You Are What You Eat

[little koshka 0]

Told you I'd have some questions..

Answers will come later - or you answer first.. or you can ask questions if you like... Or you can pm me with any questions..

 

1. Do you eat breakfast? If you answered yes to question 1, what do you have, and do you have breakfast every day?

2. Do you eat lunch? What do you have?

3. Do you eat dinner? What do you have?

4. Do you eat fast food? If so, how often?

5. Do you frequent coffee places? If so, how often and what do you have?

6. Do you eat fresh fruit and vegetables and whole grains?

7. Do you drink soda?

8. Do you eat whole foods or processed foods?

9. Do you think you consume a lot of sugar?

10. Do you drink enough water on a daily basis?

[sadichka 0]

1. Do you eat breakfast? If you answered yes to question 1, what do you have, and do you have breakfast every day?

 

Yes, I normally eat yogurt and maybe some string cheese or a piece of fruit.

 

2. Do you eat lunch? What do you have?

 

Yes, I 'Eat Fresh'....Subway is the way to go! Turkey Sandwich w/ small salad (Vinagrette not Ranch Dressing) or Sunchips.

 

3. Do you eat dinner? What do you have?

 

Yes, I try not to do too much pasta or red meat. We normally have a salad, chicken, turkey or fish, a veggie and sometimes rice or pasta.

 

4. Do you eat fast food? If so, how often?

 

Subway (although it is not too fast!) Mon - Fri for lunch.

 

5. Do you frequent coffee places? If so, how often and what do you have?

 

Now you got me! Three to four times a week. Starbucks. My favorite is the Nonfat Iced Caramel Macchiatta.

 

6. Do you eat fresh fruit and vegetables and whole grains?

 

Fresh fruit and veggies daily (I keep cut up veggies in a tupperware in the fridge.) Whole grains rarely.

 

7. Do you drink soda?

 

Fresca. Okay, I admit that I love to drink Barq's Root Beer. No, not diet. I also like to drink Green Tea with lemon.

 

8. Do you eat whole foods or processed foods?

 

I am not sure.

 

9. Do you think you consume a lot of sugar?

 

That reminds me...I drink a cup of coffee in the morning with a teaspoon of honey and Mocha mix. I do not have candy or cookies or cake or pie or ice cream (although sometimes I buy an ice cream cone at Rite Aid)

 

10. Do you drink enough water on a daily basis?

 

Enough? Tuff question. Is 5-7 cups a day enough?

 

Sada

 

The above is true and stated to the best of my ability.

[little koshka 0]

Hi Sadichka!

 

Sounds like you are on the right track meal-wise. Subway is a good way to go for lunch - it is a great alternative to the other fast food fare. If you can take your lunch to work one or two days a week, that is a good way to go, too.

 

Limiting your red meat is a good idea, too. Poultry and fish are good lean sources of protein. If you occasionally do rice or pasta, (who doesn't like a bowl of rice?), try to go the healthy route and use brown rice or the whole grain enriched pasta - like the Barrilla protein plus - that stuff has fiber and protein and actually tastes good. (Be careful on your pasta sauces, though - check the label on pasta sauce if you buy it pre-made - usually the 3rd or 4th ingredient is SUGAR - yuk. There are some pasta sauces out there without added sugar - or make your sauce from scratch using canned tomatoes - again make sure that there is no added sugar.)

 

Another thing to watch out for is bread “ we all grew up with bread on the table at every meal “ it is sort of like having plates and silverware on the table. Try to limit your bread intake to only once in a while “ and be sure that it is whole grain if you can.

 

As far as breakfast goes, be careful on the yogurt, too “ even if it says it is "light" the sugar content can be off the charts. A good yogurt to try is "Mountain High" “ they use crystalline fructose instead of the other stuff “ that is a little lower on the glycemic index. Cereal can be tricky, too “ check your labels to make sure that the carbohydrates and sugar are low, and the fiber and protein are high “ a good cereal is "Post Shredded Wheat" there is no sugar in that one and it is somewhat palatable. (Note - my favorite cereal is "Lucky Charms", but I only eat that once a year or so¦ mmmm.)

