Friday, November 12, 2010
My Life's Biggest Project: On the Road Again
My Life's Biggest Project: On the Road Again: "Today I am going to drive home to my moms and spend time with some of my sorority sisters, then I'm going to turn around and drive back here..."
On the Road Again
Today I am going to drive home to my moms and spend time with some of my sorority sisters, then I'm going to turn around and drive back here so that I'm ready to not only work on homework, but also so that I'm ready to go to the last home football game of the season and hopefully the last home game as a student at the University of Oklahoma. I will miss the discounted student tickets, but I'm also ready to not be a college student anymore and I look forward to starting a career and being a little grown up :)
The hardest thing to do when traveling is actually getting out my front door and getting out of town. So the easist thing to do in terms of food is to go up and over to 7 Eleven and get a big gulp and junk food or make a hop skip and a jump over to Sonic and get an on the go meal to eat on my way. As most of us know there aren't very many healthy options at Sonic. So what I'm going to try out today is making something to eat that is drive friendly or maybe just eating before I leave, who does that...lol. I also have a water bottle that I'm going to take with me so that I don't stop and get a diet dr. pepper like I normally do.
I am also going out to eat with some of my sorority sisters to Olive Garden. One little tid bit of information that I feel like people should be aware of when they go to the OG is that each breadstick has the calorie equivilant of a snickers bar. I really think that I would rather have the chocolate personally...lol. I know that they have better health options at the restaurant, but if I'm spending $13 a plate I may just get what I want and watch my portion intake, we'll see what I decide when I get there. Lucky for me I don't like alfredo (which is also so bad for you), but I do love Italian food (which is also so bad for you, in terms of carbs).
People are made to be social and one of the social things that people do is eat. Just think how many times do you go to an event and there isn't food laying around...probably never right? Because this is one of the ways that people socialize and me being a very social person it only makes sense that we cannot be scared to go out. That's part of life. And I don't think that we can stop living just because we are trying to be more healthy. What we really need to do is be more conscious of what it is that we're eating when we do go out.
I am one of those people who probably needs people in my life more than most. I'm a communicator and a social butterfly ;) If we just use our noggins it is still possible to have the best of both worlds. We cannot resent the change in life ( I don't want to use the word diet because it has negative cononntations), because if we resent it not only will we rebel against it we will also quit and it be another time that we've failed to lose weight and get the bodies that we desire. It seems that there are struggles during the week with time and that there are also struggles on the weekend becuase going out, watching football (or basketball), basically being social. Life is all about overcoming struggles and this is just one more! Just keep reminding yourself that this is worth it (which is what I'll be doing). I better get out of here and on the road. Have a great weekend everybody!!!
The hardest thing to do when traveling is actually getting out my front door and getting out of town. So the easist thing to do in terms of food is to go up and over to 7 Eleven and get a big gulp and junk food or make a hop skip and a jump over to Sonic and get an on the go meal to eat on my way. As most of us know there aren't very many healthy options at Sonic. So what I'm going to try out today is making something to eat that is drive friendly or maybe just eating before I leave, who does that...lol. I also have a water bottle that I'm going to take with me so that I don't stop and get a diet dr. pepper like I normally do.
I am also going out to eat with some of my sorority sisters to Olive Garden. One little tid bit of information that I feel like people should be aware of when they go to the OG is that each breadstick has the calorie equivilant of a snickers bar. I really think that I would rather have the chocolate personally...lol. I know that they have better health options at the restaurant, but if I'm spending $13 a plate I may just get what I want and watch my portion intake, we'll see what I decide when I get there. Lucky for me I don't like alfredo (which is also so bad for you), but I do love Italian food (which is also so bad for you, in terms of carbs).
People are made to be social and one of the social things that people do is eat. Just think how many times do you go to an event and there isn't food laying around...probably never right? Because this is one of the ways that people socialize and me being a very social person it only makes sense that we cannot be scared to go out. That's part of life. And I don't think that we can stop living just because we are trying to be more healthy. What we really need to do is be more conscious of what it is that we're eating when we do go out.
I am one of those people who probably needs people in my life more than most. I'm a communicator and a social butterfly ;) If we just use our noggins it is still possible to have the best of both worlds. We cannot resent the change in life ( I don't want to use the word diet because it has negative cononntations), because if we resent it not only will we rebel against it we will also quit and it be another time that we've failed to lose weight and get the bodies that we desire. It seems that there are struggles during the week with time and that there are also struggles on the weekend becuase going out, watching football (or basketball), basically being social. Life is all about overcoming struggles and this is just one more! Just keep reminding yourself that this is worth it (which is what I'll be doing). I better get out of here and on the road. Have a great weekend everybody!!!
Thursday, November 11, 2010
My Life's Biggest Project: The Four Hormones That Work Against Us
My Life's Biggest Project: The Four Hormones That Work Against Us: "As I've promised for days now I am going to tell you about the four hormones in our bodies that make us fat according to Jackie Warner's boo..."
