So I had five days of reckless abandon: lots of fast food and sugary foods. I went to see an old high school friend over the weekend and I should have prepared mentally and kept track of how much I was spending on food. The trip from Boulder to Canon City and back cost me nearly 50 dollars in gas and another 50-some dollars in food purchases, most of it unnecessary. I wanted something to drink in Castlerock so I stopped at Jack-in-the-Box and got not only a diet coke (when I'm trying to give up aspartame) but also got a disgusting slimy sandwich. It sounded so good: grilled cheese, bacon and turkey on sourdough. Only the bread was ok. There was so much orange sauce and rubbery, slimy slices of turkey. The bacon didn't taste like bacon. It was so gross I actually threw half away. Then in Colorado Springs I got cheesy tots at Burger King. I thought they would be tater tots with cheese filling but they felt/tasted like fried cottage cheese balls. Oh and more diet coke--a giant cup of it. I like to chew the ice.
At my friend's house I had salad with ranch dressing (sugar!), spaghetti (wheat!), with garlic bread (more wheat!) but damn, that garlic bread was good--so soft and salty and fragrant. Damnit! now I want garlic bread!!! I had, without guilt, three glasses of red wine, but also chocolate cake with frosting. The next morning, although I decided to be abstinent, I still had sweet creamer in my coffee--even though I had my stevia drops somewhere in my bag. Then as I left Canon City, I came upon a little place called the Gooseberry Patch. You know the food's going to be good there, with chicken-fried steak and homemade pie. I had fried everything with potatoes and gravy and cheesy hashbrowns and finally for dessert: coconut cream pie. I felt a bit sick--I hadnt' been hungry when I stopped because I had eaten eggs and bacon for breakfast not even three hours before that. But I rationalized the pie by saying good homemade pie is quite rare and I needed to profit from finding it.
But yesterday and today (so far) I have been sugar free. Unfortunately, also am drinking lots of water with flavor drops with sucralose (Splenda) and acesulfame potassium (something bad) and sucrose acetate isobutryate (wow sounds really bad) among other cancer causing ingredients in them.
I was proud of myself last night for making a flour free casserole that will last me a couple of days. Ground beef, flour-free cream of mushroom and cream of chicken soups, 2 med zucchini, 3/4 of a bell pepper, frozen peas and thin slices of polenta to cover the top. I could have put in twice as many veggies, but I hadn't anticipated how much they would shrink up.
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Falling Off the Wagon II
I had five small brownies that my co-worker offered this morning. They were kind of artificial tasting but that didn't stop me. I love having sweets with my coffee. For the past month I have not eaten any desserts offered to me by co-workers but now that I've fallen, why not? That's a rhetorical question. I know why not. I want so badly not only to feel better--I've noticed my back doesn't hurt when I am walking after I give up sugar for a few days--but to lose weight. That's why I'd also like to permanently give up wheat (especially) and most grains.
According to Wheatbelly by William Davis, "Wheat products elevate blood sugar levels more than virtually any other carbohydrate, from beans to candy bars...glucose is unavoidably accompanied by insulin, the hormone that allows entry of glucose into the cells of the body, converting the glucose to fat. The higher the blood glucose after consumption of food, the great the insulin level, the more fat is deposited....particularly abdominal or deep visceral fat...that's why eating a 3-egg omelet that triggers no increase in glucose does not add to body fat, while 2 slices of whole wheat bread increases blood glucose to high levels, triggering insulin and growth of fat."
And that visceral fat is "uniquely capable of triggering a universe of inflammatory phenomena....the more visceral fat present, the greater the quantities of abnormal signals released into the blood stream...triggering...diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, dementia, rheumatoid arthritis, and colon cancer....Visceral fat is a factory for estrogen production in both sexes. Surplus estrogen ...adds considerably to breast cancer risk in...women" and can cause men to develop "man boobs". He doesn't talk much about other grains but he does say briefly that a diet high in carbs in general is not going to help with weight loss. Wheatbelly also talks about the numerous other problems associated with wheat including addiction-like cravings triggered by gluten and destruction of the intestinal lining (which people who have IBS and celiac disease suffer from).
