since I have started to officially try to lose weight, I have began to learn a few things about my body, and eating habits..... I have wondered about these discoveries of mine, and have wondered if anyone else has seen these problems and/or truths(for lack of a better word)
I have discovered, that when I eat highly processed carbs, like bread, pizza or that almond mocha cheesecake today, that:
1. I get real tired
2. I get brain fog
3. my ankles and feet swell
4. my back starts hurting
5. my whole body seems to get stiff and sore
6. I get fever blisters.
7. I get cyst, usually around my private areas.
8. I have a hard time staying asleep at night
9. They make my chocolate days (period time) worse
10. I am more hungry
11. Once I start eating these types of carbs, I cant quit for the whole day
12. I always have severe headaches during the night, and will wake up with terrible headaches.
13 I have no energy, cant get anything done, have trouble even getting out of my chair.
14. I have a hard time driving, because I cant stay awake, and sort of zone out, while driving
15... when I made my list of all the things that these carbs do to me, my daughter added on the bottom of the list, "they make you bitchy"
So apparently according to children, when I eat alot of these types carbs, I have mood problems
I have also noticed, in these past few weeks, that when I eat these types of carbs, I have no desire to go exercise.... when I dont eat them, I cant wait to go to the gym or the track.... Without these carbs, I enjoy getting up early and going to the gym for a half hour, and then enjoy my evening walk at the track in the evening.....
But I have also noticed, that its easier to walk on the tredmill, then on the track.....why is that????
I have also noticed, that yes, I believe that taking the oil (shangra-la diet) actually does cut down my appetite, when I remember to take it.... I dont seem hungry... now if I can just stop the habit of putting food in my mouth out of boredom...
I have also noticed, that taking magnesium keeps me from having those chocolate cravings right before period time (hence my calling them chocolate days)
I have noticed too, that taking vitamin c helps to reduce my sweets cravings.... where did I read that, does anyone know???
I have noticed lately, (and dont really want to experiment on it) that when I had accidently stepped on an ant hill last week, and when I got ants all over my hands the other day, that even though these fire ants were biting me, I did not show any signs of bites..... could this actually be because I havent been eating any processed carbs lately??? Or is there maybe something in vit C or the kefir that stops the poison from festering up.....
And I have noticed that even though the scales show that I am not losing pounds, my clothes fit better, and my whole attitude feels skinnier... does that make sense????
So, it seems that there were more discoveries, that I was going to share with you, but a family friend came into town today bearing gifts of shipleys kolachys, and the almond mocha cheesecake, that I of course couldnt turn down....( boy do I wish I did now... I hurt bad..... someone needs to discover a way to remember the pain, so we arent foolish enough to keep going back to it) But I cant remember what the other ones were, I had a larger list yesterday..... But so my question is, do other people have these problems when eating carbs or processed foods... is it the processed foods, or is it the carbohydrates that causes the problems..... What have all of you others that have stopped the carbs discovered about getting off of them..... My curiosity is aroused, I wonder, what would have happend if I found all this information years ago... and of course I wonder, how long will it take me to have the strength to say no, when someone brings them little nasties into my house!!!!!
__________________ God is and all is well
~John Greenleaf Whittier~
The only ones I can identify with, are Nos 10 and 11.
Plus the fact that I feel uncomfortably full. :x
If I had ALL those reactions like you do, you can bet
your Bippy I'd remember to stay away from the breads
and pastas, which I do.
The Cheesecake Now, that's a different matter
The only thing I often miss is the Cornbread :wink:
__________________
May you always have..Love to Share, Health to Spare, and Friends that Care!
Today my husband and I ate lunch at Arby's. Something we rarely ever do anymore. Anyway this evening my husband said he has a headache - most likely from the "food" he had at lunch - roast beef sandwich, fries, and root beer. One of his co-workers treated with ice cream in the afternoon at work. So he was loaded up with junk food.
I had the same thing for lunch, but no ice cream in the afternoon. I felt slow and sluggish, took a nap, and am still dragging. I think junk food doesn't agree with me so well.
I know for a fact, my son gets real ssssssslllllooooww when he gets too much sugar/proccessed foods.
