Nutrition: do what works for 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.

Nutrition: don't skip any meals

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.

Nutrition: love strawberries

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.

What is cortisol?

I have heard several "expert" opinions about Cortisol. Some think it is the answer to what is wrong with obese people. Others say that there is no reason to concern yourself with it. I want to know what Cortisol is and so I am not going to write a long message today. By the end of the week I will have an answer. If anyone wants to give their opinion, I would appreciate it.
Keep trying.

Exercise: everything counts

I walked five miles yesterday. It was not even hard. After two weeks of very little exercise, I went walking yesterday. I felt good. After that I did some leg exercises, arm exercises. I did not follow any strategy or routine. What I wanted to do was just exercise, to see how I felt. And the weird thing was that I did not wake up sore or tired. Actually, it was the first time in two weeks that I did not wake up with back pain. It was a glorious morning.
So what is the message I want you to get from this? Do whatever you can, whenever you can. Don't go to sleep without doing something. Even if all you do today is twenty sit-ups or twenty push-ups. It is more than what you did yesterday. Add a 1/2 mile walk tomorrow. Spend twenty minutes on the stationary bike. Do something and keep trying.

Drinking habits

I believe in getting all the free information that can help me. One of the topics I subscribe to is health. I receive about 6 or 7 e-zines a day. One of them had an article about the effects of soda. Since my resolution is to become healthy, soda has been vanished from my diet and my daughter's. Soda companies need not fear my decision: my husband drinks enough soda a day to make up for my one can a day and my daughter's. He has soda for breakfast, with a cigarette, another one when he actually eats breakfast. Another soda to have with his fast food lunch and another one with dinner. That does not include the one he is usually drinking while watching games on TV. Long story short, the article is explaining how soda is not only bad for your weight, but also messes up your teeth, can help diabetes, etc. I have had no soda since New Year's Eve: yes, three full days ago. But I don't miss it. And if you decide to knock soda off your diet, I hope you don't miss it either. Stay strong.