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6902. thoughtful - 4/9/2007 3:20:32 PM

arky, the reason to switch from juice to real oranges is about satiety and slowing down the digestion (read sugar shock). The natural fibers in fruit take longer to digest than the pure liquid form. Further, it's always best to opt for the more natural state of food than the more processed state because in processing bad things can be added and good things can be lost. In fact, schwarzbein recommends not drinking any calories, but instead eating them and drinking noncaloric beverages for satiety. I generally follow that, with the exception of my 1/2 c of v8 juice in the a.m. which i need to wash down my vitamins and my morning coffee (decaf of course) to which I add about 1/3c. whole organic milk.

As far as breakfast, weekdays we each have 2 eggs. Usually they're scrambled. We will mix in sauteed mushrooms, green pepper and onion or we mix in sauteed 'oriental stir fry' which is a frozen blend of green beans, broccoli, onions, mushroom, carrots, red pepper. Otherwise if we have just fried or plain scrambles, I'll have a veggie on the side be it some cucumber, broccoli, cauliflower, or whatever else might be around. In addition to that we have a bread of some sort...either whole grain bread toasted with butter or some of hubby's home made baked goods like whole wheat blueberry muffins or whole wheat blueberry scones or whole wheat apple muffins and so on. Trader joe's also has whole grain rye bread and whole grain english muffins which work for us as well. In addition to avoiding transfats and knowing that whole grain is really in there, he bakes for us because it yields normal sized portions. Our homemade muffin is about 1/3 the size of the store-bought ones.

The above breakfast is a balanced meal that provides protein, fat, carbs and nonstarchy vegetables. Further, it contains about 9 tsp of sugar vs. the 21 teaspoons of sugar in the typical 'healthy' american diet. And I guarantee you, after that brkfst, though I eat it at about 5:30 a.m., I'm not hungry again until 11:30 or 12:00.

Another important feature of the breakfast is that it's large. In addition to all the usual stuff about the importance of a good breakfast for brain function, etc., studies have shown that calories consumed in the a.m. are more likely to be burned off as heat than calories consumed at night. So it's best to either balance or even front-load your meals...breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dine like a pauper...just the opposite of the typical american way of doing things.

6903. Magoseph - 4/9/2007 3:25:21 PM

Ali, how tall are you?

6904. thoughtful - 4/9/2007 3:34:01 PM

clydefo,
If you haven't, I'd suggest you scroll back to my #6764 and #6777 ff. rather than me repost it all here again.

I don't think we're going to solve this argument here any more than ornish v. atkins solved it over the years they were fighting about diet too.

Instead, let me tell you about me.

I was doing the 'right' thing by following a high carb low fat diet for quite a few years and, in addition to finding more and more cellulite in places women are apt to get it despite my controlled weight level. Further I was finding myself increasing plagued with muscle aches and stiffness. If I squatted down to get something, I would ache like mad and barely be able to lift myself up again. If I sat in a chair too long, getting up was extremely painful and only after awhile I was able to loosen up and walk normally. I went to doctor after doctor, rheumatologists, chiropractors, you name it. No one was able to help me. I tried many Rx meds, some with not so nice side effects. The only thing that took away my pain was steroids, but they are too dangerous to stay on for any length of time. Then my hubby was finding himself in the same boat with increased stiffness and difficulty getting up after sitting for awhile and so on.

Then my old girlfriend showed up whose mother was a nutrition expert from way way back, doing organics before anyone even knew what they were. And I mentioned to her about my problems, and she pointed me to schwarzbein who was saying fundamentally exactly what her mother did years ago. Eat balanced meals, control carbs for weight control, avoid toxic chemicals and processed foods, eat more vegetables. Once we switched to schwarzbein and added flax seed oil to the diet, the pain and the stiffness have disappeared.

