Body Wise - a healthier you

[barbieq25]

As noted in the Rants thread, I thought I'd start a new thread just for keeping healthy tips.

So far we have shared some great ideas on the subject. While the idea is to lose weight, it is the excess fat that we really need to lose. & to build stronger bodies.

A sensible eating plan - how many times have we heard this?! I just ate 2 chocolate marshmallow covered biscuits for breakfast.

So like Helen mentioned, if we cut out the sweets, you will think you have been deprived. Eat what you like but make sure you have less of it.

When I stopped smoking, I went through hell. Nightmares, elephant sized heartburn, bleeding nose, gums, insomnia just to mention a few...BUT what I kept telling myself was that I am doing this because I want to gain something. Sure I grieved for the smoking but I also ticked off the days on a calendar. I had an idea of what I could expect over the next few weeks. Smell returning to normal.

I could SMELL the petunias & the mini roses! I could smell the perfume of the body lotion on the sheets. I get a lot more work done now. Probably gained an hour each day - unbelievable!

I can now decide when I go shopping, not because a blasted little cigarette that cannot think, dictates that it needs more of its mates. I can now spend so much more on plants & garden stuff. Been eyeing off some wooden barrels $45 - stupid how we think we cannot afford that but we will pay $25 for a pack of smokes.

So, I focused not on quitting with the idea that I was losing something but more that I was gaining something.

The weight loss (re-modelling, I think is a better word) will need to be approached in the same manner. Ever noticed how many food ads there are??

Firstly, I will get rid of all the temptations in the house. I didn't leave a pack of cigarettes or my lighter lying around.

Secondly, go shopping & buy only those things that will contribute to a healthy body. (Do you want to eat that or have feet that don't hurt? - I'll be asking myself.)

Thirdly, rewards. K-Mart has jeans for $10...lose 1kg & I can buy a pair.

Fourthly, chart the progress...

Interestingly, low joule or artificially sweetened food or drinks can make you gain weight. The body knows it has been tricked & craves sweets even more & finds ways of filling the sweets cells. (Ok not very technically correct terms but I forget the correct explanation but that is it in a nutshell.)

[Helen]

Oh, wow, barbie. That was so much fun to read. That's true. You can't have anything in the house that will make you want to go back to it. If you're cutting on the sweets, don't buy a lot of it so you won't be tempted by them.

In my family it's like this. We don't have strict hours for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. When we wake up we eat what we desire. Let it be a freshly roasted pork rib in the morning as long as that's what we want and we're not overeating.

[lancemcknight]

Barbie, I advise against anything artificial sweet. My wife and I have been cutting down on adding sugar to our stuff. The best sugar substitute is either Sugar in the Raw or Stevia. Both are excellent and all natural as they are plant extracted. For soda substitute, we are drinking seltzer water (which is basically carbonated water without all the sugary additives, and has natural flavor or plain flavor).

We are trying our hardest to cut back on eating processed food, and trying to eat whole food. It's so tough to find good quality food for the price.

[barbieq25]

That is right, Lance. Artificial sweetener will kill ants in case you run out of antkill. ;D

Besides coffee (unsweetened but with milk) & water I drink little else. Fizzy water is very nice in the summertime & so guilt free

Raw sugar is a little bit better as is honey but still sugar laden. Stevia is an amazing plant. I will get myself another one as soon as I see one. 30% sweeter than sugar. Even one bite of a leaf, just a bite mind you, feels like you've eaten a lolly.

It is hard to find foods that have not been heavily processed that don't have a gourmet food price tag.

For me, I have to train my body to like sweets less. I've done it before. Hubby likes to reward me with chocolate, so it will be a matter of re-training him too. ;D

The other thing I found very refreshing is to put a couple of drops of peppermint essence in my water bottle. Peppermint is good for uplifting the spirits too.

Lance when you say soda, we have soda water which is the same as your seltzer water. Had me confused at first.

I think you make a good point - we do it gradually & substitute with better choices.

[TheBad1]

All very good words above.

I'm on the Weight-Watchers re-modelling plan ;D
Eat what you want, but everything is pointed ... you're allowed so many points a day depending on weight, gender and how active you are.

