Food Snubbing: Red Meat

Wow!  It's been a while since I blogged!  Life has been coming at me full force, to include visiting my two beautiful new grandchildren out of state and dealing with injuries pretty much from the top (shoulder) to the bottom (sprained foot and ankle) of me.  But I promised I'd finish up my "Food Snubbing" series with one on red meat, so here we are.

Before I commence, here are a couple of pics of my beautiful little grandbabies.  (Yes, I am taking advantage of a captive audience for the sole purpose of bragging.):

First, Gideon James, who was born May 6th (he loves his Grandma!):

And secondly, but certainly not least, miss Melody Lynne, who was born January 16th:

I think those are two of the most fantabulous humans God ever created!

Okay, on to the subject of red meat:

First of all, if you are a vegetarian, this blog is not going to be one you will get any good out of, whatsoever.  You saw the pics of my grandbabies, so leave me a comment on how sweet they are and move on to a blog that is relevant to you. :-D

For everyone else........

The main reason I hear for people avoiding red meat is the fat content.  There ARE many cuts of red meat that have fat marbled throughout.  These, as with all fatty foods, should be eaten sparingly.  But there are many cuts of read meat that actually have a very reasonable, if not downright low, fat content.  Of course, 93% and higher lean ground beef is one of them, but also top round and eye of round are leaner cuts.  Sirloin isn't too bad, either, as long as you cut the fat off of the outside.

The trick with red meat is to take a look at the piece of meat itself and see how much fat is marbeled throughout.  The more solid red color it is, generally the leaner.  If there are little flecks of white in there, that's fat.  So choose according to your diet needs.

Plus, I'm not sure fat from organic meat is all that bad for you.  I have to seriously wonder if this kind of fat, like butter, will wind up being placed in the "Not-as-bad-as-we-once-thought" category, since it's a naturally occurring fat the way God made it to be.  However, fat from any source (healthy or not) is still calorie-dense, so keep this in mind with respect for your total caloric need according to your goals.

Did you note I said "organic" in the above paragraph?  This is important, as is grass-fed.  When grazing animals are eating what grazing animals are naturally inclined to eat (mostly grass and green stuff), there are important components in their meat that are good for us and we simply can't get in non-grass-fed critters.  Additionally, when animals are pumped full of antibiotics (to keep them from getting sick in their over-stuffed quarters) and growth hormones (so they can butcher them sooner), and/or when they are fed non-organic feed, these components are subsequently in their meat.  When we ingest them we have them entering our own bodies and wreaking havoc in our cells.

The takeaway?  Buy organic and/or grass fed meats, of all kinds, as often as possible.

I tend to have a low iron level.  Not low enough to make me anemic, but low enough to make me hormonal, grumpy, and hard to live with.  I take supplements, but the iron in natural sources absorbs better into my system and does me more good.  Red meat is a very high source of iron.  For this reason I try to eat a lean source of it at least every-other day.  (And my cholesterol levels are excellent, as is my blood pressure.)

Also, red meat is high in B-vitamins, which directly contribute to energy.  I once tried to go vegetarian.  I called my sister, who was a vegetarian at the time, and told her about the headaches, low energy, and crankiness I was experiencing.  She said "Take B Vitamins- make sure it's full spectrum...." and proceeded to list off all the supplements I should now add to my diet, in the absence of meat.  I listened, then replied "Or I could just eat some meat".  Guess what was in my next meal?  Yep.  Red meat.  Problem solved.

I'm not saying everyone should eat red meat.  Obviously humans can survive without it.  I'm just saying don't put it on your "Bad Food" list without really knowing that it is bad for YOU, particularly if you enjoy it.

Good-quality beef doesn't scare me.  Pop tarts do.

Ending note:  I realize not everyone is going to agree with my viewpoint on red meat, or any other of the foods I've blogged about in my "Food Snubbing" series.  That's okay- You certainly have the right to your own opinion.  I've mulled these subjects over and observed "studies" and "evidence" for many years before I stuck my neck out and blogged about them.  So unless I see conclusive evidence to prove otherwise, and by that I mean scientific proof from more than one source, I am more than likely not going to change my position. 

And with that, my Food Snubbing blog series is concluded.  If you want to read any of the others, check the last several blogs right before this one.  And please leave comments- I enjoy hearing from you!

Food Snubbing: Dairy

So far I haven't received near as much flack as I thought I would for my Food Snubbing blogs, but I have a feeling that is about to change today as I blog about my refusal to snub dairy. 

I'm going to start this blog out stating that I am not a dairy expert.  Far from it.  The biggest reason I still eat and drink dairy is because I've never seen ANY conclusive evidence that any of the evil/scary things I've heard proclaimed about it are true.  I make it policy to not blindly believe what I am told- I want to see facts to back it up. 

The biggest argument against dairy that I have seen is that adults don't have the enzymes necessary to digest it.  If you've been a long time without eating dairy you are right- You DON'T have the enzymes necessary to digest it.  Our bodies are pretty amazing things and if we don't eat something, anything, long enough we will have trouble digesting it when it is reintroduced into our diets.  If we continue to eat that food, though, our body will again start to produce the enzymes necessary to digest that particular food and we will be able to eat it again.  But this principle is not isolated to dairy- It's goes pretty much across the board with any food you stop eating and then reintroduce.  (Ever heard a vegetarian say "I don't eat meat because it hurts?"  If they ate it a few times, it probably wouldn't hurt anymore.)

Now, there are some people who are lactose intolerant, and these folks should not eat or drink dairy.  It's another one of those "duh" moments.  But get diagnosed by a doctor for this.  There's no point in cutting out a food if it's not necessary.

The big reason I personally keep eating dairy is that I like it.  I enjoy a glass of milk with my protein pancakes on the weekends.  Milk is a nice treat to mix with my protein powder on my higher calorie days, and a really good balance of carbs and protein for post-workout, as well.  I enjoy Greek yogurt mixed with whey protein powder for an afternoon snack, and I like to make my protein pudding with milk for dessert.  I love low-fat cheese sticks with an apple when I get the munchies.  If I take dairy out of my diet, I start going for really crummy snack and dessert choices.  In short, dairy helps keep me sane while I continue to strive to eliminate most processed foods from my diet.

