Archive for June, 2006
An interesting experiment
Back before I started my weight loss journey, I ate relatively normally. I didn't pig out, I ate veggies, I ate a pretty "balanced" diet. I felt pretty decent - no health issues or anything. I probably ate about 250 grams of net carbs per day - big bowl of healthy cereal for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch often, I did drink 2 cokes a day but the rest was water, supper usually was lots of carbs too - biscuits or French toast or spaghetti or something of that nature. I might have some ice cream after everyone went to bed.
The low carb plan that most closely resembles what I'm doing is Protein Power. I have been eating 60 grams of carbs per day for 6 days, and then 120 for the 7th so that I can "reset" my system (since your metabolism is constantly trying to get things to "stay the same.")
The weekend before last weekend, we had a very busy weekend, and I ended up fudging a bit on some non-splurge days. I had a tiny brownie at a church potluck, at McDonald's the lady gave me regular Coke instead of diet, etc. Nothing major, but it was enough that when it came time for me to do another splurge day, I didn't feel comfortable doing that. So I went even longer eating 60 grams consistently.
I actually was having trouble getting up to 60 - I haven't been nearly as hungry, and the carby foods didn't sound as good to me as the more proteiny ones. Some days I only had 46 grams or so. It varied.
Yesterday was splurge day. At lunchtime I commented to dh that I hear all the time how much better people feel when they low-carb - more energy, not hungry all the time (as compared to strictly low-fat,low-cal diets), etc. I had a PBJ on regular bread. I was expecting to be all AHHHHHHHHHHH BREAD since it's been so long since I've had regular bread. But it was just blah and didn't really taste all that good to me.
Then naptime hit and I CRASHED. I actually fell asleep. My blood sugar crashed and so did I.
Then the whole rest of the afternoon I felt like a total slug. Just BLAH and almost sick.
For supper I made biscuits, bacon, and eggs. I was expecting to want to pig out on my biscuits, since I normally did. I normally would eat at least 2, and sometimes 3. I had to FORCE myself to eat ONE. I INHALED my eggs and bacon, and I ended up eating J's too. My body was just CRAVING protein, and those eggs were soooooo yummy!!!!!!!
I felt better soon after supper and after I had gotten a decent amount of protein in me.
So much for not feeling different!
Honestly I felt so bad with "all those carbs" (less than half what I used to eat!!!) that I am rethinking my plan so that I don't eat that many on my next splurge day.
I am just amazed. I WANTED eggs and bacon. I DIDN'T want biscuits. That is just not me!!!!!! However, dare I say it...I think I may have broken my addiction!!!
Once I get down to my goal weight, I'll probably add in some whole grains, but boy I tell ya, I cannot see myself going back to my old way of eating AT ALL! I don't have any desire to at all.
(And this way of eating is supposedly so unhealthy. Whatever!
)
Cleanliness is next to godliness…
So we're watching LOTR Fellowship of the Ring. We come to the scene where Galadriel and Frodo meet up and she has him look into the mirror. She glides down the muddy stairs, and G (age 8 ) says,
"I wonder how Galadriel keeps herself so clean."
Oh my stars, I almost spit on myself when he said that!!!
Just a tip
When you receive your first DVD from Netflix, don't let it lie on the dining room table, especially if it is lying near the newspapers that your dd will be taking out to the recycle pile as part of her chores, especially if trash day is tomorrow and your dh fills up the rest of the trash can with newspapers from the recycle pile....
Weight loss update
Oooh. Aaah.
Can you hear the excitement in my voice? Got this in my e-mail this morning:
"NOW, THEREFORE, I Christine Gregoire, governor of the state of Washington, do hereby proclaim June 11 – 17, 2006 as Homeschool Week in Washington State and I urge all citizens to join me in this special observance."Know what this means? Pretty much nothing. We still have to test annually. We still have to be "qualified to teach." We still have to file a notice of intent annually.
