New week, new plan

Busy day yesterday with shopping, errands and spending some silly time with the family. However, I did squeeze out a few minutes to do some research for my own curiosity. Question at hand was can nuts, even it eaten in small portions and within the boundaries of a daily caloric intake make you gain weight ? The answer is yes, but not for the reasons you may think. The reason is due to a ratio of fatty acids in the intake. While nuts and seeds and healthy oils are all critical for health , they like anything else need to be eaten in a proper balance. Not all healthy fats are exactly the same. They fall into classifications called Omega 3, 6 and 9. The numbers have to do with the molecular structure of the fat itself. Two of the most important of these to overall health are the 3's and 6's. The 3's are found in flax seed, flax oil, olive oil, fish oil, dark leafy greens and more. The 6's found in abundance in most nuts, evening primrose oil, and grapeseed oil. While all contain essential fatty acids, each works in the body in slightly different ways, and if kept in proper ration will do much to improve your health- and even aid in weight loss. That ratio is 3 to 1- 3 of the omega 3's and 1 of the omega 6's. If you eat a lot of nuts and seeds, the ratio is sent off balance, and people with a defrficiancy in essential fatty acids can gain. Conditions that indicate a defficiancy include autoimmune disorders such as arthritis, diabetis , metabolic syndrome , PCOS and more. For almost the last year I have been taking daily supplements of flax oil, evening primrose oil and eating either olive oil or grapeseed oil in cooking. Daily I have been eating flaxseed meal , a seed /nut mix and almonds, all with in the range of points I am allowed, all within my caloric needs, exercising 5-6 days a week, getting in the health goals, gettimng in more than enough water and still either maintaining or gaining weight. I have tried changing the type of exercise as well as the amount, cutting out caffine, severely limiting grains and carbs, and nothing works. Could this balance of the essential fatty acid ratio be the thing that is making me stall and gain ? Perhaps. I am going to try to fo a whole week without nuts , without evening primrose and increasing my flax oil tablet dose to see if it gets things moving. All I can do is try and I will report on the progress.

Today's breakfast- the new mix


Crockpot Pumpkin grains- barley, steel cut oats and wheat berries with pumpkin, molasses and cinnamon
topped with 2 Tground flaxseed, 1 T crasins and 1 T wheat bran
1 t olive oil
yo plus yogert, water and coffee on the side


I am really hoping this change in the EFA balance does the trick ! I am feeling not only fat and bloated of late but just plain not right. My arthritis has been flaired up and it makes any and all forms of exercise painful to start out with. When you keep putting in serious efforts with no results for so long, ,it gets very discouraging and really hard to stay motivated. However, I know that if I do not try, ,nothing will ever change, and things will only get worse.

So here is to a great week, everyone !!!

Playing with food pt 2

A salute to those marshmallow chicks you find in the stores these days- The Biggest Loser Peeps Edition !

Weigh in and more playing with food

First weigh in news.

Me- up 2.2
Hubby lost 1.6
son up 1.8

Two factors- birthday celebration and I think I may be allergic to nuts. I went through a period of time where if I ate them my throat would swell up, and suddenly it disappeared. However, this morning I was reminded that allergic reactions manifest in different ways, one of them being swellings in the body . I have been having both a seed nut mix and peanut butter with my morning oatmeal mix , and perhaps that is the culprit. We were eating the same seed nut mix in salads as well. I love nuts, and I really missed them in my diet ( the taste, the essential fatty acids and more). Once the allergy "disappeared", I included them often. Perhaps I was wrong.

Anyway, here is another example of playing with food- the psanky. I make these every year, more out of a personal satisfaction thing than because of being good at it. I did not thing I would get to make them this year, but after school yesterday I stole some time from the day and life to sit down and make a few. I don't know if I will make any more this year, but at least I did a few !

Schools Out !!!

We finished up early today so that we could jump fully into spring break . It has been a long stretch of school, or at least it is the way it feels, and we are both very eager for a two week break.

Son was looking for lunch a little earlier than usual today, partially out of a desire to have All Bran crackers and laughing cow cheese again. It is so funny to me. Before our weight loss journey he really did not like crackers of any kind because they are crunchy and rough feeling to his tongue. Now his texture issues have almost completely displeasure, and he has become very adventurous with regards to food and textures. Now , not only are plain crackers okay, but he really raves the grainy, whole grain sorts. All Bran, Wasa,rye krisp and so much more.

lentil soup, All Bran herb crackers, Laughing cow lite
apple, Yo Plus Digestive yogurt
Diet 7 up with Antioxidants

Why he is still so wowed by diet soda with anti-antioxidants is beyond me, but as long as we are all getting in plenty of water besides the soda, I am fine with that.

