I've been wondering if there is such a thing as too much education when it comes to food, health, nutrition, weight loss, fitness et al. The reason that I've been wondering is because it seems to be that the verdict is always changing.
In the 80's carbs were all the rage, we needed pasta and bagels and grains to fuel those workouts, then it was all low fat, fat is bad. That makes sense right? If you want to lose fat why would you eat it? No no, it's not the fat you just need more protein, your muscles are made up of the stuff so if you want to build more muscle to burn more calories you've got to eat meat meat meat. No wait, meat causes acid build up and that is going to age you. What you want is an all plant based diet. Plenty of leafy greens, grains and beans, lots of yummy fruit. Hang on a minute, sugar is the real enemy. Actually it doesn't really matter what you eat, you've just got to use up more than you take in so count your calories.
It's enough to make a girl's head spin. Having given up dairy and gluten and sugar and meat, what the heck is left? And for crying out loud why am I still carrying this extra ten pounds and why in god's name is it a spare tire around my waist when I work out so hard every day???
This is what I know for sure. While counting your calories and limiting the crap out of them you can lose weight, you will never keep it off. I'm proof. Having done Tracy's 30-day Method diet - I got to where I wanted to be yet here I sit today crying at my computer key board.
I chose to go sugar free for the month of April (that's the abridged version and all I have time for this morning). During the course of the month many different friends and I have been having conversations all over the place about fat loss and health and nutrition and all sorts which has brought me to this point today. Day 1 of Dr. David Ludwig's ALWAYS HUNGRY SOLUTION.
Yesterday was prep day and because I have to get my butt to work very shortly I don't have a ton of time to explain everything that went on but here are the Cliff Notes!
If you read the previous post you know I am quite serious about doing this program right. You only get one chance to do something for the first time when you have the novelty of it propelling you. After that, it becomes a do-over and it never has the same power or effect. So I went type-A on this hard core. The day before day one is the day where you prep yourself. You chop veggies and wash fruit, you make sauces and prepare snacks. The idea being that if you are super prepared, you will have fewer excuses and a higher rate of success.
So here is how yesterday looked.
Carrots, radish, broccoli, green onion, celery and all sorts got washed, chopped and stored. I also did the same with my herbs: cilantro, parsley, and dill. Yum. It smelled like summer in the kitchen yesterday.
I got things ready to make homemade dressings and sauces according to Dr. Dave's handy recipes found in said book.
I followed instructions to the Tee which I NEVER Do! It's was hard.
I already had my spare jars ready and now the fridge is stocked with pre-made whole-food things.
I even got a head start on the snacks. Here are the toasted nuts.
It took everything I had not to add brown sugar or maple syrup like I've done for years with my delish homemade granola. But we were able to add coconut in the end so hopefully that will give just a touch of sweetness.
It's a little hard to see the finished product there, sorry, I'm not a food blogger so not very good at this part.
But all that is to say I am ready for today. However, here on day one I have already had to make some adjustments to the menu. Turns out I am working an odd shift where I will be away from 11:30 to 9pm so I had my morning smoothie as I have already outlined that I'd do rather than make his breakfasts. I am a smoothie girl and want nothing else usually. But now that I am adding my raw vegan protein powder I confess, it's a bit like drinking sand. I find it to be a bit gritty. Yesterday on my test run I had it with banana so was under the impression that it was thick and creamy. Yeah, no! That was the banana that was thick and creamy. For the next two weeks? No bananas. Sad face. I'll live.
Lunch which I am about to dash off and make is a chick pea salad with one of the above lovely sauces, the lemon tahini I believe and dinner was where I had to change the plan. I know me. When I get home at 9 tonight I am not going to want to spend a hour prepping a full meal! But if you fail to plan, you plan to fail right? So I am having a beautiful gluten free vegan lentil soup (already made thank you very much) to which I get to add some gorgeous shredded cheese.
