The Obesity Code and Radical Acceptance
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RE the 70s and snacking, I grew up in the 60s and my family as well as all my friends families at 3 meals a day. There were no snacks except possibly Saturday night. Usually this was a cereal bowl of popcorn and perhaps a shared bottle (16 oz back then) of regular soda. So about 4 oz of soda. If you complained of feeling hungry before supper, it was "you'll spoil your appetite". This was just normal eating. Dishes were done and no one ate again until the next meal.
At school, there were no snacks except kindergarteners who got milk and a graham cracker for a snack midmorning before their nap. Kindergarten was a half day. No one starved. Poor grades weren't blamed on lack of food at home. Funny how test scores continue to drop and yet we are providing more and more food to kids at school (breakfast, lunches and now, in our area, we are providing afterschool snacks and even box lunches for kids to take home and eat. Ok, off my soapbox.
Same here in the 60's. If we wanted any junk at all, we bought it with our allowance which we earned at home or out in the neighbourhood. Mum did monitor but it was ours. It was a suggestion that a candy bar a day was not good and expensive. We did not get enough allowance to do this more than 2 a week and if you wanted a new toy, it did not work at all to spend what you have this way.
A glass of milk was permitted but not too close to dinner. That being said, my 3 brothers were allowed peanut butter sandwiches and milk after dinner when they hit their hungry teenager stage of growth. But that was only for a few years each.
I do wonder looking back from the more modern lens, if kids at school had enough to eat at home but certainly in my lower to middle class area, kids were feed at home and I don't remember anyone in the lunchroom (the rare times I had to stay) having anything different than I did. Sandwich, fruit, celery and carrots. The current world is strange to me.
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Yum! I could eat all those school lunches. I'm not saying I would but I could. The taters in the US tray were probably instant. I can remember my Mom always saying how it was a "treat" when she was a little girl to have "store bought bread" because Grandma always baked. I kind of felt the same way about instant mashed potatoes because we never had them at home. We ate real potatoes. They were probably cheaper and I imagine they still are serving per serving.
We didn't snack when I was a kid except maybe as someone else mentioned, Saturday night popcorn and a split bottle of pop. We watched "Chilly Billy Cardille", late night horror show which was probably local to Pittsburgh, PA. The only candy we got was the penny candy we would buy from a local country store. My brother and I would walk the old macadam (blacktop) roads and dirt roads looking for pop bottles. When we found enough we would get on our bikes and pedal to the store. I want 1 of these, 2 of these, 1 of these, 1 of these.
A nickel went a long way back then. 5 -
My source of money was an allowance of ten cents and I used to pick up glass bottles that people would leave by the incinerator to bring to the grocery store for the deposit money. Wow, I had forgotten. Candy was 5 cents, but I bought comic books at the used comic book store, three for a nickle. I still have them, I think my husband married me so he could read them. Egg cream soda was 2 cents, no real egg in it. I ate very little candy, no snacks except for an apple. Life in Brooklyn in the 60's, not bad at all.3
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Love hearing these walks down memory lane..:) I wish I could say I had a good food environment growing up, but I didn't. My mom is a self professed "junk food junkie." She's had Crohn's Disease for all her adult life, and since she has a hard time keeping weight on, she can eat anything---and she did, and she does! There was a *lot* of sugar in my house all of the time. BUT....dinner was always centered around a steak, hamburger, or roast chicken. And I was very active as a kid---we didn't have a car, and we lived in a city, so I walked or rode my bicycle everywhere.
I'm debating setting my check in with the scale once a month instead of once a day, in order to focus on things I *can* control----like my choices, my logging, my checking my blood sugar. I've had a lifetime of a complex relationship with the scale, and at 61, I would like to emerge from this experiment in LCHF with a more intuitive relationship with my BODY as well as a repaired metabolism. Given my starting point, that is much more likely to take months and year to accomplish than weeks or days, fer sure.
This morning I had 3 eggs cooked in butter with a handful of spinach, sour cream, and avocado after a 16 hour overnight fast. I am *very* full. I will tenderly monitor this body of mine today and feed it appropriately and well.
