Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Welcome to the Tip of the Day! from T.N.B.
 
 
 
 
 HUNGER VERSUS APPETITE                           
What's the difference between appetite and true hunger?  Hunger is your body's physical response to lack of food.  Your stomach may growl, you may feel tired, slightly irritable or even have a headache.
Appetite is more about the desire for food. It is the mental and emotional drive to eat, which can be affected by time of the day, food availability, social acceptance, stress and boredom. Tuning into your body's signals and eating when you are truly hungry is an important part of healthy weight management.
 
Citation: To be added

I've been gone to long...

and we all seems to need a boost, so ponder over the following to get back on track.

The Twelve Steps of Overeaters Anonymous

  1. We admitted we were powerless over food — that our lives had become unmanageable.
  2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
  3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
  4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
  5. Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
  6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
  7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
  8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.
  9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
  10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.
  11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
  12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to compulsive overeaters and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
Permission to use the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous for adaptation granted by AA World Services, Inc



Cite:http://www.oa.org/newcomers/twelve-steps/

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Soda Pop or in the classy alternative "Italian Soda"



Sometimes you just gotta have a soda pop!

I think the problem with diet soda is that they put too much of the yucky (there goes that word!) syrup in it, and it has a major aftertaste.
However, if you make your own soda, you can determine the amount of syrup that goes into it. I really like Torani syrups, I love the ones with real sugar, but since I can't have that!! (that's just the detox talking), I have made friends with their sugar free line.
If you are feeling lazy, just open a bottle or can of seltzer and pour a little out, add in some Torani's (a tablespoons per 12 ounces does it for me, but you experiment and stir with a straw.
If you feel energetic and creative, squeeze some lemon or lime juice in as well and serve with crushed iced in a beautiful glass.
This syrup, can be added to your unsweetened ice tea or lemonade as well.

We just ordered the Red Raspberry at work, but I think I'm going to buy the lemon and the Lime flavors to make "Arnold Palmers" and to mix the two for a 7-Up/Sprite taste.
I'll keep you posted on taste combinations...

Enjoy!

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Glycemic Index



Glycemic Index

"The glycemic index ranking of carbohydrate-containing foods, based on the food's effect on blood glucose compared with a standard reference food.X, or GI, measures how a carbohydrateAnother word for sugars. The main source of energy for the body. Carbs get digested quickly and easily into glucose. Carbs are the foods that affect blood glucose the most. Examples of carbs are fruits, starchy vegetables, breads, pastas, rice, sugar, syrup and honey.X-containing food raises blood glucosethe main sugar found in the blood and the body's main source of energy. Also called blood sugar.X. Foods are ranked based on how they compare to a reference food — either glucoseThe food you eat gets digested and broken down into a sugar your body's cells can use. This is glucose, one of the simplest forms of sugar.X or white bread.
A food with a high GI raises blood glucose more than a food with a medium or low GI.
Meal planning with the GI involves choosing foods that have a low or medium GI. If eating a food with a high GI, you can combine it with low GI foods to help balance the meal.
Examples of carbohydrate-containing foods with a low GI include dried beans and legumes (like kidney beans and lentils), all non-starchy vegetables, some starchy vegetables like sweet potatoes, most fruit, and many whole grain breads and cereals (like barley, whole wheat bread, rye bread, and all-bran cereal).

Meats and fats don’t have a GI because they do not contain carbohydrate.

From: http://www.diabetes.org/food-and-fitness/food/what-can-i-eat/understanding-carbohydrates/glycemic-index-and-diabetes.html

You can purchase a Glycemic Index guide on Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble.com

Other online sources for GI food numbers are:

http://www.glycemicindex.com/

 and

http://www.mendosa.com/gilists.htm

Monday, January 20, 2014

Five star Pasta-rific review!







If you are not ready to navigate the Shiritaki noodle world yet, I've got something you will love. It's one of the Kings and Queens of the LC (Low Carb) food world. I am super picky about anything LC, low fat, sugar free, etc.. I am always positioned to say "Ah, Yuck!!" but if you put this side by side with Barilla and Ronzoni it would be impossible to figure out which is which. I feed it to my sister who refuses to eat "fake stuff"and she has Nooooooo idea (until now) that she is eating LC macaroni salad. 
Read the box and it will explain about the digestible carbs, I am not an expert on this, but I will say there is no groggy
"I need to lie down for a nap" feeling after eating a serving, and for me it does not trigger cravings. On a scale of 1-5 - this is a five star product in terms of taste, texture and price.
 




Sunday, January 19, 2014

Plan and Prepare...


 



90DWLC team member T.N.B. shared this picture of her pre-dinner food planning. The great thing about prepping and packing is that she knows what she is going to eat all day, and this helps her to be mindful and accountable for her food intake. T is a vegetarian, but for those of us who eat meat, we should pack in protein as well; protein is a craving killer and does not raise blood sugar levels at the rate of processed carbs. In T's picture, among other items we see brown rice crackers and un-sweetened apple sauce for snacking and of course the wonderful salad in a jar. 
She says "Ready for the day! Salad jar, noosa yogurt, unsweetened applesauce, brown rice crackers, pretzels, grapes, salad toppings & no sugar Larabar. Whew! I won't eat it all in one day but I'm prepared!" We say: way to go T!

Monday, January 13, 2014

Water, water, everywhere and I need to drink some...


 
 
It's been almost a week since we started our 90 day challenge, and tomorrow we all weigh in and log our exercise minutes.  Whatever the result, I'm sure we all improved by being a bit more mindful.

I have been about 80% on target with the program, and have greatly improved my water consumption.  I'm not a big water drinker, but I have been downing my two glasses a day with great thanks it to the Brita Pitcher, I love the water after it moves through the filter. It has an extremely fresh and spring like taste not found in bottled water and definitely not in tap water (though I must give a "shout out" to my hometown of NYC which has the best tasting tap water "evah!").