Susan

Healthy Steps Giveaway: Nifty Tools for Healthy Eating!

I recently had the good fortune of receiving some very nifty tools from the folks over at Healthy Steps. They sent me some cool serving utensils and also a water infuser, to make water taste yummy and interesting. The water infuser is basically a ball that snaps open, allowing you to put in whatever you want. I put it some tangerine and some Meyer lemon and then popped it into a pitcher of ice water. You can also put in cucumber, mint leaves, strawberries – whatever you can think of to give your H20 a hint of flavor.

Pretty much every spa I have ever gone to serves “fancy water.” It just gives it something special. I have no idea why it never occurred to me to do this at home, but the water infuser has now gotten me inspired. We all need to drink a good amount of water and I am probably among the guiltiest for not really doing this enough. Having fresh fancy water could really help me with this goal.

I also received some nifty serving utensils. They are designed to help you serve up the appropriate servings of food. There’s a protein spatula thing that is just about the same size as the ubiquitous “deck of cards” serving for proteins. There’s a biggish scoop for “vegetables” and a mediumish scoop for “starch.” (<<< I actually thought this word was kind of old school) It doesn’t have an amount like “half cup” or “cup” but it’s just a visual reminder – “This is about right.”

I have been given the opportunity to give away TWO (!) sets of these cool kitchen tools to my awesome blog readers. All you have to do is leave a comment for me here – tell me what you’d flavor YOUR water with – and go to Healthy Steps’ Facebook page. “Like” them and then write a post on their page telling them you came from @Foodie McBody’s giveaway on http://www.foodfoodbodybody.com. A few words about how much you’d love to try their cool tools probably won’t hurt either! Please RT and spread the word!

Copy and paste this to Twitter: GIVEAWAY on @foodiemcbody’s blog: Nifty Tools for Healthy Eating http://bit.ly/fY2OAX Please RT!

Deadline: April 1, 2011 Good luck!!!!!!!

these could be sitting in YOUR kitchen soon!

March 14, 2011 9

A #7DayChip is Better Than a Chocolate Chip

I circled around the idea of the #7daychip challenge for a long time, maybe a month, before jumping in. First, there was that association with AA. Personally, I tried OA a long time ago and 12 step programs just do not work for me. (although I acknowledge that they do work for millions of other people!) I was leery of using a tool that has long been utilized by alcoholics and addicts. For one thing, it’s a lot more straightforward for them. They stay away from alcohol or drugs. (I said straightforward, not EASY) For people dealing with food or health or fitness issues, it’s a lot more complicated. We can’t just STAY AWAY from food. Unless we want to, like, die.

Then there’s the issue of staying away from a particular food. This has always been an unsavory idea for me. I am not a vegetarian or vegan. I am not at all a fan of eliminating entire categories of any food from my repertoire. (more on that later)

Anyway, I watched lots of people getting their beautiful 7-and-30 day chips from Mr. Brad Gansberg and I started getting more curious and maybe a little envious. And y’all know I was kind of struggling.

So 13 days ago, I made the decision to chipify (<<<my word!) my goal of getting at least 30 minutes of exercise in per day. I can’t even describe how it has felt to do this. I had told myself I was “too busy” and “too stressed” to exercise, and was jamming it all in on the weekends. That wasn’t working so well.

The first week, I started by exercising when I got home in the evening, which meant WHILE my family was eating dinner. I felt like, if I waited till after dinner, I was sunk. It was good in that it got me into the groove. It was bad in that I never saw my family. But on Friday I earned this:

How awesome was that!! I am such a sucker for rewards like this, just like I loved getting stickers and doodads from Weight Watchers. It might be “just” a little star sticker but it is an emblem of a real success. This #7day chip acknowledgement was huge!!

After I realized I had gotten kinda slippy with my diabetes, I decided to start myself on a second chip challenge. On Sunday I decided to start testing my blood regularly again and to lay off the sugar. (not including fruit) It’s amazing how I thought, “oh well, my diabetes is just progressing. I’m just getting worse and this is one of those inevitable things.” Um, NOT. Within a couple of days my levels went right back to normal.