Have a wonderful day, all*
Rosey5 -
Roseygirl1 wrote: »There's a very good set of visuals about children's lunches around the world. Here it is:
huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/25/school-lunches-around-the-world_n_6746164.html
I want to say I am astounded, but I really can't. The U.S. has obviously the most processed foods but all are very high carb meals. Does anyone else get groggy eating meals like this? If kids are getting the double whammy of high carb, high sugar at breakfast and lunch, how can they either sit still (sugar high) or stay awake (sugar crash) to learn?
Thank God that I have reawakened to low carb and discovered high fat to go with it to make this all so easy now that I seem to be fat adapted. Wish I had known this 40 years ago (or even 20).
@Roseygirl, you are bringing a new perspective to "be good to yourself". Slips or mistakes are learning experiences, gentleness with ourselves builds kindness and understanding of ourselves and others, keeping a spiritual focus brings peace in the face of life challenges. Just a few of the things I am learning from this thread.2 -
Thank you @suzqtme. One thing I know for certain: if beating myself up were effective motivation for accomplishment, I would have no issues! Loving discipline isn't beating oneself up. I am not going to starve myself or rush my body's healing (as if I could!).
Learning curve: I CANNOT eat at least one brand of low carb bread. I had ONE ROLL as an experiment, and it sat so heavy in my stomach all evening, and then I got up at night to.....well, let's just say my body evicted it the same route it went down. Then, the next morning, I had a mouth ulcer. It's too bad, too, because I ordered these product online and now I have a freezer full of things I can't eat. The mouth ulcers I get sometimes from autoimmune reactions. (I don't have celiac but I do have the arthritis that is associated with Crohn's Disease, having had one bout of Crohn's myself in 1982, none since, thank heaven.) Something in that roll triggered me---probably the "vital wheat gluten."
SO....it is dawning on me that *my* low carb way of life is going to look very "paleo" or "primal"---meat, fish, poultry, the right fats, low carb veggies, some nuts and seeds, little fruit. Oh, well. It fits better with my philosophy about "real food" anyway.
Yummy breakfast today: 2 eggs cooked in butter, broccoli slaw/salad, sprouts, sour cream.
I have two duck breasts in the frig for my husband and me; gotta see how to make these, I never have! Gotta be a way to get this yummy without sugary orange or cherry sauce.
Going to walk for 1.2 miles this morning...OUT THE DOOR! Have a great day!
Rosey
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@Roseygirl1
I love that term "loving discipline"
I feel like it is perfect to explain how I handled my sugar addiction and the decision I had to make to stop making low carb sweets and eventually stop sweetening my coffee. Even though it was technically ok for my WOE, I found that I had a constant need for sweet tasting foods at least once a day if not more and that wasn't addressing the addiction and the fact that it caused me to eat when I wasn't actually hungry. Even if it was just sweetened coffee with no calories, I felt like I wasn't in control of it and I didn't like it.
Some people wouldn't understand why I would restrict this when it didn't add calories or carbs and technically fit my plan, but I recognized that it stirred up feelings of hunger that weren't real and created a need to use will power to keep from eating. I wasn't punishing myself by "denying" myself, I was making a loving choice to correct something that I didn't feel in control of, and I think that viewing it that way made it just a little easier to accomplish.
That's a very powerful statement you made and I hope that others find it inspiring like I do.
I really like the way you are approaching your goals and I'm glad that you are sharing it with us. 3 -
And @Roseygirl1 thank you too for the discussion on low carb bread. I have thought I was lactose intolerant for years (I may still be) but I have been struggling with mouth ulcers and other problems since going keto some months back. I was encouraged to go slow carbs to help and it has. But, I had the same reaction to gluten free bread (the other direction
) having had a bad reaction to an itsy bitsy bit of regular bread prior to buying the gluten free. I think gluten is the problem. Crohns and other issues in the family so ...... I am throwing out the bread and getting better informed about gluten. Thanks for the posting confirming my own experience. So sorry to hear about the $$ spent. 2 -
@Sunny_Bunny_ I am coming to the same conclusion. I made an almond cake from George Stella's cookbook that I got out of the library, and while I did not binge on it the way I would if it were a "regular" cake, I did not like how it made me feel. Whether it was the Splenda (which I am not used to) or the heaviness of the almond flour, it just didn't sit easy in my stomach. I also didn't like how it lit up my brain the way sweets do. When I finished eating a piece, I wanted another. Like right away.