Side note: I do buy organic for as much of my dairy, particularly milk.  I won't go into the details, but after I did some reading up on how milk is processed and what happens to the poor cows to get it into the carton, I couldn't stand to buy anything but organic.  AND it has more complete nutrients, particularly if the cows are grass-fed.  Plus, it has a longer expiration date due to it being ultra-pasteurized, unlike regular milk.  If you are someone who would like the occasional glass of milk but don't buy it because it goes bad before you can drink it up, look into organic.  It's more expensive, but there is less waste.


Many coaches will remove dairy from their clients diets when said client gets close to a competition or needs to lose weight quickly.  The thought is that the elimination of the natural sugar in dairy can expedite weight loss.  But personally I've usually lost weight faster when I have some dairy in my diet.  However, I will concede that this might not be the case for everyone.

Look, I'm not pushing you to eat dairy.  It might not be a necessary food for humans.  I really don't know.  But I hate to see people eliminating or feeling guilty about eating an entire food group that simply has not been conclusively proven to be bad for the population in general.

Food Snubbing: Corn and Potatoes

I want to apologize for taking so long to get to the next subject in my "Food Snubbing" blog series. Aside from my regular life of mother, wife, grandma, personal trainer, and homemaker, we've been dealing with the way-to-long installing of counters and back splash in a rather gi-normous kitchen (had no sink or counters in there for a week!), painting of said kitchen, plumbing emergencies, massive hail storm that required lots of insurance people and repairs, and trying to find a MIA ex-husband to get him to sign off so that my husband can adopt my teenage daughter. (After 5 years of virtually no contact, a small miracle occurred: He was located and signed the papers! Relieved is not an adequate enough word.)

Here is a picture of the beautiful daughter who is in the process of getting, finally, after 10 years, adopted by her REAL Daddy, the man who has raised her since she was 6:

And here is a picture of part of our newly countered, tiled, and sinked kitchen. I am SO enjoying it! (And yes- I am bragging a little. After the process taking 5 weeks, I feel entitled to show it off!)

At any rate, much of the above is still in the process of being worked out, but there is at least a bit of a respite for me to handle the next Food Snubbing Topic: Corn and Potatoes.

I'm not really sure that the snubbing of corn is all that common. I just heard someone at a Weight Watchers meeting once say that the reason Americans are so overweight is because we eat corn. Huh? My thought was that it probably has more to do with super-sized portions and eating too much processed foods than the sole introduction of corn into our diets.

I've also heard that corn is for animal consumption, not people consumption. Er...... How many plants do animals and people both eat? Yeah.... That one falls apart pretty quickly for me.

Besides: Wasn't it the Indians who introduced corn to us? Didn't they eat it? Weren't they pretty darned healthy?

Now, let's move on to potatoes. Actually, it's not all potatoes that have a bad rap. Sweet potatoes are looked at as the Holy Grail in the potato world. White potatoes are generally seen as too high in starchy, quick-digesting carbs. Well, yes... but this is starch the way God intended it to be. We've found time and time again that when we eat stuff the way God grew it, not the way man modified it to be, it's good for us.

Also, you know how many famines potatoes saw people through? Talk to the Irish.

So my short answer on potatoes and corn? As long as they are minimally processed, I'm eatin' 'em.

The trouble with both, I believe, happens when we start to mess with them: Same problems I listed about white flour waaaaaaaaay back when I did the wheat blog. We smash 'em up and mix 'em with things like white flour or sugar or shortening (or all!), and then fry them (with corn, this is called a hushpuppy), which makes them fatty and super-high-glycemic, and NOW you have a problem on your hands.

Ever had fresh corn on the cob? Or a potato baked to perfection with just a little salt sprinkled on it? Yum-o! But when you add butter and sour cream and bacon bits and cheese and... well..... you get the point..... When you do all of these things.... heck!..... you can no longer taste the food you used as a base to pile all this junk on. Just put the goo in a bowl to eat it, and save the poor, unsuspecting, perfectly healthy potato or corn from being guilty by association.

One thing I do want to point out about both of these foods, though (as well as peas), is that the body treats them more as a starch than a veggie. So if you have potatoes or corn with your grilled chicken, you need to add at least one more veggie to your plate for a truly nutritionally balanced meal. And potatoes or corn AND a roll? THAT truly is high-carb. Just sayin'.

So, minimally mess with them: Bake, boil until JUST done, steam, shuck, and grill. Then count them as a starch and not a veggie, and you can enjoy without guilt.

Ever Wonder the Daily Habits of the Most Muscular Guy in the Gym?

Last year I did a blog titled Ever Wondered How the Most Muscular Guy in the Gym Lifts? on SparkPeople.com.  I did it there and not here because my following here appears to be mostly female, and a lot of guys follow me on Spark.  I've always felt a follow-up blog about some of his daily habits would perhaps help someone else looking to make the most of their physique.  While the weight lifting is obviously what has put all of that muscle on Ivory, what he does day-in and day-out contributes heavily to his health and appearance, as well.  It really is a whole package if you want to get results as impressive as his:

*********NOTE***** I am not implying that anyone else should adopt ALL of these habits!  Even Ivory didn't take them all on at once.  Like anyone else who has made lasting lifestyle changes, he implement these bit by bit over the course of years.

So here, in no particular order, are some of the things I have observed and/or wrangled out of Ivory about what it is he does on a day-to-day basis:

Dietary:
- Never drinks soda.  Unsweet tea?   Yes.  The occasional sugar-free Rock Star before a workout? Unfortunately, yes. (This makes me batty!)  But carbonated beverages?  In three years I've never seen him ingest one.
- Never drinks alcohol.  No kidding.
- Drinks a LOT of water, although, surprisingly, he does not keep a bottle with him when he works out.  He either goes to the drinking fountain, or swipes some of mine.  (He's nice, though, and refills it for me if it is low.)
- Rarely ingests sugar.  I mean, hardly ever.  Around the holidays he may have a piece of sweet potato pie or banana pudding, but sugar for the most part is not in his diet.
- Keeps white flour to a bare minimum.  Maybe once every week or two he'll have pancakes (with sugar-free syrup) right after a workout, but almost every other starch Ivory eats is either potatoes or whole grain.
- Not afraid of carbs, but eats plenty of protein.  Protein is the center of most of his meals, but he always has some kind of a starch and usually either veggies or fruit along with it.
- Loves his veggies!
- Keeps fruit consumption fairly low- perhaps a piece of fruit a day.
- Eats an extremely wide variety of foods.
- Stops eating when he is full.  He'll leave half a plate of food because "I'm full"
- And, because everyone wonders this:  Doesn't go anywhere near steroids or other stuff purported to help you gain muscle.  Tried Creatine once, but it dehydrated him so bad that he wound up in the ER.  About the only thing supplemental he takes is the occasional scoop of protein powder and a multivitamin when he remembers it.  Really.  (I made him pinky swear on this one.)

