The Whole 30 October: Report

The first few days were quite a whirlwind. On Saturday, I checked out Cathy Zielske’s video boost in the Move More Eat Well class at Big Picture Classes—and heard about something I knew nothing about—the whole30. I checked around the internet, discovered there was a book and by bed-time it was in my hands. I was planning October’s meals that weekend—and the minute I saw that the appendix in the back of the book had recipes—I was sold! I could do it. Moreover, I would do it with the help and support of the folks at MMEW.

Things went well for the first couple of days, but after lunch on Day 3, I felt like I’d swallowed a box and all the sharp corners were jabbing me. I went to bed. After that, I simply turned into a slug. On day 5, in the forums, I wrote:

The biggest symptom I've experienced is fatigue and mental fog. After every meal, I just want to take a nap. Then, a few hours before my next meal, my brain goes fuzzy. I think that leaves me with about two hours of vim and vigour a day! (And not together.)

It wasn’t long before  I did start feeling better—quite a lot better actually. On day 7, I had a glimpse of what the whole30 could do for me:

I feel like I have an inner core of energy, an inner fire if you will that wants to be let out. When I walk, I feel like I have to hold back: my muscles cannot cope with the energy I want to express. I have felt this way losing weight before. I am an athlete, jailed inside this fat body.

I still felt great the day before my son’s birthday (Day 20):

I need to talk about how fabulous I feel. I need to shout it from the rooftops. I feel younger. I have oodles of energy. There’s pep in my step. I am happier. Lighter. Chris made a joke in the middle of my saying something to him and I got annoyed at him. He clarified. “It was a joke. What do you need?” And I said, without really thinking, “Well, obviously, a sense of humour.” He laughed. It’s so nice to hear him laugh.

But that’s when the whole thing really derailed. I decided to have a piece of birthday cake—and it turned out to be a very badidea. It was a conscious choice. I thought it was merely a choice to have a slice of birthday cake—I was not prepared, in any way, for what followed. Once again, I felt lethargic. From Sunday to Thursday I felt sleepy. My energy was low. I started feeling horribly cold. It was like going through the early days all over again. No, it was worse.

Then, on Friday, (Day 26) I got sick. I didn’t start feeling better again until Tuesday night (Day 29). My stomach hurt for four days. It was awful. There were knives in there, then rocks churning every time I tried to eat or drink something. It made me mad, too. Here I’d been, doing my best to follow this ridiculous protocol that was supposed to make me healthy—and I got sick. I never get sick! But who knows? Maybe I would have been even more sick had I not been following the protocol. Maybe it was part of the process—my gut flora reacting to the changes. In any event, I have decided to continue for another thirty days. I have some issues like my sleep and how to handle stress which I want to focus on—but honestly? Truly? I want to live every single day was a Day 7 or a Day 20. I want that ease, that hope, and that joy every day of my life. Try finding that in the bottom of a bag of potato chips! I thought not.

So, the pictures:

Before:

and, after:

Measurements: I lost 16 pounds, 3 inches from my waist and 2 3/4" from my hips. Everything else stayed the same.

Workouts: I worked out 13x, some were 15-20 minute walks outside with family (5x), some were with a Leslie Sansone Video in my living room (8x). I am continuing the whole30, logging my sleep, food, activity levels and mood on my other blog, my psyche, my soma.

Goal: Eat More Veggies

As I sort out SMART goals from "learning/purpose" goals and continue to reflect on the distinction, I am going to stick with a "SMART" goal for eating more veggies this month.

Specific? Quite. I am simply going to include vegetables at lunch this week. Yes, sadly, that is sufficient to define "more."

Measurable. All I have to do is look at my plate: is there a veggie (or fruit) on it? Check.

Achievable: Eating nothing but veggies may be unachievable, but including some in my lunch should be more than doable. (Weird criterion. How is this different from the two above? Maybe it was needed so the acronym would work.)

Realistic: As long as I'm not relying on fresh tomatoes, we're good.

Timely. I'm planning on doing this conscientiously and deliberately for the next week. After that, who knows. I'm "looking for" a few staple lunches I can eat over and over again without having to think too hard or spend more than 10 minutes dishing it out.

