Today's blog comes from the heart (and heat) of California's Coachella Valley in the exurban fringes of Palm Springs. Yes, I made it here in one piece without strangling any of my travelling companions --including the dog who panicked at 3am and started barking in two of the motels we stayed in en route.
Have been here a few days now, and it's been a good setting for healthy eating (weight watcher points and my personal vegetable consumption targets have been met). Will try to weigh in this Saturday to see if the scale agrees. I'm relishing the sun and desert landscapes which are a change from my usual rainforest abode in the Canadian Pacific Northwest. The skies are so big and blue...
That said, I am absolutely floored by the degree of car culture here, which seems so wrong for a place that professes to be health conscious. With the exception of the older part of Palm Springs, the rest of the city is laid out to completely discourage walking. For example, if designed differently, the complex where my parents' place is situated could be an easy, flat, 15 minute walk from the local shopping centre, complete with gym, grocery store, and cinema. Yet there's barely a shoulder on the road, and you'd be taking your life in your hands if you walked on that thin --and often non-existent-- margin of asphalt as cars zoom by at 110 km per hour (65mph).
A few of the wealthy districts in some suburban cities have meandering lanes for golf carts that would also be safe for strolling on foot --but these cover a long distance beside the walls of gated communities before you reach any real destination (other than another gated community). For all the rhetoric about freedom down here, it amazes me that people in this part of California would want to box themselves in so much with their walls, gates, and cars. Tourist life here is so different from time spent in San Francisco where you can spend hours and hours walking or taking streetcars through all sorts of safe and interesting neighbourhoods.
Reining myself in ever so slightly from my walkability rant, I had an experience yesterday that served as an odd, but clear reminder of my need to get fit (the rationale for the vegetables-as-medicine project). My thrifty mother took me to her favourite second hand (charity) shop called the Cellar Door. She loves it because it's full of rich people's castoffs at extremely good prices. Nearly all of the furniture in her living room came from there, including a lovely gold brocade sofa in pristine condition. I thought it would be fun to browse the women's clothing section. Now as a plus-sized woman this is often a challenge, but most second-hand stores will have at least a few items in my size. Not this one. All the outfits were size seros and size fours --I haven't felt like such a freak in a long, long time. Made me think long and hard about my fitness goals...
Of course, as an ironic little twist my parents and I went later that evening to see Michael Moore's new film "Capitalism - a Love Story". That evoked another set of mixed emotions for me, ranging from smugness to guilt about my own materialistic weaknesses. There were five of us in a theatre that could seat two hundred --which may or may not reveal something about this place. That said, I am enjoying the holiday and my vegetables as medicine project seems to be going well.
Ciao for now!
Friday, October 9, 2009
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Day 15 - Short Update from the Road
Sunday October 4, 2009
Not a very exciting post tonight, but a positive one. Today is the first day of a road trip down to California accompanied by my trusty dog Gromette and in a convoy with my parents. We're now in a road-side motel in Idaho (small town called Mountain Home) --weather not so great on the trip so far, and no gym in this place so exercise goal not met. However, I have succeeded in avoiding chocolate (a rare feat for a road trip), plus have stayed within my points target, and consumed 7 servings of fruits and vegetables in (salad at a Subway franchise for lunch, and green salad at a salad bar in a local restaurant for dinner). So --given that driving is a time when I am often tempted to pig out, I'm feeling pretty good about today. I will confess to indulging in a diet Dr. Pepper (something my husband scolds me about --nasty chemicals), and some diet breath mints.
Given the dreary weather and the boredom of the drive, I would have ordinarily taken the waitress up on her offer of pie for dessert (and this being Middle America, those pie servings looked big and calorie-laden). However, being full of fibre has really helped dim my interest in the sweet stuff. As some of you may recall from my first posting, I do have a gastric band to restrict my food intake, but it does nothing to stop me from eating chocolate and sweets -those just seem to melt into liquid instantly and pass right through the constricted part. The fibre, however, seems to be acting like an off switch for my cravings. So maybe, just maybe, this thing might work. On second thought -maybe is a poor choice of words. It will work, it must work!
