Thoughts: 2.27.09

Technically it’s the 28th now, but I haven’t gone to bed yet. So until I do, it’s still my birthday. lol… I turned 35 today. It feels strange. Last year, when I turned 34 I felt older than 34. I convinced myself it was because I was ‘wise beyond my years.’ Now I realize it was because I felt older physically. I was tired, stressed, and my diet was atrocious. I started working out around this time last year and I’m still keeping it up. I can’t imagine life without exercise. I’ve upped my workouts by adding heavier weight-lifting 2-3 days a week, and amped up my cardio workouts by doing drills and intervals, along with kickboxing. So, turning 35 this year is weird, because I realized that I feel more like 28…

I still have a lot of work to do. I’m working on my diet – an on-going struggle as I am a world-class ‘foodie.’ I LOVE cooking, and love EATING. lol… I don’t eat nearly as badly as I used to, but I still have my vices. I, like many, am a chocoholic. I’ve switched to dark chocolate, which has helped – it’s less sweet, so I don’t need as much. But I’m coming close to giving it up entirely… sugar is sugar and once I have some I just want MORE.

I’ve swapped out drinking cow’s milk for Almond Milk, and surprisingly, I don’t miss milk. I use almond milk to make chai-style teas [sugar free] and hot cocoa sweetened with a little agave nectar instead of sugar. I also use it in my morning protein smoothies, that are a variation of my ‘infamous mud’ – it actually looks like mud now… it’s usually a greenish-reddish-grey color. It looks disgusting. Luckily it tastes really good. I’ve figured out the perfect balance of liquid nutrients, fruit, almond milk, cranberry juice, flax meal and protein powder. It’s delicious, satisfying and it only takes a couple of minutes to whip up. I’m also snacking more on just plain fruit. Not fruit with cheese or nut butters.

Lately, I’ve realized that when I have a snack and I’m still not satisfied, tea usually does the trick – or chewing some minty gum. I’m finally realizing that when I stress eat, I’m not hungry and I don’t necessarily need food. I just need to chew on something… I do plan on stocking back up on seeds – I love pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds – both high in zinc and fibre, so very healthy. And I’m having fun coming up with different hommus-style bean dips using different kinds of beans and flavorings – always filling and delicious with some raw veggies. I’m also going to attempt to make crackers from scratch without using any wheat… I’ll try it with millet, my new favorite grain, and whole flax seeds, along with plenty of flavors from garlic and spices, sesame seeds, etc. 

I’m happy to say, that after trying to like greens over and over – and failing miserably, I’ve finally figured out how to prepare them so that I do like them – kale, collards, chard… Lemon and garlic, steamed in the micro for kale and chard, julienned and tossed into salads or soups for collards. I eat them almost every day now. Mission accomplished! lol…

Now I’m trying to figure out what to do with nori – how to turn it into some kind of crunchy snack… I use kombu in soup several times a week now, and I’m just starting to incorporate wakame into stirfrys. I have to say, I’ve gotten a lot of inspiration lately between Clean-Eating Magazine and You Are What You Eat – a British reality show on BBC America about Gillian McKeith – a holistic nutritionist who overhauls people’s diets putting them on a strict, natural detox plan full of fruits, veggies, fish, pulses, seeds, nuts, eggs, and ‘white meats’… she’s pretty creative with her menus – and she’s absolutely BRUTAL on the people in the show. She’s about ‘tough love’ and the guy that narrates it is hilarious. I don’t know if the show would fly as-is in America if they were to do a US version… it’s so NOT PC… but it’s refreshing to hear her tell people like it is. My husband hates the show for one reason – McKeith alway examines peoples “poo” to assess how their insides are doing. I have no problem with this – I used to scoop poop for a living [mucking stalls on a horse farm]… It’s just another layer of “shock treament’ for these people who are so overweight and unhealthy and need a drastic change before they end up in a box.

Anyway… today was a great day. I slept in… got an 80 minute massage [which hurt like hell, but I felt like a million bucks afterward], relaxed at home and then my hubby took me out to dinner at our favorite restaurant – a little French Bistro, where the food is so fresh and cooked to perfection. Plenty of fresh veggies with the main course. And I did get a dessert [it is, afterall, my birthday!], but only had a couple of bites before boxing it up. Such a great day… I dont’ want it to end, but I really should get to bed!

=D

Calories Burned Calculator

I’m turning into an iPhone fanatic. I’m using my phone for everything – I keep track of my financial accounts on it, I track my weight, how much water I drink, I have a food nutritional information application that I can look up items on, a daily food journal/calorie budget application… and on and on. I’m only just starting the food journal app, and in it you can add your own excercises and calories burned per time period – so I needed to figure out approximate how many calories I’m burning doing the various workouts I do. Well, I found this great site with a ‘Calories Burned Calculator‘ based on your height and weight with several exercises listed that you can enter number of minutes performed to get the calories burned. Check it out here:

Calories Burned Calculator

I was pleasantly surprised to see that when I do vigorous weight training, I burn about 400-500 calories in 35 minutes. Woo-hoo! I still do ‘Turbo Jam’ and it’s not listed, but I used ‘Judo-Martial arts’ instead since there’s a lot of boxing and kicking, etc. in the TJ workout. This way I have decent approximate calories burned to add into my daily journal – which calculates how many calories I need to lose 2 lbs/wk based on my height and weight. It’s a decent guideline. I’ve never counted calories before, which could explain why I eat too much. lol… I have no concept of how many calories are in most of the food I consume. 

As for my status, I lost 4 lbs last month and am determined to do better this month. I went back and reviewed some info from Ann Louise Gittleman’s Fat Flush plan… and I’m wondering if my weightloss has slowed due to eating more low-fat dairy. I’m going to cut down for a week and see how it goes. 

I also tried something new: Almond Milk, to replace cow’s milk in my smoothies and in my new favorite comfort – ‘Clean’ hot chocolate. I’ve made 2 variations now, and I love both and don’t find that I miss all the fat in them. So after looking around online to see if I could find almond milk in bulk so it’s less expensive, it seems making it from scratch is pretty easy, so that’ll be my next thing. All it takes is 1 cup of raw almonds, skins on, soaked 8-12 hours in clean filtered or spring water. Then you drain them, and blend the soaked almonds in 4 cups of clean water. You can add flavor if you want – 2 tsp vanilla extract [alcohol free if you want o keep it truly 'raw' - I honestly don't care... I'm not on a raw food or vegan diet], or 1/2 a vanila bean pod, honey or agave syrup to sweeten, natural unsweetened cocoa powder, etc. and whiz it up in the blender together. The last step is straining it through a fine mesh of some sort like cheese cloth. You could also use a coffee filter or paper towels, sprout bag or nut bag… if the liquid your’e left with isn’t 100% smooth, put it back in the blender and blend until smooth. What I’m not sure of is how long it lasts before it goes bad. 

I’m going ot cut down on caffeine – I drink organic coffee 3 days a week when I’m in the office, black, which is fine, but I tend to drink tea all day long when it’s cold out and caffeine taxes the liver and can slow down fat burning… So instead I’m going to switch to hot lemon water, which I love. An added bonus – it keeps your teeth whiter, and cleanses the liver, primes the digestive system so it’s more efficient and it’s hot, which is what I want in winter!

Something I’m excited to try later today is julienning some kale and using it like I would pasta for some shrimp scampi – sautéing it in garlic and olive oil and tossing it with shrimp and lemon juice. If it turns out well, getting my greens will be a lot easier. 

Cheers to good health… 

Calories Burned Calculator courtesy of healthstatus.com