because I'm going to hurk!
It's been about a week and O
hM
yG
oobergrapes! I have some stuff to tell you about. It's nothing huge, like the splitting of the atom or anything (and, no. I didn't shave. Let's not get all extreme on me, people).
1. Home schooling.Have you ever home schooled? Let me tell you something (now I sound like my grandma minus the crocheting of the Pabst hats): if you have never home schooled someone who spends much of his waking time wanting to watch Red Dwarf or play Nintendo instead of learning about the Civil War, you've never lived.
He's only one kid, but he rides like thousands in the classroom.
I home schooled three kids once. At one time. All three had their own remote controls which all worked their televisions. The remote controls not only worked their televisions, but they worked each other's televisions as well. They spent an inordinate amount of time changing each other's channels (when they weren't turning off one another's televisions) and then erupting into pillow fights or armpit noise wars in the hall way.
I sent one kiddo back to school within the month. The other two made it through. It's miraculous I made it through-- forget the kids (though how could I forget the kids. Oy!).
So, this last year, I brought home my son so that I could get him the aid he needed minus the haranguing of the school for not doing enough on the 'forcing an autistic kid to take ADD meds' front. We just completed CSAPS testing, and are now on the home stretch for the year-- but what a stretch! we're not talking 7th inning stretch. We're talking 7th, 8th, 9th and some overtime stretch.
On top of the homeschooling, there is the therapy. Occupational therapy and working in groups have been two recently-added tools to help my son to be able to cope in a social environment and to be able to function in a peer group. These take a commute and a bit of time to get to.
Then there is the usual stuff you do as a parent who have kids involved in not-for-profit groups.
Then there is the usual stuff you do when you're involved in a not-for-profit and have responsibility to that group too.
Then there is the RV we're trying to sell, coupled with the yard sale I'm in charge of, ohhh..and, and, and,...
I am saying Goodbye to Atkins.
That's right. Maybe this is a shocking revelation, and maybe it isn't. Not like the time I shaved off my eyebrows so that I could make a really cool Charlie Chaplin mustache from real hair.
Since January 1st, I'd been following Atkins, particularly the induction phase of the plan, from his 2002 version of the
Dr Atkins New Diet Revolution (also affectionately known as "DANDR"--pronounced 'dander'). I lost 61 pounds from January to April, when I hit an unforeseen stand-still. The stall caused me to amazingly obsess about weight loss, become aggravated, and then finally resulted in my pitching the 'screw it' sheet to the wind and sail off towards UpYoursAtkins! Island.
I've followed the good doctor for over 2 decades, since I was a youth of but 14. It is an excellent weight loss plan for many, but let's face it. It's a
DIET. Rhymes with "Try It" and contains the word "DIE". I am so beyond it. Past it. It's
so last year and shimmery lip gloss for me.
I followed Atkins in 2004 and lost an amazing 115 pounds in 7 months. Maybe you're wondering why I never bragged about this before. It could be because I gained all of it back when I realized I really hated eating what I was every day.
After a week of low-carb apathy, a member at lowcarbfriends.com was asking people what food or meal they porked out on before starting Atkins. Note the word, "starting".
Schwing! Atkins is a Diet. It is something many
start...and for many, something many STOP.
You can fall in and out of a diet. A diet intimates something you
begin and something you
end. Something you
do or something you
don't.
A lifestyle? That's what you LIVE. For
life.
And then I started remembering: Does weight loss have to be fast, or can weight loss be slow and measured so long as there is always progress?
Why else do we hate stalls, but when it appears the 'diet' stops working? The 'dieter' hates stalls. The lifestyler looks at a stall as mini-maintenance. We don't panic when a pound isn't lost every 6 hours. We're in this for the long haul.
I lost sight of that in my rush to drop as much weight as I could by restricting myself to induction on Atkins.
It is totally weird to say this, because folks who know me know I've always been an obsessed perfectionist. One day it finally hit me that this isn't about running to the end of a race so that I could hork a Hostess product. This isn't me, Cleo Whiteshoes Jackson, getting the proverbial low-carb ball into the goal end zone and then spiking it to declare victory, on my way to the buffet table.
This is about taking a journey through life, enjoying the trek along the way, seeing the beauty in the world around us and not freaking out about the possibility of the air coming out of the tires.
I 'done' had the air out of my tires too many times. I've been wanting something too quickly, rather than focusing on having REAL fun without worry about whether or not I could have something on induction--or not. So, for me, I'm going away from the good Dr Atkins for awhile.
Hello, Dr Thompson!
This space is dedicated to people who shave off their eyebrows to make Charlie Chaplin mustaches.The Experiment: Lifestyle over DietI have discussed Dr Thompson's weight loss plan before, and am moving back towards an experiment.
