Showing posts with label reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reviews. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Ground Regained, the starch experiment at lunch (Insulin Resistant folks, take note), and a cool new "Paleo Diet" book is out... on day Day 78 of Phase 5

Tanita-san said: 206.0
Doc's scale said: 208.0 (and I had clothes, shoes, jewelry on).

So, my scale seems pretty darn accurate. That's the Easter bloat GONE and .2 lbs down from official weigh-in. Now, to make better progress! Only 6.2 pounds off to be in ONEDERLAND! Only 20 pounds to be NOT OBESE!

~~~
Okay, for the IR among you, here is me being a guinea pig again:

I did an experiment, a perhaps foolish one, when I went out to eat with sis today after my MD appt. We headed to a Mexican joint. We ordered veggie fajitas and mixed chicken/steak fajitas, so we could share. This allowed me to have my usual protein plus veggies. I also ordered unsweetened tea, water, some no-sugar espresso to finish up (no dessert, natch).  Didn't use the sour cream. Had the dollop of guacamole for my healthy fat (and cause it tastes num). Had the pico de gallo, again, cause it's num. They don't serve cheese with theirs like I've seen some restaurants do.

But today, I had some beans. I had about 1/3 of a cup. Not a lot. No other starch. (I asked the waiter to not bother bringing tortillas --neither sister or I eat them--and I had no chips--sis has some, and the rest are bagged for hubby. I ignored the rice that came as a side.)

Well, today is the FIRST afternoon in quite a while that I got the sleepy-slumps. I don't believe this is at all a coincidence.

Normally, lately, since ditching starches, I am revved up and energized ALL DAY from the get-go. I have no slumps. I am sometimes SUPER-CRAZY -TOO-DARN-MUCH energized. I even had one person ask me recently, a tad jokingly, a tad not, if I was on something.

NO.  I'm OFF something.

Seriously, I don't do drugs unless they're Rx for a condition. I've NEVER EVER EVER done any illegal drug, not even in my teen years. I was a goody-two shoes like you would not believe in High School. I mean, when the vice-principal reprimanded me, it was for reading my Bible at lunch break. Yeah, I got harassed for that. Snarf.

Needed to clarify it wasn't drugs, too much caffeine, or too much thyroid meds. (They've been checked often and my levels are within limits and excellent.)

It's the Lacto-Paleo/Primarian way of eating I've had. That's what makes me seem hyper at times. :)

When I eat starch-free, I have:

No yawning.
No loss of pizzazz.
No desperation in hour-long workouts.
No lethargy in front of the TV prime time.

I have:

So much energy I sometimes wanna workout again after my trainer-led hour of Pilates is done. Or I want to go out walk again after I get back from 40 mins. And a healthy sex drive. And low appetite. And no cravings (beyond mild normal desires). And no binge-ing. And no dips in good mood (which is a blessing).

Even at Easter, when the family members (other than the children and my hubby, who had no starches, either) were slumped on the sofa or dozing off or yawning or calling for Cuban coffee to perk up, I went to play Frisbee with my vim in zoom-drive.

But today...I had a starch. Not even a full 1/2 cup serving. And blam: reaction.  I started getting the dozies as I checked email about 15 mins ago. That's about 2.5-to- 3 hours hours after eating.

Dat ain't no happenstance. I believe the beans caused my insulin to spike, and now I am paying the price for it with the yawns-and-dozies.

I hope this doesn't jam up my newly restored momentum. But I cannot guarantee. One thing I've read over and over is that not only are starch-sensitive/insulin-resistant folks messed up about carbs to begin with, when carbs are restricted, there is an increased-sensitivity to them, so ingesting them can cause even GREATER spikes in insulin than previously.

Well, nothing to do now but back to avoiding the stuff my pancreas does not like. Post-meal slumps suck. I want my ENERGY BACK. NOW!!! Give it back to me, you stupid pinto beans!

Yeah...I had forgotten how much the slumps suck. My brain feels slow and my whole face feels like it wants to shut down for a nap.

Okay, will drink more water, move around a bit, splash my face, and refuse to go down without a fight. If I have to walk with this sleepiness, I'm not gonna have fun. And I like having fun-walks.

Speaking of FUN: I bought the new book EVERYDAY PALEO on Saturday at Barnes & Noble, and Amazon began shipping it out yesterday. So, if you've heard the buzz and want to check it out, I liked it a lot and wrote a review. You can find my review HERE--I'm "Mir"--and if you can click "helpful" , I'd appreciate it. I like to keep my ranking under 200. (I sure did my best to be informative and helpful, which you'll see when you check it out.)

If you're a mommy and like more "clean" food and lower carb type eating, this is for you. If you have kids and insulin resistance, this is for you. Lots of pics. Nice recipes. No nonsense workout info. More pics. Shopping lists. Well, read the review I posted at amazon and I go over what the book covers.

Dat's all for today (prolly). I'm gonna go try to unslump.

Throwing blessings over all of you. See them sparkle in the spring air....Catch one!

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Day 51 of Phase 5: The Five Books I'd Recommend To An Obese Person Wanting to Lose Weight (the ones that helped ME, so yeah, subjective); Linking to a Book Review Good for Dieter and Maintainers; My New ASICS Onitsuka Tiger Footwear; And Accepting I Can't Multi-Task! :-/

No scale today. I had to rush out of bed and throw on panties and clothes to answer the door--and then talk numbers with a lawn care dude. And then had breakfast. And forgot. And i don't do weighing after I drink or eat anything..uh-uh. Naked and empty is how I do it.

