Today's food list:  one slice whole grain bread (made into cinnamon toast), small popcorn at the movie (Shutter Island - great movie, but makes you wonder if YOU are insane by the end!), Red Lobster: one biscuit, caesar salad, about 1/3 of my tilapia with lobster on top, about 3/4 baked potato, about 1/4 cup broccoli

I can tell I haven't eaten as many fruits and veggies today as usual.  I ran out of my grape stash!  This week has the potential to be busy and very stressful.  I need to make wise choices in light of that kind of week. 

Oh, and one more thing.  I keep getting people telling me that they are reading, but alas, you aren't commenting!  I'd love to hear your thoughts and I'd love to even just know you are reading - that provides accountability for me!! 

Today's food list:  (Keeping in mind that I had a migraine earlier in the day, significantly affecting my appetite) About 25 grapes, one small hamburger on whole wheat bun, about 12 potato chips, one banana with peanut butter

My grocery cart looks very different these days!  One of the things that I am changing is the type of oils that we use.  I am eliminating the yellow seed oils (corn, canola, etc.)  Seems most things can use either olive oil or coconut oil (for baking).  I haven't tried the coconut oil yet, I'll have to do that and share my results.  Anybody out there tried it?

Short and Sweet

Today's food list:  1 piece cinnamon whole wheat toast, fish sandwich, about 25 grapes, 2 Bible Bread crackers, turkey sandwich with veggies on whole wheat oat bread, about 3 slices zucchini bread (certainly didn't need that much!)

I'm tired, so off to bed without commentary!

Today's food list:  2 pieces of banana bread toasted, 1/2 small fries, cheeseburger, a bunch of grapes, 1/2 sourdough pretzel, 2 1/2 manicotti with ratatoullie sauce

Hubby is out of town, so I made something for dinner that I knows he doesn't like, but that I was craving!  It was so, so good!!

I lost another 1.5 lbs this week, for a total of 7.5. 

Edible Foodlike Substances

Today's food list: one piece of banana bread, spinach salad, banana, pasta with sauce, fruit salad with organic yogurt, one "cookie straw"

One of Michael Pollan's "rules" is to avoid food you see advertised on T.V. because only the big food companies have enough money to advertise and almost all of the food the big food companies make is processed out the wazoo.  Did you know that FOUR companies control 80% of our food supply.  What they produce is engineered food, that won't spoil.  And you can't pronounce most of those ingredients.   Try finding a processed food without some corn or soy component either.  The movie "Food, Inc." reveals that the bad calories are cheaper because they are heavily subsidized by the government.  Therefore, the biggest predictor of obesity is income level.  But as Pollan says, "pay the grocer now or the doctor later".

How did I do today eating food, as opposed to "edible foodlike substances"?  The cookie and the pasta sauce were not food.  But it is certainly better than a month ago!

Planning Ahead

Today's food lists:  1 piece of whole wheat cinnamon toast, 1//3 of 1/2 california chicken wedge, 1 banana, spinach salad with grilled chicken bacon, hardboiled egg, water chestnuts, tomatoes, mushrooms, red onion and dressing, 1 piece of banana bread (made with healthy recipe -- not the usual one that is very high octane)

I went to the grocery store today and shopped the edges!  I've done that a lot recently - trying to use as little processed food as I can.  However, sometimes, it's hard to avoid it.  Hubby is going to be traveling quite a bit over the next several months, usually that can be a trigger for me to just eat junk.  But I am going to have to make decisions to eat real, whole foods, even with him gone a lot.  I did grill a bunch of extra chicken tonight that I sliced, put in "snack bags" in 3 oz portions, and popped in the freezer.  I have a big container of spinach still in the fridge and made extra of the yummy homemade dressing. 

Today's food list:  2 pieces whole wheat cinnamon toast, large salad with cheese, croutons, ranch dressing, 1/3 of 1/2 california chicken wedge, about 10 fries, 1 bag of reece pieces, 1 sourdough pretzel.

So, do you think Reece Pieces are actually food?  I think not.  Hubby and I went to the Gingerbread Man tonight and it was SO LOUD!!!!!!!!!  Full of drunk PSU students.  And it was appalling that they continued to serve those drunk PSU students.  The food was good.  We ordered a piece of cheesecake to go and I was planning on eating it later, but he gave it to Tucker instead.  Probably a good thing.  We also went to see the movie, Brothers.  A bit traumatic.

Treadmill, here I come...