I am great for planning dinner. But lunch has always been a challenge. I decided to start planning lunch a few months ago, but I've been rather half-hearted about it. The boy loves rice: he'll make a great pot of basmati and dig into it for days, plain. More often than he should, though, he also eats chicken nuggets and breaded fish from a box and swedish meatballs: I have been letting him heat up one of these nasty choices--and making Kraft Dinner when called upon to make an effort. We are not big on eating leftovers, unfortunately. However, part of wanting to be more healthy is to eat more healthily, right? So, here are my lunch plans for next week: I don't know what my son is going to eat.

Sunday:
Actually, this will be a brunch made with homemade waffles, fresh fruit and yogurt --or whipped cream if I can get it. It is my birthday, after all!

Either Sunday night or Monday I will make a soup for my husband to take to work for lunch. (He heats it up in the microwave.) This week I have planned to make Mark Bittman's Two Pea Soup with Frizzled Ham, from The Food Matters Cookbook.) I reserve the right to have a bowl at any time!

Monday:
More-Veggies Less-Egg Frittata from Mark Bittman's Food Matters Cookbook. (About 1 1/2 cups sauteed veggies bound with an egg per person, plus onion, herbs and parmesan cheese.)

Tuesday:
"Oven-fried" Fish and oven roasted potatoes with oven roasted beets and parsnips.

Wednesday:
Spinach, onion and cheese quesadillas.

Thurday:
Ham, raw spinach and carrot wrap. (This really is more of a summer choice.)

Friday:
Grain Bowl.
(1/2 cup cooked grain, 1/2 cup beans, with 1 cup sauteed veggies.)

Saturday?
Ugh. Looking at this list of healthy food, I'm feeling the urge for the orange stuff in the blue box. If I mix in some frozen peas, will it count? I'm kidding, but barely. I have no idea what to prepare. The best thing to do would be to pick something from up above and repeat it. There's quite enough variety to keep me going. Really, I only need three or four seasonal lunches to alternate. However, some of Bittman's "salads" looks enticing, so maybe I'll pick one.

Sunday:
leftovers.

And there we have it.
What are you having for lunch next week?

Food for thought (and the holidays!)

Hooray for Scott Abel. He's a fellow who writes on fitness --and mostly writes critiques of the fitness and diet industry. He talks sense.

When people are told over and over again to subtract their enjoyment of food from the traditional celebrations they have known their whole life, then there is no more safe-haven. And then there is no more a place to ground oneself into being and feeling whole; embracing joy. Without being able to psychologically embrace the whole experience of the holidays, including food indulgence, then more is lost than gained. If you want to measure that and judge it on a bathroom scale, then I say even greater is the loss.

and,

You can never own or have a truly positive experience with anything that generates fear, stress, or anxiety.

Read more on his blog..

I found this on You-Tube. It's Desiree Walker, a woman he trained for a fitness competition. In another article he talks about her "athleticism." I now see what he meant. The best part? The huge grin on her face.

Preparing for the Monthly Shop

(What the freezer inventory looked like before I went all high tech and made it into a table!)

I'm sorry, this post sat in the "edit" queue a bit too long. Obviously, the first Tuesday of April has come and gone. However--over at simplify 101, there's another brave soul who wants to attempt planning her menus for the month--and so--here's my process--typed up and ready to go-- just for you Megan. ;)

********
Well, the first Tuesday in April is coming up quickly. And so it is that time again to do the Monthly Menus. Some have expressed interest in how I have done this: so, since I'm still fairly immobile, now seems like a good time to hobble through the process with you.

I feed a family of four. My kids are home during the day: so lunch is always a hassle. Nonetheless, these menus I make up are for dinners only--oh--and I make a pot of soup once a week (as well as a batch of muffins) for my husband to take to work for his lunch.

My system has evolved over many years. I started with just the "Master Grocery List." For that, I simply kept and collected of all the grocery lists I'd made in a month and then entered them into the computer. Some advise making the list in the same order as the aisles of the store where you shop--but I did not do that: instead I grouped things in categories which made sense to me.

I used to use it weekly: I don't anymore. Here it is as it stands now.

It is one of the last sheets of paper we will use in this process.

First, I take inventory of the freezer and pantry. This is a fairly recent evolution of the process: and it was born out of the need to save every penny I could a while ago. I just go to my pantry in the basement and note what kinds of items I have. I have a one out, one in kind of rule. In other words, if there's ketchup in the fridge, but none in the pantry, we need ketchup. (Really, it's just a way of saving me worrying about what's in the fridge!)

That form looks like this:

You realize, of course, that neither of these forms are essential to meal planning. They are essential to shopping. I say that because you can just figure out what to eat when without them--that's a meal plan.

