For some, this is a repetition of every arguement I have ever given for weight loss and the obesity problem in the US.
This morning on GMA, they were discussing a new weight loss drug that has been approved by the FDA. Apparently it was not approved and then they changed their minds. The list of side effects from this drug are severe but they felt that losing weight was more important because of these this drug is to only be used by those morbidly obese. If you look up what is considered obese - it's not that much weight. It doesn't take long before the charts list someone as obese and even shorter to go from that to morbidly obese.
It makes me crazy when this subject comes up and people start saying things like - all it takes to lose weight is xyz. The truth is - it's not that simple. I am a fat person and I will admit that my weight has steadily gone up over the years. Four years ago, we lived in the country. To eat out was a major affair so I had to make every meal. We rarely purchased quick foods because our life allowed me to stay at home most of the time. We grew a decent garden and I canned or froze the excess. We had neighbors with gardens so we could swap with them. I walked because it was easy.
Then we moved to the "city". We live in an apartment. I can have a small garden plot for a price but the last two years have been fairly unsuccessful (the first year due to poor soil conditions, the second to poor weather conditions). I no longer have a large pantry space so I have to be careful of what I store and our budget has reduced drastically due to the extra cost of living in the city. I, also, don't walk much any more.
The other problem was that we now had easy access to fast food. In fact, I can feed my family more food at a fast food restaurant than I can making something from scratch on some occasions. That's where the real problem lays.
I have to depend on my grocery store for food at this point in time. I have $100 a month that we get in food stamps. Our income is so tight that we are struggling to come up with the extra $30 a month to purchase a bountiful basket so we can have produce. We have very little extra funds for groceries.
I go to the store with my $100.
I prefer whole grain bread to white bread. I can buy a loaf of white bread for $1. If I am lucky I can purchase a healthy loaf of wheat bread for $2.50. Note that I said healthy. I can buy a wheat bread for $1 which is usually the same brand as the white bread but the ingredients tell me it's not really wheat bread. I struggle to find a wheat bread that has whole grains not just a little wheat flour so they can call it wheat bread. Some of the best breads can cost up to $5 for a loaf.
I can make bread at home. I can usually find all purpose white flour for about $2 for a five pound bag. Wheat flour - no less than $3 and I have paid up to $7 to have a five pound bag.
Let's talk salad. I can pick up a bag of iceburg lettuce salad for $1 on many occasions. If I find a good sale I can pick up spinach or romaine salads (which are more nutritionally dense) for $2.
The leaner the hamburger - the higher the cost. A store, not in our community, is currently advertising their great hamburger price for 81% lean hamburger - $2.49 a pound. Chicken thighs and drumsticks have been about $1.25 a pound (don't even ask about boneless skinless chicken I cry every time I want to buy some).
Then add the research that everything we know about diet food is wrong. Skim milk is actually causing people to gain weight (or not lose it) because they add stuff to the milk to make it more appealing to the public. Artificial sweetners actually increase appetite and prevent the body from knowing it's full. Low fat diets actually cause people to consume more calories.
Most diets fail because they are meant to fail - that's how they make money. If everyone who tried a weight loss product lost all their weight and stayed thin - they wouldn't need diet products any more. Add that to the lack of access to inexpensive healthy foods and that's why we have an obesity problem.
It's hard not to be fat when your diet makes you feel sluggish and tired. You work harder so you can provide better food but then you are over stressed and have no energy. We have a society set up to make us fat and until that changes, I'm sorry to say, we will continue to be fat.
Showing posts with label weight loss. Show all posts
Showing posts with label weight loss. Show all posts
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Monday, January 2, 2012
New Year Resolutions
Most people start the new year off with resolutions. The majority of resolutions fail. I saw a statistic today that says only 12% of resolutions actually make it to the end of the year.
I don't make resolutions - I make goals. This year I determined 3 goals: to lose weight, improve my income and better my health. To clarify I wrote out the goals - To lose 1-2 pounds a week, To get published and increase my income, and To improve my health/well being.
