My Fat Flush Journal...Officially begins 3/3!...comments welcome

[TxRabbit]

Hello everyone. I've editted this very sad post to a more positive one...

I'm turning 38 in March. I'm a full time homemaker. Married for over 12 years. Mother to a lively DS8, soon to be DS9 in just two weeks. According to the Wii Fit that we picked up this Christmas, I'm a whopping 194#s and "obese."

With the new year, correction, with the first MONDAY in the new year, the calendar is marked yet again for change. I have high hopes that this will be permanent change. Not just another temporary success. I know that I have emotional issues that must be dealt with in order to maintain any weightloss success. I hope that through this journal, I will be able to motivate myself and also work out some issues that have sabitoged (can't spell, sorry) my past successes.

This year, I am doing the Fat Flush plan. DH is my partner. We have done this plan before, with good results. It's a rough plan, designed by Ann Louise Gittleman. The jist of it is that you need to hydrate, detox, and de-inflame your body. Most of us have an inflamed body due to food sensitivities that we aren't really aware of. This inflamed body has a negative effect on our health and fitness. The plan is also focused on fueling your body with fat flushing enhancing food, supporting liver function (your fat metaboliser, which I didn't know before reading her books), colon function, and digestion in general.

I know that I have a wheat sensitivity. If you read my pre-editted post, you read about a horrible bout with IBS that I had after eating WAY too much wheat. Fat Flush is especially good for someone like me that needs to avoid wheat. Very supportive.

So. Starting tomorrow, the Fat Flush begins.

We will be working our way through Phase 1 for 7 days, following the recommended guidelines for the prequel to Gittleman's 24-Hr Detox Fast. We will have a modified Phase 1 for the 3-day sequel to the 24-hr fast. We will continue in Phase 1 until the recommended 14 days for Phase 1 has passed.

It's going to be a trial. I wish I could be like this . But, having done this before, I know that it is really hard to do.

But I'm up for the challenge.

Here's the rough business...
No grain
No beans
No dairy
No soy
No alcohol
No caffeine
No added sugar or sugar substitutes (except Stevia)
No sweet veggies (like peas and potatoes, limited one carrot a day)
Picky fat, two servings daily of Flax Seed Oil and naturally occuring fat in lean cuts of protein

I won't detail the entire thing here. But suffice it to say, we are talking about a serious diet regime. It isn't intended to be something that you would do long term. It's meant to flush potential irritants out of your system so that as you add these common offenders back into your diet, you can see how they affect you. You may be sensitive to something and just don't know it.

The author affectionately calls Phase 1 boot camp.

I got high hopes for these upcoming two weeks. I know that I am bloated with water weight. I know that I am totally dehydrated and retaining water bigtime. I know this regime really helped me get hydrated, which was the big jump start that was so motivating before. While I honestly dread having to do the next two weeks, I AM excited to see the results on the other side.

DH and I will also be doing a purchased devotional together. It's target is new graduates. It's called "Getting Started;" 100 Devos for a New Beginning or something similar. It applies to anyone entering a new phase of life. I also picked up Fit for My King for myself, which is written more for a woman.

Comments welcome here. Especially if you are a fellow Fat Flusher.

 

[TxRabbit]

To be measured...

 

[TxRabbit]

To be determined

 

[TxRabbit]

DH and I had a bit of Fat Tuesday yesterday. We always do this. I must research what that means, really. There must be a clue here as to why we always feel like we to have the over extravagant indulgence before a change.

It almost wrecked our morning. DH was willing to forgo our efforts for today. I knew he wanted to get started but I think that he was concerned more about how I was fairing to help him. I think he feels bad about how much he needs my help sometimes and doesn't want to bother me. He wanted to start making his own lunches as part of a new change.

Mornings are rough to begin with. DH got a new job in April 2008. The new job is still in the metro area, but it is 60 across town. Traffic here is unbelievable, so the commute is rough business. In order for the drive to be the hour-ish drive it should be, DH needs to hit the road BEFORE 6 AM, preferably 5:50 AM. I know some don't consider that too early. In our house, it's rough to do every morning.

But we got up this morning.

We drank our long life cocktail, diluted 100% cranberry juice with a teaspoon of physillum husks, as per the plan. Yes, folks. It a bit gagalicious. You must chug it before the husks thicken.

Then we drank our hot lemon tea. A cup of hot water with the juice of half a lemon. Read the plan. Lemon is an amazing help in fat reduction. Did you know that lemons are hybrids?

