More "Pat Me on the Back" Diet-related Stuff
Well, as I mentioned a few days ago, I have not had a Coke for 6+ weeks. This is a MAJOR accomplishment for me, as I have struggled with this for years. It is all part of a larger, let's lose some weight and get healthy! campaign which was spurred on by my doctor. (I have thyroid and immune system issues, so things get pretty complicated.) I have learned from past mistakes, and rather than taking things to an extreme (because we all know what happens when you stretch a rubber band too far) or trying to "cheat" my way to better health, I am working on just 2 things:
1. Seriously reducing the amount of sugar I consume, and
2. Making smarter choices on a daily basis
Now, the first seems pretty self-explanatory, and to an extent it is, but wait - there's more! The first step was to get off the pop. You know, it's a very interesting thing. I have tried to give up pop multiple times in the past. You know you're addicted when you make up your mind to do something, and then you realize that your head's not running the show. But I have known for years that a gram of sugar is approximately 1/4 teaspoon. Doing the math, then, if a 12-oz can of Coke has 39 grams of sugar, that's almost 10 teaspoons of sugar. Over 3 tablespoons. Eeewww. And there have been times when I have had significantly more than one can a day. So clearly, the first step is to drop the pop, because that is absolutely the biggest offender in my life. I have also worked very hard to reduce sugar in other areas of my diet. I drink my coffee "au lait" (with hot milk), so I'm good there. Tea I drink with milk and sugar, but I'm reducing the amount of sugar I use. I'm down to 3/4 teaspoon per cup. I'm trying to substitute digestive biscuits for other sweets. I have been asked several times by well-meaning people (and out and out pushed by my mother) why I don't switch to Splenda, or other sugar-free products, in my attempt to reduce my sugar intake. Well, here's why: My goal is to lower my sweet tooth altogether. I don't want to substitute a non-caloric substitute, so I can eat as much gak as I want. I want to tame the sugar monster.
It is a process, to be sure. I was doing great until I started PMSing, and then things went kind of wonky. Now, of course, it's the wacky season, so I'm just trying to minimize as much as possible.
As far as making better choices on a daily basis goes, I've been so-so. It all stems from lunch. I don't generally eat breakfast during the week. If I get it together and pack a lunch to take to work, my day goes pretty smoothly. If I don't pack a lunch, the day turns into a free-for-all. With that in mind, and knowing that I was not going to need a lunch on Monday, Wednesday or Friday of this week (various Christmas-related events at work), I decided to do the unthinkable and (gasp!) buy some frozen entrees for lunch on Tuesday and Thursday. I don't generally buy them, because they are often not particularly healthy, and, quite frankly, not appealing to me at all. But I was in the frozen foods section, and I noticed that Kashi (makers of fine, kasha-based products) has a small line of frozen entrees. So I bought 2. I had one today: Lime Cilantro Shrimp. (The Clam will tell you that I loooove Lime and Cilantro - she had the sweet potatoes I made on Sunday.) It was pretty good, and fairly healthy (250 cals, 6 g fiber, 12 g protein. It was a little higher in fat than ideal: 8 g, and 2 g sat fat, but the sat fat is from coconut cream, not poly-mono-di-transilated whatever. Actually, the ingredients were almost all things I recognized.)
I go back and see the doc the week after Christmas, when we determine if my thyroid meds have been readjusted to the correct amount (they were off at my last blood test).
Hopefully my quest to reduce the amount of gak in my life will have borne fruit.
1. Seriously reducing the amount of sugar I consume, and
2. Making smarter choices on a daily basis
Now, the first seems pretty self-explanatory, and to an extent it is, but wait - there's more! The first step was to get off the pop. You know, it's a very interesting thing. I have tried to give up pop multiple times in the past. You know you're addicted when you make up your mind to do something, and then you realize that your head's not running the show. But I have known for years that a gram of sugar is approximately 1/4 teaspoon. Doing the math, then, if a 12-oz can of Coke has 39 grams of sugar, that's almost 10 teaspoons of sugar. Over 3 tablespoons. Eeewww. And there have been times when I have had significantly more than one can a day. So clearly, the first step is to drop the pop, because that is absolutely the biggest offender in my life. I have also worked very hard to reduce sugar in other areas of my diet. I drink my coffee "au lait" (with hot milk), so I'm good there. Tea I drink with milk and sugar, but I'm reducing the amount of sugar I use. I'm down to 3/4 teaspoon per cup. I'm trying to substitute digestive biscuits for other sweets. I have been asked several times by well-meaning people (and out and out pushed by my mother) why I don't switch to Splenda, or other sugar-free products, in my attempt to reduce my sugar intake. Well, here's why: My goal is to lower my sweet tooth altogether. I don't want to substitute a non-caloric substitute, so I can eat as much gak as I want. I want to tame the sugar monster.
It is a process, to be sure. I was doing great until I started PMSing, and then things went kind of wonky. Now, of course, it's the wacky season, so I'm just trying to minimize as much as possible.
As far as making better choices on a daily basis goes, I've been so-so. It all stems from lunch. I don't generally eat breakfast during the week. If I get it together and pack a lunch to take to work, my day goes pretty smoothly. If I don't pack a lunch, the day turns into a free-for-all. With that in mind, and knowing that I was not going to need a lunch on Monday, Wednesday or Friday of this week (various Christmas-related events at work), I decided to do the unthinkable and (gasp!) buy some frozen entrees for lunch on Tuesday and Thursday. I don't generally buy them, because they are often not particularly healthy, and, quite frankly, not appealing to me at all. But I was in the frozen foods section, and I noticed that Kashi (makers of fine, kasha-based products) has a small line of frozen entrees. So I bought 2. I had one today: Lime Cilantro Shrimp. (The Clam will tell you that I loooove Lime and Cilantro - she had the sweet potatoes I made on Sunday.) It was pretty good, and fairly healthy (250 cals, 6 g fiber, 12 g protein. It was a little higher in fat than ideal: 8 g, and 2 g sat fat, but the sat fat is from coconut cream, not poly-mono-di-transilated whatever. Actually, the ingredients were almost all things I recognized.)
I go back and see the doc the week after Christmas, when we determine if my thyroid meds have been readjusted to the correct amount (they were off at my last blood test).
Hopefully my quest to reduce the amount of gak in my life will have borne fruit.
posted by The Big Seester | 12:24 PM
1 Comments:
I for one say "Hurrah! Huzzah! You rock!"
:-)
But that's just me.
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