 

Now we can talk about SUGAR - sugar is our enemy! I know those macchiatos from Starbucks rock, but there is way too much sugar in them - you can check out the nutritional info on Starbuck's website - you would be surprised. I looked up the caramel macchiato with nonfat milk “ the sugar content goes as follows: the "tall" has 27g of sugar, the "grande" has 35g of sugar, and the "venti" has 44g of sugar. If you have the same drink with whole milk, add 10, 12, and 15g of fat to each respectively. The link to Starbuck`s nutritional info is: http://www.starbucks########/retail/nutrition_info.asp . You may want to nix the Fresca and the Barq's, too “ soda is one of the worse things for us “ even diet soda may not be good “ I read somewhere that some people process artificial sweetners like regular sugar “ yikes!

 

I am not saying to cut the stuff out completely “ I too, love dessert. You may want to cut back on your macchiatos to maybe one per week. That way, you aren`t totally depriving yourself. If you gotta have your Starbucks fix, try going for plain iced tea or try something different like a "café Americano" or a plain "cappuccino" the first two have no sugar and the cappuccino only has 10g of sugar.

 

Check out “ the "South Beach Diet" book “ it explains sugar addiction and foods with high and low glycemic indexes. It is a good guideline to healthy eating.

 

As far as the term "whole foods" goes, I mean whole foods as in, not processed, or not added to, and as close to natural or off the farm as you can get. A good example is oatmeal. You can have "instant maple sugar oatmeal" which has been previously cooked down and has a ton of sugar in it “ all you have to do is add boiling water to it to reconstitute “ or you can have plain "old fashioned" or "steel cut oats" that take some time to cook, but are basically close to their natural form and have the fiber and nutrients you need. Another example would be "canned fruit cocktail" which is packed in water and high fructose corn syrup or you can have fresh fruit salad using some fresh grapes, diced pears, diced peaches, and whatever else you want to add to it. Same goes for canned soup “ try to buy organic and low or no sodium. Home made is the best way to go “ that way you can control what is going into what you and your family are eating. It may take a bit more time to prepare fresh vegetables and fruits, but the nutrition benefits make up for that. The next best thing to fresh would be frozen vegetables or fruits if you need to save a little time.

 

I know that it is no fun to be militant all of the time on the healthy eating issue, so I try to eat really well 85% of the time, and the other 15% of the time have a little more fun with my meals. Hope this helps.

 

Any questions or comments?

[lindsay90 0]

What no more Starbucks??

[little koshka 0]

Don'tcha know? - Starbucks is the new streetcorner "pusher"... They get us hooked on high octane caffienated drinks with tons of sugar. MMmmmm, sugar.. I know I can't make it to 9:00 am with out a cup of coffee..

 

Take a look - you see more Starbucks now than McDonalds. Seriously, check out the nutritional info on their website - look at the beverages and the goodies - the calorie, fat, and sugar contents are totally off the charts.

 

Have y'all seen that documovie - "Supersize me"? - Scary stuff.

 

People go to Starbucks a lot - some daily - some more. It is kind of like, well, its only coffee - how bad can coffee be? Plain coffee isn't bad - the fancy shmancy drinks are what is bad for us. The goodies aren't so healthy, either.

 

A macchiato once a week is okay - the rest of the time try to choose something a little more health conscious, thats all.

[lindsay90 0]

You are right Kat sugar is the root or all evil, we build many Starbucks here in Nor Cal it pay's the bills keeps my guys busy, but I can do without drinking there stuff cause I don't have the money to buy 5 dollar coffee every day. What about diet sodas?

[little koshka 0]

$5.00 coffee drinks - eeek. You can go to the store and get a can of Don Francisco's for 5 bucks and it will last you a little longer..

 

Diet soda...

 

I have a tendency to gravitate towards Hansen's diet sodas when I am doing my 2 week Atkins marathons (that gets harder every time I do it - I do that about twice a year) - they have "splenda" in them. They are pretty palatable.

 

A diet pepsi is pretty good once in a while too.

 

I am not sure about diet sodas altogether, though - I read somewhere that sometimes some people's bodies process artificial sweeteners just like they do sugar. I also read that they can carbonate your body (bloat it up). Sounds like a lot of trouble to wet the old whistle.

 

This might be worth a little research..

 

My poison is now plain iced tea with lemon in it, or water with lemon in it for refreshment. Bor-ing - but it works for me.

