Food & Nutrition

Here is what I would say to her, or to anyone who is struggling with the “aftermath” of a personal “crash” . . .

Well at least you sound “realistic” … which is a GOOD thing!!!

Be aware of what/who “sucks your energy” in a day, and be sure to limit THAT interaction as much as possible!

You are the ONLY one who can ever take care of YOU!!!

Would you please do something for me?

Even if you do nothing else … will you please begin now to “chart” all of this?

Would you keep a record, or a diary, of intake and “output,” … and use it as another avenue to let off steam!?

This journal will not be for me to see … but for YOU and you alone! I only want to know the RESULTS of your doing this.

The only secret I can ever tell you, about “how” to journal … is to KEEP it absolutely PRIVATE!!! Guard it with your life, so that you can say ANYTHING you ever want/need to say!!!! Things you wouldn’t even tell your best friend!!!

For eventually, it’s your journal that will BECOME your “best friend” … and before you know it … the realization will hit you … that it is YOU who is your “best friend” after all!!!!

This can be MORE HELPFUL to you … than ANYTHING else you do in your “working of your plan!”

Trust me on this. Please. It is VERY important.

And one more thing: Before you finish out ANY day in your journal … be sure to ALSO write down 2 to 10 things for which you are grateful!

You may think I am talking extraneous stuff by including this … almost like me suggesting a “daily vitamin!”

But this is more than that.

I can’t make you DO this part, but I CAN tell you how important it is. Please give it a try, no matter WHAT you’re eating and doing and feeling!!!!! Don’t wait for the “good stuff” … write it ALL down … NOW!!!

Doctor’s orders?????

Maybe.

If that phrase and that thought will help you to make this part of things a commitment to yourself, then it is worth it. And know that I will never ever EVER ask to see your journal!!!! NO one should ever see it. It is your gift to you!!!

She responded to this VERY well:

Thanks Sandy,
That sounds like a really good idea.  I’ll hop over to Office depot today after work and get something to write in.
I’ll let you know how it goes.
Thanks again.

Now let’s give her some time to see if she treats this as SERIOUSLY as it deserves to be treated.

People so often brush this off as “fluff” . . . or as something that is the first to be brushed aside. But it can really make or break a person’s success in their ability to understand themselves and manifest that change they seek!

If you’re a reading dealing with anything similar to this, be sure that YOU take this seriously . . . and “just do it!”

In case you want a little help in trying to break away from flours and sugars, it might help to know that there IS a brand of “100% flourless” bread and cereal if you would like to give it a try.

The brand is called Ezekiel (bread or cereal), and it even comes in a couple of different “flavors.” 

You can buy it at some of the major grocery stores these days if they have a good health food section, but you can also try a health food store if you can’t find it there. You might call around first before you start driving around to too many places! 

I don’t know that you will initially like the TASTE of this Ezekiel brand of food because your body is probably more “familiar” with the soft and fluffy flour-made products. Ezekiel products WILL have a very different TEXTURE! But since you are hopefully looking for new and healthy foods to TRY … just treat this as you would any “new” food (vs. having it taste just like an “old” food) … and then try it again and again before you “decide” if you like it or not!!!!!!

Almost every morning, I thaw about a fourth cup of frozen whole blueberries and also about another fourth of a cup of frozen red raspberries in the microwave (for just 30 seconds).

Then I pour approximately one third to one half of a cup of ground flax seed meal over the thawed berries as may main cereal ingredient.

After that, I sprinkle maybe two tablespoons of Ezekiel cereal, and one or two tablespoons of ground up raw walnuts, stir it all up, and pour some hot water over it all!(I stopped using milk when I realized that my hands were too puffy at night to get my ring off very easily anymore. Boy has THIS been a wonderful new discovery about my body!!! I think my body was handling the milk just FINE when it was raw milk that I was able to buy. My source of this raw milk, however, went away.)