Now this is where the "too much education" piece kicks in. I am really hesitant about the cheese and dairy in general. I was not able to give up that splash of milk in my tea, I already gave up the sugar, what more do you want from me dammit! But I have in fact been off dairy for a little over two weeks and I think I am actually finally starting to see some improvements in my skin. Or is that just from quitting sugar?? I don't know. But I have really been under the impression that dairy is bad. Why are we drinking the milk of another mammal. That can't be right can it? And while I do miss cheese, it's nothing compared to how much I miss sugar, like on an hourly basis! Again it goes back to this thought process that you can't lose weight if you eat dairy. And for this piece of the project I am really in it to lose weight and lose it permanently. I've got ten extra pounds and I want them off for good. No matter how I'm moving or what age I climb to I want that healthy comfy good-feeling weight and I want to achieve it through proper nutrition not a diet.
My head hurts. Is fat really bad? Not according to Dr. Dave. Dairy? The jury (in my own head) is still out. Also Tracy (Anderson) has said many times that she has never seen a person who eats nuts lose weight. Am I already fighting a losing battle? We shall see. I am going to be the guinea pig of my own experiment. Here's hoping that this is the solution I have been looking for.
Wish me luck and I'll keep you posted. Thanks for reading.
Shan
Pretty flashy title right? Got your attention I hope because Dr. David Ludwig is currently my newest crush when it comes to matters of health. He's the author of the new book ALWAYS HUNGRY? and it's my intention to find out if he actually has the power to change my life or not. And I'm excited about it.
So excited in fact that I have decided to chronicle my journey!
It's been a long time since I've felt this kind of inspiration. In fact it was September 2010 when Tracy Anderson came out with her first book that I took a stab at writing a blog to document my experience on The 30-DAY METHOD to hold myself accountable and MASTERING THE METHOD was born.
Don't be alarmed I am not going to create a whole new blog to make sure I do this eating plan properly. I'm gonna do it from here!
What you may or may not be aware of noble reader is that I have officially been off sugar for four whole weeks. Today is my anniversary. I've got some friends who are also sugar free and I'm loving the company. It's a great reminder that I am not insane, I'm just a junkie going through detox. What I've found though is that it takes a lot more than getting off sugar to recover radiant health and this is where Dr. Dave comes in. Yeah, I love him that much he's got a new nickname. Ha, I say I love him today, wait until Saturday rolls around and I actually have to fully pay attention not only to what I'm eating, but how I'm feeling, am I full, what I'm craving and all sorts. More on that in a bit.
So who is this guy anyway? Well he's a Doctor who "began his career in research and he helped to develop his hospital's family-based weight management clinic called Optimal Weight For Life (OWL) program that promoted the "eat less, move more" method for weight loss. Working with many obese patients, they prescribed a low-calorie/ low-fat diet, regular physical activity, and behavioural methods to help people ignore hunger, resist cravings and stick with the program."
Guess what he found? It wasn't working. People were not losing weight or if they did it all came back and then some. Sound familiar? So he set to work on finding a better way and now we have The ALWAYS HUNGRY SOLUTION.
Fabulous! Great! So what does this mean? Another diet. Sad face, not so great. The first diet I ever went on was the one from The 30-Day Method and within three days I had such a migraine from so few calories I had to pull over on the side of the highway while driving so I could throw up. I was so sick. Did I lose weight, hell yeah I did. All the weight I wanted to lose. But as soon as I stopped the low calorie plan, I gained nearly half of it back.
Here I am six plus years later, happy to say that I am still practicing the Method, (this blogging thing really works) and I have gained 15 out of 20 lost pounds back. In fact, within the first two weeks of quitting sugar I had gained 7 lbs, no kidding so I was in fact heavier than when I first discovered Tracy. Yes I've aged so perhaps my metabolism had slowed down but something else had to account for this gain. (I am delighted to say that I lost those extra sevens pound, but still have a ways to go to fit comfortably back into my skinny jeans)
So why Dr. Dave? Why not do Tracy's old diet again or some other low carb, low fat, low calorie diet? Because that's fucking depressing people, how could you even ask me that. I'm old, I want to enjoy my golden years not starve through them. Dr. Dave says forget calories, we are going to work with the science of our body and train it to operate the way it was meant to. What a novel idea, give the body what it wants and it will function healthily. Shocking, why has no one thought of this sooner? They have, but the Sugar Industry crushed them. It's big tobacco all over again, don't even get me started. Better yet go watch THAT SUGAR FILM or SUGAR COATED.
