I need to change my ways.....

[anniet]

I was on the Wishboards a while ago, but I really need to get back here -

Since I've been gone I've gained 20 pounds and have far less energy than I used to. In the last few weeks I've been exercising pretty regularly but am alarmed at how out of shape I am.

I know this sounds strange, but we have a cat and with the pet food recall I'm taking a real hard look at what we are feeding her, so it seems insane not to be doing the same for us.

To top it off, DH went to visit family in Albuquerque and his 2 year old niece ingested his blood pressure, cholesterol and anxiety meds. He called once she was okay and said "I don't want to take these anymore, I want to find a way to do it without meds" Which was music to my ears.

So since I'm the food shopper and preparer it's up to me. And it's not just about losing weight anymore - it's about eating clean unprocessed foods that will keep us healthy.

If anyone has any suggestions or advice that you think may help - I'm listening.......

 

[fofinia]

Howdy! Welcome back to the Wish boards!

I wish my DH would want to seriously watch what he eats. His Cholesterol was high. He took it seriously for like a week.

I'm doing WW to help me drop the weight. It's slow for me but they really focus on vegetables. So maybe you could try and aim for some new recipes featuring low fat chicken breast and fresh veggies? Drinking more water. It's hard for me to avoid the processed stuff if I'm not prepared. So I have to think ahead and have stuff that's easy to grab at the go in the fridge. I like baby carrots and hummus dip. Or celery too. I keep the individual servings of no sugar added applesauce on hand. Bananas, very portable.

Don't feel bad if you feel out of shape. Any amount of moving is better than none. Just keep adding more movement in. I saw a woman on tv once who was a professional eater for competitions. She was in her 60's and was tiny! I mean tiny. She said she not only exercised for 1 hour in the morning. But she got up and moved every hour for 10 minutes. I try to remember that last part and get moving more often. (Oh and she ate very healthy when she wasn't competing.)

There are lots of people doing different things on here. You could check out Prevention.com and read some articles for your husbands concerns and see what they recommend. Or sparkpeople.com will set you up with meal plans and you can focus on certain things such as reducing cholesterol. And it's free.

HTH Good luck! Keep up the good work.

 

[Luthien_Rei]

Now that the weather is getting warmer it's a great time to grill food. I love chicken and veggies on the grill. It's a great way to eat heathly and cut out some fat that comes with cooking food other ways.

Something else that I like to do is make sure my food is well seasoned. The only way to keep eating healthy is to make sure the food tastes great.

 

[anniet]

Thanks for the responses - I think I am going to try to eat more Whole Foods and less processed. A friend just gave me a book called Ultra Metabolism, that I just finished the first couple of chapters and it seems to make sense from eating to improve health not just lose weight.

And thanks fofinia, as much as it hurts, I'll keep moving!

 

[AlreadyexcitedGrammy]

Gosh - just home from a mission trip to Mexico and FIRST message I read is from my BUDDY- AnnieT!

My trip was a group of 7 women -we joined into a larger group totaling about 70 of us. One of the gals with my small group is a cancer survivor and we did some "serious" discussion of what we eat today. I KNOW that I must now too take a SERIOUS look at what I am putting into my body!

Day before I left - my DH was bummed - his cholesterol back up (170) but he has had triple bypass and it needs to be down to like 100 for him and his dr said his blood sugar higher than it should be. My bp teeters on high side and of course I am a WISHer cause I need to lose the 20 lbs that I just need to lose!

The quick summary is that it is the same advice as what I have heard over and over and OVER again, no white flour, no sugar, no PROCESSED foods, eat whole grains - no chemicals on what has been grown AND watch the chicken - It can be worse than beef (that was a new one for me) chicken pumped with chemicals to get them to market quicker - Grain fed is what to look for in any meat.

I will be doing some research and reading too - and moving in that direction - I want to feel be healthier and I know that eating is the way to do that.

Gotta run but let's start a thread and see if we can get some reading sources and I will get the names of books from my friend - she is not on the diet right now but I know she did tons of research - Annie there is a place on the east coast that teaches one how to "cook" for cancer patients - one of the guys daughters had uterine cancer and went there and she eats only what she makes herself, etc. and now, actually runs a business - (in Calif) for cooking for cancer patients.

I gotta run - back to reality today - and so quickly I get back into the time crunch schedule...................

 

[MelanieC]

Hi Annie & Bev,

When I'm on track and in lose mode I do eat pretty healthy. It's when I get on one of my eating "binges" and I can't seem to get out that I eat stuff that is not good for me. What I want to do is to learn to live and eat like this all the time and not get into my out of control eating habits.

The thing is, I like eating like this. I really do!! When I'm in my "zone" I try to eat things that fill nutritional requirements including my snacks.

Instead of buying granola bars, I'll eat a variety of fruits and nuts for snacks instead. Instead of having one of my favorite Starbucks mocha popcicles I would try to have a smoothie, frozen fruit, fruit or something along that lines.

For the most part I buy almost everything I eat all natural or organic. I shop at Whole foods mostly. When looking at recipes, I have specific items that if they are included I won't cook them. For recipes I keep whole foods, no mayo and if it includes sour cream I try to make sure it's only a bit. I don't eat very many fat free items (except dairy), but I wont' eat fat free dressing or sour cream. I don't use regular dressings either. I either make my own, use olive oil/vinegar or I sometimes use salsa.

I really try live by eating the "superfoods". The book Superfoods has a list of them.


Just for instance,
This is my day today
Breakfast-
Smoothie
1 cup plain nonfat yogurt (stoneyfield all natural)
1/2 banana, 1 cup blueberries, 14grams almonds, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and some ice cubes.

I didn't get a chance to eat a snack-working from home today and I was too busy.

Lunch-
2 100% whole wheat organic tortillas, 30 grams fat free cheddar, 1 whole avacado mashed, added some homemade salsa DH made, splash of lemon juice.

Snack-
I'll have 14 grams walnuts this afternoon

Dinner-
1 cup 100% whole wheat organic pasta
homemade red clam sauce
salad with a little bit of vinegar and olive oil

snack-
pumpkin smoothie
1/2 cup pumpkin, 1 cup yogurt, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 banana & Ice cubes

Superfoods used-
2 cups yogurt, pumkin, tomato sauce (lycopene), whole grains, blueberries



I think it would be great to have a thread to discuss eating whole foods, recipes (I have some really good healthy whole food type recipes), etc.

 

[ohMom]

ANNIET!! sooooo good to see you back on the WISH board with us! miss you here!!

ok, honestly, i'm leaving in 11 days now for our cruise -- i'm not in the mode to make big committments right now -- but i believe in the power of eating right as i can even now when i eat like crap i feel more like crap. with Paige's JRA i believe in feeding my family good wholesome natural foods. so i will join this bandwagon with you all on Apr 29! until then, i'm definately interested in keeping the conversation going and utilizing this board as a place to share great foods, etc that are natural.

i tell you what though there are a few things i'm not ready to give up, and eating out will be another problem. Mom and i have talked and I have shared my thoughts that even following a wholesome food plan 85% or 95% of the time has to reap benefits, and more likely we'd lose the taste for the processed crap anyhow

 

[ohMom]

mel -- why not fat-free or reduced fat dressing. this will be a hard one for me as i really do love my Kraft Light done right three cheese ranch. is it the hydrogenated oils you steer from??

i do have a Whole Foods about 30 mins from my house and i have walked around it, love it but think it would be very very hard to shop here exclusively. they are missing some key staples, like reduced fat mayo