No Guilt -- Good thing or Bad thing

I was awake in the middle of last night, pondering way too many things. One was what if someone never has guilt with eating low nutrient foods or even damaging foods. Is that a good thing or bad thing? You see it all the time -- the "Eat, Drink, and Be Merry" mentality. Do it today and don't worry about tomorrow. That's not the most healthy approach to be sure.

The more I thought of it though, it comes down more to knowledge in the first place. If someone has an understanding about nutrition and what the Standard American Diet is doing to the health of Americans and more personally to him or herself, then that person will be better able to make healthy choices and evaluate unhealthy habits. Dr. Furhman says that healthy eating isn't about will power, it's about gaining knowledge and using that knowledge to improve your health (and your family's health).

I've always wondered if I could write a short post. I'll try to stop here and see if I'm tempted to add on more later on. Brevity is not one of my strong points.

Guilt -- good thing or not where eating's concerned

Sometimes I wonder if guilt is a good thing or bad thing with trying to improve eating. I know for habitual dieters (focused on weight loss) that if they "mess up" with their diet, the guilt usually doesn't promote better focus and efforts on the diet. It causes discouragement, which leads to more overeating and poor food choices.


In my own experience, I don't know that I've ever thought, "I feel so bad for eating ______, that I'll do better tomorrow." It's more of a conscious decision that I got off track and need to get back on -- no guilt involved. If I do beat myself up about getting off-track (which I have many times), it usually just gets me down and I'm not motivated to improve as much.

I'm not sure why this is the case with eating because with other forms of guilt can be fruitful and helpful in promoting positive change. I remember lying about something when my oldest girls were little. I questioned it at the time, but justified my behavior. When I got home, I knew it was wrong, but shook it off. I didn't want to feel bad about it. It was easier to rationalize and try to forget it. When I got on my knees to pray, the sure knowledge that this was wrong flooded over me. I felt guilty and knew I had to correct the situation. So I went back to the person and admitted the truth. I felt so much better. The guilt had helped me to correct the situation and to improve myself in some small way.

If guilt just festers without promoting change though or if the guilt is improperly directed (I see my kids do this, feeling awful that they've spilled some juice or something that really doesn't matter), then it can just be disruptive to our lives and even damaging.

I'm thinking that what happens with eating is that (like I mentioned before), the guilt either overwhelms and brings the person into an emotional state that leads to wanting comfort through food. Or the person just wants to shut off the guilt and resort to black & white thinking, "If I messed up here, I'll just have some of that too while I'm at it. I'll get back on track after the weekend (vacation, holiday, etc.)" There's also the physiological aspect that putting unhealthy foods into our bodies doesn't help us think as clearly when it comes to the next choice of what to eat. I know for me if I start eating refined sugar or flour (especially breads and cookies), my body stops desiring whole foods and wants more, more, and more. There's no room for any other thoughts. I wouldn't feel guilty about that until late that night or a day or two later. I'd have to get the "sugar rush" out of my system first.

When I used to read Marilu Henner's Total Health Makeover books (her books were the first to introduce me to eliminating dairy), that one of her 10 steps is actually about the opposite of guilt. It's Gusto! She says that if you end up eating something not as healthy, to not feel guilty about. Her idea is that if you might as well enjoy it then get back to your eating plan afterward. If you feel such guilt, it will interfere with your digestion, your state of being, and will make you less likely to get back on track later on. This isn't a free pass to get off-track all the time, but is healthy advice for not spiraling down and getting farther away from healthy eating habits instead of continuing to improve.

I'd love to hear from any of your experiences because I'm still pondering this. It would be interesting to hear if any of you do actually benefit from guilt when it comes to poor eating choices.

Deathbed Requests for Food

I don't know if this is common or not, but when I started eating healthier, I was known to make deathbed requests for food. Every so often, I'd tell my children "When I'm on my deathbed, I want you to bring me a Haagen Dazs Ice Cream bar with the chocolate and almonds on the outside." I had memories of how heavenly that was and knew it would cause me problems (allergies, asthma, you name it) if I ate it now. But I figured on my deathbed, I'd be on my way out anyway, so let me enjoy it one last time before I go. I made many amendments to my deathbed request list. I know I requested a few kinds of pizza. I've had many thoughts about the kind of pizza my friend Gaylene's mom made when I was growing up. It was the king of homemade pizzas! I learned to make it in high school -- maybe my mom could do it, but if I outlive her, then that wouldn't work too well. I could teach my kids how to make it, but do they need all that meat piled up on top? Not really. They mixed ground beef, sausage and onions, put it under the cheese, then put thick chunks of pepperoni on top. The thought now actually makes me shudder. I don't think I could eat it even on my deathbed. But I do have good memories of how great it tasted then.

