Looking Forward

What truths have I learned about me the last year. It  seems I am still constantly watching the weight going up and down. I do believe I feel better when I eat no grains or sugar. I am experimenting with eating only two meals a day. It seems as I get older I just don't burn many calories. Of course, the fact that I really do not like to exercise may have something to do with this.

This year saw the passing of my father at nearly age 96 and his older sister at 102. There is no one left of that generation. Whatever I needed to ask them should have been done as it is too late now. I learned much from  them. They were all very typical of the Greatest Generation.

Now I am working on getting my house in order. It is time to get rid of all those things that I have held on to because I might need them some day. It is time to simplify my complicated life. Each day I have a goal of removing at least one sack or box of stuff from the house.

In January I began an alternate day eating plan...my variation of Up Day/Down Day. It seems to be working well. I have learned that I really do not need that many calories. I am losing weight if under 900 calories daily, maintaining at about 1000, and gaining at 1200! I guess I have slowed down as I have gotten older and also as a result of my injuries as well as retirement from work. Since I do not move quickly all day, I just don't need that much fuel. In January I started using the Hacker's Diet spreadsheet to record my daily weight and weight loss trend. That really helped since my weight varies so much from day to day. I lost about a pound a week and have about 5 lbs. to go to get back to my weight a year ago. Then there is that last 4 or 5 to get off.  I also have very unambitious, but doable exercise goals. I managed to get a minimum of 15 min. in each day last month. For February my goal is to average 20 min. a day. I have to be realistic about what I will actually accomplish.

Since this is pretty much a private blog, I will use it for awhile as a journal to record my thoughts and progress.

Nutrition Confusion

I have been reading and thinking for quite some time about diet and nutrition. The information on the web and in books is overwhelming, confusing, and contradictory to say the least.There are scientific studies with contrasting results and conclusions. There are individual testimonials that seem to come from honest folks...again conflicting with one another. And then there are the charlatans who prey on desperate people. What to believe about...

• diet
• exercise
• supplements
• medications
• weight loss
• weight maintenance
• food allergies

Therefore, I am going to use the blog to address these areas and try to explain my belief in these areas.

Seasons of Life

Life does not unfold as we plan it, and it is a good thing not to know our future. The last few years I have put most of my life on hold as I helped my dad finish his journey. He passed away at 95 recently, and I have the comfort of knowing that I did all I could to serve him. There is still much to take care of and much I have neglected that needs attention. I am not a public blogger, but I do think it helps me to get my thoughts down so I can save them.

Most of my focus over the years has been centered on my need to control my weight. I do not think this is misplaced. If I had not stayed focused I am sure I would be in very poor health or at the very least I would be extremely obese. At this point in my life I am aiming for good nutrition, good health, and a functioning body. My goal is to lose about 10 lbs. and to establish some habits that will carry me through into my elder years.

For two years I have been eating grain and sugar free. I have learned that I do best by just not eating these foods except on rare, special occasions. After eliminating these foods, I discovered that my cravings have really subsided. If I overeat now, it will be from foods like cheese and nuts. I also am eating only healthy fats which are those that my great grandmother would have eaten. I am also eating only 2 or 3 meals a day without any snacking which I have already addressed in this blog. Lately I have added water kefir to my regimen and really enjoy it. My exercise goal is to develop a daily habit of at least 30 minutes of planned activity. Because of my foot injury I can't walk, but I can go to the gym and work on the elliptical and stair stepper as well as lift heavy.

I really do not know where I want to go with this blog, but as I get the diet and exercise established, I would like to move to other areas of my life and apply new truths. The diet has already led to recipe and cookbook collecting and a renewed interest in cooking. As I get my kitchen confidence up and the house in better order, one more goal is to be more hospitable to others. I would like to have my home in order before my husband retires and is at home more. Therefore, decluttering is another goal. I cannot be as structured as FlyLady, but I do try to work on some area each day.

For now I will use my blog to report on my progress and to save information I find elsewhere. This will be a learning tool.

An Awakening

This week has been a tough one. On Wednesday evening there was a terrible wreck involving children of  church friends on their way to Wed. evening church activity. After jaws of life and a medflight to Children's Hospital, the worst fears are past...no spinal cord injuries or brain damage or death. These are life altering injuries, however. And then the granddaughter of another church friend is having brain surgery today to try to take care of bleeding in her brain from a fall sustained two days ago. All of this is just a reminder of how fast life can change. Something similar happened to me two years ago when my dad had a stroke. In an instant, your life is changed.

I have known all my life that we have never been promised a life of ease and no suffering, but somehow we come to expect that, don't we? It is times like these that will make or break one's faith in God. I know He can work good through evil and pray that He will hold these friends close as they are pressed to the limit.

School has started up for the fall term and I am beginning my second year of retirement. Last year I was so consumed with trying to get my dad and daughter settled that I never even noticed that I did not get up and go to work every day. Now I have the time to prioritize my days. I pray that I will put them to good use and always remember what is important.

Biochemistry and No Snacks

Disclaimer: I am not a scientist which will become obvious as I try to explain the truths I have learned about biochemistry and snacking. But I think if I can get my beliefs in front of me it will help inform my decisions better, as in, "shut the refrigerator door and go to bed!" Entire books have been written on each of these hormones and I have probably oversimplified their roles. But this is the way I see it. There is a kind of hormonal dance going on throughout our cells. The food we eat and when we eat that food is directing the hormonal dance. I know the following information should be cited, but I have just gathered notes from various books, blogs, and essays and you can google most of this information. So anyone using this material should go to primary sources.

