WHEE (Weight, Health, Eating and Exercise) is a community support diary for Kossacks who are currently or planning to start losing, gaining or maintaining their weight through diet and exercise or fitness. Any supportive comments, suggestions or positive distractions are appreciated. If you are working on your weight or fitness, please -- join us! You can also click the WHEE tag to view all diary posts.
Crawl into the kitchen with me and see what's cooking in Turtle Town: because if you aren't a healthy weight, then something is wrong either in the kitchen, or you are eating out all the time and something's wrong in your choice of prepared cuisine. Since others including Kessler have been hitting "what's wrong with processed foods" heavily, let's look in the kitchen and see what's wrong there that we can fix in a gradual and steady way - the only way I recommend, by the way!!! - to correct lifetime habits and live longer, healthier, and more complete lives, now that we've got a healthy, well-educated and well-adjusted First Family at the helm, progressives growing in strength in our government, and we no longer have a reason to despair! How's that for tying it all together, eh?
First, a little housekeeping: WHEE is a volunteer diary series for those who are members of DailyKos to support one another in their search for - not weight loss, because that is not everyone's problem here - but the return to or improvement of our health through nutrition and exercise. They are never separated, because nutrition provides us the matter we need to sustain ourselves, and exercise is what our bodies do with the nutrition. And nutrition, despite the plethora of nutritional counselors, personal trainers, TV doctors, experts, spirit guides and other so-called expertise, begins with personal knowledge. Share your personal knowledge - no story is too gruesome or unspectacular to become a WHEE diarist!
Scheduled WHEE diaries:
October 11
Sun AM - louisev - Turtle Diary
Sun PM - debbieleft
October 12
Mon AM - NC Dem
Mon PM - ???
October 13
Tues AM - ???
Tues AM - Clio2 (Kessler, Ch. 14)
October 14
Wed AM - ???
Wed PM - Edward Spurlock (special Geek My Fitness bicycling issue!)
October 15
Thurs AM - A DC Wonk
Thurs PM - ???
October 16
Fri AM - ???
Fri PM - louisev - Be Your Own Geneticist, Chapter 1 Obesity vs. Overweight
October 17
Sat AM - ???
Sat PM - Edward Spurlock (Kessler, Ch. 15)
October 18
Sun AM - louisev - Turtle Diary
Sat PM -
This is how I educated myself on nutrition over the course of time, and a few of these things may be surprising to you:
- Try a variety of foods. Eating the same thing every day may be predictable, however, there are two different kinds of risks involved in eating the same menu day after day; first, that menu may not actually provide you with your daily requirements. And if you follow the same menu, you run a risk of multiplying any dietary deficiency you have by an order of magnitude. So vary your menu! It will also make eating more enjoyable. The other risk involved is far more obvious and hits those of us who have a problematic relationship with food (whether by eating too much, the wrong kinds, or foods without positive nutritional outcomes) - if you do not vary your menu, it will not solve the problem, but exacebate it by making your food not only boring, but also something you may come to dislike and avoid, which in turn leads to indulgence eating, missing meals and 'making them up', fluctuations in blood pressure and blood glucose, and eventual chipping away at your healthy immune system and metabolism by not providing adequately for your body's needs.
- Don't be afraid to cook. I know whereof I speak, because I was married to a man whose very serious hobby, and sometime occupation - was as a cook of ethnic foods. And my idea of dinner was noodles and spaghetti sauce supplemented from time to time with my favorite foods - which coincidentally are all either pink or orange. :), and I would gladly eat what my husband put in front of me after a hard day at two jobs and a grueling graduate school schedule - and being Italian, he didn't spare the oil, the salt, the spices or the starch. He even made his own gnocchi. That all changed when I divorced, and I went back to noodles and spaghetti sauce for a long time. And of course - no breakfast: who eats breakfast? It wasn't until I discovered my gluten sensitivity that I began to cook.
- Once you've started cooking: CHANGE THE RECIPE. Yes, that's right. If you are trying to cut down on fats, then cut the amount of oil in your favorite recipe to the point where it is still palatable but lower in unsaturated, cholesterol-bearing calories. Cut the salt in half if you are trying to reduce weight, and cut it down even more if you are on a restricted sodium diet. Try a few creative substitutes that are high in tocopherol instead of animal fats - the queen of food substitutions is golden flax meal. Golden flax can be substituted for eggs (4 Tablespoons to an egg) or shortening (3 Tablespoons to a Tablespoon of shortening.) If you aren't into radical vegan tree hugging, then try using one egg and 4 Tablespoons of flax.
- Check your fiber levels. My dietician told me that in "older Americans" (ahem!) 25 mg of fiber, of both the soluble and insoluble variety, are healthy levels, and ALMOST NO AMERICAN gets that much fiber.
And now I have to go check my bread.