DH helped me get lunch together. Been working on the prep work all yesterday. Washing the produce properly takes some time. The sink wouldn't hold water, so I've been using a large bowl. It can only hold so much. And the soak times are generally LONG. I tell you what. I had some reservations about the recommended Chlorox bath, but after doing it, and eating the results? I am a total believer.

Breakfast was two eggs, with cilantro, green onions, and salsa. And more diluted cranberry water.

I actually went back to bed this morning. I don't normally, but DS is still out of school. I read though.

I feel like my life is revolving around food right now. I hope this will ease up as we hit a stride with a routine. Had the midmorning fruit snack. One cup of mixed berries.

The cranberry juice before lunch and then with lunch. Lunch was a measured 4 oz. of baked chicken. I normally grill, but I mistakenly bought the tenders and not the breasts. I thought they would bake better than grill. I have to say. They came out really great. DS really likes the strips too. Also ate a large serving of steamed brocolli, which I happen to love. Followed by a salad of mixed baby greens, spinach, diakon radish, green onions, red peppers, and cilantro. The dressing is a mix of flaxseed oil, lemon juice, and apple cidar vinegar. Pretty satisfying. Lots of chewing. Now I'm hungry again.

Should be time for the afternoon fruit snack. An apple. And more cranberry juice water.

All in all. The day is going well. I'm drinking more water than I normally do. By the end of the day, I need to drink half my weight in ounces. When I feel a bit hungry, I get some water. This hunger is more real though.

It's nice to be able to feel hungry. I admit to eating from habit often. Not really feeling super hungry. Feeling hungry actually feels good.

I'm proud that we didn't let the silliness of last night put off our new beginning today. We overcame this morning. That's a good thing. DH didn't get out the door when he really should. We knew that he would be in traffic this mornning, so we need to work on the sleep aspect of this whole change. But at least we got started. Yay for us for that.

 

[TxRabbit]

Spent the day feeling hungry on and off. I was SOO ready for dinner tonight! You know, when you actually MEASURE 4oz of meat/protein, it really isn't a whole lot... I knew that we needed a low cal eat a lot type side dish.

I experimented in the kitchen and made a super tasty dish. Lots of excellent fat flush foods included. For my own memory, I used about half a purple onion, 3 cloves of garlic, 2 small zuchinni, collard greens, one can of no salt added diced tomatoes, 1 t ground cumin, 1 t ground corriander, about 1/4 cup of the new mexico chili Kroger brand salsa, and several dashes of cayenne pepper. It was spicy and super tasty. We also had asparagus and steak.

The no no of the day was all the Tostitos chips and salsa that we ate while watching the beginning of the Tostitos Fiesta bowl. I mean, seriously, who could watch the game and NOT eat chips? And then a bit of popcorn, too. Ah well.

We didn't have any beer during the game, so that was an improvement! LOL. Also, made it through the day caffeine free.

All in all. A good day. The blunder for the fat flush foods doesn't affect the timing of the 24 hr fast. That's important to me. That fast did wonders for me last go around, I'm actually really looking forward to it.

I've also been a frequent bathroom visitor today, much more than normal, so I feel like I got my water intake in. I realize that I need to track how many glasses I'm having through the day to be sure though. Especially for when I'm not retaining anymore. Back to the bowl game. I'm glad there aren't any more bowl games that we are really super interested in. At least right away...

 

[TxRabbit]

DH stayed home from work today.

I loved having him stay home, but it did throw a wrench in the whole eating business. DH and I don't need much of an excuse to do anything we want to do that is food related. It's a vacation. It's a holiday. It's exceptionally cold outside. It's really hot outside. And food is often a reward for good work too. Not exactly how that started, but it did. Ugh.

I'm happy to say that we did well this morning. We eat our proper fat flush breakfast. Then we left the house to get some things taken care of, including a doctor's appt for DH. Soooooo.

We had some money left on a Starbucks gift card. We decided to use it to get rid of it today... LOL. Then we ate lunch out...

We made sensible choices for lunch though. Panda Express has some good choices. I'm sure it is all super high in sodium, but what can you do? No rice. We did veggie main side and "wok sense" chicken items. I didn't feel totally bloated when I finished the meal.

More errands, and we topped off our "outing" with another run through Starbucks to finish off the gift card...

It's like money burning a hole in our pocket...

Anyway, we will be eating at home tonight. Eating leftovers from last night.

The one thing that I am proud of in all this is that we may be doing things that aren't a part of the fat flush plan (dairy and caffeine), but we didn't just give up on it entirely. Definitely have been guilty of this in the past. Oh. We messed up, didn't do it perfectly, might as well blow it big if we are going to blow it... But we haven't been doing that. Yay for us!