With each of those, I broke down the goals further into mini-goals that would allow me to meet my big goals. I gave parameters where I felt I needed them and left others more ambiguous so that I can offer myself the greatest chance of success. You will see that my weight loss goal is a weekly goal not a yearly goal. For the next 52 weeks, I have a weekly goal to lose 1-2 pounds. This is considered healthy weight loss. In the end, I could lose up to 104 pounds. But if I set my goal at 104 pounds I wouldn't make past January because that's not a manageable goal to me. I would want to lose the weight all at once because I like instant gratification as much as the next guy. That would be setting myself up for failure but making it each week then I have a chance to pick myself up if I have a bad week. My diet cannot fail because every Monday it starts over again.
Will it be successful - only time will tell. For now, I am hopeful.
My diet sub-goals will work well with this blog - I plan on increasing my vegetable/fruit intake, adding whole grains and looking for ways to increase my nutrition without increasing my calories.
This week I will start offering my interesting vegetable ideas. I have managed to slowly change my family's eating habits and they love vegetables now. I will share these techniques with you and soon your family will be begging for more.
I don't make resolutions - I make goals. This year I determined 3 goals: to lose weight, improve my income and better my health. To clarify I wrote out the goals - To lose 1-2 pounds a week, To get published and increase my income, and To improve my health/well being.
With each of those, I broke down the goals further into mini-goals that would allow me to meet my big goals. I gave parameters where I felt I needed them and left others more ambiguous so that I can offer myself the greatest chance of success. You will see that my weight loss goal is a weekly goal not a yearly goal. For the next 52 weeks, I have a weekly goal to lose 1-2 pounds. This is considered healthy weight loss. In the end, I could lose up to 104 pounds. But if I set my goal at 104 pounds I wouldn't make past January because that's not a manageable goal to me. I would want to lose the weight all at once because I like instant gratification as much as the next guy. That would be setting myself up for failure but making it each week then I have a chance to pick myself up if I have a bad week. My diet cannot fail because every Monday it starts over again.
Will it be successful - only time will tell. For now, I am hopeful.
My diet sub-goals will work well with this blog - I plan on increasing my vegetable/fruit intake, adding whole grains and looking for ways to increase my nutrition without increasing my calories.
This week I will start offering my interesting vegetable ideas. I have managed to slowly change my family's eating habits and they love vegetables now. I will share these techniques with you and soon your family will be begging for more.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Weight Loss on a Budget Part 2
As I get to thinking about my plan the more I realize that the tricks I can use to reduce my caloric intake are ones that will help maximize my grocery budget. Once again, all this takes is a little creative thinking.
I mentioned before that omitting unnecessary ingredients helps stretch the budget but it also reduces wasteful calories. I used cheese as an example because it's one I see a lot. Cheese can be heavy on calories and should be treated like a condiment instead of a meal (except that's not always possible in cases of mac and cheese, pizza, quesadillas, etc but I'll talk about that in a moment). Where I see this most is with pasta and with sandwiches (hamburgers included). More often we add cheese because we believe we need to but it doesn't actually add to the dish. We love parmesan cheese on spaghetti but when our budget got tighter we moved from fresh shredded parmesan to the grated powdery stuff that comes in a can. Doesn't matter what brand you buy, they all barely have any flavor. Not using the cheese reduces calories and when you stop thinking about it, you won't notice any difference.
The same goes for most sandwiches. Cheap processed cheese has little flavor but is not calorie free. Eating your hamburger without the gooey glop makes a calorie difference that you won't even taste. It's tough to convince someone that investing in higher priced, higher quality cheese is actually saving your budget (and your waist line). A good quality cheese requires less because you can taste it. I like sharp cheeses - sharp cheddar, blue cheese, feta, because they all encourage using less.
The same goes for butter/margarine. Often times we use too much. A light smear of butter on a piece of bread still offers the flavor without all the extra calories. I had to teach my son that 1/2 cube of butter for a can of vegetables was just a waste. One can add a little or none at all and still have a good tasting side dish.
Vegetables are tough for some people. If you are one who can't eat them without a ton of butter or cheese sauce - there is a way to curb that habit. Each time you eat them, use less. I got my family away from using cheese sauce for vegetables by sprinkling on a good sharp cheddar or parmesan on the vegetable when I served them. Eventually, they didn't even need that. I just cut a bunch of calories and stretched our monthly allotment of cheese and butter.