But back to the Ezekiel cereal, I truly LOVE this and even eat it when I need a “comfort food” fix!!!! I even MISS it when I have to travel. But when I DO travel, I try to eat a breakfast of eggs or one of oatmeal and berries.

Just NO sugar or flour!

But I probably would not have enjoyed any of this when I first began my journey to eat healthy. So be gentle with yourself. Know that this is probably something you’re going to have to work up to.

Don’t EVER “assume” ANYTHING about “your body,” because your body is a COMPLETELY “brand new body” almost every YEAR!!!

Your cells are being replaced constantly … not to mention even the hard-wiring of your brain gets changed too … so know that you really ARE capable of VERY great changes in your life if you wish.

You ARE ALREADY “different” from what you were just last week!!!!!

So keep making those changes, and know that it will only get easier to eat healthy if this is something that you really want to do!

This person was struggling. I heard it in her emailed “voice” immediately:

Sandy,
I wish I could report better news.
The crash did me in.  Not completely, I guess, but pretty badly.  Lasted the rest of the week.  I tried to eat well, but we all know that eating well takes preparation and preparation is not easy to do when all you want to do is sleep.   I was back to working and being lucky if I had an idea about dinner.  Therefore dinners weren’t the greatest in the world.   I kept breakfast and lunch pretty good though.
I was sick on Monday, and Tuesday started out well, but events conspired to wipe out my evening.  We ate out again.   No place good.  please don’t ask.   haha
Somewhere in my head, I realize that it is a never ending circle that I will have to pull myself out of.   I finally got my room cleaned out and I actually worked out Sunday.  I’ve been pretty sore, but I’m hoping to get in there again tonight.
I know this is a ‘pick yourself up by the boot straps’ situation.  And I’m hoping I’m able to with a little help from a workout or two.   I’m hoping that will help.

As for Blueberries, I LOVE them.  It is raspberries that are too tart for me in their natural state.    Yesterday for lunch, I had about a cup of fresh blueberries and strawberries that I was able to get from the salad bar.  Actually yesterday’s lunch was pretty good.  I had sushi, a salad and fruit.  It was dinner that was bad.
Today’s food won’t be as great.  Soup and sandwich, sorry.  Whole wheat bread today and peanut butter.   But I will check into that Ezekiel stuff.    I gotta wonder what the cereal is like.    If today goes better than yesterday, I will be fixing dinner tonight and I will be prepping for tomorrow’s lunch.  Keep your fingers crossed.

Now what would YOU say to her??? You can always check my next posting to see what I said!

I know that there is no way of knowing for sure without re-enacting the “experiment” again with some of the same foods … one at a time … and I assume you don’t want to do THAT! Hahahaha

But I can be PRETTY sure that your body’s reaction had quite a LOT to do with the white potatoes!

I know that you must feel discouraged and sorry about last night, but I wouldn’t at ALL if I were you!!! This was able to give you a WONDERFUL “taste” of what foods can do for you!!!

I think I said this to you before … but your foods ARE your medicine!!! Don’t ever forget that!!!!!

And DEFINITELY don’t beat yourself up with any kind of “guilty conscious!” You are still in learning mode!!! You are going to make mistakes. And the ability to “forgive” yourself with nothing BUT open arms is ALWAYS going to play a very important role in your ability to be successful through this!!!!!!

Now back to the foods themselves, you should also go and look on the list of ingredients for all those seasoning packets. It is a VERY high probability that they had sugar or high fructose, or something like that in them! I’d even suspect that you’d better look on the yogurt container too. You’re going to have to be ruthless about looking at ingredients of ANY “packaged” food from now on!!!

The reason that the sweet potatoes did not “crisp up” as much as the white ones, is in the tale of the food itself. This is a food that is by nature a little “slower” to digest than white potatoes, and therefore the sweet potatoes are normally better for your body.

If you had baked those sweet potato chips longer, they would eventually crisp up to your satisfaction (you’d probably really like them). But then again you might get it to the point where you would be eating a relatively “high processed” food because you then baked it so long!