I've been reading about some different calorie tracking websites here. I think I might check that out. I doesn't really apply right now, as we are generally limited by an eating plan, not by calories, but it would be interesting to do and track, and would be good for building a habit of it.

Meanwhile, I requested the 30 day shred and walk off the pounds DVDs from my library. I'm excited to see them and give em a try.

 

[TxRabbit]

Well...

The plan MAY have been to eat leftovers, but the sad truth is that we didn't.

DH picked up our new bed mid-afternoon. We got a new CANOPY bed. OH. I absolutely LOVE it. Found it for such a great price, and it really is a quality piece of work. It took a bit of time to assemble it. Getting the canopy part together involved a few crashes. Afterward, DH had to leave to pick up his perscription (he went to see the dr today) and it just seemed so much easier to have him bring home dinner. So we ate from Chick-fil-A. Ah well.

I looked up the NutriMirror website today. Got signed up and entered in yesterday and todays food. I'm trying to figure out how they make money. There's no Adsense, only an Amazon ad. Everything else is just content. It's absolutely amazing. And it was so easy to use. I'm so glad people are sharing all these tools. It is so enlightening to see what you eat.

As funny as it is, with two totally different days of eating...I ate almost the exact same calories each day! Just under 1900. Weird. I read in the Okonawa Diet that people generally eat the same pounds of food each day. The key is to have your poundage be a lower caloric value. You can eat pounds of veggies, for instance, and not be eating many calories. That diet classified food in terms of calories per weight, with categories like lightweight, featherweight, heavy weight. Very interesting perspective. I recommend reading it if any of you haven't. Just to think about food in a new light.

So my sodium intake for BOTH days is outrageously high. If this is typical of the way I have been eating...WOW. No wonder I've got such a bloat on.

I tell you what. I think that if I had been keeping a food dairy after my last big weight loss success, I don't think I would have gained all the weight back. This is such a great tool. I totally understand why the "experts" say you need to do it. And after the pain it is to do... (it does take time, but I'm hoping that it will get streamlined as a routine sets in), I also understand how people get sick of it and give it up. Especially if they think they've got everything under control.

DS goes back to school tomorrow. I anticipate burning some calories around the house. It's a pit. Really. It needs attention. I've been "vacationing" from housework while DS has been out of school. NOT GOOD. I wonder if that website has housekeeping activities listed for exercise? Talk about motivation to clean some toilets!

 

[inkkognito]

That website sounds pretty cool. You're right, a food journal can really keep you on track even after you lose the weight. It forces you to put the slip-ups right there in black and white.

 

[TxRabbit]

That website sounds pretty cool. You're right, a food journal can really keep you on track even after you lose the weight. It forces you to put the slip-ups right there in black and white.

I was talking with my mom and we were also commenting on how the simple fact that you are recording what you eat can influence what you eat. My mom was hilarious, talking about how sometimes, you just choose to not eat so you don't have anything to have to record. LOL.

Today was interesting. After two days of analyzing what we were eating, I realized that my latte habit is my main source of calcium. I ODed on milk when I was pregnant with DS. I made him sensitive to it. He would act cholic-y if I had any dairy, so I had to lay off the sauce, so to speak. With that, I totally lost my taste for milk. I can't stand it. I used to like yogurt, but then I got picky about my yogurt. Only one brand I liked, sweetened with fruit juice not sugar or fake sugar, so it was a lot lower on the sugar, and just SO GOOD. But it got to be expensive. And with the Fat Flush we did a year ago or so, we got out of the yogurt habit. I need to get the calcium figured out before we can do the Fat Flush full on. I know that calcium is one of those supplements that you really have to pay attention to, so you don't inadvertantly set up your diet or your supplements in such a way that the calcium addition is useless to your body. It would appear that I need to supplement with iron too. Most other things are looking pretty good. I need to address the sodium.

So today, I got the kitchen all cleaned up. This is a big deal as the dishwasher is sitting in the breakfast room. We had to deal with a slight flooding situation at Thanksgiving. So everything is wash by hand. It takes a bit to clean the kitchen, especially with all the home cooking I do. I went to the store and got the new groceries all washed up. I still have to finalize that tonight. They are waiting to be chopped and stored. My fridge looks really pretty, if I say so myself. It's like a convenience store.

I made an awesome new dish. I love experimenting in the kitchen. Tonight I made a Green Curry Veggie StirFry. Came out AWESOME. It's a keeper. Except that the sodium is really high with the commercial curry paste and especially the fish sauce. Not sure what to do about that. I know I can't make fish sauce, but maybe I could make the curry paste?