This chip has not been so easy. I keep “forgetting.” In fact the other night I had an epic forget. It was after dinner, when I often like to have something sweet. I’d gotten into the habit of having a Skinny Cow ice cream sandwich or a Weight Watchers bar. I noticed an almost-empy bag of chocolate chips on the counter. I scooped a few into my palm and popped them into my mouth, thinking, oh, this is probably only 1-2 points worth. And then I remembered!

I ran right over to the trash and spit out all the chips. It was such a moment. I did not want those chips to be ruining my chip, you know? I felt such a sense of relief when they were out of my mouth.

So now I am on Day 13 of the 30-minute-exercise chip, and on day 6 of the No-Sugar chip. I feel a billion percent better. I can’t even describe

Will I never eat sugar again? Well, I’m thinking about what my endocrinologist told me last year. She said that if my blood levels were in good control most of the time, then a little brownie now and then (ie maybe once ever week or two) would be OK. But that’s the key. So I am going to go for 30 days and then re-assess the whole thing.

For anybody out there who wants to accomplish a goal of any kind, I so strongly recommend trying the #7daychip. The support is unparalleled really, the community is amazing, and just taking it like that – yeah, one day at a time – really works.

March 10, 2011 9

Still Diabetic

When I first went to my diabetes-education class, two years ago, there was a woman there who was coming back for a “refresher” because she’d slipped up. I was less than a week into my diagnosis, and I was like the STAR STUDENT. I was checking my blood glucose level 5 times a day, I was exercising, I was doing it all. This woman, probably about ten or fifteen years older than me, looked at me and sighed, “I used to be like you, back in the beginning.” I felt sad for her and thought, I’m never coming back to this class! I’m never going to stop doing what I need to do!

Well.

In the spirit of getting back on track, I started testing my blood sugars again this week. And I have to say, the news hasn’t been so pretty. But it’s giving me information. Like the delicious new Lemon Mousse 2-point bars from WW are really not so diabetes friendly. Over the past six months or so, my testing has slipped down. Like I said in the tracking post, it started with the “I got this!” attitude. I’d been testing and testing, and it was always the same – my numbers were good – and the little testing strips are so darn expensive – and I thought – I must have this DOWN. I know what I’m doing. I am fine. I don’t need to test so much. And soon it turned into just testing in the morning and then I went away and the testing kit was in my suitcase and I came home and somehow just never unpacked it. Um.

I have an endocrinologist appointment coming up in a few weeks and I have the sinking feeling that I’m not going to be getting a huge glowing report card and congratulatory letter about my stellar blood labs this time. But it’s good. I need to know this. I need to stay on top of these things and remember.

March 6, 2011 11

Back on Track

photo credit: the Library of Congress, via Flickr

It used to be, not long ago, that I was tracking EVERYthing: my weight, my blood glucose, my activity, and of course my food. But little by little those things fell away and recently I realized I was tracking NOTHING. And that was not working well. At all.

People stop tracking for different reasons, but two of the most common are:

“I got this.” Overconfidence and feeling like, I don’t need to because I’ve internalized this and I’m going to be all intuitive about it. Because I know what I’m doing. Sometimes people truly DO know what they’re doing based on some internal cues, but I think most people challenged with weight and fitness issues – not so much. Which is why they (we) came to have problems in the first place.
“I don’t want to know.” ie, avoidance, denial and the like. The ostrich approach.

I think for me, it started out as #1 and then slid inexorably into #2. And then there I was, trackless and floundering. I started having grumpy thoughts about how TIME consuming it was to track. (photo blogging, yes, it still is, but I’d love to get back to it) But that’s just, you know, a big old excuse.

Today I pulled out my blood glucose meter. Tested. Recorded it in my blood-glucose tracking app on my phone. I think it took a total of 20 seconds. I weighed myself. Recorded it in LoseIt! app. All this week I have been tracking my activity on DailyMile or RunKeeper and Fitocracy. Really, it takes less than a minute for each of those.

It makes such a difference. It really does. Tonight I ran 4.3 miles in one hour. It was a beautiful run along the Oakland waterfront and it felt so good. It was a great way to cap off my 7th 30+ minute workout of the week. I am now ready to tackle the #14Day chip, one day at a time.

