Monthly Archives: January 2012
Sugar Intake
For my fiber quest I had the following foods with fiber…
NOTE: I did have other foods but this is just what had fiber in it.
Breakfast – 2 slices of Arnolds healthful whole grain bread @ 5g of fiber per slice plus 1 T of peanut butter @ 1g of fiber. Total fiber for breakfast = 11
Snack – 1 large pear @ 6g of fiber
Lunch – Flatout Wrap @ 9g of fiber with Tuna, lettuce and tomato @ 1g of fiber each. Total fiber for lunch = 11
Snack – Banana bread made with Spelt flour @ 1g of fiber and 1/2 cup of homemade applesauce @ 2g of fiber
Dinner – 1 slice of Arnold’s healthful whole grain bread @ 5g of fiber
Total fiber for the day = 36g of fiber
I did feel good all day and full and my calorie intake was only 1489.
For today, just for the health of it, I will…
Eat only 15g of refined or added sugar. Sugar consumption on average is about 189g a day according to a Colorado State University study. This is way too much sugar! The body makes glucose (our energy for the body) out of complex carbohydrates we eat so we don’t need added sugar.
I don’t count fruit into this and have 2 servings per day. The sugar in fruit has the fiber with it so the sugar goes into your system a little slower. But some people do count fruit into their sugar intake. Do what works for you.
Too much sugar has been linked with metabolic syndrome – this syndrome includes insulin resistance, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Sugar causes inflammation also which can lead to a variety of problems including heart disease. Sugar also weakens your immune system and feeds cancer cells. Feeding these cells will help them grow and reproduce faster.
Sugar also increases insulin production which in turn can lead to type 2 diabetes.
So today I will check all labels and food nutrients and keep the sugar (not the carbs) to 15g or less.
Keep a tally of the sugar you eat today. How much sugar are you taking in!
30 grams of Fiber
Yesterday I ate slowly and mindfully. Each meal took 20 minutes or more to consume. It did make me feel more satisfied with what I had. Even at night when I usually want something else after dinner, I did not need anything else. I felt full and satisfied.
For today, just for the health of it, I will eat 30 grams of fiber.
It is recommended to have 30 grams of fiber a day. I normally don’t get that much but today I am going to make sure I do. Here are some reasons why you should eat your fiber…
Fiber helps slow the speed at which the stomach empties and it also slows the speed at which simple sugars are absorbed from the large intestine. This helps balance blood sugar levels which is important if you are trying to lose weight or have diabetes. Also when your stomach empties slower you will feel fuller longer and won’t be hungry so you will eat less.
Fiber binds to some of the fat you eat so it prevents it from being absorbed into the body. So if you eat a high fiber food with a food that has fat not all of the fat will be absorbed, some will bind to the fiber and be escorted out of the body!
Not only does your stomach empty slower but high fiber food tends to be bulky so this will help you feel full as well and they contain fewer calories so you will feel full on less calories which is a great way to lose weight!
The other thing studies suggest is that your system burns more calories to digest fiber. So by eating more fiber your body burns more calories for energy to digest it.
So what food have fiber? Fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and whole grains including high fiber cereal.
Try it out – eat 30 grams of fiber today and let me know how you feel or how easy or difficult it was. Tomorrow I will let you know how I got my 30 grams of fiber in and how I felt!
Eat Mindfully and Slowly
To update on my fruits and veggie day I ate all my fruits and veggies that day. I had a 1/2 of a grapefruit with my breakfast. I had a pear after lunch as a snack. I ate a big salad with romaine, tomatoes, 1/2 of a cucumber and green peppers. I also had some tomatoes in my chili for dinner.
For today, just for the health of it, I will…
Eat mindfully and slowly. When I was younger I worked as a waitress in a restaurant. This helped form my habit of eating too fast. I ate when I could get a quick bite and tried to eat it fast before another customer came in. So that habit has stuck with me. Now I try to eat mindfully and slowly but I do have to still consciously think of it. Eating too fast can lead to over eating. If you eat so fast you don’t even realize you ate the whole thing so you go back for more. It also takes about 20 minutes for your brain to realize you had enough to eat so if you eat too fast you don’t give your brain time to register that it is full so you go back for more. Then after 20 minutes you realize you are stuffed!
Try to make your meal last 20 minutes today so you give yourself enough time to be satisfied with the proper amount of food. If you are done before the 20 minutes, set a timer or just look at the clock and tell yourself not to go back for more until the 20 minutes are up.
