Tag Archives: skinny

Non-Starchy Vegetables vs. Starchy Vegetables

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When wanting to lose weight and maintain your weight,  you need to be conscious of how many carbs you get into your diet daily.  YES, you want vegetables, but many people mistakenly think of potatoes of any kind as an innocent vegetable.  You need to get 4 small servings of vegetables a day (about half a cup of each serving), but if it is a STARCHY vegetable, not so much.  You need to cut down the serving by half if it is carrots and you have to be aware that I gave up starchy vegetables altogether.  Now, you can have them if you like, especially in maintenance, but be aware of what they do to your body.

First, the good they do.  Potatoes are a very good source of vitamin C and potassium and a good source of folate, vitamin B6, and manganese. They also contain a fairly high concentration of antioxidant phytonutrients.

The problem with potatoes is that they are high on the glycemic index.

Estimated Glycemic Load of Potatoes

  • ½ cup diced raw potato: 6
  • 1 medium potato (2½ to 3½ inches in diameter; about 7.5 oz):17
  • 1 large potato (3 to 4½ inches in diameter; about 13 oz): 29
  • ½ cup mashed potato made with milk (no butter): 8
  • ½ cup mashed potato made from dehydrated (instant) potatoes with milk: 7
  • The glycemic index gives us an idea of which foods raise our blood glucose fastest and highest.
  • BY COMPARISON:  one serving of broccoli is 8, one serving of cauliflower is 1 , and spinach is 0.

  • Why is this important?

    Many people have problems processing large increases in blood glucose.  Having blood glucose that is too high, is on the road to diabetes and the way to correct this is to cut carbs and eat foods lower in glycemic index numbers.

  • Eating pure glucose is given a ranking of 100 — all other foods are in relation to this. So a food with a glycemic index of 95 raises blood sugar almost as much as pure glucose, but a food with a glycemic index of 20 doesn’t raise blood sugar much at all. It’s important to keep in mind, though, that the glycemic index does not take portion size into account. The actual amount any food raises blood sugar has to do both with how glycemic it is, and how much of it you eat. The glycemic load attempts to combine these concepts, and some diets are using the glycemic load for this reason.


 lowcarbveggies

Vegetables LOW in carbs:

  • Sprouts, alfalfa and other small seeds (sprouted legumes have more carb)
  • Greens – lettuce, spinach, chard, etc.
  • Hearty Greens – collards, mustard greens, kale, etc.
  • Radicchio and endive count as greens
  • Herbs – parsley, cilantro, basil, rosemary, thyme, etc.
  • Bok Choy
  • Bamboo Shoots
  • Celery
  • Radishes
  • Sea Vegetables (Nori, etc)
  • Mushrooms
  • Cabbage(or sauerkraut)
  • Jicama
  • Avocado
  • Asparagus
  • Okra
  • Cucumbers (or pickles without added sugars)
  • Green Beans
  • Fennel
  • Cauliflower
  • Brocolli
  • Peppers
  • Zuchinni
  • Summer Squash

So, eat your VEGGIES and choose wisely.

P.S.  The carb content of the above mentioned items per serving:

cauliflower, brocoli  1-3g of carbs, spinach is 0-1 g of carbs and a potato is 35g for a medium potato.  See the difference?  If you want to stay skinny, you can’t have more than 50-100g of carbs a day.  35g is a lot for ONE item for the day.

Do I Do My Chores or Do I Exercise?

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I was faced with a tough decision yesterday.  I had a ton of chores to do and I am under stress to do them.  Do I give up my nightly exercise to do it?  What is one night?

Well, I decided to exercise because I had spent years neglecting myself, which is how I gained weight in the first place.  There will always be something to do, so why neglect myself any more?  I want to stay skinny and you can’t if you let yourself fall back on old bad habits.

You have to prioritize yourself.  You can have a nice car and a nice house.  You can have a nice Chanel bag….but what difference does it make if you look like crap?  Your body and the shape it is in says a lot about a person.  It says a lot about your sense of self-control, a sense of self-love and self-respect.  It is the FIRST thing that people notice about you.  They might never see your car or your house, but they will see YOU.  And how good does a nice expensive outfit look on a flabby person?  Not so good.  I can wear nice selections from Target in my skinny-toned body and they look better than some expensive outfit on a bigger, sloppy, untoned body.

There is weight prejudice out there.  People look at you and make assumptions based on your body.  I used to get asked if I was pregnant all of the time because the wheat products gave me girth and belly fat.  (I gave wheat up!)

