Week 1

Results: 5.5 pounds down.

The first week of my meal plan is over, and I had a few people ask me how it was going. It’s going well, and since this time around it is not so much about the weight as it is my health, I’ve been more conscious of how my body feels. Once again, I am amazed by how completely I relied upon grain as fast snack/meal. I would never allow the boys to rip a corner off a baguette or grab a handful of crackers and call it lunch, but I guess when it comes to feeding myself, I am not nearly so discriminating or concerned with balance. This sort of haphazard eating allows me to cram more activities into my day, and it’s killing me slowly, to boot.

My main goal was to gain more energy, eliminate heartburn, and reduce my risk for the major killers (heart disease, cancer, et al) by losing a healthy amount of weight. Sure, I would love to be skinny, but if I make that my goal my mind starts playing tricks on me. Better to focus on health. To that end, the heartburn has all but disappeared. I am disappointed to report that the strawberries in that bowl of yogurt gave me heartburn. I had the same breakfast with peaches earlier this week with no problem. Looks like they are out for a while, which is fine since they’re not even in season right now.

I also had heartburn after eating four (four!) Nut Thins while making Mikey’s lunch last night. They are gluten free, but apparently still a no-no for me, at least for right now. I’ll give it another month before I try them again, but I have a gut feeling (pun not intended but it’s cute so I’ll take it) that I will be avoiding baked goods and sticking to rices for the long haul. My last ditch hope in the baked goods department is that soaking will eliminate the discomfort I get when I eat bread, crackers, cookies, and other baked items. (But, damn, it hurts so good!)

The only problem with soaking? Mikey hates the taste of every single bread I have ever made, even the ones that aren’t all that healthy. He likes Milton’s Multi-Grain bread, and that’s about it. (I’m sure he would love Wonder bread, but too bad.) One time I gave him a different healthy brand of bread in his lunch–one I didn’t make–and when he came home he asked if I had made it. “It tasted so bad, mama, that I thought it was one of yours.”

How to Eat

One day the food section of my blog will be up and running and I’ll be able to discuss everything health-related that has been on my mind but, for now, I’ll post it here.

In an ideal world, where money is no object and cravings don’t exist, how would you eat? How do you feel about the way you eat right now? How far removed are you from your ideal?

Would you eat Traditional Foods?

Would you be a vegetarian or vegan?

Would you be a flexitarian, similar to the plan Michael Pollan suggests?

Or would you not care and eat whatever?

I am so confused and overwhelmed. I subscribe to a ton of blogs on nutrition, read books on the subject matter constantly, and follow a handful of respected nutritionists on Twitter. It seems like everyday there is a new study that proclaims to have found the one and only way to eat. The following week arrives a study that refutes it all. I don’t know what to do or who to believe. I’m a rule driven person. I do best with structure and guidelines, and right now I feel lost and out of control. I want to subscribe to an ideal but I have no idea if it exists.

The healthiest I have ever been was in college as a vegetarian. Actually, because I am lactose intolerant, I was really more of a vegan. Since I wasn’t strict about it, I ate meat every few months or so, but my weight was ideal and my health, at least as measured by annual blood panels, was excellent. I think a large part of it had to do with the times. Twenty years ago there wasn’t much processed or prepackaged foods for vegetarians, let alone vegans. I ate real foods: vegetables, grains, fruits, nuts, seeds, etc. There wasn’t even that much tofu. Now there are bizarre vegan lunch meats that can’t be any better than the processed meats they aim to replace plus countless other laboratory foods full of chemicals and soy so far removed from the bean it’s unrecognizable. It’s junk food without the fur.

PCRM‘s 21-Day Vegan Kick Start starts September 6 and I might participate, leaving behind those weird fake foods, of course. The main thing that bothers me about a vegan diet is the lack of B12. Can a diet that requires supplementation be the end all be all? I have no idea. (And, yes, I’ve heard that B12 once was available via the soil in which plants were grown but that is no longer the case.)

I’m interested to hear your thoughts on food. What you eat and why you eat it, and how that fits with the ideal you see for yourself. Thank you for indulging me in one of my favorite topics.

Waiting for Pictures

I avoided our 10th high school reunion because of my weight.  I didn’t want anyone to see how removed my body was from it’s former size 4.  (To be a size 4, I barely ate and played competitive tennis, but I forgot all that.)  Today I am almost the same size I was 10 years ago, and yet this time I co-hosted the event.  You grow up.  You realize that you will never be where you want (weight, career, social standing) and you get over it, or at least try.  The people who don’t like it or criticize can suck it.