Exercise:
- Cardio is short (usually 20-30 minutes) but very intense.  I'm tellin' ya, the guy is positively raining sweat when he gets done with a cardio session.
- Changes set/rep scheme and the exercises he does frequently. 
-  Hits every muscle group once a week.
- Takes more time to train shoulders than any other body part.
- Takes 1 day a week as rest day from gym.  He typically lifts weights Mon-Fri and does cardio Mon, Fri, and Sat.  Sometimes Tuesday.
- Gives full rest between sets.  This way, he's able to put maximum effort into all of his lifting.
- Asks for a spotter when he goes super-heavy.  If there is no one around to spot, he doesn't go heavy that day and does more reps.
- Does abbreviated movements on big lifts- stays in the tension. 
- Always keeps good form.  If he can't keep proper form, he lowers the weight.

Life in General:
- Keeps a relaxed attitude- What some would call stressful, he just accepts as life and rolls with it.
- Is hardly ever in a hurry.  For as fast as this guy moves during cardio, he kinda ambles around the rest of the time.
- Prioritizes taking time to do things he enjoys (coaching football, playing softball, going to his kids sporting events, fishing)
- Invests time in friendships.
- Keeps current on fitness information and is always willing to learn and try new things.
- Makes an effort to stand up strait- excellent posture.
- Lost weight when he needed to. Ivory told me that at 6'2" he weighed 330, if I remember correctly, for quite a while. It was affecting his health.  The doctor gave him what-for, Ivory listened and started eating better and adding cardio to his exercise routine (he'd been lifting all along).  He lost 50 pounds and the weight has stayed off.  Gotta respect that.


Lastly, I feel compelled to point out that it has taken years of doing these same things, day in and day out, to get to where he is now.  Genetically Ivory is indeed gifted, but the mounds of thick and well-defined muscle would not be there if he didn't work hard and stay consistent in his habits.  So if you aren't getting the results you want in a few weeks or months, remember that it takes sticking to doing the right things over and over for many years on end to be able to carry this kind of a look well into your 40's (Ivory is 45), and beyond.

Don't Jack With Your Program!

You know what I think is one of the biggest reasons people don't lose weight on a program?  Because they don't follow the program in it's entirity.  They do part of it, but not all of it.  They hire a coach and do the exercises he says but don't follow the eating plan.  Or do a pretty good job of following the eating plan 5 days out of the week, but go off the rails and eat whatever they darned well please two.  Or follow the eating plan perfectly but don't exercise the way he tells you to.  Or decide they're going to have rice with dinner even though the coach told them to just have asparagus and fish.  You get the idea.

Here's the thing: With most programs, whether they are a company-owned plan like Jenny Craig or a pricey one made by a coach personally for you, your best success is dependent on doing ALL of said program.  It's made to work as a whole.  You take one part of it out, and like the gears in a watch, either the whole mechanism stops working or it isn't nearly as effective as if you did the program in it's entirety.

If you are working with a coach, I would advise to put blinders on and just DO it.  Don't read Weight Watchers material if you are following Julie Lohre's program.  (But if you are doing Weight Watchers, read ALL of the material.) Don't decide it's time to brush up on the Paleo diet or read "The New Rules of Weight Lifting for Women" when you are paying Mike Davies to make a program for you.  Why?  Because in there somewhere is going to be something that isn't going to be what your coach or program has lined up for you.  You will start to doubt the effectiveness of what they have you doing.  And with doubt comes lack of enthusiasm. And with lack of enthusiasm comes lack of adherence.  And with lack of adherence comes lack of results.

Commit to whatever plan you are doing in it's entirety.  Focus like a laser beam, block everything else out, and just GO!  Pick a plan, follow the WHOLE plan, and stick with it.  You'll be the one getting the results while others are saying "This plan just doesn't work for me."

I HATE Cheat Meals!

Man.... I have a real problem with this whole "Cheat Meal", or worse yet, "Cheat Day" concept.

First of all, could we please stop using the word "cheat"?  Cheat makes it sound like if you don't over-indulge in foods that are horrible for you, you've failed your mission.  Do you really want to cheat yourself out of your healthy eating plan?

Additionally, for someone who is a recovering binge eater (like me), it's an open invitation to gorge.  I can easily do 3,000 or more calories worth of damage in the span of just an hour or two.  It's really not that hard.  (Proof: At Applebees, 1/2 order of onion rings- 645 calories, Riblets platter- 1700 calories, 1/2 Chocolate Chip Cookie Sundae- 775 calories.  Total:  3120 calories, even when I shared the appetizer and dessert.  And I was drinking un-sweet tea!)

One pound of fat is approximately 3500 calories.  If I managed to eat 500 calories less than my daily caloric intake for a week, that should add up to about a pound of weight loss that week (500x7 days in the week=3500 calories).  Which would be great, except I pretty much packed all of those calories into the above Applebees meal.

And people wonder why they aren't losing weight with cheat meals.

If we move into a bigger meal, or (God forbid!) an entire cheat day, it's easy to see how weight gain could actually occur despite eating well 6 days out of 7.

Look, I don't mean to be Negative Nancy about enjoying a treat every once in a while.  But we need to rethink the way we view foods in regards to how we are going to live our life from here on out.  It all really DOES make a difference over the long haul.

In David Greenwalt's book The Leanness Lifestyle (which I have frequently referred to as my Fitness Bible many times), he purposes a Splurge Meal.  This is a much better thing to call it, IMHO.  You are not going off the rails with cheating, you are planning an indulgence.  And it is going to factor into your weekly caloric intake.

How do you make this work?  Personally, during the rest of the week I'd shave another 100 calories off  of each day.  This gives me 600 calories more out of my diet I can "play" with for my Splurge meal.  That's step 1.

