Friday, January 8, 2010
Weight Loss Target
I know I said I wasn't going to do it, but I caved and set a target weight for myself. I would like to weigh 200 pounds before my triathlon in August. So...I set myself up with a Traineo account and put some gadgets on my blog to publicise my progress.
Starbucks!
My usual drink is a tall nonfat vanilla latte (or is it vanilla nonfat tall latte? or tall vanilla nonfat latte?) and I pretty much start every day with one - I stop on the way to work, say hi to my fave baristas, and then relax in vanilla bliss in the car for the rest of the drive to work. The 80's station on XM makes the experience complete - nothing beats rocking out to 'Livin on a Prayer' prior to a long day of meetings.
But...I don't think I can afford 160 calories for coffee every morning, no matter how much I love it! So this morning I'm going to try to ease my way out of the latte habit. New drink: tall nonfat Cafe Misto with 1 shot of syrup. This still gives me 6 oz of milk plus my sweet vanilla fix, and comes in (according to the website) at about 80 calories. Hey - that fits in with my morning 80's theme! I think this new partnership was meant to be.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Still Messing Around With The Blog Format
Yes, I've chosen yet another template. I just can't seem to choose one that makes me happy, and my lack of HTML prowess means I can't do much reorganizing to the templates that are out there. But not for long...I'm officially registered for a day-long HTML class at Temple in February! And that's one of my 2010 goals checked off too!
In other news, I got home from work today to find an unexpected package from Amazon. Apparently I pre-ordered the book Angry Fat Girls last September, and it was just released a few days ago. Yippee! I am so excited to read this book - Frances Kuffel, who wrote Passing for Thin, also wrote this book. I loved Passing For Thin and found her story incredibly inspiring. I'm hoping this book is as good as the last.
In other news, I got home from work today to find an unexpected package from Amazon. Apparently I pre-ordered the book Angry Fat Girls last September, and it was just released a few days ago. Yippee! I am so excited to read this book - Frances Kuffel, who wrote Passing for Thin, also wrote this book. I loved Passing For Thin and found her story incredibly inspiring. I'm hoping this book is as good as the last.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Soy Sauce Rant
My husband makes an incredibly yummy Asian treat that I call Taiwanese mashed potatoes (inside joke) and that most Asian folks call Taro cake. I am helpless around this stuff - it may not look or sound that good (I was tremendously skeptical the first time he made it for me) but trust me, this stuff is irresistible when lightly pan fried and dipped in soy sauce. Which brings me to the point of today's post...
Ken made a batch of taro cake at the end of December and of course I totally indulged on New Year's Eve and ate several pieces. Yuh-huh-hummmmm. As usual I drenched it in lots of soy sauce. New Year's Day I woke up with a crushing headache, and since I only had one beer the day before I couldn't fathom why. Until it hit me - was there MSG in the soy sauce? I'm pretty sensitive to the stuff. We had just purchased a new bottle from an untried brand, but since most foods are MSG-free these days I don't normally check labels. I padded downstairs, grabbed the bottle and...lo and behold, MSG was on the list. Along with Insinate Disodium Guanylate, whatever the hell that is. And yeast extract. And sodium benzoate. Seriously? I thought soy sauce was supposed to be water, soy beans and wheat. What's the point of all that other stuff?
Fast forward to last night - my awesome hubby made more taro cake while I was in Indiana and I had some for dinner, forgetting about the stupid soy sauce. This morning I woke up with ANOTHER headache! Grrr. I stopped at the store on my way home from work and tried to find some without any added ingredients. The best I could do was Kikkoman: water, wheat, soybeans, salt, and sodium benzoate (which is apparently a preservative).
I started to wonder about the rest of the food in my pantry - what else is lurking? Here are some alarming results:
Progresso 45% Less Sodium Chicken and Wild Rice Soup - low sodium is good, right? Nuh-uh, not when there are things like hydrolzyed corn protein, disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate (sounding familiar?), chicken powder (WHAT THE HECK IS THAT???), soy protein isolate, and calcium chloride. What is all this stuff?
Here's another one: Campbells Pork and Beans - High fructose corn syrup, modified food starch, caramel color and...wait for it...paprika oleoresin. Seriously? Is this some uber-flavorful variety of paprika extracted from the oleo tree?
What the heck is this stuff doing in our food??? It turns out that calcium chloride is used to maintain firmness in canned vegetables. And contrary to what you'd expect, paprika oleoresin is a coloring, not a flavoring. Disodium inosinate and disodium guanylate are both flavor enhancers, closely related in structure to MSG. Hydrolyzed corn protein is also an MSG-related flavor enhancer. Oh yeah - it's also made by boiling the corn in hydrochloric acid and then neutralizing it in sodium hydroxide. That sounds like something you want to put in your mouth, right?
It seems that MSG is lurking everywhere! Especially in foods that don't list it as an ingredient. Over the years I've had many, many unexplained headaches - how many have been related to this pervasive chemical? Have I been doing this to myself the whole time?