Okay so rather than a diet, this is more like a lifestyle overhaul. Sounds good. I need that. Where do we start? I'm glad I asked. Oh and just let me digress here a little bit, something that Ms. Anderson and Dr. Dave have in common is that when they came up against the system and found that it was not working for them and for many of their clients, they began to experiment on themselves and they gave us the Method and the Always Hungry Solution. With them as my examples and my #1 Shamandment of Be Shannon, I need to add a disclaimer. While working on "my solution" I intend to follow it as closely as possible, but you know me, I'll be making it my own. So there will be changes I add or create that may not be the best thing for you should you decide to embark upon your own Always Hungry Solution. Remember I am not a role model, I'm just a girl struggling to see herself through this thing we call midlife, okay?
Great, now that we have that out of the way, allow me to tell you about the program already will you? Geez, stop interrupting!
Dr. Dave starts the program with a seven day countdown. Unlike when I followed Dr. Junger's Clean program and he recommended a week or so to prep your body with clean foods before diving in and I ignored that and jumped in head first, with the AHS I am working the prep steps and it's a bit of work I don't mind telling you. I just really wanted to be prepared because I am serious about making a life change here, so bear with me if this rambles on a bit.
Day 7 - become familiar with the goals of the program
We are going to abandon counting calories. I have not gone so far as to ditch the Lose It app from my phone yet, but time will tell. We are going to instead, focus on eating the right foods in the right combos to reprogram our fat cells into releasing their excess calorie stores. We're going to go from being sugar burners (needing that coffee or quick fix carb snack for a quick burst of energy) and instead become fat burners (by using the energy we already have so we never hit that lull in energy)
There are three phases to this. Phase 1 we deal with the cravings, and hopefully I've already won half that battle in getting off sugar already.
Phase 2 we retrain our fat cells. I'm imagining some really fat old circus show horses slowly being brought back to their glossy shiny former glory running free across the open plains, or you know, something like that.
Phase three is losing the weight permanently. Yay!
So how to we do that? By adding in healthy fats, being selective about which kinds or carbs to eat (not cutting carbs because that's just stupid) and choosing good lean protein. You'll want to grab the book to get a better understanding of what these exact combos are.
Day 6 - the tracker! I love the tracker. I still track my daily workouts all these years later and yeah, I still get gold stars on good sweaty workout days, don't judge me I'm honouring my inner child. So you're basically going to take your weight and measurements and mark it all down. I made my own because I wanted to. I'll show you a pic in just a sec. But he has ones you can download or you may simply choose to fill out the ones in the book.
Day 5 - we learn about some lifestyle factors that can support us long term and that we are going to implement - see? It's not just a diet. We are going to incorporate movement (for me that's obviously the Method and my other newest obsession KP Dancebody, but we'll discuss that at another time), Sleep - how much to get, how to get ready for it, do's and don't that can be a deal breaker for the program being successful. Hey don't ask me, this was all Dr. Dave's idea, and finally Stress relief, again that can be anything you want it to be - gratitude journalling or meditation or deep breathing. Make it your own.
Day 4 - your big WHY? This felt really important to me, in fact when I was creating my Shamandments - 'Know why I'm doing this' was an important one. Don't do shit arbitrarily people and don't do it because someone else is and you think they're cool. Life is way too short for that. My dad has a saying: If you aim for nothing you'll hit it every time. Personally I think it's great to have goals
So this brings me to the pic I promised above. My tracker and big WHY are in the same photo and I am not ashamed to share with you why I have chosen to do this. Read it and weep!
Hopefully you can decipher my handwriting because I am too tired to retype all that. And notice the shiny star? Yep, that star is one and the same that continues to get stuck to my workout tracker. I'm a nerd and don't care who knows it. (Eek and I see typos up there!)
And I keep this tracker inside my designated cool little notebook. Wanna see it? Check this bad boy out.
If you can't read that it says The Hummingbird is never hungry.
Day 3 - gather your cooking tools and clean out your kitchen. Prepare your home and kitchen for a new way of eating. Dr. Dave has you go through it all - your freezer, fridge, cupboards all of it and get rid of all the stuff that will no longer serve you. It's a big purge and it was really therapeutic for me. While most of my bad stuff was already tossed when I gave up sugar (I also quit gluten so there was no pasta, bread or sugar) it was just super gratifying to clean the place up a bit.