6905. betty - 4/9/2007 6:22:03 PM

Arky,

I just want to share my excercise story with you. When I left the Mr. I weighed, well, so much I'm ashamed to publicly admit it even after I've lost a lot of weight. anyway, I was depressed and needed to do something so one night I decided I was going to run. I had never run in my entire life without someone chasing me. So on a very cold November night I put on a bunch of clothes and ran...less than a block. By the end of the month I was up to one and a half miles. Now I'm running 3-4 miles any chance I get. My goal for May 2008 is to run a marathon (one of the reasons I'm taking a year off before grad school). Sometimes i have taken months off running, but I have made one of the things i do, and I set small accomplishable goals (like, run one extra block today) and so there are immediate victories. And anytime I start to get down on myself for not getting my run in I remember, a few years ago, I couldn't run a block. I've maintained my interest and have even had month long breaks when things were too crazy to keep my routine but I know that it is something I have to come back to because it is part of who I am. I think that in order to be successful in the long-long term with excercise you have to forgive yourself often and find something that you can be passionately involved with.

6906. thoughtful - 4/9/2007 6:46:02 PM

Here here, betty.

I did the same thing...i started running and lasted about a couple of hundred yards, and then I walked the rest of the trip. Gradually, and I mean very gradually, I would run a little further each day. Some days, the little further meant an additional 10 feet. Eventually I was running 3 miles a day. But then I broke my ankle and then I got 2 herniated disks in my neck, so I'm off the running, but I am still walking.

You're right about finding something that clicks with you. I find i need to get outside each day just to reconnect with nature and get my mind off of work and everything. My walk is more a mental thing now with the exercise a nice side benefit.

6907. judithathome - 4/9/2007 7:17:14 PM

I'm going to up my walking each day by going out 2 or 3 times a day...I'm doing so much better with the morning walk but need to do it more than just mornings.

Okay, I'm about to admit something that is shameful...knowing all I do about my bones and what is good for them and what is bad, I became addicted to Diet Lime Coke...I'd drink a 12 pack a week and have been doing this for more than a year.

I quit cold turkey a week and a half ago because I was having muscle pains and low energy and all sorts of other unpleasant side effects...all that has completely stopped since stopping the evil Diet Coke. I am so energetic and wake up without pains in my muscles and I feel very GOOD. I have decided if I want a coke, I will drink a real one, nothing diet...I am never going to ingest artificial sweetener again.

I'm not a sweet tooth at all...can live without desserts, chocolate, sugar...that's not my weakness. My weakness is salty stuff like chips and crackers and breads and pastas. I don't keep that stuff around so it's not a problem except occasionally at parties or dining out. I don't understand why I started with this Diet Coke crap but it's over now and I am feeling much, much better.

Okay, that's not true...I do understand it. It was because during the summer, I'd have Captain Morgan rum with the diet lime coke with my friends after a swim. But then, I started just drinking the diet cokes (plain) throughout the day...thankfully, I decided to quit both. It's decaf teas over ice for me from now on....

6908. thoughtful - 4/9/2007 7:21:16 PM

J@h, my grandmother was very sensitive to any kind of artificial sweetener too. The only ones that aren't supposed to be a problem are a) xylitol, with the caveat that it does have calories and is a sugar alcohol so it can give you the trots if you have too much and b) steevia which is an herbal sweetener.

If you like something bubbly to drink without sweeteners, you might try the flavored seltzer waters. I like the wild berry and the black cherry especially, but there are lots of flavors...no calories, no sweeteners.

6909. betty - 4/9/2007 7:33:39 PM

thoughtful,

that has been the thing that keeps me running...the mental. Running manages my depression better than anything else I've ever tried. Honestly, my life is almost entirely out of control but at the end of the run, well, at least I've accomplished one thing that day. And it's funny but I have absolutely no desire to run on a treadmill, being outside and seeing my community is so much more appealing, although I'm probably going to have to get a treadmill in order to keep my training level up this next year.

6910. betty - 4/9/2007 7:37:42 PM

I have thankfully, never had a Soda problem so I can't even imagine what that does to a body but I'm glad you are over it J.

6911. judithathome - 4/9/2007 7:40:54 PM

If you like something bubbly to drink without sweeteners,

That's just it...I don't really like bubbly stuff except for champagne. It had to be the delivery system for the rum that got me hooked...because I was definitely hooked. Not on the rum but on the coke!

6912. thoughtful - 4/9/2007 7:53:32 PM

betty, i agree. when the weather was really bad, I'd try using the treadmill indoors but even with the tv on, I'd get bored to tears...outside there's so much to see and watch and smell and feel...it's very mentally stimulating.

So now, unless it pouring rain, I go out.

