All about choice

Will I eat pasta? From time to time possibly. Will I eat lots of bread like I used to? No I just can't do that anymore. Do I use sugar in coffee and tea? Not anymore.

Something I am learning. Limit those indulgences to really an extreme measure thus they become little morsels of total enjoyment, while making the right choices every day.

Will I still enjoy a piece of cake, cheese cake or pie? At times I will but I usually only chased them at special occasions anyhow so I am not missing much. What about chocolate? Sure I will have that - mainly dark with berries in it. Surprisingly I have found that dark chocolate with raspberries in the bar have much less carbs than just a plain dark chocolate bar. Now of course I, unlike my Uncle, can consume a chocolate bar over the course of a few days, he wolfs it down in 10 seconds.

I find that I am more satiated with proteins and vegetables. Above was last nights dinner after work. A thin steak cooked in a hot skillet (ended up being just over medium), celery, there are also carrots and a little mozzarella sun dried tomato combination. Very fulfilling and refreshing - I really like raw vegetables, or just slightly steamed.

These choices of protein and vegetables was what the nutritionist I had for a couple of months after the strokes taught me. It also matches what Krystal (who has brilliantly lost over 100 lbs) has shown me works in her lifestyle of low-carb. It is what I realize makes me feel so much better inside.

So it is all about choice. When faced with an option you choose. Do you choose something healthy that tastes great and is good for you or do you choose something that is not so healthy that tastes great and is probably not so good for you? I choose the first choice of great and healthy with a reality check that every once in a while I may need my mint chocolate chip ice cream single scoop (not double).

Good day to all.

Learning and doing

So I spent a couple of weeks reading all and learning what I could about low-carb diets. How to do it right without damaging yourself. The reasons for and those reasons why people dislike it. I came to the conclusion that I have to try. I have to see as it pretty much mimics what my nutritionist, last year after the strokes, asked me to do and what I lost that first 75 lbs with. This allows dairy and more protein in my diet than the nutritionist had and that was one thing that I did miss.

First I purge the apartment of everything that I needed to eat and consume that would not work with this. I still have a few things and I kept sugar here for those visitors who prefer that in their tea or coffee. I still have not made it through one of those 5 lb bricks of sugar in what ... 4 years here. Amazing.

But last week was the first week and tomorrow will be my first week weigh in. I will see.
I have noticed that by looking at everything from bacon to salad dressings to marinara sauce it is hard to find something that does not have sugar in it. Sugar is, or should I say has become, a staple of this culture we live in. You have to look to find the things without it and of course, without and ingredient they cost more ... go figure.

But it is true, I feel, to say that we are addicted to this granular substance. I did well on meeting the goals this first week. I have the issues that many many people have when switching from a diet with carbs to a diet that has only 20 net carbs a day in it ... and I expected them. I was prepared for lack of energy as the body shifts from burning primarily carbohydrates (in the form of glucose) to burning fat (including the fat that is stored in your body) for energy. You are retraining a living organism and it will fight what it has become accustomed to over the years. But if this is the process that is finally forcing me to get between 8-9 hours of sleep a night I will take it.

Back to my thoughts on sugar ... I was tempted with piles of candy on Sunday night (Halloween) with all the little trick or treaters that showed up on the front porch, with costumes and amazingly polite happy attitudes. So I had a single ... little tootsie roll. Oh my goodness. Just 6 days without that sugar made me drool and the urge for more kicked in. It was both scary from a psychological and physiological point of view as it was amazing to realize that there was truth behind what I had been reading.

So I tested that hypothesis with the single tootsie roll at work today ... of course all the left overs were brought in. Once again I had been doing great all day long. Low carb bar for breakfast,  beef and broccoli for lunch, whey protein shake for snack, chicken with veggies for dinner and then the test. Wham ... one tootsie roll set the craving really high for all those candies all over the place. Thankfully I did this test late in the evening so the shift was almost over and I could flee to my resting place, 32 oz of water and healthy stuff.

So I am sure I will have more thoughts on this to share in the future. I have a coach who lost over 100 lbs herself and her husband lost 130 lbs so we shall see where this goes. Yes the doctor is aware ... remember always make sure your doctor is aware and agrees with your choice of action before starting it if you have conditions that have to be monitored.