Plans are for me to catch up on personal studies, experiment with some different kinds of exercise and a day trip to a shrine in Wisconsin. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and we will be able to do a lot more outside on our break time !

Weigh in tomorrow. I have no guesses or expectations on what the scale will do for all of us.

Playing with food

My son likes to read over my shoulder as I visit different blogs, and any blogger who posts food pictures is of particular interest to him. Yesterday he saw Kath Eats Real Food posting pictures of her oatmeal with figs, and he decided we had to try this for ourselves, san so this morning this is exactly what we did

Oats, Barley and rye flakes
figs, seed nut mix, ground flax, wheat bran
grapeseed oil, peanut butter

It was a very rich sort of taste and a more filling consistency that my normal bowl of oats. I think I may be getting too stuck on the same breakfast these days, and i need to do some more playing with oats.

I went shopping again last night, but this time at the Goodwill. While still in transition size wise I don't feel comfortable spending a lot of money on clothing. Plus, Goodwill prevents things from entering the landfills, provides jobs to many as well as teaching useful skills, so it's a win win thing. I looked through the racks but nothing jumped out and said buy me- at least clothing wise. This little gem did , and it fits with a few things I collect

It is a picture hand made from straw from Poland. You do not find these things very often in this area. My mother is of Ukrainian descent, and for some reason I love to make psanky and collect Russian/Ukranian bits of folk art. I have not had the opportunity to make any eggs this year, so finding this little picture satisfies an need I feel. If I cannot play with food in the form of eggs this year, then i get to find and cherish a peice made from wheat straw by another !

Clothes shopping

Last night out of a feeling of restlessness and the need to just move in some way, we went out to Target to let son spend some birthday money and attempt clothes shopping. I am now solidly in the normal size department( yay !!!), but I am finding I need help. After a whole life of being a big girl with no fashion choices, I am finding that I am a bigger normal size gal with absolutely no fashion sense. Because I have never had a choice with clothing except for looking like a tent or a mumu, I have aboslutely no idea what goes with what. And then there is the dilemma of what underwear works with what. Let's face it- sports bras do not work with one shoulder tops. Or perhaps they do- I really have no clue. So I spend about an hour wandering around the clothes department, baffled, feelingf sort of like an old lady in Vegas wandering from machine to machine with her cup of nickles clutched to her chest.

Now here's a thought. Remeber The Fab Five and how they took straight men with no clothing sense and transformed them into polished, well groomed adult men ? Why don't they offer to do a show called Queer Eye for the Formerly Obese Woman in Transition ? (okay, still obese but getting there). They would take this weeks subject and lead them into the world of color choices, deign options and even what footwear might go with it. Show you how to take those things that sort of resemble Amish meets leather and make them work for those exccursions to places like Doctors offices, the library and even a hot date at the grocery store. Make up tips that would allow you to take your look from Soccer Mom to Gym and then home for a smoldering evening with the washing machine. It should not be hard, but it is when you have never had an option. Because of my size , I missed the whole "Girl 101 " thing, and now I will pay for it. I have this fear that I will wind up on Mr Blackwells list of people who are not celebrities but dress badly.

But I am going to have fun learning how to change that ! I have at least figured out that sweat pants and tee shirts are not meant to wear everywhere. And that there is a variety of bra styles for a real reason. Who knew ???

Aplause, Aplause !!!!

I want to thank Nicole from last nights Biggest Loser episode for being a very public example of a very important truth in life. Two actually. First, for proving that you do not need a trainer to lose weight. Second proof, that weight loss IS NOT simply a matter of eating less and moving more. There are many, many other factors involved, and a big one is the endocrine system. Stress plays absolute havoc with the way it operates, and can make people gain weight inspite of the best efforts put forth. Nicole became very stressed from the game play, as well as the change of environment. Result was a woman who has lost 85 pounds at home on her own gains 5 lbs in one week on the ranch. While I feel very sorry for Nicole herself, I wanted to stand up and dance on the ceiling for this to happen in such a public forum .

Real life is not The Biggest Loser Ranch, but there can certainly be game play involved in weight loss circles. Bad group dynamics , self imposed gurus who like to insit on email groups that there way is the only way to lose weight, bloggers who spend more time posting how others are just lazy and even those who beat up on themselves for being human. All contribute to dieting stress, and all are counter productive.

Why don't we all, as weight loss bloggers and people who chat via email , twitter and so forth, work on supporting and nurtuting each other ? Why don't we all actively try to create a small corner of the world where those who are like yourself on a journey, come to find one peaceful, restorative moment where they can feel like they are okay?

Let me be the first. No matter who you are, no matter what you are doing, you are doing your best. You are a beautiful soul inhabiting a human body that, no matter what it's size, is a miraculous device that really is perfect in it's inperfections. You are beautiful, you are loved and you are a creation of great worth.