If you spend a few extra minutes a day working on your body, it will pay off in dividends.  You will look better, feel better (mentally and physically), be healthier, your shopping for clothes will be easier and more fun, your partner might be happier with your look, you won’t get teased about your weight,  it is easier to get hired (there are studies about this), and you might get more appreciative (and sometimes jealous) looks from others.

And for you selfless types out there….remember this….on the planes, when the oxygen masks are released, what do they tell parents to do?  They say to put on the mask and breathe FIRST and THEN let your child breathe because if you pass out first, your kid has no one to help them.  If you get sick from being out of shape and large, who will be there for your family, friends or children if you fail?  You have to take care of yourself FIRST to be there for the family.  We have a friend who just died because he was so busy caring for his family and work and forgot to take care of himself.  He died at the age of 56 from a heart attack and left behind a widow and a 13-year-old girl.  I don’t want that to happen to me or anyone else.

So, I chose the exercise.  I felt better afterwards and my stress level lowered.  Exercise is great for stress.  It is a vicious cycle, you have stress and don’t feel like exercising, but if you exercised, you would feel less stress.  So, just do it and get that ball rolling.  And after you exercise, if you have time leftover, then do some chores.  You will do them feeling less guilty that you neglected yourself and you will have more energy too, believe it or not.

http://www.adaa.org/living-with-anxiety/managing-anxiety/exercise-stress-and-anxiety
Exercise relieves stress

Your Big Belly Is a Product of Carb Consumption, Not Fat Consumption

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I used to get asked when my baby was due and I was never pregnant.  I cut down my carbs and I lost “the baby” (my gut)!  Carbs is the problem!

As Americans cut fats from their diet (an unknowingly–protein as well), they replaced them with bad carbohydrates (good carbs are in vegetables).  This is partly a result of Americans’ reliance on unhealthy carbs — bagels, pasta, pretzels, rice, potatoes, etc.  So, now a full two-thirds of the U.S. population is overweight or obese, and nearly one of out four Americans is overweight.

The idea that cutting carbs from your diet can lead to weight loss is beginning to catch on and even moderate reductions in your carb consumption can help you shed extra pounds.  When I finally cut down my carbs to between 50-100g a day, I finally lost my long-held weight gain.

An important point is that a reduced-carb diet promotes the loss of deep belly fat, also known as “visceral fat,” even when no change in weight is apparent.

Visceral fat is strongly linked with type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and other chronic diseases. It is thought that visceral fat is related to the release of proteins and hormones that can cause inflammation, which in turn can damage arteries and enter your liver, affecting how your body breaks down sugars and fats.

While it’s often referred to as “belly fat” because it can cause a “beer belly” or an apple-shaped body, you can have visceral fat even if you’re thin. So even if you aren’t trying to lose weight, cutting unhealthy carbs in your diet could have a positive impact on your levels of visceral fat, and thereby potentially reduce your risk of chronic disease.

People on low-carb diets lose weight in part because they get less fructose that can be made into body fat quickly. Although fructose is naturally found in high levels in fruit, it is also added to many processed foods, especially in the form of high-fructose corn syrup. If your only source of fructose came from eating an apple or orange a day, keeping your total grams of fructose to below 25 per day, then it would not be an issue.

But what many completely fail to appreciate is that fructose is the NUMBER ONE source of calories in the United States and the typical person is consuming 75 grams of fructose each and every day. Because fructose is so cheap it is used in MOST processed foods. The average person is consuming 1/3 of a pound of sugar every day!

Evidence is mounting that excess sugar, and fructose in particular, is the primary factor in the obesity epidemic, so it’s definitely a food you want to avoid if you want to lose weight. This means you have to  keep your fruit amounts down each day, but avoid added fructose in your food.

Many dieters snack on pretzels in lieu of potato chips and other salty snacks, believing them to be healthier alternatives. But eating pretzels is just as bad as dipping a spoon straight into a bowl of sugar.

Don’t be fooled by the fact that they’re “fat-free” – remember it’s the carbs that are the culprit.

Your body prefers the carbohydrates in vegetables rather than grains because it slows the conversion to simple sugars like glucose, and decreases your insulin level. Grain carbohydrates, like those in pretzels and bread, will increase your insulin resistance and interfere with your ability to burn fat — which is the last thing you want if you’re trying to lose weight.

Even cereals, whether high-fiber, whole-grain or not, are not a food you want to eat if you’re concerned about your weight. If they contain sugar, that will tend to increase your insulin levels even more, regardless if they are so-called “healthy” cereals or not.

WHAT SHOULD YOU EAT?