@dasher602014 I'll be interested to know if you feel better after going GF. I can't ignore the evidence of my body. I went back to the library and found another cookbook that might serve me better. It's called the Paleo Low Carb Cookbook, and has no sweets/treats in it, but some really interesting recipes.
Personal training today! Have a great day, everybody!
Rosey1 -
Thanks for the book reference too @Roseygirl1 . My town library (town less than 2000 people) won't have it but maybe I can borrow online or put it on my Christmas list.0
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Roseygirl1 wrote: »@Sunny_Bunny_ I am coming to the same conclusion. I made an almond cake from George Stella's cookbook that I got out of the library, and while I did not binge on it the way I would if it were a "regular" cake, I did not like how it made me feel. Whether it was the Splenda (which I am not used to) or the heaviness of the almond flour, it just didn't sit easy in my stomach. I also didn't like how it lit up my brain the way sweets do. When I finished eating a piece, I wanted another. Like right away.
Another one here who stays away from dessert type things. I bought a bag of coconut flour early on and made/ate a "mug cake". And then I made/ate another immediately.
Haven't made one since.... 5 -
This morning FBS was 101mg%. Higher than I like it---I have had readings as low as 89, which made me happy. I think there could be two possibilities: I didn't get much activity yesterday, and/or I ate chickpeas---counted the carbs, but they are the highest carb thing I've eaten, I think.
It really helps me to test BS. Nothing motivates me more: my primary goal is to lower my insulin levels. I think I am having the liver glycogen release phenomenon, since I am not eating after 7pm. Which means the best thing I can do is go for a pre-breakfast walk, I think. I'm going to have to research this!
Onward and awkward!
Have a great day, everybody*
Rosey2 -
Exercise really does help blood sugar doesn't it?
I am contemplating all the gluten filled things around here. And working on ignoring or giving away. Like sugar and lactose, it is hidden in lots of processed foods. I don't eat much in the way of processed foods. About 5 soda crackers a week and some fish sauce in recipes. And I used to eat oatmeal quite often, so I will have to dump that and buy GF oatmeal for those rare occasions. Another cupboard clearing in my future.0 -
Roseygirl1, my doctor recently changed my T2D med from Janumet to Metformin. The Janumet had a component that raised insulin and I thought the change would be good. My FBS had been mid-90s to low 100s before the change. Now they have been 135, 127, 125, 115. They seem to be working their way back down, and I guess I'll just have to be patient and see how things end up. I was hoping to go off meds one of these days - that was my strongest motivation for LCHF eating.1
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Dasher and Sherry, I think it really calls for patience!!! Lord, give me patience RIGHT NOW!!!!!!
*sigh*
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Stressing about it sure won't help, in fact increased stress will HURT your numbers... Meditation, @Roseygirl1? 1
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sherryrichie wrote: »Roseygirl1, my doctor recently changed my T2D med from Janumet to Metformin. The Janumet had a component that raised insulin and I thought the change would be good. My FBS had been mid-90s to low 100s before the change. Now they have been 135, 127, 125, 115. They seem to be working their way back down, and I guess I'll just have to be patient and see how things end up. I was hoping to go off meds one of these days - that was my strongest motivation for LCHF eating.
Januvia, the Janu part of Janumet, helps lower blood sugar in two ways. It helps the body increase insulin to stabilize blood sugar and decrease sugars that are made in the liver. Since it increased your insulin, your liver cells have become more insulin resistant from taking it. Now, it will take some time for the artificially created resistance to go away. Plus, now your insulin resistant liver is thinking it must make more sugar for you. Crazy liver. Hence your current test results.
If you can get by with medication that does not increase your insulin levels you are better off. It took time for your body to get to where it is and it will take time for it to heal itself.
