What I learned from my visit with a Nutritionist

Now that 2007 is coming to a close, I have decided that I need to step up my weight loss efforts so that I can finally get off the remaining weight. After the whole Kimkins fiasco, I just felt like I was so confused and sort of flopping around like a fish. Not a pretty sight, I know. That being said, I decided that I want to do this right so that once it is gone I will be able to keep it off. I want to be able to keep it off like Jimmy Moore rather than gaining it back as so many do. I looked at a lot of books, and gained a little more insight into the low carb lifestyle but I felt like I was still missing some very important pieces of the puzzle. Yesterday, I met with a Nutritionist who was recommended by a friend and I have to tell you that I am very impressed. Here are some of the things that I learned. Please remember that everyone is different, so what is right for me may not be right for everyone.

1. My calorie level must not go below 1200 calories per day.

2. My fat intake must be between 30-35 per day.

3. Water intake should be at the minimum 72 ounces, but if I drink a caffeinated drink I have to drink two more standard glasses of water. (Should be equivalent to the size of the glass of the caffeinated beverage. The same applies to alcoholic drinks.

4. Red Wine should be my first choice for alcoholic beverages, but if I choose not to have wine I should have beer as a second option. Hard Alcohol is the worst because it turns straight to sugar. (Don't forget to follow up with double the water.) She also told me that some studies have shown that red wine is bad for women because it increases the risk of breast cancer. Other studies have shown that increasing folic acid intake will help to lower that risk.

5. The body has trouble processing foods that it does not recognize, so she recommended whole butter as opposed to margarine. She went so far as to recommend Land O Lakes whipped butter because she said that is basically whipping cream and air and the body can deal with that.

6. Good Fats can be treated a little differently because the body knows how to handle them. The following can be counted as half off the fat content because they are good fats.

Peanut Butter
Nuts
Olive Oil
Salmon
Avacado

7. Sodium should be kept to a minimum. Some lunch meats are not necessarily bad. Boars Head actually has some very nutritional meats that are low in sodium.

8. All processed flours are out. Stick to whole grains for breads, rice, and pastas. They are still a little high in carb count but they are a great option for maintenance.

9. Red Meat and Pork should be limited to once or twice a week and should not be over 4 ounces.

10. Fried foods should be kept to a minimum as it will throw me over in my fat grams.

11. Olive Oil should be the primary choice for cooking.

12. Increasing Vitamins B6 and B12 will help to increase energy levels and reduce water weight.

13. At least 30 minutes of exercise a day. Goal is one hour a day, and 15 minutes per mile.

14. The most shocking to me was that my overall water hydration level is only 36% and healthy hydration levels should be between 50%-60%.

I think that pretty much covers it for now, but you can see that I got a lot of information to go on. Some of it I already knew, but much of it was completely new. It also made me realize that the original Kimkins plan was not totally invalid. It was the low calorie plan behind the plan that they were pushing that was wrong and unhealthy. People have said that before, but I never realized exactly what they meant until now. At least I feel better about having a plan to go on. Later today, I will be putting my menu together for the upcoming week and I will be sure to post it.

Until next time.

Dena

What did you splurge on?

Back From Indiana and Back On My Diet! I hope everyone is having a Happy Holiday Season. I just returned home from spending time at my parents house in my hometown of Madison, Indiana. It was a great holiday and I'm so happy that I got to see everyone. I went off the diet, but I did much better than I expected. On Saturday, I went to Tumbleweed and had a bean and cheese burrito with chips and salsa and rice. Tumbleweed is by far my favorite Mexican restaurant and I absolutely love the enchilada sauce on the burritos. Then on Christmas Eve, we had dinner at the Chinese Buffet so I was really bad there too. My friend Leigh made Jam Cake and gave it to me as a gift so I couldn't pass that up and I had Christmas cookies and a chocolate chip donut from Horst's Bakery. Christmas Day my mom made a huge turkey dinner with the giblet dressing and worst of all homemade yeast rolls. Anyway, I feel better now that I got all of that off my chest and now I can move on. At least I didn't snack the entire time like I used to.