Fruits and Veggies
I did the intuitive eating for 2 days and I always like doing that because it really puts me in touch with my hunger drives. It makes me realize how many times I “want” food but I really am not hungry. On Monday I didn’t eat breakfast til about 10:30. That is when my belly started to growl. I had an omelet filled with turkey pepperoni, tomatoes, romaine and a sprinkling of cheese on top so with all that protein I wasn’t really hungry for lunch until about 2:30.
I was at a 4-5 on the hunger scale not full blown hungry so I just had some nuts to tied me over until supper. Then around 5:30 I was hungry so we ate some shrimp and pierogies.
For today, just for the health of it…
I will eat 4 servings of vegetables and 3 servings of fruits. Fruits and veggies are full of vitamins, minerals and fiber so they help you get the nutrients your body needs while filling you up.
What will you do today just for the health of it?!
Have a healthy and happy day!
Intuitive Eating
Yesterday I completed my 100 jumping jacks, 20 pushups, 50 situps and did 32 minutes of walking on the treadmill just for the health of it! I did everything at once although you could have done things separately. By that I mean you could have even done 20 jumping jacks at a time and do them throughout the day 5 times. Then do 15 minutes on the treadmill and 15 minutes more later etc. People sometimes get into that all or nothing mindset and they don’t think of doing just small amounts throughout the day which is still beneficial. So if they can’t get it all in at once they don’t do anything. Doing small amounts throughout the day is better than doing nothing!
Today I am going to eat intuitively just for the health of it!
Over the holiday I was eating just because it was time to eat or we were at another dinner or because it was there. So I am not sure I felt hunger pangs since before Christmas 
. So today I will check in with myself each hour and rate my hunger level on the scale from 1-10. I will only eat at a 3 or 4. 3 for me is belly growl and 4 is feeling empty. I will then ask myself what my body is hungry for and have that. I will eat until I am just satisfied which is about a 6 on the scale. So no counting calories or counting anything but honoring my hunger and fullness levels.
If there is a time I find myself wanting something to eat and I am not hungry I will need to figure out what it is that I truly want. I may be tired, bored, procrastinating etc so I need to feed that emotion and not with food!
Have a healthy and happy day everyone!
What will you do “just for the health of it” today?
New Years Eve and Holiday End Report
Happy New Year everyone!
I won’t start with the weight chart since this is the final report. I will start with my report for Saturday.
My friend gave me Just Dance 2 to try so I did that for 70 minutes and burned 533 calories. Can’t believe how much fun you can have and burn all those calories! So find something you love that gets you active and you will stick with it. This song was “Jump” it really gets your heart rate up!
For breakfast I had 2 eggs and 1/2 piece of flat out round.
My DH and I were in town so for lunch we decided to have McDonald’s and since we don’t go there often I usually get a small hamburg and steal some of my DH’s fries — I had a couple more handfuls after I took the picture! That’s why we don’t go very often We got it to go and brought it home.
Now for the evening! We went to my sister-in-law’s and we had lots of food! Shrimp, steamed and breaded, scallops, nachos, pierogies and munchies, including veggies and fruit. We also had wings but I did not have any of those or the scallops. But I did have a little of everything else!
All the food in the pictures above were pictures of the serving plate, I did not eat all of those shrimp and nachos!
Now the pierogies were on my actual plate but everything else I just took pictures of what was on the table. I did not eat all of that!!!
So now for the damage! Here is the daily chart for December…
As you can see I went down yesterday and back up today but the good news is here is my weight chart from Dec 1st to Jan 1st. It looks a lot cleaner…
So I actually lost 1.4 pounds over the holidays! Which I am happy with especially all of the food that I decided to eat. If I was trying to lose weight over the holidays I would have cut a lot of the baked goods and junk out of my diet. So now on to 2012. I need to make some goals to work toward in 2012.
What are your goals for 2012?
For the blog in January I am going to do a series of blogs “just for the health of it” so for everyday in January I will do something each day “just for the health of it” and blog about it each night. You can follow along or do your own thing each day and let me know how you are doing by commenting. It will include things for physical, mental and emotional health.
Today just for the health of it, I will do 50 situps, 20 pushups, 100 jumping jacks and walk for 30 minutes.
What will you do today “just for the health of it”?
