Can I make a come-back?

Don't even say it.  I know.  It's been about a month since I've typed www.blogger.com into my browser. Eh, sue me.  I was in a funk, a bad mood, and I just didn't give a flip.  However today I feel positive!  Much more positive than I've felt in a long time, probably since starting this blog.  And now I'm making a come-back.  Yes, I can claim my own come-back.

So, I do have reservations about typing out this blog and sharing it with you.  I'm afraid that by making proclamations like "I'm doing [this crazy hard-to-reach goal]!" I've been setting myself up for failure.  For me, that makes it hard to think of anything else except for what I should be eating instead of this or that, or what I should be reading for this or that.  I had to get back to the place where I just wanted to eat the right foods because that's just what I wanted.  Well, this developing gut has kinda helped push that day a little closer, and the past few days I've genuinely wanted to be healthier day to day.  But I'm not going to force or punish myself.  It might work really well for a lot of people, but that kind of approach just makes me shut down completely.

So, tonight I'm probably eating a salad.  *probably* I'll let you know.

On a side note, I'm also giving the Couch to 5k program a go.  I'm not getting ready for a 5k, I'd just like to get myself feeling good again.  I feel sluggish.  Plus, Max needs more than walking each day, so that is a big motivator for me.  If I run, Max can run too!

Good luck to you if you're trying to keep up a healthy diet and exercise routine!  If you're having a hard time like I have been, my best advice is to just forget about the "have to" for a while and let your mind get back to the place that got you started: the "want to".  

Days 17 & 18

It's been a busy weekend, so I'm keeping this short and sweet!  Backtrack to Thursday when I was really really wanting some BWW...Well, Alan comes in thinking the exact same thing!  So.... we did NOT go to BWW. We stayed in, I washed and chopped up the salad and we ate big salads and turkey wraps on the Ezekiel bread.  The Ezekiel bread wraps are actually really good! I was pleasantly surprised.  

Friday at school, I had a spinach salad from Corner Bakery with oranges, strawberries, grapes, dried cranberries, pomegranate dressing, feta cheese and some kind of pecan & raisin crouton things.  I didn't eat much of the cheese or croutons b/c that's not my favorite thing, so it was a nice healthy salad. 

So, we are back on track, eating our salads and keeping most if not all of our choices nutritious.  However, today I've made a shrimp gumbo and a cream cheese-filled king cake for a little Mardi Gras get-together tonight.  So, not exactly Fuhrman approved, but it's a special occasion and, let's face it, I'm just not giving up special occasions!  I will eat a big salad for lunch though which will have the following leafy greens:

bok choy

spinach

red leaf lettuce

romaine

Heeeaaalllth-y!  I hope everyone has a great weekend and that all of us can control our cravings and make healthy food choices!  I know it's hard! 

Days 15 & 16

Days 15 & 16 were a black hole of bad food choices, and therefore do not deserve a blog post.  However, because I feel obligated to honesty...I'm writing.  Ugh, we are so discouraging.  "Hey, check out our health blog! We suck at it." And although I've been grocery shopping and we've started back up again, it was Alan's birthday yesterday.  Of course I made cupcakes! Are you serious? It's a birthday :).

Let's look forward to the next few days for encouragement:

I bought LOTS of leafy greens for salad.  Tonight, I'm washing and chopping all of it up, and it should last for about 3 days. Left-over turkey breast for tonight...chop up some tomato, little bit of lettuce, and I decided to try this Ezekiel brand wraps (I'll let you know what we think).  Vegetable soup, always a win. Mexican night AT HOME should be something to look forward to.  Quinoa & vegetables: my current go-to fave.

Right now, if I'm honest, I'm seriously wanting some BBW.  It is just making my mouth water thinking about it.  Right now, I'm strong enough to say "no"...I guess you'll find out on the next post just how disciplined I am currently!

Quick congratulations to...
My cousin Scott for losing 40 lbs & all of his numbers (BMI, body fat, visceral fat, etc) are where they need to be!
Our friend Joey S for losing 130 lbs!!! Amazing
Truly inspiring and encouraging to everyone who is trying to make life-style changes and reach health goals!  It is within reach and totally worth it!

Why Not Wheat? 1

*The following information is from Wheat Belly by William Davis, MD*

I thought more explanation for the no wheat portion of our plan would be nice, so I am attempting to share some facts from Wheat Belly.  The reason I haven't shared so far is probably because it is such a difficult book.  It's very scientific, so it's difficult for me to summarize even 1 section.  So, what I think I will do is put a few of his "ending comments" that occur after every big chuck of scientific data and explanation.  If you want to know more, I suggest reading the book.  You'll be glad that you did! 33,34

Sooo Did you know:
1. Eating 2 slices of whole wheat bread is the same, often worse, as drinking sodas or candy bars! It raises your glycemic index of table sugar is 59...GI of whole grain bread: 72!  This is just a small part of his argument about wheat being possibly the #1 cause of developed diabetes.