As you keep on eating well, you will begin to feel better all the time. Then it will be harder to eat the junk because you will remember how bad it makes you feel. I can't say for sure how long it took us to become comfortable in our new eating habits. But it will happen. Even our children will say something about how the foods we used to eat and thought they were good, now taste yucky! I was surprised by my oldest son, when grandma baked a cake-mix cake, especially for him, and he told me later "It wasn't even good!" (I use all whole wheat flour in anything I bake)
One tip I found to help me with the mindless eating - when I was bored or whatever, I prepared carrot and celery sticks, put them in my fridge, and said to myself, "If I'm hungry - I'll eat these!" It did help when I really felt like munching on something - and when I really wasn't hungry, they weren't appealing like the cookies or pretzels would have been.
As you begin to feel better and look better - it gets easier to stick with the good eating. You feel better about yourself! Keep up the good work! It sure is worth it!
Just me, what a wonderful post! It's so good to learn how people discover the dangers of junk food. I often long to get on a soapbox just to rant about proper food.
Sharon's post is so valuable. Husband and I have been eating local organic food ONLY for some time now. One of the first things we noticed about real food, is that it tastes so much better. It has substance, and flavour.
Even eating an organic lettuce leaf feels more like a food than it's supermarket counterpart, and we don't need so much food for our appetites to be satisfied. We have lost weight and feel better than when we ate in the old way.
Drinks too - in the heat of this summer I needed some water but only bottles of the Coke and Fanta type were on sale in one place. I bought a bottle because I had to drink something, but the taste - Oh yuk! The sugar content made my mouth feel awful, and the flavourings were nothing more than a kid's chemistry set.
When we want snacks we eat nuts and raisins, or a rice cake with cheese, or fruit. WE just don't buy cakes, cookies or snacks of that kind, so we have to eat what's in the house or go without. It's a bit spartan sometimes, but we wouldn't change back to the old unhealthy ways.
So you are well on the way to perfection! Good luck and please keep telling us your progress. Everyone needs to know.
The key to this thread is 'Processed Carbs.' I have read
so many articles against the Atkin's diet that I cannot
even count them. Paid for, I'm sure, by the processed
carb industry.
Nowhere in his writings, (I have ALL of his books) does
he advocate eliminating carbs.
Because carbs come in two sizes, natural and processed,
his opponents have a field day with the general public's
incredible lack of knowledge of simple nutrition.
Take your carbs in the natural form of fruit, berries, veggies
and you'll feel and look great. As close to raw as you can.
You only need a small amount (6 ounces) of protien/day
to stay healthy. (More is not going to hurt you, but your
system gets overloaded with it's processing duties.)
Eat well, ignore the press about diets and thumb your nose
at the rest of the sickly world.
I'm not insensitive to people with weight related problems,
only realistic. Our attempts to explain this simple theory
ALWAYS meets with skepticism.
Even after someone comments on how good my wife and/or
I look, when we lay out this simple explanation, the person(s)
eyes sort of glaze over. (we're approaching 70 and take no meds.)
I think it's just the thought of giving up Krispy Cremes, potao chips
Coke, Pepsi and Twinkies that just overwhelms them.
JPS, good for you, and I've seen so many of those glassy stares that my response to the question of why I look 15 years younger than 60 has been truncated simply to "I learned how to eat."
Starting in mid '03 I dropped 40 pounds on a strict Atkins regimen. Since then I've dropped another 5 pounds via carb restriction (not abstinence) and I don't count carbs, calories or grams of anything. Truly, it's a matter of lifestyle change rather than just diet, and just me -- if you need additional motivation please re-read the third paragraph on page 2-13 of Cancer Control: Your Integrative Strategy. Among other beneficial effects, reduced carb intake activates important lifespan influencing genes. The "discoveries" you list in your first post are good proof that you need to stay the course. You go, girl!
I have learned to be much more sympathetic toward anyone who has a lot of weight to lose. I had just 10 pounds that I wanted to get rid of (mostly abdominal fat), but no matter what I did, I could not lose a single pound. There wasn't much in my diet that I thought I needed to change.
I have read all the diet books--from South Beach, Omega Zone Diet, Mercola No Grain Diet, Eat Right For Your Blood Type, Schwartzbein Principle (all three books), Bone Density Diet, Metabolic Typing, Ann Louise Gittleman's Fat Flush, Maker's Diet, Rosedale Diet, Cheri Calbom's The Coconut Diet, Eat Fat, Lose Fat by Enig and Fallon. But I think that the one I would recommend above all of these is Ultra-Metabolism by Mark Hyman.