3 Important Hormones and how they relate to the No Snacking Rule


Leptin:
Leptin sensitivity and leptin resistance determine the human energy balance. Leptin is to humans as photosynthesis is to plants. It is the most powerful hormone in the human body. What does this have to do with snacking? There is a 24 hour leptin pattern. Leptin levels rise at night, are the highest the first two hours of sleep, fall during the evening, and are lowest around noon. A high leptin level tells a person that she is full. It is normal not to be hungry after supper. Not eating after supper and going 11-12 hours until breakfast is fundamental for establishing healthy patterns of hormones. Improperly timed eating can disrupt all of our hormones and it throws the body out of rhythm. Sleep is our primary fat burning time. But this can only happen when no food has been eaten for 11-12 hours. During the night the body gradually begins to burn a higher portion of fat for fuel. The 9-12 hours after supper is when the body can access the fat stores in the buttocks, thighs, and stomach. Sounds good to me! If anything is eaten before bed, this prime fat burning time is shut off! So no snacking after supper is a good rule and it is simply a fact of biochemistry.

Insulin:
Insulin carries glucose to various cells. If we overeat at mealtime (seconds) or eat in between meals (snacks)  insulin takes the glucose to the liver, muscles, etc. to be dropped off. But the cells do not need the fuel so they refuse the delivery and turn off the receptors for insulin. This is insulin resistance. And the liver can become insulin resistant. Eating between meals causes the liver to retain the calories it has in storage. A person who has a "clogged" liver suffers from fatigue, is tired easily by stress, has difficulty going 5 or 6 hours without eating, and the liver turns the calories into fat. Fatigue and getting hungry too often are evidence of an out of shape liver.

Ghrelin:
Ghrelin is a hormone produced in the stomach that signals that it is time to eat. Cells in the stomach release this hormone which is controlled by a circadian clock that is set by mealtime patterns. Scientists call this group of hormones the timekeepers of hunger. In a normal weight person, ghrelin rises before meals to signal hunger. When leptin is too high in the overweight individual, ghrelin loses its normal function. In an overweight person ghrelin levels before eating are lower than normal, and the levels will stay high after food is eaten. This stimulates excess eating and especially excess eating of carbohydrates. Eating between meals throws off the natural hormonal signals.We need to "set our clocks" by eating at meal times and not in between.

When we eat in between meals or after our last meal at night, we are messing with our hormones and their signaling to each other. There needs to be five or six hours between meals so that our wonderfully designed bodies can work their magic. When we snack, even on healthy foods, we are messing with the hormonal communication which controls our appetite and hunger signals as well as fat burning and/or storage.

So whether Reinhard (the NoS guru) knew all of this hormonal stuff or not when he said No Snacks, it is nevertheless sound biochemistry.  So much for those folks who advocate eating healthy snacks between meals. They just don't know how the innocent snack interferes with our hormonal balance. Very few people have low blood sugar and need a snack. If they do, they should be monitoring there blood sugar to know for sure.

Now knowing these truths about hormones (and there is more when you add in cortisol and estrogen) I am more inspired to get them regulated. I am eating a big protein breakfast without any carbohydrates, waiting at least 5 hours for a light lunch, and then no snacking until supper which needs to end by 7:00.

Roots

For most of my adult life I have been on some sort of eating plan. Usually my top priority has been losing or maintaining a weight loss. However, I have always been very health conscious and never really went on any crazy fad diets. I am really angry at the dietary information that has been foisted on the public from the so called medical and science community. I spent way too many years trying to eat "heart healthy," limiting eggs, avoiding saturated fat and butter, using vegetables oils and low fat dairy.

Now my goal is to locate food that my great grandmother would recognize. Local farmers do have their beef for sale. I have a calf reserved for me this fall and a new freezer with enough room to store my half. There is no way I can get a totally pastured animal, but this is better than the feedlot supermarket choices. I have also found an egg lady. I know that her chickens are not totally pastured, but the eggs are certainly lower in omega 6s than the battery eggs that would be my other choice. I have found a local source of raw milk cheese and have found pastured butter. The local farmer's markets do have fresh produce. One grocery store carries cream that is pasteurized, but not ultra pasteurized. Imagine cream lasting for more than a month! And, by reading the fine print, I have found some Alaskan salmon that is wild and frozen in Alaska, not China. I have started making my own mayonnaise, salad dressings, and barbeque sauce. I had to find a butcher in another town before I could actually find any marrow bones to make beef broth. The grocery stores get their meat already cut up. It is almost impossible to find a piece of meat on the bone.

In one or two generations we have totally changed our way of eating so much that it is actually difficult to find real food. With the time I have left I plan to follow this "ancestral" way of eating. My collection of older cookbooks are a valuable resource. Would you believe there was a time when a recipe didn't include "a can of cream of mushroom soup?"

Home At Last

Finally I am home after being out of state for nearly 6 months. There is much to do, but I first have to get physical therapy scheduled. Hopefully, I can get more flexibility and strength and quit hobbling around! Over the last few months I have moved from counting calories, to low carb dieting to ancestral or paleo nutrition. I am now believing that I should not be eating grains, sugar, seed oils, or legumes. I am also limiting dairy and fruit. My weight loss has stalled, but I think that is because I have been so inactive and at the same time I have upped my calorie intake Calories still count. For awhile, I am entering data into fitday to see what my percentages of proteins, carbs, and fats are. I am still looking at the Jaminet's Perfect Diet and adjusting supplements. We'll see.

There is much to do to get the house back in order. After cleaning out a lifetime accumulation from my dad, I want to start eliminating some of my excess now and simplify my life so that I can enjoy retirement. Why oh why do we accumulate so much stuff??