<p>When I watch the food network I often shudder at the liberal use of ‘EVOO’. I think it goes back again to Michael Pollan–eat good foods, but not too much. Anyone eating any pure fat at 100 calories per tbs. that doesn’t have it stick is a miracle of nature. </p>
<p>Bunsen, perhaps you’re staying under the 2000 calories? That’s very easy if you’re eating well.</p>
<p>Yesterday I was with a colleague while she ate her healthy snack–walnuts. They are an amazing super food. But she ate more than half of a pound bag and walnuts are 190 calories per ounce! She’s on a weight loss diet. Boy did I have to bite my tongue!</p>
<p>I don’t use sweeteners in yogurt, oatmeal & tea and never have - although I do have fresh fruit (usually berries) in yogurt & cereal. (I just buy the nonfat plain yogurt and add my own fruit, much better than buying a flavored yogurt). Obviously the fruit contains natural sugars – but I’m looking for the other benefits of the fruits, like anti-oxidants.</p>
<p>I also have a dark chocolate habit and here is how I cut the consumption: I try to buy the darkest I can find, usually 85%-90%. I keep it in the frig and I break it into little squares to eat it. I will only eat 1 square at a time – maybe through the course of a day I might have 3 squares, but usually a chocolate bar lasts me at least 3 days. Still probably way too much fat & sugar overall… but if the goal is cutting back, this process does slow me down. (Keeping foods in the frig just is my way of keeping them out of plain view)</p>
That’s because they expend a lot of energy in acquiring the food.
If you want to adopt that diet along with a practice of eating only what you kill or gather on your own, I think you’ll do fine – but no fair if you farm or grow on your own! Stick to what you can find in the wild and I’ll bet you lose a lot of weight.
<p>I haven’t figured out a diet/exercise plan yet but I have been exercising! I went to a step class this morning - what a workout! Getting up off the couch is better than nothing!</p>
<p>^^^I used to love step classes until my health club went from a no nonsense, calorie burning philosophy to a pseudo dance class with complicated and sometimes silly choreography and far less fitness. </p>
<p>I need to find some good step DVD’s that are simple yet effective.</p>
<p>Alright… we’ll have to see how it goes, but I bought this scale off of HSN that will tell you the nutritional value of your serving exactly as it is on the side of the packaging. So those walnuts that HMom mentioned? This scale will tell you that yes, you can have like 10 of them and be within limits, but shake a half a bag of them into the bowl and it’s a wholly different equation. The idea is that you can actually eat whatever you want and will actually be smarter about it if you do so in full view of the facts, literally. I will let you know how it works when I get it, but I figured it was $50 and if it teaches portion control with any success, it will have done its job. </p>
<p>It apparently also keeps track of your daily percentage of intake - so again, with the walnuts? When they were doing it on TV they did almonds and demonstrated that the fat alone could equal more than 60% of daily recommended intake based on what you decide is “snack worthy.” Point was, if you’re eating more than half of your fat in one snack, you can probably find a much healthier (and substantial) alternative.</p>
<p>Like I said, I will know more (or less) when it finally arrives.</p>
<p>“That’s because they expend a lot of energy in acquiring the food.”
Absolutely…but I think WHAT they eat matters too. Low fat wild meat. Berries. Leaves. </p>
<p>Any one try the DVDS from Jillian Michaels?</p>
<p>Also, they’re starting up a RUMBA class at my health club. Any reviews?</p>
<p>I do - got it from Costco years ago. It is a great blender! And it really can heat up liquids.</p>
<p>It can be a very helpful eat healthy gadged as long as one does not add ice cream and/or sugary syrups to the shakes and smoothies s/he makes using the Vita-Mix!</p>
<p>ummm, can someone help me out here? I’m not getting the x % + resting heart rate = target heart rate part.</p>
<p>By this definition, my maximum heart rate should be 185. My resting heart rate has averaged out to be 63. Where does that leave me?</p>
<p>I’ve done 45 minutes cardio 11 out of the last 12 days. My heart rate has averaged around 130, + or -5. I’ve been able to sustain this and I work up a fairly decent sweat. Am I in a good zone?</p>
<p>I have no real proof to back up my bias against stevia or any other sweetener. Actually, I don’t think white cane sugar is any better either, but it has been around a whole lot longer. White sugar is an evil food and should be avoided, along with stevia, but I’m still hooked on it. From what I have read, the best thing is to eat food as close to its natural state as possible. So that would preclude refined sugars and carbohydrates, most processed foods, and if you’re being a purist, oils and bread. My ideal diet (for optimum health) would be fruit, veg, whole grains, beans, some fish, some meat, eggs, even milk and butter in small quantities. Maybe tofu and yogurt, which isn’t really processed. The argument against oil is that it is a concentrate, and any kind of concentrated food is best avoided or eaten in small amounts. Now, to be honest, I am not very successful at sticking to this regimen, but it’s something I aspire to. </p>
<p>On a side note, I am so happy to read about everyone’s progress!</p>
<p>Ugh… I’m already seeing this foot thing is going to be my Achille’s heel (no pun intended). Several years ago, I was told that my right foot might have the beginnings of a bunion. I have noticed that I’ve had some slight throbbing in that area at night, and am wondering if all this walking/treadmilling/ellipticaling is speeding things up. My athletic shoe is a good fit, but I think this is just something I’m going to have to deal with eventually (hopefully many months or years down the line). Have never heard of someone having a bunion that went away on its own. My older brother has the ugliest looking bunions, but he swears they don’t hurt his feet; I just can’t believe it.</p>
<p>BunsenBurner,
We are on a same page, "Olive oil and rice vinegar make very tasty salad dressing. " - And we use a lot of Balsamic vinegar and I also add honey to my salad.
Try adding wasabi (if you have never had it, it is extremely hot). I also add raw diced ginger, lots of it, it is also hot. </p>
<p>In regard to smoothies, when fruits have no taste (sometime you buy beautiful looking fruit that lacking taste), we put it in blender with lemon and honey and nothing else. Any fruits or combination of them with proper amount of lemon and honey will make great tasting smoothie. Since I do not mind a little bitter taste, I do not even peel lemons, but I would not recommend it this way to others, since most people will not tolerate taste of lemon peel in thier smoothie.</p>
<p>teriwtt, my doctor advised me to get my heart rate to 145 for an aerobic workout. I am assuming she took 220-50=170 x 85%=145. The treadmills at the Y list 85% as the aerobic level. For you, 85% would be 157 but if you are working up a sweat at 130 then I would hesitate to push too much harder. Breaking a sweat sounds to me like a good indicator that you are working hard enough. My H is in very good shape and probably never gets his heart rate above 130 except on his speed workouts (which are a series of sprints so more anaerobic). </p>
<p>I am an extremely slow, laborious jogger, so it’s pretty easy to get my heart rate into my target zone when jogging, often reaching 160 or higher but cannot maintain that and ease back on my pace to keep my heart rate between 145 and 150 for at least 20 continuous minutes. It takes about a ten minute warm-up for me to reach that target level.</p>
<p>OK, I get the formula now; thanks. I didn’t realize to put the percentage range of either 60 or 85 in the formula. That’s what I get for trying to figure it out at midnight! Most of the machines at the gym have signage that lists my target heart rate as between 110 and 136, so I thought I was doing good keeping it around 130. I can do more but thought I needed to keep it under 136 (yes I did get it up to 140 a few times, then scaled it back because I thought I shouldn’t go above 136).</p>