Spunky Homeschool sums up my thoughts on all of this quite well.
Not impressed with Splenda
I've been leery of Splenda for quite some time, but when I started my diet (I'm down 11.5 lbs. by the way!
), I went ahead and got some to use.OK, isn't the big claim that "it tastes like sugar" or something like that? Well, yeah, it's sweet, I'll give them that. But so far everything I have baked with it ends up with this funky aftertaste.
Those oatmeal cookies I mentioned a while back? BIG TIME aftertaste. I made some peanut butter brownies last night, and there again - aftertaste.Blech.
Once this bag is gone I'm done with Splenda when it comes to cooking. I'm planning to try sucanat (the real stuff, not the wanna-be sucanat). I hope it's easy to find around here!
Does it matter what we believe?
There is an interesting conversation going on in the comment section of this previous post of mine. Is it OK if a person is very sincere in their beliefs and comfortable with their spirituality? I say no. (Because the Bible does.
)
More weight loss ponderings
Today I hit 10 pounds lost! Yahoo!!!
I have been making something from 500 Low-Carb Recipes: 500 Recipes, from Snacks to Dessert, That the Whole Family Will Love nearly everyday, and I haven't found a bad recipe yet. In fact, just the opposite. Tonight I used Dana's recipe for French toast, and I thought, so THIS is how restaurants make their French toast! Last night I made my own tortillas (note to self: buy a tortilla press). I have had store-bought, low-carb tortillas before. BARFOLA. But these are GOOOOOOOOOOD! The cookbook had a comment that these taste better than the normal, white-flour tortillas. It is RIGHT. They are yummy!
It has been so frustrating hearing/seeing all the myths about low-carbing. For some reason people think that low-carbing means no-carbing, and that all that is allowed are meat and eggs. Yesterday I had a lovely 9 grams of carbs strawberry smoothie for breakfast. I eat salads often. I even eat whole grains. (The kicker with that is that it's the fiber part of the grain, so it goes right on through LOL.)
Now granted, I am on a higher level of carbs than the typical low-carber, since I'm nursing and don't want to lose too much too fast. But even if I were doing a normal low-carb diet, I'd only be at those super low amounts for a few weeks. But for some reason, people think that all that is allowed is meat or eggs, and CERTAINLY no veggies or fruits, for all eternity.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
All of what I am eating is healthier, BY FAR, than what I normally eat. I plan to start having my children start eating these same things. They certainly don't need the blood sugar crashes!
And besides, they think I'm Cool Mom when I make my strawberry smoothies. 
Which reminds me, here is my recipe (I made it up myself
):1 cup plain yogurt (I used full fat, but you can use whatever kind you want)
1 cup frozen strawberries
1 scoop vanilla whey protein powder (this is the kind you'd find in the "Body Builder" department LOL - I looked for the lowest carb/highest protein per serving)Throw it all in the blender and blend away! This makes about 5 1/2-cup servings, each with 7g of protein and 3g of net carbs. (It varies, depending on the whey protein powder you use. I also have pre-calculated the "true" carb count of the yogurt, since the label can be misleading when it comes to carbs.)
I'm planning to experiment with a chocolate shake recipe of sorts. I'll keep you posted.
I am not ashamed of the gospel
Luk 9:26 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
2Ti 1:8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord,
Rom 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes,
I often think about how rarely I share the gospel with those around me. I know that some truly do have the spiritual gift of evangelism, and those are the people who make it look so easy to tell the grocery cashier, plumber, or banker about Jesus. But the rest of us who do not have that gift are still commanded to "go therefore and make disciples." And I fail miserably.
It hit me recently - one huge reason why. I can honestly say I'm not ashamed of Christ. But I am ashamed of Christians.
When an opportunity arises (or even when there isn't one and I really should create one), my first thought isn't about what they think of me as it relates to Jesus. It is, "Will they think I'm just like all the other so-called 'Christians' who put a bad taste in their mouth about Christianity?"