Well, the driving has made for a pretty long day, and the dog has already demonstrated more good sense than I have by flaking out in her travel crate. Think I'll call it a night, and will post again when I get to another spot with an internet connection.
Hope all is well for anyone out there reading.
Not a very exciting post tonight, but a positive one. Today is the first day of a road trip down to California accompanied by my trusty dog Gromette and in a convoy with my parents. We're now in a road-side motel in Idaho (small town called Mountain Home) --weather not so great on the trip so far, and no gym in this place so exercise goal not met. However, I have succeeded in avoiding chocolate (a rare feat for a road trip), plus have stayed within my points target, and consumed 7 servings of fruits and vegetables in (salad at a Subway franchise for lunch, and green salad at a salad bar in a local restaurant for dinner). So --given that driving is a time when I am often tempted to pig out, I'm feeling pretty good about today. I will confess to indulging in a diet Dr. Pepper (something my husband scolds me about --nasty chemicals), and some diet breath mints.
Given the dreary weather and the boredom of the drive, I would have ordinarily taken the waitress up on her offer of pie for dessert (and this being Middle America, those pie servings looked big and calorie-laden). However, being full of fibre has really helped dim my interest in the sweet stuff. As some of you may recall from my first posting, I do have a gastric band to restrict my food intake, but it does nothing to stop me from eating chocolate and sweets -those just seem to melt into liquid instantly and pass right through the constricted part. The fibre, however, seems to be acting like an off switch for my cravings. So maybe, just maybe, this thing might work. On second thought -maybe is a poor choice of words. It will work, it must work!
Well, the driving has made for a pretty long day, and the dog has already demonstrated more good sense than I have by flaking out in her travel crate. Think I'll call it a night, and will post again when I get to another spot with an internet connection.
Hope all is well for anyone out there reading.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Day 14 - Hurray!!! It's working!
It's not that many hours since I last posted, but one crucial thing has changed. I have stepped on my scale and I have not felt the urge to burst into tears! In total, I am down 3.4 pounds in the two weeks since I started this project. Hurray! I actually lost weight during a really tough week where I didn't reach all of my behavioural goals. This doesn't tell me that cheating is never punished --what it does tell me is that "all or nothing" attitudes about self-care are foolish (we all know that voice that says "oh well since you've had a chocolate bar now, the day is ruined so you might as well eat whatever other garbage you want"). It tells me that rising above those attitudes even after a moment of weak behaviour can still bring positive results. This seems to be a lesson that I have to keep learning --for today at any rate, a little bit of the lesson has sunk in. I am sure that people with really big successes have learned the lesson in spades --check out Amazon Runner for an example http://amazonrunner.blogspot.com/.
I just wanted to ramble a bit more about yesterday's belief topic and what I'm going to do over the next three weeks to strengthen my belief in my own ability to lose weight. I mentioned yesterday that I'm leaving for a three week holiday in California --well, now is my opportunity in a stress-free context to focus on belief.
I've always been a bit skeptical of the whole visualization side of things. That said, lately I've been speaking to some people who I respect that acually make use of those techniques; and they've given me some good exercises to try. I am going to spend at least 15 minutes of every day doing some visualization, and will continue to listen to Dr. Wayne Dyer's "Excuses Be Gone" CD. To reinforce that belief with action, I am also going to exercise every day. This last goal will be a bit of a challenge during the road trip portions of my holiday (I'm driving there with my dog Gromette to stay at my parents' place --actually driving down with Mom and Dad as a convoy; and my husband will fly to Palm Springs and meet us later). But it won't be impossible --you can always find a safe place to pull off to the side of the road and walk; plus as a Curves Member with a travel card I can probably find a few gyms along the way, and I think I will bring some hand weights with me too for good measure. And of course, I will be looking to get a minimum of seven servings of fruits and vegetables in every day.
It's funny -even though a lot of my life involves time spent in a car (driving from home to my job out of town two hours away), I am looking forward to some time on the road alone. Gromette will be there to keep me from getting too lonely, of course. But I suspect the solo driving time in a context where I'm not en route to or from a job (and not wound up about the latest work crisis or project) will allow me time to reflect more on the things I've been pushing out of my mind while working on the dissertation.