It's so frustrating how so many convenient foods contain wheat: sandwiches, pizza, burritos and wraps. Pasta is so common and easy to make. Why does it have to be bad for me? And how long will it take until this idea that wheat is not actually a "healthy whole grain" to catch on? Boulder has a lot of places that serve gluten free foods, but those foods are still high in carbs so I really need to be eating very few carbs. Even stupid sushi rolls are mostly rice. I don't enjoy cooking and how long it takes, so having to cook instead of being able to slap together a sandwich keeps me from eating more healthily.
I made some cupcakes with chocolate frosting with a recipe from the Wheatbelly cookbook. It uses coconut flour, almond flour, and ground flax seed instead of flour; stevia instead of sugar; and cream cheese, cocoa, and stevia for the frosting. They were pretty good, and so heavy that even one was satisfying. That's pretty unusual for me to make ten cupcakes and have them last for six days. I guess that makes up for the fact that it took me more than an hour to make them.
Still have a pint and a half of ice cream in the freezer. Will finish it off (can't BEAR to throw it out) tonight and start fresh tomorrow.
According to Wheatbelly by William Davis, "Wheat products elevate blood sugar levels more than virtually any other carbohydrate, from beans to candy bars...glucose is unavoidably accompanied by insulin, the hormone that allows entry of glucose into the cells of the body, converting the glucose to fat. The higher the blood glucose after consumption of food, the great the insulin level, the more fat is deposited....particularly abdominal or deep visceral fat...that's why eating a 3-egg omelet that triggers no increase in glucose does not add to body fat, while 2 slices of whole wheat bread increases blood glucose to high levels, triggering insulin and growth of fat."
And that visceral fat is "uniquely capable of triggering a universe of inflammatory phenomena....the more visceral fat present, the greater the quantities of abnormal signals released into the blood stream...triggering...diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, dementia, rheumatoid arthritis, and colon cancer....Visceral fat is a factory for estrogen production in both sexes. Surplus estrogen ...adds considerably to breast cancer risk in...women" and can cause men to develop "man boobs". He doesn't talk much about other grains but he does say briefly that a diet high in carbs in general is not going to help with weight loss. Wheatbelly also talks about the numerous other problems associated with wheat including addiction-like cravings triggered by gluten and destruction of the intestinal lining (which people who have IBS and celiac disease suffer from).
It's so frustrating how so many convenient foods contain wheat: sandwiches, pizza, burritos and wraps. Pasta is so common and easy to make. Why does it have to be bad for me? And how long will it take until this idea that wheat is not actually a "healthy whole grain" to catch on? Boulder has a lot of places that serve gluten free foods, but those foods are still high in carbs so I really need to be eating very few carbs. Even stupid sushi rolls are mostly rice. I don't enjoy cooking and how long it takes, so having to cook instead of being able to slap together a sandwich keeps me from eating more healthily.
I made some cupcakes with chocolate frosting with a recipe from the Wheatbelly cookbook. It uses coconut flour, almond flour, and ground flax seed instead of flour; stevia instead of sugar; and cream cheese, cocoa, and stevia for the frosting. They were pretty good, and so heavy that even one was satisfying. That's pretty unusual for me to make ten cupcakes and have them last for six days. I guess that makes up for the fact that it took me more than an hour to make them.
Still have a pint and a half of ice cream in the freezer. Will finish it off (can't BEAR to throw it out) tonight and start fresh tomorrow.