You are then asked to be sure you have all the tools you need. He gives you a list. Most normal people aren't going to have to do all that much here because chances are you have pots and pans and measuring cups etc. But what I didn't have was this little beauty!
I didn't have a processor at all. When I did Tracy's plan and we needed to puree I got myself a tiny 1 1/2 cup one but that did not make the move from Van to TO, so I invested my $60.00 at the hardware store. When I got it to the counter, there was an older grey-haired cashier and he said he loved his, best investment he's ever made. I asked him what he used it for. I could have never guessed his answer; raw sugarless vegan brownies. I took it as a sign!!!
Day 2 - Go shopping: restock the fridge and cupboards with ALWAYS HUNGRY SOLUTION - approved foods. This is where I sit today. Once again if you're a normal person who cooks - someone like my mom - this is going to be no big deal for you. If you're me and all you have is canola oil and some salt and pepper this may hurt a little bit! I have to do this in two parts. A) because I don't have a car and walking home with all this stuff would be way too much and B) Friday is pay day so at least I can break up the cost a little. But this was today's rather massive and beautiful haul.
Look at all those goodies. Have you ever heard that if you want to lose weight you absolutely cannot eat nuts? Not according to Dr. Dave. Let's find out if he's right or not, shall we?
I'll do a produce and fresh food shop as mentioned, on payday which will also happens to fall on --
Day 1 - Roast nuts, make sauces and dressings and get mentally ready (because the previous six days didn't already get me ready?? Whaaaat?) Use this final prep phase day as a springboard to Phase I.
I'm so excited to start I can hardly stand it. I have literally photo copied the daily tracker 28 times, trimmed it to size and pasted it in my little green notebook. Don't be believe me? I really am a dork.
I made a special trip out to purchase a glue stick especially for this very task, spent the better part of the afternoon gluing these in place, only to have the glue dry and unstick, no kidding. Had to tape them all in place, I was pissed!
So the final piece to all of this was the menu. I am a fussy eater at the best of times and while I eat fish I won't eat meat, don't really do breakfast and am not big on snacking unless it's junk food so needless to say I had to make some pretty substantial adjustments and rather than be cryptic since I'm pretty much giving it all away anyway - here's my menu for week one.
Chances are you can't make out my chicken scratch but the significant change I made was to breakfast - I'll be doing smoothies. The only difference between these and the ones I did on CLEAN is that I will be adding protein because Dr. Dave says that's important!
I have no idea about protein powder and I don't fancy the idea of adding it because I'm not fond of putting something not whole into my smoothie and because these powders are costly. I have decided to experiment with single serving sample sizes. These are the first two up.
Dr. Dave recommends Whey and the use of dairy. I've been off dairy for the past two weeks, so not sure how I will feel about reintroducing it into my diet, but in case I decide to return to dairy free, I also have a vegan option. We shall see.
So that's it so far. I'll let you know how my big prep day goes on Friday and then let the documentation/experimentation begin. The month May could be a game changer.
If you're curios about the program but not sure if you can be asked to follow it or invest in the book, check out Dr. Dave's page HERE, click on the resources link and that will allow you to look at sample menus and print trackers, shopping lists and all sorts. It really is very cool. I may not be saying I love Dr. Dave midway through week one when all I want is a bowl of chips or some chewy moist brownies, but for tonight I love him.
Onwards and upwards people, let's be fat burners and have energy to spare.
(I am also really super curious to see if this will in fact reduce my waistline as it promises to do, like serious I may not actually be abcentric. That super triple excites me!)
Love,
Shan
Hey there. I had to pop in here tonight to share my virtue pick for the month of April. Yes I do realize that we are already a third into the month, but better late than never right?
When I turned the calendar over, there was a photo of a still crystal drop of water on a newly opened spring leaf as the photo for the month and it rang out peace, serenity, tranquility, bliss. So without a thought I penned in Peace as the virtue. However, sometimes the month itself has a way of dictating what I need to practice and as it turns out I needed a bit of Faith. I mean who am I kidding, I can always use more peace, but faith struck a truer chord with me so I am trusting my instincts on it.