We've moved from microwave popcorn to air-popped corn which is so much better (too much controversy over the safety of microwave popcorn for me). I found I don't mind it plain but sometimes a little flavor is nice. I'm returning to a trick my grandmother used to use - spray the popcorn with butter flavored cooking spray and sprinkle on some spices. She often used taco seasoning on the popcorn. It's a great low fat, low cost snack (popcorn kernals often cost less than a three pack of microwave popcorn and makes soooooo much more).
Back to the cheese for a moment, since I am easily distracted. When it comes to foods like mac and cheese, pizza and quesadillas - how do you reduce the amount of cheese and still feel like you have a good dish. It goes back to buy a good quality cheese. Mac and cheese can be made with less fat by using oil instead of butter to make the roux, using a lower fat milk (the jury is out on whether low fat milk is good for you) and a sharp flavorful cheese. It will take less cheese to flavor the sauce. Same goes for quesadillas - less can be more if you use a good flavor cheese.
As for Pizza - use lots of vegetable toppings and less cheese or omit the cheese all together for some varieties. We love pizza crust with potatoes and onions. Cheese is nice but not necessary.
Making food flavorful with herbs and spices will help reduce cost and calories because you are not adding things to flavor the food.
A tip I learned from my mom when I was younger (that I am sure she has since forgotten) - use salsa as a salad dressing. Salad dressings are often laden with fat and add little nutrition. Using salsa gives the salad flavor and extra veggies. I like to mix it up and use blue cheese or feta as a toppine (about 1 TB is all I need). Sometimes a little crumbled bacon (about 1 strip fried and crumbled). They are fatty foods but they offer more than just fat (well except maybe the bacon). I like adding avocados when I can get them. They have good fat and lots of nutrients so it adds an extra punch to my salad.
I'm sure there's more in the recesses of my brain but that will have to wait for another post since this one is long enough.
I mentioned before that omitting unnecessary ingredients helps stretch the budget but it also reduces wasteful calories. I used cheese as an example because it's one I see a lot. Cheese can be heavy on calories and should be treated like a condiment instead of a meal (except that's not always possible in cases of mac and cheese, pizza, quesadillas, etc but I'll talk about that in a moment). Where I see this most is with pasta and with sandwiches (hamburgers included). More often we add cheese because we believe we need to but it doesn't actually add to the dish. We love parmesan cheese on spaghetti but when our budget got tighter we moved from fresh shredded parmesan to the grated powdery stuff that comes in a can. Doesn't matter what brand you buy, they all barely have any flavor. Not using the cheese reduces calories and when you stop thinking about it, you won't notice any difference.
The same goes for most sandwiches. Cheap processed cheese has little flavor but is not calorie free. Eating your hamburger without the gooey glop makes a calorie difference that you won't even taste. It's tough to convince someone that investing in higher priced, higher quality cheese is actually saving your budget (and your waist line). A good quality cheese requires less because you can taste it. I like sharp cheeses - sharp cheddar, blue cheese, feta, because they all encourage using less.
The same goes for butter/margarine. Often times we use too much. A light smear of butter on a piece of bread still offers the flavor without all the extra calories. I had to teach my son that 1/2 cube of butter for a can of vegetables was just a waste. One can add a little or none at all and still have a good tasting side dish.
Vegetables are tough for some people. If you are one who can't eat them without a ton of butter or cheese sauce - there is a way to curb that habit. Each time you eat them, use less. I got my family away from using cheese sauce for vegetables by sprinkling on a good sharp cheddar or parmesan on the vegetable when I served them. Eventually, they didn't even need that. I just cut a bunch of calories and stretched our monthly allotment of cheese and butter.
We've moved from microwave popcorn to air-popped corn which is so much better (too much controversy over the safety of microwave popcorn for me). I found I don't mind it plain but sometimes a little flavor is nice. I'm returning to a trick my grandmother used to use - spray the popcorn with butter flavored cooking spray and sprinkle on some spices. She often used taco seasoning on the popcorn. It's a great low fat, low cost snack (popcorn kernals often cost less than a three pack of microwave popcorn and makes soooooo much more).
