Living in the Land of the Unhealthy

During the past couple of weeks, I've seen so many news stories about poor health in the South, articles such as this one about obesity and diabetes rates. When lists of statistics come out regarding cancer rates, obesity and diabetes, the top 10 spots are overwhelmingly filled with southern states. These are the lists we don't want to be at the top of. But we are, and the causes are things we see from a young age. We see parents or other adults smoking or chewing tobacco; we deep fry anything that stands still long enough; and we consume way too many sugary sweets. We're the land of soft drinks, sweet tea and fried catfish -- the land of the unhealthy. I think this makes it even harder to commit to a healthy lifestyle. When you see everyone around you eating those yummy things that are, nevertheless, horrible for you, you feel left out.

Even views of exercise seem to be different here. Sure, people exercise, but it's not so obvious in the way communities are structured. For instance, I've been to Madison, Wisconsin, a few times to visit with my agent. I love it there because it is such a pedestrian-friendly city. There are paved paths and trails literally everywhere. You see people walking, jogging, biking and roller blading all over the city. In my subdivision, there are no sidewalks. I live on a cul de sac, but if I want to go walking around most of the neighborhood, I have to brave a short walk along a busy road (with no sidewalks, just drop-offs into deep ditches) to get to the main part of the subdivision where I can walk more easily. People who brave getting on their bikes here are honked at and the subject of much upset by those attached to their cars.

Some work is being done to create greenways around the city, but at this time it would take a drive to get to any access point. I got the feeling in Madison that you could hop on a trail with ease, like the city was a big wheel with many spokes shooting out from the center.

From my travels, I've noted that places like California and parts of Florida are better locales for those wanting to get into a healthy mindset, but I also know that we can't use the challenges as excuses. We have to just work a little harder and call on our willpower more to live the healthy lifestyle that will keep us out of those dismal statistics.

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Can You Take a Break?

A very common complaint of dieters is that they get so sick of having to be aware of everything they put in their mouths and constantly counting calories or points. They want to be able to eat “like everyone else” and not have to work so hard at this. They’re particularly jealous of thin people who seem to be able to eat whatever they want and still stay skinny.

This is definitely a complaint I’ve thought, felt and said through the years. I’ve gone so far as to say I’m going to take a break from keeping a food diary and stop obsessing about how many calories I’m eating. I’d often do this for a vacation, a business trip, a holiday or just whenever I needed a break.

The problem with this was that my old, bad habits were waiting to embrace me with open arms and I almost always gained weight. Whenever I went home to Connecticut for the holidays or vacation, it seemed like open season on overeating started as soon as I hit the airport. The smell of Cinnabuns or Five Guys would call my name so strongly that I’d kick off my trip by eating almost my whole calorie allotment for the day in one sitting.

I don’t want to do this the week I’m in Connecticut for Thanksgiving or later in December for Christmas. I’ve thought long and hard about how I can prevent this. I don’t plan to count points/calories on Thanksgiving Day, but I do plan to do that on the other days I’m out of town.

There have been previous trips home for Thanksgiving when I did not gain weight, and that was when I got a travel pass for the gym and worked out at a local Gold’s while in Connecticut. I got my travel pass yesterday and plan to work out both in November and late December.

My accomplishments on my journey to become healthy have inspired my Mom to go back to Weight Watchers and my Dad to try to lose weight. I know my Mom and I can encourage each other to be good starting Friday. I plan to go to a Weight Watchers meeting with her after Thanksgiving to put a stop to the holiday.

To further counterbalance the fear that I’ll gain a lot of weight at home – something that I could obsess over too much and let ruin my vacation – I’ve also given myself credit for what I’ve accomplished this year. I have changed a lot of my bad habits. I just can’t eat as much as I used to. Even if I could, there’s no way I could regain 30 pounds in one week. The stakes aren’t that high.

Furthermore, I’ve paid attention to my “thin” friends when they were eating enough the past couple of years to realize that I typically ate more than them at any one sitting. For the most part, they practiced much better portion control and balanced their calories in and calories out better than I did. This allowed me to stop being so jealous of how easy it was for them to be thin because I realized that they weren’t thin because they hit some genetic jackpot. They were thin because of healthy behaviors.

