Friday, March 13, 2009

Secrets from a farmer

I have been being a good girl this week and not stepping on the scale. It has also been a few days since I worked with my Wii fit ( been doing other things) , so I have not even had Mergatroid giving me a peek. The guys however have both decided to take little sneak peaks at the scale, and if it holds true tomorrow morning, it's going to be a great week. The only thing that they have both done different is drop eating the salad. By salad I am talking a mix of romaine, boston, arugala, dandelion greens with a sliced scallion, 2 raw mushrooms, 1 tablespoon of crasins, 1 tablespoon of a seed nut mix( pepitas, sunflower seeds and sliced almonds), and 20 sprays of Wishbone salad spritzers. Oh, and 3 strips of a red bell pepper. Not exactly the stuff of which weight gains are made, and as a matter of fact according to the calorie factors and all that, a pretty respectable addition to any healthy eating plan. So what gives ?

Is there perhaps a weird truth here that pig farmers have known and silently chuckle about ? Yes, pig farmers. One of my uncles was a pig farmer who also dabbled in oil wells. We would head down to their farm on the day after thanksgiving for the weekend, and once in the summer. It was always such a cool place to go , as the lifestyle was so radically different from our own in the suburbs. We would get to help out with a lot of the farm chores, swim in their pond, practice target shooting wih rifles, wander around being taught about different herbs and wild plants and more. My uncle was the first person who taught me how to read the make up of the soil by the naturally sprouting weeds, which has proven to be a valuable lesson in my studies.One day while we were working with the hogs, he said something to me that I took for a sign of insanity, but is begining to make me wonder. While we were in town for an errand, he stopped by the town's resturant and picked up a bucket of scraps. It was filled with lettuce greens , and he was excited. He told me that the best way to fatten up hogs was to give them all this lettuce stuff. He said if you want to keep them lean you feed em grain, but when the time comes to fatten them out, greens are the way to go. I thought he was crazy, and everything I have learned about weight loss since then says things to the contrary. Pigs are similar to humans in many biological ways, and similarities can be drawn . Did you know insulin comes from pigs - or at least the original formula did ? It's true. So if something can fatten up hogs, can it do the same to humans ?

Yesterday as to my own efforts proved to be another good day. More paperwork so more spontanious walking, but I also got in a spontanious, free flowing sort of yoga and pilates work out that just felt so absolutely wonderful !

exercise-
Walk 65 min
yoga 20 min
water 160 oz

Breakfast- I believe I could eat this every day for the rest of my life- it is so filling and fun to play with
Oats, barley, rye flakes cooked with pumpkin
ground flax,crasins,seed nut mix,wheat bran,coconut,goji berries
blackstraqp molasses,olive oil and peanut butter
Yo plus digestive yogert, blood orange
coffee,water

Lunch-featuring my favorite bread in the whole wide world !
Turkey black bean pumpkin chili, sunflower seed bread with Promise lite margarine
celery, carrots, cherry tomatoes,apple
Yo Plus digestive yogert, Diet Sierra mist

Dinner - Chicken trying hard to taste like salmon
Vinegar herb marinate chicken breast ( Balsamic fig vinegar,
balsamic garlic vinegar, dandelion infused vinegar, parsley and dried celery leaf)
Brown and whole grain rice, Summer Squash,California blend
Diet Sierra Mist

3 comments:

Dutch said...

I love seeing the pictures of what you eat. My Mom used to eat salads every day for lunch. I can't believe that they would not be so healthy for us. I think we just have to change up our eating in order to see results. Have a wonderful weekend.

Denise in NE Ohio said...

Di, where do you get Sunflower seed bread? Do you make it? Will you share the recipe if you do? Twice I've seen you mention it. And I love your meal pictures too.

Denise in NE Ohio

Di said...

I buy our sunlower seed bread at an Italian produce store that we shop at. They carry a lot of ethnic specialties for Italian, Hispanic ,Oriental and Polish cuisine, and I think they get it from a Polish bakery in Chicago proper. I think the best place to look for this would be any bakery that carries Polish or Bavarian baked goods. The bread is very nutritious, high fiber, low in calories and filled with tons of Omega fatty acids that do your body so much good. It is expensive to buy- can run as much as five dollars a loaf- but really worth the splurge. I buy a loaf, portion it off and freeze the portions to make sure I get to use the whole loaf and not have to pitch any.