2. Gluten Free?  Well Davis says yes, but not completely.  Most gluten free products simply replace the wheat flour with "cornstarch, rice starch, potato starch, or tapioca starch."  Although switching to gluten free products does have positive effects on people with celiac disease, the stuff used as a replacement "still trigger the glucose insulin response that causes you to gain weight." p.71,72

3. There are many studies about wheat & addiction and wheat & schizophrenia. "Wheat is an appetite stimulant: It makes you want more--more cookies, cupcakes, pretzels, candy, soft drinks." It is extremely typical that if you do eliminate all wheat from your diet, you will have withdraw symptoms. BUT if after that's over, everyone experiences these effects: "hunger and cravings diminish, calorie intake decreases, mood and well-being increase, weight goes down, wheat belly shrinks." 53,54

4. Diabetes: yikes. In 1980, only about 6% of US adults had diabetes. 2009? About 24% of US adults had diabetes. Here's the connection:
     "Products made with wheat dominate our diet and push blood sugar higher than virtually all other foods.[...] The cycle of glucose-insulin reaching high levels several times every day provokes growth of visceral fat. Visceral fat - wheat belly - is closely aligned with resistance to insulin that, in turn, leads to even higher levels of glucose and insulin." 103, 104
At the beginning of the book, we find out that William Davis himself along with numbers of his diabetes patients CURED their diabetes by eliminating all wheat and wheat containing products from their diets.

Phew! This is just a super tiny portion of the explanations and facts found in this book.  It's seriously fascinating and, in my opinion, extremely convincing.  This is honestly the most difficult diet change to make for me, and probably the majority of us.  Think about it.  Think about how much wheat we eat in one day...and yes you have to count wheat containing products (which is seriously the majority of groceries on the store shelves)!
I would love to hear your thoughts about this info, because it's such a BIG one, ya know.  No wheat? geez. And it's not just weight that is at risk, it's your health and well-being, which is the root of my big project here.

Day 14

Yay, finally a better day for us!  We did eat Chuy's with friends tonight, but I was good and got my veggie enchilada! It was too fun to care much about what we ate anyway.  Oh, well we did kind of get dessert at Cold Stone.

Breakfast:
Smoothie
broccoli
kale
red chard
flax seed
multivitamin
banana
almond milk
frozen strawberries
frozen blueberries
=
delicious.

Lunch:
left over veggies w/ quinoa and 1 slice veggie pizza
squash
zucchini
onion
garlic
mushroom
tomato
cilantro
bell pepper
quinoa
&
pizza w/ olive
bell pepper
tomato
mushroom
mozzarella

Dinner:
Chuys!
(Sarah) too many chips
salsa
tad bit cheese
veggie enchilada w/tomatillo sauce
charro beans
(Alan-less healthy, as usual;))
chicken quesadillas
refried beans
cheese dip
chips
salsa

Dessert:
(Sarah)
"like it" sized cake batter icecream
rainbow sprinkles
(Alan)
chocolate chip cookie topped with peanut butter, ice cream, and chocolate shavings

It gets harder and harder to keep up with eating healthy as we go along.  I want to pat ourselves on the back for today, but then I realize we've missed the big salad like 2 or 3 days in a row! That's the crucial part of our whole plan.  Not to mention neither of us has been disciplined about unhealthy indulgences.

I remember reading on Dr. Fuhrman's website one day in the FAQ section where one person asked him how he keeps this up EVERY day.  His answer was to keep yourself informed of the facts of nutrition everyday by reading.  This is something I've stopped doing for a few weeks now, and I think maybe it is why I'm so less motivated. I need to be reminded of WHY we are attempting this and kick it into gear!  Here I go.  Maybe this is something you could add to your challenge, too.  Buy a book, or look up an article and read one section or article each day.  Just a short 5 minute read.  It might be just the thing to convince us to just put the cookies down haha.

Day 13

Wow, today was not exactly good y'all!  I almost don't want to put what all we ate today because it's so shameful. How is it that we are doing SO terrible on this 2 week challenge??  One reason today went wrong was because I had no tomato sauce to make my soup with, and from there realized I was missing 1 essential ingredient for everything I know how to make haha.  So, I'll just say that we had a delicious smoothie (same as always) for breakfast, and from there it just wasn't all good except for the palm-sized side salad at lunch and a big scoop of fruit salad.

Better day tomorrow, surely! I hope your Sunday was more successful in the food department!

Day 12

Day 12 was a pretty good day.  We had all of our meals at home.  We did munch on bad things, but at least we had our vegetables.

Breakfast:
grapefruit
walnuts
pistachios
almonds

Lunch:
veggie pizza
tomato
mushroom
bell pepper
olive
mozzarella
pizza sauce
store bought crust

Snack: 
crackers & cream cheese
gelato

Dinner:
leftover cooked vegetables with quinoa