But for now ... I keep watching my carbs and staying away from sugar.

Crutch

There are days were we go through the status quo and there are days were there is epiphany after epiphany. Today was a day of examination and resulted in realization ... an epiphany.

Tomorrow starts a contest that I am totally excited about. I know I mentioned it as it is a two person challenge with success measured on many levels with the foremost being weight loss. I needed this. I posted those pictures. I don't see myself like that and I was mortified. So this is great ... timing is right, photo's timing was right and then I got scared. What if I fail?

Well that is why there is really no failure built into this contest, Philip. Oh that is right. If someone gets to their goal before the end of the 75 days then guess what they win. If they do not then it is the one closest and the grand prize is based upon self evaluation of ourselves and each other. Cool.

So before the day ended I went to McDonalds. I ordered a bacon and cheese angus burger as it will be my last little bite of fast food for quite some time (maybe longer if I am able to do what I expect to do). As I was driving to work with this horrible meal besides me I flashed back in time. I think my subconscious had been tackling why did I get fat for some time. I have always known that I have this crutch to blame it on, but I know that I should not.

You see in 1988 I was a brilliantly stupid college kid, underage drinking, smoking and over extending everything from bank accounts, credit lines and not sleeping. I was doing some crazy decathlon sports event on campus and had gone from rugby, to basketball and was now on the racquetball court when it happened. I blew out my L5 disc. Pain was incredible. Next day paralysis of the left leg. Diagnostic clinic. Confined bed rest, flat on back, supposedly on a wooden board. Those were the days.

Then after time I was supposed to go therapy. I went once maybe twice and I said no way ... I can do this myself. Cocky little bastard I was back then thought I knew it all. But that was the beginning of my lethargy. My excuse was pain and pain I have lived with for 22 years. But it is how you live with it. I have used it as a crutch for 20 of those 22 years. I have lost weight remarkably well once and then last year with the strokes started on an amazing recovery path.

But I fell and broke my elbow at the beginning of the year and that became a crutch. I managed to maintain the weight loss due to purely not wanting to eat as much as I used to but also by using lent as a reason to change eating habits. But the elbow was a crutch. Thus I badly needed to refocus and gain back the momentum I had before. I needed to stop seeing food as comfort and more as a source of life. A source that cannot be abused by me as it can give life and take life if used poorly.

So I was flashing back to realize from where I had come, how I had allowed myself to become the whale of a man and refocus on the continued repairing, learning and living of the new me. So in about 12 hours I will weigh myself on a rather inaccurate scale in my house but that is OK. It is a basis of my measurement as I will use the same scale over and over again for the next 10.5 weeks and once a week share the weight with my Tammy. But in about 12 hours the focus and intensity starts again, the crutches are discarded and I move forward again.

For me. For Tammy and our life together. For my family. For my friends. For you.

If you have a crutch in your world find it, look at it, examine it and learn from it. Then when you are ready and only when you are ready let that crutch fall to the wayside, chop it up as kindling and burn it, allow mother nature reclaim it and move forward in your sense of whom you are now and not whom you have been.

My goal is 25 lbs in 75 days (personally I am shooting for 30). Let me see what I can accomplish.

Namaste

A tale of two trees

OK that is me. Me. No not the tree on the right side of the picture the other tree on the left side wearing blue. WOW was that a wake up call. I thank my beloved for taking pictures for a change with me in them.

I am still huge. Well that is how I see myself when I look at those pictures. You know I don't see this when I look in the mirror. I don't see this when I look at myself and I needed to see this. I need to have the issue reinforced that I look like I am wearing a tent cos I am.

Oh well.

Good news is that Tammy and I have a little friendly challenge going on from the 15th of April to the 30th of June. I need this. She wants to shed a wee bit and I need to keep losing ... losing ... losing. Now I have motivation. A little contest. We both win for getting a little bit healthier. I win for dealing with the continued weight loss after the strokes, she wins as she gets her goal accomplished. We have a little friendly wager on prizes and if we are both diligent, and we both agree that we have been diligent, then a weekend getaway in July.

