Getting Healthy--All The Way!!

Much has been on my mind this week. One day I slept in until 8:30 and thought what is up with that!  You all heard about the scale escapade!  For me I know this is all a mind game and I am trying so hard to get my mind in the right spot and learn to eat better than I have in the past.  Last night I got an email from someone I did not know.  I opened it because it had an ancestor's name on the subject line.  Conversing back and forth with Dana sent a million emotions through me.  

Uncle Lee

I have shared some of my stories here so you can catch a glimpse into my past.  To make a long story short, I found out just this past year a great uncle had two marriages. You are probably asking, "What's the big deal Laura?"  If you are doing genealogy it becomes a VERY BIG DEAL.  It usually unlocks answers and helps you bust through brick walls you never thought you would get through.  My grandfather's family was just that, a solid brick wall.  It wasn't until I started researching his siblings that answers began to unravel.  With my Uncle Lee I found a document that he was married to Lizzie Westbrook.  My first thought was that is not his wife, then realized he had two marriages.  When I found the marriage record, the book opened to the page their record was located.  Anyway, I blogged about it and last night someone found that blog and contacted me. Dana's friends are his descendants. So once again here were cousins I had never met, never even knew  existed and we are connecting.  It is the same story it seems over and over again with me.  But then this afternoon I had an email from my aunt-an aunt I just recently connected with in the last month.  She told me what she had heard of me leaving home.  I had run away and joined a cult. Just for the record, that is not true!!  If you want to read my story, here is a link to Kathy's Blog-Laura's Journey (sorry if I have shared it before). I will admit, I broke down and cried and cried, BUT I didn't go for food.  I let the emotion and the pain come out.  And then I went to my stress reliever which is writing.

I think more anything I saw something today that was both in me and my mom--we both ran from the hurt and pain inside us. For me I took most of my comfort in food. Today a friend sat next to me in church.  She is someone I have come to love a great deal, because she was the one who said, Say it!  Say it!  Tell yourself you love yourself!  Today I felt like I could be there for her, little did I know her love and support would help me get through an email that was so painful.  Through it all I see myself getting healthy step by step.

Some of you have said, they do not see the pounds coming off yet. I have also heard you are replacing the sugar and soda with other things.  I do that too.  But today I decided it was okay if I did that sometimes, because I was breaking habits and cutting back in small ways.  And it is all those small things that will begin to add up to big things.

Kathys' blog a few days ago had some excellent ways to cut back on things and I wanted to share them with all of you. For those who follow Kathy's Blog....it's a repeat but knowledge is power right and the more ingrained into us, then the better off we will be. You can skip to the bottom if you would like.  Here is the list of ways to cut back:
 
1.   Serve dinner on a 9 or 10 inch plate (you'll eat up to 22 percent less).
2.   Serve popcorn in a small bucket instead of a huge bucket (you'll eat 34 percent more if popcorn is given in a very huge bucket).
3.   Use tall, thin glasses instead of short, wide ones (you'll pour 29 percent less).
4.   Store all your snacks in small single-serving food-storage bags (you'll eat up to 20 percent less).
5.   Keep the main serving dishes on the stove or counter (you'll eat 19 percent less than if you kept the food on the table).
6.   Move potato chips to the back of the pantry. (I buy the $1 bags or so and when they are gone they are gone. I don't buy the huge bags!)
7.   Include a fruit and vegetable with your lunch and dinner.
8.   Don't eat white foods at dinner.
9.   Use the half-plate rule (fill half your plate with salad or veggies).
10. Have a sweet or salty afternoon snack only if you first eat a piece of fresh fruit.
11. Drink one glass of water before every meal or snack.
12. Use the Restaurant Rule of Two: Limit yourself to two items other than your entree.
13. Never eat in front of the TV. (My problem is my car!!!)
14. Eat a piece of fruit on the way to work every day.
15. Freeze half of what you make, and serve the other half.
16. Save desserts for weekends. 

This article was written by Brian Wansink who is the director of the Cornell University Food and Brand Lab and author of Mindless Eating.