After being stalled and, nay, gaining some weight in the last two weeks, I am going to begin Dr Thompson's Low Glycemic Plan tomorrow (I buck the system by actually doing things right away rather than waiting for Mondays), coupled with the tweak I use when I am following his plan.
Some folks will ask me what plan I'm following. This was previously posted to this blog last year, but I am restating what my plans are so as to avoid any confusion.
Here is the answer, albeit not tremendously simple, but simple enough for me.
I'm following Dr Thompson's Low Glycemic Load Plan, but I'm using modified OWL numbers from the Atkins plan.
Now, before you scrunch up your eyebrows and make cuckoo noises, let me explain how this works. Dr Thompson wrote an excellent book about Low Glycemic Loads. Glycemic load is more important than index, because no one can eat enough carrots to spike blood sugar as index shows. Glycemic load is based on the average amount a person generally eats versus what it would take to raise the blood sugar considerably for any given food item.
Glycemic load is so easy, I'm able to follow it. There are no phases, nothing complicated about this plan. In fact, I've laid out some of the groundwork below:
To begin following the plan (while waiting for your book to arrive)
This list is extremely important. Note, however, this isn't where you are going to cry out in remorse for having listened to me at this point. No reason to say, "Cleochatra! You said this was going to be easy!"
Well, this is easy. The lsit tells you, as a long-time low-carber, what you already know. In a sense, it vindicates the knowledge you have had to this point.
Ignore low glycemic indexes. Those don't take into account the amount of food NORMAL folks eat (no one eats cups and cups of carrots in a sitting). Glycemic load takes into account the amount of food a normal person eats )ex: a bagel).
Job One: Purge starch from your diet.Easy enough, right? After all, you're probably already following a low-carb plan. Push aside, most simply, bread, potatoes and rice. It doesn't get any easier than that. Do you have to give them up for life? No. Keep reading.
What Dr Thompson states is that when you have a plate of food in front of you, you put all starchy foods to the side in a 'starch pile'. Psychologically speaking, little looks less appetizing than a pile of goo sitting on your plate!
And what is starch, if not goo and glue?
At the end of the meal, if you simply must have some starch (and are still hungry--remember, eating to satisfy hunger trumps pigging out), eat up to 1/4 of the starch on your plate. Nothing more.
You will have made starch the afterthought and not the be-all. Really roll it around in your mouth. It's just not really that good. Still, you can have some. You're just going to fill up on the healthy, wholesome foods first.
As an aside, did you know that starches never make it past the first 2 feet of your intestine before it veers right back off into your bloodstream? It's not good stuff...
High fiber foods have greater merit. Don't be mistaken into believing bran flakes, however, are necessarily healthy. So many foods are so ghighly processed! The healthiest grains are the ones which retain their fiber because they've retained their husks. Flax seed meal is some good stuff. Flax cereal CAN be, if you can control yourself and eat only the recommended amount.
Me, I can't, so I stay away from flax cereals (and all cereals). There is more information about acceptable fiber sources in the book.
Job 2: Eliminate sugar-filled beverages.Again, probably a no-brainer! We're doing that as low-carbers.
Milk? OK for us. In moderation. Milk still contains milk sugars. Go for a higher fat for greater satiety.
Watch:
alcohol: An appetite stimulant and depressant
coffee and tea-- good in moderation, coffee and tea offer positive attributes. towards stimulation of metabolism and providing protection for some type 2 diabetes patients. Still, it can also stimulate appetite, so be aware!
Water-- great, but drink to satisfaction. Dr T thinks we overdink water as a society. Make water your thirst quenching drink of choice, but you don;t have to drink obscene amounts to get the needed physiological benefits. He discusses this more in the book.
Job 3: Make friends with your sweet tooth
This is where I initially thought Dr T lost his ball in the short weeds--and where, conversely, I realized this could be a way of life for me!
In the bloodstream, a gram of sugar doesn't raise blood sugar levels anymore than a gram of starch. The difference? We have a sweet taste bud on our tongue. Do we have a starch bud? The human has not evolved to eat starches. Sugar? In moderatiuon, yes, and huimans have been eating honey (100% sugar) for millenia!
The glycemic loaf of one peppermint lifesaver is only 20. Compared to 100 for a slice of bread, that's nothing. A tablespoon of sugar? Only 28. And, for this, your tongue (and your brain's) pleasure sensors are exonerated.
How can sugar save you? If you are addicted to starches, it's silly. Starches are tasteless. What has to be added? Flavoring? sugar?
Why not cut to the chase? Eat what your body wants. What your tongue wants. Have a bit of sugar and skip the processed chemicals. You can assuage starch cravings by actually having a bit of sugar!
