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BRAVELUTE's Recent Blog Entries
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Friday, August 31, 2012
My inner child has been stomping her foot lately, but NOT for chocolate cupcakes. She has been watching the video blogs that MOSTMOM1 has been posting and has decided we haven't been having enough fun.
I searched for a hula hoop around here, and none. Then I did a SP websearch and found directions for making one, and watched a video on YouTube and thought, I can make one.
Home Depot had everything needed, and I sat down on the floor in the middle of the living room last night and made a hula hoop instead of watching the RNC. Other than needing a saw to cut the tubing, I had no trouble and actually made a hula hoop with only 2 tries. I had added a foot to be sure it would go around me. I had to cut the extra foot off.
I DID get a lot of exercise when I took it outside to try it. Picking it up. Over and over. I've decided I purchased the wrong tubing. It can't be me. It's like riding a bike, right. You don't forget something like that. I used to be hula hoop champ. Well I might forget anything, but my inner child remembers walking up and down the block with the hoop twirling around.
So It must be the tubing. I think it needs stiffening. It is rather limp. I can't think of a nice way to describe it.
We're going to my sister's tomorrow. She has TWO professionally made hoops that she bought when she was living in St. Louis. Of course there is no St. Louis in Florida, but there IS a chance I could find one if Peck's Bad Girl can manage to keep the hoop up for a couple of twirls. If she can't, I'll just have to distract her with the recumbent bike and the swimming pool.
Watch this video by yourself unless you want to have to get a hula hoop:
www.sparkpeople.com/mypage_public_jo
urnal_individual.asp?blog_id=5029683
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
I am in charge though I obviously have botched it up over and over again. Sometimes my inner child takes over and says, "We will eat every chocolate frosted cupcake in sight." or "Pull in here. I want some donuts!" And I actually do it. And since I am in charge, I get to eat it all. And suffer the consequences.
Perhaps I can use psychology 101 on her. Because if I say "No. you can't eat those donuts. you need to lose weight," my inner child pouts and pitches tantrums. But she loves to help out in the kitchen, AND she was a phenomenal gymnast on the swingset.
She could go up and down the block on stilts, a pogo stick, or with a hula hoop twirling around her middle. She rode her bike all over St. Pete, pitched slow ball soft ball, played tennis, and was tether ball champ when she broke her arm and hit the ball with the forearm of her cast.
Perhaps I can enlist her help when I'm planning menus and looking for snacks at the fruit market. She could add some fun to the vegetables. She never did like the veggies Mom boiled to death. She could get me to eat more veggies and I bet they'd be delicious. And she also like a challenge so she would die if I asked her to help makeover old favorites so they were healthy. And then she could put the fun back into exercise. Even throw those tantrums when I just sit in my recliner or settle in to a boring repetitive routine.
And finally, she is from a time before TV, before TV dinners, before all food was processed and enriched, before fast food, a time when chickens roamed through the yards, and you could pick an orange from a backyard tree when you wanted a snack. I'm sure she remembers those homemade meals and that healthier time better than I do.
So, Sunbonnet Sue, could we team up?
I'll go for a walk with you, yes even if it's raining, but NO THUNDER!!
Then will you help me bake bread when we get home?
Do you remember how Grandpa used to take us out for smoked fish? Maybe we should have grilled tilapia for supper. What do you think?
Monday, August 27, 2012
Are you having difficulty drinking water? There are lots of tricks like keeping a wedge of lime in your glass, refilling the minute the glass empties, etc.
But I found I had to stop thinking of it as a beverage. I now think of it as food that my body requires to keep my skin young, to carry all the great nutrients I'm now eating to all parts of my body in a swift bloodstream, to help all my brain cells remember.
The visual above might help, because every glass of water is a rainbow promise to your body that you will never let it be parched again.
Sunday, August 26, 2012
My sister called yesterday and invited Mom and I to meet her halfway for dinner at P_______, a restaurant chain. So we put our plans for picnic on the Gulf on the back burner until after the hurricane blows by. We'll still be eating the picnic food I pulled together today wherever we are: roast beef salad with tomatoes, peppers, onion and garlic, watermelon, black cherries, and a piece of homemade oatmeal/whole grain bread I had made yesterday.
So while Mom and Sandy chose breakfast items, I chose a sandwich without the white bread and a cup of tomato basil soup. Who could eat that manufactured bread with homemade oatmeal bread waiting at home. I had smelled it rising and baking all afternoon, and if I had squandered my carbs on that white stuff, I really would have felt deprived once I stepped in the front door.
But for me, the real story here lies in the tomato basil soup. When I go to most real restaurants, the tomato basil soup is always part of my meal order. I discovered the soup about three years ago. Can't believe I never had it before then. Until SP, I was even buying it canned to eat at home. From now on, I'm making my own in the crock pot with garlic and a little Greek Yogurt added toward the end.