March 5, 2011 10

Project Consistency

This 2011 has not, thus far, been a stellar year for consistency. First there was the Long Bad Cold. Then there was the Stressful, Horrible, No-Good February. By the end of last month I was fast becoming a weekend athlete, meaning NOTHING was happening at all during the week, and I was trying to cram in ridiculous marathon sessions of exercise on the weekends. It felt very unbalanced and bad. Finally at the end of last week, which was really a peak of stress and misery, I looked at myself and realized that I was going 5-6 days or more between workouts. And I was feeling it.

At the very same time, I happened upon this brief little video of wisdomness from one of my favorite online buddies EVER, MizFit (aka Carla Birnberg). She spoke some big truth about “no more fits and starts” and I could not stop thinking about it. In other words, consistency is KEY to long term success. The absolute key. And I realized how extremely inconsistent I was getting. Here’s the video so you can see for yourself above. (it’s SUPER SHORT! and to the point)

The next thing that happened is that I was seeing people getting their #7day chips from the awesome Brad Gansberg. Brad is relatively new to the health/fitness blogging community but he has been making a HUGE difference in so many peoples’ lives already, by encouraging them and giving them big kudos for making their goals either 7 or 30 days straight. It is amazing how motivating this has been to so many. I’ve been mulling over the many various things I could “chip” about, and which ones were I willing to commit to and try to accomplish for 7 or 30 or more days in a row? (believe me there are many options I could choose from!)

Then I took a look at the charts from my DirectLife activity monitor. I did not like what I saw; ie weekdays that were barely little blips of light green shag carpet, not even CLOSE to my daily activity goals, followed by huge peaks on the weekends, like 160% of goal. It just wasn’t what I wanted to be doing.

The MizFit video about fits and starts, the visual reminder from my DirectLife reports and then the #7day chip all came together. I decided that I would try to chip together a week’s worth of at least 30 minutes of exercise. I think I had gotten myself into the mindset of believing that I HAD to work out for an hour or more. But often, if I was going to work out an hour, and add transportation and a shower, it could be a 2 hour chunk of time that I just don’t have right now. So I’d do without and that SUCKED.

I decided to commit to 30 minutes a day. I started 5 days ago. And every day since then I have climbed onto the (until now mostly used by Mr. McBody only) elliptical machine in our garage, put in my earbuds, set the iPod on shuffle and GONE. It’s been amazing – some days it’s been a virtual stroll and other days like this morning I really kicked it. Once I got all carried away and went for an hour. But every time it made SUCH a difference in how I felt. I’m going for that 7 day chip!! I want one!

This was a really important lesson to learn. That a little something is so much better than a lot of nothing. My thanks go out to MizFitOnline, Brad Gansberg and DirectLife for the nudgy reminders.

March 3, 2011 12

Rocco Rocks the Comfort Food

I was excited to win a (signed) copy of Rocco Dispirito’s brand-new cookbook Now Eat This! (150 of America’s Favorite Comfort Foods Under 350 Calories) from Ryan over at NoMoreBacon. I’ve loved watching Rocco on the Biggest Loser as well as on Top Chef, and one of his special skills has been “lightening up” normally calorie-heavy dishes. And I am a person who certainly enjoys comfort food. In fact, Comfort Food is practically my middle name. When I got the book in the mail, Juniorette flipped through it and put a Post-It note on the page of every recipe she wanted me to make. Fried chicken! Mac and cheese! Brownies! All under 350 calories? For real?!?

Tonight I decided to make Rocco’s Tortilla Soup with Avocado ~~and Cilantro~~. (<— sorry, we do not like cilantro in our house) It was awesome. Delicious. Fast. And EASY. I cannot even begin to describe how easy. That, my friends, is a combo that cannot be beat. And under 350 calories per serving? Yow. We are going to be dipping into this book OFTEN.

I have to admit I fiddled with the recipe a teeny bit. I took out the cilantro. I added some black beans (fiber can’t hurt, right?). It was YUMMY. The whole family gave it a giant thumbs up.

Thanks, Ryan! Thanks, Rocco! TOTAL WINNER.

February 28, 2011 8

Ideas Are Brewing….