Wait until the end of a meal (again, to help off-set sugar in the bloodstream) have a pinch of sugar. A small, high-octane chocolate, maybe some pudding. A small handful of jellybeans. Better for you than starches, and without the resulting cravings.
Avoid starchy sweets! No cookies, pies, cakes. The point is to assuage the sugar center on your tongue, not feed your body starch-poisons.
OK treats: M&Ms, jellybeans, high octane chocolate (just a bit), peanut brittle, hard candy, such as a peppermint. Limit quantities! Remember, this should feel like you're spoiling yourself, but not your hips.
Use sweets to happify your taste buds--never to fill your belly!
Go sugar-free when enjoying dairy treats, but watch out for sugar alcohols. Sugar-laced yogurts should be substituted with artificial sweetner.
Find high-fiber and protein snacks... no issue, right? We're used to that. Nuts, cheeses, meats, celery...
Job number 3: Slow Twitch Muscles to the rescue!These muscles have more to do with metabolism than what we previously believed. Walk every 48 hours to keep burn at a maximum. Walking also keeps your muscles resistant to insulin! You don't have to knock yourself out to knock out insulin naughties!
There is much more about this in the book, but long story short: Walk every 48 hours! It's not painful, you feel better, work slow-twitch muscles and build up metabolism. Slow-twitch are your friends.
Of course, I walk daily, but once every 2 days is a start, right?
Choose good fats over bad
No brainer. We already know this. He does recommend omega-3. It's good stuff.
So really, that's it. Oh, there's more in the book, which is why I highly recommend anyone interested in this plan buy it! The plan is really that straightforward.
No phases. No starting over. No guilt. Just better choices.
I don't mind phases, but people don't tend to live naturally in phases, save for those our bodies impose on themselves. Some days we are hungrier than others. Some seasons we don't want to eat as much as others. The decided lack of man-made phases makes this a way of living rather than a diet. It's much more user-friendly and less likely to fail in that.
And for those of us who tend towards self-sabotage and perfection, this plan requires neither perfection nor absolute adherence. It removes every stumbling block I suffered from while following Atkins.
Speaking of Atkins....Now, take that plan, and instead of eating higher carbs, stick to induction level numbers for the 2002 Dr Atkins New Diet Revolution (you're treating it as modified OWL, because you're rotating foods through to some degree to see how they affect you... but you don't have to). Because you're staying to between 20-25 net carbs, your hunger levels are dissipated for the most part as you're enjoying eating luxurious foods.
I was a skeptic regarding the LGL plan by Dr Thompson, but never having to follow induction again and having a world o0f delicious foods at my fingertips makes it so easy to stay on this plan!
It's worth looking into. The losses can be as fast or as slow as you like, but Dr Thompson advocated slower losses since long-term changes take place through slower losses and cementing of lifestyle.
Progress will be kept, and you'll know how I'm progressing as I go. Who knows? Maybe I'll hate it, and maybe I'll love it. I'll keep you posted. It will be slightly more easy to feed an entire family a low GL plan than to plan around Atkins meals as well. Cooking for Six installments won't change. They're still forthcoming!
The only change will be in the plan itself. If you want me to, I might even keep track of my menu! I'm boring and lazy, so you might be like, "She eats
that EVERY day for breakfast?" Don't
even start with me. I'm a creature of habit-- especially when I like it.
More Recipes!No, I don't think I'm Chef Cleochatra all of a sudden, but now that I'm doing the low glycemic load thang, I am going to be having more fun with a wider variety of recipes. Stay tuned... and the rest of the Cinco de Mayo recipes are coming up soon!
More Low GL Bento!I'll be updating Bento as well, since my daughter has implored me to start sending her to school with low GL Bento again(I'd taken some time off due to other circumstances). She's tired of the school lunches. For $2.00 a day I found out she's eating peanut butter crustable sammiches, a banana and a potato roll-- and a milk. I'm thinking that's an expensive tray filled with junk.
Finally... guess who won the TOPS Inches Off AwardThree guesses, and the first two get you thumped upside your head. I won the tops award for the most inches lost since January of this year. Not that anyone had a chance competing against me. I lost nearly a foot from my hips, waist, and (sob sob) bosom. I have a trophy of a naked lady looking down at her feet.
She's probably wondering what happened to her bosom, too! (
Bottom Picture) Doesn't she look shocked? She's probably thinking, "Oh dear! Rock, the Foosball trophy, is so going to want me to get a forge enlargement of my bosomages."
Hang in there, smaller mammarian appendage trophy. We will endure.BTW, the top picture is my latest TOPS charms which were added for all of the 5-pound losses (these guys are hard-core, awards for every 5 pounds! Holy hell. I still have over 100 pounds to lose) and for best loser of the month for March.
