Somewhere Over the Rainbow

On Saturday, I picked up the Dash Diet book to read some more and discovered that according to the BMI(body mass index) I fall into the Overweight category with a  BMI of approximately 27.  In order to redeem my shortcomings and enter back into normalcy I need to arrive at a BMI of about 24ish which due to my height (or lack thereof) of 61.5 " means a weight of about 130 lbs.  This coincides nicely with the Colin Firth Diet Club as that will be just past the goal of losing 20 lbs.

I also learned that I have what is called metabolic syndrome which isn't adding anything new diagnoses wise - it just covers it all (high blood sugar, high blood pressure, high cholesterol) ...and that's as far as I got that day.

Kristen left to have a sleepover birthday celebration with her cousin Evie and John took the boys out to see the new James Bond flick.  I was very encouraging of this because I had a flick of my own I relished viewing!  Ahhh, the quiet solace of having the house to myself!  But I wasn't alone - I had Colin!  Yes, there was still that other movie to watch that I had borrowed from the library, "A Summer in Genoa".  Colin and I spent a very enjoyable couple of hours cuddled up on the couch! LOL!  In this movie, Colin (Joe) has two daughters who were in a car crash with his wife who died as a result.  Joe decides to take a position teaching in Genoa, Italy and so begins their new adventure.  Did I mention I love all things Irish?  As they are landing in Genoa, I noticed they were flying on Ryan Air - an Irish airline!

We had plans to take Jen & Pete out for dinner later that night to thank them for babysitting Rocket for us while we were in Costa Rica and again when we took Matthew to New York City for his 13th birthday, but the plans fell through.  Carla dropped by and we decided that the 4 of us should go out for dinner instead.  I was looking forward to trying out an Italian restaurant but got overruled (much to my chagrin!!!!!) and had to suck it up and go with Japanese.  I dislike sushi very much!  I was dreading the outing all afternoon but was thankful for two things.  1) John brought me a Harvey's hamburger for lunch which was a nice treat (no French fries I might add!) and 2) I was able to lose myself with Colin in Genoa.  I will admit to acting like a spoiled and petulant child leading up to dinner - you see, I shouldn't be eating foods that are high in sodium and fat like the sauces and fried tempura dishes, and I felt my friends weren't very understanding and a reference to 'weekness' didn't help.  Anyways, they all enjoyed their green dragons, dumplings and raw fish.  Blech!  I am totally useless when it comes to using chopsticks but persevered thinking this is an ideal situation for 'mindful eating' as discussed in my previous blog entry.  By eating my bowl of plain steamed rice with chopsticks it took longer to grab the rice and try to get it into my mouth without dropping it, so I had plenty of time to think and savour what I was eating.  I ended up ordering a teriyaki salmon with the teriyaki on the side.  More often than not when ordering in a restaurant I will order salmon.  I love salmon - when it is fully cooked, which this was supposed to be, but was just a slightly less raw form of sushi.  I know Steve would say that if it was Irish sushi I would have no problem at all eating it, but I'd have to disagree.  I remember ordering salmon on my first visit to Ireland and it turned out to be smoked salmon, not cooked all the way through and I didn't like it - so there you go!  One thing that surprised me was that John ordered some kind of tuna sushi and commented on how tasty it was.  Yet, when I make something with tuna at home he won't go near it. - and if his initial declaration to me that there would be no way in hell that I could ever get him to eat a brussel sprout is anything to go by....tuna casserole will be served for dinner sometime soon!  He he he!!  I'll conclude this yucky banter by saying that I did enjoy my salad and bowl of steamed rice, and the mango ice cream was enough to make me slide my earlier woes to the backburner!  We went back to Carla & Steve's and ended up watching "Dumb and Dumber" with all the kids with a glass of red wine!  Ahhhh!

On Sunday, since Kristen was at Evie's, we didn't end up going to church, so I got to sleep in!  Oh, the luxury!!!  After breakfast we left to go to Julie & Jay's house to pick up Kristen and have lunch and watch the birthday girl open her presents.  I can't believe the little pickle is 4 years old now!  Love you Evie!!  When we got back home I went outside to do some yardwork and then went off to my soccer game.  We won 3-2!  Since John and the boys went to the movies, I decided to take my little girl to see "Pitch Perfect" after dinner.  John and I had already seen it at the theatre and it's a great movie with great music.  Kristen is my little performer and is always dancing, singing and writing her own songs at home, so I knew she would enjoy this movie!  I have the soundtrack and we listen to it all the time.  We ordered a medium popcorn to share without any added butter and a drink. 

Yesterday I helped out in Kristen's class in the morning and then came home to read.  I made some progress ploughing through the Dash Diet.  The section I was reading involved arithmetic to work out Basal calories (mine was 1297.5), Activity Adjusted Calories (mine was 1784 based on moderate activity), and my calorie goal for weight loss works out to be 1511 per day.  According to the Dash Diet, this means I should have 4 servings of veggies, 4 servings of fruit, 5 servings of grain, 2 servings of dairy, 1.5 servings of meats/alternatives, 1/4 serving of nuts/seeds/legumes, 1/2 serving of fats and 1/2 serving of sweets per day.  I'll be honest with you, I won't be calculating and itemizing my caloric intake -it's one of the things that has discouraged me from dieting in the past.  What I will take from this is the serving guidline for the particular food groups.

