Battling Resistance To A Healthy Life

3 Comments
turning pro

April just started and I’ve already read 2 books for the month! In Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art and Turning Pro you’ll find lots of motivational gems to help you with not just health, but with anything you want to achieve.

“The amateur tweets. The pro works.”
— Steven Pressfield, Turning Pro

When visiting low carb high fat forums online, many of the most vocal commenters for LCHF eating think it’s a simple matter of eating the right foods. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen on forums, Facebook pages, Twitter or other social media feeds where low carbers talk about how easy it is to eat low carb and have the pounds melt away.

That simply isn’t true for everyone.

You have to put in the work. Eating low carb, high fat does melt away the pounds, but only if you view it as a lifestyle and not a diet. Meaning you:

  • Eat when hungry and only when hungry
  • Give up the silly idea of “cheat days or cheat meals”
  • Can’t go back to eating like you use to once you reach your goals
  • Can still eat too much (protein, carbs, nuts, dairy and even fat)
  • Understand that those fattening temptations (candy, cookies, ice cream, donuts, chips) don’t go away because you are eating LCHF

That’s why I always say that weight loss is 100% eating the right foods and 95% mental. We face hundreds of food choices everyday. That’s why it’s important to build good habits. Read More

Drink Vinegar To Lose Weight? Madness…Or Is It?

2 Comments
vinegar

It’s looking more and more that drinking 2 teaspoons of diluted vinegar before meals lowers blood sugar and insulin spikes.

I’m not a big believer in “super foods,” cleanses, or other weight loss gimmicks. Most of it is either marketing hype by food companies or quacks peddling their latest book. However it looks like drinking 2 teaspoons of diluted vinegar before meals improves insulin sensitivity for the overweight, obese and type 2 diabetics.

As Dr. Jason Fung explains diluted vinegar is a traditional weight loss tonic. The ancients used vinegar for cleaning wounds. It was a tool healers used to cure many ills.

Thankfully researchers are now taking a hard look at vinegar and the recent miracle weight loss claims. Are they just old wives’ tales or is there something more to drinking “sour wine” diluted in water? Read More

Is Fasting The New “Diet” Fad?

Leave a comment
smokey joe burger 2

I keep meals pretty simple and normal in size when breaking a fast.

“There is nothing new, except what has been forgotten” – Marie Antoinette

Well the New York Times’ Well blog has a nice piece on the growing trend in fasting that you should take a look at. However, unlike other  fly by night “diets” on the market, fasting isn’t a fad. It’s been around for ages. Heck most religions include some form of fasting.

Some of the benefits of fasting include:

  • Lowers insulin levels, moving your body into fat burning mode
  • Increases growth hormone for muscle building
  • Repairs your cells and helps eliminates damaged cells that can turn cancerous
  • Lowers blood sugar levels and improves insulin resistance
  • Weight loss

There’s also very promising research on fasting and cancer treatment and possibly prevention.

Of course, the longer you fast, the more your body benefits.

I started intermittent fasting after reading Dr. Jason Fung’s blog series. Rarely do I eat 3 meals a day anymore. Typically I fast for 18 hours before eating my first meal (7:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m). For Lent I attempted a daily 24-hour fast and I did a pretty good job. I’m still going through a learning curve as I work up towards a 48 and 72-hour fast. The longest I’ve gone is 28 hours. Not too shabby.

My goal is to progress towards a 7-day fast twice a year. Seven days? How is that possible. Well the longest fast was 382 days and it was successful (and under medical supervision).

I can’t urge you strongly enough to read Dr. Fung’s series on fasting. While you may think fasting may not be your cup of tea, you’ll learn that it is one of the most healthy and ancient healing tools humans use…and it’s free!

 

Skipping Breakfast Doesn’t Lead To Weight Gain

Leave a comment
eating same thing for breakfast to lose weight

I now eat “breakfast” after noon. Why? because that’s when I actually get hungry, not when I first wake up.

Since I was a child I believed in importance of eating a big breakfast first thing in the morning. It helps keep weight off, gave you energy and keeps you focused mentally. But is there any truth to eating in first thing in the morning or is it a myth to get us to keep eating?

The New York Time’s Well health blog recently tackled the question of whether skipping breakfast leads to weight gain. Now lots of studies show that breakfast eaters are leaner than folks who skipped the “most important meal of the day.”

But, as Well points out, the problem is that these were observational studies. Meaning none demonstrated a clear-cut cause and effect. Observational studies by definition cannot state a “finding” as an actual fact.

As with most nutritional observational studies, there are hundreds of other factors that contribute to what makes people thin or fat. You know, like what someone actually eats during the day rather than when they eat. Read More

Microwave Experiment Update

Leave a comment
microwave

A relic of our fat past. My 2 week test of life without a microwave is now well into its 3rd month.

Back in December, while trying to make more counter space in my tiny kitchen, I packed up my microwave and lugged it to the basement. The plan was to try going without it for two weeks. A simple test to see how much I really rely on it. Well here we are, nearly half way through March and that microwave is still in the basement.

Do I miss it?

Nope.

Microwaving zaps food of its flavor…but hey it’s more convenient, right?  But if it is more convenient does that mean you’re eating more than you need?

I know our food consumption dropped without it, especially for my husband. It’s too easy to grab something out of the fridge, nuke it, and chow down.

The hubby told me he now thinks about whether he’s really hungry before snacking on leftovers. Why? Eating leftovers now means pre-heating the oven, getting out an oven-safe dish, and waiting  for the food to warm up.