I honestly expected these ingredients to be preservatives of some sort - not flavor or texture enhancers. Do these products taste that bad without chemical help? Are these chemicals intended to trigger the addictive areas of our brain to keep us coming back for more? What's wrong with just making products from real ingredients? David Kessler (The End of Overeating) and Michael Pollen (In Defense of Food) have both written extensively about the dangers of food additives and the need for us to eat real food. I think they are definitely onto something.
As for me, I'm going to start reading labels. Closely. It may take me a lot longer to get the grocery shopping done, but after my little research project tonight I don't think I'll ever shop the same way again.
Update on 07Jan10: This morning I went on a wild frenzy and pulled everything out of the pantry that had any kind of freaky chemical in it. Buh-bye Gatorade powder, Kraft mac-n-cheese, Rice-a-Roni, random generic brand corn taco shells, Progresso soup, pumpkin pie filling, and so much more. I filled an enormous shopping bag with everything and left it up for grabs in the cafeteria at work. I feel a lot better about my kitchen now!
Ken made a batch of taro cake at the end of December and of course I totally indulged on New Year's Eve and ate several pieces. Yuh-huh-hummmmm. As usual I drenched it in lots of soy sauce. New Year's Day I woke up with a crushing headache, and since I only had one beer the day before I couldn't fathom why. Until it hit me - was there MSG in the soy sauce? I'm pretty sensitive to the stuff. We had just purchased a new bottle from an untried brand, but since most foods are MSG-free these days I don't normally check labels. I padded downstairs, grabbed the bottle and...lo and behold, MSG was on the list. Along with Insinate Disodium Guanylate, whatever the hell that is. And yeast extract. And sodium benzoate. Seriously? I thought soy sauce was supposed to be water, soy beans and wheat. What's the point of all that other stuff?
Fast forward to last night - my awesome hubby made more taro cake while I was in Indiana and I had some for dinner, forgetting about the stupid soy sauce. This morning I woke up with ANOTHER headache! Grrr. I stopped at the store on my way home from work and tried to find some without any added ingredients. The best I could do was Kikkoman: water, wheat, soybeans, salt, and sodium benzoate (which is apparently a preservative).
I started to wonder about the rest of the food in my pantry - what else is lurking? Here are some alarming results:
Progresso 45% Less Sodium Chicken and Wild Rice Soup - low sodium is good, right? Nuh-uh, not when there are things like hydrolzyed corn protein, disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate (sounding familiar?), chicken powder (WHAT THE HECK IS THAT???), soy protein isolate, and calcium chloride. What is all this stuff?
Here's another one: Campbells Pork and Beans - High fructose corn syrup, modified food starch, caramel color and...wait for it...paprika oleoresin. Seriously? Is this some uber-flavorful variety of paprika extracted from the oleo tree?
What the heck is this stuff doing in our food??? It turns out that calcium chloride is used to maintain firmness in canned vegetables. And contrary to what you'd expect, paprika oleoresin is a coloring, not a flavoring. Disodium inosinate and disodium guanylate are both flavor enhancers, closely related in structure to MSG. Hydrolyzed corn protein is also an MSG-related flavor enhancer. Oh yeah - it's also made by boiling the corn in hydrochloric acid and then neutralizing it in sodium hydroxide. That sounds like something you want to put in your mouth, right?
It seems that MSG is lurking everywhere! Especially in foods that don't list it as an ingredient. Over the years I've had many, many unexplained headaches - how many have been related to this pervasive chemical? Have I been doing this to myself the whole time?
I honestly expected these ingredients to be preservatives of some sort - not flavor or texture enhancers. Do these products taste that bad without chemical help? Are these chemicals intended to trigger the addictive areas of our brain to keep us coming back for more? What's wrong with just making products from real ingredients? David Kessler (The End of Overeating) and Michael Pollen (In Defense of Food) have both written extensively about the dangers of food additives and the need for us to eat real food. I think they are definitely onto something.
As for me, I'm going to start reading labels. Closely. It may take me a lot longer to get the grocery shopping done, but after my little research project tonight I don't think I'll ever shop the same way again.
Update on 07Jan10: This morning I went on a wild frenzy and pulled everything out of the pantry that had any kind of freaky chemical in it. Buh-bye Gatorade powder, Kraft mac-n-cheese, Rice-a-Roni, random generic brand corn taco shells, Progresso soup, pumpkin pie filling, and so much more. I filled an enormous shopping bag with everything and left it up for grabs in the cafeteria at work. I feel a lot better about my kitchen now!
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Back With A Vengeance, Baby!
The past few weeks have been an exercise in reckless, rebellious, I'm-cheating-on-my-diet-and-you-can't-stop-me eating. I wouldn't qualify it as full-on binge eating, but I was not counting calories at all, and was actively seeking opportunities (some would say making excuses) to chow down on my favorite foods. A lot.
But today I truly got back on track and it just felt so good! Not like a sacrifice, but more like a gift I was giving to myself. I was (of course) a little hungry all day, and my workout tonight was REALLY hard (due to muscles shrunken from extended couch surfing) but honestly I was getting tired of the reckless eating and it was just such a relief to relax back into my nice routine. Sore muscles and all, I feel like my hard drive has been rebooted.
