Wk 2/Day 12- Deep Fried Nuts- Are you kidding me?

 I was super busy yesterday working on web design for a secret project I will reveal sometime in the next few weeks.  Did you miss me?  Probably not, huh!

Thought I'd share a bit of new found knowledge with everyone in the way of a public service announcement.

We went grocery shopping at this wonderful store that has an enormous bulk bin section.  They have ALL SORTS of candy, but also different grains, beans, pastas, flours, nuts, etc.  I wanted to get some nuts for a snack since they aren't on the naughty list.  Debating between some smokey roasted almonds and just salted ones- I asked my husband which sounded better to him.

Him- "You can have nuts on this diet?"
Me- "Well of course.  They are just nuts."
Him- "But Honey, they are oil roasted."
Me- "Oil's not on the bad list- just butter and sour cream and other yummy things like that."
Him- "Do you know they are deep-fried in the oil?"

WHAT?!?

 

Later when we got home he asked me what I thought he meant when he said they were oil roasted.  Well, I thought he meant what any other human might have thought- lightly spritzed in oil and baked.  They are NUTS for goodness sake!

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that our food industry deep-fries nuts to give them a crunchy texture.  Much more efficient then tray loads of nuts in the oven.  I recognize that a nut isn't going to absorb the same amount of oil as say, a Twinkie in a vat of hot oil.  But here for the public service announcement . . . Unless nuts specify "dry roasted", they are not what you think they are!

Did you already know this?  

There is a good ending to the story.  My personal chef/husband bought me some raw almonds, took them home, and oven roasted them for me.

Wk2/Day 10- What did I just eat?

Time for me to again share my weakness.  It's the unconscious eating!  Since the bonus challenge this week is absolutely no added sugar, I have to really pay attention to what I eat.  I have never realized how often I just toss something into my mouth without a second thought.  This week it's actually causing me anxiety.  The other night I popped something in my mouth and just about had a panic attack . . . "What did I just eat?  Did it ruin everything?  Oh, thank goodness it was just a piece of chicken!  How did I get chicken in my mouth?"  Oh dear!

Our host for the fitness program, promised us that fruit would never taste so delicious as it will this week because it's essentially the only sweet thing to eat.  Boy is she right!  We get points for 3 fruit servings a day and I am certainly eating more like 4-5.  As a dietitian, I always tried to convince others that fruit could be their dessert instead of other higher calorie choices, although I was never really convinced myself.  But on day 3 of no simple sugars whatsoever, I tell you: nothing like sweet cool grapes to satisfy a sweet tooth- nothing like it!

Wk2/Day 9- Activities of Living

Perhaps this is a pathetic way to get my exercise points, but as a busy mom, I have found it's my only practical way.  Most days I just can't find 45 minutes of uninterrupted time to do a 'workout'.  Even when I try to pop in my favorite Zumba DVD, I end up dancing around with a toddler on my hip (probably should get extra exercise points for that). 

So here's how I've been getting most of my points- walking everywhere.  Walking everyone to school to drop off the oldest, then walking downtown to the library, then home, then back to the school to pick up and then back home.  It works quite well for us, because usually 1 or 2 boys are on bikes/scooters, so I have to huff it to keep up. 

I think the world needs to focus more on activities of living, instead of the dreaded exercise, to be healthy.  In fact, the Fit in 6 program I am doing just gives points for time spent being active.  We as a group even decided playing red light/green light with a bunch of kids definitely counts for exercise points. 

Here's some other fun ideas for activities of living that I came across recently.  They come from the Intermountain Healthcare's Weigh to Health Program.

• Take the stairs instead of the elevator
• Walk whenever you can, instead of driving
• Get off the bus/train a stop early - or park farther away and walk
• Stand up while talking on the phone.  And if you have a cordless or cell phone- walk while you talk
• Lose your TV remote control- Get up to change the channels
• At work, use lunch hours and coffee breaks to take a walk around the building
• Use the restroom on a different floor at work and home
• Make social occasions more active- instead of dining out, go dancing, bowling, or hiking
• Schedule walks before or after dinner.  Take the whole family
• Turn weekends into activity days.  Go hiking, biking, or golfing- and bring a healthy picnic along
• Create a "walking carpool."  Take turns walking your kids- and your neighbor's kids- to and from school
• Get a dog and walk it twice a day (this one makes me laugh)

Wk 2/Day 8- The Weigh In!

I decided to live a more normal life and not blog on the weekend.  It was a nice break, but all weekend I was making little mental notes of things to report on Monday.

 Want to know the week 1 weigh in result?  I know I don't have much to lose, but I was pleased to see I am 1 pound closer to my pre-pregnancy weight (yes, still trying to work off baby fat).  On Thursday I was down 1.5 pounds and a little concerned.  Now I know I am not typical in this- worried I had already lost 1.5 pounds in 3 days?!  I knew that, although I had stepped it up in consistent exercise and decreased added treat intake, I had not made a difference of 5,250 calories (this would be the amount I would have had to burn more than I ate, to lose that much weight).  Concerned mostly because I knew the change was simply fluid and therefore could not be sustainable.  I didn't want to gain a pound the next week just out of a fluid re-balance and lose points.  (Oh, points, points, points)


Well, week 1 down!  It went much better than I expected.  On to week 2, which carries an extra challenge- absolutely no simple sugars (not even honey in my steel cut oats).  Now this is an optional challenge and I have chosen to torture myself and take it on.  Honestly I am scared to death because I keep thinking of all the things that have added sugars or places I add a touch of sugar.  But I desperately want to know if I can do it.   Warning: the blog posts for this week may be a little more hostile than usual!

Yesterday, I had the ultimate experience in mindless eating.  I was eating my steel cut oats (with added sugar- that will be no more) in a bowl as I walked around the house doing other things to get ready for church.  (You can probably see where I set myself up- eating is not meant to be multi-tasked.)  At one point I realized I was missing my bowl and I went wandering around the house to find where I had left it.  Frustrated I traced and re-traced my steps and for the life of me could not find my bowl.  I just wanted to finish my breakfast!

Eventually, would you know it, I found my bowl in the kitchen sink.  I hadn't even realized I had finished eating my food and here I had, very responsibly but mindlessly, even cleaned up afterward.  The sad thing is that I had a yummy breakfast to eat and I missed it.  I consumed it, but I was not mindfully present for it.  I missed it.