Sure it’s not as convenient as zapping the food, but is it really that much of an inconvenience? I don’t know if there are any scientific studies on this, but I wonder if  households with heavily-used microwaves are more overweight than those households that go without. Something to consider when you think about all the microwavable “foods” are sold as a way to lose weight.

Because that convenience is gone, my husband now has time to think about whether he really is hungry or just bored. That’s a good thing.

I think it is safe to say our love affair with the microwave is over.

Why Everyone Should Ignore BMI As A Health Marker

3 Comments
tape measure fork

A new study shows that the Body Mass Index (BMI) is truly crap! More than 54 million Americans classified as overweight or obese are actually healthy. Yet millions of thin people are wrongly labeled as healthy. Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhoto.net and Mister GC.

A new, major study was just released that actually tested the accuracy of BMI against a range of cardiometabolic health markers. Thanks to our government’s reliance on BMI, more than 54 million Americans classified as either overweight or obese by BMI standards are in fact healthy.

This is huge, as our “friends“ in Washington are looking to use BMI to increase healthcare costs even higher.

My BMI Number Vs. My Doctor
According to my doctor, I’m perfectly healthy. In fact, at my last physical, he didn’t see a need for me to lose more weight. I weighed 185 pounds and he felt any additional pounds I wanted to shed were purely for vanity. As far as he was concerned, my health numbers were awesome.

Why the clean bill of health when I weighed 185? My blood pressure was low but normal for more than a year. My triglycerides were low as was my fasting insulin level. And my HDL rose while my LDL dropped. My waist was clearly smaller than my hips, a physical telltale sign that I was no longer a candidate for heart attack or diabetes. Plus, in just over 3 years I’d dropped 145 pounds and kept it off. Woohoo!

But despite the good news, the federal government and my health insurance don’t share this opinion about my hard work to get healthy. You see, my Body Mass Index (BMI) is slightly under 30. But “normal” BMI is between 18.5 and 25. So I am considered overweight and not healthy because of this number.

But how can that be? My health numbers tell me one thing, yet my health insurance carrier and the federal government say another. Read More

DYI Strawberry Ice Cream

Leave a comment
ice cream done

My quickie strawberry ice cream took about 5 minutes to make using just 3 ingredients. It taste better than the real thing (which is loaded with sugar).

For a nice, New Year’s Eve treat I decided to “whip” up some homemade ice cream. While I really want to play with the husband’s ice cream maker (wow, that sounds inappropriate!), I wanted something quick. Like under 10 minutes.

I had frozen strawberries and asked The Google for help. But every recipe I found for strawberry ice cream was loaded with sugar or a low carb alternative. I’m not opposed to sweeteners, but strawberries are already sweet, why do I need to add anything?

So that got me thinking (a very dangerous thing!). What if I just add whipped heavy cream? No sugar. No honey. No Swerve.

It took a total of 5 minutes of prep time and 3 ingredients. The result? Awesomely creamy strawberry ice cream that mom and the husband devoured. Read More

Finding The Foods Triggering My Husband’s IBS

Leave a comment
intestines

My hubby has some serious digestive issues and we’re getting to the bottom of it (no pun intended), with an elimination diet. Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net and dream designs.

Although eating low carb has provided much relief to my husband’s Irritable Bowel Syndrome – D, he’s decided to go on an elimination diet to discover which foods and beverages are causing the trouble.

So last week we start taking away specific foods he typically consumes that might over stimulate his gut – coffee, caffeine, alcohol, broccoli, cauliflower, onions and dairy.

His money is on coffee as the main culprit. My honey does have a java monkey on his back. I’ve notice him drinking four 12-ounce cups when he’s home (2 in the morning, 2 in the afternoon). At work? Who knows for sure, although he’s pegged his total daily consumption at 20 cups. Read More

Weekly Weigh In: Down 1.6 Pounds

4 Comments
weigh in jan 4

In January 2012 I weighed 325 lbs. As of today I’ve lost over 140 lbs. To continue my quest to optimize my health, I’m giving up alcohol.

I start the new year weighing 184.6 pounds. That puts my total weight loss at 140.4 lbs. since I started this little journey in 2012. I attribute the loss mostly to my January challenge — no alcohol for 30 days.

Alcohol Causing My Weight Loss Stall
As I tracked my food I got suspicious that the cause of my weight fluctuation was my wine. Oh how I do love the Nectar of the Gods, but my intake was much higher than normal over the holidays.

Also I started experiencing heartburn right before bed, something that hasn’t happened since I switched to a LCHF diet. Hmmmm….something was amiss.

While wine is low in carbs it slows or stops your weight loss. And if you’re not careful it packs on the pounds too.

I wasn’t careful. Read More

The Best Soups of 2015!

Leave a comment
Soup

Easy to make, soups are a great way to eat healthy and stay warm during winter. Low carb recipe blogger All Day I Dream About Food put together a list of the 21 top recipes of 2015. Enjoy! Photo courtesy of FreeDigitalPhoto.net and rakratchada torsap.

What better way to officially welcome winter than with soup recipes. But not just any recipes — 2015’s best low carb and ketogenic soup dishes.

Courtesy of All Day I Dream About Food (an awesome low carb food blog if there was one!), here you’ll find recipes for:

The recipes were pulled from great low carb, paleo and keto recipe sites.

As a soup lover, I can’t wait to start whipping these recipes up. I think I’m going to start with the Chicken & Chorizo Stew.