Avid Diva - teachings for your new life

Interesting situation last week, my gas stove died on me.  It would take one week to get it going again.  What to do?  Frozen meals, unless your own, are not an option.  All that sodium and hidden fats are not good for me. Going out to dinner, lunch and even breakfast can ruin your budget.  You only have a small toaster oven and a microwave.  Any healthy choices?

I’m not a vegetarian, I do like to eat.  I don’t mind eating raw veggies or fruits.  Salads turned out to be a great option as well.  You can have real bread with some lettuce, onions and even lean ham.  There are breakfast items that do not need reheating.

As a last resort, you can cook somewhere else and freeze for the future.  The important thing is not to hit tha panic button and go for the convenience of the unhealthy food.  Keep your cool and make the best decisions possible.  Your stomach will thank you later.

Drink 8 glasses a day…drin 1 liter for every 50 pounds, drink 1 glass for every 20 minutes of exercise…I don’t know about you, but my head spins every time an “expert” hands out yet another recommendation.  So what should we do?

I don’t know.  I can tell you what I do.  I drink water when I am thirsty.  Now that I quit soda, I drink when I have a craving for soda.  I drink water after every meal, when I exercise and as soon as I wake up in the morning.  I drink water all the time.  Some times, when the cravings for cigarettes come back (over 2 years ago I quit on a dare), I will drink water.  Does it kill the cravings?  Not really, but it gives me something to do and works as a pattern interrupt.

Four days ago I decided to eliminate soda out of my diet.  I walk everywhere with my water bottle.  That way I am prepared for the couple of places that do not carry water.  I am more awake and I am retaining less liquid.  My feet are back to normal size.  There are a lot of side effects from drinking water that go beyond the elimination of sugar from your diet or the elimination of toxins from your body.  Water is good for you.  And if you use filters instead of plastic bottles, it is even good for the environment.  So drink water, as much as you feel you need.  Your body will thank you.

Due in part by recent events in my surroundings, a lot of the conversations I’ve had recently with friends and family relate to different diet programs: the low carb, the no carb, the salad diet, the grapefruit, the high carb, the Mediterranean… the bottom line is that people have to do lifestyle changes and not one particular diet.
Take me for example: I could do the low carb diet for about a month, after that, bread would start calling me and I will hear that call. I love bread, and chocolate. What am I supposed to do? Simply put, I have to listen to my body, and instead of eliminating any one food or any one source, all I do is cut portions. So last night I had penne and meat sauce. It was delicious, I wish I could have two plate fulls of the stuff. I decided my figure would thank me later and ate one plate and it was not full. The thing was to have a taste of what I wanted, without overindulging. That seems to work for me. I lost one pound last week. If I loose one pound a week until the end of the year, that will be 14 pounds by the end of the week. If I loose two, that will be 28 which is closer to my immediate goal of loosing 30 by year’s end. Let’s see how it goes. Choose to eat healthy and keep trying.

I eat five meals a day. I have breakfast, lunch and dinner and two snacks. In the menu today:
Breakfast: one egg omelet with potatoes O’Brien, lean ham and a splash of cheese
Snack 1: watermelon and cantaloupe slices with a certain Italian ham I love (very salty)
Lunch: 3 ounces of lean pork with salad
Snack 2: bowl of strawberries
Dinner: 3 ounces of pink salmon with vegetables
Is it the healthiest menu? No, but what I do, in order to eat everything I like is to control the portions and drink a ton of water. As the days go on and I find new things to try, the menus will get better. The bottom line, right now for me, it is the ultimate sacrifice to not skip a meal. I have hypoglycemia, I am not supposed to skip meals. Yet I do it ALL the time. So to me, it is more important right now to learn to NOT SKIP any meals. Besides, I don’t believe in eliminating everything. I think all in moderation is better. What do you think? Keep trying.

Even low carb dieters like strawberries. They are sweet, specially when really red. But their level of simple sugars is low enough that it does not affect you no matter what diet you are in. To be honest, I don’t really care if they are good for you or not. All I know is that I just finished a three mile walk that I had not being able to finish in the last two weeks, and now I am sitting in front of the TV watching one of my favorite movies (Last Holiday), and instead of popcorn, I am having a huge plate of fresh strawberries.
For all of you out there, keep trying.