A “healthy diet” is qualified by the following key factors:

  • Unprocessed whole foods
  • Often raw or only lightly cooked
  • Organic or grass-fed meat/eggs, and free from additives and genetically modified ingredients
  • Come from high-quality, local sources
  • Carbohydrates primarily come from vegetables (except for corn or potatoes)
  • Good-Carbs-vs-Bad-Carbs

Squat Challenge

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It is all over the internet.  The 30 Day Squat Challenge.  I am on Day 5.  I will be doin 70 squats and I adding in bicep curls. I am using a stretchy band that I picked up from Target.  It is easy.  Try the challenge.  Takes a couple of  minutes a day, with rest periods in-between.  Might keep you motivated to keep eating right.  Keep motivated to get healthy and look good–and skinny!  Check out the chart.

cord

squat

Today: A Story on How Ignoring Your Body Ruins People’s Lives

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I moved to my house in the late nineties and one of the nicest men lived near us.  He is a USC social worker grad and then became a lawyer.  Had a child  with his really nice wife in their forties, after years of trying for a child.
Their cocker spaniels were the joy of their life before the girl was born…and even then, they love dogs.
Then, the mother decided to be stay at home and the second income was cut.  When the girl turned of school-age, they decided to sell and move to a district with a better known school system, despite the nearby schools being ribbon schools.  They incurred debt, with a house twice the size of the first one.
He bust his balls working.  To save money, he didn’t hire an assistant, but he should have.  He therefore, had no time for the gym, no time to eat right.  He was overweight and out of shape. Probably no time for doctors either.
His wife would call him to come home, but he was working late for money fears.  New cars, bigger house, kid medical problems, not hiring help.  Had to start working for a firm and not himself and got medical coverage there.
My husband was worried about him.
I am sad to say he died last night.  He was only 56.  The little girl will go to her prom and someday her wedding with no father there.  Truly sad.  Truly a nice man.
Please consider putting your health first.  Above STUFF, above work.  Life is truly short and if you don’t eat right or exercise, it truly will be short.
Saying a little prayer for the Marks family….

Cancer and Sugar!

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Another reason to keep your sugar levels down is to consider the new evidence that links colon cancer to high glycemic index foods and low fiber foods in the diet.  And a low glycemic diet is great to be skinny!

http://www.naturalmedicinejournal.com/article_content.asp? edition=1&section=3&article=405&utm_source=Natural+Medicine+Journal+List&utm_campaign=e0793423cb-March+2013&utm_medium=email

Foods that are low on the Glycemic Index:  Here is a list http://www.the-gi-diet.org/lowgifoods/

Again, I will state that you should eat things like low fat cheese, low-carb protein bars, nuts, eggs, meat, low carb Greek Yogurt, vegetables, mostly citrus fruits and berries (two small portions a day), salads and lettuce mixes with low carb dressing.  Anything else–only in moderation.  If you need fiber, stick to nuts, seeds (especially flaxseed), fiber supplements and vegetables.  Choosing fresh, non-starchy vegetables you can help increase your fiber intake while keeping your carb intake low. One cup of raw broccoli contains about 6 grams of total carbs, including 2.5 grams of fiber, and 1 cup of raw cauliflower provides about 5 grams of total carbs and 2 grams of fiber. Examples of other non-starchy vegetables include leafy greens, tomatoes, bell peppers and celery.  You do not need to eat wheat to get fiber.  Most cereals are high in sugar and carbs.

Low Glycemic Diet Guide

HIDDEN SUGAR IN FOOD! 11 Items You Don’t Even Think About

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There are things that you might eat that have sugar in them and you might not be aware of that fact when you are eating them.  Hidden sugar, hidden carbs.

The 11 Items That Have Hidden Sugar:

1.  SUGAR:  The natural fructose sugar found in fruits and vegetables and lactose sugar in milk and dairy is part of a healthful diet. The problem lies with processed foods packed with high amounts of sugar (namely sucrose and high fructose corn syrup).  It is not just in candy, soda and cake.  There are a lot of things that use it in the ingredients.  Look at labels before you buy.

2.  GRANOLA BARS:  These contain a lot of added sugar. Instead of a prepackaged granola bar, you could create your own trail mix with a handful of nuts, dry oatmeal or muesli, dried fruit with natural sugar, such as cranberries, and even a few bits of dark chocolate. This will almost guarantee the nutrients and energy you need, while you control the added sugar.  however, that could be higher in carbs and not necessarily good for weight loss.  I prefer Power Crunch bars, Nature Valley Protein Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter bars or some other LOW carb protein bar.