Despite all this self actualization talk, I was impossibly stressed about my weight for the reunion.  My weight, my gray hair, my wrinkles…all of it.  I haven’t been eating like I normally do.  July was so ridiculous (I’ve mentioned it) that I spent a good portion of it eating out or eating junk.  I even started drinking diet coke again for the caffeine since I wasn’t sleeping.  As a result, I gained almost 12 pounds in 6 weeks.  Sadly, I didn’t eat a ton of food.  What I did eat was your standard restaurant and fast food full of fat, calories, sugar, and chemicals, and my body just can’t tolerate that kind of abuse.  I puffed up like a blow fish almost immediately, which is what happens when you drink diet coke and have fast food 2-3 times a week.  At least, that’s what happens to me.  (And no, I never super-size.)

Anyway, I have seen only a few pictures of the reunion, and of course I don’t recognize myself in most of them.  Blech.  Hopefully the pictures from the professional photographer we hired will be better.  I’m not worried about losing the weight I’ve gained.  I’ve already lost some of the bloat and water weight just by drinking plain, old fashioned water.  Amazing what happens when you drink what was made to replenish your body instead of chemicals in a can, right?  The weight will be gone within a couple of weeks, but this shows me I need to be a better planner, with foods prepared and waiting for me in the freezer for the seasons in my life when I am too busy or stressed to cook healthy meals.

I was feeling a bit down about not having a flattering picture of me at the reunion to show you when I saw these videos on Reachel Bagley’s blog, Cardigan Empire.  I absolutely adore this blog and encourage you to take a look through her archives.  I have purchased from her a look book and fashion session in the past and loved it.  Anyway, here are the videos:

This was just the push I needed to post what could be one of the most unflattering pictures of me in a long time. Tiffany looks great.  Steve asked me to clarify that he looks much better in real life. He might be telling the truth. This is at the very end, about an hour and a half after the reunion officially ended and almost 6 hours since my hair saw a brush.

Oh well.  It’s not the best picture, but it was the best reunion.

Two Women

On that morning, despite a church full of bodies, there were only two women in the congregation relevant to the story.  The first one arrived promptly with her husband and two young sons, even though she spent the better part of the morning agonizing over the propriety of wearing jeans to church.  She decided it was okay, this one time, since her dresses were dirty and her pants in desperate need of alteration.

Dark jeans, white tank, and a linen, deep v-neck tunic with exceptionally thin magenta pinstripes that looked nice with the red in her capiz-shell dangle earrings and wedge shoes.   She was trying, but not too hard.  Or at least that was the appearance she wanted to put forth.  She wore her hair in a low slung ponytail and made sure her makeup looked natural, just to drive the point home.

They sat in their usual seats.

Later, much later, the second woman entered the church alone and created quite a commotion.  A commotion, at least, for the woman wearing linen.

The other woman minced in 20 minutes late on 6.5 inch platform stilettos in a most unfortunate shade of purple which, for the record, is an entirely different color than magenta.  The zippers on said shoes (zippers! thought the woman in linen) hit the backs of her heals when she walked and made a sound like pennies rubbed together.

This new woman, the woman in purple, tossed her black purse into the pew directly in front of the woman in linen.

The woman in linen stifled a sigh.

The shoes matched a full, pleated, knee-length skirt in an ikat pattern of purple, fuscia, black and cream.  The wife-beater tank top was the same deep purple of the skirt and shoes, but the bra peeking out was black.  The woman in purple wore her waist long dark hair in four evenly spaced french braids that divided her head into quarters.  They were tied at the bottom with hairbands.  Purple ones, naturally.

The outfit was a terrible mess.  The woman in purple was a soft-centered woman with appendages just as doughy, and a wildly patterned full skirt and a tight fitting tank top did little to flatter her figure.

Empire waists.  Dark, solid colors on the bottom. Tops that skim, not cling.  The woman in linen fingered the edge of her tunic and smoothed out the wrinkles that didn’t exist on her dark rinse jeans.  It was all she could do to keep her thoughts on the mass and not on the mess in front of her.  There are few things more inappropriate than dispensing fashion advice during church.

Time passed, until the oddest thing happened.  Truly, it the reason why this story is worth telling.  When the two women–the only two women relevant to this story–stood up to speak the profession of faith, only one voice rang clear and loud without the benefit of the missal shut firmly in the pew pocket before her.  Only one woman could profess words long ago memorized in a voice so full of conviction.  Only one woman did so, and it was not the woman wearing linen.

Both women sat down, the woman in linen squirming slightly in her tunic.  The sleeves cut into her and the material seemed to stretch taught across her chest.  Even the deep-v of the collar suddenly seemed too tight.  She felt all around uncomfortable, which was odd.  The tunic, with its empire waist that skimmed not clinged, fit her perfectly that morning.