So a few last thoughts …

You were NOT “bad” last night in ANY WAY!!! In fact, the way I see it, you planned it very well … and it’s just that you are new to these recipes. And no, I don’t think that the one crouton did anything to you.

But I AM actually quite impressed at how wonderfully attentive your body has ALREADY become … to its needs!!!!

Your body is telling you loud and clear what it is NOT looking for!

Now it’s up to you to help your body receive all that it IS looking for!!!

Just continue on this learning quest … it’s really quite amazing!!!!

Always,

Sandy

Sandy,

I have a confession.  I think I ate something that made me crash last night.  Not sure what though.  Wanted to run the evening food by you to see if you could pinpoint what could have caused my problem.

I ate well all day yesterday. steel cut oats,  an apple, salad, yogurt, banana.  then last night I made chicken tenders, baked sweet potato chips and baked regular potato chips (my family hate sweet potatoes), salad, cucumber strips and tomatoes.  I had three types of dip.  greek yogurt w/ ranch seasoning packet and lime.  greek yogurt w/ fiesta ranch seasoning packet w/ lime. And avacado w/garlic and lime.  Yumm   all of them. 

Now, I admit, the sweet potato chips did not crisp up, so they were not very apitizing.  I ate a few of them, but I ate more regular potato chips than sweet potato chips.  I ate a bit of each of the dips.  and I ate One measly crouton from the group of croutons I put on my husbands salad.  I did not eat a Large quantity of any of it, but I was satisfied when I got done.

My husband and I had to leave the house and run 4 different errands.  I crashed so hard, I could barely walk.  My husband kept having to wait on me.   I haven’t been slammed that hard since I started the antidepressents.   I didn’t think about it at all last night, but this morning I started to wonder if what I ate had anything to do with it.

I wouldn’t think that i have been eating well enough for my body to react so drastically to something I could have eaten last week.  You know what I mean?  I dont’ know.   Maybe it was a guilty concsious.   Got any ideas?

Sorry I’ve was bad so soon out of the gate. 

Thanks for being my sounding board.

Glad that I can still be of some “mystery” to your day!!! Hahahaha

You can buy “regular” Cod Liver Oil almost ANYWHERE these days … Walgreens, Walmart, grocery stores, etc., and of course, the health food stores too.

But the health food stores WILL be the places that are more inclined to carry what I call the “good stuff” when it comes to eliminating that mercury content. You CAN find Carlson at MANY locations though!!!! So just keep on the lookout … AFTER you buy your first bottle SOON!!!!!

All I can tell you about CHOOSING one though, is to do your best at “reading between the lines” on a label. That is all I too know about how to manage quality control! Otherwise, hop on the phone and call around rather than drive around and use up all that precious petroleum in your car.

The bottle you buy will tell you how much to take. I definitely prefer capsules to liquid (which you can still buy). Even the capsules can come in various sizes.

If I take my dosage BEFORE my meal, then I don’t have that fishy aftertaste in my mouth. But it’s not that objectionable even if I forget.

You might be interested in knowing that I personally try to take about twice the dosage because it is one of the ways a woman can help herself to more naturally deal with the symptoms of menopause (in order to get the high dosages of Vitamin A in cod liver oil too).

You can take the minimum recommended dosage if you wish. But through the winter, as I hinted at before, you can easily take double that recommended dose and it will not be a problem. (Now if we lived in the Bahamas and had a job spending our day out on a surfboard, then we wouldn’t even be having a need for ANY of these capsules!!!!)

I LIKE your adventuresome nature with foods. Just experiment again with the lemon juice for your salad … but do include the OILS TOO on SOME of your food selections … whenever you can!!!! Because the right oils will be soooo helpful in your ability to lose weight!!!!

And heavens, DON’T measure anything by weighing it. Only eyeball it for good measure. You’re doing well just by staying AWARE of what you’re eating!!!!!

Your coffee intake sounds about perfect!!!!