Next, I'd cut back on my carbs the day of the planned splurge.  I'm taking it out of carbs, because let's face it, people don't usually splurge on turkey breast.

Here's how I'd put it into action:

I'd bring my regular morning oatmeal from 1/2 C dry measure (before cooking) to 1/4 C.  That's 75 calories.  I'd probably also skip my fruit for my mid-morning or after-workout snack and have just protein powder.  There's another 80 or so calories, all from carbs.  Lunch would be reduced by about a single portion of carbs, for about another 80 carb calories.  So right there, I've got 235 calories in the bank.  Add it to the 600 I managed to cut back on during the week, and I'm 835 calories ahead.  Plus, I still have my regular dinner calories to factor in, which is normally about 500 for me.  Add that to the 835 I already saved, and now I'm at 1335.  This I can do.

Now, it's time to plan (not haphazardly wing) that splurge.

Before I go to Applebees I decide what it is I most want to splurge on.  For me it's the cookie Sundae, which I am going to split with my teen daughter (she's skinny).

Knowing this, I look up the nutritional information online before I ever leave the house.  Then when I get to the restaurant I order, according to plan, the 9-ounce house sirloin (I'm hungry!) for 310 calories with the garlic mashed potatoes for 250 calories and the seasonal veggies for about 40 calories.  That's 600 calories for a very decent dinner that is still a splurge over what I would normally eat.

Dessert is another 775 for 1/2 of that Cookie Sundae.  I'm at 1375 calories, just 40 over my 1335.  No big deal.

The trick immediately AFTER the splurge is to stick to the plan.  If you are anything like me you tend to go a bit off of the rails once a splurge has occurred.  This means I still have my protein shake before bed, even if I don't feel particularly hungry, just to get myself RIGHT BACK on track.

And what's important is that I did NOT cheat, so I have nothing to feel guilty for.

The closer you get to goal the more important honesty with yourself and planning like this will be.  Fat doesn't take a vacation, so please don't believe it isn't going to show up if you invite it by eating with abandon.

And for Pete's sake, stop calling it a Cheat Meal.  At least, in front of me.

From Diet Soda To Water

This is a tough one, isn't it?  Learning to make your main beverage (or your only beverage) water.  Seems we all get hooked on diet soda at some point.  I'm even going to venture a guess that a majority of the people I know struggling to lose weight are diet-soda-aholics. And since there is no 12-step program for this addiction, I thought it might be handy to share how I managed to kick my own heavy diet soda habit.

I think most of us begin drinking diet soda because it has a sweet taste and no calories.  We like sweet.  And we figure without calories it can't derail our weight loss efforts.  No harm in a diet soda once a day, is there?  Then we start drinking two. At home.  And then make it our regular beverage when we drink out.  And then we have it "only after noon"  EVERY SINGLE DAY!  And next thing you know, breakfast is over and your seeking out that sweet fizzy taste fix that only a diet soda would give you.

Of course, you wouldn't dream of drinking a regular soda with sugar in it because that.... THAT would make you fat. But this diet stuff?  "Hey", you reason "It's got water in it and my body needs water.  And it's not giving me any calories, and my body certainly doesn't need any of THOSE!  And lookie here- It doesn't have sodium, or caffeine, either!  I'm doing something good for my body by making this diet soda choice!".  Yeppers- I've been there too, and said all of these things to myself, and more.  (My favorite line I told myself when ordering a bacon cheeseburger and fries with a diet soda was "If they made a diet burger and fries, I'd order those, too." I was the champion of excuses!)

Then a little lightbulb went off; "If there is no sugar, little sodium, and often no caffeine in diet soda, what IS in there?  There has to be something, or else it would be.... well...... water."  And the answer to that question?  In a word- Chemicals.  What good were chemicals going to do me?  Because here I was, being careful with my diet (I was drinking diet soda even after I'd made significant progress in my weight loss), and still bathing my insides with chemicals via diet soda.  Not exactly the healthiest thing I could do for a body I was trying to make healthier by every other means.

Sadly, it was time to start the very painful process of breaking up with Mr. Fizzy. 

The first thing I did was move from diet soda to those fizzy flavored waters they sell.  (The peach was my favorite!)  This went on for probably a year or more. Then I started reading that carbonation (which makes the fizz) can cause calcium to leach from the bones, which in turn causes the bones to be weaker and more prone to breakage as I age.

Since being 80 and incapacitated with a broken hip didn't sound appealing to me, I ditched the carbonation and went with the flavored waters, no fizz.  These stood in for a while.  But then I started taking a look at the artificial sweeteners and some of the purported side effects from them (my aunt, who has Parkinsons disease, often wonders if her copious drinking of diet sodas didn't help her condition along), and figured it wasn't worth the risk to have those coursing through my body all the time,either.

So then I started drinking iced tea with artificial sweetener in it, but watered it down. A lot.

Eventually I managed to get it so watered down that the tea wasn't really tea anymore- it was just dirty water.  At that point I let go entirely and went to strait water.

This doesn't mean I don't ever have a diet soda anymore, because I do.  On occasion I'll have one as a treat,  usually when I go to the movies with my family, who are all munching on candy. It gives my mouth something do to, and I don't feel completely left out.  (Please don't ask me how I can feel left out when we are all starting strait ahead at a screen in the dark- This concept alludes me to this day. But the fact is that it happens.)

And when I go to restaurants I will often get a glass of unsweetened tea and sweeten it with Stevia packets I carry in a baggie in my purse. Stevia is the ground leaf of the Stevia plant, which is sweet.  Much preferable to saccharine, sucralose, or any other artificial sweeteners, since Stevia is ground directly from a plant.  Depending on the brand you buy (I use Stevia In The Raw), it can taste a tad bitter, but I can't stand unsweetened tea, so Stevia it is.  And yes, I have turned into a baggie-carrying, chemicaly-paranoid fanatic.

Paying homage to my "if they made diet burgers" excuse (above), I'm using the "If I could hand them organic chicken to make my salad I would" excuse for the sweetener.

Anyhow, that's my story of how I kicked diet sodas and my reasons why.  Maybe you are inspired.  Maybe you are (I hope) thinking of artificial chemicals in a different way.  And maybe you are rolling your eyes.  But regardless, I hope you tell me what you think!

