Cutting back on sugar, flour,...

I like your attitudes, Bobbi and Keta!

Okay, this is a little O/T, but I just have to let you know, Bobbi and Keta, that I always enjoy your posts on a variety of topics, nutrition, fitness, and otherwise. You have very sane and well-educated attitudes toward all this confusing stuff and you always exhibit class and courtesy in your posts. I aspire to your level of balance, level-headedness, and kindness. You seem to be first-class women.

I don't mean to exclude anyone else on this forum but I've just read more of Bobbi and Keta's posts lately. :)
 
The skinny cow ice cream sandwiches are wonderful. DH and kids love em as much as I do. And now that I've decided to just moderate the white sugar/flour stuff rather than eliminate it, I can have them again. I'm not going nuts on them now either. I guess that makes me a moderate person, rather than one from the all or nothing camp. Hey, whatever works! And different things work for different people. Like my Mom always says "That's what makes a horse race!"

Karen
 
RE: I like your attitudes, Bobbi and Keta!

Thank you HollyCat, I really appreciate that.

Keta. :D

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Just an FYI, I read on another site, WW that skinny cow's labeling was in question. I don't have any idea how true that was, but on another site, there was a post and it got into a very large discussion about food labeling in general.

Keta. :D

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Ah yes, good old emotional eating. I know it well.

I remember when I had to let go and trust my body. I made the decision to listen to it and deal with my emotional issues. It was the scariest decision I had ever made in my life.

That meant that I had to finally deal with my issues and some of them were pretty large ones.

This is probably too much information, but one of the biggest things that I found out about myself was that I learned not to love anyone. I had it in my head that if I loved someone that they would leave me. The reason . . . I adored my father. He and my mother divorced. He wasn't as active of a father that I needed when I was 10. At 12, my little sister (4 years old) was sexually assaulted by a babysitter and I became her mom. I grew up in the projects after they divorced. Needless to say, I felt that my life was over.

I had two other serious relationships after that, both of which I came close to marriage. They both left me too. So, I got it in my head that if I took the risk and loved someone, they'd leave me.

Well, of course, I wasn't a happy camper who contributed to my emotional eating demons. This one was one of the deepest buried issues. I realized it about 2 years ago and it smacked me upside the head like a brick. It knocked me down for quite some time.

But, after I dealt with it . . . my eating was easier because I wasn't using food to cover that I wasn't happy. I faced it and by doing that, I learned to take risks and become happy. It's been a long road, but it's truly amazing how much your past contributes to the use of food.

I probably revealed a bit too much here, but it's to prove a point. That point . . . emotional eating has to be looked at very closely and it does take time to ferret out issues.

Some issues are truly chemical . . . that's real, but a lot of it is emotional and it's very hard to some times determine which response is which.

Just my humble experiences.

Keta. :D

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Hey Deb -

That's so cool - I also feel like a weight is off my shoulder not having to decide - each time!!! That's EXACTLY how I feel -
I'm doing no sugar - no white flour (ok if there are traces I can deal!!)

Funny my father always wanted me to learn moderation - never did - never will --- but i realize i'm that way and have learned to deal with it!!!

Very cool to hear another person is releived to do it this way!! I'm not the only one --- lol
 
Hey, HollyCat!

Thank you, HollyCat! I was actually studying nutrtion when along came an unexpected third baby and I shifted my attention away from my studies. He is going to Kindergarten in the fall so I may go back to school. Who knows! I find it very enjoyable!

We are what we eat so I find it facinating that eating right can enhance our lives and our activities, protect us, comfort us! I love to cook and I love to learn all about how food works in our bodies.

And of course, it is great to pass information along. Plus, I learn so much from this website and I love that we can all meet here, sometimes agreeing to disagree, sometimes just getting to know each other. Thank you for the lovely compliment! You made by day!

Bobbi http://www.plaudersmilies.de/chicken.gif Chick's Rule!
 
What to eat??

I'd like to cut back on "junk" carbs. I snack a lot- a cookie here, bite of cake there, some chips, etc- throughout the day. I eat ok at meals. I'm not overweight, but could look more "cut." So, besides fruit, veggies, etc., what are some healthy snacks? I'm not into things like tofu or cottage cheese (wish I was).

Are the pretzels they sell at organic markets ok? or are these foods the same as plain pretzels, just organic?

Thanks!
 
RE: What to eat??

