The Lifestyle

I know I don't eat nearly enough greens.  There are some which scare me because I'm unsure of how to prepare them, and I worry that I won't like how they taste.  But now is the time to suck it up...I guess so i won't have to suck it in.

Take from EAT TO LIVE by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, M.D.

Raw Veggies...UNLIMITED...and that includes salads.  I like salad.  The goal is 1 pound of raw veg each day.  To help me with increasing my veg consumption I've been incorporating green smoothies.  Yes, I put spinach and other veggies in my morning smoothie.  Matt doesn't like it, so I make his just fruit.  But Ada and I love it and it makes me feel better about not always having time to prep a veggie for dinner.  Another great thing I've discovered...Ada loves salad.  Who'd've thunk, right?  The question now...can she handle it for breakfast, lunch and dinner?

Cooked Veggies...UNLIMITED...wohoo!  The goal is one pound of cooked veg each day...but not high-starch veggies like potatoes, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, and acorn squash.  This will actually prove to be the most difficult thing for me because it requires time to prep and cook.  But I think the intelligent use of frozen veggies would significantly help with this.

Beans or Legumes...The goal is at LEAST 1 cup each day.  I'm thinking I could make the most awesome vegetarian chili (still looking for a recipe...any suggestions?) which would create a great vehicle for the beans and also for cooked veggies.  Two birds with one stone.  Yay!

Fruit...NOT FRUIT JUICE (pure sugar)...The goal is at least four each day.  Limit the dried fruits.  Limit the canned fruits (only use as a condiment and make sure it is unsweetened).  I actually throw these into my morning smoothie as well.  Love that Vita Mix.  I usually throw in a banana, an orange, strawberries, and a slice of pineapple with the core.  I've also been known to do whole apples and pears (seeds and core) minus the stems.  They just get pulverized.  And then I sometimes throw in mixed berries or mango.  I decided to start adding carrots and spinach.  I hope to begin adding more things like cucumbers and such.  I actually got the idea from my grandmother.  She prepares a morning sludge in her Vita Mix...and it looks awful. She used to care about how it tastes, but apparently she has strayed from the taste factor in favor of the nutritional factor.  She'll throw a V8 in her fruit juice if she thinks she needs it.  Weird, right?  And these smoothies are HUGE.  I figure I should drink it all to make sure I'm consuming the whole fruits and veggies.  Very filling.  And Holy Cow do they clean you out.  Spring Cleaning for the body.

Starchy Veggies and Whole Grains...NO MORE than 1 serving daily...for maximum weight loss these should be removed from the diet until the goal has been reached.  These include butternut squash, acorn squash, winter squash, corn, chestnuts, parsnips, rutabagas, turnips, water chestnuts, yams, pumpkins,white potatoes,and sweet potatoes.  Grains include rice, bread, barley, buckwheat, kasha, millet, oats, quinoa, brown rice, and wild rice.  I like my grains.  I had been making steel cut oats in the crockpot to eat with my morning smoothie.  The last time I tried this diet I had allotted myself a slice of bread, which would sometimes creep into two slices.  And I wondered why I didn't lose anything.  I might be one of those people who has to cut it out almost completely for the weight loss.

Nuts and Seeds...NO MORE than 1 ounce of nuts each day...but they should be eaten daily.  They should be eaten raw for maximum nutritional benefit.  Eat a variety like almonds, cashews, walnuts, black walnuts, pecans, filberts, hickory nuts, macadamia nuts, pignolis, and pistachios.  Seeds may be eaten daily, unsalted, lightly toasted.  Varieties include sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, hemp seeds, chia seeds, and flax seeds.  Flax seeds are actually recommended for daily consumption because of the health benefits they offer.  I had been throwing walnuts in with my oats, but I suppose I'll need to find a new vehicle for those now that grains will be limited.

Spices, Herbs, and Condiments...with the exception of salt, spices and herbs are unlimited.  For condiments, mustard is okay, but pickled items contain too much salt and/or sugar.

Moment of truth...I honestly don't know how much I weigh.  I don't own a bathroom scale.  But if I had to guesstimate I would put it around 225.  My waist is 43 inches.  The recommendation for a woman is that your waist measurement should equal half of your height (according to Dr. Oz).  I am 60 inches tall.  So my waist should be around 30 inches.  I need to lose 13 inches.  I currently wear a size 18/20...verging closer to the 20 end.  I would love if my chest shrank from weight loss.  I'm currently a 44 DDD.  If not, I'm hoping this weight loss would bring me one step closer to getting a reduction.  I've been begging for several years now and hope that this year is my year.  And wouldn't it be great if I didn't even need the reduction?  Wouldn't it be great if they just went away on their own?  We'll find out if that's even possible for one of my grandmother's granddaughters.  My BMI is 43.9 which puts me in the morb  idly obese category.  A healthy BMI is around 20.  According to the BMI charts, I should weigh not much more than 100 pounds.  The last time I weighed that little I was in Jr. high. That was 16 years ago.

Let's do this thing.