So, to the Nitty Gritty.

Sundays we have either Roast Ham or Roast Chicken.
Mondays are for leftovers. (Chicken corn Chowder soup and Chicken pot pie for the Roast Chicken, Hoppin' John soup for the Ham)

This month the rest of week breaks down like this:
Tuesdays: Pork or Poultry.
Wednesdays: Vegetarian
Thursday: Pork or Poultry
Friday: Beef (usually of the lean ground variety)
Saturday: Soup. (These are for the husband to take to work during the week. I actually make them up on Mondays along with the weekly muffins).

Going through the cookbooks, I write them all down on a calendar with side dishes. I record the cookbook and page number where I can find the recipe.

THEN--and this is where it saves us money--I go through the handwritten copy and type it out onto the computer. How does this save money? Well, as I do this, I look up each recipe again and write down what I need on my pantry inventory list. For example, tomorrow night we're going to have Turkey Pot Pie. I'm going to use the Campbell soup version of this: so I write down "can of cream of celery soup" on my inventory list. I put "1" under the category "plan to use."

For the next item, Italian Pasta and Bean bake, I record on my pantry list that I need
1 can 14 1/2 oz tomatoes
1 can kidney beans
1 jar of pasta sauce
8 oz (226g) mozzarella cheese.

The first three ingredients are merely tick marks on the pantry inventory form, the last is recorded on the shopping list.

And so on and so forth. After I've tallied everything up, I do some simple 'rithmetic. So, for example, let's say I'd noticed (and recorded) that we have 2 cans of 14 1/2 oz tomatoes in the pantry already--and my menu plan indicates I need five. So, on the pantry list, next to the listing for tomatoes, small can, I record 3 in the "NEED" column.

My system has some redundancy in it: the grocery list also includes "tomatoes, small can" where I may or may not write "3" beside it. I usually do, the goal being to take one piece of paper to the market and not 3 or 4, but I tend to bring everything--especially as I like having the meat detailed. Here's the shopping list ready for shopping:


And so, here it is, the star of our show. You've seen it before: the colour coded monthly menu plan.


But she certainly wouldn't work well at all with out her supporting players:

• the grocery list with everything we buy regularly
• and it's supporting actor: the pantry and freezer inventory.

Hope this helps, Megan.
Happy Shopping!

Excercise and Depression.

We all know that excercise lifts ones mood, no?

I was feeling fantastic--almost giddy--when we left for vacation the last week of July. But it has been a long and slow decline into grim lethargy and growing hopelessness.

I was browsing 3FatChicks today and came across this article. Maybe all I need to do is get back on that stationary bicycle for 20 minutes. If I can find the energy.

************************************************************

*Missing Exercise Can Be Depressing*

By Miranda Hitti

June 7, 2005 -- Skipping exercise for a week or two may cramp your
mood, says a study that turned regular exercisers into couch potatoes.

"We were able to measure negative results from withdrawal of exercise
in just two weeks," says researcher Ali Berlin, MS, in a news release.
Berlin works at the military's Uniformed Services University of the
Health Sciences. She presented her findings in Nashville, Tenn., at the
American College of Sports Medicine's annual meeting.

*Stick to It*

The take-home message: Once you start exercising, keep it up. That
doesn't mean becoming a slave to the Stairmaster or a fanatic about any
particular workout. Adjustments may be necessary from time to time.

For example, "if someone is a regular jogger or bicyclist and find they
cannot do the activity for a short time, they need to do something else
like walking until they can resume their preferred activity," says
Berlin.

*Forced to Take a Break*

Berlin's study included 40 regular exercisers. "We were not looking at
elite athletes; the study participants were people who are regularly
active at a moderate level," says Berlin.

First, the participants took mood and fitness tests. Next, half were
forbidden from exercising for two weeks. The others were told to follow
their normal fitness routine.

The tests were repeated one and two weeks later. The results showed
that the forced exercise "vacation" didn't recharge anyone's batteries.
Instead, it left the former exercisers feeling worse than before.

It's one of those strange-but-true health facts: The more active you
are, the more energy you have. That is, as long as you're not ill or
engaging in ridiculous amounts of exercise that push the body too hard.

The CDC recommends that adults get at least 30 minutes of
moderate-intensity physical activity five or more days per week.

*No Exercise, Crummy Mood*

"After one week we began to see changes," says Berlin. After two weeks,
those changes had deepened. Two weeks of slothfulness had pushed the
former exercisers into a grim state.

