We have too many things going on to get back on track. Last night at least I threw some vegetables in a Tagine and we had a healthy dinner. I started taking my Juice-Plus supplements this morning. I am very excited about them because they are made from the entire fruits and vegetables and they are not just a vitamin. Check out my web page at http://www.pursuitofanewme.com on the products tab.
Anyway, trying to do even a few things right when there is no time is better than just giving in and eating what ever is available. Yesterday I had a lot of pain again like the pain I was in 24-7 before the detox. It literally feels like me upper body is badly bruised and tender. It hurt to even laugh. I had almost forgotten about this pain until it was back again with a vengence. After the detox diet, it was completely GONE!
So what may have spurred this on? I mean besides the fact that are kitchen is out of commission and every meal has been take out of some sort for the last several weeks? Well the first meal I made when my kitchen was somewhat in order was a nice salad with pickled Italian vegetables. Then I made lasagna! I used the fresh tomatoes that I had canned, fresh oregano, thyme and basil from the garden, zucchini, eggplant, mushrooms and onions. I aslo had some lean ground turkey and some turkey pepperoni slices. Then I threw caution to the wind and added 7 kinds of Italian cheese and used regular lasagna pasta. I made some fresh garlic infused olive oil and toasted a loaf of Italian bread. So what did it? What threw me back into this pain cycle?
The meal had a lot of wheat product. White flour to be exact. Something we had not eaten in months. It also had a lot of cheese. And finally, I just have not been drinking as much water. We had a few white bread products in the last week but this was a lot in one sitting. I have no doubt the white flour was the culprit.
I am still in pain today but not like I was yesterday. The difference? Several plates of vegetables, fresh fruits, beans, and absolutely NO white flour. It is distressing that white flour is in just about everything. It is impossible to get any kind of prepared food that does not have white flour. Hamburgers, subs, pasta, even salads have those bread croutons on them. If the family can't cook at home, they will fail on nearly any diet they try.
Not telling you anything you don't know? I don't want to take anything away from The Biggest Loser, or spokes-persons for diet centers. Anyone in the lime light who has lost weight has my respect because it is difficult. However, they have one thing we don't. A consistent environment with the proper foods and support.
It makes all the difference in the world if I have time to throw together some salads, make my flax crackers, prepare some grains and then have things in the fridge we can just pull out and nosh on. I will be glad when I get my kitchen back. It might be another week.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
What to eat when you cannot prep
When we were on the detox diet, I spent several hours every Sunday preparing food for the next week. I made sure I had fresh fruit washed and readily available. I made salad ingredients like my kidney beans with umeboshi plum, marinated artichokes, pickled asparagus, spicy orange beets. I cooked up some kind of grain like barley or quinoa, then started some sprouts to go with the salads. I also made my flax "crackers" that we never seemed to get tired of. I prepared our vitamin ritual for a few days at a time - then we were ready for the work week.
For breakfast, we had a blender concoction of 1 banana, 1 cup of almond milk, 1/2 tbsp of cinnamon, 3 spoonfuls of Brewer's Yeast, one spoon of lecithin granules, two scoops of rice protein powder, 2 tbsp stevia and 12 ounces of ice. I would blend until very smooth and add dark chocolate once in awhile to mix it up.
Lunch was some sort of a salad with at least 6 vegetables. I made sure to include some sort of whole grain and some type of bean, nuts or seed combinations. Did you know Quinoa is a complete protein by itself? I always finished the salad with olives or avocado. Dressing was always a vinegarette with lemon juice as a base. I changed up the spice depending on the type of salad.
I would include a snack of fruit or vegetable as well as my flax crackers. Dinner was interesting to do meatless but I found that bulgar wheat and/or mushrooms makes a great substitute taste wise. Harry enjoyed my bulgar wheat and portobello tacos the best but he was a big fan of the cream soups too.
We also enjoyed the fermented drinks like Kombacha. They were fizzy and refreshing but with a slight vinegar taste.
With this "diet", we did not have any problem following it and were even more exciting when our body's responded so well. My intent was to add a little dairy back in (because there are too many wonderful cheeses out there to never eat them again). I like my greek yogurt with fresh fruit as well. I wanted to be able to eat out on occasion and enjoy meat, chicken or fish without guilt.
