Posts by ostaraspring

I follow a modified Furhman ETL plan, and have been for a few years. Even aspiring to it or doing it half the time is a good thing, IMO, with the plan's focus on nutrient dense foods and leafy green vegetables - both raw and cooked.

Limiting refined carbs is one thing I still struggle with. I get plenty of healthy fats in nuts, seeds, avocado, etc.

I think the Wii Fit is great for getting sedentary people moving. For someone very active and fit though, it's going to be very low impact. There are yoga poses, strength exercises, aerobics and balance games. For me it's fun and a good motivator, but after using it for a few months it's more of a warm up than a challenge.

Lunch for me is often two cups of homemade soup, stew or stir fry (lots of veggies and beans), raw veggies (sometimes with hummus), fresh fruit, occasionally a serving of whole grain. Averages 300-400 calories.

To get more of those high nutrient greens in, how about green smoothies? Make a typical fruit smoothie, and add in either fresh or frozen greens. It sounds weird at first (not to Eat to Live folks), but the taste isn't really affected. Spinach and collards really disappear under the fruit taste, but anything works - Romaine, kale, etc. It's a great way to combine greens and high vit. C foods. You can add legumes too, but I don't put in more than about 1/2 cup of beans or the texture gets too heavy.

Today's breakfast was frozen blackberries and raspberries blended with a cup of frozen chopped collards, a little organic unsweetened soymilk, water and a tablespoon ground flax seed.

Sounds like a good plan of attack - get through the first six weeks and afterward see if you can handle pasta responsibly with your off plan calorie allowance. If not, give it some more time and switch to whole grain pasta if you don't already use that. Adding more beans should help keep you satisfied meanwhile.

I did a similar thing (but not as good) when weaning off cheese, allowing refined carbs and more fats to deal with the withdrawal. Ate lots of avocado and hummus! Then I worked on the carbs - bread was my next biggest failing. I'd make flatbread out of chickpea flour (besan) instead. It was a lot of calories, but still only powdered beans and I figured that was better than white pita or naan.

Gradually working on my bad food habits several weeks before starting ETL helped me feel fairly successful following Fuhrman's eating style. Was a pretty awful junk food vegetarian before. Every time I fell off the wagon it was due to lack of planning. Super busy times, stress, no time to shop or prepare meals are a recipe for disaster. It's also hard to face so much salad and raw veggies in northern winters, but hearty soups help and it's easier now that the weather is improving!

Congrats! It's great to offer veggie options, and a surprising number of omni eaters will enjoy them too. Not a wedding, but at a family golden anniversary party kung pao tofu was popular, even with older, "traditional" eaters.

Tempeh is made from whole fermented soybeans. See

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempeh

Religious practitioners of Jainism sweep the ground in front of them with a broom to avoid stepping on insects/critters. They also wear masks over their nose and mouth to keep from breathing in a bug or swallowing one accidentally. I won't go that far, but I don't want to knowingly consume beetle residue if I can avoid it.

You can make a good pizza without cheese too! It may not satisfy your current craving, but it's worth a try sometime. Add some pizza sauce or just a little olive oil and your choice of veggies - just keep an eye on things so it doesn't dry out too much.

Congrats on joining the gym! It's great you have coworkers to go with you - that should provide support and accountability.

So xroflcopterx... did you exercise today after your long car trip? If not, can you make a deposit on your health contract tomorrow? Commit to do something active for 10 minutes. You can handle 10 minutes! Heck, walk in place in front of the TV. Do it eating cake if you have to! (Just kidding, skip the cake.)

What got me getting active again after lapsing for months was a Wii Fit DH gave me as a gift. Maybe it's not challenging for people who are in good shape, but it got me off the couch for at least 30 minutes a day. It can be a good workout, the aerobics and strength training especially.

Because it tracks your history, I get feedback every time I open the game - I'm at 3 months now without missing a day. The time clock does a little happy dance when you hit 30 minutes too. It's silly, but cute. At this point I am very motivated to keep the streak running. I'm *not* a morning person but I get up early to get it done. And if I can't, I'll be on the dang balance board at 11:30 pm if necessary to get in the minimum time before midnight!

After a while using the video game I asked a friend go to the gym with me. Since then I've been on my own - lack of motivation on the other's part, oh well! I haven't been getting there as often as I want, but it's been 2-3 times a week and I figure the main thing is to just somehow keep it up without being away too long or it will be a hurdle again.

It can feel so hard to get moving, especially in winter. (But don't we make plenty of excuses in nice weather too?!) The thing is though that after working out, the mood lifts, energy is up, it feels GOOD. Endorphins kick in and even if the session was physically tiring, a sense of *vigor* lingers. The feeling is addictive. Better to get hooked on motion than decadence cake... wear the sweats today to fit into those *jeans* comfortably soon.

Must admit that my eating in the last week has been poor. Working exceedingly long hours and no time to shop/cook/do dishes/laundry does not make for building good habits. Somebody give me a kick!

That evil law of inertia! An object at rest tends to stay at rest. But hey, the good news is on the flipside - an object in motion tends to stay in motion!

You're sure not alone. I'm terrible about not taking that first step, whatever it may be. Once past the struggle it was clearly no big deal and I puzzle over what the difficulty was. I put up bizarre mental barriers for myself for no reason. I'm learning belatedly that it's OK to ask for help - if a friend will come to the gym with me the *first* time after a long period away, the spell is broken and I transform into a gym rat going on my own.

Ditto with eating habits - in a slump I may be horrid with food. Holiday treats, office snacks, oh no! I know better, can quote chapter and verse about the right things to do. Busy schedules and overwork are my downfall - if there's no food in the house or there's literally no time for breakfast and lunch, look out! But once in a routine of planning out meals and eating decently, I pass by the goodies with barely a twinge.

Habits take at least 30 days to form - or break. If you can pass up the cake tomorrow and reach for the apple instead, you're on your way! You build on that foundation the next day and reinforce your new habit. It grows, you don't have to start over from scratch every day. Like if someone gave you a penny, and doubled the amount every day for just a month... you'd have over $5 million! OK, avoiding temptation isn't like that at all, but if someone wants to gift me with the penny doubling, I'm game to give it a try. :-)

My DH doesn't eat many veggies, but he'll sometimes down over a pound of raw carrots or cauliflower in a sitting. Doesn't bother to chew much either. Uffda!