Okay, since I talked yesterday (after my rant, hahhaah) about what advice I'd give to someone wanting to start a weight loss journey and I specified what I'd put in a weight-loss-encouragment gift basket, today I'm gonna list (prolly not for the first time) the FIVE BOOKS that I'd recommend, cause they helped me 1. reach epiphanies and 2. learn strategies that my (formerly) morbidly obese butt needed to implement. And my (currently) obese butt needs to keep implementing.

Here's the list. I think in future, I will do posts that go more in depth about what I valued in each book. For now, you can google up or amazon up reviews and comments about them.

They are in no particular order other than the first one, which is THE epiphany provoking one par excellence of the bunch for moi:

1. THE END OF OVEREATING by David Kessler
--Helped me understand why I had insane, junkie-like cravings to eat insane quantities of food until I was in pain from the fullness; why I binged; why I couldn't stay on a diet; why chain restaurants and fast food joints become addictive; why I was a food freak. Opened my eyes to one major aspect (not comprehensive, but essential) to why I overate. And how to stop it. And I stopped it.  Lots of science stuff, but once you are in it for a couple of chapters, it hooks ya.  NOTE: It's on sale RIGHT NOW at amazon.com as a "bargain book" for less than 6 bucks. If you want it. :)

2. WHY WE GET FAT by Gary Taubes
-- For many of us (maybe most in Industrialized countries, especially, that do not require morning to noon hard physical labor), yes, it's the carbs. Miles more accessible and readable than his previous one (which was great and an eye-opener for me, but I didn't epiphanize like with this one). Lots of science stuff (but not as densely so as the previous).

3. SWITCH: How to Change When change is Hard by Chip Heath
--Basically, a nice overview of techniques and studies on HOW to change. Since I wanted help with changing how I ate, I figured it was worth looking at non-diet books that related just to...well..CHANGE. How to do it. Here it is.

4. BEATING  OVEREATING: The Easy Guide by Gillian Riley
--If you've ever felt you were addicted to food, then Riley is on your side with techniques on how to beat that addiction. If you use these tools, they work. If you USE them...they work.

5. REFUSE TO REGAIN by Dr. Barbara Berkeley
--Bought this cause I plan to be a maintainer. :) Hopefully by Christmas. :D Turns out it's not just great for those who lost their excess adipose tissue, but for those who are losing it, too. Even if you've only lose 1/10th of what you need to lose, you don't want to REGAIN, right? :)

So, for the fat and the formerly fat, here is a great book by a doc with a practice that seeks to help folks lose and keep the fat off. It's accessible and chock-a-block with well-organized tips.

She takes the Primarian dietary approach (which coincidentally is what my registered dietitian came up with--not that she knew that until I told her--when I handed her the DDDY Challenge menu packet and said, "Adapt this to my medical conditions, please, and make it so I can stay at or under 1200 calories." She did that, and it ended up virtually identical to what Dr. Berkeley recommends.) Primarian is like a modification of Paleo or Primal (meaning she allows some dairy and artificial sweeteners/treats). You can find the link to her blog on my blogroll, where it's been featured since last year. :) She's also on Facebook.

I mentioned REFUSE TO REGAIN last not out of least honorable or useful, but to segue into this link to Sunshine's Heart blog, where Karen, the lovely blog owner of said blog, a very kind and supportive weight loss blogger who used to be in the DDDY and is now in maintenance mode (hooray) is reading, reviewing, and raving about the book.

If you are one of the fortunate MAINTAINERS, you might want to also look at this one: JOINING THE THIN CLUB: Tips for Toning Your Mind After You've Trimmed Your Body.

And if you have issues thinking of interesting meals to cook or for meals on the go while still staying at 1200 to 1600 calories for the purpose of losing OR maintaining, I also recommend:

1. The 400 Calorie Fix (what a neat book! Much nicer than the other X00-calorie types books I've seen).
2. Cook This Not That

Lots of great photos. Easy recipes. Ideas for eating out. All good, right?

Well, I hope this was helpful. If you've read or reviewed a book that changed your weight loss journey for the better, caused an epiphany for you about your relationship to food, or got you moving and cooking healthfully, please post a link to your review to it. Or just leave a comment as to the title and how it helped. THANKS.

Oh, and here's pic of my newest footwear. I am now an ASICS fanatic and in the last few months have acquired 4 pairs. Three are pricier running/multi-purpose ones that I needed for the challenge exercise portion. These are for general fun use, errands, outdoor fests--things where I wanted a jazzier pop of color and didn't need as much stability /motion control and padding. So comfy. Light as clouds. And RED. Me love red footwear!!!!

My Onitsuka Tiger (yes, Japanese name and the box had Japanese lettering!) babies:
Um...I need no-show socks, yes?




Now, I need to go do many things I've been NOT doing. (I really need to finish that book on Procrastination, as that vice/flaw/bad habit is still on my "to conquer" list.) I seem to only be able to focus on two major things at once. With the diet and exercise, decluttering my closets, judging the contest entries, and catching up on reading...many, many other things are falling into disarray and disorganization on a massive scale. Cleaning, decluttering books, editing online at the magazine I volunteer for, bills??? I'm so bad. Off I go to deal...

Happy Tuesday, people! Be well...