed to sucrose in sugar) and therefore is sweeter per gram. It's fine to use it while cutting calories but just remember to count them!
You can store honey on the cupboard at room temperature almost infinitely. If it crystallizes then just heat it in the microwave for a few seconds or in warm water and put it back in the cupboard.
And besides, you'll be supporting the poor downtrodden honey bee which has been assaulted by many bad things lately: Africanized bees being too aggressive has lead to necessary kill offs of many hives. Then the Veroa mite swept in and almost decimated the honey bee. It is still a severe problem which is somewhat controllable but which cannot be eliminated. Added to that is the effect of pesticides and who knows what is causing the latest problem called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). With CCD, the worker bees just suddenly disappear leaving the hive to starve to death. Bees are critical to the food web of the Earth and we must do whatever is needed to save them. Supporting your local beekeeper is one way.
Now for weigh in: I seem to be stuck (kinda early in the process for a plateau!) Yesterday I weighed at 227.8 and today at 228.0. I've started to glare at my scale and wonder, "Is this thing working?". Seriously I'm sure it is but I haven't gone over my goal calories with 1094 and 1179 calories on the two days respectively. While tomorrow is break-over day I'm going to only slightly elevate my eating and see if that matters. I do believe I'm putting on muscle from all the walking but I should not be putting it on as fast as I'm burning calories!
January 16th, 2009
Brrrrrr.. it's just COLD here! Today's the day for hot soup if I've ever seen one! I make two types of soups, the make ahead kind and the toss together kind. Here's one each of some of my favorite low calorie recipes:
Hearty Brussels Sprouts Soup:
*2-3 vidalia onions outer layer peeled.
*Package of Brussels Sprouts
*Rosemary to taste
*1 dash hot sauce
*Black Pepper to taste
*Salt to taste
*Tblsp of Minced Garlic
Whole Milk, preferably raw
Nutmeg to taste
Combine the ingredients marked with an asterisk in the crock pot.
Add enough water to not quite cover the onions when starting (you'll have to stir of course). I find if I cover the onions it's too dilute and I end up having to cook off the excess.
Cook all day or overnight on medium setting. I have a Braun stick blender (I don't remember paying that much for it so look around). Liquefy with the blender to suit you. I like it with some texture so I just run it through there for about a minute for a full crock pot.
Portion out the soup leaving room for a quarter cup of milk per cup of soup. Add milk and stir. Sprinkle a dash of nutmeg on top.
Nutritional Information:
Per Cup
91.4 Calories
21.3 g Protein
1.4 g Sat. Fat
0.12 g Unsat. Fat
51.6 g Carbs
3 g fiber
Now that's filling, warming, low calorie, high nutrition, tasty food! How many cups of that can you eat a day and still be within your diet goals?
Serves 1
Mixed Veggie Soup
*1/2 Carrots Sliced
*1/2 Onion in pieces
*1 stalk celery sliced
*1 tsp garlic minced
*1/2 cup broccoli pieces
*Mixed Itallian Herbal Seasoning
1 egg
5 cherry tomatos
4 medium shrimp
Add ingredients marked with an asterisk to just enough water to cover them and boil for 10-15 minutes (until the carrot is tender).
Remove from heat.
Dip half a cup of the hot juice into a cup and break the egg into it. Whisk together then pour back into the soup. Add cherry tomatoes and shrimp (I use frozen shrimp for this).
Nutritional Information:
Per Serving
282 Calories
114.8 g Protein
31.4 g Sat. Fat
28.5 g Unsat. Fat
109.7 g Carbs
7.1 g fiber
This is VERY filling. It's a bit high in saturated fats and protein but if you eat it with a salad or follow it up with a nice baked apple you should balance out nicely.
Today's weigh in:
227.2 lbs., 43.4% fat, 41.3% water.
Yesterdays Consumption:
1252 Calories
10.8 % Protein
3.25 % Sat. Fat
8.78 % Unsat. Fat
77.13 % Carbs
7.1 g fiber</font>
Boy look at that weight.. not hardly move.. hmm... what's going on? Tomorrow, we'll talk about it.