so shine a light & guide me home.

[yourgravity]

Healthy eating-ish update!  Hopefully y'all will start seeing a lot more of these.

I made a mini-grocery run the other day to stock up on a few essentials: some more fresh fruit, fresh mushrooms, and olive oil.  I can't stand cooking in anything other than olive oil anymore.  I've been trying hard to stay away from butter, although we had skillet corn the other night that I know my mother cooked in butter.  That's the hardest thing - living in a house with three other people, all who have or have had their own weight issues.  The South loves to deep fry things, or just generally indulge in good ol' comfort food, and the problem is, I love some of that stuff, too.  But it doesn't love me back.

Just since I started eating healthier, I FEEL so much better.  My stomach isn't upset like it was when I was eating junk, I'm tired at a decent hour again, and for the most part, waking up much earlier than I was before.  It's weird in a nice way to be ready for bed at 10:30 or 11 instead of 1am, and waking up at 7:30 or 8 is nice.  I'm working on training myself to get up earlier than that, and hopefully I will be soon.

I had two cups of coffee this morning but that was all I wanted.  I have had my coffee with sugar in it once or twice in the last week and a half, but mostly I'm putting honey in it.  I may start trying it black slowly so I'm not dealing with sweetener at all, since I know even honey isn't perfect.  I got rid of my Splenda, and I WANTED to try Agave, but didn't want to spend the money on it and not be sure if I'd like it.

I had sweet tea the other night at dinner and it was okay - too sweet, really.  I keep meaning to make some for the family, then I don't.  I haven't had soda in a week and truthfully, I haven't missed it AT ALL, which is amazing for me.  I don't think I'll have any problem just making it an every once in awhile treat.  So basically my ONLY caffeine recently has been my morning coffee, but it's good knowing that I'm not depending too much on caffeine.

That's it for today, I think.  I've been helping can and bag/freeze veggies all day; now we're making pickles, then I HOPE I have time to go for a swim. 

Comments

[locriation.livejournal.com]

If you're off soda, and you're not missing it, by all means, stay away from it. I quit that stuff about 6 or 7 years ago, it's done me no end of good. If you're looking for a sweetener that won't leave you feeling like shit, definitely cutting out Splenda helps (that stuff is HORRIFICALLY bad for you), but lately, I would HIGHLY recommend stevia. It's got a lot of positive benefits, in that it helps control and regulate uric acid levels, and it's also been shown to help combat some forms of obesity, high blood pressure, and diabetes. It's one of the active sweetening ingredient in the protein shakes that I make (Hemp Force, which you can check out at onnit.com....it's TREMENDOUSLY awesome stuff, and don't worry, despite the active ingredient the protein is derived from, it's not psychoactive at all and it's one of the best forms of protein you can get, FAR better than soy or whey).

Butter, actually, is not one of the worst things you can put in your body. Margarine and other butter substitutes, on the other hand? Despite the lines fed to you, those are not good things. Generally very bad for you, and not just because of how it changes things like flavor profile. Used excessively, certainly, like anything else, butter can and does have adverse effects. If you're not interested in using butter, olive oil is certainly a great alternative, and I can't talk it up enough. Peanut and sesame oils are good too, especially if you're doing stir fry and other various types of oriental cooking (and occidental, as well....the best fries I've ever had? Fried in peanut oil).

Canola? Avoid at all costs.

I also can't stress enough the importance of cheat days, but they are VERY tricky things. I don't recommend having them until you're firmly cemented in your new eating habits, because it's very easy to fall back on them as a kind of crutch, but once the new data is established and you have a better idea of how to regulate and stick to those new eating habits....hey, nothing wrong with taking a day off. It is called "comfort food" for a reason, after all.

[yourgravity.livejournal.com]

I got to where I couldn't STAND Splenda. Plus knowing how bad it is for you...yeah. Medifast that I was on last year was ALL about it (which is another reason I'm glad I didn't continue with THAT shitfest.) I'm going to use the honey I bought because I don't mind it so bad, and then I might look into Stevia. I've considered it, because I know it's more natural than most sweetners.

Yeah, re: butter substitutes. Real butter I know isn't the worst ever, it's all the fake ones. I used a butter spray for awhile, but really I don't even want/need that anymore. I had corn on the cob the other day with nothing on it, and I could really TASTE the corn. And broccoli (fresh) steamed with no cheese/etc, though next time I might do a little lemon juice just to mix things up.

Olive oil. LOVE IT. I CANNOT and WILL NOT cook in anything but it anymore. I'm using regular now, but I might try a virgin/extra virgin next time. I'm not really sure how to count it in my calories, since when I cook in it, the food doesn't retain all of it, but I can't even do canola/vegetable oil/etc. SO GROSS. My body does NOT like fried stuff, heavy, greasy stuff, and so forth. I will have to keep the peanut oil in mind. :D

It is really easy to slip, agreed. I had a piece of cake last night, but I talked about that in my newest entry, that I'm not going to beat myself up, I'm just going to start training myself to crave GOOD things. Like I bought fresh strawberries to have as a dessert snack. :D And yeah, I mean I may down the road do a splurge day every now and then - have a cheeseburger every once in awhile/etc. I'm not really ready to think about a whole splurge day yet, and there are some things I just don't WANT anymore, like soda, heavy, gross foods, et.