Video Blog Link: Quick, healthy foods for at work and in the car.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3245by7ijLo

A few things I forgot to mention:

- Beef Jerky. As long as sodium is not an issue for you and you ensure it is very low fat this can be a great source of protein that stays good for a long time.

- Cut-up veggies. Either cut them yourself and put in the sandwich bags, or get the single-serving size in the produce section of the store. I LOVE the sugar snap peas!

- Holy Guacamole individual servings, also sold in the produce section. This makes a great dip for the veggies and gives you healthy fats.

- And my "Car kit"- A trio of foods that hold up well without refrigeration for a long time. I try to keep this in my vehicle all the time. It includes:
* Ready-made protein drink
* A protein bar
* Beef jerky.

Please let me know what you think!

Video Blog Link: A Word About Maintenance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfQpfe6ZOfo
maintenance 

A Surprising Supplement Rescource

Could you use another source for your protein-rich dietary supplements?  You might want to consider bariatric product suppliers.  They have become my surprising source for protein-rich supplements to aid in my quest to be leaner and more muscular.

Bariatric patients (who have had either gastric by-pass or lap-band surgery) have stomachs that have been surgically altered to hold very little food.  One of their primary concerns is getting enough protein.  They have to pack as much of it as possible into a very small stomach space.  Bariatric foods accomplish this.  So it follows that these protein-rich foods can also be very handy for weight lifters and people looking to raise their dietary protein levels.

Now don't get me wrong:  These supplements aren't cheap.  But most of us who buy protein bars and powders have come to accept the expense. 

There is a protein powder sold by our local bariatric doctor called Nectar.   It's made by the Syntrax company.  Per scoop Nectar is 100 calories, all of them from protein.   No carbs.  No fat.  Just protein.  And it comes in a dizzying array of flavors!  (I love the peach.)

Bariatric places also tend to stock protein bars that are less garbage and more good for you, because they are interested in keeping their patients as healthy as possible.  Generally these bars will have not only about equal amounts of carbs as protein, but also some fiber in them, which really helps with feeling full.  For bariatric patients these are meal replacements.  (Remember- their stomachs hold next to nothing!)  For the rest of us, they are between-meal snacks.  But they taste good (you aren't going to get an obese person who ate exactly what they liked getting that way to eat food that tastes like crap), and give a good balance of nutrients.

Don't be afraid to walk into your local bariatric doctor and ask if they sell powders and bars.  They won't mind having you for a client!  This is one avenue of revenue for them and they are happy to sell their products to the general public. 

Another thing I like about purchasing from our local bariatric doctor's office is that they have samples of the protein flavors.  So I can try out a single serving for $2, instead of spending $32 on an entire tub of powder I may not like the flavor of.

If you don't have a bariatric doctor nearby who sells supplements you can also order online.  Here is a site that I use:  http://www.dietdirect.com/wonderslim-crispy-protein-diet-bars.html.  Not only do I like the bars in the link (I've mentioned these a couple of times in my blogs), but they also sell the Nectar Protein powder.  And a lot of other stuff, too! They offer a surprising amount of vitamins and various tablet supplements, as well. Take a poke around to see!  (Although I would NOT recommend their entree mixes- Not only are they highly processed, but I don't think they taste all that great.)  If you order more than $49 you get free shipping, and check out the "discounts and coupons" tags on the left bar, under "Wonderslim", to see if you qualify for any discounts or special offers.

I know this isn't a practical resource for everyone, but thought it might be something some of my wonderful readers might like to know about.

Video Blog: Printed Rescources I Use!

Click here for a link to my video blog where I talk about the printed rescources I use to help me in my fitness journey!

Video Blog: Organizational Tools I Have Used in my Quest for Fitness

Here is a link to my very first video blog.  It's pretty self-explanatory! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKSEWgllqDs

Binge Recovery

Okay, so you've done it- You ate way too much of the wrong stuff.  And in the middle of kicking yourself and wishing you could go back in time, you are wondering "Is there anything I can do to help reduce the negative effects of this?'  I have an answer for you, and that answer is "YES"! (And no, it does not involve the porcelain god and sticking a finger down your throat!)

This isn't going to be easy, no magic pill, but it will get most, if not all, of the garbage you just ate out of your system. There are basically three steps you will employ for the next 3 days:

1.  Drink water like it's going out of style!  This is NOT the time to shy away from water because you are afraid it will make you weigh even more in the morning.  It's time to guzzle.  It will give your cleansing organs a vehicle to carry all of that bad stuff (carbs, sodium, fat, chemicals) out of your body as fast as possible.  The sooner they leave the body, the harder it is for your body to store them as fat.  I'm not talking water toxicity levels, here, but make a concerted effort to drink more water than you normally would.  And water- not diet soda or any other kind of beverage you would rather drink. Water.  Water doesn't give your body one MORE factor to process and deal with.

2. Cardio like a mad person!  If you have any extra time for additional cardio over the next 72 hours, just do it, no questions asked.  I had a trainer friend of mine say that it takes the body 72 hours to turn unaccounted for carbs into fat.  You are trying to get 'em accounted for with cardio!  I have no idea if what he said was right or not, but putting as much time into cardio as possible for three days after a binge has helped me to keep the damage at bay.  Cardio uses glycogen, which is what the body turns carbs into, for fuel.  If glycogen doesn't get used for fuel, the body stores it as fat (future fuel).  You want to try to stop that from happening

As an aside- Don't abandon your weight lifting routine, though!  Lifting also uses glycogen, although not as much.  Keep up the lifting routine the same, but raise your cardio level. Two or three 30 or 40-minute cardio sessions a day is not too much right now, if you can squeeze that much in!

Oh! And expect the next day to have kick-butt cardio and lifting sessions.  With all of that glycogen now stored in your muscles you will be able to push harder than normal in your workouts.  (Proving that every cloud truly does have a silver lining!)

3. Focus your diet for the next day on protein, with only veggies for carbs.  It's Okay to have nonfat milk products.  My guess is that after the binge you aren't going to be wanting too many carbs, anyhow.  The next two days after that, go for small servings of things like oatmeal with breakfast and whole grains like 100% whole wheat or Ezekial breads and brown rice with lunch and dinner.