I tried to get off all Metformin too quickly and it did not work out very well, with sugars going as high as 140. I now take 750 ER twice a day instead of the 1000ER twice a day I used to take and am averaging a FBS of 100 each day.. I look forward to slowly decreasing my Metformin.1 -
Aquawave, thank you for this explanation. Patience is the key here. Let the healing begin!!!
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It's so great to have such thoughtful companions on this health journey!
I made a concerted effort to get more activity yesterday, and this morning my FBS was 84%!!!!! Lowest number yet! I will keep an eye on this, but it does seem that thoughtful doses of activity (I'm talking walking and a little housekeeping!) at the right times have a bigger effect on my blood sugar than the small details of what I eat, as long as my carbs are controlled.
So along with carb control, I am going to continue to think of activity as medicine. "Take a 10 minute walk three times a day after meals."
Getting the blood sugar monitor was a really good idea, thank you all for the suggestion.
Last night, I sliced and fried radishes in butter. Very yum! Today I am going to make kale chips, got a huge bunch of kale in the farm share.
Rosey
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@roseygirl1 glad you are finding out what works best for you. I enjoy your attitude very much, I try to do the same but somedays, the frustration gets to me and I yell at myself in my head too much. I'm going to try and follow your lead in the "kindness to self "attitude. After all, I have to live with myself for the rest of my life, LOL.2
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Ok, I hit a snag. I am not doing well with calorie counting. I got put on my first diet at age 9 at a time when I wasn't fat---I just had a little pre-pubertal pudge. The 1660 calorie limit isn't too low---it's just that it's there that raises my anxiety around food. The scale is also not my friend---I start to feel bad when it doesn't go down, which makes me focus more on the calories, which makes me crazier....it's a bad circle.
So I think I am going to try something different. Clearly my habits have to change. So I am going to find a carb counting app that I can use without having a calorie limit, and I will continue to keep my net carbs <25. That should solve the calorie-limit-panic reaction.
I will continue to use my blood glucose monitor to motivate me to mover more, and I will keep my goal of getting at least 30 min. activity/day.
I am *not* giving up, I just have to sneak around some eating disorder reactions and focus on the things that will give me the most bang for my buck: limiting carbs and moving regularly. Period. I've got to take the focus off the scale and give myself more mental room to stay the course.
I'll keep you posted on how the experiment works!
Rosey6 -
Very smart of you to change what is making you anxious. I totally have the same reactions - especially to the scale.1
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Roseygirl1 wrote: »Ok, I hit a snag. I am not doing well with calorie counting. I got put on my first diet at age 9 at a time when I wasn't fat---I just had a little pre-pubertal pudge. The 1660 calorie limit isn't too low---it's just that it's there that raises my anxiety around food. The scale is also not my friend---I start to feel bad when it doesn't go down, which makes me focus more on the calories, which makes me crazier....it's a bad circle.
So I think I am going to try something different. Clearly my habits have to change. So I am going to find a carb counting app that I can use without having a calorie limit, and I will continue to keep my net carbs <25. That should solve the calorie-limit-panic reaction.
I will continue to use my blood glucose monitor to motivate me to mover more, and I will keep my goal of getting at least 30 min. activity/day.
I am *not* giving up, I just have to sneak around some eating disorder reactions and focus on the things that will give me the most bang for my buck: limiting carbs and moving regularly. Period. I've got to take the focus off the scale and give myself more mental room to stay the course.
I'll keep you posted on how the experiment works!
Rosey
@Roseygirl1, atkins.com has both a pdf with tons of carb count info, if you want an app, if you log your food in their tracker, it will tell you the carb counts. The pdf file is good for helping you shop and plan meals out ahead of time. I don't use the tracker there, because I use Chrome and have the addin from the launchpad for showing net carbs.
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10348436/enhancing-mfp-displays-for-low-carb#latest
Here is how that add in reports:
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Thank you, retirehappy! That's really what I want to do, add a net carbs feature to my diary. I'm a technophobe but I will try to get one of my sons to help me install the fix.
I found a way around the trigger for now: I upped my calories to 1800. That will keep me from the food limit panic and free me to pay attention to my body.
Rosey1 -
Roseygirl1 wrote: »I found a way around the trigger for now: I upped my calories to 1800. That will keep me from the food limit panic and free me to pay attention to my body.