One principle from Schwarzbein, "You don't lose weight to get healthy, you have to get healthy to lose weight."
Here is one tip that I learned from one of these books, I don't remember which one--probably Ultra-metabolism. A study was done, I think testing vinegar for controlling insulin in diabetics. One of the things that they learned from the study was that those who took 2 tbsp of vinegar 20 minutes before each meal lost an average of 2 pounds a month while eating the same number of calories as the controls.
Two pounds a month is not much for someone who has a lot of weight to lose, but for me it is working when nothing else did.
Below are some links to Dr�s Mercola�s and Douglass� newsletters both have had much to say about diets and dieting, but it does require a little searching.
Thanks, JPSavage, for abbreviating your typed lines.
It makes it so much easier to read and to see who the
poster is at the same time, than it is when they're typed
all the way to the end.
Good Luck, just me. Keep us posted as to your progress
sorry ya'll, I promise I havent been out right ignoring you... I have been reading responses, but havent been up to posting.... mainly, because Ive been trying to get out of the carb binge.....and also, because big black labs cant be seen very well in the dark, and 300plus pounds hitting the floor makes for a very very sore body..... Imagine my surprise and thankfulness to God when I discovered that nothing was broke (cant imagine why the knee didnt shatter!?!) So been dealing with a sore back, leg, arm, and a headache from hell for the last week.... Today was actually the first day Ive been able to go back to the gym.....Not sure if the pain was as much from the fall as the carbs tho.. its really hard to tell....
As much as I would like to say, quitting carbs has been really easy, I cant... It's hard!!! that first bite kills me, and having it in the house always seems to bring that first bite..... My kids have been real good about not having it here. We basically have stopped buying bread and all those bread goodies. I cant eat noodles or rice, because when I had my stomach stapled in the 90s, for some reason when I eat them, it causes me to vomit????(Is there a nicer way to say vomit?) Anyway, we have an extended family member, who has been spending alot of time here, and even tho I asked him not to bring the junk in, he feels he needs them and brings them in anyhow (gosh, how can you resist sausage and cheese biscuts, or taco bell???) ..... Also, I have been babysitting grandkiddos, and they too have been getting cereal, and sandwhiches...which while I know its not good for them, or me... I couldnt afford to do otherwise.... its one thing to feed just us living in the house a noncarb diet, but it gets really expensive to feed us and three more... I know, I know, excuses excuses... I am so sick of excuses..... what it boils down to, is that I am easily addicted... is that a vitamin deficency!!!!! It seems I have no will power, and not a very good self esteem, (when it comes to me, not my job or my kids).... It will be a long battle, unfortunately one I was hoping to see me win by next may (turning 50) but am really afraid that 200 pounds isnt going to able to be lost in 10 months.... I will say, that I havent gained the twenty pounds that took me 8 months to loose (???) and this last carb binge didnt put any weight back on.... I was actually pretty proud of myself..... I didnt binge too bad, (most wouldnt even call it a binge) a bowl or two of cereal, two grilled cheese sandwich one day... a candy bar one day (choc), a sausage cheese crossiant one day, but even that amount seems to make me hurt and slow, real slow ... so I know that I shouldnt be eating it..... But, I am back on the wagon again (where did that phrase come from?) I went to the gym this morning, and have had no carbs today, and didnt have any yesterday.. I did have a diet pepsi yesterday, but thats another whole addiction in itself!!!!!
Thank you all for the great advice..... You know, its always funny to hear me say it, but when I see fat people, I cringe.... one of my first reactions, is always, gosh am I that bad???? second one is, hey, I know how to fix you....and when I recently saw pictures of my sister's daughters, my thoughts were gee sister had a goiter, wonder if there are thyroid problems with all of them, and then wonder about me... yes I know, simple blood test, but for now, thats not even possible money wise.. I am so prejudice against fat people, and I have made my children prejudice against them also... and I have been fat most of my life.... isnt that strange... my oldest son doesnt even think fat people should be acknowledged.... but he wont ever say a bad word about mom (so strange?!) I think one of my hardest problems was, that I never saw me as obese... I didnt have a scale, so I never weighed, and when I looked in the mirror, I saw a me from ten years ago, when I was weighing around 175-200... yes that is still over weight, but not obese....and I dont understand. I once told my daughter and son in law (on a being honest day) that when I looked in the mirror I saw a person that was this big, and held my hands out about two feet apart....son in law sort of laughed, and said I missed it by alot, that I was cutting off about half of myself.... (yes it was okay, becus I was asking for help) so, maybe thats when my eyes started being opened... Im not sure how I could have lied to myself like that, but at times i will look in the mirror and see not the truth, but a lie..... (hehehe, then all I have to do is turn sideways, maybe thats my problem, I never looked at the side view!!!)
