Nutrition and exercise!

[Jennifer Lynn]

Oh my, this is bringing back memories! A couple years ago I made myself a hoop and started hooping away. I LOVED it! Unfortunately, I had to move to a different room in our house and I no longer have the room to hoop. I agree, if you hate the gym, try hooping.

On the nutrition front, I try to eat very natural. I drink raw milk, try to avoid process sugar (it makes me break out within hours), keep a balanced intake of fruits and veggies and make sure eat plenty of yogurt to keep my digestion working.

For exercise, I really need to get back into shape, but with the freezing cold weather it's hard! Right now I'm pretty much only doing upper body workouts every other day. I do 15 ladies-pushups, 15 sit ups, and 60 curls with a 5 lb bell. But I need to get something cardiovascular in there.

PrairieSunrise - For cardiovascular during colder months, have you tried speed walking at an indoor venue (mall)? When I lived in CO I would do that regularly to keep my cardiovascular health up to spec.

 

[Jenniferose7]

Jennifer - That'd be my worry too - running into things while hooping. How much are good exercise hoops running these days?

Well I make and use hoops that weigh about 1lb. Most commercial hoop companies charge $40-$50 for their hoops and then there's hefty shipping charge on top of that. I used to order from Hoopnotica. The hoops are great but I just cannot rationalize a $20 shipping charge. That's why I taught myself to make them.

 

[Miss Crisplock]

Hmm,

I'm with Paisley. I cut out most of the carbs in my diet and added bacon, red meat and lots and lots of cheese.

I've lost 39lbs so far and all my numbers- cholestoral, LDL, Triglicerides etc are fabulous. WAY better that the recomended #'s.:eusa_clap

My MD keeps asking what I am doing, and I keep telling him: bacon. Who Knew?

 

[Jenniferose7]

My MD keeps asking what I am doing, and I keep telling him: bacon. Who Knew?

Bacon? You don't say! I've always shied away from it because it was supposed to raise cholesterol.

Very interesting...

 

[Paisley]

There has been research suggesting that fat--even saturated fat--doesn't contribute to heart disease. Some doctors believe that the carbohydrates that people substituted for fat have been disastrous. (As far as I know, the trans-fats are still bad for you.)

When I started Body for Life, I tried to do the ultra low-fat thing, but it made my joints hurt. While I didn't go out of my way to eat fatty meats and such, I went back to full-fat mayo and salad dressing and whole eggs. My triglycerides, tested a week ago, were 45. The other lipids were normal, but I'm hoping to improve them with almost all the wheat and much of the sugar out of my diet.

Dr. William Davis, a cardiologist, says when he tried a low-fat diet, he ended up gaining 31 pounds in a year and became diabetic, even though he was running five miles a day. His blog entry about his experience:

http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/overweight-hungry-diabetic-and-fat-free.html

 

[Miss Crisplock]

Ah, I do say. Bacon consumption went from 0 to 2lbs a week; colestorol down 110 points.

To be fair, I'm eating pork chops and beef too. Always ate lots of fish. Carbs? Not so much.

Oh, and no diet products other than soda. Full fat mayo, salad dressings, etc.

It isn't the current "party line" vis-a-vis nutrition, but the numbers, weight and lipids support eating this way.

 

[Paisley]

Low-carb is probably close to what our ancestors ate back when they were running around on the savannah. According to paleoanthropologists I've read, they were quite healthy, and died mostly from trauma and infection. They say that humans started becoming overweight with the beginning of farming roughly 10,000 years ago. Some people are really into the paleo diet, trying to duplicate as much as possible how their early ancestors ate.

To be fair, I don't do low carb, at least not like the Atkins diet or Miss Crisplock's eating plan. But I certainly don't follow the old U.S. govt. food pyramid--the one that suggested eating 6-11 servings of grain every day (can you say "bloat"?). I eat about equal carbs and protein. Some people really get good results with low-carb, though.

 

[Miss_Bella_Hell]

I absolutely refuse to give up wheat. You can pry a nice, crusty bread from my cold, dead hands. lol I will dip it in olive oil until I die, thank you very much. Also, I eat cereal or oatmeal just about every morning. I love carbs! Still losing weight from exercise and watching what I eat (most dinners are brown rice, fish, salad, and a veggie like yams or broccoli).

I think what our vastly different diets tell us is: eat what you like in moderation, and exercise, and you'll be fine. Do what seems to work for you.

 

[Paisley]

I think what our vastly different diets tell us is: eat what you like in moderation, and exercise, and you'll be fine.

I ate wheat products in moderation (except on my free day), I did six hard workouts a week, and I put on 20 pounds. It was frustrating! Some people can eat wheat in moderation and not put on weight; I'm not one of them.

 

[Miss Crisplock]

While I'm not as low carb as Atkins, I gained my weight eating low fat, high carbs and skiing (as an instuctor, on the Mt. all day, 3-5 days a week).

Oatmeal, salads, diet dressing, potatoes, fish, boneless skinless chicken breasts. Put on the pounds [huh]

 

[Viola]

I have gotten steadily leaner and smaller sizes, but now I get dizzy spells far more often and muscle shakes. Like, just a soft fast trembling, especially in my legs.

Energy is sorta generally low, but Rockstar gave me a nice set of palpitations so I'm saving it for special occasions.