3.  CEREAL:  You need to really look closely at cereals. Some so-called healthy and granola-based cereals have as many as 13 grams of sugar per serving, while other cereals have as few as 6 or even 2 grams.  Most cereal is high in carbs and I wouldn’t even go near it on a diet and to stay skinny–I don’t do cereal.  I have eggs, bacon, sausage, Lindora oatmeal, low-carb protein bars, etc. for breakfast.

4.  BARBEQUE SAUCE:  The ingredients can include one or more of the “natural sugars,” such as honey, molasses, and brown sugar. Bottled brands can have as many as 11 grams of added sugar per serving.. Every time you slather on barbecue sauce, you are adding sugar to your meat, a naturally sugar-free protein. Seasoning meat before cooking with a tasty blend of spices, called a rub, is a better option for a low-sugar diet.

5.  KETCHUP:  The label shows it is made up of tomatoes and sugar.  Other words that are sugar-type ingredients are corn starch, sorghum, glucose, fructose, lactose, sucrose, galactose, maltose, and concentrated juices, like concentrated grape or apple juice.  I usually stick with mustard or just a dash of ketchup.

6.  TOMATO SOUP/SAUCE:  Like ketchup, tomato sauce and tomato soup may also be foods with sugar added. When cooking these from scratch at home, you might use caramelized onions or carrots, or Splenda  for a little sweetness to counter the acidity in tomatoes and forgo the sugar.  Not all tomato products contain a lot of added sugar, so get in the habit of checking out the label.  Tomato paste, canned diced tomatoes, and salsa are better choices.

7.  JUICE:  Juice is a concentrated source of sugar and is not very filling or appetite-satisfying.  Even if the label says it’s 100 percent natural and contains only natural sugars, you still may be looking at a hefty serving of sugar per portion. For example, a 10-ounce bottle of pure apple juice could have as many as 32 grams of sugar. Instead of a glass of juice, choose fresh fruit — while it still contains sugar, it also has fiber as well.  Even juicing at home (which is still better) is way too much sugar.  EAT your fruit.  Juicing is a lot of carbs!  It can ruin your daily carb count.

8.  LEMONADE:  Lemons are a wonderful source of antioxidants and vitamin C.  Instead of lemonade, you can add a squeeze of lemon to water improve taste and it is good for you. But when turned into lemonade, the benefits of lemons may be outweighed by the amount of the added sugar needed to sweeten the beverage, as many as 25 grams per serving. If you really want lemonade, make it fresh at home and control the sugars you use or stick with Splenda to avoid sugar and carbs.

9:  SWEET TEA:  Same as lemonade, you can make it with Splenda instead to save on the sugar.   The reality is that sweet tea often contains just as much sugar and just as little nutrition as soda. Both black and green teas can be good for you because of their antioxidants — just go for the unsweetened variety.

10:  ENERGY DRINKS:  Same as Sweet Tea.  Supposedly good for you, but some of them have 20 or 30 carbs due to the added sugar.  Some are ZERO carbs and sugar.  Read labels!

11.  FLAVORED YOGURT:  Yogurt is so good for your digestive tract that it’s hard to think of it as a food with sugar or that the 6 to 7 teaspoons of added sugar in one serving of flavored yogurt could be an issue. But just try to imagine yourself layering that amount of sugar onto plain yogurt. A better option is to go Greek: Drizzle a little honey onto plain, Thick style Greek or simply rely on the natural sweetness of berries or other fresh fruit that you add yourself to liven it up.  Also some of the Greek Yogurts have less sugar than others.  Dannon Lite and Fit has 8g carbs, Choboni has 20g of carbs.  Both taste the same.  Again, read labels.hiddensugar

Need a Healthy Snack?

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image

I went to Pilates this morning (after downing a hard boiled egg) and I was hungry afterwards. So, besides my coffee, I took out my Carbmaster yogurt. 4 grams of carbs –just enough to get me by until my next protein snack in a couple of hours. The worst thing that you can do on a diet is let yourself get too hungry and then you wind up eating too much of the wrong stuff. So, after a workout it’s good to get some protein with a little bit of carb. I probably would have had eggs, but I am at work and because I prepare, I had yogurt in my fridge. It is just enough to sustain and satisfy.

Remember, if you are on a diet or you just want to maintain your figure, you need to always a certain amount of low carb high protein snacks available to you all the time. I carry sunflower seeds in my purse, in case I get hungry. Always be prepared.