If you DO try raw cashews again (which I do hope you will do), put them ON your salad or chicken dish or something, and you might like them better than just eating them plain. But this is also a great opportunity to experiment with roasting them yourself! Just put a few on a cookie sheet in the oven (225 degrees, maybe more????) for a few minutes, sprinkle them with olive oil and salt afterwards, and … what a luxurious treat they will be!!!!

I’m actually GLAD to hear that you will partake in the celebratory food efforts of the holidays. Do yourself a favor and DON’T try to “prepare” for them by starving yourself before you go. In fact, do the opposite. Eat a normal, healthy amount all the way up to the event. You will still hopefully want to sample things … and you will still likely leave there quite stuffed … but trust me … you would eat MUCH more if you walk into these events feeling “starved!”

I too love the warm drinks, in the wintertime especially. So I often sip pure, warm, water typically used for tea … all by itself … for a wonderfully “comfy” feeling that keeps me contented. Oh, I sometimes throw a teabag in there … any of the many … or just simple peppermint perhaps, with a pinch of fresh cloves.

Now you’ve done it to me again!! I just turned my teapot on!!!!

Hope your days are productive with all this “new energy” you might begin to see. Even if you initially start out with a bit of natural “detoxing” that your body might give you as you up your vegetables and therefore, fiber content … I have a feeling that you are going to be feeling quite good by it all.

And with your level of experimenting … be SURE to look up some of those whole dark rice grains, whole barley and oats, and perhaps even beans you can cook with through the winter. Make soups. They are a delightful mix of all kinds of FRESH goodies. Slow cook those BONES of ANY kind when you make soup. This helps you to receive a wonderful dosage of extra calcium that your body also needs. And with soups’ high water content, they are a GREAT way to help you feel full and lose weight!!!!

ALL of this is just helping the “AUTHENTIC YOU” to emerge!!!!

Sandy,

You always throw in a zinger right near the end that I absolutely can’t go without asking about.  haha
Cod liver oil.  What where and how much?   I see the brand.  that is cool.  But where do YOU find it, and how much and how am I suppose to take that?  does it come in a pill?  Or am I taking a teaspoon full a day?

Ok, now to address some of your questions.   Salads.  I never use salad dressing.  Haven’t for a couple years, BUT I have squeezed a lemon over it.  Used pepper, and have made my own, once.  It was so good.  I don’t remember what was in it.   That happens a lot.   I cook well, but don’t write anything down.   then forget it.  So I’m always making up new stuff.
heehee

Serving sizes.  I only ate half of a chicken breast that had no skin or bones.  I need to weigh these things but I forgot last night.   Rice was only a half cups worth.  Salad was at least a cups worth of greens.  and it was probably near a cup of broccoli and cauliflower.

I drink a lot of water.  I always have something to drink beside me.  I do start out my day with coffee though.  I allow myself one caffinated cup and anything else I drink is decaf.  I dont’ know if that is bad or good, but I like the warm liquid in the morning.  I also make my coffee very week.  I will fill my cup with hot water and then the rest with regular coffee.   The decaf, I make myself at half strength.  Oh and I never put anything in my coffee.  It is black.

My almonds are raw, but the cashews are dry roasted so those are more processed.  I won’t eat too many of them.   I will try to find some raw walnuts.  I haven’t tried those.  I’ve tried raw cashews and really didn’t appreciate them.  I might try again.

I know I’m going to have issues this month with eating properly everyday.   I have at least 4 christmas events and I’m not one of those people who goes to a christmas party and doesn’t eat what they have to offer.   But I will keep the bad stuff to a minimum and adhere strictly to my good eating the rest of the time.  Hopefully I will come out of December without having gained any weight.  I’d love it if I could loose some, but as it is, I only need to loose 10 lbs to be a very healthy weight.  I think I won’t have a problem getting there after the holidays are over.
My blood tests don’t happen until April so I should see some significant changes by then.

THANK YOU!!!!