Anyway, time for breakfast --think I'll celebrate today's scale victory with some tomatoes and balsamic vinegar plus a decaffinated skim milk latte. Ciao!
I just wanted to ramble a bit more about yesterday's belief topic and what I'm going to do over the next three weeks to strengthen my belief in my own ability to lose weight. I mentioned yesterday that I'm leaving for a three week holiday in California --well, now is my opportunity in a stress-free context to focus on belief.
I've always been a bit skeptical of the whole visualization side of things. That said, lately I've been speaking to some people who I respect that acually make use of those techniques; and they've given me some good exercises to try. I am going to spend at least 15 minutes of every day doing some visualization, and will continue to listen to Dr. Wayne Dyer's "Excuses Be Gone" CD. To reinforce that belief with action, I am also going to exercise every day. This last goal will be a bit of a challenge during the road trip portions of my holiday (I'm driving there with my dog Gromette to stay at my parents' place --actually driving down with Mom and Dad as a convoy; and my husband will fly to Palm Springs and meet us later). But it won't be impossible --you can always find a safe place to pull off to the side of the road and walk; plus as a Curves Member with a travel card I can probably find a few gyms along the way, and I think I will bring some hand weights with me too for good measure. And of course, I will be looking to get a minimum of seven servings of fruits and vegetables in every day.
It's funny -even though a lot of my life involves time spent in a car (driving from home to my job out of town two hours away), I am looking forward to some time on the road alone. Gromette will be there to keep me from getting too lonely, of course. But I suspect the solo driving time in a context where I'm not en route to or from a job (and not wound up about the latest work crisis or project) will allow me time to reflect more on the things I've been pushing out of my mind while working on the dissertation.
Anyway, time for breakfast --think I'll celebrate today's scale victory with some tomatoes and balsamic vinegar plus a decaffinated skim milk latte. Ciao!
Friday, October 2, 2009
Day 13 - Belief and Doing the Right Thing
Today was a better day than Wednesday or Thursday. I stayed within my points target, and ate 6 servings of vegetables. (Tomorrow will do a weigh in - based on my overall assessment of this week I doubt that the scale will be my friend, but hopefully it won't be my enemy.) As an added bonus, my dissertation has been approved, registered in the university database, and I am now entitled to call myself "Doctor". Hurray!
Given that today was successful, it's helpful for me to reflect on what worked. I did something a bit unusual . In her blog, Patrice S. has an entry that speaks to the value of doing something different --it's a good reminder (her blog appears to be down, but once it's back up I'll insert a link to it.) In any event, today's unusual action was beginning the day by visualizing myself as a slender person and making my choices the way a slender person would. I can't take credit for the idea (it came from someone else with much more wisdom than me on these matters), but it did seem to make a difference. It also helped at dinner tonight -we went out to celebrate at a very nice Greek restaurant in an old heritage house, with pretty yellow walls and hardwood floors. Restaurant portions these days are huge, and I was able to stop myself after a half portion, while still enjoying and really tasting my meal. It was a minor triumph of sorts.
Why was it a triumph? Well, I've been talking a lot with other people outside the blogosphere about my weight loss journey, and a key piece of advice I've received relates to belief in the possibility of weight loss. That idea may sound obvious, but if I'm completely honest with myself, this is one dimension of my life where belief is in short supply. So today was a day when I worked hard on the belief aspect, and it produced results in terms of the right behaviour. Seems like an action worth repeating again tomorrow.
Would love to hear from anyone else who has spent a lot of energy reflecting on the belief-behaviour link.
Will write again soon - a caveat is that early Sunday morning I will be leaving for three weeks of holidays. I will do the blog on my trip, but won't have daily internet access, so coverage will still be a bit spotty. In between my days of internet access, I'll keep writing and saving the posts on my laptop until I have a chance to upload. In the meantime, for anyone who is reading --stay well.