Let me see. FAT like me in the photo's horrifying. Lose some weight with my wonderful love and we both get more fit, a little wager and weekend together. Hmmm I vote for less of me in a picture of us both together on a getaway weekend. Sounds good to me.

But I am sharing the pictures of me as this is me today, 12th of April, 2010. I have gone quite a way but I have quite a way to go.

I am so looking forward to this little challenge. In reality I just want to be in the lower 200's again and that is 100+ lbs away.

Hello me ... say goodbye to this me.

Oh and baby ... don't stop taking photos of me because of this post. I need this. I need to be reminded of who I am and who I am becoming from the perspective of others.

(oh the wonderful 6 year old in the pictures with me is Elizabeth. I love her spunk. She reminds me of someone I know :)

Farmers markets

I love farmers markets. Local produce. Last of the Parker County peaches, cantaloupe and bananas. What a refreshing dinner. There is actually quite a bit of fruit here....two peaches about a third of the cantaloupe and a banana. I am stuffed now.

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Good eats

I don't know why I do not cook as much as I used to. Maybe it is due to the fact that I eat mostly raw vegetables nowadays but I still love to do it.

So I had onion, mushrooms, broccoli and cauliflower that needed to be used up. What better way to make three days worth of meals than using the trusty weapon of my choice.

The wok.

First onion softened, added mushrooms and a tbsp of minced garlic (I love me some garlic) Give that a quick stir and then I had some diced and sliced water chestnuts. Yummy.

Added soy and ginger terriyaki sauce for some zing. Then went in the broccoli and cauliflower. Steamed with lid on for about 6 minutes. Quick stir fry on high heat after that and reduction of sauce.

I am done. That easy and all in about 20 minutes.

Eating well

So every once in a while I get the craving for pizza. I never have been a big fan of pizza but sometimes that cheesey mess just appeals to me. But Smart Ones now has this really great not to bad for you serving of 4 little rounds. But they take a minute and a half in the micro and you can doctor them up. Added some grilled onion one time. Some roasted garlic and a little drizzle of olive oil another time. This time I need to finish the ham so voila. Little pizza, salad, broccoli with walnuts and cauliflower and I am good to go.

Eat well, eat healthy and live long my friends.

Peace

See ya!

Eating well

Trying to eat well. Actually I have found out a strange thing. Most people tell me they get hungry after exercise. I am exactly the opposite. I am eating as I know what I have eaten today and know what I need to eat to have the protein and nutrition I need.

But this was a fun quick meal. I had the deviled eggs and even though I do not eat bread, much, anymore I still by thin meat slices if I need some quick protein. The cherries I am loving this week and some of that great baby green herb organic salad. What is on top?

Well that is me. I am known to always go outside the box in what can be combined. I love my fiber one cereal and this is the peach one. Since I started not consuming dairy and grains are pretty low on my list to eat I have this cereal I love, full of fiber and well it has become a snack bag and now a topping on the salad. I love to throw crunchies - nuts, granola, dried fruit on salads and I can still be healthy while doing that. A little bit of balsamic vinegar dressing and I am looking at food that will take me an hour to eat. Here is to loving what we do and doing what we love.

See ya!

Good eats

Dinner today was actually me snacking on a juicy peach, cleaning and chopping a cucumber and cantaloupe (had to taste test both) so all I really needed was a turkey burger and edamame. Yummy.

But lets back up to the other meals. Breakfast: Good Belly and a peach. Snack: a traditional shortcake. Lunch: herb salad with walnuts, toasted sunflower kernels, cheddar cheese and my curry/garlic chicken. Snack: Banana. Then the dinner above.

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Solitary diner

Shrimp quesadilla with black beans and corn. Five onion soup and New Zealand water (my fav) and the band on the patio is playing Cheap Sunglasses. Nirvana for a solitary diner.

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It is becoming a time when I need to shift priorities. I care more about my job than those around me and that frustrates me. Why do I strive to be as good as I can and do what the business needs where others do not try?

Found out today that they are going to literally put me under but not out on Thursday. Leave that to the last minute to tell me. So here I go with no time to find out how to ge the required ride home at this last minute change and my family once again steps up and hits a winning run. God bless my family for they are mine and they are excellent people.