Back to the cheese for a moment, since I am easily distracted. When it comes to foods like mac and cheese, pizza and quesadillas - how do you reduce the amount of cheese and still feel like you have a good dish. It goes back to buy a good quality cheese. Mac and cheese can be made with less fat by using oil instead of butter to make the roux, using a lower fat milk (the jury is out on whether low fat milk is good for you) and a sharp flavorful cheese. It will take less cheese to flavor the sauce. Same goes for quesadillas - less can be more if you use a good flavor cheese.
As for Pizza - use lots of vegetable toppings and less cheese or omit the cheese all together for some varieties. We love pizza crust with potatoes and onions. Cheese is nice but not necessary.
Making food flavorful with herbs and spices will help reduce cost and calories because you are not adding things to flavor the food.
A tip I learned from my mom when I was younger (that I am sure she has since forgotten) - use salsa as a salad dressing. Salad dressings are often laden with fat and add little nutrition. Using salsa gives the salad flavor and extra veggies. I like to mix it up and use blue cheese or feta as a toppine (about 1 TB is all I need). Sometimes a little crumbled bacon (about 1 strip fried and crumbled). They are fatty foods but they offer more than just fat (well except maybe the bacon). I like adding avocados when I can get them. They have good fat and lots of nutrients so it adds an extra punch to my salad.
I'm sure there's more in the recesses of my brain but that will have to wait for another post since this one is long enough.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Weight Loss on a Budget
I've been debating about writing a section on dieting on a budget. I have some strong feelings about dieting and the "obesity" epidemic. I, also, worried that it would add just another layer to an already overwhelming change. It's difficult to maintain a grocery budget and a balanced diet. Adding the addition of "dieting" can completely cause the entire system to crash.
The weight loss industry has convinced the American public that losing weight is hard and you can only do it if you spend a lot of money in the process. More often than not their systems are designed to fail for if you succeeded then you would no longer require their products. I'm not going to say that all programs are designed for failure but many are - especially those that come in pill form. Most people want everything right now. Rapid weight loss results in what is called Yo-Yoing. Yo-yoing is losing weight, gaining it back, losing weight, etc. This is the result of most weight loss programs.
Why do most programs fail? The answer is simple, they don't change the underlaying problem. For example, you have a house. The exterior siding is stained so you spray paint it a dark blue to cover it up. Over time the paint fades and you're back to yucky siding. So you paint it green when what you need to do is scrape away all the old paint, prime and then paint it a color that you like instead of something that covers up.
The same is with losing weight. We don't want to take the time to do it right, we want to fit into that outfit for our class reunion which is next week or get ready for summer vacations on the first warm day after winter. We want quick, easy and something that doesn't require a lot of thought. But that doesn't spell success.
When it comes to weight (losing or gaining) there's a simple equation - calories in vs calories out. To lose weight your calories in have to be smaller than your calories out. Easy as can be - in theory.
Now we're looking at food on a budget. This is where I have some real issues with the fighting obesity programs. I don't believe education is THE answer. I believe it's a part of the answer but no amount of education is going to change the price of food and people's access to it. If I had unlimited funds, you can bet I would buy fresh organic fruits and vegetables to serve at every meal. I might even make that the majority of my meal but I can't. I have to be creative when it comes to fruits and vegetables through foraging and gardening because to buy them in the store would financially ruin me. I'd love to buy organic farm raised meat and eggs - I can barely afford what I do buy. This is not a pity party just reality. To buy the foods that are best for maintaining weight just are not affordable. What is affordable is calorie dense foods. That is why the poor have always been portrayed as fat, cheap foods are calorie dense. That doesn't make them lack nutrition, in fact many provide great nutrition but also excessive calories.
How does one maintain a budget, provide good nutrition, and lose weight to keep it off permantently? The truth is - I'm going to find out. My doctor has demanded I lose weight for my health. My blood pressure has been creeping up along with my weight over the last year and it's time to focus on becoming healthy.