I never knew that about sweeteners ... but did know that some are carciogenic.

We've stopped buying processed meats. For a £ or 2 more you can buy a chicken and get double the amounts of meat from it.
We also don't buy processed bread from supermarkets after my doctor explained how they bump up yeast to ten times the amount for quick batch turnover. Plus all the other additives. So we use a small local bakery. It's a few pence more but worth it for the taste (proper crust) and the texture. No claggy bread that sticks to your mouth ... and no stomach bloating

My only sins lately are welsh salted butter - I can't stand spreads that claim to taste just like butter. The texture and taste are nothing like it
And pork sausages from my local butcher. They're divine. No fat whatsoever. You've got to qive them a quick squirt of frylight.

We get all our other meats from him too. All organic and you can taste/ smell the difference. A bit pricier but I've sold my son to him - as in he's my son's football manager in the 1st team - so I always get a bit extra for my money ;D

I've never been a chocolate/ sweet fan but lately that's changing so I have a bowl of fruit salad with OJ to take away the craving - minus banana.

Here's a weird thing about the body - I used to love bananas but just one mouthful now and I get an allergic reaction.

[barbieq25]

Well today I have been pretty good I must say.

Welshy, I love pork sausages too. The rest can stay where they are. I don't use butter or marg but I can well imagine that the claims some make are just not true.

I didn't know that about bread! I hardly ever eat it but I do like the Helga's Pumpkin Seed one. Fruit salad - yum! You cut it up & I'd eat it all day long. Very nice with a bit of yogurt too.

When I was young, one of the older female workers said that she can no longer eat bananas & that is was something to do with age. Course, I scoffed. Sigh, she was right...gives me a fair amount of pain unless they are slightly green. Avocadoes, are so yummy but almost kill me. Might have something to do with not having a gall bladder?

Your butcher sounds wonderful Welshy. I'd rather eat a little less & eat quality when it comes to meat.

[TheBad1]

One of the tablets I take is for my gall bladder - producing too much bile when it gets inflamed.
I'm not a big believer in parallel universes but I'm beginning to think me and you have got one going on ;D

When I was doing research after I was first diagnosed I noticed that one woman after losing her gallbladder had wrote that eating bananas caused her extreme pain. Sometimes lasting upto a week. She described it as 10 times worse than period pains

I'm starting to get more conscious not just about food but also cleaning products. Wherever possible we try and substitute brand names for homemade concoctions of white vinegar/ bicarb/ lemon

Is it coincidence that allergies and asthma are up ? Or my paranoid head

[Helen]

My mom had her gallbladder removed several years ago. If the food's isn't fresh, it sets my mom purging for quite some time. I think she can eat bananas, though. As long as they're not overripe.

I did notice that allergies and asthma is up. I think it's all from processed foods. I go to the store and there is no real honey, no real milk, no real meat, etc. I think that most of this affects our bodies.

[TheBad1]

All this Gall Bladder removal talk is beginning to scare me. Just my luck that my feminine side is manifesting itself in a problem men very rarely suffer from ;D

I suppose I take for granted living in the countryside.
Small things like knowing people who have chickens so I can buy organic free-range eggs.

Knowing that any meat we get from the butcher lived between 3 and 45 miles away from my wife's cooker
Fresh drinking water is only a visit to my wife's uncle and the bottom of his garden

Walks along beaches are 15 miles West or 13 miles North
Walks across fields and mountains even nearer.

Damn I'm lucky.
But also stupid. Why did I pollute my body for years with all sort of social and recreational crap ?
(That's rhetorical BTW)

I'm 44. Taking a handful of pills a day. Nowhere as mobile as I used to be
In fact my doctor told me that if he was a vet he'd have put me down years ago ;D
He's a good guy really.

Is there a reason for my rant ? Yep. Don't listen to me on health issues ;D

[blackpenny]

It's hard to find a good 'local' baker and butcher etc in the big city. I know of some, but they're out of the way to get to. There are farmer's markets though, and they're pretty good.

I'd like to not have to think about what I'm eating. I need something like People Chow - put all the nutrients I need into a candy or cookie, tell me how much to eat every day, and I'd be happy.