I have to get back to using the treadmill.  I was using it so consistently until I injured my back several weeks ago.  But the back is almost to 100% so I have no more excuses.  Feel free to hold me accountable!  Besides hopefully helping me burn a couple calories, I really need to exercise for my heart and my bones.  Unfortunately my mom gave me a heritage of heart disease and osteoporosis.  The good news is that so far, I have never had any high blood pressure or high cholesterol.  Let's keep it that way! 

Today's food lists: 1/2 grapefruit, 1/2 bagel with cream cheese, fish sandwich with lettuce, salad with mixed baby greens, corn, black beans, corn, grilled chicken, dressing, about 8 grape tomatoes

Favorite Blogs

Several years ago I googled the name of someone well known and stumbled into their blog, which I began to read.  That blog introduced me to another blog, which introduced me to another blog, which introduced me to another blog, which... you get the point!  I have now added the names of my current favorites.  Most of these I check daily.  Some of them are poignant, some of them are funny and some are fantastic writers.  Which I am not.  Hope you enjoy!

Here is my food list for today:
1/2 plain bagel with cream cheese, 6"italian sub with veggies and light mayo, about 1/3 cup dip and special k crackers, 3 oz lemon chicken, 1 TB rice, green beans, 1" spelt bread, about 8 grape tomatoes

I didn't really need the dip and crackers when I got home from work.  I wasn't really hungry.  For food anyway.  Maybe for comfort, though.  I had a hard day at work.  My new job isn't really turning out to be a good fit.  I should have had an apple instead.  Felt a little better after debriefing with hubby after dinner.

Grace and I went to Giant this afternoon and I bought tomatoes, bell peppers, poblano peppers, eggplant, onions, zucchini, spinach, asparagus, and cilantro.  Real food that God made.

Mostly Plants

So, evidently I am supposed to eat mostly plants.  Doesn't sugar come from the sugar cane plant?  Now I feel much better!  Pollan shares a great Chinese Proverb: "Eating what stands on one leg (plant foods) is better than eating what stands on two legs (fowl), which is better than eating what stands on four legs (cows, pigs, etc.)'  And another one from both Jewish and Italian grandmothers:  "The whiter the bread, the sooner you'll be dead."  I have been looking for whole grains more.  I bought some whole grain buns that I thought were really good.  Grace didn't buy it.  I also made homemade chicken noodle soup last week with 1/2 regular noodles and 1/2 whole wheat noodles, since I was afraid of a family uprising if I just did it with all whole wheat noodles.  But you know what?  You couldn't tell the difference at all!  I bought a  bunch of little grape tomatoes at Sam's Club (and some fish!) and have them on the counter so I will just grab a few when I walk by.  But oh, I sure wish those little conversation hearts were as healthy and that I could have a bowl of them instead!

Here is today's food list:
3/4 cup raisin bran crunch cereal, 2 cups chicken noodle soup, about 10 pretzel nubs, about 25 grape tomatoes, 1/2 cup broccoli, 1/2 cup rice, 3 oz chicken with sauce, 2 small apples, 1/2 grapefruit

Not Too Much

Michael Pollan's second big rule is "not too much" as in eat food, but not too much.  In other words, eat when you are hungry and stop when you aren't hungry any more, as opposed to "full".  This isn't new to me.  As I mentioned before, I lost 45 lbs eating whatever I wanted (and I mean whatever - chips, cheesecake, etc.) I am really trying to do that now.  And I naturally eat slow since my gastric bypass, I really don't have a choice, I will pay for it if I eat too quickly.

So far I have lost about 6 lbs.

The Cat's Meow

'm trying to type with a cat in my lap with his paws on the keyboard AND he is biting me.  Harder each time when I ignore him.  He likes to watch the cursor.  It is really hard to find the keys with someones else's paws on the keyboard!  I'm doing remarkavly well.  

Here is today's food: 

3/4 cup raisin branch crunch wiht flax seed. 

small fries 

Mcdouble

1 cup pastat wiht sauce (ouch, biting hurts, buddy)

2 cups salad with avacado and balsamic vinagrette

2 pretzel rods

1/4 cup quacamole with aovut 15 crackers

"Food Rules"

I recently read Michael Pollan's book "Food Rules" after watching him on Oprah.  Oprah also showed clips from the documentary "Food, Inc." that day which was quite eye-opening.  I guess you could say that maybe my head is coming out of the sand.  It is amazing to think of all the crap that I have put into my body over the years. But boy, some of that crap sure is yummy!


Anyway, here are Pollan's three rules.


