Hello Yogi,
This idea of a totally new nutrition plan is exciting and frightening at the same time. I didn't sleep much last night, wondering if I'll be able to make these changes last. Of course, lack of sleep makes one hungry, doesn't it?
The day started with a cup of coffee, flavored with a bit of coconut milk. It wasn't great, but better than no coffee at all. Breakfast was a scrambled egg with red peppers and onions. Definitely feeling the lack of sugar by 11am, but had enough energy to remain determined.
One of my coworkers made the first of many trips to St. Mary Parish (Cecil Twp) Lenten fish fry. Today is Ash Wednesday and we'll be eating there pretty much every Friday up to Easter. There is nothing like an old fashioned church lady fish fry.
Screech! Back up! Industrial cooking oils are forbidden. No worries, St. Mary's always has baked options. They have a delicious baked salmon with lemon cream sauce. Should tell them to hold the sauce, (no dairy allowed either) 'cause if I see it, or smell it, I'm eating it. My temptation resistance muscles are in their very first day of training so I ordered the baked cod, believing it would be a safer option.
The generous portion of cod came sprinkled with, da-da-dahhhhh, buttered bread crumbs. Dang, another forbidden food and it's touching my fish! I carefully pushed all the bread crumbs to the side, gently blotted the cod on paper towels. That's gotta be close enough to kosher, right?
There aren't many beverage options on this nutrition plan, only 1 cup of coffee or tea are allowed, before lunch. But I was ready, armed with several unsweetened, fizzy mixers and wedges of fresh lime ready. Club soda, seltzer and tonic water. My drink was super refreshing, and I haven't had any sugar for a whole, well 1/2 a day. The lime almost tasted sweet, like an orange. I finished that cup and started sipping a second serving when I realized, hey this doesn't just taste sweet, it is sweet! Turns out tonic water is loaded with high fructose corn syrup! Gotta start reading those labels.
Today the new plan was full of fits and starts, wrong turns, mistakes. But I carried a slice of King cake home for Richard, without so much as a sniff. And I prepared a macaroni salad to have with his dinner, no tasting to correct the seasoning. Just trusted my cooking instincts.
The first day (and hopefully the toughest) is complete. I thank God for the new direction and the challenge.
I pray you all have a blessed week and abundant nutrition.
Peace, joy, love...
Myrna
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Fat Tuesday, 2014
Hello Yogi, It's Fat Tuesday, and I'm having roast chicken and steamed brocolli for lunch. Quite a party, huh? Oh, but chicken is slathered with delicious barbeque sauce. Both of my parents are from the deep south, so that's practically a beverage in our house!
Speaking of beverages, i'm washing it all down with an ice-cold, frosty diet Pepsi. The sauce and the pepsi are forbidden starting tomorrow. No hot sauce either. It has sugar in it. My life will be changed without hot sauce. Do you think a couple of pureed jalapeno will be a suitable substitute? After all, it is a vegetable.
Of course the office is celebrating and there are enough doughnuts in here to sink a battleship, as my Mom used to say. I quit eating them years ago, unless someone comes in with Orem's doughnuts from Beaver County. They are the size of small hubcaps, cinnamon swirled and sugar coated. Just far enough away from our Washington County location to be considered a delicacy. But that's a rare occasion.
I chipped in for a King's Cake to share. I had a couple of bites, but it's way too sweet for me. My slice is heading home to Rich. He likes a little dessert after dinner. It's a good thing the sugar/dairy fast starts on Wednesday. I'll be five days into it before having to teach a yoga class next week. Wouldn't want to be a cranky Yoga teacher in the throws of withdrawal. "Down Dog right NOW"!!!
So I've decided not to post weight at this time. I'm trying to make this nutrition change about ample energy, cleansing sleep, clear skin, as well as weight. Not sure how those can be measured. Yogi, I feel honored to have you pulling for me through this journey. Please feel free to comment honestly. As of tomorrow, the "Your Personal Paleo Code" by Chris Kresser will be my nutrition guide. i'm only on page 100, but thought Lent would be a good time to start making these changes. May we all experience better health and vitality becuase of this experiment. Peace, love, blessings, laughter... Myrna
Speaking of beverages, i'm washing it all down with an ice-cold, frosty diet Pepsi. The sauce and the pepsi are forbidden starting tomorrow. No hot sauce either. It has sugar in it. My life will be changed without hot sauce. Do you think a couple of pureed jalapeno will be a suitable substitute? After all, it is a vegetable.