I enjoyed reading through this post, and could identify with so many different behaviors (especially emotional eating - my biggest peeve, I believe inherited from my father who is a junk-o-holic)
Bobbi, I love your sensible approach to eating, and agree 100% that moderation is the key. When my mother was about 18, she made up her mind to lose weight - she wasn't obese, but getting a little 'chunky'. This was over 30 years ago - she cut out white flour products, sugar and salt for a while - she says she ate lots of hard boiled eggs and salads :) She dropped the weight and over 30 years and 5 children later - looks absolutely fabulous - and has an awesome figure - she never put the weight back on. She's never had a formal exercise routine, but keeps very active working around the house and horseback riding. The point is that she did eventually start eating flour products and sugar again, but in moderation. She always tries to keep an eye on how much she eats, and control herself - without depriving herself of any foods.
Oprah had a really good show yesterday about eating for your heart - whole foods are definitely the best for your heart, which is what nutrition is all about - your health! Also, an alarming fact was that diabetes has increased 70% - even among young people - this is due to the way our society is eating now -fast foods, fatty, refined foods. And young people in their 30's and 40's are having heart attacks - even thin people. So I think the primary concern should be eating with your heart and health in mind - not always about fretting over calories all the time.

Keep up the great posts!
 
Potatoes?

Hi, I wrote the original post and would like to thank you all for all of the different advice.

I think one of the earlier posts mentioned if you eat potatoes, you should eat it with something else. Since I LOVE potatoes- mainly at dinner- but will try to cut back and eat them maybe twice a week, should I eat them with a protein, like chicken, or what? Does this go for other starches, like rice and pasta?

Also, how can you tell if a food has things like white flour? I know sugar is in tons of stuff. Below are some foods I eat regularly. How can I make better choices than these? I do live near an organic market. Thanks Again!!!!!!

rye toast w/ lite butter
instant maple & brown sugar oatmeal
tuna w/ lite mayo on oat bread
PB&J sandwich
microwave popcorn
chips, pretzels, cookies
canned soups
pizza
pasta, rice, potatoes
rolls at restaurants

Thanks!
 
RE: Potatoes?

Well, from that list, here's what I would have eliminated while I was in weight loss mode. As mentioned in one of the posts above, once the weight was gone and a few months of stabilization went by, I do eat some things with flour and sugar very sparingly as a "treat" now and then. I'm not a big candy and ice cream eater (could go the rest of my life without eating ice cream) but I do like gingerbread and oatmeal cookies. As for potatoes, they are high on the glycemic index. If you eat them, balance it with a lean protein.

The maple instant oatmeal (change to "old fashioned") without sugar

I'd make the bread on the tuna sandwich sprouted wheat (Eziekel or Alvarado Street - these are flourless but very tasty)

Same with the PBJ (but I'd look for a sugar free jelly if that's possible - I don't like PBJ so I don't know if it is). That's another food high on the glycemic index.

Popcorn, chips, pretzels, cookies - gone until you've lost all the weight you want. In my case, I eat a cup of Fiber One cereal with cut up strawberries, peach, or blueberries as a snack.

Canned soups - a lot of them are fine. Black bean soups are good, tomato soups, vegetable. Progresso has some really good ones, also their lentil is good.

Pizza - how about a whole wheat pita bread with chopped tomatoes and some low fat shredded cheese run under the broiler?

Pasta, rice and potatoes are all high on the glycemic index (meaning that they hit your blood sugar faster than complex carbs). Personally, I didn't eat any of them other than some occasional brown basmati rice, while I was trying to lose weight. I still don't eat potatoes very much at all (maybe once or twice a month)

Rolls at restaurants - no. You don't know what's in them.

I know I sound like an obsessive, joyless b**ch, but I'm not. Losing weight, especially over 30, is hard, hard, hard. I don't believe in doing things half way if you have a goal you want to accomplish. My view is, suck it up, do what you have to do (that way the job is done in the shortest possible time) and then try introducing some of these foods again providing that you continue to work out sufficiently to handle the calories.

Bobbie, you mentioned that you eat cookies and milk and in the same post, that you run 20 miles a week. If you run that much, you are much more able to handle that kind of eating than someone who does 3 videotapes a week and doesn't have time for anything else. I ate a banana muffin this morning but I also did Cathe's entire PS series today. I wouldn't eat that muffin if I wasn't working out hard and long. It was so cruddy being overweight. Thinking about that is sufficient to stop me from indulging in any untoward eating.
 
RE: Potatoes?

Hi Lay - I think your resolve to eat healthy on week days is a great one. I started out that way and now I pretty much carry it into the weekends as well (I can't help it, though I am trying to ease up a bit). I think you really should visit an organic market. You will probably get hooked. I have a lot to learn about nutrition but I do know that organic food is just so much tastier for some reason. You will also find loads of other healthy options for snacks etc (whole wheat crackers, 100% fruit spreads etc.). I think they are a little more expensive but so definitely worth it. If you are into canned soup, you will find tonnes of stuff low in additives, sodium etc. and rich in fibre. They also do great fat free pasta sauces that go well with whole wheat pasta. Good luck!

PS - Does anyone have any handy tips on how to eat more healthily at restaurants
 
RE: Potatoes?

Hi! Restaurants are always a nice treat - my husband & I usually treat ourselves on the weekend to a restaurant.