It is weird to even write this, but I am proud again of my unsuccessful day. It's a measure of success, but not a complete one. I rarely will even acknowledge such a thing, so I feel like I am making strides in giving myself a break, not beating myself up over not being perfect. I think this is what I have done in the past. And then I just go ALL OUT bad, instead of just allowing myself to have one nice drink treat. This is good.

I also bought a kitchen scale today. I absolutely LOVE it. I had one before, but it wasn't digital, and because of the style, you couldn't really measure grams accurately. I've discovered that grams really are the best measurement for all these veggie intensive recipes.

I'm such a planner. One of the reasons that I love a good Disney vacation. There's so much to plan! I find that I am really getting into planning our food, keeping track of it, reporting on it, analyzing it. I'm one of THOSE people. I feel good that I have something more productive to do with my planning/organizing self that I actually enjoy.

 

[inkkognito]

Mmmm, that green curry sounds yummy. I am a major curry fan.

 

[TxRabbit]

I love curry too. The only ones that I have made also have coconut milk, which is pretty fatty, even the low fat versions. Ever made a curry without it?

Today started knowing that we would have dairy and corn tortilla chips. LOL. The last college bowl game is tonight. We had some chips left over from our last bowl game, so we decided that would be our football munchies. With that in mind, we went ahead and had lattes too. DH woke up late and didn't get out the door before DS, so we went to Starbucks together. It was a nice leisurely morning.

The big research project today is trying to figure out non-dairy, non-supplement sources for calcium and iron. Beyond the veggies, I discovered black strap molasses. I've never actually HAD the black strap kind before, but I'm not adverse to the other. Ways to use it that are Fat Flush compatible include making a hot beverage with it, a kind of tea-like thing. Also, adding it to smoothies. Both of these would totally work for me.

So tomorrow, getting the black strap is top priority. In order to meet my nutrition requirement, I'll probably have to have both the smoothy and the tea versions.

There is a drink on recipezaar, my fav recipe site, for a "Liver Detox" drink that sounds like it would be an excellent addition. I like the simplicity of the recipe that just adds 1T to hot water too though. I'll mix it up to get it into my diet. When I have had to take iron as a supplement, it has caused digestive issues, so I am very motivated to get iron from food.

Meanwhile, the kitchen is total mess all over again. This is my ongoing struggle. I need to just get the thing done. I used to use a messy kitchen as an excuse to eat out, so I feel good that I am just dealing with it. Hopefully, I'll have enough leftovers built up for the weekend that I can get the thing done and get back in maintenance mode. Maybe we'll get the dishwasher in this weekend too.

I'm pretty excited to have this dietary puzzle. I love researching the recipes. It's frustrating that it is taking longer than I had hoped to get going on this, but I feel like what has occured so far is a definite improvement.

And how to say this without sounding like a total lush? We have also made it through all this football without drinking any beers!! LOL.

 

[jenanderson]

I have to say that the messy kitchen totally spoke to me! I can remember so many nights of coming home to a messy kitchen or to a kitchen where it just seemed like too much work to cook...and it always led to eating out. It is great that you are dealing with it and not going out. I think that is a huge accomplishment.

Good job avoiding the beer! I am planning on using some of my WW flex points this weekend to have some sort of drink!

 

[TxRabbit]

A study was conducted to analyze the eating of fat people v. thin people. In one part, the people were given a big, huge milkshake before a meal. EVERYone enjoyed the milkshake. There was no difference here. The difference occured later during the meal. Thin people didn't eat as much during the meal. They ate to a point of satisfaction and ended up eating far fewer calories than they normally would.

Now the fat people. The fat people ended up eating for MORE calories than they normally would have. It turns out that they figured they had blown the DAY anyway, by having the milkshake, so they just went all out during the meal and consumed far more calories than they normally would have, thinking they would start anew the following day.

I saw myself when I read this. Totally and 100%. And I have been struggling to eat like the thin person this week. If I don't follow the plan 100%, this isn't a license to go all out, get all the bad done today and start anew the following day. No. It just means that I had a treat. Move on from it RIGHT NOW. You don't have to blow dinner just because you blew lunch. Or a snack. Or whatever.

We ate Papa John's last night. It was a conscience decision. I like that. I like that it wasn't mindless. DH insisted that we order a thin crust for our pizza so the wheat wouldn't be SO horrible for me.