I think there are some good ideas in here.  I like the smaller plate idea.  Last year I would get a burger and salad. Now I know that sounds like it is not healthy, BUT I didn't have seconds and leftovers and it really helped me to cut down on my appetite.  I am trying to have a salad every day, I have a 64 oz bottle I fill with water I try to drink every day.  There are many ways we can take these and incorporate them into our own plans.  Because I don't eat sweets, I think I am going to take it and apply it for pasta one day a week.  I do love a good plate of spaghetti!!!  Just remember if it doesn't work the first time, don't give up!!  This week is going to be a better week for me and you!!!  

Here is to more healthier us!!! We all can do this!!!

Happy 1/3 of the Way Eve...

to No Sugar, No Soda Valentine's Journey!!

Oh if only it was this easy!

Do you know what today is?  It is 1/3 of the way eve, No Sugar, No Soda to Valentine's Day!!!  Tomorrow when most of you will probably be reading this it will be January 15, 2011 and you would have been following this crazy idea of No Sugar, No Soda for 15 days.  You thought you could not even do it for one day!!!  Yea for all of you!!!  I know there are those that are struggling, but I think in some ways we all are.  For me, not so much with the whole sugar and soda thing because as Kathy brought to my attention (Gee Thanks Kathy!!!  <g>  Hugs) just because you give up one thing does not mean you can eat whatever you want.  And yes that is what I did.  As I stated yesterday, it is all a learning process.  I feel for me, it is more to break habits and addictions than anything.  I know what I SHOULD be eating, but other things just seem more appetizing.  And yet, when I eat them was it really all worth it?

One thing I have noticed is that I don't snack or munch as much as I used to.  Part of it is because I don't have it with me to munch on.  But trust me when I do, I EAT IT ALL (see yesterday blog about Strawberry Cremes).  Tonight my choices for dinner were: have a sandwich ( I really wasn't in the mood for one), have a pizza (I really wanted a pizza and so Pizza Hut was on my mind), or go to the store.  I drank some water, and didn't feel as hungry but still needed to eat.  Then I spotted it!!  A small can of Chef Boyardee spaghetti I picked up the other day to see if I liked it. So I tried it and it was okay, but probably not a staple on my shopping list.

The first thing I thought when I began to eat it was tomato sauce and tomato sauce.  Both Pizza and Spaghetti have a tomato saucy part of it so I was hoping it would fill me up enough tonight so I would not think about the pizza. Well, it did something! I am okay with not going to get a pizza or heading to the store tonight. For me this is all a mind game, and I have got to keep telling myself and tricking myself how to go about all this.  I know if I even let myself "slip" once and have a small piece of candy I am a GONER.

When Kathy found some good stuff in the AARP Magazine (ha ha it pays to get old!! I am saying ME not you Kathy) I had to check out their site and found something interesting on how to cut calories.

1.  Don't drink a calorie, eat one!!  Loved this!!!  Instead of having Apple Juice or Orange Juice eat an apple or an orange.
2.  Drink a glass of water when you are hungry.  I try to do this, because I have heard if you are hungry it could mean you are really just thirsty.
3. Rehydrate with water.  Yeah we all kind of know that!!!
4. Eat regularly.  Yeah we kind of know that too.
5. Replace oil with applesauce when baking.  According to ehow.com you substitute straight across the board.  So if the recipe calls for 1/2 cup Oil, use 1/2 cup Applesauce instead.  Also this is for oil based substitutes, not for butter or margarine.  Oil is considered a liquid, butter and margarine are not. (That is what the article said.  I am just the messenger not the Sugar or Recipe Police!!!)

I really liked the first two ideas and am going to put them to use for me. It is amazing sometimes how we forget that all those little things add up to big things.  And because I am doing a lot of little things, I hope it results in the big thing which is a smaller me and a healthier me.  It's hard.  I remember a story I heard and try to remember when my road seems so long and there is no end in site.  If you are driving from California to New York at night, you need to use your headlights.  You may only see a couple hundred feet in front of you at a time, but you know if you keep on that path eventually you will get to NY.  So it is with this journey, we can only see so far down the road but hopefully this will remind us to keep going and eventually we will get there.

What are other small changes you have done?

 and  

Happy 1/3 of the Way Eve to No Sugar, No Soda!!!