Of course the office is celebrating and there are enough doughnuts in here to sink a battleship, as my Mom used to say. I quit eating them years ago, unless someone comes in with Orem's doughnuts from Beaver County. They are the size of small hubcaps, cinnamon swirled and sugar coated. Just far enough away from our Washington County location to be considered a delicacy. But that's a rare occasion.
I chipped in for a King's Cake to share. I had a couple of bites, but it's way too sweet for me. My slice is heading home to Rich. He likes a little dessert after dinner. It's a good thing the sugar/dairy fast starts on Wednesday. I'll be five days into it before having to teach a yoga class next week. Wouldn't want to be a cranky Yoga teacher in the throws of withdrawal. "Down Dog right NOW"!!!
So I've decided not to post weight at this time. I'm trying to make this nutrition change about ample energy, cleansing sleep, clear skin, as well as weight. Not sure how those can be measured. Yogi, I feel honored to have you pulling for me through this journey. Please feel free to comment honestly. As of tomorrow, the "Your Personal Paleo Code" by Chris Kresser will be my nutrition guide. i'm only on page 100, but thought Lent would be a good time to start making these changes. May we all experience better health and vitality becuase of this experiment. Peace, love, blessings, laughter... Myrna
Monday, March 3, 2014
Here We Go
Hi Yogi,
Do you know how many diet books there are on the market? Me either, but there must be a TON of them. Only the short stack is on my bookshelf, but none of them ever really touched that place in my soul that could get a handle on this weight problem. Most of them had some common sense (portion control) and practical tools (calorie counters), but it all seemed to take a daunting amount of attention. The food diaries and calorie counts, well, who has time for that?
So a few years back, I joined a famed diet group, you know the one with the initials WW? There was a chapter at work and we met weekly during the lunch break. I thought the financial investment would spur me on to success. After six weeks of talking about food, examining food, measuring and weighing food, banning certain foods, I had gained a pound.
My sense was, there's got to be a something going on chemically in the body, but unsure what it could be. Why am I always hungry? Stress? Yes, I work a high stress, full-time job. But I always balance that with prayer, meditation, play, exercise (especially yoga). Lately, there's a lot of chatter about sleep patterns affecting the diet. I haven't been able to sleep more than six hours a night for a couple of years now. Could that be causing all the hunger? Certainly all the wonderful, tempting and entertaining cooking shows now on television couldn't contribute, or could it? I've heard it referred to as "food porn".
Being an Oza-holic, I faithfully DVR the Dr. Oz program. A couple of weeks ago, his guest was Dr. Chris Kresser, who wrote the book, "Your Personal Paleo Code". It's not a true weight-loss, diet book, but reportedly, some people who follow the plan have lost weight. Dr. Kresser spent years working on a personal health issue, so this book was the result of years of nutritional study.
Paleo, me? I was a vegetarian for years, and still a vegetarian at heart. The only reason I went back to eating meat was at the suggestion of a nutritionist as the easiest way to fight borderline anemia. But the idea of reducing all the processed grains and sugars had been on my mind anyway, so I bought the book. I'm only on page 100 (of 400+), but Dr. Kresser has already laid out some interesting guidelines to start a new way of life. I decided, for Lent, to give this nutrition program a try and to be accountable to all of you by blogging the results.
The first phase is the reset, or what I like to think of as detox. Meats, non-starchy vegetables, fruit, nuts and seeds are a go. Root vegetables are permitted, well, with the exception of white potatoes, and some oils are OK too, including coconut oil (my favorite) and olive oil. No counting calories, no measuring or weighing.
What to avoid? Sugar. All of it. No honey, agave, maple syrup or artificial sweeteners of any kind. No dairy. (Oh, how I will miss Greek yogurt). No beans. What? I always thought they were extremely healthy, what with the fiber and phytonutrients. They were the staple of my vegetarian diet. No industrial seed oils. No peanuts or peanut butter, arghhhhh. You'll have to read the book to get all the science behind these rules, but needless to say, there's gonna be some weeping and gnashing of teeth around Bergman Street later this week, but hopefully not the whole 40 days.
