You may have heard me mention in posts past about interval training. The experts on Dr. Oz say that is the most effective weight loss. One expert said something like an hour at a jogging pace is equivalent to 15 min of interval training. Interval training is doing a period of high intensity followed by a period of slower/less intensity. Interval training can be done with any type of exercise. I feel like Interval training keeps me more interested in the exercise. Instead of slowly going and watching the clock til it hits 30minutes I am looking at the clock until 1minute has finished of my sprinting and my 2 minutes of slower pace have passed. It also makes me feel good when I am going as fast as I can.
What works best with my schedule is to workout in the morning, because I usually don't get home until after 10pm. So I bought instant espresso, prepare it the night before and drink it before beginning community prayer at 6am, when prayer ends the caffeine has taken affect and I don't feel like going back to sleep. Prayer ends at 6:30am, it is a big deal to wake me up so I am proud of myself when I make it.
Like today yay!
Diet:
I really need to change how I eat. Since I am on the run I am eating fast food a lot which is bad. I want to try and do the Feeling Good Diet from Food & Mood by Somer (my review of the book here), it has a good bit of fruits and vegetables which I want to incorporate more. The premise of the diet is to prevent mood swings. I am about to outline the diet here. I really hate counting calories, I am not going to be a stickler about this diet like measuring exact fat percents. In the book it talks about working your way up to keeping the full diet.
The Basics:
1. eat very little fat, sugar and caffeine
2. Daily consume 3 serv. fruits (at least one high in vitamin C), 4 serv. vegetables (a least 2 serv dark green or orange), 7 serv. whole grain breads and cereals, 3 serv. non-fat milk or yogurt, 1 serv. legumes; 2 serv. fish a week; No more than 2 serv. extra lean meat, chicken, fish, No more than 1 ser. nutritious fatty foods, No more than 2 tablespoons fats/oils, No more than one serv. sweets
3. Evenly disperse calories and nutrients into 5 or 6 mini meals throughout the day
4. Get a variety of nutrients from foods but also supplement with a moderate dos multi-vitiman and other mineral supplements
5. Drink 6 glasses of water daily
There is a separate serving size chart in the book, I don't know if it is comparable with the standard US size.
Today I started off with about a cup Quaker Oatmeal squares with about 1c skim milk. If you have never had this cereal I recommend it for snacking. It has 6g protein and 4g fiber per cup. I also had a grapefruit and 3 cups water. So far I have (2 serv. grains, 1 serv. fruit vit C, 1 serv dairy ) and (3 of water). When I went to the grocery store to buy veggies at the check out I fell for the last min snack in the line. I got snyders honey mustard pretzels (they are soo good!). Those probably count as a (2 serv. grain), even though probably high in fat (and probably sugar too). I was a little hungry and maybe if I choose an apple instead - which I could have just as easily purchased. I also consciously bought ice cream at the store, I am not quite ready to let go of sweets.
I tried Veggie Stir-Fry With Ginger and Black Bean Sauce for
lunch (see below). It was really good and not too hard. I will simplify the recipe
here. I paired it with a left over fish taco with a little rice (1 sev meat/fish 1 serv grain). The whole stir fry which consisted of eggplant, mushrooms, onions, carrots was about a cup, probably about (2 serv of veg). For dinner I ate 3 grilled chicken strips (1 serv meat), one serving is 3 oz see pic-->; to get some more veggs I ate raw carrots and cucumber, is a free food, in ranch dressing (1 serv veg) and drank (2 glasses water). And to finish the night I am having girl scout cookie somoas ice cream! Which I am counting as (1 serv dairy) Sorry I said that and yes it exists.Sum total of the night:
Meat: 2 Grains:5 Vegg: 3 Dairy: 2 Fruit:1 Water:5
I need to figure out how to eat enough vegetables. Fruits are easier - they don't require preparation and they are naturally sweet. I need to learn how to cook vegetables in a yummy way, maybe a stir fry or roasted. The Food & Mood Cookbook by Somer & Williams has some recipes I should try: Veggie Stir-Fry With Ginger and Black Bean Sauce p212 and Roasted Gingered Vegetables p214, Green Beans and Toasted Slivered Almonds p216, Grilled Vegetables with Garlic and Balsamic Vinaigrette p227. The recipes in the feeling good diet cookbook are like gourmet, but once I get the hang of some of them I can simplify when I don't have specialty ingredients on hand.
"Veggie Stir-Fry with Ginger and Black Bean Sauce" adapted recipe made simple and less fancy This may make enough for 2 family meals but chopp everything up and saved the chopped veggs for making it again
Ingredients in italics
Slice thin: 2 carrots, 1 sweet onion, 1 1/2c mushrooms (not thin or buy sliced)
Chop coarsely: 2 zucchinis, 1 eggplant
Heat skillet with a litte olive oil medium/medium high if you didn't chop ahead of time chop carrots first throw them in to cook first while you chop the rest. Add eggplant and mush last
Add 2 cloves garlic minced, 2 tbsp grated fresh ginger
Cook until veggs are tender but crisp
Add black beans (drained&rinsed), soy sauce (a couple tbsp to taste), 1/4tsp red pep flakes, 2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro, grated orange peel, taste it you may want to add more grated fresh ginger and minced garlic
Tomorrow is another day. It is about doing it every day.
Writing this blog really does get me more excited about this journey through wellness.
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