Wow, it has been 6 weeks since my last blog. The holiday season has been rough. I've stopped working out and have gained 17 lbs of the 20 lbs. I lost over 2011. Over the last 6 weeks though, I have not totally given up. Here are a couple of my learnings at the end of 2011 which are giving me hope for 2012.
1) A big thank you goes out to Elizabeth Taylor!! She recommended the following video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PdJFbjWHEU Now the first hour of this video is about the paleo diet which I am not endorsing either for or against. What I found very interesting is the last half hour; he goes into how energy is produced at the cellular level and what happens when our glucose stores are full and why our body can't access our fat as energy.
What I really took away was that my fat body is starving and not being able to build muscle. What hit me more was that when the cell has made enough energy, the glucose goes to fat. Attached to regular sugar is a glucose and a fructose. The fructose stays out in the blood stream. Once this fructose hits a certain level, all fructose goes straight into fat. Sooooo, all these products with high FRUCTOSE corn syrup are not being utilized by the body for energy and are being made directly into fat!
This video does a great job of explaining why us fat people feel hungry all the time and especially for carbs. It explains how our muscles are wasting away which then decreases our ability to store glucagon which in turn creates more fat. I had all sorts of Ah Ha moments watching this. It doesn't matter what your science level is, he does a great job of explaining how the body works at a cellular level.
2) Thank you to Valerie Peterson-Barnes who has also turned me on to issues with wheat after she read a book called Wheat Belly. This book talks about the changes in how we grow wheat and when we harvest it and how this new wheat does not meet our bodies needs and adds to our weight issues.
Wheat, over the years, has been developed to grow faster, grow more, and is harvested at a different time in the developmental process than wheat in decades/centuries gone past. Our bodies do not know how to utilize this new wheat for nutrition and it appears that it is having an adverse effect on our bodies causing obesity and gluten intolerance.
3) I examined what I was doing and eating when I felt my best, it was avocados and nuts. When I felt my best, my labs were the healthiest I've ever had, and my energy level was normal, I was getting the right kind of fat from avocados and nuts. When I really started looking at my caloric intake, I started cutting out the nuts and avocado because of the high fat and calorie count. Over time, I started complaining of fatigue, lack of energy, and eventually lack of motivation to continue.
I have now added avocado and nuts back into my diet and have slowly began to notice a difference. I showered this morning and made Helen an omelet for breakfast. Again, it is a slow process, but I am beginning to get my head above water a little more often.
As to #1 and #2, interestingly enough, both changes started taking place in the 1980's which correlates with the obesity epidemic, especially in our children. Yes, video games, TV, and the fact that kids aren't able to just go out and play like we used to has a part in the obesity epidemic, but we aren't nurturing the body with food that provides energy and health. Our bodies are being riddled with foods that have no nutritional value and our default is to create fat.
Our family has made the decision to cut out as much high fructose corn syrup as possible. We are switching to more whole grains and less processed grains. Kat and I have decided to go Vegetarian again. Both of us have been Vegetarian at one point or another and we feel that, at least in our home, it is a way for us to make sure that the girls and us are exposed to the least amount of unhealthy hormones and antibiotics as we can. We do eat meat outside of the house when visiting family and friends and the occassional night eating out.
Kat and I have taken to making our own cereal, granola, and pasta. I have found recipies on how to make our own vanilla extract and fruit roll ups. The girls are having difficulty adjusting I have to admit. Little Miss Helen told me yesterday that she doesn't want to be vegetarian because she wants to be able to eat bacon and hamburgers. Abigail is trying, but I am noticing that she is eating less at dinner than in the past; on the other hand, she LOVES the granola that Kat makes.
So here I sit, 262.6 lbs as of this morning. I am more comfortable in many ways with myself, but am finding that this battle is exhausting and one that I don't feel very confident I am going to win. Because of this, I have signed up for health coaching through Kaiser to work on my behaviors. I realize I can case manage the most complex patients (many are obese) but can't case manage me, so I'm asking for some help.
I keep looking for ways to make sure my body is healthy; make sure that what I am eating can be utilized by my body to make it work more effectivly. I hope that in doing this I will find a way to help my children learn how to treat their bodies so they don't wind up in the same situation I'm in.
Shalom
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