Then this morning, we ate Taco Cabana breakfast tacos. I have no guilt over this whatsoever. I am pleased with this too. I'm not thrilled that we ate out two meals in a row. And I have been in contemplation as to the REAL reason why. I'm trying to practice thoughtful eating. A purposeful life.

Yes, the kitchen was still a total mess. But we had a TON of leftovers in the fridge. It's not like I needed to cook. The fact is that I just didn't want to do ANYTHING kitchen related. NOT ONE THING.

It's my job, you know? I'm a homemaker. I used to have issues with this word. Now I have issues with the whole SAHM thing. I HATE that. Yes, I have a college degree. Yes, the SAHM implies that I gave up a career so that I could stay at home. It also implies that I'll be heading back to careermode when the kidmode is done.

But you know what? I do so much more than be a mom. I AM a HOMEMAKER. I do the things in this house that transform it from just another house to OUR HOME. I am a FULL TIME homemaker.

The issue with this is vacation. Seriously. How does a homemaker have a vacation? How do you get a break from work?

This is why I wanted DELIVERY dinner. You know. I would have eaten DELIVERY soup if I could have gotten it. It wasn't pizza that I was craving. Don't get me wrong. It was AWESOME and I loved every bite. But what I really wanted was a break.

This morning was slightly different. This morning we had a bit of a scare about the pipes and freezing issues. We have already dealt with water damage just after Thanksgiving. It was a stressful morning until DH went out to the water meter (to understand how to turn off the water supply to the house in the event of a burst pipe) and when he took the lid off, something happened and the water started flowing. He didn't touch anything. Weird.

Anyway. I wanted my hot latte drink. It's SUPER cold. It was stressful. And I wanted my comforting drink. And I just wanted to enjoy my comforting drink without having to deal with breakfast for the family. Much easier to just let DH pick it up while he was out.

So there you have it. Momma needs a break.

I can deal with the business of cooking and cleaning, but I need to factor in regular vacation times in it. Hello? Sabbath anyone? I'm not a Jew, but I am a Christian, and I think that I just got a smack in the head when it comes to understanding a day of rest from your labor.

So. New assignment. I need to figure out a way that will allow for a Momma break without involving restaurant food.

I was also very productive yesterday. I have much to report on that. But I will save that for another post.

 

[TxRabbit]

I anticipate posting a LOT today. I'm doing dishes today. There's a bit of a backup in the kitchen. Since I have to do everything by hand...I load the sink, walk away while it soaks abit (this where I post), then go back. Clean. Reload sink. Walk away.

Anyway. I LOVE the nutrimirror site. Absolutely LOVE it. It is such a revelation about nutrition. Really. It's one thing to deal with calories. To get them to a low enough level to achieve weight loss. But it is an entirely different thing to deal with the level of nutrition that you are feeding yourself with the calories that you consume.

Especially if you don't want to rely on supplements.

Or at least. You want to minimize them.

This is my whole focus now. I really started this way. Trying to follow an eating plan in which you consumed foods from various different categories, that we known to be supportive of liver and digestive functions. So that we could have a healthy detox. The fact is that if your system isn't equipped to deal with an the toxins that you try to flush out during ANY type of detox, you can make yourself sicker than you already were. Sick meaning, toxic, not necessarily illness.

So. Calcium and iron. Holy COW. This is very difficult to get into your system. Iron especially.

Calcium is easy if you have dairy, but dairy isn't necessairly the BEST source of calcium. My research has shown that the calcium in dairy isn't as readily available as the calcium in kale, and other members of that family. Spinach is worse, even though people may say its a good source of calcium. It has calcium, but there is a chemical in spinach that inhibits the bodies ability to access the calcium in the spinach.

What's funny about many "good" sources of calcium is that they are really supplements. Calcium added to foods. And with an understanding of how there can be issues in how much calcium the body can actually absorb from different sources, I wonder how well the body actually absorbs the calcium added in all these foods. Like orange juice. Hmmm.

So my search for calcium naturally occuring in food has led to some interesting places. Seeds. Seeds are a great source of calcium. Apparantly, chia seeds are a new fav in the health food industry. As a high source of Omega-3 fats and calcium, they are the newest great food to eat.

So yesterday, I made a smoothy (or a frappe) with the cran-water, whey protein isolate vanilla flavored, frozen raspberries, chia seeds, blackstrap molasses, and olive oil. WOW. Sounds bizarre, I know. But it was creamy and smooth and wonderful. A little bit of seed like texture from the fruit and the seeds, but not super noticeable or bad for that. The nutrition was 1/3 of my daily requirement for calcium AND IRON. How cool is that? And I really liked the taste. It was strong with the molasses, but I liked it. May not be for everyone, but I could definitely drink this every day. Especially if I play with the added fruit and some seasonings, depending on the fruit. I am pleased to figure out that this will be a regular part of my daily intake.