GNOWFGLINS

Earlier this week I wrote a post on my meal plans.  I briefly explained how I decided to take the route I am on now and the successes I’ve had so far.  I never did get any comments on the post, but I wasn’t expecting very many since I posted it on the meals section of my website and very few people subscribe to that page or check that section of the blog.  At some point I decided to visit my blog online instead of the admin panel to make sure the post published correctly and by doing that I discovered I (apparently?) deleted the meals section of my website.  I don’t know how or when I would have done this, but that sure does explains the lack of comments on my post.

That post was supposed to be lead me into a later discussion on GNOWFGLINS, one of my favorite health and food blogs.  The name is a mouthful the first time you see it, but it is an acronym for God’s Natural, Organic, Whole Foods, Grown Locally, In Season.  Wardeh Harmon authors the blog, and I swear there isn’t a kinder person online.  I’ll share my proof on that in a minute.

Earlier in the year I registered for Wardeh’s course on the fundamentals of traditional foods.  Tristan had asked me at some point if I liked it, and I immediately responded in the affirmative.  There are a few things about the course I loved, and for those who are thinking about taking it, I’ll share with you what I experienced.

1. Wardeh dedicates an inordinate amount of time to her courses. I’ve taken a few, and I can tell you she goes above and beyond the call of duty.  She is by far the most supportive, attentive, and conscientious ecourse instructor I have seen to date.  Once you register for the course, you are allowed access to her private forum where you can chat with your classmates or ask questions.  I think you all know me enough by now to expect I had a million questions.  Wardeh answered every single question.  She participated in every single thread posted by every single member.  She personally welcomed every single person to the forum with a unique, unscripted comment in their introduction post.  Every. Single. Person.  This, on top of regularly posting on her blog and taking care of her family.  I’m not sure she sleeps.
2. Wardeh accounted for various learning styles.  We all received weekly pdfs that detailed the week’s lesson.  This was perfect for people like me, who learn best when reading from paper.  But not everyone is like me, which is why Wardeh also had the same content in a video format for both the week’s lesson and recipe.  For my thoughts on this, see #1 above.
3. Wardeh priced her course reasonably. Everyone is trying to make a buck, so when I told Tristan what I was paying for five months of weekly instruction ($27/month), she about fell out of her chair.  I told I was confident Wardeh, given the time and effort she put into her ecourses, would soon increase her prices significantly.  I felt lucky I got in at the “lower” rate.

I can count on one hand the number of times I have singled out a blog in a post, and this is one of them.  I’m writing this post for two reasons.  First, I believe in what Wardeh is doing and would like to see her succeed.  The best way to see that happen is through word of mouth.

The second reason has to do with my confidence in getting the lower rate.  I was wrong.  At the end of my session, Wardeh announced that she and her family had decided to offer all ecourses at a “pay what you can” rate.  You can imagine the furor this caused.  No one had ever heard of such a thing, especially in an online environment and with the economy still so poor.  You can read more on her payment policy here, but here is a small portion that explains the main motivation behind the change.

We will make GNOWFGLINS eCourse available to everyone, regardless of income or schedule. We will no longer permit arbitrary factors to prevent someone from experiencing the blessings of God’s foods. There is too much at stake. When you register for a future GNOWFGLINS eCourse, all resources will be available to you immediately and without restriction. We have eliminated warranties, contracts and course deadlines. Share the learning experience with your family, friends, and co-workers. Take all the time you need to browse the lessons, study the materials, and participate in the forums.

What we ask is that when the time is right, you submit a payment for what you think the experience is worth. You decide when, how often, and how much to pay. This is our way of respecting your decision about what is best for you and your family. Some will contribute more and others less, but each according to one’s ability.

We take our example from Scripture, when Jesus praised the poor widow for her generous offering to the temple. The offering was just two mites, or the equivalent of a loaf of bread. The point was not the total amount, but its value to the poor widow. Christ said, “Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had” (Luke 21:3-4). We encourage you to do the same.

Sounds like good people to me.  I mean, I don’t know Wardeh in real life.  For all I know, she drinks puppy blood out of horse hooves.  But I’m going with my gut, and my gut says good people.

Because I am part of the last session before her “pay what you can” program, I have access to all courses and programs.  I will be participating in the Sourdough ecourse she is starting on Monday.  I encourage all of you to join me!  I’m excited to learn all the recipes (just check out the video for most of what we’ll learn) but I am especially excited to make some crackers.  I made some a while back and let me tell you, you have never tasted something so vile and repugnant in all your life.  I couldn’t get my gluttonous beagles to so much as sniff at those door stops.

*********

I think it goes without saying, but Wardeh did not pay me for this post and I did not tell her I was writing a post on her.  I’m sure she is as surprised and exhausted as all of you who have just muscled their way through 1,138 words.