The thought of giving up the food is ok with me most of the times.... but during stress times, I tend to revert back to the need food to hide the emotions.... food has always been my crutch. a mayo sandwhich is so much more soothing to me then crispy creams, I can give up the donuts, its the biscuts and breads that have always been my downfall.... And that mocha mudslide cream pie did me in this time!!!! The stress of having an out of town guest for two weeks, just sort of won out.... And heres the clincher ya'll while she was here, eating my cooking, and even tho she cheated a couple of times, and I didnt (well until the mocha mudslide) she went to town and ate junk food in her car!!!! She lost about five pounds while she was here. went down a pants size!!!! So apparently for the most part Ive got the food part down.... if I can stay away from the carb bingeing!!!!
Aardvark, will reread the book, man thats got good stuff in there...
I eat alot of vinegar, use to drink a cup of hot water with vinegar and honey as my first morning drink, maybe i need to get back into that.....
A friend of mine, that I met off the other board, sent me something he brewed up, called furnace fuel. its suppose to help rev up metabolism... its got horseradish root, prickley pear, ginger root, and cayenne, its doing something... sort of feels like a hot flash for about a half hour after I take it, so we shall see.... I am doing alot of little things.... still taking the vitamin c and the b vitamins..... sticking with my kefir, and was given a kombucha mushroom, so have been drinking the kombucha, sort of taste like vinegar, but starting to get use to it!!!!!
So, questions... how much exercising is too much.... I have been going to the maxima gym.... I dont know if thats a corporate name, or the local name... but they have a work out that you do each machine for about ten seconds as fast as you can, and do steps in between each machine for 10 seconds, and the whole round of exercise takes 15 minutes, and thats suppose to be as good as doing a half hour????? So I have been trying to do that every morning, and if the tredmill is empty (yes they have more then one, but there is a weight limit problem on all but one) I will walk on the tredmill for about 15 minutes..... if its not empty, I will go to the track at the school and walk the track for a mile.. about 15 minutes... then in the evening, me and the big black lab go back to the track and walk it again.... two laps make a mile, and the dog is out of shape and fat like me, so thats our limit for now... dont want her to keel over from a heart attack while we are walking!!!! she wont stop, she sticks right by my side the whole way, no matter how hard it is for her!!!!... Do I need to add more exercises in there...... anybody???? Next question, if I end up having to pay out money and find out I do have a thyroid problem, does that make me fat for life???? I have been taking iodine, but I am trying to be cautious with it, since i am dosing myself, (with a little help from some friends) I did five drops in a liter of water once a day for a couple of months, and have now stopped... Do I need to keep going???? Can taking iodine help a thyroid problem?
I am still reading that adrenal exhaustion book... got stalled in the emotions section... well let me tell the truth here, I read the book, up until it got into the emotions part of the book, and then put it down... havent read it since.... and another good looking friend of mine, suggested I read Dr phils book. And he makes some good points, but I got to the part where we are suppose to deal with the emotions, and put the book down.... Do we see a trend here????? (LOL) Grandkids are gone now, back to school, so I have more time to read and get into this emotional haystack that I have..... Wonder if we can do it without doing a chocolate binge?????