Now that is taken care of and Corpus is truly out of the equation for this weekend. I sadly feel slightly better knowing with what they are going to do that I will be partially sedated .... enough to not want to run screaming from the room.

Saw my doc this morning and had blood pulled. It is all good. All good. Well I don't have the results yet but talking to my doctor can be a calming event. He actually told me he was extremely proud of the progress I am making with losing weight and all. We are going to have to push the second MRI until after the surgery has passed and I am healed up a bit. That is alright....not my favorite thing in the world.

Well we will have to see how it goes on Thursday.

Did I eat well again today.

Breakfast: Sausage biscuit
Lunch: pretzel chips and roasted pepper hummus
Dinner: salad with 2 oz of chicken, walnuts, raisins and goat cheese
Snack: key lime probiotic yogurt

Exercise: 1.25 miles on the treadmill at a 2.5 mile rate - 30 min burning approx 330 calories and traveled at total of 6887 steps today. (last weeks average without Sat figures was 5000 steps so this is almost 7000 steps 2 days in a row)

Right - top of the morning to you all. G'd night!

Good eats

Breakfast: half of an omelet with mini portabella mushrooms, crunch sweet onions and chunky pineapple salsa. Good Belly.

Observation: Food is much more wonderful when you prepare it. I am always amazed after days of eating salads and such when I cook something in a completely different way and it tastes amazing. I think part of that is the fact that I did it. Plus I have pretty much switched back to wok only cooking as it allows me the luxury of cooking all in one pan. I can cook the onions and mushrooms and then pull up on the sides while I have the omelet in the middle them dump the veggies back on top. Love it.

Dinner: Salad with walnuts, raising, egg, chicken oh and green stuff. A little bit of goats cheese just to flavor it up.

Yes I missed lunch. Took it out of the fridge just now. Ugh we were so busy I don't have time to eat when we are that busy!

Yummy grinds

Breakfast - chicken biscuit. (tomorrow omelet with mushrooms)
Lunch - chicken satay with dark leaf salad, sunflower kernels and walnuts, cherries and pomegranate/cherry probiotics



Dinner - peppers, onions and beef kabob, steak fries and young green peas plus a beer for good looks.

Even if you do not have access to an outdoor grill you can still grill in the oven....just need to know how to do it :). I was not going to miss out of the first big grilling day of the summer. I may have had to work and no one was around when I got off of work but I was still going to enjoy myself. Saved a kabob for tomorrow. Now the fries are a no no but I just needed something like that to round off the meal.

Going to have a mini cream puff for dessert with my strawberries if the are defrosted. If not well then I guess I will have them later.

Today's grinds

Got the hunkering for chicken this morning so I had a chicken biscuit for breaking the overnight fast.

Now for lunch I had my left over steak, some dark leafy green herb salad, walnuts and sunflower seeds. Then I had me some first pick of the season cherries 'n they were right tasty!



Now I got me some chicken satays at home that I am thinking bout grilling for supper but I ain't quite there yet so I will holla at ya when I get my mind made up.

Guess the image shows you that I made up my mind to do the chicken.



What is satay you might ask. Well essentially it is strips of chicken (or beef) are marinated in a special Thai paste, then skewered and grilled on the BBQ or broiled in the oven. A fancy name for kabobs.

But that is all good. With those really great single serve toss in the microwave cos I was feeling kinda lazy about this time vegetables in a self steaming bag (long convoluted sentence there) dinner was done in a snap. By the way that was about 2/3 a pound of chicken and I only ate one skewer. Just used the two for appearance. I will use the other with salad and Asian dressing tomorrow for lunch at work. Yep gotta work tomorrow morning.

Simple eats

Breakfast - egg and steak burrito
Lunch - chicken, carrots, scallions and red peppers in a tai sauce
Snack - sunflower kernels
Dinner - chicken tossed in olive oil, cracked pepper, Mediterranean sea salt and ginger and a simple dark leaf green salad (sometimes simple is good)

My stomach is not too happy with me and I realized I have been missing some of my probiotics and also eating some starch substances. I will quit bending the rules and see how that goes.