Realizing this allowed me to concentrate just on myself and what I need to do to change my life in terms of diet and fitness. I can finally say that I am on a lifestyle change and not a diet. There is no break from that. Even if I do gain weight while home for Thanksgiving, I’ll lose it once I return. I really am changing my life here and a blip here or a blip there is not going to keep me from continuing my journey to becoming and staying a healthy writer.

Do you take breaks from your efforts to become healthy? Do you have any good strategies for not allowing a break to keep you off track? Do you have any strategies for not gaining weight while on vacation or during the holidays?

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Bringing a Taste of Ireland Home

Last year, my parents, sister and I went to Ireland the week after Christmas. One of our favorite activities there was to have a bowl of vegetable soup and a piece of brown bread in the afternoon. Yes, we do travel around the world on our stomachs. But, in our defense, everywhere we went served phenomenal variations of vegetable soup and brown bread, and it was often chilly outside.

New Year’s Day, I was browsing the gift shop at the Cliffs of Moher (trying to get warm!) and saw Nuala Cullen’s cookbook Irish Soups & Bread. I couldn’t resist and very happily bought it.

I made my first soup just a day after getting back to the states. The recipe was for curried turnips and lentil soup, but you’ve probably figured out that I have no qualms about playing with recipes. I’m a New England girl and much prefer parsnips to turnips, so I substituted one root vegetable for another the very first time I made this.

Curried Parsnip and Lentil Soup

1 pound parsnips

1 cup dry lentils

1 large onion

2 large carrots

6 cups fat-free chicken broth

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 Tbsp curry powder

2 Tbsp parsley

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp table salt

Instructions

Cut the peeled parsnips and carrots into small cubes. Finely chop the onion. Heat oil in large saucepan, add onion and cook until soft. Add the parsnips, carrots and curry powder; cook for five minutes occasionally stirring until oil is absorbed. Add lentils and broth and cook until the vegetables are tender and lentils are cooked, about 40 to 50 minutes depending on how long the lentils were soaked. Check seasoning and add more curry powder, salt and pepper if needed. The soup can be pureed in a blender if a smooth consistency is desired. Add fresh, chopped parsley before serving

This yummy soup is 4 points per serving and hearty enough to be a meal.

Naturally, the first time I made the soup I had to make some brown bread to go with it, and I turned again to the cute little cookbook I’d bought in Ireland. I was still at my parents’ house then, and my mom was thrilled to pull out the extra bread pans that my grandmother had given her. It turns out my mom has great memories of her mom baking bread and rolls, and making this bread together was a way for us to feel closer to Grandma even though she is no longer with us.

Wholemeal Brown Bread

2 ½ cups coarse wholemeal flour

1 cup pinhead oatmeal (pretty sure I used old fashioned oats)

¾ cup wheat germ

2 eggs

approx. 1 ½ cups milk

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon bread (baking) soda

1 ½ teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons sugar

Instructions

Mix the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Put the lightly beaten eggs in a measured cup, add the olive oil and make up to a pint with milk.

Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour in the milk mixture. Fold in the liquid quickly and thoroughly, incorporating all the flour, then turn into an oiled 2 lb loaf tin, smooth the top and make two diagonal cuts. Alternatively, put the dough on a lined baking sheet and shape into a round cake, making two cross cuts on top.

Bake at 425 degrees F for 15 minutes, then lower the heat to 375 degrees F for another 35 – 40 minutes. Check whether the bread is cooked by tapping on the bottom – if it sounds hollow, it’s done. Remove from the tin immediately, wrap in a clean tea towel and prop upright until cool.

I can guarantee that this soup and brown bread make a great lunch on a chilly fall or winter afternoon.

Do you have any recipes you’ve brought back from a great vacation?

Post Note:

You may have noticed that I posted pre-weight loss photos with this blog post. I thought they illustrated the points I was trying to make, and I think it’s healthier to post them than to not to do so because I’m fatter in them. I can’t wipe away the ten + years I was obese, and I had some great moments in those years. Ignoring them because I’m embarrassed that I was so big then is not a helpful thing to do in my opinion.

I am vain enough though that I feel the need to post a current photo of myself at the end of this piece. As of Tuesday’s WW meeting, I’ve lost 29 (28.8 to be exact) pounds. I can also fit into more of my 12s. I celebrated by buying a bunch of new, smaller clothes on Tuesday and by wearing a size 12, black skirt (bought to thin into a couple of years ago) with a medium red top for the first time on Wednesday. For quite a while, the outfit you see pictured here was my ideal of what a thin me could wear, and I topped it with a stylish, size-12-short-coat that I also had bought when it was massively on sale to thin into. I was walking on cloud 9 most of Wednesday morning.