I tried to think about this for awhile before responding too quickly. But here is what I ended up telling her in answer to her questions …

I’m glad to hear that you are planning your process and processing your plan. I want you to keep it “fun” though, or you won’t be able to stick to this. So let’s see what we can do on ideas…

First of all … I would NOT try to eat ALL your salads without dressing. The problem with dressings you can buy off the shelf, however, are all the subtle sugars that exist in them. So when you’re able and wish to do so, experiment with plain ol’ vinegar and oil! Use some of the nature’s wonderful vinegars out there … and healthy, tasty, olive oil! Spice it up a bit with just a few herbs or other seasonings, and wha-la … you have a dressing that actually surpasses ANY out there on the shelf!!!!

Now what I can’t tell in your descriptions, of course, is the serving size. Just keep in mind that the size of your fist is your stomach, and eat many more greens than any other “color” item on your plate!

I think you’re just going to have to experiment with the high glycemic foods like the nectar, sugars, and flours. You’ll have to document how your body FEELS after eating them, as well as how able you are to control your intake to the healthy stuff on the day FOLLOWING your use of them. They were ALWAYS MEANT to be treats instead of trends, so if you can have that PB sandwich occasionally, I am all for it!!! I do the same thing … but I eat only a half, using very high fiber bread, and it doesn’t seem to be any problem for me at all!!!

The nuts are a great snack, but do pay attention to which nuts are NOT processed vs which ones are. Typically cashews are roasted, although you CAN buy them raw. The typical raw ones that are EASIEST to find are the almonds, pecans, and walnuts. The BEST ones for you are going to be the raw ones … or ones that you START with raw and “roast” right there in your own oven!

So just remember … DON’T worry about the “fat” in foods. Your yogurt does NOT have to be low fat if it is FRESH and PLAIN with your own fruits and nuts added to it. WHEN a food is higher in fat, it will take VERY little of it to completely satisfy you!!!! Eat just a few bites, have some water, and save the rest for ANOTHER snack later!!!!

Which brings me to another point … you don’t mention what you are drinking? You need LOTS and LOTS of water and that’s ALL you need. But just know that if you are drinking ANYTHING else, you must treat it as a food!

Your evening meal sounds quite yummy tonight. Can I come??? Hahahha

The avocado dip sounds great too … as long as you intend to use only fresh cut raw veggies to dip INTO it!!!!!

The thick baked sweet potato chips sound great too! Just use a little butter as your oil … or nothing at all … until you get the OUT of the oven to pour some of that olive oil and seasonings over the top!!!!

Hey, I am getting hungry thinking about all this food … it must be my lunch time!!! Be sure to keep doing what you’re doing … eat something every three hours, drink lots of water all day long, and write it all down so that you can “notice” what every food does to you. The best part is that you will learn that your body has been “reacting” to all these foods all along … it’s just that you likely didn’t know that a simple thing like FOOD could make such a difference!!!

BTW, if I were you, I would probably do my best to stay away from “the flours, sugars, etc” until AFTER my next blood work was tested. That way you will have a fair impression of what you can do with food alone. Otherwise, if you are “cheating” or trying to “mix things up” too quickly, you will always be left wondering … if it turns out you get the numbers down, but not down as low as they would like.

And know that your RATIOS of HDL and LDLs are what’s important. The more you take in those HEALTHIER oils, the better that RATIO is going to be!!!!

That means … cage free eggs, olive oils, and even walnuts are good. There are lists out there for all the foods that house those healthy omega 3’s that you’re striving for right now.

Oh, and I hope you’re taking cod liver oil!!! It’s winter time, and it’s virtually impossible to get enough sunshine and other healthy goodies that you will get from the cod liver oil. But get good quality cod liver oil too. Carlson’s is one well known brand, but there are others too. You want this to be mercury free, as you mentioned before.

Keep it up girl!!! You are doing GREAT! Keep in touch with me about this, as your feedback is also helping MANY others on this blog!!!!

And if any readers have some other ideas for her, please chime right in. Feel free to respond to her with some suggestions of your own!