Very pleased. Once upon a time ago, I couldn't face breakfast in the morning. But I COULD deal with a smoothy. I had one every day. I never tired of it. It was fast and easy.

Here's a fun tip to help with measuring and clean up. Put your blender container on a kitchen scale. Use grams. Just add ingredients directly to the container to the proper gram for a serving. Tare between. I didn't have to clean a single measuring cup or spoon. Just the blender. Which I would have had to clean anyway.

 

[inkkognito]

That is a very interesting fact about the milkshake and fat people vs. thin people. I'm a counselor, and it makes a lot of sense to me because it's part of what I deal with regularly in addictions and various behaviors, including eating. It's so easy to use one mistake as a reason for giving up the day, but the truth is that you have a choice every single minute of life. A great thing to keep in mind!

 

[TxRabbit]

Ok Ladies. You MUST realize by now what a researcher I am. I LOVE it. IF it's something I'm interested in, of course. LOL. It motivates me. Especially with nutrition, if I have an understanding of something, that knowledge will be a motivating factor in life long change.

It's how I quit soda on April 1, 2006.

I drank Diet Coke. BIG TIME. I drank more DC than water. Easily. A LOT more. LOL. So I finally found out that the phosphoric acid in brown sodas inhibited your body's ability to absorb calcium. That's all it took. I don't want to be old and bent over. Soda doesn't fit in with that picture.

Oh I'd tried to quit in the past. I lumped soda in with a catch all must be caffiene free type goal. I'd fail. So when I gave up soda, I gave up phosphoric acid. I gifted myself with something that would benefit the me that was 30, 40 years older. Even less likely.

So. Calcium. Did you know that 99% of your body's calcium is in your bones? Did you know that 1% is in your blood? Did you know that the calcium in your blood is ESSENTIAL. IF you don't provide your body with adequate calcium through diet, it WILL leach it from your bones and teeth. No doubt about it. IF, and only IF, you supply an OVERAGE of calcium in your diet, will your body actually REPLENISH your bones. WOW.

I know my history. I know what I have done to my body. I also know that my bones are constantly being rebuilt/worked on, etc. It may take a year. But in a year's time, I could have an entirely DIFFERENT skeleton than I currently have. ENTIRELY.

One of the uses of calcium in your blood is to act as a buffer when you make your body more acidic. It is the counterbalance to that. So a diet that results in a more alkaline body will also be of benefit.

There are several things that indicate a counter calcium absorption. Fiber. Broken amino acids in eggs. These things are things that are a part of my healthy eating. Knowing my goals, I am increasing my desired intake of calcium. I am totally motivated for it.

I have to say. I love how interested in being healthy I am. I haven't had this enthusiasm in a LONG time. It indicates a desire to me for a more healthy life. More than just a weight loss goal. I'm very excited right now.

 

[TxRabbit]

Yesterday, I picked up the new book Fat Flush for Life.

Sooooo interesting.

Based on how your body responds to the seasons, this book has recommendations for food sources that will help to restore different body functions that are primary in each season. So winter. Kidneys and adrenals.

As always, the recommended eating plans are all focused on keeping your body as a metabolic MACHINE, keeping its ability to burn calories high, and inhibiting your body's natural tendencies to store fat. LOVE IT.

Through reading this book, and praying, I feel like I am on a mission to restore my body's health. Not only lose weight. It's like, I totally GET why I should be avoiding certain foods at this time. With this knowledge, I really think that I can successfully become the healthy fit person that I want to be.

AND it's going to make it SO MUCH easier to get necessary nutrients in my eating plan! Yay!

Even if you don't want to follow the eating plans. I highly recommend reading Gittleman's books. You will learn an amazing amount of info about the systems in your body, especially those that pertain to weight gain/loss. I've got quite a bit of planning to do to figure out next week's menus.

I'm happy that I can add back some things that I originally thought we a no go. Like yams. Oh. I LOVE yams. I have the EASIEST way to prepare them. And they are so good. My in-laws couldn't believe I didn't add anything to them. They felt like they were eating pie filling.

And lentils. And black eyed peas! (such a great source of calcium).

I'm all excited.

I am so greatful to whoever it was the posted about nutrimirror. I think that it has started me on a whole new road. A whole new perspective about food. It's more than carb, protein, fat. It's about Vitamins and Minerals and FUEL. Love it. I'm feeling good.

