Coping with Illness

I have a cold. Not a big deal, but it has certainly knocked me for a loop the past few days. I really have not felt like eating at all, and the few times I have felt like eating, it has been something completely inappropriate if I want to remain on Atkins.

My solution? Not eating! Although it worked I know it really wasn't a healthy choice for my body. How is it supposed to fight off this illness properly without nutrients, and especially the vitamins?

I have even found my water hard to drink as it tastes icky in my stuffed up head. However, that one at least I have found a solution for! I take a small wedge of lemon and squeeze it in my glass, and suddenly I have a refreshing lemon drink. So much easier to get down!

What foods and tricks have you found to help you weather illnesses?

How to Choose the Right Tools for Your Meals

Every job we do is easier if we have the right tools. When I started doing Atkins I was very diligent in my menu planning to make sure that I was going to be able to keep within my carb limit. However, menu planning is only the first step. Next, we must actually eat our food, and often we have very misguided ideas of what a portion really is.

I have found several handy tools that really help me make a difference:

1) Measuring cups and spoons - these sound boring, I know, but they are very effective in letting us see what a cup of lettuce or a tablespoon of dressing REALLY looks like, not just what I think it looks like.

2) Kitchen scale - I have found this to be an awesome help for those foods that are either hard to measure by size, or that it's hard to find the carb count listed by cups. I love my Starfrit Electronic Kitchen Scale, but any good scale will do. The features I found most important to have include:

a) digital display - much easier to get an accurate reading that scales with a needle

b) zero button - this button lets me put a plate or bowl on top to keep my scale clean and then reset the scale to zero so I can start weighing; it also lets me measure one ingredient then add another without having to empty my bowl between ingredients

c) ability to switch units - if you find carb counts for one thing in ounces and another in grams, it's nice not to have to do the math in your head

d) reasonably high total weigh ability - my scale holds 5 kg; I used to have one that only held 1 lb. and I remember I was forever maxing it out. What a pain!

3) The final tool I am sharing today is an app I found called Carb Diet. This great little app keeps track of my carbs, protein, fat, water, exercise, and weight. It also has a database of thousands of food items and hundreds of restaurants, plus it allows me to customize entries for other foods I buy and for recipes I make. This app has made keeping track of my food intake SO easy!

What tools have helped make your menu planning and food tracking easier?

My New Life Begins...

I have spent most of my life battling with my weight. I was overweight as a child and through much of my teenage years. Ironically, looking back at the chart my mum gave me of my height and weight at different ages, I did go through one stage of being a normal BMI, but I was clumsy and had no self-esteem so I still felt absolutely huge. By the time I was old enough to face reality, my body had long since caught up with my perceptions.

Over the years I have tried many, many diets. Over the years I have failed just about as many. For some reason my body resists losing weight. I lose thirty to thirty five pounds, then stop and regain. No matter what I change, how much I weigh and measure food, and how much exercise I do, the scale moves no further. Agonizingly frustrating. However, the worst part was that I would feel terrible throughout it - lightheaded, dizzy, tired.

The only program I have ever had success with was Atkins. I have tried it twice, for three months at a time, and both times I lost fifty pounds. More significantly, I felt great doing it. Both times I suffered the same downfall, coming off it for a vacation away then struggling to get back on the bandwagon. I have realized that I need to let go of the feeling of deprivation and embrace the feelings of good health and success. Sounds good, doesn't it? That's because I am only on day one! We will see what happens when push comes to shove.

I am writing this blog to keep myself accountable in my journey, and in the hopes that those of you who ride along with me will learn something that helps you in your own journey.