The Not So Fantastic Four
The Four Hormones That Work Against Us
As I've promised for days now I am going to tell you about the four hormones in our bodies that make us fat according to Jackie Warner's book, but before I do I want to tell you about an ah-ha moment I had yesterday. So I'm sitting in the doctors office waiting to get pre-op tests done and I'm alone and out of no where I start crying. It's sad because not only was I crying because I don't want to be out of commission for two weeks during recovery (for many reasons; this new goal weight I've created for myself, finals fall right in the middle of this, and MONEY). Yes sadly our healthcare system is so flawed that my biggest concern was going into more debt. I've had the same surgery done FIVE times before and the first four times I didn't have insurance. The last time I did, but it was still expensive. In my depressed state of mind I was texting my friend Chrystle and my friend Eric. Chrystle asked if she could get me anything to make this better by the time I got home and I told her I really wanted ice cream because it makes things better. I then thought about this. Does ice cream make it better? Will ice cream pay for the surgery or make it so that I don't have to have it? Will ice cream make me happy? The answer to all of this is no. All ice cream is going to do is give me a bigger butt and work against everything I've been doing the last week in a half. So I texted her back and said nevermind on the ice cream. Why do I think that food is going to fix things? It's a bad mindset to have. Now onto the hormones.
Insulin is the hormone thats job is to turn food into energy, but if we are packing in too much insulin in the body it starts to store as fat. It rises and falls depending on what we eat and carbs are huge here. All carbs breakdown into glucose. When we have too much glucose in the body the pancrease has to pump out extra insulin to deive glucose into cells. Blood sugar levels dip lower than they were before you ate the sugar. This is what makes us eat when we don't really need to. With insulin spikes and dips they make us fat. There are ways to get out of the insulin mess. Instead of eating a bagel have oatmeal, the insulin levels start to fall immediately. Exercise also drives insulin down.
Estrogen is good if in the right ammount. It can be a skin toner and a "mood lifter" according to Warner. It works with Progesterone and if the two are balanced then they help burn fat for energy, but once the balance is off and estrogen takes over we become estrogen dominate and that is bad! It leads to weight gain, cellulite and even some female cancers. It slows down the thyroid gland and causes salt and water to be retained in the body as well. It is possible that "a young woman can have the slowed screwed-up metabolism of a menopausal woman," according to Warner. "Estrogen dominance can also cause anxiety, brain fog, low sex drive and poor blood sugar control." Causes of this: processed foods, alcohol and caffeine, meat that is bulked up to sell more food and heating things up in certain plastics in the microwave (look for containers that have a 7 in the recycling code, those don't contain BPA, bisphenol A, an estrogen compound). To get this under control you should eat hormone friendly! Eat organic meat and foods that aren't processed, minimize caffeine and alcohol or eliminate it alltogether, keep your stress levels in check.
Cortisol is made in the adrenal glands and helps regulate blood sugar, moving carbs, proteins and fats into and out of your cells for muscle function. Stress causes your cortisol levels to spike so that you can respond correctly, for example if a kid runs out in front of your car and you have to slam on the breaks. However if your levels are constantly high then this is no good either because your cortisol levels stay high. High levels of cortisol lead to thinning skin, muscle wasting, memory loss, high blood pressure, dizziness, hot flashes, excessive facial hair and other man like tendencies. Stop freaking out about food and weight. Stress really is horrible on your body. One good thing to do when youre stressed out is to work out it balances the body. Keep these levels in check.
Leptin : The fat cells in the body create a hormone and it is leptin. When at the right level this hormone works as an appetite suppresent, but when it's too low it tells your body to store fat, so the thing to do is to keep this hormone high. You can do this by the following: don't eat a lot of asin food because it contains MSG, sleep enough, eat slow, eat fish and eat chicken (as they contain zinc).
Basically out-or-whack hormones keep us fat so we need to manipulate them to get results we want!
As I've promised for days now I am going to tell you about the four hormones in our bodies that make us fat according to Jackie Warner's book, but before I do I want to tell you about an ah-ha moment I had yesterday. So I'm sitting in the doctors office waiting to get pre-op tests done and I'm alone and out of no where I start crying. It's sad because not only was I crying because I don't want to be out of commission for two weeks during recovery (for many reasons; this new goal weight I've created for myself, finals fall right in the middle of this, and MONEY). Yes sadly our healthcare system is so flawed that my biggest concern was going into more debt. I've had the same surgery done FIVE times before and the first four times I didn't have insurance. The last time I did, but it was still expensive. In my depressed state of mind I was texting my friend Chrystle and my friend Eric. Chrystle asked if she could get me anything to make this better by the time I got home and I told her I really wanted ice cream because it makes things better. I then thought about this. Does ice cream make it better? Will ice cream pay for the surgery or make it so that I don't have to have it? Will ice cream make me happy? The answer to all of this is no. All ice cream is going to do is give me a bigger butt and work against everything I've been doing the last week in a half. So I texted her back and said nevermind on the ice cream. Why do I think that food is going to fix things? It's a bad mindset to have. Now onto the hormones.