Why am I focusing on carbs?  Because I am almost certain you didn't binge on turkey breast.  You either binged on sweet carbs (cookies, ice cream, brownies), salty carbs (potato chips, crackers), or a combo (peanut butter, kettle corn).  None of these combinations is scale-friendly when done in excess, and the only way to get rid of the weight gain is to get rid of the carbs floatin' around in your body.

And the next time, if you can think about it before you immerse your head into that vat of peanut butter again, remind yourself that a binge is 3 days of hard work to (hopefully) undo the damage.  I've done this enough times that the thought of both the un-do process and the intestinal distress that is certain to arrive shortly after the binge has ended is almost always enough to stop me in my tracks.  It's taken a couple of years to learn my lesson, but now I can almost always say to myself "Ugh!  It's just not worth it!" and step away from the temptation.

Depending on your personality, when you get on the scale is up to you.  I make myself get on the scale the next morning because I can't stay in denial if I'm looking at the (temporary) damage I've caused.  Seeing a big jump motivates me to get right back on track!  I also like watching the numbers come down over the next couple of days- It's interesting to me.  But if you are the type it is just going to discouraged and want to dive into a bag of BBQ chips when the number is up, I'd advise waiting until after your 3-day recovery process is over.

My Suprising Weight-Loss Side Effect

Er... I'm about to talk about menopause, here, so any of you men who are uncomfy with the subject may want to skip this blog....

Is it just us ladies (and very brave men) now?  Okay.... then I can proceed:

One very interesting and unexpected side effect I have experienced with losing weight and getting fit is the disappearance of the side effects of menopause I had been experiencing.  I didn't make the complete connection until I read in one of Tosca Reno's books that she also has had no menopausal side effects since improving her lifestyle. 

I'm assuming this has something to do with the hormones that fat produces.  Reduced fat means reduced hormones, which could mean reduced symptoms. I also wonder if regular exercise plays in somehow.  But I'm not at all an expert on this subject, so really, what do I know?  I'm just grateful the night sweats, severe mood swings, and horrible headaches, among other things, are gone.

At 45 I don't think I've passed through "The Change" entirely.  But I started showing signs of pre-menopause 11 years ago, and at this stage of the game I have cycles perhaps twice a year (more than you wanted to know about me, isn't it?), so I think I'm getting close.  This also means, though, that I am at the point where I should be at the worst stage of symptoms, and instead I'm getting pretty much nuthin'.  No complaints from me!

My quest for fitness surprised me in a lot of ways, but I think this was the biggest one.  I'd be interested to hear if it happened for you, too.  And if you are still in the process of, or considering, improving your health, maybe this will give you one more motivating reason to keep on course!

If You Are Confused About Insulin and Fat Storage, Read This!!!

The past few years there has been quite a lot of hype about insulin and how it affects fat storage. It's super-confusing, but I think I've managed to whittle it down to something both understandable and practical for the every day person.

Here goes...... (Er, this isn't going to be real technical, so if you are into splitting hairs or are going to suggest I should have included more information, you may just want to skip this blog.)

Anyhow......

Carbohydrates make your blood sugar go up. Your body doesn't like this (high blood sugar is dangerous), so it sends out a storage hormone we call insulin to bring it back down. (BTW- the pancreas is what produces insulin, so that's why you hear so much about the pancreas when people talk about blood sugar.)

Insulin turns the carbs into glycogen and stores the glycogen in different parts of the body, namely the muscles and liver. BUT it also turns any excess glycogen that doesn't fit into the muscles and liver into fat and stores them in your fat cells. If there aren't enough fat cells to hold the fat that has been made, the body has to do something with it, so it makes more fat cells to store it in. And who wants more fat cells?

Okay, now lets add in one more thing Insulin does: It keeps another chemical, called hormone-sensitive lipase, from doing it's job properly. And that job is releasing fat from your fat tissues to be used as energy.

Sooooo..... when you eat a ton of fast-burning carbs (generally the kind that don't have much fiber in them), not only are you promoting fat storage because the muscles and liver can only hold so much, but you are also KEEPING the fat you do have from being burned off as energy. This is the main reason why low-carb diets work so well for weight loss.

Having said all of this, you don't need to run from carbs like they are the enemy. Slow-digesting carbs- like oatmeal, whole-grain breads (the real whole-grain stuff, not the kind that has white flour in it, too) and starchy vegetables- are just that: Slow digesting. They release the carbs slowly into your body so that you don't have an excess all at one time to be stored as fat.

Also, when you exercise heavily the body uses up the glycogen in your muscles very quickly. So you need to eat carbs to replace them so that you have power to not only get through your workout, but also through your day.

If you are anything like me, you are asking "So why do people go low-carb when they are exercising heavily?" The reason for that is another big, long technical explanation, but I'm gonna give the very-condensed-but-not-very-scientific answer: The body will turn fat into glycogen and burn it when your muscles and liver run out of it. And the process of turning the fat into glycogen burns calories in and of itself, so it's kinda like you are getting a little calorie-burning bonus when this happens.

The thing with this is that you want to be very careful: When I have gone too low-carb I have wound up with all sorts of not-so pleasant side effects, the scariest of which is that I started to lose my long-distance vision. It was to a point where I was beginning to question whether I should drive at night because depth perception was thrown off. Other interesting side effects for me were running out of steam very quickly, getting confused easily, feeling mentally "fuzzy", headaches, becoming incredibly irritable (my daughter thought this was the worst side effect- She'd of rather I be blind than a wench), tripping over things, falling down frequently when doing cardio (Once I fell off a bench when doing step-ups, making quite a racket. People were rushing from all of the gym to help me- embarrassing!), and general lack of coordination. Clearly, super-low carb (under about 100g a day) for me is not healthy. I think different people have different thresholds, but if you are experiencing things like this while on a low-carb eating plan, I'd suggest adding a little whole-grain, fruit, or starchy veggie into every meal. Non-starchy veggies ARE a carb source, but they are not a very condensed form of carbs and would take so much of them that you would no longer be practicing portion control, which I believe to be a key factor in losing weight and getting fit.

And as a final and fairly unrelated note, if you are working with a coach who is helping you with your eating and experience any of these symptoms, TELL THEM! Any responsible coach will alter your diet and get you out of the too-low-danger-zone. If they don't, dump them immediately and find someone else to help you. Your health is not worth having a super-svelte appearance.