The kitchen is ALMOST done. Ugh.

 

[TxRabbit]

That is a very interesting fact about the milkshake and fat people vs. thin people. I'm a counselor, and it makes a lot of sense to me because it's part of what I deal with regularly in addictions and various behaviors, including eating. It's so easy to use one mistake as a reason for giving up the day, but the truth is that you have a choice every single minute of life. A great thing to keep in mind!

My DH and I would BOTH do this. We could even extend the day through the weekend! SO bad. Funny when you realize it though, and when you try to live mindfully and be aware of the decisions that you make throughout the day.

I have to report on all the findings that I have found!

There is only one health issue in my family that I have a concern for. My mother and my great Aunt both had goiter, which is an enlarged thyroid. There are several reasons for this, several contributing factors for this. Generally, goiter is considered to be entirely preventable, the result not of thyroid failure itself, but more failure stemming from all the reactions that should be taking place on down the chain of events. The failures fuller down the line signal the thyroid to be overproductive and to meet demand it becomes enlarged.

One thing to watch out for is phytoestrogens. Like soy. Do you know how hard it is to keep soy out of your diet? My mom HAS to. I choose to. My dad had to return BBQ sauce to the grocery store because he didn't think to look to see if there was soy in the BBQ sauce. Good grief. It's in tuna now. Canned tuna has soy protein added. Ugh.

Anyway, there are several other food sources that are also phytoestrogens, namely flax and the new thing I found chia seeds. I didn't know lignans were phytoestrogens, but now I do, and I have to say, I am removing both in whole form from my eating regime. I wil use the flax seed oil for the benefit every other day, not every day. No seed at all. It seems that the oil doesn't have the same impact as the seeds. I will use fish oil every other day from the flax seed. If you are doing Fat Flush, this all makes sense to you.

Oddly enough, brocolli is also implicated in goiter. The whole family of brocolli veggies of course. Cooking is supposed to reduce the goiter inducing chemical. I do believe though, that the nutritional benefits of that family far out way the risk. And with adequate iodine, I should be okay, especially if I am sensitive to avoiding big bad soy and other phytoestrogens.

The meal plan is slowly forming. I'm excited to do some cooking today. I'm gonna tweak a favorite recipe to enhance it's nutritional value. We'll see how that goes.

Meanwhile, I went shopping at Whole Foods Today and purchased some indulgent type products, simply because they were really pricy. The fact is that I have issues with skin care, and prefer to go without that deal with my reactions to many products. My skin is so dry right now though. I can't stand it. I scanned and scanned all the shelves and finally found a product that doesn't have any of the no's for my skin type.

I have a rough skin type. I can't remember the book that has the typing, but I got it from the library. If anyone is really interested, I'll look it up. It turns out I am an oily-sensitive-nonpigmented-wrinkled skin type. There are several typical ingredients that I should avoid, and it is difficult to find product that satisfies the requirements. I was successful today, and my hands are loving me right now. Soft and non greasy, my skin just soaked up the product. Yay!!

Time to go cook! It'll be a joy. The kitchen is actually CLEAN!! :woohoo

 

[LAinSEA]

Thanks for posting all that great research - I've learned so much from reading your journal!

I was also a Diet Coke drinker (42 years of diet cola and I'm only 46!) I had to give it up in July when I began my plan for weightloss. The naturepath at the clinic explained that as an "insulin resistant" person, with pre-diabetic symptoms (although my blood sugar wasn't high at all on the labs), that when I drank a diet soda, my body was releasing insulin like I'd just eaten sugar. It then looked for sugar to metabolize and finding none (most of the time I didn't eat when drinking a diet soda), it would metabolize my muscles instead and then put on the fat. I was losing muscle, slowing down my metabolism, and putting on fat without even consuming too many calories a day! Just another reason to ditch the soda alltogether.

Curious - does the fat flush plan help diminish your appetite over time or it is still mind over matter as you continue on?

Keep up your inspiring work,
Laurie

 

[TxRabbit]

Amazing what happens when you get a little sick. I had some sort of something affect me earlier this week. DH stayed home one day from work to help me out. That and my DS's birthday on Sunday have distracted me from my journaling.

Meanwhile, I have been tackling the bigger issues of life. We have STILL not had a successful day on Fat Flush. It's interesting how this is supposed to be a two week eating plan, two weeks only. A cleaning of your system. Not a forever eating plan, but still. Can't seem to do it.