Given that today was successful, it's helpful for me to reflect on what worked. I did something a bit unusual . In her blog, Patrice S. has an entry that speaks to the value of doing something different --it's a good reminder (her blog appears to be down, but once it's back up I'll insert a link to it.) In any event, today's unusual action was beginning the day by visualizing myself as a slender person and making my choices the way a slender person would. I can't take credit for the idea (it came from someone else with much more wisdom than me on these matters), but it did seem to make a difference. It also helped at dinner tonight -we went out to celebrate at a very nice Greek restaurant in an old heritage house, with pretty yellow walls and hardwood floors. Restaurant portions these days are huge, and I was able to stop myself after a half portion, while still enjoying and really tasting my meal. It was a minor triumph of sorts.
Why was it a triumph? Well, I've been talking a lot with other people outside the blogosphere about my weight loss journey, and a key piece of advice I've received relates to belief in the possibility of weight loss. That idea may sound obvious, but if I'm completely honest with myself, this is one dimension of my life where belief is in short supply. So today was a day when I worked hard on the belief aspect, and it produced results in terms of the right behaviour. Seems like an action worth repeating again tomorrow.
Would love to hear from anyone else who has spent a lot of energy reflecting on the belief-behaviour link.
Will write again soon - a caveat is that early Sunday morning I will be leaving for three weeks of holidays. I will do the blog on my trip, but won't have daily internet access, so coverage will still be a bit spotty. In between my days of internet access, I'll keep writing and saving the posts on my laptop until I have a chance to upload. In the meantime, for anyone who is reading --stay well.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Day Eleven, Very Tired...
I have to confess that today has not been a great day --although signing in to the blog just now has boosted my morale (more on that shortly).
On the down side, I am so, so tired right now. Had to get up yesterday at 5am to do some travel for work, worked all day yesterday out of town until 7pm, then up again this morning at 4:50 am to make the trip back to the city I usually work in. I'm kind of wired because I have so much to get done this week that can't wait, and I am just not sure that I'm winning the battle. I had hoped to get to the gym today and it didn't happen. Veggie consumption didn't make the target, although on the positive side I made up a nice healthy stir-fry for dinner tonight, so my total servings for the day came out to roughly four. Did not stay within my weight watchers points targets --had a bit of a binge on some yoghurt-covered almonds, and am feeling slightly ashamed of that.
The morale boost came when I signed in and saw that some people are reading --and that many of you have accomplished some great things so far. It makes me feel less alone in this journey --and inspired. So thank you for reading, and for just being out there!
This will be a short post tonight because I really need some time to unwind. I am home tomorrow night, and will post again then. Hope everyone is doing well.
On the down side, I am so, so tired right now. Had to get up yesterday at 5am to do some travel for work, worked all day yesterday out of town until 7pm, then up again this morning at 4:50 am to make the trip back to the city I usually work in. I'm kind of wired because I have so much to get done this week that can't wait, and I am just not sure that I'm winning the battle. I had hoped to get to the gym today and it didn't happen. Veggie consumption didn't make the target, although on the positive side I made up a nice healthy stir-fry for dinner tonight, so my total servings for the day came out to roughly four. Did not stay within my weight watchers points targets --had a bit of a binge on some yoghurt-covered almonds, and am feeling slightly ashamed of that.
The morale boost came when I signed in and saw that some people are reading --and that many of you have accomplished some great things so far. It makes me feel less alone in this journey --and inspired. So thank you for reading, and for just being out there!
This will be a short post tonight because I really need some time to unwind. I am home tomorrow night, and will post again then. Hope everyone is doing well.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Day Ten - Couldn't Resist...
In an effort to be kind to myself during a very tough week, I said that I wouldn't post again until Wednesday. However, a friend sent me a link to a health website where I found a wonderful article on happiness - and what stops us from getting there.
What does this have to do with eating vegetables as medicine? I tend to see the world in a very integrated way; and I truly believe that there's a multi-directional relationship between self-care (of which vegetable consumption is now forming a key part in my life) and happiness. Times of stress --like this week-- make me reflect on both topics.