Today, it's oatmeal with raisins for breakfast, pancetta pizza for lunch, and definitely some soon to be forbidden starchy carb for dinner. Of course, along with my five daily servings of veggies, as usual. Grapes with plain Greek yogurt, sprinkled with cinnamon and sunflower seeds will serve as a delectable dessert.
Stay tuned...
Do you know how many diet books there are on the market? Me either, but there must be a TON of them. Only the short stack is on my bookshelf, but none of them ever really touched that place in my soul that could get a handle on this weight problem. Most of them had some common sense (portion control) and practical tools (calorie counters), but it all seemed to take a daunting amount of attention. The food diaries and calorie counts, well, who has time for that?
So a few years back, I joined a famed diet group, you know the one with the initials WW? There was a chapter at work and we met weekly during the lunch break. I thought the financial investment would spur me on to success. After six weeks of talking about food, examining food, measuring and weighing food, banning certain foods, I had gained a pound.
My sense was, there's got to be a something going on chemically in the body, but unsure what it could be. Why am I always hungry? Stress? Yes, I work a high stress, full-time job. But I always balance that with prayer, meditation, play, exercise (especially yoga). Lately, there's a lot of chatter about sleep patterns affecting the diet. I haven't been able to sleep more than six hours a night for a couple of years now. Could that be causing all the hunger? Certainly all the wonderful, tempting and entertaining cooking shows now on television couldn't contribute, or could it? I've heard it referred to as "food porn".
Being an Oza-holic, I faithfully DVR the Dr. Oz program. A couple of weeks ago, his guest was Dr. Chris Kresser, who wrote the book, "Your Personal Paleo Code". It's not a true weight-loss, diet book, but reportedly, some people who follow the plan have lost weight. Dr. Kresser spent years working on a personal health issue, so this book was the result of years of nutritional study.
Paleo, me? I was a vegetarian for years, and still a vegetarian at heart. The only reason I went back to eating meat was at the suggestion of a nutritionist as the easiest way to fight borderline anemia. But the idea of reducing all the processed grains and sugars had been on my mind anyway, so I bought the book. I'm only on page 100 (of 400+), but Dr. Kresser has already laid out some interesting guidelines to start a new way of life. I decided, for Lent, to give this nutrition program a try and to be accountable to all of you by blogging the results.
The first phase is the reset, or what I like to think of as detox. Meats, non-starchy vegetables, fruit, nuts and seeds are a go. Root vegetables are permitted, well, with the exception of white potatoes, and some oils are OK too, including coconut oil (my favorite) and olive oil. No counting calories, no measuring or weighing.
What to avoid? Sugar. All of it. No honey, agave, maple syrup or artificial sweeteners of any kind. No dairy. (Oh, how I will miss Greek yogurt). No beans. What? I always thought they were extremely healthy, what with the fiber and phytonutrients. They were the staple of my vegetarian diet. No industrial seed oils. No peanuts or peanut butter, arghhhhh. You'll have to read the book to get all the science behind these rules, but needless to say, there's gonna be some weeping and gnashing of teeth around Bergman Street later this week, but hopefully not the whole 40 days.
Today, it's oatmeal with raisins for breakfast, pancetta pizza for lunch, and definitely some soon to be forbidden starchy carb for dinner. Of course, along with my five daily servings of veggies, as usual. Grapes with plain Greek yogurt, sprinkled with cinnamon and sunflower seeds will serve as a delectable dessert.
Stay tuned...
YogaNuvo, the beginning
(Myrna the lead instructor at YogaNuvo, took her very first yoga class in 2002 and it was love at first body twist. She began training immediately, becoming certified to teach in 2004 by the National Exercise & Sports Trainers Association. Already an aerobics instructor at the YMCA since 1998, the shift to yoga was seamless. She since has taught workshops in and around Pittsburgh, including a teacher training at Schoolhouse Yoga, warm-ups for runners at the Pittsburgh Marathon and annual workshops for young adults at the Children's Museum)
Dear Yogi,
I have a confession. In spite of the energetic front you see at YogaNuvo classes, I'm tired. Tired each and every day. Exhausted in fact. I was considering going for a battery of tests, you know, for chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, maybe an infection.
