Commitment

Even though I don't always do as well with my diet and exercise as I'd like--especially when life gets in the way like it has this semester--I am still committed to getting in shape and living a healthy lifestyle.  This is more than a whim for me; it's one of my goals in life, and I won't give up.  On January 1, many cities around the U.S. will have an event called the Commitment Day 5K Run.  I plan to participate here in Seattle and to keep running as often as possible thereafter.  Anyone want to join me?  See if your city has the Commitment Day 5K Run, and sign up!  If not, or if the weather makes outdoor running unsafe, find another way to make a major commitment to exercise in 2013.  Get your shoes on, ladies and gents! 

Exploring the Neighborhood

Semester almost over, tenth blog post...and in case you're wondering, I'm still not thin.  I don't think it's going to happen this semester.  At least I'm learning some things about myself by writing about my journey.  When you write about doing something, you need to do it, otherwise you end up with a guilty conscience! 

For instance, I've learned that I really need to keep better track of what I eat and how much I exercise.  Just yesterday I read an article on how important it is to take notes of what we're eating, if we're trying to lose weight.  I believe that, and I think it must apply to exercise as well.  It's too easy to make generalizations and push the realities to the back of our minds otherwise. 

I've begun exploring my neighborhood.  Even though I wrote about walking the hills here, it was hard at first, once sweet husband's new job and the time change kept him from walking with me, to make myself get out alone in a strange new city.  I'm not a big city person anyway and don't relish the amounts of houses and traffic here in Seattle.  So, looking back, I have not done as much walking as I had planned.  But I do need the exercise, and with sunshine being at a premium it's important to soak up some rays whenever it does shine.  Now I'm taking my dog with me and exploring on a regular basis.  Don't we all have places nearby that we've never seen, even though we may have lived in the same town for years?  Believe me, I have places enough now to last a lifetime.

 

Did I Really Eat That?

Oh sure, bring me out to Seattle where every inch of spare space is used for feeding people!  I have never seen so many restaurants in one place.  I'm coming to the conclusion that it has to do with the demographics of the city: a huge single population, both students and working young people, who mostly live in apartments.  Maybe most people here don't have time to cook.  On the other hand, Seattle is also home to lots of grocery stores, including health-conscious Whole Foods and Trader Joe's.  So?  Maybe people cook but they like to go out to eat a lot.  Whatever, there are restaurants and cafes of every kind packed into lots of surprising little spaces, and if I never cooked again we would still find plenty to eat.

Yesterday, sweet husband and I ate vegetarian burgers in what seemed to be a garage, built onto the back of the restaurant we were checking out.  A garage with picnic tables, no less.  The burgers were phenomenal and salty, the fries were huge, greasy, and tasty.  And the environment was a laugh. 

What I have to get used to is the fact that just because there's a crazy amount of food all around me doesn't mean I have to go out and eat it.  That's hard because the sweet husband likes to go out a lot.  Maybe I just need to make such tempting foods at home that he won't tempt me to go out.  I mean, I can't spend every other day saying, "Did I really eat that?"

On The Move

Hello!  It's been too long since I posted here, due to a cross-country move I made recently.  Yes, in the middle of the semester my sweet husband and I moved from Michigan to Seattle, Washington.  I had never even been west of the Rockies before this! 

The troubles with eating while traveling weren't too bad this time.  We drove, it seemed like forever, and didn't overeat while traveling.  Of course, we didn't get any exercise, either.  Settling in while trying to keep up with school, though, has led to a couple of pizza runs.  Tsk, tsk. 

The good news is that Seattle is hilly!  Not only does it look pretty with its houses sitting on terraced hills, but the terrain helps keep most people in good shape here.  We are within walking distance of a small area of shops, restaurants, and our main grocery store, and to walk there means climbing quite a hill coming back.  We've seen elderly people walk up hills that steep while we have to stop and rest.  I keep thinking that if I were to walk up these hills every day, it would get a lot easier.  That is my new goal for maintaining fitness--not to walk these hills necessarily every single day, but several days per week.

   

Hey Ma, what's for supper?

I'll tell you what's for supper:  chips, guacamole, and an evening with the Detroit Tigers!  Well okay, I have to do homework while I watch, but it's better than no Tiger baseball!

I don't usually eat much for supper, preferring to eat my larger meals earlier in the day so I'm not going to bed on a full stomach.  A snack like this is just right.  Tonight is the third game of the American League playoffs and Justin Verlander is pitching, so I got out my glass holiday dish and made my favorite guacamole recipe to put in it.  Sweet husband's little smile when he saw it prompted me to say, "Do you think I should save it for the World Series?"  No, he thinks it's fine.

Here's my yummy guacamole recipe:

Two ripe avocados
Juice of one lemon
1 tablespoon chunky salsa
Large dash of onion powder
Large dash of garlic powder
Salt to taste, try a scant 1/2 teaspoon

Mash the avocado, add other ingredients and mash together well.  Serve with your favorite tortilla chips.  And don't forget to say a little cheer for my Tigers.

Keep 'Em Single

Last week I put my foot down.  There's only one day a week when I really feel like I need dessert, and that's on Saturday--Saturday night to be precise.  I suppose it's because when I was growing up we always had ice cream on Saturday nights, and all these decades later it doesn't feel right not to have something yummy then.  Sweet husband has the same problem...while my family was downing ice cream and cookies on Saturday nights, his was doing the ice cream and root beer float thing. 

