RedBaron's diary

[redbaron007]

Hello WLF community!

I joined today to hopefully be motivated by you all in my journey to maintaining a healthy weight. My details:
- Male, 50, 172 cm, 161 lbs (BMI: 24.5)
- High LDL cholesterol. Had high triglycerides in the past too, but now in normal range primarily due to daily fish oil capsules.

What I'm good at:
- cut out bread, rice, pasta, etc.
- cut out fast food & sodas
- cut out snacks like chips, candy and replacing them with Costco figs, apricots, pistachios & almonds
- run 2 miles 7 days a week (small side-benefit of living in Calif)
- keeping BMI just about below 25

What I suck at (and need motivation):
- losing that stubborn belly fat
- reaching out for those pita chips every time I pass by the kitchen
- getting BMI way below 25
- eating my recommended daily allowance of veggies (though I eat a salad 7 days a week for lunch)
- adding some strength training to my daily run.
- running longer distances..


Will start diary below. Cheers!

 

[redbaron007]

Breakfast: 1 bowl Quaker 100% Whole Grain Old Fashioned Oats in Water + blueberries + raspberries
Lunch: Birds-eye Power Blend Southwestern Style w/ a Fried Egg (in olive oil) + some plaintain chips
Snack: Tea + 4 apricots + a couple of smyrna figs (both from Costco), and umm....yea, some pita chips a few times I passed by kitchen
Dinner: Birds-eye Power Blend California Style
After-dinner fruit: Apple

Not too happy that the Southwestern Style power blend actually has over 1000mg sodium (46% RDA), never noticed that before...I'm already noticing things I did not earlier, thanks to this forum!

 

[Llama]

It´s crazy how much sodium ready meals sometimes have. Always good to check.

 

[DGraves]

Hi! I often see people removing bread, rice, sugar, and more from their diet. Does that help you keep in shape? I've removed the bread from my diet, and I'm eating less sugar little by little, but I find it very difficult.

 

[redbaron007]

Hi! I often see people removing bread, rice, sugar, and more from their diet. Does that help you keep in shape? I've removed the bread from my diet, and I'm eating less sugar little by little, but I find it very difficult.

Yes, it certainly helps. Here's a Harvard article about how carbs & sugar are related. Carbohydrates and Blood Sugar

 

[redbaron007]

Anyone has tips on healthy ready-made dips? I'm thinking of just grabbing off-the-shelf hummus.

 

[Llama]

Making hummus yourself is simple enough: just blend a can of rinsed chickpeas (or even other pulses) with a bit of tahin (or nut butter of choice), lemon juice (or acid of choice), and garlic (and/or spice blend of choice).

 

[redbaron007]

Making hummus yourself is simple enough: just blend a can of rinsed chickpeas (or even other pulses) with a bit of tahin (or nut butter of choice), lemon juice (or acid of choice), and garlic (and/or spice blend of choice).

Thanks LaMaria - just curious, what's the shelf life if I make it myself from a can? Will it stay fresh for a couple of weeks or more in the fridge?

 

[Err2]

I made some hummus 2 days before thanksgiving and I just finished it a couple days ago. I had to re-stir it towards the end, but it still tasted great

 

[redbaron007]

So today I switched from full-fat milk to 2% and was pretty happy about it.....till I found this flyer from Florida Dept of Health. A cup of 2% supposedly has the same amount of artery clogging saturated fat as 3 glazed donut holes, 2 chunky chocolate chip cookies, or almost 1 1/2 slices of pepperoni pizza...WHAAAAT? http://www.floridahealth.gov/progra...ram/nutrition/_documents/reduced-fat-milk.pdf

 

[redbaron007]

Maybe unsweetened soy milk will work even better - I anyways need it only for my morning coffee. Busting myths about milk - Scope