How Do I Carb Thee, Let Me Count The Ways

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In order to lose weight, you have to limit your carbohydrate intake to between 50 and 100g of carbs a day. The closer to 50, the faster you lose it. It is best to have good carbs from vegetables and fruits vs. processed foods.

However, sometimes learning about how many carbs are iin each item and portion can be tedious work until you start doing it enough and remembering numbers, like they do in Weight Watchers with points.

So, I found a shortcut. If you want to count carbs, let an online tracker do it for you or an App on your Smartphone or IPad.

http//www.carbscontrol.com
This is free online, but they charge a small fee for apps.

Https ://itunes.apple.com/us/app/atkins-carb-tracker/id583475512?mt=8
This Atkins carb counter can be purchased for a small fee for an app on your phone or tablet.

This could add to your success in making sure that you count right and stay on track.

Five Diet Cheating Rules

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Congratulations to my friend, S.H. (you know who you are!) for losing all of her weight through the rules I write about!  She has finally made goal due to determination and motivation to do it.  She didn’t half-ass it and she followed the rules.  Right on S.H.!

Then, I had another friend who lost a lot of weight, but was stuck.  When we dug into what she was doing, it was because she had TWO cheat days a week.  Well, my diet rules do NOT include cheat days, so why she decided that two cheat days was a good idea is beyond me, but in my mind it was her way of coming up with an excuse to CHEAT.  These cheating excuses is why we get fat in the first place.

What is a cheat?  A cheat meal is when you allow yourself something that you normally abstain from.

You should follow the rules about protein and vegetable and fruit portions at least 6 days a week, but once a week usually works for a cheat, if you must do it.  This is where you eat properly for all of  meals except  maybe a Friday dinner out. When you eat right for 6 days a week, one cheat meal on the 7th day will still allow you to reach your goals.  But there are rules!

RULES to CHEATING:

1.  ONE cheat meal a week.

2.  Stick to a cheat meal, rather than a cheat day. An entire days worth of binging can create unhealthy patterns and actually lead to weight gain, spiked blood sugar levels and a generally unhealthy relationship with food. Reserve “cheat days” for 4 times a year – your birthday, Thanksgiving, and two holiday get-togethers, where you have little control over what’s put in front of you. If your cheat days number more than 4 a year, you are not in control.

3.  As for the cheat meal itself, your weekly cheat meal should still be within the confines of your daily calorie count or CARB count. Yes, even your cheating needs to be recorded in a food diary or you could undue an entire week’s work.  If you eat carbs, keep your count under 100, whatever the cheat is or you will not lose weight and you could actually undue a week of hard work all in one day.

4.  The easiest way to stay within your calorie or carb count is by limiting your portions. Say Chicken Parmesan is your cheat; have one small plateful, with a side of vegetables, and freeze any leftovers you may have for use on your next cheat meal.

5.  Whatever you do, exercise!  It helps burn the cheat away.

cheat

Some people need a cheat to give them the willpower to continue the diet.  I did not want to stray because I was so determined and on a mission to get to my goal, but I realize that not everyone can do it and need to have something to look forward to doing.  Just follow the rules on the cheat though!

The best part about cheat meals is that the longer you stick to your healthy diet, the less sinful the cheat meals will become. You’re going to find you’re no longer lusting after that greasy boston creme donut, that you’d rather save the calories. You’ll find you’d rather have fruit and yogurt than an ice cream cone. Trust me, your tastes start to change for the better, and so will your body.

My cheat (daily) that isn’t really a cheat at all is my 8 ounces of Carbolite at 13-17 grams of carbs per serving.  I use it as one of my six daily proteins, so it isn’t really a cheat, but tastes like one–thereby eliminating my “need” to cheat.  However, if you don’t have something like that, then I can see how a cheat would be desired.  My other fake cheats are Greek Yogurt and Strawberries.  YUM!  There are also chocolate type low carb items that I have that could be a fake cheat too, like my Nature Valley Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate protein bar at 11g of carbs and my Power Crunch bars at 10 g of carbs.  Because I eat those, my desire to cheat is less.

I also make a caulflower-based pizza and eat Skinny noodles with pasta sauce now and then.  And I also have the Lindora.com pancake mix as a “cheat”, even though it isn’t.

So, you get my point?  You can stay on the diet and still feel like you are cheating…so what is the point of cheating to the point of putting your hard work back on your body?

You have to be creative and do your research–or just read my blog!  I have the best suggestions!

Pictures below are my faux cheats.  My yogurt and strawberries at 16g of carbs, cauliflower-based pizza less than 10 g of carbs, and my low-carb chicken burrito with  9 g of carburritos2bs each.yogurtcauliflowerpizza