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Tami's Lists -- The Healthy Side of Lists

By Tami Brothers

I’m a list type of girl. Don’t believe me? Just check out my post over at the Petit Fours and Hot Tamales blog last week where I blogged about how I found a series of books that feed this silly quirk of mine (Did you see the part about me charting the dates I put out Kleenex boxes?).

Seriously, I make lists for everything: grocery lists, to-do lists, bill lists, book lists, and there is even that Kleenex list I mentioned. My house is cluttered with little scraps of paper with some type of list written on it. But that’s not really the point here. As much as I rely on my lists, it wasn’t until I read this blog and looked at several of the sites Trish refers us to that I even thought about listing the food I eat on a daily basis. Honestly, I never dreamed it would really matter -- until I charted that first day.

Day #1 Food Journal
Breakfast
Banana and milk 250 calories
Sausage Biscuit 380 calories

10:20 snack
Chocolate donut at work 250 calories

Lunch
Arby’s Chicken sandwich 400 calories
Cup of Sierra Mist 250 calories

Dinner
Cheeseburger (with the works) 770 calories
Potato Salad 350 calories
Soda 240 calories

Snack
Fudge bar 100 calories
===========================================
Total 2,990 calories

Okay, that was an eye opener! Here I thought I was doing fine eating a ‘healthier’ chicken sandwich and loading up the veggies on my burger. With these choices, I felt I could sneak in a few snacks throughout the day and they wouldn’t really be an issue. But 840 calories worth??? They definitely added up. And what’s with the 770 calories for a cheeseburger? I seriously had no idea I was putting this many calories into my mouth until I wrote them down.

Here is a more recent list.

Wednesday October 21, 2009
Bagel and light cream cheese 300 calories
Nips candies 150 calories
Fiber One Bar 140 calories
Healthy Choice Pot Stickers 380 calories
Flavored Water 40 calories
Fiber one Bar 130 calories
Salad with dressing 90 calories
Diet Soda 0 calories
Popcorn 50 calories
Slice of toast 60 calories
===========================================
Total 1,340 calories

See what I mean? Much better. There is still some snacking going on. Considering this is one of those days where I leave home at 7:30 a.m. for class in the morning, work for 6 hours and then head to class in the evening, and I don't return home until around 8:45 p.m., this was still a pretty good day. I’m more aware of just how much these little snacks and sodas add up and take this into consideration when I don’t have access to healthier foods.

There are still days when my office is filled with yummy things people bring in and the little voice in my head whispers about how ‘good’ I’ve been. On the days when I cave in to temptations, I write this down in my food journal and flag them with little colorful stickies that stand out when I look at the book. Then the next time I’m tempted, I look at the number of little ‘flags’ and debate with myself just how much I really want that chocolate donut.

As simple as this may sound, it’s tough to remember to do. Just typing this post has reminded me of the multiple days I’ve skipped. But when I do remember to journal my food intake, it really works. Not only am I holding myself accountable for each and every thing I put into my mouth, but I’ve also started looking at food differently. I no longer eat something just to eat it. Because my calories are limited, I need to make every item count. Trust me when I say I’ve actually found myself enjoying my meals a whole lot more than I used to.

Before I go, I wanted to share with you guys a neat site I found. Not only does it have some great tips and tricks on eating healthy, but it has some awesome recipes!!! Definitely check it out. AND don’t forget to start listing what you are putting in your mouth. You might just be surprised…

http://www.hungry-girl.com/

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Is it Really As Easy as 2+2?

I was reading a book the other night by one of today’s top fitness gurus and she says that losing weight basically comes down to math. A pound is the equivalent to 3500 calories. To lose a pound, we have to eliminate those 3500 calories somehow – either through food choices or through exercise. It’s that simple.

Or, well, not quite that simple. She also said we have to know what our daily base caloric rate is –how many calories we burn a day just by existing. Here’s the formula to figure that out:

655 + (4.3 x weight in lbs.) + (4.7 x height in inches) – (4.7 x age in years)

The last step is to factor in your activity level.

