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!
Monday, September 21, 2009
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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