But before making that kind of investment in time and money, at a slim chance of truly finding out anything, and for what, a prescription, a pill? I've made a decision to make some serious changes in lifestyle first, hopefully to discover a holistic remedy to the malady.
And here's one of the issues. I've been carrying extra weight for a number of years. Now, for those of you who took my aerobic classes years ago, you've watched me grow in more ways than one. A true foodie, who loves cooking, getting married gave me a chance to shine in the kitchen. I concoct all sorts of yummy international dishes, with fresh local ingredients, for my hubby and me.
Somehow, the change from bachelor (read burgers and pizza) to getting home cooked, nutritious meals allowed him to drop a few pounds. Me? I went from mostly salads and seafood to Quesadillas, Cincinnati Chili, Beef with Broccoli, Thai curry and so on. Add that to a full-time cubicle job and voila, thunder thighs.
Don't think Rich is catching the blame. He'd be very happy, I'm sure, with less than half of my cooking repertoire and experimentations. But growing up in the Patterson family, food equaled love. My mom made sure we had home cooked, nutritious meals with a protein, starch, green AND red (or yellow) vegetable. Served with love. Every wedding, every visit to the sick room, every funeral, was attended with the cover charge of a covered dish.
Now, this blog isn't going to be a "weight loss" diary, although I'm hoping a praying a healthy BMI (body mass index) will be one of the benefits. The goal is to find more energy, clear the skin and lose the joint pain, brain fog, fatigue and inability to sleep more than six hours at a time. To live the rest of my life with vitality, and the ability to give, serve, play and teach with gusto, with little or no dependence on pharmaceuticals. My God deserves a healthier servant, my wonderful husband deserves a more energetic wife, my devoted yoga students deserve a stronger instructor, and I...well I want the healthy, and for real, the sexy back.
Stay tuned Yogi, I have a plan. And hopefully, you'll learn and laugh from this trial and error journey.
Peace, blessings, smiles, love
Myrna
www.yoganuvo.com
yoganuvo@gmail.com
Dear Yogi,
I have a confession. In spite of the energetic front you see at YogaNuvo classes, I'm tired. Tired each and every day. Exhausted in fact. I was considering going for a battery of tests, you know, for chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, maybe an infection.
But before making that kind of investment in time and money, at a slim chance of truly finding out anything, and for what, a prescription, a pill? I've made a decision to make some serious changes in lifestyle first, hopefully to discover a holistic remedy to the malady.
And here's one of the issues. I've been carrying extra weight for a number of years. Now, for those of you who took my aerobic classes years ago, you've watched me grow in more ways than one. A true foodie, who loves cooking, getting married gave me a chance to shine in the kitchen. I concoct all sorts of yummy international dishes, with fresh local ingredients, for my hubby and me.
Somehow, the change from bachelor (read burgers and pizza) to getting home cooked, nutritious meals allowed him to drop a few pounds. Me? I went from mostly salads and seafood to Quesadillas, Cincinnati Chili, Beef with Broccoli, Thai curry and so on. Add that to a full-time cubicle job and voila, thunder thighs.
Don't think Rich is catching the blame. He'd be very happy, I'm sure, with less than half of my cooking repertoire and experimentations. But growing up in the Patterson family, food equaled love. My mom made sure we had home cooked, nutritious meals with a protein, starch, green AND red (or yellow) vegetable. Served with love. Every wedding, every visit to the sick room, every funeral, was attended with the cover charge of a covered dish.
Now, this blog isn't going to be a "weight loss" diary, although I'm hoping a praying a healthy BMI (body mass index) will be one of the benefits. The goal is to find more energy, clear the skin and lose the joint pain, brain fog, fatigue and inability to sleep more than six hours at a time. To live the rest of my life with vitality, and the ability to give, serve, play and teach with gusto, with little or no dependence on pharmaceuticals. My God deserves a healthier servant, my wonderful husband deserves a more energetic wife, my devoted yoga students deserve a stronger instructor, and I...well I want the healthy, and for real, the sexy back.
Stay tuned Yogi, I have a plan. And hopefully, you'll learn and laugh from this trial and error journey.
Peace, blessings, smiles, love
Myrna
www.yoganuvo.com
yoganuvo@gmail.com
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