Protein Pancakes I Actually Don't Mind Eating!

After trying many recipes for protein pancakes and finding nothing I considered short of gag-inducing, I came up with my own recipe in sheer desperation of wanting a different way to combine my traditional oatmeal-and-eggs breakfast.

The two key differences in my protein pancakes is that I cook the oatmeal first, and I add baking powder. I think this helps the texture a great deal.

I will be the first to tell you that I am not a purist when it comes to clean eating. It's probably because I am lazy. At any rate, if this recipe does not measure up to someone's clean-eating standards, I apologize in advance, but making a super "clean" recipe wasn't my goal: Making a quick high-protein low-fat thing I cooked in a pan like a pancake and could put sugar-free syrup on was.

One more note before I share the recipe: While I love them and they take care of my pancake cravings, this is NOT going to taste like anything like the fluffy white pancakes you get at IHOP.  They are a different kind of pancake altogether.


Nancy Anne's Oatmeal Protein Pancakes:

First, cook 1/3 C oats in just enough water to make them really thick.

Next, spray a pan with non-stick spray and heat on Medium-high. (My burner goes from 1-10 and I put it on an 8.)  OR you can spray a griddle and heat it to 400.

While the pan or griddle is heating, mix into the cooked oats:
- 1 scoop vanilla protein powder (I always use Beverly International's UMP.  Just seems to cook up the best without that weird taste protein powders can get when you cook with them)
- 1 egg white (This would be about 3T liquid egg white)
- 1 Tablespoon ground flaxseed (optional)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, or to taste (optional)
- Small splash of vanilla extract
-  Pinch of salt

Mix well, then stir in just enough water to make it pancake batter consistency.

By now your pan should be good and hot. Pour about 1/3 of the above mixture into the pan. It should spread out by itself, but if it doesn't push it around until it's a round shape. Cook until the edges look dry, then flip and brown a little on the other side. (At this point it is mostly done, so no need to leave it sitting as long on the second side. You are just trying to make it un-gooey.)

Plate the pancake, and, if your pan is not non-stick, take it off the heat, spray with non-stick spray again, and repeat two more times. (If you spray it on the heat your spray will scorch and make the pancake taste not-as-good, never mind make the pan more difficult to clean.) If it's non-stick there's no need to re-spray and can just pour more batter in there.

If you are using a griddle, just make 3 pancakes.

When you are done, you will have three Oatmeal Protein Pancakes- it's a good sized plate of food! You can top with whatever you want. I use sugar-free syrup heated in the microwave and sometimes Smart-Balance light margarine.  

Here's a pic of my finished product:

Let me know what you think!

All Oil Counts!

This is gonna be a real quick blog, and one that most of you probably don't need, thank goodness!  But I thought it was worth a mention, because occasionally I have heard people say that don't feel they need to count the oil that they cook food in, such as for a stir fry, on top of the stove.  They seem to think it either evaporates or the calories go away some other way.  This is simply not true!  Those calories soak right into your food and are what keeps it from sticking to the pan!  Then it goes right into your body.

Also, I've run across more than one person who take copious amounts (I'm talking tablespoons) of coconut oil a day, thinking it will somehow magically make them thinner.  Some even eat it right off of the spoon.  They don't count the calories, then wonder why they are not losing weight.  At 120 calories a tablespoon, these calories can add up very quickly and absolutely stall your weight loss.  Just because a fat is a "good fat" does not mean it's good for you if you eat too much.  You really CAN have too much of a good thing!

Count your oil in your daily foods!

My Daily Supplements

I think anyone who has considered taking supplements to help boost their potential with weight loss, in the weight room, or both will agree that there are so many choices out there it's confusing and overwhelming.  This one area I will admit I am not extremely knowledgeable about.  But I have managed to learn a little and pick out what I believe to be the best and most effective supplements for my needs.  What you need may different, but this might help someone to get an idea of how to go about selecting supplements.

I take three different "stacks" (combos of supplements), timed morning, afternoon, and before bed:

1. With breakfast (for maximum absorption) I take-
- A multi-vitamin. I don't take any one brand- I just try to find a well-rounded one.  Truth be told, right now I am taking children's gummy vitamins.  So shoot me.  My diet is good enough that I don't feel I have to get picky about this one.
- A calcium/magnesium/D supplement.  The one I take has about 30% daily recommended amount of calcium and 50% recommended daily amount of D per pill (not per dose- a dose is 2, and I only take one at a time).  I take the calcium because more often than not I don't get two servings of dairy in daily.  The magnesium is for max absorption of the calcium.  And the D is because I have a past history of depression that I have noted is a lot better when I am in the sun frequently.  I thought this might be related to vitamin D, and sure enough, when I started taking D my depression was a lot easier to manage.  If I didn't get magnesium or D with the calcium pills, I would take them as a separate supplement along with it.
- An Omega fatty acids pill.  The one I take has all 3 Omegas in it (3, 6, and 9).  There is enough scientific evidence behind this one that I believe it is worth the expense.  Plus, I swear my eyesight is better when I am taking it.  On days I eat fish I skip this supplement.

In the afternoon (with lunch, if I remember) I take:
- Another Omega Fatty Acid pill
- An Iron pill, because I have a low iron level.  I keep the iron pill far away from calcium intake, either in diet or supplement, because calcium inhibits Iron absorption.

Before bed I take:
- Another calcium/magnesium/D pill.  This is a great time to take it because cal/mag has been proven to help with sleep.
- A glucosamine pill, because I have arthritis in a knee and it's supposed to help with joints.

In addition to these, on days I work out I take an L-Glutamine pill with my breakfast stack.  I guess it's best to get L-glutamine in powder form immediately following working out, but since I have a bunch of them in pill form and I know pills take a while to break down and get into the system, I take them with breakfast, reasoning it will reach my muscles by the time I am done lifting. My reasoning is NOT based on science, though; just simply on what I think, so I could be dead wrong with this one. But I don't want to waste the pills, so until they are gone this is what I will be doing.  After that I don't think I will take Glutamine at all anymore.