Now, let's move on to what I've found in "Wheat Belly".  Dr.  Davis cites studies correlating wheat exposure to effects on mind such as schizophrenia and possibly autism.  This is serious stuff!  I'm beginning to view wheat akin to rat poison!  Eeek!  And speaking of rats.."In lab animals, administration of naloxone blocks the binding of wheat exorphins to the morphine receptor of brain cells.  Yes, opiate-blocking naloxone prevents the binding of wheat-derived exorphins to the brain.  The very same drug that turns off the heroin in a drug-abusing addict also blocks the effects of wheat exorphins."  So, wheat is poison?  "...wheat is one of the few foods that can alter behaviour, induce pleasurable effects, and generate a withdrawal syndrome upon its removal".  Kind of sounds like it is a poison.  I certainly grasp the addictive qualities.  Instead of having 2 cookies, I might take 3 or 4 and then still feel the need for more, and before you know it, I've eaten a whole row from the box!  One cupcake, followed by another, and another...no wonder I'm sitting here writing a blog trying to sort myself out and reclaim my body!  Now that I see wheat as a stimulant I can be more vigilant about standing my ground!  But that's not all!  At the end of Chapter 5 I read, " Wheat products increase blood sugar and insulin more than most other foods.  But remember:  Foods made with cornstarch, rice starch, potato starch, and tapioca starch are among the few foods that increase blood sugar even more than wheat products".   So what does this say for those who have taken a ride on the 'gluten-free' wagon?  Sounds to me like they may have alleviated their intestinal symptoms by eliminating wheat from their diet - but they may develop diabetes instead.  I think I'm suffering from information overload right now.

It's no secret that I have two celebrity crushes, one as you know is Colin Firth, and the other is Bono.  Carla thinks that Bono is mad at me because I've been devoting all of my time lately on Colin, so I promised a plug for Bono in this post.  Last night I watched my first live webcast on my computer.  I was checking out Twitter and saw that Bono was going to be speaking at a Global Social Enterprise event at Georgetown University so I threatened the kids to be perfectly quiet while I became hypnotized by the great words of my favourite rock star!  He is a phenomenal speaker enveloping compassion, humour and conviction.  My favourite line was "We are going to win because the power in the people is so much stronger than the people in power!".  I believe that is the most poignant quote I've ever heard!

OK, now that I've got that out of the way, let me tell you about my day today!  I walked the kids to school and then came home to do plan out my meals for the week and whatnot.  I was going to do my own little 'wheat-free' experiment for a week from Thursday night (pizza night) through to the following Thursday (pizza night).  I figured the week between the 2 pizza nights would go over easier with my family, my pizzaholics!  Then I found out that my mom is coming to visit this weekend and I really want to make her that Coconut Chicken (the panko crumbs contain wheat) for dinner and I know she loves my pumpkin pancakes for breakfast.  So, I've decided to start smaller, and I will be following the 'wheat-free' regimen for 3 days beginning on Monday.    If all goes well, then I'll commit to going for a full week at a later date.  Grocery list in hand (and shocked to see a big gap where bakery items were to be listed!) I headed off to Curves before braving the supermarket.  I weighed myself as usual and I was down to an even 148 lbs!!!  I can't remember the last time I was here!!!  Yeah me!!!  Carol, the manager, commented that I looked like I've lost weight as I finished my circuit which gave me an added boost!  She said this plan my husband made for me must be doing the trick!  Yes, yes it is - thank you John and Colin!!

Then I was off to fill the grocery cart.  The first thing you see when you walk in to Fortino's is their newly renovated bakery area.  Normally I would be fooled by the alluring scent of freshly baked French bread and croissants, but I saw it for what it was and passed on by!  While I was roaming the produce aisles, I had an epiphany - I decided to buy a rainbow!  I was enthralled by all the different fruits and vegetables, some of which I had never heard of before and the myriad of colours - and thought, hey, I'm going to buy a rainbow today, and set off on my mission.  ROY-G-BIV (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo & violet).  It was fun!  I bought red raspberries and strawberries, orange cantaloupe, yellow bananas and lemons, green lettuce and baby greens, blue blueberries, and purple eggplant as it was hard to distinguish indigo/violet within produce.  I couldn't wait to get home and display my rainbow!

Can I just tell you that I have never in my life ever bought an eggplant!  I have never eaten one either.  Now I just have to figure out what to do with it!  Thank goodness for google! 

The pharmacy section has been newly renovated as well and I noticed they now had a blood pressure machine so I had to check it out - and I'm glad I did!  My blood pressure numbers were as follows :
142/83, 134/86, and the best yet was 127/84!!!  Finally, things are going in the right direction!!!  Being in the pharmaceutical area reminded me that I ran out of vitamins this morning.  I usually take Centrum Forte, but I noticed that there was a new version designed for cardiovascular health so I picked it up and tried to compare it to my usual.  What was I thinking?  I don't know what these ingredients do and what dosage is better or not.  So, I went to find the Pharmacist to ask her if there really was a difference or was I being duped by a marketing gimmick.  Her answer...most likely marketing gimmick, so I purchased the Centrum Forte.  There was my inner Yoda saying "Hmmm, fool me not!"

Good night Colin, I hope to find you at the end of my rainbow!