(Written on Monday, September 12, 2011 at 11:31 a.m.)
Have ya'll heard the term 'empty calories'? It's a favorite on CalorieCount.com and I've come to learn that it generally refers to calories that contain no nutritional value. Well I have a bone to pick with whomever coined that phrase. By this time in the morning I have usually only consumed about 37 calories in the form of a cup of coffee w/creamer and I am just starting to get hungry so I would grab a Fiber One bar. Well so far today I've had 176 calories in the form of a banana, a nectarine, and a cup of black coffee - all very nutritional calories - and my stomach is feeling decidedly empty. I know I said in Monday's post that I'm not going to worry so much about count, I'm just going to eat to be satisfied and see where it puts me but GEEZ! I didn't expect to feel this hungry this soon after eating 3 pieces of fruit and drinking 70 oz of water and coffee.
(Written Tuesday, Semptember 13, 2011 at 7:15 a.m.)
Well I learned something interesting last night. Putting a banana, a nectarine, and a kiwi in the Ninja and blending them up with 10 oz of water is a WHOLE lot more filling than simply eating them ... I wonder why that is? Last night after supper I chopped up my cucumbers, onion, tomatoes, and a jalapeno in the Ninja so that I would have some salad for lunch today, then added the chickpeas. I went a little overboard with it though and now instead of salad it's more like a slaw - yummy though! After that I rinsed out the Ninja and popped in the fruit because Snackers was eating ice cream and I was going out of my brain wanting something sweet, plus my calories were still way too low even for my comfort. It was delicious and there must have been just a hint of oil left in the Ninja from the jalapeno because it had just the slightest little kick that I really liked - strange I know, but tasty. It filled me right up and I didn't feel hungry or have any cravings for junk food at all for the rest of the evening! Snackers chopped up my watermelon for me so it's in a big bowl in the fridge ready to go for today too so I'll have some options.
Last night was the first time I've ever eaten corn on the cob and an artichoke without butter, that's going to take some getting used to but it wasn't bad. The corn was actually so yummy that Snackers was almost jealous after I had him try it. Hmmm big fat turkey sandwich with mayo, tomato, and dorito's on it or an ear of corn? lol
I weighed myself this morning out of pure curiosity because I got up three times in the night to go to the bathroom and then again first thing this morning - all the way back down to 227 already. Weeeeee! - Two potty breaks later, 226.5
Food:
120 oz of water
1 cup of coffee, black
1 bananas
1 nectarines
1 serving mixed nuts (raw)
1 serving cucumber slaw
8 oz steamed carrots & broccoli
2 oz sauteed mushrooms (sliced, in EVOO)
1 cup tofu stir fry
1/2 cup mixed fruit (cherries, pears, cantaloupe)
1/2 an ear of corn, boiled
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Daily Caloric Intake: 935
Activity:
Walking: Snackers and I got bored so we walked the mall, again, and wound up in the sporting goods store drooling over kayaks again. Also, the new roof racks arrived so we put those on the car, I did most of the work because Snackers couldn't figure out the diagram that came with them. And shoveled/bailed water off the back porch in the rain storm we had this morning ... weee.
One thing I know is that bodybuilders (ie: not just muscle-builders, bodybuilders seek for big muscles *AND* low body-fat -- so they are usually trying to bulk *AND* trim at the same time, or nearly so) often proscribe a diet that contains elements from all 3 major food groups, in proper-ratio of course.
ReplyDeleteSo they will tell you you should NOT just eat 3 fruits all by themselves. Instead, use 1 or 2 fruits, mix in a small amount of a healthy fat (like olive oil) and healthy dose of a very lean protein (like egg whites or a good protein powder).
The philosophy goes something like this: proteins are the hardest of the 3 to digest -- about 25% of every protein-calorie is burned-off merely in order to digest the other 75% of itself. So all that hard work causes your metabolism to spike but also delays total-absorption of all the food in your stomach because it takes a long time to break-down the protein (which is mixed in with the fruit and fat); this helps satiate your hunger. Fruit sugar, on the other hand, is released earlier than the other 2 components and some of it makes it to your blood almost instantly, helping satisfy your immediate-hunger. The two combinations help create an immediate but sustainable feeling of fullness. Fat, on the other hand, is absolutely crucial to releasing nutrients from the other 2 foods: many vitamins are fat-soluble and not made in the body so the only way for you to "store" them for later use is to eat them in the presence of fat; fats also contain essential fatty acids -- which have been proven as essential building blocks for the metabolic system and also shown to fight depression (linked to 'comfort or boredom snacking').
In brief, eating all three types (in a proper ratio, which is a whole other topic and debate) is considered essential to extracting maximum nutritional-value and getting to longest delayed hunger effect.
This doesn't necessarily line-up with your experience of say, the salsa you made, but I thought it might help you in your quest to eat healthy and still feel full.
Well the fruit and veg fast is only for three days and I'm more or less doing it for the primary purpose of cleaning out my system. It certainly must be working in some ways because I was a toot factory yesterday! lol I didn't want to go out in public at first when Snackers suggested the mall but I'm glad we did. It felt good to get out and do something in the absence of football practice rather than sit at home in front of the tube. After today I'll be back to my normal diet.
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