And here's the best part - just after lunch I was on my way to a meeting and passed a basket of fun-size candy bars on the admin's desk. Without thinking I exclaimed 'hey, free candy!' and gleefully took a piece. When I got to the conference room I looked in my hand and thought - I don't even want this, why did I take it????? High fructose corn syrup, refined sugar, preservatives...no, not today. So I put.....it.....back. Yes, you heard me correctly: I. PUT. IT. BACK. And ate a clementine instead.
But today I truly got back on track and it just felt so good! Not like a sacrifice, but more like a gift I was giving to myself. I was (of course) a little hungry all day, and my workout tonight was REALLY hard (due to muscles shrunken from extended couch surfing) but honestly I was getting tired of the reckless eating and it was just such a relief to relax back into my nice routine. Sore muscles and all, I feel like my hard drive has been rebooted.
And here's the best part - just after lunch I was on my way to a meeting and passed a basket of fun-size candy bars on the admin's desk. Without thinking I exclaimed 'hey, free candy!' and gleefully took a piece. When I got to the conference room I looked in my hand and thought - I don't even want this, why did I take it????? High fructose corn syrup, refined sugar, preservatives...no, not today. So I put.....it.....back. Yes, you heard me correctly: I. PUT. IT. BACK. And ate a clementine instead.
Books Books Books!!!!!
I received a truly amazing gift for Christmas this year - an unlimited supply of books, in the form of a subscription to BookSwim. For the uninitiated, BookSwim is like Netflix for books - you have a reading list and for a small monthly fee they send you the first few books on your list, with no shipping charges. When you are done reading them you mail them back, with no late fees or shipping charges, and the next book(s) are dropped in the mail. Seriously, this is a dream come true for me! I used to spend literally hundreds of dollars a year on books, many of which ended up on my bookshelf half-read because I'd find something more interesting to read. Then I became hooked on the library - the books are free and you can request books from any library in the network and have them shipped to your local library free of charge. However, there is a time limit on reading these books and often you have to wait several weeks until your name gets to the top of the waiting list. And of course there are late fees if you don't return them on time. With Bookswim, you keep the books as long as you want and there aren't any long waiting lists!
This means that one of my favorite activities - spending a few hours at Borders with a latte and a stack of books - has become even more fun. I still gather a huge stack of books to page through, but now I can bring my laptop and put the ones I like on my BookSwim reading list rather than purchase them or wait for them to become available at the library. And!!!! If there is a book you would like to borrow, but it isn't in the BookSwim library, you can request it - if enough people request the same book they'll add it! And for you students out there, they also have textbooks to lend.
Here's my list so far:
Happy reading!
This means that one of my favorite activities - spending a few hours at Borders with a latte and a stack of books - has become even more fun. I still gather a huge stack of books to page through, but now I can bring my laptop and put the ones I like on my BookSwim reading list rather than purchase them or wait for them to become available at the library. And!!!! If there is a book you would like to borrow, but it isn't in the BookSwim library, you can request it - if enough people request the same book they'll add it! And for you students out there, they also have textbooks to lend.
Here's my list so far:
- The Hour I First Believed, by Wally Lamb
- Head First HTML, by Eric Freeman
- Heat, by Bill Buford
- Belong to Me, by Marissa de los Santos
- Losing It, by Valerie Bertinelli
- Cook Food, by Lisa Jarvis
- On Writing Well, by William Zinsser
- Cook Yourself Thin Faster, by Lauren Deen
- 29 Gifts, by Cami Walker
- Deeper than the Dead, by Tami Hoag
Happy reading!
Friday, January 1, 2010
Weekend Trip
Happy New Year everyone!
This morning I am jetting off to Lafayette, Indiana to visit my friend Kim for a few days. I am incredibly excited for this trip because we haven't been able to get together in a couple years and we always have a great time together. Kim is a fantastic cook and always seems to know the best restaurants around, so I know there will be many gastronomic pleasures this weekend.
With that in mind, I'm not planning to lose any weight over the next few days - but I'm confident I can maintain. My strategy is to eat mindfully and enjoy every bite of food and sip of wine, rather than just to shovel things in my mouth without appreciating the flavors and textures. And of course to stop eating before I am stuffed, so that I can relax and enjoy good conversation after every meal, rather than falling asleep or feeling uncomfortable and sick. And maybe even sneak in a walk every day, if it's not too cold!
I'll resume posting when I return!
This morning I am jetting off to Lafayette, Indiana to visit my friend Kim for a few days. I am incredibly excited for this trip because we haven't been able to get together in a couple years and we always have a great time together. Kim is a fantastic cook and always seems to know the best restaurants around, so I know there will be many gastronomic pleasures this weekend.
With that in mind, I'm not planning to lose any weight over the next few days - but I'm confident I can maintain. My strategy is to eat mindfully and enjoy every bite of food and sip of wine, rather than just to shovel things in my mouth without appreciating the flavors and textures. And of course to stop eating before I am stuffed, so that I can relax and enjoy good conversation after every meal, rather than falling asleep or feeling uncomfortable and sick. And maybe even sneak in a walk every day, if it's not too cold!
I'll resume posting when I return!
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