I fear that someone will think that being a Christian is about rules, regulations, and appearances, since unfortunately, that's how many Christians make it sound. And I'm sometimes ashamed to be associated with that reputation.
But those do's and don't's aren't the gospel. The gospel is this:
Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
My prayer is that I'd quit focusing on those who have given Christianity a bad name and start focusing on Jesus. My prayer is that I'd be like the early disciples:
Act 4:31 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
Edited to add: It turns out that Catez Stevens and I have been pondering the same things, even though we are on opposite sides of the planet from each other. She has a very thought-provoking post about the Christians that at times cause me to want me to keep my mouth shut about being one.
My engagement ring fits again!!!
I had to take it off about 5 years ago, when I was pregnant with J. Since I didn't get back down to my normal weight after him (gotta love Zoloft and thyroid issues when it comes to weight
), that was the last I've worn it.Now that I'm down TEN POUNDS, it fits again!
I was putting it on, and L wanted to see it. I showed it to her, and she said, "When you're dead, can I have it?"
Outsourcing
Outsourcing drives me nuts. I hate calling Dell and knowing full well that the person I'm going to speak to is not even in the western hemisphere and is not able to be understood.
But this article is somewhat appalling.
Like a stomach virus in a first-grade classroom, outsourcing is now spreading rapidly into other avenues of our society. Recently, I’ve learned about “parental outsourcing” – where parents are hiring others to do what have traditionally been parental chores.
For instance, there is the Booty Camp in Illinois that teaches toddlers to be potty-trained. And no, I’m not making that up – it’s called Booty Camp.
Yes, Booty Camp.
A five-hour session of Booty Camp costs $200. I will now type that again for my own amusement: Booty Camp.
Then there are “personal shoppers” – Moms hire these people for $75 an hour to assist in their daughter’s shopping frenzy.
And then there is SOS (Study and Organizational Skills). You can hire SOS to clean and organize your child’s room while they are away at fencing practice or Booty Camp. Certainly, children can’t be expected to arrange their ascots and jodhpurs by themselves. That should be the work of professionals.
The most intriguing, and perhaps disturbing, of the parental outsourcing services I’ve found is the one where you pay a guy $50 an hour to teach your child to ride a bike.
He's got that right! It IS disturbing! But I wonder if, in several years, the same cry that we homeschoolers hear all the time will be heard by parents who choose to teach their own children how to ride a bike:
"Only a professional can teach a child to ride a bike."
What a glorious weekend!!!!
There is an old Little Caesar's commercial that has this guy who finds his dog (who he thought was dead), discovers he's lost 40 lbs., etc., and finally he learns about some special deal that Little Caesar's is having.
That is how my weekend has gone.
First and foremost....
Saturday I went to a sale at our natural food store. As I was on my way back, I saw a suspicious sign through some trees. But I thought to myself, "No, it can't be. They don't have those up here." But then as I drove a bit further, I saw the sign clearer.
It shone like a beacon in the darkness.
I couldn't believe it! We now have a Sonic!!!!! Just last week C said, "I miss Sonic. I love their strawberry slushes." We have gone without Sonic for 2 years. But NO LONGER!!!!!
Then, immediately after I found the Sonic, I went to this little vitamin and supplement store that I passed by on the way to the natural food store. I had a list of things that I was needing to get, and I found some great prices on the internet. I thought I'd go in and see what this place had. THEY HAD EVERYTHING THAT I NEEDED! And they beat the prices on the internet! My cod liver oil, vitamins, vanilla whey protein, you name it! Woo hoo!
This morning I worked in the nursery. The gal I work with asked me, "Did you lose weight?" WHY YES I DID!!!
I'm wanting to make some low-carb cinnamon-raisin bread. Raisins are on sale this week! Woo hoo some more!
It truly doesn't take much to excite me. I just made sure I asked my husband if I was going to embarrass him if I told the Sonic man how much we missed it.