Just a couple of things I do - I try to pass on the bread basket; for salads, I ask for my dressing on the side and just dip my fork in it once in a while; also I try to stick with grilled chicken/fish or steamed vegetables. I cannot resist dessert, so my husband and I always share it (he eats most of my half too :) )
 
RE: Potatoes?

I have just been doing research for a friend, trying to put together some information about eating. She has just started exercising. Besides a list of serving sizes, which I think, is one of the trickiest aspects of all this, knowing how much to eat, I found a site that offered this: Depending on how active you are, you should eat 4-6 or 5-7 carb choices per meal. One serving contains about 15 grams of total carbohydrate. This morning I had one buckwheat waffle and one flax-soy waffle with 1 tbs of maple syrup and 1/2 cup of peaches. So, that's 43 grams of CHO for the waffles, 13 for the maple syrup and 20 for the peaches or 76 grams total divided by 15 grams = 5 servings. I have never counted my milk or fruit as part of my carb intake, only bread, pasta, rice, cereal as carb sources. I usually do ballpark figuring. I found it all very interesting. A cup of milk and a cup of yogurt both countas a carb and of course, they are proteins as well. I am trying to be very specific for my friend and I think I am going to take a closer look at my own intake. I downloaded a bunch of pdf files I haven't had a chance to look over.

The important thing is to do what works for each of us individually. K60, you are too tough on yourself. You have accomplished a major feat, dropping almost 80 pounds. You are an expert and you should let anyone who asks for help know what worked for you. I think we cover all the bases in these forums. I am a huge fan of carbs, most runners are:) So I base my opinions on that. There's something for everyone.

Keta, I tink you are couragous to reveal yourself and I thank you for doing it! These forums are wonderful and I have learned so much from all of you whether I agree with your choices or not, I respect each opinion and I love to give advice on how I think everyone should eat!
Bobbi http://www.plaudersmilies.de/chicken.gif Chick's Rule!
 
RE: Potatoes?

I love potatoes. I'm Irish:). I eat once or twice a month, usually french fried or sometimes baked. You can eat them with low glycemic foods like beans to even out the blood sugar spike or an acid like a salad with oil and vinegar. They are difinitely an occasional food. As a kid, we ate them daily! Usually with red meat!

I like the skiin cow ice cream sandwiches! They are very tasty!

Bobbi http://www.plaudersmilies.de/chicken.gif Chick's Rule!
 
Don't eliminate those carbs just yet..

It's interesting and I can see how it could help reduce fat stores in the short term but high protein diets are still not as desirable as high carb diets because protein is not a clean burning fuel and, if the protein sources are high in fat, the risk of heart disease will go up. Long term high protein use leads to ketosis which is what happens to your body when it is in starvation mode and burns it's fat stores since no carbs are present. A vegetarian high protein diet might be more acceptable but I am sticking to carbs. I just bought pasta made from spelt (the same as the Ezkiel products) and also quinoa pasta. Both have high protein and high carbohydrate. I think whole grains and fruits and veggies are the way to go along with lean meat and vegetarian products. I'll bet we could both eat the same diet and with a little tweaking mine could be higher in carbs, yours in protein and we'd both be pretty healthy. It's high fat high, protein diets that become problematic.
Bobbi http://www.plaudersmilies.de/chicken.gif Chick's Rule!
 
RE: Don't eliminate those carbs just yet..

Hi Bobbi, I'm pretty new to this site and Cathe and love reading all the helpful info. I totally agree with what you are saying about diets. So many people drive themselves crazy about what to eat(only protein, no carbs, no fat) it's crazy. My thoughts are if God made it, it's ok to eat. Anything that is grown in the ground and pure is not bad for you. Example,carrots,potatoes,fruit(these are not allowed on alot of carb-restricted diets) I also agree with your comments on eating carbs. I do alot of cardio also, and I need them for energy,not to mention that your brain needs carbs to work properly. I think it's ok to have treats every now and then. I eat "clean" during the week and allow myself treats on the weekend. I do have a question for you. Where do you get alot of your organic food? The food that you say you eat always sounds so good. Anyway I just thought that I would give my comments on this subject.
 
RE: Don't eliminate those carbs just yet..

Hi, jwmcguff, I am lucky to live in Tucson. We have Wild Oats, a chain that carries only organic produce and meat and poultry that has no antibiotics or hormones. We also have Trader Joe's and many of the local chain grocers carry a variety of organic and vegetarian foods. We are near Mexico so we get wonderful produce year round.

Last night I was lecturing my family about their fruit and veggie intake since eating a diet high in fruits and veggies can reduce your cancer risks dramatically. I try to get up to nine servings a day of fruits and veggies. I think it was Keta who recommended the 80/20 rule, eat clean 80% of the time and the other 20 it's ok to be a little decadent. It's all about balance, isn't it? I love to try all sorts of foods and I love whole grains. It's a bonus that it's the sort of stuff that is go great for your good health.

Bobbi http://www.plaudersmilies.de/chicken.gif Chick's Rule!
 
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