[Nick Shubin 0]

I'll give it a go...

 

1. Do you eat breakfast? If you answered yes to question 1, what do you have, and do you have breakfast every day? yes, it varries

2. Do you eat lunch? What do you have?yes, it varries

3. Do you eat dinner? What do you have?yes, it varries

4. Do you eat fast food? If so, how often?i try to avoid it, but sometimes it's not possible. I try to make healthy choices though.

5. Do you frequent coffee places? If so, how often and what do you have?The occasional starbucks, and i mean occasional! But i do have a cup of joe with splenda every day.

6. Do you eat fresh fruit and vegetables and whole grains?yup yup!

7. Do you drink soda?diet

8. Do you eat whole foods or processed foods?try to avoid prcessed.

9. Do you think you consume a lot of sugar?not any more!

10. Do you drink enough water on a daily basis?yup yup! I carry a gallon water jug with me at all times!

 

 

I was recently diagnosed as being diabetic, so my life, and way of eating has changed drastically. This is a cool forum, keep the good info coming!

[little koshka 0]

Hi Poopsqually!

 

Sounds like you, too are on the right track by not skipping breakfast. You are doing the daily coffee right, too. If you can, try to avoid soda all together - as I had mentioned in a previous post, I read somewhere that some people's bodies process nutrasweet like it was sugar (eek). Soda has a tendency to have high sodium sometimes, too. If you can, try to switch to iced tea either plain or with some lemon and splenda.

 

Good job on the water!

 

As far as what you are having for breakfast, lunch, and dinner - make sure that you (or whoever is buying the groceries at home) are aware of what the nutritional labels are saying. Try to make sure that the calorie, carb, and sugar contents are low as possible and that the protein and fiber contents are high. Be sure to know what is going into the item - as I had mentioned before - "they" the food industry puts sugar into almost everything - it is amazing. Try to steer clear of added sugar, corn syrup, and high fructose corn syrup. They add the stuff to canned tomatoes and spaghetti sauce - ew!

 

For breakfast try to start off with a whole grain cereal like shredded wheat & 1% milk. Have some fresh fruit (1 serving). Skip the juice if you already haven't - fresh fruit is the best way to go - has the fiber and is more satisfying.

 

For lunch - try to take lunch with you if you can. If not, try to go as green or healthy as you can. Not sure where you are located, but Subway is a good choice (if you skip the chips, mayo, and oil) or Baja Fresh is pretty good, too - the "side by side" is good with a side of pinto beans.

 

For dinner - lean fish or poultry with steamed or grilled veggies and a salad is good!

 

Treats are good here and there - you don't want to totally deprive yourself - just be careful of what the treat is. If you want a little treat every day, try the Popsicle brand "healthy bunch" or sugar free popsicles - not bad and very refreshing.

 

In regards to your recent diagnosis of diabetes, you can control that with lifestyle changes like improving your diet and by exercising regularly. Sounds like you have made some changes already by cutting back on the sugar. Exercise is something that we all "love" to do, but we gotta do it. It's sort of like brushing your teeth - we all do that on a daily basis, 'cause we have to. We all need to exercise regularly, well, because we have to. If you already haven't started on a program, try to start by walking one mile 3 to 4 times a week and then add on from there. It is easy, and you will see results.

[lindsay90 0]

Ok what about them pills to make you lose the LBS and curb your food intake? Are they ok ?

 

P.S. Hi to poops!

Edited July 11, 2006 by lindsay90

[little koshka 0]

The only thing that helps anyone lose the lbs is this:

 

Burn more calories than what you take in.

Exercise and build lean muscle mass - that will improve your metabolism.

The only thing that can curb your food intake is you.

 

Most of those fat burners and appetite suppressants had or have "ma-huang" or ephedra, and / or tons of caffeine. Some have cayenne pepper, too. Not too sure on the safety of that stuff. Did my little stint using "diet fuel" from twinlab back in the day before ephedra got banned. That stuff kinda makes you sick if you aren't careful. Tried to go back on the diet fuel after I had my 2nd kid to lose the last 5 lbs. Found out it wasn't worth it. It is just better to increase your time doing cardio.. that, plus cutting back on the calories seems to be the best way to make it work.