[barbieq25]

Welshy, aside from the avocadoes, all else is good since the gall bladder op. Sure better than putting up with the extreme pain.

Man, you are lucky in that respect. When we are young we think we are made of stainless steel. I remember that.

BP, me too...I'd eat the same thing day after day but do like sweets & fruit. Strawberries now have flowers on them. Woohoo!

[lancemcknight]

Welshy, loved what you were saying, just love your humor in everything.

I totally love butter (just made of cream and salt, and nothing else). Barbieq, my wife made bread one day, and I swore I would never buy bread again. It was that good.

[Helen]

I swear, homemade food is much healthier (or much more healthful however you say it). Since we have a large family I make six loaves of bread every three days sometimes two. People who visited us always asked where we got our bread from.

At home you can control how much salt you put in your food, how much fat, etc.

[barbieq25]

Odd you know about bread. I used to make my own & yes it is so good. I even eat the crust on homemade. I really should get back into it. Maybe get the ingredients when I go shopping.

[blackpenny]

I made my own bread for a while, too. I have a friend who makes her own bread with a bread machine. It is so good, I'm tempted to buy one of those machines.

[lancemcknight]

Get a bread machine and you won't be sorry you did. My wife bought her bread machine from a yard sale, and she hadn't regretted it since. It was actually valued over $100, but she got it for 3/4 of that price. She knows how to shop...

[blackpenny]

I'll send my husband out to garage sales - he knows how to find deals. He got a rice cooker for $5, and it sells for about $70. I love it, and not just for rice. I cook oatmeal in it, and add pumpkin and sunflower seeds, and dried fruit - yummy!

[Helen]

I'm not sure if this is such a great thread to read when you're hungry...

@bp: I never knew that you could also cook something else in a rice cooker. That's a good idea.

Btw, I noticed that dark chocolate doesn't add on to your weight, but milk chocolate does. I wonder what they put in there. Plus, since I have sensitive teeth, dark chocolate doesn't cause any pain, unlike milk chocolate.

[blackpenny]

I wouldn't have thought of it, but it's in the instructions. Even easier than microwaving - I don't have to set a time.

Dark chocolate is supposed to be good for you too. I picked up a free fitness magazine, and it has an article about what to eat before a workout to burn more fat. Foods with a low glycemic index are best, and one website I looked at lists dark chocolate. Works for me!

I think they put more sugar in milk chocolate, which would account for both the weight gain and sensitivity.

[Pixey]

It is so interesting reading everyone's comments on here. I understand your feelings and weaknesses/strengths.

I never really had to watch my weight, until the dreaded "Meno-time" happened and the old body decided to do its own thing.

Since then I've become an avid gym-goer and the most sobering aspect of that is when I'm on the treadmill watching the calorie-count. It takes 15 mins of fast jogging to cancel the 100 calorie cookie I ate the day before This makes me think twice before downing anything "yummy". However, one cannot live on diets, as they are not sustainable (unless it's Weight Watchers) so I usually watch what I eat from Monday to Friday and then let myself indulge on the weekends.

All in all - it's moderation, at the end of the day, and exercising when one can. The gym really helps as I find the music very uplifting.... and weights are important as well!

[Leif]

I think exercise is often the most important thing. Not necessarily the gym. But the simple fact that you are willing to use your body to do things. Not that it has to hurt; but that you are sometimes willing to do so much work that you can figure out WHEN it starts to hurt. Go to your limits now and then.

[TheBad1]

Wise words Leif.

Lack of any real exercise these few months is why I'm flabby.
Thankfully each gym session is getting easier as I'm learning to breathe properly again. I'd forgotten how satisfying endorphins are when you push yourself.
On the negative side of that my left shoulder is killing me ;D Time for another steroid injection I ffink

Keeping on topic, what type of milk do people drink/ use ?

I used to drink a pint of full cream milk every night on the way home from work but after my doc freaked at my cholestrol level I started drinking skimmed milk ... now we use skimmed milk with less than 1% fat.

There was a scary story on the radio the other week. How some milk is produced by cows who never set foot on grass That's scary. And got to be totally against nature ?