Sandy was looking up carbs for Mom's banana nut muffin on her phone. I had estimated 60, but when she heard the count was 78, she decided to eat half and take the other half home with her. She counts carbs on her diabetic regimen.
Then I asked Sandy how much sodium was in my soup. It was very salty, and I told her I thought around 1000 mg. She reported 50% of the 490 calories were from fat, and that the sodium level was 1590. That was twice as much salt as was in my burger. I checked ingredients when I got home, and they hadn't added some kind of oil to the soup. The fat content was manufacturing cream, whatever that is.
So, I'm leaving in a few minutes to buy hurricane water, tomatoes, and some Greek Yogurt. While the storm gets closer, my kitchen will be calm and smell delicious because I'll prune some basil from the plants before the hurricane gets it all. Want to come over for a cup of soup and a slice of homemade bread? Supper is at 5:15.
Friday, August 24, 2012
I have copied the paragraph below from Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010 published by USDA, USDHHS, and dietaryguidelines.gov I have included the link for the complete document (pdf) which you can download and read on your kindle app or computers.
Chapter Summary:
"Many Americans do not eat the variety and amounts of foods that will provide needed nutri- ents while avoiding excess calorie intake. They should increase their intake of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, fat-free or low-fat milk and milk products, seafood, and oils. These food choices can help promote nutrient adequacy, keep calories in control, and reduce risks of chronic diseases. Consuming these foods is associated with a health benefit and/or with meeting nutrient needs. They should be emphasized to help Americans close nutrient gaps and move toward healthful eating patterns. They provide an array of nutrients, includ- ing those of public health concern: potassium, dietary fiber, calcium, and vitamin D. It is important that while increasing intake of these foods, Ameri- cans make choices that minimize intake of calories from solid fats and added sugars, which provide few essential nutrients. " Pg. 42
www.cnpp.usda.gov/publications/dieta
ryguidelines/2010/policydoc/policydoc.pdf
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When I was teaching, we were bombarded with studies that seemed to have implications for teachers, without ever coming out and saying DO THIS to be a good teacher. So I got into the habit of looking at the implications that might have value and translating that information into an action plan. First I'd decide who would benefit if we were to do something with the information. Then if appeared that I had students who could benefit, I started examining how to make it happen. That usually meant I would list in two columns: more of this, less of that.
So, from this chapter of the document, I have decided I could definitely benefit from the recommendations because it would help control calories and chronic disease. Now I'm working on what that means to me, personally.
1. More variety in what I eat. Less in a rut. This should be easy for random me, and also keep me from getting bored with my program.
2. More vegetables. This will be difficult, because I'm only slightly better at it now that I've been all my life.
3. Actually plan meals with fruit and veggies being the stars.
4. And put whole grain products and meat in menus as guest performers. Once I actually am switched totally away from white enriched flour, this might be easier but right now white flour products seem to be a requirement as I plan meals.
5. Eliminate added refined sugars, so less processed food and restaurant food. Refined sugar products definitely send me into an out-of-control binge (cupcakes, donuts, etc.) But as long as I cook from scratch, from whole food, I'm not getting any hidden refined sugars. My rule to substitute fresh fruit when I want a bakery snack is very helpful.
6. More whole wheat products. Less "white" enriched products, or actually eliminate them. Needs to be said again. Plan a day in your routine to make whole wheat bread. You know you like to do this. Even if you need to get off the computer!
7. Continue efforts with fruits.
8. Increase fish
9. Investigate statement about oils and see if I should be more specific with the types of fats I track, instead of shooting for 30% of calories from fats.
10. More potassium, fiber, calcium, vitamin D (Public Health concern)
Learn foods that are good sources of potassium, fiber, calcium and vitamin D and work to hit the recommended levels on menu planner. Add calcium and Vitamin D to tracker.
11. Be careful with the menus that come up in the tracker. Sometimes they are repetitive from day to day, especially for snacks. If you notice that, simply switch out that menu for another you haven't eaten in a while.
12. Use the Nutrition tracker to plan and evaluate nutritional content of what I plan to eat BEFORE I've eaten the meals. Make adjustments when possible to increase nutrients which are lacking.
13. More of the OTHER nutrients, LESS of the energy nutrient (carbs, sugar)
14. Read more of the document to see if there are recommendations for limiting anything else, like sodium? or getting screened for any deficiencies?
15. Compare your anti-angiogenesis list and see if they support the recommendations, and continue planning meals around them, just increase veggies!!
What implications do you see for your life?
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Member Comments About This Blog Post:
This made me smile! Hope you and your sister enjoy the hula hoops tomorrow!