The enclosed link starts off as saying some basic things that I've heard many times before (e.g. simplify your life); but other ideas are somewhat novel. Once you get through the full thing you may start to think of happiness in some new ways. I found the comment on despair particularly insightful. It reminded me of a conversation with a friend who spoke of despair as a sin. At first I was puzzled by her remark, since the word "sin" wasn't a typical part of her vocabulary. But then she explained that she considered despair a sin because it's a huge insult to yourself and to God / the Universe/ whatever or whomever you believe to be the root of all creation. Despair essentially means that you aren't appreciating what you've been given (in terms of your own talents and who you are as a person), because you have let too much negative external stuff crowd out that understanding. You're essentially refusing the gift of yourself. And as I write about despair, it makes me reflect a tiny bit about the gifts of myself that I am refusing whenever I despair about my eating habits and just give in to eating garbage for instant pain relief. Hmmm... something tells me that I have some fodder for another post when I have time to be more philosophical...
Anyway, enough rambling. Here is the link--hope it's helpful!
http://www.webmd.com/balance/features/why-youre-not-happy?ecd=wnl_wmh_092809
ps. Three vegetable servings today so far, four more to go for my current target of seven. Think I'll have a vegetarian stir fry for dinner tonight...
What does this have to do with eating vegetables as medicine? I tend to see the world in a very integrated way; and I truly believe that there's a multi-directional relationship between self-care (of which vegetable consumption is now forming a key part in my life) and happiness. Times of stress --like this week-- make me reflect on both topics.
The enclosed link starts off as saying some basic things that I've heard many times before (e.g. simplify your life); but other ideas are somewhat novel. Once you get through the full thing you may start to think of happiness in some new ways. I found the comment on despair particularly insightful. It reminded me of a conversation with a friend who spoke of despair as a sin. At first I was puzzled by her remark, since the word "sin" wasn't a typical part of her vocabulary. But then she explained that she considered despair a sin because it's a huge insult to yourself and to God / the Universe/ whatever or whomever you believe to be the root of all creation. Despair essentially means that you aren't appreciating what you've been given (in terms of your own talents and who you are as a person), because you have let too much negative external stuff crowd out that understanding. You're essentially refusing the gift of yourself. And as I write about despair, it makes me reflect a tiny bit about the gifts of myself that I am refusing whenever I despair about my eating habits and just give in to eating garbage for instant pain relief. Hmmm... something tells me that I have some fodder for another post when I have time to be more philosophical...
Anyway, enough rambling. Here is the link--hope it's helpful!
http://www.webmd.com/balance/features/why-youre-not-happy?ecd=wnl_wmh_092809
ps. Three vegetable servings today so far, four more to go for my current target of seven. Think I'll have a vegetarian stir fry for dinner tonight...
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Day Nine - Where did she go?
Sunday September 27, 2009 --well, it's been a while!
When I started this blog my goal was to post daily on the value of vegetables as medicine. Clearly my lack of daily posting represents a failure of sorts. Or does it? Is a smug rationalization for my performance (or lack of) about to follow? Yes and no.
First of all, let me recap what's been happening for me this past week. In earlier posts I talked about defending my doctoral dissertation on Sept 21st. While I passed, I was asked to make revisions (not uncommon). My timeframe is very short --I should have these in to my advisor some time tomorrow, and finalize by the end of the week. I have also been working full time except for Monday. My job is in another city from my home, plus I had urgent meetings Thursday in yet a third town and... you can imagine the time crunches and the chaos.
In this context, my failure to post has been, in some ways, emblematic of my failure to take proper care of myself as the stress levels mount. On the negative side, this type of failure definitely gets the excuse machinery running in high gear (weird metaphor, I know, but my father was a mechanic and I grew up with a lot of those expressions). Over the past month I've been listening to a CD of Dr. Wayne Dyer's Excuses Be Gone, and it's sensitized me to the counter-productive nature of excuses. So this failure has been informative in that it's got me thinking in a more immediate way about my abuse of excuses.
On the positive side, through all this stress I do have some successes to report. While I definitely went over my Weight Watchers' points target on 3/7 days this week, I did get in a minimum of five servings of fruits and vegetables every day, often having as many as eight (beyond my Day #1 triumph of ten). It's the wrong time in my cycle for the scale to show progress, but I think I may have lost a half a pound. And I went to the gym two more times (Thursday and yesterday).