6913. clydefo - 4/9/2007 8:14:04 PM

I don't think we're going to solve this argument here any more than ornish v. atkins solved it over the years they were fighting about diet too.

Thoughtful,to the extent that it's a matter of preference, mine is a low-fat diet because it seems to work best at facilitating the beneficial effects of exercise. High fat content blood is less efficient at doing what blood is supposed to do. In addition, whether it's weight maintenance or a weight loss program, the Pritikin or Ornish approach gets rid of excess body fat without inducing ketosis. The body prefers clean burning glucose as fuel and a complex carb diet delivers a steady supply without insulin spikes. Pritikin pointed out that in the 10/9/82 Hawaii Ironman Triathlon, of 850 contestants, "first, second and fourth places were won by men on the Pritikin diet."

6914. alistairConnor - 4/9/2007 10:32:29 PM

Wow, great story Judith...

Beware of rum, boys and girls... it seems harmless enough, but it can lead onto harder stuff... like Diet Lime Coke!

6915. alistairConnor - 4/9/2007 10:37:49 PM

Mago : I'm 180 cm, so it's not an excessive weight for my height, just a matter of what feels right.
I'm reducing the carbs at the moment : I'll cook meat or fish and not do potatoes or rice. I don't need to eat a lot to feel satisfied, so it should be easy enough to control.
I'm a little bit light on fruit and veg at the moment. Mostly because I buy what's grown locally, and there isn't much variety at the moment. But otherwise I'm not too far off a Tful diet.

6916. judithathome - 4/9/2007 11:32:48 PM

Beware of rum, boys and girls... it seems harmless enough, but it can lead onto harder stuff... like Diet Lime Coke!

Trust me, the Diet Lime Coke is far worse for me than the rum!

6917. clydefo - 4/10/2007 3:01:44 AM

6780. thoughtful - 3/27/2007 9:30:05 AM

Consider your typical 'healthy' american breakfast. It is nothing but a total sugar load, so everyone starts their day with a sugar high and insulin rush.

orange juice
Raisin bran
Skim milk
banana
coffee

You're looking at about 85 grams of sugar or about 21 teaspoons, depending on if you add milk and sugar to your coffee.

6879. thoughtful - 4/5/2007 5:27:51 PM

clydefo, you assumed i meant complex carbohydrates. Well carbos are carbos the way the body sees them. It all gets converted to sugar which, as I said before, must be burned immediately or converted to fat.

The difference between complex and simple carbs are of course the amount of fiber that comes with them, which helps slow digestion and eases the 'sugar shock' that comes with carbs. And complex carbs like whole grains and starchy vegetables carry a boatload of nutrition...


How do you reconcile the two highlighted statements?


An orange, banana, 1C raisin bran and 1/2 C skim milk works out to be 15g fiber, 5% fat calories, 11%protein calories and 84% complex carb calories. The "sugar" is fuel and it is a slow feed. The 12 grams of protein provides all the amino acids the body can't produce on it's own to get off to a good start on tissue repair. Same idea with two and one-half grams of fat. The body neither needs or wants protein and fat as fuel. They create more work for the body when used for that purpose. This breakfast is ideal and will easily get one through to the mid-morning meal.

6918. arkymalarky - 4/10/2007 4:52:47 AM

Thanks for the info and the personal stories, y'all! I read through and will read and commment more tomorrow.

Food-wise was fine today, and otherwise the day sucked. Not much to do about that, but I felt physically a lot better today, which helped me with the sucky aspect. I think I will sleep well too, (though I wish I were already asleep) whereas a day like this often really takes a toll on my sleep.

I think this whole thing and the way the thread is going is great.

6919. arkymalarky - 4/10/2007 11:32:45 PM

Great experience wrt the running, Betty.

My exercise is going better more quickly than I thought, even though outside exercise is out. Since I'm doing several different things, it's fun, and when I go back to the Ada Basic Training tapes, they are very varied and balanced and I've never gotten bored with them.

6920. arkymalarky - 4/10/2007 11:33:17 PM

And having a (very) sucky day yesterday didn't affect today at all.

6921. judithathome - 4/11/2007 12:20:44 AM

I drink V8 juice every day and finally checked the sodium content and nearly fainted. Today I bought the Low Sodium and discovered it tastes just as good with 70% less sodium. Gah!

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