Being good

Breakfast -- omelet with mushrooms, onions and tomatoes.
Snack -- oops busy day
Lunch -- spinach, cabbage and tuna in a spinach wrap (half size)
Snack - walnuts
Dinner -- beef, garlic and snow pea stir fry, dark leaf salad and broccoli. GoodBelly.

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Food eats?

Breakfast - apple
Lunch - chicken, salad, walnuts and broccoli, apple
Snack - sunflower seeds, 2 oz roast beef
Dinner - two eggs, olive oil, turkey bacon, sugar snap peas

Dinner

Salmon with soy, ground ginger and pepper. Organic dark leaf herb salad with about 1 oz walnuts and broccoli. Good Belly.

Next time I do salmon I am going to kind of do a recipe I found online for snow peas and salmon.

Teriyaki Salmon in Foil

Nutrition Information

240 calories; 7g fat (1g saturated; 1.6g omega-3); 450mg sodium; 12g carbohydrate; 2g fiber; 33g protein; 110% vitamin A; 25% vitamin C

Ingredients & Instructions

1/4 cup lite teriyaki sauce

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger *

1 teaspoon cornstarch

1 ½ cups snow pea pods (about 4 ounces), trimmed

1 large carrot, cut into 2-inch long very thin "matchstick" strips (about 1 cup)

Four 5-ounce salmon fillets, skin removed

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds, optional

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400°F. Cut four 12-inch square pieces of aluminum foil. In a bowl, whisk together the teriyaki sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil, ginger, and cornstarch until well blended. Divide the snow peas and carrots evenly and place in the center of each piece of foil. Lay the salmon on top of the vegetables and season with salt and pepper. Spoon the teriyaki mixture evenly over each piece of salmon. Seal each packet by bringing up the sides and folding the top edge over twice. Seal the edges in the same way. Place the packets on a baking sheet and bake until the fish is cooked through and the vegetables are tender, about 18 minutes. Open the packets (be careful of the steam!), place the salmon on individual plates, top with the vegetables and sauce, and serve. Top with toasted sesame seeds as desired.

Lunch

Chicken, black beans, corn, avocado, onion, tomatoes, lettuce and chipotle dressing. I ate about half because my stomach is just not right today.

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What I gotta do

Eat every three (3) hours.
Type O blood so I need protein (2-3 ounces) every three hours.
100 ounces of water a day at a minimum.
NO SUGAR. (plus no artificial sweeteners as they intensify sugar cravings)
NO DIARY. (sob, sob, sob)
NO WHITE flour, sugar, bread, rice etc.
Right now no grains of any kind.
Must have one large dark leafy green herb organic salad a day.
Use EVOO and Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar for the dressing.
Boards head is the best kind of meat to buy.
Every morning - 4 oz heated water with 1/2 a lemon in it. (for the liver)
Choose only real fats - evoo, butter, coconut oil, nut oil. Fats are good and they will help lower the glycemic index of the food being absorbed.
Walnuts, nut butter with no sugar.
That protein can be nuts or nut butter on celery that is needed every 3 hours.
Exercise...up to 30 minutes every day once the doctor gives me the ok.
1 tbsp of extra virgin coconut oil everyday. I did not know they had that. I have a feeling that will be expensive.

That is just the basics...there is more to come. Trying to find references to link to from this site. OH boy.


****************CLARIFICATION******************

This is my notes from the meeting. I have pages and pages and now a book about the actual plan and these are highlights that are not in that plan. There is so much information it is kind of overwhelming. But I am making it through. All of the plans I can find have some type of cereal for breakfast. I can have none of that. NONE. No grains, rice, wheat, etc etc. So I have been trying to figure out what I am supposed to have with no cereal and no milk. Well I called my nutritionist and asked her. She promptly said whatever you eat the rest of the day. SHE IS RIGHT! Why is there a mold that says for breakfast we have to have this. Dinner the night before becomes breakfast. Of course and omelet with tomatoes and peppers, mushrooms and onions, turkey bacon (no pork) can always be a great start or a hard boiled egg and a piece of fruit. I like the way this lady thinks.

No mother I do not have to do all these at once. These are changes and she knows I am on a budget. :)