The whole experience this week has also helped me think more about the connection between vegetables and junk food, and junk food and stress in my life. On extremely high stress days with no free time, my junk food consumption was higher and my vegetable consumption lower Vegetables have been filling me up, but in high stress moments even where I could get veggies easily (e.g. pre-washed and cut single serving carrots at a grocery store), I would sometimes still opt for the junk food just for the sugar rush to keep myself going. That is not a good pattern.
So what am I going to do to move forward? Well, I have to get through today and those pesky (yes I'd like to use another word here but I won't) revisions. Monday will still be a bit of a scamble, and I will try to be kind to myself, Tuesday I'm out of town again for work purposes, but I will focus on healthy rather than unhealthy foods. Wednesday and Thursday I'm in my usual work city, and I will go to the gym on at least one of those days and aim for seven servings of fruits and vegetables each day, with no chocolate on either day (because chocolate seems to be a trigger food for me in stressful times) and staying on target for points. Friday I'm back home, and will also shoot for those same goals. I will also give myself a break --this week-- with the blog postings. I won't post again until Wednesday, but will make sure I succeed because accounting for my choices in this way seems to be helpful. Again --if ayone else is going through similar challenges and wants to share, I'd love to hear from you!
ps. Not sure of its accuracy, but the following link is a article touting the benefits of various vegetables --check it out if you're looking for more reasons to eat healthily! http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art51113.asp
When I started this blog my goal was to post daily on the value of vegetables as medicine. Clearly my lack of daily posting represents a failure of sorts. Or does it? Is a smug rationalization for my performance (or lack of) about to follow? Yes and no.
First of all, let me recap what's been happening for me this past week. In earlier posts I talked about defending my doctoral dissertation on Sept 21st. While I passed, I was asked to make revisions (not uncommon). My timeframe is very short --I should have these in to my advisor some time tomorrow, and finalize by the end of the week. I have also been working full time except for Monday. My job is in another city from my home, plus I had urgent meetings Thursday in yet a third town and... you can imagine the time crunches and the chaos.
In this context, my failure to post has been, in some ways, emblematic of my failure to take proper care of myself as the stress levels mount. On the negative side, this type of failure definitely gets the excuse machinery running in high gear (weird metaphor, I know, but my father was a mechanic and I grew up with a lot of those expressions). Over the past month I've been listening to a CD of Dr. Wayne Dyer's Excuses Be Gone, and it's sensitized me to the counter-productive nature of excuses. So this failure has been informative in that it's got me thinking in a more immediate way about my abuse of excuses.
On the positive side, through all this stress I do have some successes to report. While I definitely went over my Weight Watchers' points target on 3/7 days this week, I did get in a minimum of five servings of fruits and vegetables every day, often having as many as eight (beyond my Day #1 triumph of ten). It's the wrong time in my cycle for the scale to show progress, but I think I may have lost a half a pound. And I went to the gym two more times (Thursday and yesterday).
The whole experience this week has also helped me think more about the connection between vegetables and junk food, and junk food and stress in my life. On extremely high stress days with no free time, my junk food consumption was higher and my vegetable consumption lower Vegetables have been filling me up, but in high stress moments even where I could get veggies easily (e.g. pre-washed and cut single serving carrots at a grocery store), I would sometimes still opt for the junk food just for the sugar rush to keep myself going. That is not a good pattern.
So what am I going to do to move forward? Well, I have to get through today and those pesky (yes I'd like to use another word here but I won't) revisions. Monday will still be a bit of a scamble, and I will try to be kind to myself, Tuesday I'm out of town again for work purposes, but I will focus on healthy rather than unhealthy foods. Wednesday and Thursday I'm in my usual work city, and I will go to the gym on at least one of those days and aim for seven servings of fruits and vegetables each day, with no chocolate on either day (because chocolate seems to be a trigger food for me in stressful times) and staying on target for points. Friday I'm back home, and will also shoot for those same goals. I will also give myself a break --this week-- with the blog postings. I won't post again until Wednesday, but will make sure I succeed because accounting for my choices in this way seems to be helpful. Again --if ayone else is going through similar challenges and wants to share, I'd love to hear from you!
ps. Not sure of its accuracy, but the following link is a article touting the benefits of various vegetables --check it out if you're looking for more reasons to eat healthily! http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art51113.asp
Monday, September 21, 2009
Day Three
This will be a short post as I'm still out of town.