I’ve been busy thinking of some very exciting ideas lately. One of them is an online writing class with the focus on (guess what?) food, body, health, fitness… you know the topics! I’ve been teaching writing online and in person since 1994 and I love teaching writing. This has fallen onto the back burner for a while now and I am excited to get back into it. I’ve taught many classes on Writing Short Fiction from Life Experience, the Literature of Parenthood and other special topics, and now I’m in the planning stages of teaching a writing class on these topics that are near and dear to my heart. So, inquiring minds want to know– is this something that might interest YOU? It would probably be 8-10 weeks long and start in late summer. It will start with a lot of freewriting but then dip into various writing genres like short fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction and maybe more. (solo performance?) What do you think?

February 23, 2011 4

What Size Am I? Ummm….

This has been one of my pet peeves forever! The answer is: I have clothes that are size 14, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, Large, Medium and Small… and they ALL FIT. At once. Isn’t that crazy? I saw someone posting on Twitter recently that they were “between sizes” and it made me laugh. “Just try a different brand!” is what I have to say about that. To prove my point:(all these pics were taken within a few minutes of each other)

Here I am in my size 10 pants and my size 6 shirt.

Size 10 Coldwater Creek pants, Size 6 Fleuret top

Here’s my size 8 pants and my size 14 jacket and size Medium Tshirt.

Ann Taylor size 8 pants, size 14P jacket

Here are my size 6 pants and my size XL cami!

And finally… my size 4 jeans (yeah what?) and my size XL American Apparel shirt.

Size 4 Gap "boyfriend" jeans, size XL Tshirt

So there. So am I a size 4? A size 14? I guess I’m all of those. Which make clothing sizes just… plain… ridiculous!!

Speaking of clothing, I recently discovered this awesome site called the Great Clothing Exchange. It’s a wonderful place to share (and to find!) clothes. If you’ve got clothes that are too big, send them to the GCE! and if you’re looking for new stuff in your new size, ditto. I just donated my infamous “Before” shirt. That shirt to me has become iconic with my Before self. I’m not going back, so I’m ready to pass it on. Go check it out!

February 23, 2011 20

Confessional: Weigh-In

Something happened a week or so ago that was a first. And not a happy first either, like “My first half marathon!” Woo hoo! It was the first time that I had a weigh-in as a WW staff/Lifetime member where the notice popped up that I had to pay. Which meant I was over my range for Lifetime membership. This was the first time this has happened since I made Lifetime status in July 2009.

I was “only” over by 1.8 lbs. Which on one hand is “not a lot.” But on the other hand… if that happened every month for a year? There goes almost 24 pounds, just a little bit at a time. And that’s how it happens, isn’t it?

I wasn’t completely shocked. January was a total bust for me as far as activity. I was sick about 70% of the month and probably only exercised 2-3 times. When I weighed in during the first week of February, it had had its effect.

I have been wrestling with this blog post ever since. It’s so much fun to post fantastic, celebratory, Woo-Hoo! I DID IT! sorts of blog posts. This kind is not so much fun. But I do think it’s just as important. It’s one of those moments of honesty that I think are absolutely crucial to this blog, and my whole process here.

So here I am. I weighed in at 1.8 lbs over Lifetime range. I am here to tell you that this is not going to happen two months in a row. When I weigh in again in the first week of March, I will be FREE again. I love that: “Free Lifetime.” Not only is it free in that you don’t have to pay, there’s a Freedom to knowing you are in range. I have been free since July 2009 and I am not about to put those chains on again. I worked hard to get there. I am going to get myself back there.

This is something that has happened to most WW staffers that I know, as well as many many Lifetime members. At some point, something slips for one reason or another, and then you’re up. Just a little. And then the little kind of snowballs into more and more until it’s… oh my god. Right?

Wrong. That’s not going to happen here. This is one of the HUGEST reasons that being a WW leader has helped me. I am not going to stand up there week after week if I’m not walking the walk. Or running the run. Or tracking the points.

This is my vow to myself, and to anyone reading this. I’m saying it again. I’m going to see that “FREE” pop up on the computer in March. And that’s that. It was interesting to have this, um, Learning Experience here, but what I learned is that I don’t want to repeat it. Got that?

February 21, 2011 8

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