Falling Off the Wagon
Today is Feb 21. I decided to give up sugar and aspartame on January 19, 2013. I religiously read Dr. Mercola's website and it said that both sugar and aspartame are linked to depression. I will do anything in order to avoid taking antidepressants, so giving up sugar was a good first step. My nutritionist told me about how sugar is the real culprit in heart disease, as it tears up the lining of your arteries, making it easy for plaque to build up there. If your arteries are smooth, any plaque just slips along and can't get a foothold. But the main reason for going sugarless is that sugar makes me crazy! When I can't have it, I can think of nothing else. When I eat chocolate, I just can't stop. Friends at Overeaters Anonymous assured me that the cravings would pass eventually.
I slipped several times between Jan 19th and Feb 18th--a week in I stuffed my face with marshmallows that my roommate keeps on the kitchen counter; a week later, over a period of 8 hours I ate a whole box of coco-krispies she had bought for her kids; and a week after that, a small part of an unfinished candy bar literally fell at my feet from the icebox, and I ate it after three seconds and careful consideration of my options. It was a chocolate bar with caramel filling and was even more amazing having been in the freezer. I resisted going to the store for another whole one. It took me FOUR DAYS to stop thinking about that candy bar. At one point I went to the store and put chocolate/caramel bars in my basket but managed to hand them to the cashier later. Finally, about five days ago I had some of my roommates kettle corn.
I was also overeating at night to try and settle the cravings. I want to give up wheat as well after reading WheatBelly, but I only manage a few meals before I want a frozen pizza, or TWO.
But on February 19th, I thought, I have been pretty good at keeping off sugar for a month. I haven't put any money in the candy vending machines, haven't bought any expensive individual hunks of chocolate cake at Whole Foods and I've refused all Girl Scout Cookies offered to me. I even ate two bowls of salad at V's birthday party instead of having cake or baklava. I deserve a break. I will have a bar of my favorite: milk chocolate--and not the cheap kind. I bought two bars and a half cup of ice cream. Then last night I got two pints of ice cream. I had planned to bring them to work with me (for breakfast!) and when I was on my way to work and realized I had forgot them, I was really disappointed. So then I had to buy a Milky Way bar from the vending machine after I had already had a filling breakfast of egg muffins (eggs, cheese, broccoli, sausage).
That's what I mean by making me crazy. What "normal" person--a person with a normal relationship with food--would need to have a candy bar after she has breakfast because she forgot her breakfast ice cream at home??!!
I slipped several times between Jan 19th and Feb 18th--a week in I stuffed my face with marshmallows that my roommate keeps on the kitchen counter; a week later, over a period of 8 hours I ate a whole box of coco-krispies she had bought for her kids; and a week after that, a small part of an unfinished candy bar literally fell at my feet from the icebox, and I ate it after three seconds and careful consideration of my options. It was a chocolate bar with caramel filling and was even more amazing having been in the freezer. I resisted going to the store for another whole one. It took me FOUR DAYS to stop thinking about that candy bar. At one point I went to the store and put chocolate/caramel bars in my basket but managed to hand them to the cashier later. Finally, about five days ago I had some of my roommates kettle corn.
I was also overeating at night to try and settle the cravings. I want to give up wheat as well after reading WheatBelly, but I only manage a few meals before I want a frozen pizza, or TWO.
But on February 19th, I thought, I have been pretty good at keeping off sugar for a month. I haven't put any money in the candy vending machines, haven't bought any expensive individual hunks of chocolate cake at Whole Foods and I've refused all Girl Scout Cookies offered to me. I even ate two bowls of salad at V's birthday party instead of having cake or baklava. I deserve a break. I will have a bar of my favorite: milk chocolate--and not the cheap kind. I bought two bars and a half cup of ice cream. Then last night I got two pints of ice cream. I had planned to bring them to work with me (for breakfast!) and when I was on my way to work and realized I had forgot them, I was really disappointed. So then I had to buy a Milky Way bar from the vending machine after I had already had a filling breakfast of egg muffins (eggs, cheese, broccoli, sausage).
That's what I mean by making me crazy. What "normal" person--a person with a normal relationship with food--would need to have a candy bar after she has breakfast because she forgot her breakfast ice cream at home??!!
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