So, I am still on track..... sort of.... well I havent fallen off completely.... I have this burning desire to be at a goal weight of between 137 - 150 for my fiftyth birthday..... that gives me ten months..... but then again, back in January, I wanted to be 100 pounds lighter by July for a family reunion.... needless to say, I missed the family reunion, couldnt stand the thought of a sister telling me what a failure I am..... so I made sure I had excuses not to go (the daughter being deployed again really helped that) But come birthday time, guys, thats like a new beginning for me.... a new start on life, and I want to go into that new life a healthy skinny person.... not an overweight heart attack waiting to happen, lazy assed person who cant accomplish life.... yes I know..... Im not that person, but then again, yeah I am...... I am not sure how I will do this.... do you know how frustrating it is, to exercise two sometimes three times a day, and eat everything right, and I was eating less then 1200 calories a day..... for over a month, only to gain three pounds????? My kids keep telling me that it was becus fat was being turned into muscle, and I understand that... I have lost sizes, (inches?) but those damn numbers mean a hell of alot to me..... Maybe I need to go back to counting the calories again to see if I am actually eating more then I should......
Okay, this turned into a rambling on and on, and no Im not feeling sorry for myself, just frustrated... My first instinct when I start writing to ya'll about my weight is to throw it away and just not deal with it... but I have learned that when it comes to you all, that it is better for me to just type my heart out, dont reread it, and just post it.... soooooo thats what Im going to do... Im gonna just post it.... forgive the emotions..... can I blame pms????
This is off the wall, but has anyone heard from texas shabby chic lately...... I think I owe her a private message..... girl, are you out there??????? Im sorry, I didnt dessert you on purpose!!!! Holler girl Holler!!!!!!
The rest of you, thanks for putting up with me.... give what comments you feel I need, be as harsh and brutel as you have to be..... Im at the point of life where its time to get rough here, and I want bold honest truth..... and anyone want to come down here, and live with me and be my weight loss coach, come on down... i will find a way to get you here!!!!! thank you guys.... you all are awesome.... I appreciate you alot!!!!!
Scroll down about half-way to the article titles "L-Theanine."
I'm kind of addicted to caffeine so that's why I was interested in the article. It may not be one big thing that turns things around for you but maybe just a bunch of small changes. Hope this can help.
Some miscellaneous and maybe irrelevant ramblings on a weighty problem.
It has always been my opinion that the only reason a person gains excusive weight is because they eat an excusive amount of food. Of course individual body metabolism plays a roll, some people can eat like a horse and not put on any weight, and for others one extra calorie is instantly turned into fat. This is a real problem when friends are on their second and third helping and ask what is wrong don�t you like �their� food? How do you refuse gracefully, particularly when you actually want more?
Foods that contain sugar or quickly convert to sugar need to be avoided, but they are usually the ones that make the meal enjoyable. So if one totally eliminates them from their diet they will make them selves miserable and probably not stay on the diet. Then even if they lose some weight using a particular diet as soon as they stop following the diet and go back to their old habits they will eventually find all of the weight that they lost and usually more.
What is needed is a lifestyle change that one can actually live with. To me the key word here is moderation, eat whatever you want, with in reason, just don�t eat as much. I enjoy having a can of Coke with my meals, the real stuff not the diet, however I do not have to empty a three-liter bottle. Actually I will have half a can with lunch and the remainder with dinner. The rest of the day I have a thermos bottle of cold water that I regularity sip from. Desert is frequently half a chocolate chip cookie, ok these are large cookies. But I still have only half, I will take my time slowly nibbling away at it and thoroughly enjoy it. However even though chocolate cookies are the essence of all meaningful life I am not compelled to devour the entire box.
During the day if I get hungry I will have a small hand full peanuts, or raisins, etc. I will not deprive myself of �anything�. But the key word here being �small�, just enough to satisfy the taste craving.
Friend wife is over weight. She can eat twice as much as me in half the time, although she tries to deny it. Eating slower is one way to eat less, by eating slower you will have more time to enjoy the food more and are less likely to over eat. Also you need to stop eating as soon as you feel full, if this means leaving food on the plate so be it. Do not feel guilty leaving food because there is a starving kid in lower slobova, your stuffing yourself will not help him.
One way too slow down your eating is to have something to read. I cannot eat if I don�t have some thing to read be it a magazine, newspaper (also makes a good place mat for catching crumbs and spills) if nothing else is available even the label on a ketchup bottle
Whether this is of any help I don�t know but it has worked for me.
iS THIS the right place and time to tell you that I
made some great Zucchini Muffins using Oat Bran
Cereal, and substituting the Zucchini for the suggested
Applesauce
My discoveries!!!!!
:x 
Now, that's a different matter 
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