This last few weeks we have had so much going on that we could not prep any food at all. In the middle of a kitchen re-do, I had to can 10 pounds of tomatos before they went bad and it was all I could do to fit it in.
So what is my point? Of COURSE you know having a special diet is difficult. It is much more than the will-power to do it, it is the preparation involved. If food is not readily available and you reach that point that you would eat nearly anything, then it has gone too far. There is no way you are going to go home and steam some vegetables for dinner when you are starving. Especially if you have to prep the veggies first.
Even on my diet, with prep, there were many times we did not eat until 9PM. Those diets that say don't eat after 5 or 6 PM are impossible for us. We do not get off work until 5 and we are often not home until 6:30 or 7. My Tagine works wonders but it is at least 30 minutes before I have it on the stove. The vegetables can take awhile to steam. Guess I could try stir-fry.
Without prep, it is nearly impossible to eat at a decent time.
Dr Oz did a show where he ate take out for every meal. He went to McDonalds, Subway and another place that I am not familiar with and basically had them make him a healthy meal. He showed that with the right choices, a person could literally eat fast food at every meal and keep the calories and fat low.
It CAN be done.
Well for two weeks now, we have had take out for just about every meal. We have skipped breakfast altogether. I did manage to make some flax crackers for one of those weeks. I discovered that Mexican restaurants do have grilled items including salmon. Chinese restaurants can make steamed vegetables with just a smidge of white wine sauce. Most Thai, Indian and Mediterranean food can be eaten without guilt. Wendy's, McDonald's and Subway has salads. Most deli's have a salad bar but it is a trick to find one with a lot of vegetables and not so much pasta or mayonaise based salads. Margarita pizza is a lower calorie choice for Italian.
It amazes me that when we were on the Perricone diet, our Cholesterol went back up past where it was before and we both gained back half of our weight loss. The Perricone prescribed animal protein at every meal. The portions were about twice or three times what we were used to. So now I cringe after eating all of this take-out but surprisingly - I actually lost back down a few pounds. Stunned.
This weekend, we should be able to get back on track but I will keep in mind looking for healthy alternatives for when I am not prepared.
For breakfast, we had a blender concoction of 1 banana, 1 cup of almond milk, 1/2 tbsp of cinnamon, 3 spoonfuls of Brewer's Yeast, one spoon of lecithin granules, two scoops of rice protein powder, 2 tbsp stevia and 12 ounces of ice. I would blend until very smooth and add dark chocolate once in awhile to mix it up.
Lunch was some sort of a salad with at least 6 vegetables. I made sure to include some sort of whole grain and some type of bean, nuts or seed combinations. Did you know Quinoa is a complete protein by itself? I always finished the salad with olives or avocado. Dressing was always a vinegarette with lemon juice as a base. I changed up the spice depending on the type of salad.
I would include a snack of fruit or vegetable as well as my flax crackers. Dinner was interesting to do meatless but I found that bulgar wheat and/or mushrooms makes a great substitute taste wise. Harry enjoyed my bulgar wheat and portobello tacos the best but he was a big fan of the cream soups too.
We also enjoyed the fermented drinks like Kombacha. They were fizzy and refreshing but with a slight vinegar taste.
With this "diet", we did not have any problem following it and were even more exciting when our body's responded so well. My intent was to add a little dairy back in (because there are too many wonderful cheeses out there to never eat them again). I like my greek yogurt with fresh fruit as well. I wanted to be able to eat out on occasion and enjoy meat, chicken or fish without guilt.
This last few weeks we have had so much going on that we could not prep any food at all. In the middle of a kitchen re-do, I had to can 10 pounds of tomatos before they went bad and it was all I could do to fit it in.
So what is my point? Of COURSE you know having a special diet is difficult. It is much more than the will-power to do it, it is the preparation involved. If food is not readily available and you reach that point that you would eat nearly anything, then it has gone too far. There is no way you are going to go home and steam some vegetables for dinner when you are starving. Especially if you have to prep the veggies first.
Even on my diet, with prep, there were many times we did not eat until 9PM. Those diets that say don't eat after 5 or 6 PM are impossible for us. We do not get off work until 5 and we are often not home until 6:30 or 7. My Tagine works wonders but it is at least 30 minutes before I have it on the stove. The vegetables can take awhile to steam. Guess I could try stir-fry.
Without prep, it is nearly impossible to eat at a decent time.