As some of you may know, last September my genius and guru-like friend Jackie called me out on my self-deprecating ways, how I always seemed to apologize for my very presence in a room as if I were taking up too much space and how I really didn't appear to believe in myself. I write 'seemed' because it is past tense for me. Not entirely, not all the way, I am not filled to the brim with confidence and courage... yet. But since her suggestion of starting a Believe Jar (if you don't know what that is and are keen to find out, go HERE.) my self worth has shot way up. I can honestly look myself in the mirror and say: You're alright Masters.
I'm not all the way there yet, perhaps we're never all the way there. Maybe that's the point of life, that in order to evolve and grow, we have to continue to reach deeper within and stretch farther than yesterday. Don't ask me, I'm just a blogger trying to navigate my way through my midlife here okay?
But it was during a recent meeting when I heard some pretty impressive stuff being said -- about me! -- that I became acutely aware that while I may now feel like I am okay, perhaps even enough, I still lack a greater sense of faith and confidence in my own gifts and talents. That's a hard one to confess here in public for anyone in the world to read, but it's true.
The meeting was about a current project of mine that has been an eternity in development, plagued with all matter of setbacks, yet still manages to live and breathe... the producers who optioned the piece were on a conference call with me and our potential new director. I had the worst migraine headache so for the most part I simply lay back and listen and what I heard was astounding. They spoke of me in the most generous of terms paying my work, experience, and abilities a multitude of compliments. It was as if I were not on the line listening. I was instead a fly on the wall overhearing a private conversation and I was blown away. They made me cry.
I wondered how it was that I had never ever once seen myself in the way they had described me? How was it possible that people whom I respect and admire, who have been in the industry since I was in junior high could say such incredible things... about me? I started to pay closer attention to my self dialogue and I realized that all this time I'd been seeing myself as a novice, having nascent talent that still had miles to go, as an apprentice, as an opening act at best but never the headliner? And worse, how had I not realized that I'd been running this dialogue for the better part of a dozen years. People say I'm an award winning screenwriter and I respond with well sure but...
They tell me that they loved my film and I ask them if they're drunk. Whoa. Some shit's not lining up here. How the heck do we expect to get ahead in this world if deep inside we don't really believe we're worthy? Ask me if I'm capable I'll say hell yeah. Am I diligent? Yep. Dedicated? Of course. But talented? Gifted? Experienced? Deserving? I shrink. I get scared. I feel small. Well that's just no good.
I need to believe in myself all the way, not just that I'm a kind and good person, a loyal friend, someone who is punctual. I am very punctual btw! (maybe just not where getting the monthly virtue out on time is concerned) I need to believe that I am really good at what I do. Is there a learning curve where certain jobs are concerned? You bet your ass there is. But am I willing to apply myself and learn? Damned straight I am. But I will do the work necessary.
So... FAITH it is. Faith in myself as a writer. Faith in my gifts and talents. Faith that all will be well. Faith that great things are on the way for me. Faith that yes, the universe is indeed running on time. And faith that things always have a way of working out. Just like beneath the snow the world seems lifeless, but each winter we have faith that spring will eventually arrive.
So here we go...
The next adventure. Take a look at your own life. Are you doing exactly what you want to be doing? Have you allowed yourself to really dream and imagine what your life could be? Are you standing in your own way? Do you believe that you're unique and the world needs what you've got? If the answer isn't a resounding YES! then perhaps it's time you shone a light into those dark corners and began to cultivate a little faith of your own in that spirit garden you got growing over there. The snow is about to clear people, lets grow more than weeds this year.
xoxo
Shan
Hey y'all,
Just a super quick check-in today a week after my bold introduction as a sugar-holic. I double checked and yep, seven days later I'm still me and I'm still addicted, but guess what? My name is Shan, I'm a sugar-holic and I have 7 days clean! As my pal Elise says sugar is No Bueno!
This is the most challenging time I have ever had getting off the sweet stuff for as those of you who know me or who have read about my run-ins with "the wagon" know that I often do things my own way. What this has meant in the past was that I always managed to keep the sweet flavors in even when sugar-free for seven months or while doing Dr. Junger's Clean program. Seriously. I was clean apart from that bite or two or bar of Green & Blacks dark chocolate.