What did you splurge on? I'd love to hear from some of you.

So far, so good.

This week, I continued to lose weight. I am down another 2.50 pounds, and my pants are definitely looser. My goal was to lose 20 pounds by Christmas and I'm not sure if I'm going to make that goal or not, but I'm certainly trying. The last couple of days I have been surprisingly good for a weekend, I guess I'm trying to get motivated to stay on plan for the Holidays. I am going to a Holiday party this week, and I'm a little nervous about the menu. I know they are going to have a buffet, but usually when I hear buffet I think bad, bad, bad. I am going to try to stick to meats and veggies and little to no carbs, but I'm worried that even the veggies will have hidden carbs. It seems that during the holiday people tend to add extras to the regular vegetable dishes to dress them up for the holidays. Next weekend, we are having game night at my friend Chantelle's so I hope to have an update picture.

Til next time.

Mini Taco Bowls

I found this recipe today on Yahoo and it looks so good, I just had to post it. It says that it is only 3 carbs, but I don't know how that could be. I would use the Whole Wheat tortillas to bring the carb count down as much as possible. I love Mexican Food and it is the hardest thing for me to stay away from, so I eat taco meat and cheese at least once a week. I think this would be great for a change, plus it still looks relatively healthy. You can also substitute shredded chicken for an even lighter meal.

Ingredients

1. 8 TACO BELL HOME ORIGINALS Flour Tortilla
2. 1 pound extra lean ground beef
3. 1 cup TACO BELL HOME ORIGINALS Salsa
4. 1/2 cup KRAFT 2% Milk Shredded Reduced Fat Cheddar Cheese
5. 2 cups chopped lettuce
6. 1 cup chopped tomatoes
7. 1/4 cup KRAFT Ranch Dressing

Nutrition Info

Per Serving

* Calories: 323 kcal
* Carbohydrates: 3 g (I think this seems a little low)
* Dietary Fiber: 0 g
* Fat: 22 g
* Protein: 26 g
* Sugars: 2 g

Cooking Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Microwave tortillas on HIGH 30 sec. or until softened. Press 1 tortilla into each of eight medium muffin cups to form a bowl. Carefully fold edges of tortilla back to keep an opening for the filling. Bake 10 min.
2. Meanwhile, brown meat in large skillet on medium heat; drain. Stir in salsa; bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer 10 min. Spoon about 1/4 cup of the meat mixture into each tortilla bowl.
3. Top evenly with cheese, lettuce and tomatoes. Drizzle with dressing.

Yield: 4 servings

Holiday Inn Express is adding more low carb items to their Express Start Breakfast.

As many of you know, I manage a Holiday Inn Express in Florida. As the Holiday Inn Express brand continues to grow in popularity, they are modifying the breakfast bar to meet the guest needs whether it be low carb, low fat or low sugar. A couple of changes that they are making is the mandatory addition of bacon and sausage as well as egg and cheese omelets and scrambled eggs. This is great news for low carb dieters who are on the go! This does not affect my hotel too much because I was already serving bacon along with the egg and cheese omelets, but it's nice to know that when I travel for business I won't have to worry about what I can eat. There are many other great changes that will be coming along with the refresh, but I really wanted to let everyone know about the low carb items that are being added.

Til next time.

I lost 3 pounds this week!

Even though I have been crazy busy at work, I have been really dedicated this week and have been taking my lunch every day. I guess it really paid off to plan ahead because I ended up losing three pounds this week. I think for me that is one of my biggest problems with dieting and weight loss. If I don't plan ahead, I eat whatever is easiest and it's usually fast food. The town that I work in doesn't have much variety as far as restaurants go, so if I don't bring my lunch about the only quick and healthy thing that I can eat is Wendy's chicken or a salad. Even the salads out at most places are so high in calories that I try to stay away from them. Also, I don't know why but when I eat salads, I tend to find myself craving carbs so I usually stick with the chicken from Wendy's. Anyway, now that I'm back on track I'm planning my meals out for next week. I'll be sure to let you know how things go.