Dr Oz did a show where he ate take out for every meal. He went to McDonalds, Subway and another place that I am not familiar with and basically had them make him a healthy meal. He showed that with the right choices, a person could literally eat fast food at every meal and keep the calories and fat low.
It CAN be done.
Well for two weeks now, we have had take out for just about every meal. We have skipped breakfast altogether. I did manage to make some flax crackers for one of those weeks. I discovered that Mexican restaurants do have grilled items including salmon. Chinese restaurants can make steamed vegetables with just a smidge of white wine sauce. Most Thai, Indian and Mediterranean food can be eaten without guilt. Wendy's, McDonald's and Subway has salads. Most deli's have a salad bar but it is a trick to find one with a lot of vegetables and not so much pasta or mayonaise based salads. Margarita pizza is a lower calorie choice for Italian.
It amazes me that when we were on the Perricone diet, our Cholesterol went back up past where it was before and we both gained back half of our weight loss. The Perricone prescribed animal protein at every meal. The portions were about twice or three times what we were used to. So now I cringe after eating all of this take-out but surprisingly - I actually lost back down a few pounds. Stunned.
This weekend, we should be able to get back on track but I will keep in mind looking for healthy alternatives for when I am not prepared.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Can you afford $3500 a week to live?
I have some friends that are in their late seventies. They get around quite well but they are suffering from various health problems. One has been battling cancer for several years. He had a clean bill of health last year but now it is back.
He was stunned to find his insurance no longer covers chemo. Medicaid does not cover it either. He has to have chemo once a month and it costs $3500 each time. I learned there is a drug people can take now as an alternative to chemo. It runs $2500 - $3500 a month. Insurance does not cover it.
His wife had problems with her eyes. She was treated by an injection in the eye that costs $2500 each. The doctor recommended a series of 8 shots but wanted to see how well the first one worked. Luckily she has only had the one shot but she is dreading the possibility of another.
If you are like millions of American's, you don't have an extra $3500 a month laying around. If you do, then you probably have something else you would prefer to use it on. If you don't, then your alternative is to deny yourself treatment that could save your life. Read that last sentence again. In the case of my friends, they are shelling out $6000 a month out of pocket for medical expenses to stay alive, and not go blind.
We can only expect this to get worse as more and more baby boomers reach retirement age. Politicians are already talking about cutting off medicare and social security. The health plan that Obama signed into law will never happen. Granted there are some things about the law we don't like but the things we did like will never take hold. The insurance companies won't have it! As much as I could go on about how our insurance companies and other big companies own the American legislation, that is not my point.
It feels like a conspiracy that our food industry continues to churn out products that are unhealthy for us to eat. We fight an onslaught of chemicals, pesticides and pollutants every single day that weaken our immunity system. We cannot even eat healthy without paying a much higher price for organic or natural foods that are free of pesticides, antibiotics, hormones and food additives that are known carcinegens. Eating the food that is readily available makes us fat and unhealthy. However we can prolong our "health" by taking prescription drugs to combat the various diseases we get from our food and environment.
More often than not, our doctors prescribe the drugs but make no suggestions about lifestyle changes that may change improve your condition.
On the detox plan I proved I could drop my cholesterol tremendously by diet alone. I also proved that eating animal protien can push the cholesterol back up as fast as it came down.
I can't think of a better wake up call than to look into the future and see that if I don't take care of my health now, I may not have choices later on. I think retirement is going to be a challenge for most of us. Many people now have to make a choice between medicine and food. People are starting to find they will have no choice but to die a slow and painful death because they cannot pay for the medicine to keep them alive.
This last few weeks, we have had so much going on that we have all but reverted back to unhealthly eating habits. It takes time and planning to prepare healthy food. The alternative is for take out, dining out or fast food which are rarely healthy. We have seen the strides we made on our detox diet slowly go away. We are STILL much better off than we were before that detox diet, but we can see and feel the difference. I would like to note that we felt fantastic after a few short weeks on the detox plan. We have been off of it for nearly three months now and still are enjoying the benefits of that diet. This tells me that we can stay healthy even if we eat better food just part of the time.
It is my mission to find a diet that can be part of my lifestyle, easier to maintain and with more readily available choices for the hectic days.