1.  Eat Food


2.  Not too much


3.  Mostly plants


It doesn't get much more"d'oh" than that.


I titled this blog "Eat Food" since that is what I am going to do.  I am changing my eating habits so that I actually eat food, as opposed to chemicals.  That will also mean I have to do some more cooking.  Pollan says to eat only things your grandmother would recognize and that a third grader could pronounce.  Even the Wheatables (they have wheat - they have to be healthy, right?) on my counter contain TBHQ, sodium acid pyrophosphate, monocalcium phosphate, sodium sulfite, soy lecithin, and high fructose corn syrup.  High fructose corn syrup isn't a food, either.  Sigh.  So, I guess I need to avoid that, as well as items that have sugar in one of the top three ingredients and things that have more than five ingredients.  He also says to avoid artificial sweeteners.  Because they aren't food.  However, that rule will have to be one I try to lean into a bit, but I just can't give up my diet coke or my splenda decaf iced tea just yet.  And one of his rules that really makes sense to me, is to shop the edges of the grocery store rather than the middle, for that is where much of the processed crap lives.

Against my better judgement, I am going to start posting what I ate every day.  Perhaps that will make me think twice about whether I want to put something in my mouth or not.

So, here goes:
2/8/10
3/4 cup raisin bran crunch, 1/3 cup skim milk, 1 tsp flax seed
about 15 chunks of raw veggies with blue cheese dressing
1 pretzel rod
1 cookie "straw"
one medium bowl of homemade chicken noodle soup with 8 saltine crackers
2 cups grape tomatoes
2 oz mahi mahi
3/4 cup broccoli
1 potato skin with cheese, bacon and sour cream
12 pretzel "nibs"

After spending probably in excess of 1000(!) hours READNG blogs over the past several years, I am finally jumping in! I'll list my favorite blogs someday - I've found some fantastic ones!

Here is the backstory to this beginning. I was thin throughout my early childhood. When I was in third grade, I became quite ill and was hospitalized. As part of my recovery, the doctor recommended that my mom send me to school with a snack to be eaten mid-morning. However, snacks weren't part of Mrs. Fleming's classroom routine and I was sent next door to an empty classroom to eat my two cookies and drink my cherry kool aid in seclusion. I felt embarrassed to have to go over there and ate as quickly as I could, fearing someone would walk in on me and demand to know what this kid was doing skipping class for a cookie break! Somehow, I walked away from all that with a tendency to hide my eating.

Most of us hated Junior High School (now called Middle School - why does my daughter LOVE it?!) and I was as insecure about everything in my life as everyone else was. By eighth grade, my pants began to get a bit tight and as mom and I shopped for new pants at McAlpins, I vividly remember the shame of my new pant's size. I may have been imagining it, but I felt like my mom was as ashamed of them (or me) as I was.

My weight continued a slow march upward and then I'd find a crash diet to try and gain control. My weight became my biggest struggle. I yo-yo'd with the best of them. I felt enormous, but as I look back on pictures from childhood through college, I was a very normal size in reality.

While in my twenties, I stumbled onto Geneen Roth's book, "When Food is Love" and the light bulb went on as to some of the reasons why I overate. I realized that the issues were way deeper than I had known and that my eating was a sign of some internal baggage. I was addicted to food. After getting married and having a child after thirty, my weight began edging up even higher. Now, I wasn't a normal size in reality at all. Mom passed away during this time and I wonder if I overate to prove to myself that she wasn't "the boss of me" anymore. Now I could eat without fear of her disapproval. I also found the Weigh Down Workshop in my thirties. While I would no longer recommend the program due to the founder's quite unorthodox views on some quite obvious biblical truths, I did begin to see how God could bring healing and obedience into this area of my life. Since becoming a Jesus follower as a senior in high school, He was the One I wanted to please in all areas of my life, including this one. The program teaches you how to only eat when you are hungry and to stop when you are full. Novel concept! In other words, just eat like skinny people do all the time. I lost 45 lbs on Weigh Down and then promptly gained them all back.

By my forties, I was at my all-time high and feeling quite hopeless in getting my weight under control and turned to Gastric Bypass Surgery in March of 2005. (That may be another post for another day!) Within nine months I had lost 115 pounds and felt great!

And now, in February of 2010, I have gained back 50 of those pounds. It has to stop now. I've come too far to go back to square one.

Which brings me to this blog. It will serve as a place to journal my thoughts on becoming healthy and eating well. (Though I don't promise not to write about just life in general!) And, just as importantly, it will create accountability as people know what I am doing. So, let the fun begin!