And right after I am done working out I have 5g of BCAA (branched chain amino acid) powder in protein powder that I put in my gym bag and add water to after lifting so I can drink it while I am walking out of the gym.  Since starting this I swear I am not as sore after my workouts.  I think they are also supposed to help aid in weight loss, but I'm not quite sure how.  I use the Modern brand and the recommended dosage is 10g, but since I am a 150-lb woman I just take 5g (single scoop).  This helps to stretch the container.  A word of warning about flavoring with BCAA powder- make sure it has some!  I got the plain the first time and my goodness, it was bitter!  I had to add a packet of stevia to my protein powder/BCAA concoction to make it palatable enough to swallow.  The flavor seems to help mask quite a lot of the bitterness.

Okay- so there you have my stacks and my reasons for them.   I used to take more, but this is what I've brought it down to and I believe benefits me the most.

What I Eat Over the Course of a Day

I'm always amazed at the number of people who ask me what it is I eat and drink in the course of a day.  This is a really hard question for me to answer, because I don't eat the same things all the time, but here are some general guidelines I try to follow:

1. I always have at least one serving of complex carbs.  This is usually 1/2 C of dry oatmeal, cooked, about an hour or so before I workout.  Often I'll have more servings of complex carbs than this throughout the day, though.

2. I usually eat oatmeal or some kind of whole grain cereal and a lean protein (Most often an egg with 3/4 cup of egg whites) for breakfast.

3. I eat before I workout.  When I don't I find myself short on both strength and endurance.  This meal is usually the above breakfast.

4.  On the way home from the gym I have a whey protein shake and a piece of fruit (usually a banana).

5.  I try to eat at least one salad a day, either for lunch or dinner.  My favorite is some kind of a southwestern salad so that I get some carbs from the corn.  It always has a source of protein (usually shrimp or chicken breast), and I ask them to leave off any chips or croutons and go easy on the cheese.  If the meat is grilled on a griddle I ask them to go easy on the butter.  I get whatever dressing I like (usually creamy), but order it on the side and fork-dip for the non-flavorful bites.  Very little is gone by the time the salad is finished.

6.  I usually have two afternoon snacks, because it's a very hungry time of day for me.  Almost always one is a small protein bar (I make sure it's really a PROTEIN bar with about the same grams of protein as carbs and low fat- otherwise I consider it a carb bar).  If it's a big one (over 300 calories) I cut it in half.  The other snack is usually low-fat string cheese and lean beef jerky OR a scoop of protein powder mixed into Greek yogurt.

7. I try to limit my fruits to 2 servings a day (I consider a banana 2 servings), and have at least 3 servings of veggies.  More is better on the veggies.

8.  The meal that is not a salad is usually a lean source of red meat (I have low iron), a whole-grain carb like brown rice, OR a baked sweet or regular potato, and a LOT of non-starchy veggies.

9. I don't drink my calories (unless it is a protein shake).

10. I drink at least a gallon of water a day (read my blog on The Importance of Water to see why).

11. If I drink anything in addition to the water, it is unsweetened tea.  Sometimes I'll put a little Stevia or Splenda in it, but I've learned to usually drink it unsweetened.  I just don't think the additional stuff does my body any good.

12.  Before bed I have a scoop of Casein powder mixed with cold water into a pudding.

If you were counting, that's seven feedings on most days.  I am always eating!  :-) 

I'll blog about supplements next blog, but that's what I ingest as a general rule most days, whether losing or maintaining.   When I am in maintenance mode my portion sizes get larger.  I hope this helps someone!

The Older You Are, The More You Gotta Move To Lose!

When I was 34 years old I lost 30 pounds without exercise. I followed the Weight Watchers program (materials purchsed on Ebay because I was a broke single mother of four) and occasionally took short walks during my lunch at work. That was it. I lost at the rate of 1-2 pounds a week, just like I was supposed to. Back then it wasn't all that hard.

Fast forward: Now I'm 10 years older and if I were to do that now, my weight would not budge. Not a bit. I think this is typical for most of as as we get older (and for many people in general): If we don't move, we won't lose.

I know they say that diet is 70-80% of the weight loss battle, and to a degree I agree with that. Why? Because when I eat whatever I want while exercising I GAIN weight. But if I eat what I am supposed to and don't exercise, I stay the same or lose very, very slowly. That tells me the diet is more powerful in keeping fat at bay than exercise. But if I, and most other people in mid-life and older, don't exercise we are going to have trouble shedding serious pounds.

Barring a medical condition, the only time I have seen people drop serious weight over the age of about 40 without exercising is when they have tremendous amounts of weight to lose. At first, these folks can just follow a sensible eating plan and weight will come off at a fairly predictable pace. But I've noted that usually when people get to within about 60-70 pounds of their goal weight their loss will either slow down significantly or come to a standstill without exercise.

At this point, something has to change. After close examination of diet (Are they TRULY following the program? Getting enough protein? Too many calories? Too few calories? Eating often enough?), the next thing to look at is the dreaded E word: Exercise.

But here is the beautiful thing: If you have been sedentary, you don't have to spend hours in the gym every day. You can just go for a 20 minute walk. The important thing is that you go higher than your current exercise level most days of the week. Often this little bump in activity is enough to get the metabolism going and the scale moving downward again.

As time goes on, you may hit another plateau. Then it's time to re-examine your diet and exercise levels again. Assuming your eating plan is on target, it's time to bump up the exercise a little more. I know this stinks, but it's just what has to be done to lose weight as we get older.

One thing you need to keep in mind if you are new to exercise, or if it has been a long time (several months) since you have exercised, is that you do NOT want to start off all gang-busters. If you do this, one of two things will more than likely happen: You will either burn out or get hurt. Bodies need time to adjust. At first an easy walk will be enough. When you feel ready (make sure you know the difference between "not ready" and "lazy"), either pick up your speed or increase your time. When you get to where you can walk an hour (if you have that much time), it's time to pick up the pace. There is really not a lot of point in spending more than an hour doing cardio exercise, unless you are a distance athlete.

When you get to where you feel mentally ready, you can also start to add some weight lifting. But I've blogged about that before. The point of today's blog is that if you want to lose weight when you are middle aged and older (and some younger folks with slower metabolisms) you will probably have to exercise past your current activity level to see the scale move. This is a fact a lot of people don't want to face, but if you truly want to climb out from underneath your excess fat, you are going to have to get going!

Exercise is the key that unlocks the nutrition door so that your healthy eating plan can do it's job and move the excess fat off of your body. Just give in, accept it, and start moving. :)