Rosey
Rosey, I hope that works for you. I did that for a while and found it helpful. The red line and red numbers MFP giives really"messed" with my mind for a while and that was a way to get around it.1 -
Bumped up the calories to 1800 and that did the trick! Came in under 1600 yesterday and had all the room to experience my hunger (and lack of). A meta goal from all of this is to make friends with my body, to trust its signals. I think this is going to work!3
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My journey has been 3 years long.
Year one was mainly diet and exercise that was walking and very light work at the gym
Year two was more of the same lower carb diet but more cardio and better and better blood tests. I was dropping off that higher blood pressure, elevated glucose level, and burning off more calories with activity! I lifted a bit more and added more good fats to lower my cholesterol. I joined a cycling group! I added hobbies that were activities
It started to become apparent that a radical life change was actually possible. Hope. I looked at myself and fet hope!
Year three has brought on much more with bike races, my first 100K ride, 10K runs, triathlon events. But the diet is the same. The desire to just enjoy a new life that really isn't new anymore is still there
I don't have high blood pressure or high glucose or high cholesterol now. It all just went away with the bad diet and lack of exercise.
This way of eating is filled with hope and success stories. I hope you stick with it long term and enjoy seeing your goals come to pass5 -
@Working2BLean thank you for sharing your inspiring story! I hope to have one of my own at some point in the future.
I think I'm moving in the right direction! The blood glucose monitor is telling my 2 hour PP is 77mg%. That's after hauling my behind out for a 30 min. walk. I keep reminding myself that my goal is to fix my metabolism and create the conditions under which my body can be healthy. Low carbs, real food, intelligent activity, cultivating mindfulness and managing stress.
Shofar, so good. (A little Jewish joke about today being Rosh Hashana.)
Rosey2 -
Roseygirl1 wrote: »OMG, I am SO not hungry!
I walked for 30 minutes today. I ate a lot of fat for lunch: sour cream with almonds, nothing else! I'm making dinner but just barely hungry, won't eat a lot. This is AMAZEBALLS!
Woo hoo! So *this* is what they are talking about!
Rosey
yes, exactly this. for me this was totally liberating. went out for a 45 km bike ride today, without breakfast, just electrolyte drink. gone for 2 hours, hammered the bike really hard, got home, ate a tub of sour cream with some salt sprinkled on. magic. no hunger, totally fine and a great workout.1 -
Roseygirl1 wrote: »Ok, I hit a snag. I am not doing well with calorie counting. I got put on my first diet at age 9 at a time when I wasn't fat---I just had a little pre-pubertal pudge. The 1660 calorie limit isn't too low---it's just that it's there that raises my anxiety around food. The scale is also not my friend---I start to feel bad when it doesn't go down, which makes me focus more on the calories, which makes me crazier....it's a bad circle.
So I think I am going to try something different. Clearly my habits have to change. So I am going to find a carb counting app that I can use without having a calorie limit, and I will continue to keep my net carbs <25. That should solve the calorie-limit-panic reaction.
I will continue to use my blood glucose monitor to motivate me to mover more, and I will keep my goal of getting at least 30 min. activity/day.
I am *not* giving up, I just have to sneak around some eating disorder reactions and focus on the things that will give me the most bang for my buck: limiting carbs and moving regularly. Period. I've got to take the focus off the scale and give myself more mental room to stay the course.
I'll keep you posted on how the experiment works!
Rosey
I've found that what helped me stay on goal for calories was to first teach myself a very predictable manner of eating breakfast, lunch and dinner. These I tracked for 3 months, experimented with what would work every time. I resolved to make breakfast and lunch very predictable, always the same thing basically with a few variations and cook a few dishes for dinner. 2, at most, and be really careful with the carbs there, which I also taught myself by means of tracking. Then I stopped tracking and kept eating to the same pattern, not deviating from it. That seems to have worked. I did track ketones for a while with ketostix while I was learning. And didn't mind calories too much, but was very strict on carbs.
btw, your idea to weigh once a month: sounds good, but you can always try it and go back to another pattern that suits you better and stick to it.1
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