One tool I am using is Sparkpeople. Sparkpeople is a free website with lots of tools, trackers and support. I have used it in the past but not really as a committed weight loss tool. What I am going to use and used in the past is the Nutrition Tracker. This is the best tool out there. Enter what you eat and how much (a little tricky for those who make everything from scratch but not impossible), the system tells you how many calories, carbs, fat, protein you have eaten. If you set up a weight loss goal, the tracker will also give the parameters you need to meet to lose weight and still be healthy. My goal is to lose 100 pounds in one year. Sunday was my birthday so by my next birthday I want to be 100 pounds lighter. This might be a slightly too big of a goal but we'll see. It means slow weight loss - 2 pound a week approximately. Slow weight loss is tough because you can't see it right away but it's the perfect plan for keeping the weight off. I am giving myself a year because in that time I can learn to make better choices. I'm not planning on overhauling my diet, just learning to eat less of calorie dense foods and more of the lower calorie foods. Tracking my diet will mean greater success.
I have lots of ideas but I have already talked too much so more thoughts tomorrow.
The weight loss industry has convinced the American public that losing weight is hard and you can only do it if you spend a lot of money in the process. More often than not their systems are designed to fail for if you succeeded then you would no longer require their products. I'm not going to say that all programs are designed for failure but many are - especially those that come in pill form. Most people want everything right now. Rapid weight loss results in what is called Yo-Yoing. Yo-yoing is losing weight, gaining it back, losing weight, etc. This is the result of most weight loss programs.
Why do most programs fail? The answer is simple, they don't change the underlaying problem. For example, you have a house. The exterior siding is stained so you spray paint it a dark blue to cover it up. Over time the paint fades and you're back to yucky siding. So you paint it green when what you need to do is scrape away all the old paint, prime and then paint it a color that you like instead of something that covers up.
The same is with losing weight. We don't want to take the time to do it right, we want to fit into that outfit for our class reunion which is next week or get ready for summer vacations on the first warm day after winter. We want quick, easy and something that doesn't require a lot of thought. But that doesn't spell success.
When it comes to weight (losing or gaining) there's a simple equation - calories in vs calories out. To lose weight your calories in have to be smaller than your calories out. Easy as can be - in theory.
Now we're looking at food on a budget. This is where I have some real issues with the fighting obesity programs. I don't believe education is THE answer. I believe it's a part of the answer but no amount of education is going to change the price of food and people's access to it. If I had unlimited funds, you can bet I would buy fresh organic fruits and vegetables to serve at every meal. I might even make that the majority of my meal but I can't. I have to be creative when it comes to fruits and vegetables through foraging and gardening because to buy them in the store would financially ruin me. I'd love to buy organic farm raised meat and eggs - I can barely afford what I do buy. This is not a pity party just reality. To buy the foods that are best for maintaining weight just are not affordable. What is affordable is calorie dense foods. That is why the poor have always been portrayed as fat, cheap foods are calorie dense. That doesn't make them lack nutrition, in fact many provide great nutrition but also excessive calories.
How does one maintain a budget, provide good nutrition, and lose weight to keep it off permantently? The truth is - I'm going to find out. My doctor has demanded I lose weight for my health. My blood pressure has been creeping up along with my weight over the last year and it's time to focus on becoming healthy.
One tool I am using is Sparkpeople. Sparkpeople is a free website with lots of tools, trackers and support. I have used it in the past but not really as a committed weight loss tool. What I am going to use and used in the past is the Nutrition Tracker. This is the best tool out there. Enter what you eat and how much (a little tricky for those who make everything from scratch but not impossible), the system tells you how many calories, carbs, fat, protein you have eaten. If you set up a weight loss goal, the tracker will also give the parameters you need to meet to lose weight and still be healthy. My goal is to lose 100 pounds in one year. Sunday was my birthday so by my next birthday I want to be 100 pounds lighter. This might be a slightly too big of a goal but we'll see. It means slow weight loss - 2 pound a week approximately. Slow weight loss is tough because you can't see it right away but it's the perfect plan for keeping the weight off. I am giving myself a year because in that time I can learn to make better choices. I'm not planning on overhauling my diet, just learning to eat less of calorie dense foods and more of the lower calorie foods. Tracking my diet will mean greater success.
I have lots of ideas but I have already talked too much so more thoughts tomorrow.
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