Insulin is the hormone thats job is to turn food into energy, but if we are packing in too much insulin in the body it starts to store as fat. It rises and falls depending on what we eat and carbs are huge here. All carbs breakdown into glucose. When we have too much glucose in the body the pancrease has to pump out extra insulin to deive glucose into cells. Blood sugar levels dip lower than they were before you ate the sugar. This is what makes us eat when we don't really need to. With insulin spikes and dips they make us fat. There are ways to get out of the insulin mess. Instead of eating a bagel have oatmeal, the insulin levels start to fall immediately. Exercise also drives insulin down.
Estrogen is good if in the right ammount. It can be a skin toner and a "mood lifter" according to Warner. It works with Progesterone and if the two are balanced then they help burn fat for energy, but once the balance is off and estrogen takes over we become estrogen dominate and that is bad! It leads to weight gain, cellulite and even some female cancers. It slows down the thyroid gland and causes salt and water to be retained in the body as well. It is possible that "a young woman can have the slowed screwed-up metabolism of a menopausal woman," according to Warner. "Estrogen dominance can also cause anxiety, brain fog, low sex drive and poor blood sugar control." Causes of this: processed foods, alcohol and caffeine, meat that is bulked up to sell more food and heating things up in certain plastics in the microwave (look for containers that have a 7 in the recycling code, those don't contain BPA, bisphenol A, an estrogen compound). To get this under control you should eat hormone friendly! Eat organic meat and foods that aren't processed, minimize caffeine and alcohol or eliminate it alltogether, keep your stress levels in check.
Cortisol is made in the adrenal glands and helps regulate blood sugar, moving carbs, proteins and fats into and out of your cells for muscle function. Stress causes your cortisol levels to spike so that you can respond correctly, for example if a kid runs out in front of your car and you have to slam on the breaks. However if your levels are constantly high then this is no good either because your cortisol levels stay high. High levels of cortisol lead to thinning skin, muscle wasting, memory loss, high blood pressure, dizziness, hot flashes, excessive facial hair and other man like tendencies. Stop freaking out about food and weight. Stress really is horrible on your body. One good thing to do when youre stressed out is to work out it balances the body. Keep these levels in check.
Leptin : The fat cells in the body create a hormone and it is leptin. When at the right level this hormone works as an appetite suppresent, but when it's too low it tells your body to store fat, so the thing to do is to keep this hormone high. You can do this by the following: don't eat a lot of asin food because it contains MSG, sleep enough, eat slow, eat fish and eat chicken (as they contain zinc).
Basically out-or-whack hormones keep us fat so we need to manipulate them to get results we want!
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
My Life's Biggest Project: Gotta Roll With the Punches
My Life's Biggest Project: Gotta Roll With the Punches: "Hello everyone! I did not forget to post today, I've simply been at the doctors office since noon and before that I was at work. Needless to..."
Gotta Roll With the Punches
Hello everyone! I did not forget to post today, I've simply been at the doctors office since noon and before that I was at work. Needless to say, busy day and I have done absolutely nothing that I need. I know that I promised today to tell you all about the bad hormones in our bodies and I promise that I will do that very soon. However today I got some bad news. I have had a reaccuring medical issue since I was 17 and have had surgery on the same thing five times now, the last time was January this year.
While I was at the doctors office today he advised me to not continue doing the P90X and that I have to have surgery again at the end of this month. He said a few weeks after the surgery if he feels that I am healed well enough I can continue the program. Initially this really upset me because I've been so proud of myself. I cried like a baby while sitting alone in the waiting room, then it dawned on me. Sometimes (often times) things don't work out the way that we plan, but I believe everything happens for a reason. I've decided that I'm making changes and maybe to get the best results this medical issue needs to be resolved first and maybe this time it will.
I am not going to let something silly like this stop me. Instead of continuing that particular program I will continue eating well and doing what minimal exercise I can do. As we all know something is better than nothing and I think that by keeping a positive attitude about the whole thing will also help speed up the healing process. I'm sorry to have let you all down and I'm saddened because I feel like I've also let myself down, but there is nothing I can do and it is out of my hands. But I am not a quitter! So I will continue to progress. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade so they say!
While I was at the doctors office today he advised me to not continue doing the P90X and that I have to have surgery again at the end of this month. He said a few weeks after the surgery if he feels that I am healed well enough I can continue the program. Initially this really upset me because I've been so proud of myself. I cried like a baby while sitting alone in the waiting room, then it dawned on me. Sometimes (often times) things don't work out the way that we plan, but I believe everything happens for a reason. I've decided that I'm making changes and maybe to get the best results this medical issue needs to be resolved first and maybe this time it will.
I am not going to let something silly like this stop me. Instead of continuing that particular program I will continue eating well and doing what minimal exercise I can do. As we all know something is better than nothing and I think that by keeping a positive attitude about the whole thing will also help speed up the healing process. I'm sorry to have let you all down and I'm saddened because I feel like I've also let myself down, but there is nothing I can do and it is out of my hands. But I am not a quitter! So I will continue to progress. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade so they say!
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
My Life's Biggest Project: Ding Dong The Wicked Waistline's Dead
My Life's Biggest Project: Ding Dong The Wicked Waistline's Dead: "Today I was going to write about the four hormones that are the 'bad ones' in our body, but instead I was watching the news this morning and..."
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