Just wanted to report that the rest of Sunday went well as far as my vegetable project was concerned - I got in eight servings of fruit and vegetables and the Pad Thai my friend made was fabulous and healthy. It was great to hang out with her, although I was very nervous about my impending doctoral defense.
Today was my defense which also went well - I passed with minor revisions which I have to complete by the end of the month. So far today I have had four servings of fruits and vegetables, and will try to squeak in another four before the day is over.
I promise tomorrow's post will be more interesting!
Just wanted to report that the rest of Sunday went well as far as my vegetable project was concerned - I got in eight servings of fruit and vegetables and the Pad Thai my friend made was fabulous and healthy. It was great to hang out with her, although I was very nervous about my impending doctoral defense.
Today was my defense which also went well - I passed with minor revisions which I have to complete by the end of the month. So far today I have had four servings of fruits and vegetables, and will try to squeak in another four before the day is over.
I promise tomorrow's post will be more interesting!
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Day Two
Yesterday was a great success - but then what can you expect from a first-day keener?
I didn't waste any time in getting started with my vegetable-filled day. My first meal was a plate of sliced roma tomatoes and english cucumber with balsamic vinegar drizzled on top and a dash of salt. Don't worry --the point of this blog is not to agonize about every morsel of food that goes into my mouth. But the tomatoes and the whole dish made me thing of Italy, one of my favourite countries to spend time in. I've been there three times --well, four if you count the one day on a family camping trip when I was fourteen and got as sick as a dog, prompting my parents to opt the next day for a cheap hotel in Switzerland. On my more --ahem-- successful Italian sojourns I've learned that pizza an pasta aren't eaten as often as we North Americans would believe. I've enviously inspected the choices of slim well-dressed Italian women at lunches in a piazza or two, and noticed that most of them opt for a gorgeous salad withcolourful vegetables, olive oil, perhaps dotted with some small portions of buffalo mozzarella, but no bread. The starches seem to be reserved mainly for dinnner only.
Vegetables can be beautiful --and make one beautiful. That's what I have to tell myself, at any rate. Truth be told, I do like vegetables. My problem has a lot to do with lifestyle and priorities. So yesterday being Saturday --a day when I was home and did not have to work-- I made looking after myself a priority, including a trip to the gym (Curves), a walk in the woods with my husband and dog (an exercise-obsessed border collie named Gromette), and whipping up some large batch recipes involving mega-doses of vegetables, including a yummy low-fat Brazilian Black Bean Soup from the Moosewood Vegetarian Cookbook. Bottom line for yesterday: I stayed within my weight watcher's point limit AND got in TEN --count them TEN-- servings of fruits and vegetables. Even this morning I still feel full, which is another good reminder of the value of fibre.
Today, of course, will be a bit more of a challenge. We're going out of town, and travelling brings out the junk food temptations. The purpose of our trip is also stress-inducing. One of my excuses for not looking after myself properly over the past few years is that I have been working on my doctorate in urban planning --and for the last two of the years I have also been holding down a full time job in another city two hours away from my home. Today we leave for Vancouver where, on Monday I will do the final defense of my dissertation --the magnum opus every doctoral student is required to complete. If I pass or pass with revisions, I will likely be able to wrap up the whole program by the first week in October, and bring to a close five years of suffering. We'll likely stay in a hotel tonight, but before that a good friend is inviting us over for a dinner of Pad Thai (los of noodles and grease, pretty scant on the veggies). I'll have to figure out how to work in my vegetable servings before hand, and then just have a small helping of dinner. Wish me luck --with the vegetables as medicine project and with the defense!