So there it is folks, I'm a cheater. I had unwittingly been cheating myself. But why so hard core this time around you may be asking? Well it's a health thing. Both physical and mental. I have exhausted myself around thinking about sugar, which cake to have, how many cookies to indulge in, how many two-bite brownies before I throw up, can I have ice cream with that, oooooo a chocolate bar would be great about now, I need those chocolate covered almonds to go with my coconut milk mocha (which is bloody loaded with sugar by the way). My mind was (and still is) a slave to the crave. I am craving it right this very second but I figured if I wrote about it my fingers would be too busy typing to eat any. Ha, immediately my mind went to voice command;
"You could have a few chocolate chips while you dictate the blog, Shan."
It's an ongoing nightmare.
I went to the fridge right now and saw a jar of jam and considered taking a spoon to the entire thing and I don't even like jam dammit.
The other reason of course is physical. It's plain bad for our health. Period. I recently watched a great great great documentary called That Sugar Film.
I was shocked to learn that sugar has been added to almost everything we eat, even the stuff that's purportedly healthy for us. And why? Because sugar is a global industry worth over five billion dollars. It's been proven that sugar is the root cause of diseases like fatty liver, heart disease, diabetes just to name a few. But before it even gets that far it screws up your digestion, makes your brain go crazy, makes you moody, foggy, exhausted and fat! This is big tobacco all over again people, and we need to wake up from the sugar coma they've put us in!
When I started blogging I did it because I wanted to track my progress on Tracy Anderson's 30-Day Method. (Don't worry this isn't going to turn into a blog strictly about quitting sugar). I bring it up because Tracy then came out with a program called Metamorphosis that had 4 divisions within it based on body types. You choose the one that's right for you and you're off to the races. I was abcentric, meaning I gain all my weight around my mid-section. (Did I say this was going to be a quick post? I might have lied, but we already know I'm a cheater so...)
As I went through the program including her very strict diet I was able to lose my excess weight, return to my thin physique, but I never really developed a flat tummy and I certainly never got a tapered waist. This is me at the end of the 90 day Meta program after also completing the 30-Day Boot Camp...
Don't get me wrong, I looked and felt the best I'd done in years. I was lean, but I couldn't keep it up. I immediately gained back about half the weight and in fairness I may have been a little below my body's comfort zone, but I gained it all back in my gut.
After watching That Sugar Film and learning about the effects of sugar in the body, basically how it spikes your sugar level, which then triggers Insulin which drops your brain chemicals down below your happy normal levels, which then triggers an adrenal response, prompting you to crave more sweets, which you then have, which then spikes your sugar, prompts Insulin, you get the idea. It goes on and on until your body no longer functions the way it is supposed to and your liver just starts basically pumping out fat. Now that's not the exact science of it, for that you can watch the film. In any case a lot of that fat gets stored around the organs and becomes this abdominal fat that you just can't shake.
Now that I have taken my body off of refined sugars, it thinks that I'm starving it, so it's holding on to all of its glucose stores and sucking as much sugar out of the natural food that I'm feeding it as it can. Eventually (I hope) it will learn that it isn't starving, that it isn't going to have such easy access to sugar and is in fact going to have to work for it, it will start burning off those stores for energy and return to a normal properly functioning human body.
But since I have never not been off sugar for real, as I said when I was sugar free I was still consuming natural sugars like dates or maple syrup, (And while they are okay for you, they still keep that sweet tooth alive and create that trigger response.) now that I really am off it, no sugar in my tea, salad dressing with no added sugar, whole foods high in fat and a little more protein instead of carbs, maybe I will actually allow my body to finally get a bit of balance and work the way it was designed to, as a fat burning machine. Damn that was a long sentence. I've been addicted to sugar and have comforting loving emotions entwined with the sweet stuff going as far back as my memory. I was born loving sugar.
What I am trying to say is that while I will never ever have an hour glass figure, perhaps I am not really abcentric after all. Can you even imagine?? I'll keep you posted, but in the mean time what I am aiming to do is finally get my sweet tooth to listen to my wisdom tooth!!
This is going to be the first time in my life that I am going to attempt to recalibrate my taste buds away from sweet and who knows where that could potentially lead.
Excuses be gone. Just say no. These are my mottos and as my friend Jenne put it, it's about managing the moments. We only ever have to contend with the current moment and if we can get past this moment's craving, each time we do it will continue to get easier.
Thanks for checking in.
xoxo
Shan