He was stunned to find his insurance no longer covers chemo. Medicaid does not cover it either. He has to have chemo once a month and it costs $3500 each time. I learned there is a drug people can take now as an alternative to chemo. It runs $2500 - $3500 a month. Insurance does not cover it.
His wife had problems with her eyes. She was treated by an injection in the eye that costs $2500 each. The doctor recommended a series of 8 shots but wanted to see how well the first one worked. Luckily she has only had the one shot but she is dreading the possibility of another.
If you are like millions of American's, you don't have an extra $3500 a month laying around. If you do, then you probably have something else you would prefer to use it on. If you don't, then your alternative is to deny yourself treatment that could save your life. Read that last sentence again. In the case of my friends, they are shelling out $6000 a month out of pocket for medical expenses to stay alive, and not go blind.
We can only expect this to get worse as more and more baby boomers reach retirement age. Politicians are already talking about cutting off medicare and social security. The health plan that Obama signed into law will never happen. Granted there are some things about the law we don't like but the things we did like will never take hold. The insurance companies won't have it! As much as I could go on about how our insurance companies and other big companies own the American legislation, that is not my point.
It feels like a conspiracy that our food industry continues to churn out products that are unhealthy for us to eat. We fight an onslaught of chemicals, pesticides and pollutants every single day that weaken our immunity system. We cannot even eat healthy without paying a much higher price for organic or natural foods that are free of pesticides, antibiotics, hormones and food additives that are known carcinegens. Eating the food that is readily available makes us fat and unhealthy. However we can prolong our "health" by taking prescription drugs to combat the various diseases we get from our food and environment.
More often than not, our doctors prescribe the drugs but make no suggestions about lifestyle changes that may change improve your condition.
On the detox plan I proved I could drop my cholesterol tremendously by diet alone. I also proved that eating animal protien can push the cholesterol back up as fast as it came down.
I can't think of a better wake up call than to look into the future and see that if I don't take care of my health now, I may not have choices later on. I think retirement is going to be a challenge for most of us. Many people now have to make a choice between medicine and food. People are starting to find they will have no choice but to die a slow and painful death because they cannot pay for the medicine to keep them alive.
This last few weeks, we have had so much going on that we have all but reverted back to unhealthly eating habits. It takes time and planning to prepare healthy food. The alternative is for take out, dining out or fast food which are rarely healthy. We have seen the strides we made on our detox diet slowly go away. We are STILL much better off than we were before that detox diet, but we can see and feel the difference. I would like to note that we felt fantastic after a few short weeks on the detox plan. We have been off of it for nearly three months now and still are enjoying the benefits of that diet. This tells me that we can stay healthy even if we eat better food just part of the time.
It is my mission to find a diet that can be part of my lifestyle, easier to maintain and with more readily available choices for the hectic days.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Health assessment after Perricone
I can't beleive I have not written since May 28th. Sorry about that. We had our health assessments done the first week of June. This is after having one week off of the Detox diet then 3 weeks of the Perricone diet. Now during that week off, we somewhat continued the detox diet with some animal protein mixed in. We also had a few meals of splurges as we had planned over Memorial Day weekend. The Perricone diet was different than our usual life style diet in that we had animal protein 3 to 4 times a day.
Back to the health assessments. We were shocked to find our Cholesterol jumped up to where it was before we started. For the first time, Harry's cholesterol was up over 200! We thought about it and realized that before the Perricone diet, we had several meatless meals a week and seldom ate animal protein more than once a day.
I have to mention also that we were used to eating 2 to 4 ounces of protein in a meal and Perricone doubled that. Not to mention the liberal does of olive oil.
So this week we are starting back on the detox plan again less the juicing. Tonight Harry is grilling some baby Bok Choy with some onions and mushrooms. I may cook some bulgar wheat to go with it.
Will keep you posted.
Back to the health assessments. We were shocked to find our Cholesterol jumped up to where it was before we started. For the first time, Harry's cholesterol was up over 200! We thought about it and realized that before the Perricone diet, we had several meatless meals a week and seldom ate animal protein more than once a day.
I have to mention also that we were used to eating 2 to 4 ounces of protein in a meal and Perricone doubled that. Not to mention the liberal does of olive oil.
So this week we are starting back on the detox plan again less the juicing. Tonight Harry is grilling some baby Bok Choy with some onions and mushrooms. I may cook some bulgar wheat to go with it.
Will keep you posted.
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