Sedentary – Multiply your result by 1.1
Lightly Active – Multiply your result by 1.2
Moderately Active – Multiply you result by 1.3
Very active – Multiply your result by 1.4

And that is your base caloric rate.

Keeping in mind that its not recommended that you consume less than 1200 calories a day, you can break your goals down with math.

Say your base caloric rate is 1700. You can diet down to 1200, cutting 500 calories a day (500 x 7 days in the week is 3500 – yay!!) to lose one pound a week. Want to lose two pounds a week? You’ll have to burn that other 3500 calories off in exercise!

What do you think? Is weight loss really just about the numbers?

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The Biggest Loser, Week 10

We made it to makeover week. Tim Gunn and Tabatha Coffey showed up to transform the contestants -- new clothes, new hairstyles and colors, even a shave for Rudy. It's amazing what a good makeover can do for a person, even if they do still have a ways to go before they reach their target weight. Loved Liz's and Rebecca's new hairstyles. And I felt Rebecca's pain when she told Tim how awful it had always been to try on clothes because she was overweight. I've been there, experienced that feeling of wanting to look good in cute clothes and being so disappointed that shopping became depressing instead of fun.

The family reunions just before the contestants went out to give their inspiring speeches were touching. The speeches themselves were too. Danny talking about his love for his daughter, Liz encouraging women to take time for themselves, and Rudy revealing for the first time on the show that his weight problem went all the way back to when he was a child and his sister was diagnosed with cancer and eventually died at age 14. Later in the show, Jillian finally got Rudy to dig deep and realize that his feeling of abandonment at that young age was the root of his problems. For all her harshness, I feel Jillian does truly care about these people.

Because of the makeovers and the speeches, the workouts were less this week. We saw some gym time and a challenge in which the contestants had to pull themselves across a canyon suspended 200 feet in the air. Poor Liz is afraid of heights and had to grit her way through the challenge with her eyes closed. That'd be like me having to do some sort of water challenge.

When it came to the weigh-ins, steamroller Rudy kept on rolling, shedding another 16 pounds. He set a new record of most weight lost in 10 weeks on the show. Danny had a double-digit loss, and Amanda had her biggest loss ever with 9 pounds gone. It came down to Liz and Rebecca below the yellow line, and the contestants voted Rebecca out.

After the episode was over, I kept the TV on but muted so I could wait for Rebecca's interview on The Jay Leno Show. She looks fantastic! She weighs less than I do now. And she ran a half-marathon. She also revealed the tidbit that I'd read about online last week -- she's dating Daniel, who was eliminated last week. Lots of Biggest Loser love connections happening.

We've only got two more episodes before the big finale. Who is your favorite to win? What moments did you enjoy most on this week's episode?

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A weekend of contradictions

I was at the RWA Board meeting for the past three days, so my brain is a wee bit tired this morning. I was sitting here looking at the screen, wondering what I could possibly post about. But then I realized that in addition to a lot of board work this weekend, I'd observed some interesting things health-wise. On the positive side, there are a couple of other board members who have been on weight-loss journeys and who have had incredible success. I'm hoping I can have them guest here soon. But at that same board table, candy and cookies were passed around. And I'll admit that I ate some of them. Part of it is that I like Dove chocolate/caramel squares and Christie Cookies, and the other part was that my willpower wanes when I'm tired. Board meeting days are long and you have to be attentive and able to participate in the discussions, and that also contributed to a lot of caffeine being consumed -- tea for some, soft drinks for others like me.

As you might expect, there's a lot of sitting involved in board meetings. I chose to look at it as a positive that our hotel rooms were a good hike from the board room. At least I was walking off some of bad calories I was consuming. I wish I'd had my new pedometer I ordered so I'd know how much I walked this weekend. For those of you coming to the RWA conference next summer, bring your walking shoes -- literally. I think we should all pull a "commuter" and walk to workshops in our tennis shoes and change into our cute heels when we get there. :) But the Gaylord Opryland Hotel is gorgeous and unlike any other place I've ever stayed. I think conference attendees are going to love it. And they'll get in lots of steps while they're there.

It's back to the normal routine today, and that means better eating (I just had an apple for breakfast) and exercise that isn't just walking around the hotel. With Thanksgiving next week, I really need to lose some pounds this week.

Hope you all have a fabulous, healthy, productive week. Please pop by the comments section and let us know how you're doing on your healthy writer journey and what you want to accomplish this week.

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