So he has gotten used to stopping by the store on Fridays and picking up something delicious and usually cold and usually chocolate.  And usually in a large package.  Never mind that it's probably cholesterol-free since we've been cutting animal fats out of our diet...it's still high in sugar, fat, and calories!

As I said, I finally put my foot down.  Did I say, don't bring anything home?  Are you kidding?  I'm neither that good nor that foolish...deprivation only makes most of us want to indulge even more.  No, I said "Bring home single servings."  Now, when Sunday and Monday come I don't have a box of delicious something-or-others in my freezer or pantry to finish off.  The wrappers from our Rice Dream Bars (or whatever it may be) are in the trash, and we can forget about sweets for a while until next Saturday night.

Move It Till You Lose It

Not such a great week--no pounds lost, and maybe one gained.  I’ve had a lot on my mind, not a lot of sleep, and that makes me not want to move around as much.  Not only that, but the weather has suddenly turned from summer to fall.  It’s hard to feel like walking outside when the sky turns gray, the wind cuts through your jacket, and the streets are wet from a cold rain.  Today, though, I made myself do it.  I need the exercise, and so does my dog.  It was a long, hot summer but it’s time to get out the coats and get used to the idea of going outside in the colder weather.  

On days that it rains almost nonstop like it did yesterday, there is the option of working out indoors. 

Must.Remember.To.Just.Do.It!

Wa- Ter You Drinking?

Back to the scale, and back to the drawing board. Well, not quite. I did lose one pound this week. A little disappointing, but not so bad when you consider that it could have been a pound gained instead of lost. Sweet husband and I had to go out of town for a couple of days unexpectedly, and that meant eating in restaurants again.

One thing I did differently this time was to avoid having sugary beverages with my food. I'm not a frequent soda drinker and I don't drink alcohol, but when I'm in a restaurant it feels natural to have something fizzy or at least a lemonade. Why? I don't know, because at home I mainly drink water.

We hear often that soda, or pop as we say in the Midwest, is a major contributor to obesity and diabetes. And a glass of lemonade can have even more calories than a regular soda. Diet drinks aren’t a lot better, raising the risk of stroke and heart attack significantly amid evidence that they aren’t really effective for weight loss (For one discussion of this, see “Diet Soda a Day Linked With Higher Risk of Stroke, Heart Attack.” Huffingtonpost.com. February 1, 2012).  

Okay, so what’s on the beverage menu? A large glass of real juice packs in the calories, but a small juice occasionally is one option. Water is always a good choice, and there are sometimes fizzy or low-calorie flavored options. Although the diet jury seems to be out on how seltzer water affects the bones, the occasional drink while out is surely healthier than a sugar- or aspartame-sweetened beverage. In nicer restaurants, my husband orders San Pellegrino sparkling water, and plain water with a slice of lemon in other eateries when possible. Guess it’s time for me to get used to doing that, too.

Home Cooking

My friend Missy brought up a good point recently about food.  The food served at a restaurant, whether it's a fast food joint or someplace expensive and charming, is usually not the same food you would consent to eat at home.  Many restaurants have nutrition sections on their websites that tell the number of calories in specific dishes, as well as how much fat, salt, and cholesterol they contain.  I've looked at a number of these websites, and it's quite a shock to someone who enjoys dining out. 

As I mentioned in some previous comments, I gained six pounds this summer on a ten-day vacation, eating solely in restaurants.  It wasn't realistic on this particular trip to prepare our own food.  After spending most of Labor Day weekend with relatives, I'm back to doing my own cooking.  I've lost 3 pounds this week!  And that's not by starving myself at all...I'm just eating my normal high-fiber, plant-based meals and taking some walks.  I feel better physically than I have in weeks.   

Eating to Live

We all know people who seem to live to eat, rather than eating to live.  Some of us are those people at times.  I’ve done pretty well with this in my adult life, usually able to focus on life instead of food.  Sometimes I do get sidetracked…. 

Often, getting together with friends or relatives means the food  comes fast and furiously.  It’s hard to say No to food cooked by a dear, hardworking hostess, especially when much of it is desserts upon which the rest of the family places great importance.  But while sweets are hard for me to resist, I don’t really enjoy them.  I enjoy meals that taste good, that make me feel good and that I can forget about afterward. 

From my own cook’s angle, entertaining doesn’t have to mean spending all day in the kitchen, feeding  guests like there’s no tomorrow.   I love to feed people, but hopefully they come to see me, not just eat my cooking.  They might even be thankful if we cooks spend less time in the kitchen and help them with their goal of eating to live.  In turn, what’s healthy for our guests is usually what’s healthy for us!

Salad Years

Are you finding the salad years not so slimming as salad itself? Feeling too busy with life and work to eat healthy and exercise?  Join me, a busy lady feeling the physical stresses of middle age, as I log four months of improving my health while going to school full time!
 
Besides college, I'm doing a part-time internship in grant writing. I have a husband, two adult children with whom I love to visit, a dog, a cat, a big house and yard, and church responsibilities. Finding time to cook healthy and exercise isn't easy, but 15 pounds of me has to go!

Let's see what just a little extra effort can do... and if you want to join me, so much the better. C'mon, let's make sure we eat those fruits and veggies, avoid the junk food, and MOVE every day!  I'll be updating you at least once a week with my progress and what I've learned works or doesn't work for me.  I look forward to reading about your quick, healthy meals and exercises on the fly as well!