I got the Fat Flush for Life book. Very interesting. Not necessarily what I need right now, but it is a very interesting book. Designed to accomodate your body's reactions to the seasons, there is much more leniency (sp?) in the winter fat flush plan as opposed to the original.

I'm finding though that some of the things in the plan have to be altered, like the whole phytoestrogen sources, etc., and so, it is feeling like a whole lot of work. And I'm just not too motivated to deal with it all for some reason.

So therein lies what I have been trying to deal with. The underlying reason behind why I keep having to deal with weight issues.

I've been reading some books recommended by the nutrimirror website. Mindless Eating. A very interesting book. In it, the author describes how we basically make 200+ food related decision EACH DAY, and how most of those are mindless, and how we make these decisions. With insight from the book, you can understand how even your dishes can contribute to why you are fat. I studied marketing in college so this book, written by a marketing, food psychologist researcher is appealing to me.

Also reading, Does this Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat? Written by the guy from Clean Sweep, it is an interesting connection between clutter and weight. It is so applicable to me because I have quite a bit of clutter around the house. It's been an ongoing battle to reduce and organize life for absolute YEARS now. All the moving hasn't helped, but that's merely an excuse. Sort of. It's a valid excuse, but still, there has been enough time to deal with things. Things should be more in control than they are now. I want to get his first book now also. I think it's called It's All Too Much.

Also, I'm reading How Not to Look Old. Very interesting. Things that you can do to look 10 years younger, 10 pounds lighter, etc etc. I REALLY like this book. I realize that I have become a person that doesn't care for herself very well. Like sometimes, it's an effort to even want to brush my teeth, let alone follow some sort of beauty routine, even simple cleansing and moisturizing, etc etc. Why? I don't know. I've got issues.

And in keeping with this theme, I'm reading Staging Your Comeback, which is really written for those that are 45 years and older. At 37 years (for a couple more months anyway), I'm not the target audience, but there are some good basic principals in the book that my mom thought might be of benefit. The transformations in the book are really incredible.

Meanwhile, I took a day to go shopping. I've been having skin issues. I decided that for once I was going to actually follow the advice of multiple sources and get rid of product (lotion, soaps, shampoos, etc) that had parabens, alcohol, and sodium laurel sulfate. And deodorant/antipersperant with alluminum. Ever actually tried to do this? Very difficult to find. But I did find what I was looking for. Love the Hugo Naturals brand! Also Desert Organics, I think, it is.

My immediate change to life is to actually use the product I bought. I bought a facial cleanser, a primer, and an spf lotion thing. I pledge to use it every day. I have to look up the ingredients in the serum and moisturizer that I already have to see if it passes. Hopefully they will, and I pledge to use those too. I pledge to make the time for myself to care for my face. I will wash it at night. I will wash it in the morning. I will apply the spf to my face and chest. AND MY HANDS?!? (Have you read this one ladies?)

I have been a hoarder. I get something special. Then I don't use it. Super yummy lotions, etc. I'm sure that is somehow related to why I haven't been caring for myself as I should.

I'm seeking life change, not just weight loss. I've always realized that there are other issues. This is one I am tackling now. Why don't I take care of myself? Does it really take that long to wash my face and use some product? Seriously. What is the deal?

I'll have to see how this goes. I've had the product for a couple of days now, and I haven't used it. Hmmm. Change is hard. I'm not sure that I was ready to face what I need to face to achieve a healthier self. I feel ready now though. But I know it's hard.

Whatever. I've decided that I'm not going to give up though. I may not be doing what I set out to do yet, but I'm not giving up on the idea of working toward a healthy, fit me.

LAinSEA, fat flush does not diminsh your appetite. If anything, you will remember what it actually feels like to feel REAL hunger. Not just its time to eat, I could eat hunger. The plan does not contain very filling food (lack of bread and beans). It's a lot like what Chinese food used to be like, or the old reputation of Chinese food anyway. You eat it and a couple hours later, you are hungry again.

What it can do is help you to gain control over what your body is craving, if you can get past the initial phase of it. Because you wipe out foods that are typical irritants, [and in a cycle I can't explain, but remember the gist of, an irritating food becomes a craving food, think caffeine and caffeine addiction, you have it, you keep having to have it], then you help rid your body of unhealthy cravings. You have to watch out for the emotions, the fat flush doesn't fix your emotional cravings, but it will help you will the physical.

Fat flush is especially helpful is your body has a lot of belly fat. Some people have a layer all over. But me, dressed appropriately, I could asked by everyone I met when my baby was due I have so much disproportionate fat around my middle... Do you watch Biggest Loser? The mom on the purple team that got sent home? She's my body twin.