Also, I swear I never used to be cold.

What should I be eating/doing?

 

[Paisley]

I think those energy drinks are mostly water, sugar and caffeine. I guess that's OK in a pinch if you really need to stay awake, but it's probably not a good staple.

What are you eating/doing now? (By all means, reference a post if you've already described it here.)

 

[Viola]

I don't do the energy drinks very often (less than once every week) but I do drink about a litre of coffee a day and sometimes some tea as well.

I try to eat 1k-1600 calories every day. I eat a lot of chicken and eggwhites and some fish. I like chocolate very much but buy the tiny individual wrapped ones so I eat only a maximum of 200 calories of it a day and that only during the week when I feel like I need sugar to stay awake at work. I do eat probably more carbs than ideal but mostly in the form of whole grain bread, whole grain pasta, and vegetable pasta. (the kind that is a mixed box of spinach and tomato pasta with regular)

I walk four miles a day.

I have recently added more fruit to my diet. Today I had chicken breast on a tortilla for breakfast, a grapefruit and a bagel for lunch, and some regular noodles with lowfat cottage cheese and ricotta and salsa for dinner. Also the candy. I'm trying to switch to mostly very dark chocolate so I eat less of it but I haven't entirely made the transition yet.

EDITED: I am still about two pounds into overweight even though I am a size 3-4 in pants. I don't know, I guess I'm magical.

 

[Paisley]

Viola, I've read your post carefully, but keep in mind that I'm not an expert on nutrition or exercise. These are just suggestions based on my own experience.

You say that you're tired, need a lot of caffeine, and get sugar cravings. Maybe some more sleep would help. Lack of sleep can ramp up your appetite.

I know you're petite, but 1000 to 1600 calories per day sounds a bit light.

I don't mean to harp on it, but I've found wheat to be an appetite stimulant. Since I stopped eating it on my non-free days, I've had no problem limiting myself to one or two tiny pieces of chocolate a day. An observation made by diabetics who carefully manage their blood sugar is that wheat spikes their blood sugar worse than table sugar.

I don't know--maybe you are having blood sugar peaks and valleys? For $10, you can get a blood glucose meter at Walgreens and test your fasting, one-hour and two-hour levels. For instructions, see http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/14046889.php.Click on "read this first," scroll down and click on "Am I diabetic."

Fat: it's OK to eat some.

 

[Caity Lynn]

I track my calories through the Live Strong page. Whats your weight/height/bmi. I know for a 5'8 gal that amount of calories is about on.

 

[Viola]

I'm five foot even and my weight goes from about 128 to 130 lbs. My BMI is 24.5 or 25 I believe. I'm not supposed to be more than a max of 127 because I'm so short. I've not had my actual bodyfat levels tested.

The wheat thing is interesting. The blood sugar thing - I'll have to look at that in depth tonight. There's a tremendous amount of diabetes in my family. The one time I went to the doctor and was like "I get sick and dizzy if I go more than three hours between meals" he was just like "don't go that long then" but I didn't have diabetes then so I don't know.

 

[Jenniferose7]

Vitamin supplements also help with my energy level when I don't get what I need from food. I take womens multi every day and a B-complex for energy. I feel a big difference when I don't take them every day.

 

[Paisley]

Viola, I think you might find this interesting. It's from a blog written by a cardiologist; here are some highlights:

A Heart Scan Blog reader sent this fascinating description of his wheat-free adventure.

Whenever I discuss this notion of going wheat-free and the incredible health effects that develop, I invariably receive comments or emails saying something like "I eat wheat and feel fine. That can't be true." The problem is that not everybody needs to go wheat-free. 20-30% of people can include wheat in their diet and suffer little more than weight gain, some not at all.

But stories like Michael's (below) are commonplace in my experience.

It has now been nine weeks [since I stopped eating wheat] and all I can say is that I am completely amazed....I would like to list for you everything that has happened to me since I eliminated wheat from my diet.

1. I have lost a total of 12 pounds in the last 9 weeks.
2. I have lost 1 ¼ inches of belly fat
3. I have lost a tremendous amount of fat from my neck.
9. I have always had to fight dehydration. That is no longer a problem.
10. I used to drink two large cups of coffee every morning just to be able to function. I now have enough energy that I have eliminated caffeine from my diet.
11. I sleep more soundly than ever before and my dreams are clear and vivid.
12. My thought processes are more active and clear than they have ever been.
14. I used to have problems with getting the “shakes” if I had gone more than a couple of hours without eating. It was as if I was suffering from low blood sugar. I would even be afraid that I would pass out. Now all I feel is hunger. I can go all day without eating and never feel in danger of losing consciousness.​

My advice: If you have any inkling that you might have a wheat sensitivity, make a New Year's resolution to stay wheat-free for 4 weeks and see whether you can feel any difference. Not everybody will, but many will be telling us about the dramatic health turnarounds they experienced.
​

Read the whole post here:

http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/search/label/Wheat

 

[Miss Crisplock]

Viola,

Please clear your messages, I'd like to PM you.

Miss Crisplock

 

[Paisley]

Vitamin supplements also help with my energy level when I don't get what I need from food. I take womens multi every day and a B-complex for energy. I feel a big difference when I don't take them every day.

I wholeheartedly agree. We don't necessarily get all the nutrients we need from food.