I didn't waste any time in getting started with my vegetable-filled day. My first meal was a plate of sliced roma tomatoes and english cucumber with balsamic vinegar drizzled on top and a dash of salt. Don't worry --the point of this blog is not to agonize about every morsel of food that goes into my mouth. But the tomatoes and the whole dish made me thing of Italy, one of my favourite countries to spend time in. I've been there three times --well, four if you count the one day on a family camping trip when I was fourteen and got as sick as a dog, prompting my parents to opt the next day for a cheap hotel in Switzerland. On my more --ahem-- successful Italian sojourns I've learned that pizza an pasta aren't eaten as often as we North Americans would believe. I've enviously inspected the choices of slim well-dressed Italian women at lunches in a piazza or two, and noticed that most of them opt for a gorgeous salad withcolourful vegetables, olive oil, perhaps dotted with some small portions of buffalo mozzarella, but no bread. The starches seem to be reserved mainly for dinnner only.
Vegetables can be beautiful --and make one beautiful. That's what I have to tell myself, at any rate. Truth be told, I do like vegetables. My problem has a lot to do with lifestyle and priorities. So yesterday being Saturday --a day when I was home and did not have to work-- I made looking after myself a priority, including a trip to the gym (Curves), a walk in the woods with my husband and dog (an exercise-obsessed border collie named Gromette), and whipping up some large batch recipes involving mega-doses of vegetables, including a yummy low-fat Brazilian Black Bean Soup from the Moosewood Vegetarian Cookbook. Bottom line for yesterday: I stayed within my weight watcher's point limit AND got in TEN --count them TEN-- servings of fruits and vegetables. Even this morning I still feel full, which is another good reminder of the value of fibre.
Today, of course, will be a bit more of a challenge. We're going out of town, and travelling brings out the junk food temptations. The purpose of our trip is also stress-inducing. One of my excuses for not looking after myself properly over the past few years is that I have been working on my doctorate in urban planning --and for the last two of the years I have also been holding down a full time job in another city two hours away from my home. Today we leave for Vancouver where, on Monday I will do the final defense of my dissertation --the magnum opus every doctoral student is required to complete. If I pass or pass with revisions, I will likely be able to wrap up the whole program by the first week in October, and bring to a close five years of suffering. We'll likely stay in a hotel tonight, but before that a good friend is inviting us over for a dinner of Pad Thai (los of noodles and grease, pretty scant on the veggies). I'll have to figure out how to work in my vegetable servings before hand, and then just have a small helping of dinner. Wish me luck --with the vegetables as medicine project and with the defense!
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Day One - What I'm Doing and Why
From the age of 25 onward, I have struggled with my weight my entire adult life. I've done Weight Watchers, the Atkins diet, LA weight loss, and I've also had gastric banding. While the latter has enabled me to make a dent in the problem, I've hit a plateau for the last six months. It's been a frustrating journey --and while I can make all the excuses that I want for the current state of affairs (and believe me, there are many) I can't deny that I still have a weight problem. Excuses won't make it go away.
The one time I did successfully lose weight I was following the advice of a dietician who underscored the value of making vegetables a priority. Her rationale was that if you consume the required number of vegetable servings first, you'll have gotten an important dose of valuable nutrients, and the high fibre content will fill you up so that you'll simply crave less junk food. While I am no longer a client, and no longer living in the same city I'll give them a plug: http://www.eatingforenergy.com/. My problem today is that junk food is a real addiction for me, and I have used my stressful lifestyle to justify this addiction.
So what will this project entail? Every day for a year I am going to blog about how I have made vegetables a priority in that day's food consumption. I am hoping that by the end of the year I will be fifty pounds lighter. I would also love to hear from anyone else who is doing something similar.
The one time I did successfully lose weight I was following the advice of a dietician who underscored the value of making vegetables a priority. Her rationale was that if you consume the required number of vegetable servings first, you'll have gotten an important dose of valuable nutrients, and the high fibre content will fill you up so that you'll simply crave less junk food. While I am no longer a client, and no longer living in the same city I'll give them a plug: http://www.eatingforenergy.com/. My problem today is that junk food is a real addiction for me, and I have used my stressful lifestyle to justify this addiction.
So what will this project entail? Every day for a year I am going to blog about how I have made vegetables a priority in that day's food consumption. I am hoping that by the end of the year I will be fifty pounds lighter. I would also love to hear from anyone else who is doing something similar.
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