By then, they were significantly more tense, tired, and less vigorous.
The more out of shape they became, the more their mood and energy level
worsened. "What this tells us is that any interruption in a regular
fitness routine can have a negative [impact]," says Berlin.

So what's a person to do when the weather is miserable or time seems
scarcer than usual? Get creative. Tweak your routine, choosing other
activities to stay physically and mentally fit, Berlin suggests.

Health care workers may also want to keep an eye out for depression
symptoms in exercisers who get sidelined by injury or illness, she
says.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

SOURCES: American College of Sports Medicine 52nd Annual Meeting,
Nashville, Tenn., June 1-4, 2005. News release, American College of
Sports Medicine. CDC: "Physical Activity for Everyone:
Recommendations."

Here I am.

(I went on a shopping spree and got all dolled up for the kids' end of the year piano recital yesterday. I think I adhered to the principles of WT fairly well!)

I've started a weight loss blog at 3Fat Chicks. I think I'll be spending a fair bit of time over there and on the exercise bike in the basement! We'll see.

Free Radicals and Rust.

I have always found chemistry fascinating. We never did much cellular chemistry, though. But the mighty mitochondria (above) is an amazing and incredible powerhouse. It is proof of the existence of God.

As one kids' site I visited said, "Mitochondria proves there's a little bit of sunshine in everyone." And so it is. The reaction is something like this:

In plants:
sunshine + CO2 is made into sugar + O2

In animals:
sugar + O2 is made into energy + CO2

However, that reaction can also send a few extra molecules of unstable oxygen with an extra electron (O!) to prowl your blood. Those are your free radicals--and if they glom onto the wrong things, they can set off chain reactions in your cells and do some serious damage. (That process is called oxidation, or rust).

What sort of damage? Well, here's a rather technical but easy to understand explanation from this site:

Cell membranes are made of unsaturated lipids. The unsaturated lipid molecules of cell membranes are particularly susceptible to this damaging free radicals process and readily contribute to the uncontrolled chain reaction. Oxidative damage, another name for the chemical reaction that free radicals cause, can lead to a breakdown or even hardening of lipids, which makeup all cell walls. If the cell wall is hardened (lipid peroxidation) then it becomes impossible for the cell to properly get its nutrients, get signals from other cells to perform an action (such as firing of a neuron) and many other cellular activities can be affected. In addition to the cell walls, other biological molecules are also susceptible to damage, including RNA, DNA and protein enzymes.

Very scary stuff. And apparently, in the presence of heavy metals, this process explodes exponentially.

But there is hope.

If you eat a diet of foods which your body can easily convert into anti-oxidants, they rush in and partner up with the rebelling radicals and peace and love and harmony conquer all. (And I mean all: just look at the list of "problems" an extra dose of anti-oxidants can "cure".)

I need lots of anti-oxidants. I'm rusting. Really rusting. Not only did smoking introduced an enormous number of free radicals into my body (and toxins, too, of course), but I never ate very many fruits and vegetables. (For some reason, smokers don't.)

So, according to everyone, I should be eating foods rich in flavonoids, a veritable psychedelic cornucopia of foods. Food that is purple, food that is yellow, green food, red food, blue food. From a cursory look at the literature available on Google, it seems that supplements do not have the same impact on free radicals, True love comes from true food.

Specifically:*

1. Small red beans, dried. (huh?)
2. Wild blueberries
3. Red kidney beans
4. Pinto beans (I don't think I've had a pinto bean in my life. At least, not on purpose.)
5. Blueberries, cultivated.
6. Cranberries
7. Artichokes, cooked. (You wouldn't think of eating it raw, would you?)
8. Blackberries
9. Prunes. (I'm a fan of dried prunes, actually. I love them).
10. Raspberries
11. Strawberries
12. Red Delicious apples. (Who knew individual kinds of apples were better than others? Good grief.)
13. Granny Smith apples
14. Pecans
15. Sweet cherries
16. Black plums.
17. Russet potatoes, cooked
18. Black beans
19. Plums
20. Gala apples

* From Ultrametabolism by Dr. Mark Hyman. No idea how much nor how often. The book is a bit sketchy when it comes to that kind of detail.

I forgot to list chocolate. 2-3 oz per day, as long as it is 70% cocoa. The husband just brought some home. Lindt makes some.

PS: For breakfast, I therefore had 2 tablespoons of teeny tiny chopped up pecans and 1/4 cup dried cranberries in my Red River Cereal.