Back to the Haagen Dazs bar, that was my first request I had come up with. A year or so later, I was on vacation with my youngest daughter (we'd taken my older daughters and their friends to a youth conference and had all week to do whatever until it finished). We went swimming at a different pool each day. My daughter had just learned to swim and where we live, we don't have hot summers, so outdoor pools are a rarity. When we go on vacation, we're like magnets to outdoor pools. We love to go swimming outside -- to experience getting so hot that we want to jump in the pool -- getting tired and wanting to dry off in the heat of the sun. During this time, she started getting comfortable with the diving board. I told her that if she jumped off the board many times, I'd let her pick out a treat. She chose the Haagen Dazs bar. We'll, it's not much more money to buy a box of 4 than it is to just buy a single (and not all places even sell singles). So we bought a box.

It was August and I used to justify eating dairy in August because my allergies and asthma stopped bothering me by mid-July and really didn't start up again until September. August was my dairy window. So I had the Haagen Dazs bar. I couldn't even finish it. Sure it was tasty at first, but it was so rich that I couldn't keep going. I had to cross that off my deathbed list.

I used to request certain flavors of ice cream for my deathbed too (in my initial deathbed painting, there would be a big truck outside with the back open, ramp coming down, men with dollies dragging the crates of food into my bed). But the last time I had an ice cream cone, it felt like someone was coating my insides with thick paint -- it was way too creamy and didn't feel good at all. A few more requests no longer desired.

I guess it was kind of like when the Boutenko kids (Sergei and Valya, now young adults) started eating all raw foods with their parents -- they would dream up what they'd eat once they turned 18 and didn't have to follow their parent's ways anymore. They eventually loved eating just raw foods though and have since written books, teach seminars, etc.

If I really ever do get on a deathbed, I doubt I'll even want any of the unhealthy foods I've given up. I'm scanning my brain for any right now and can't come up with any. I used to think cheesecake was the end all, but the last time I took a sample of that at Costco, I got a buzzing headache within about 10 minutes. It wasn't worth the few seconds of taste.

When I was really sick a few weeks ago, a friend of ours asked my husband what sickness I had. At that point, it hadn't even gotten to my lungs, so we weren't sure what was going on. I was just weak in bed for days with aches, pains all over, and couldn't do much of anything but stare at the wall and hope the time would pass. When night came, I felt like crying, because I hadn't been able to sleep during the day and struggled with it for more than maybe 20 minutes at a time at night. Each day I'd think "Well, tomorrow will be a little better" and it would somehow be worse. My husband answered our friend with "She has deathbed sickness," not meaning that I was on my way out, but that this must be what it feels like to be on your deathbed. It was partially his dry humor emerging, but I thought that was a pretty accurate guess of what it would feel like to be on a deathbed.

Interestingly enough, the only food I ever wanted was fruits or vegetables. At first, I only ate one or two fruits a day. I couldn't eat much more -- didn't desire much more. One night I woke up and couldn't breathe (the nebulizer was no help) and I had 1/2 an orange by my side. I ate a few pieces very slowly and was able to go back to sleep. A few days later, I craved some vegetable soup. I couldn't eat much, but it was nice going down. A few days more of just a few pieces of fruit, then the thought of steamed veggies and brown rice sounded amazing. I didn't have all the goods in the fridge, but when my friend Cherie called (who cooks that all the time), I made a special request and she brought me some. I never once wished I had ice cream, pizza, or even chocolate. That was the furthest thing from my mind. I still don't want it (okay, maybe I want chocolate -- not this second, but late in the afternoon, it always sounds good). So maybe I'm growing -- ever so slowly at times, but in a healthy direction at least.

I'm off to the store to get some food for our family. Like old Mother Hubbard, our cupboards are bare! I really need to get serious about planting a garden (and getting our fruit trees to produce more) so I don't have to run to the store so often. We go through a LOT of fruit. Hopefully we'll all learn to go through a lot of veggies someday too. TTFN!

Nothing tastes as good as being healthy feels

I've seen that quote attributed to a few different nutrition or raw food experts. I'm not sure who said it first. But the idea is compelling. "Nothing tastes as good as being healthy feels." Do you agree with that statement?

Since I've changed my eating over the past few years, I've had many friends or relatives say "Well, I couldn't live without eating . . . " or "If I had as many health problems as you do, maybe I'd change how I eat, but . . . " I probably would have said similar things 5+ years ago. It's hard to give up certain foods that we love, even if we know they are doing our bodies damage. Often we don't even see the damage it's doing until it's too late. It's also hard to know what being healthy feels like when we get used to our ailments, even as simple as fatigue or headaches. When I'm feeling my best, I never need a nap and am full of energy all day long.

I haven't written on here for a few weeks because I've been really sick, sicker than I've ever been in my life. My children all took turns being sick for a few weeks and I cared for each one of them. I held off on being sick myself by eating the best I could and resting whenever I felt run down. Then Valentines Day hit and I thought I was doing well by eating "good" chocolate from the health food store, but I ate far too great of quantities to ever do my body any good. (First I bought my husband a big bar for Valentine's Day -- bought an extra for myself so I wouldn' steal from his after giving it to him. Not only did I eat mine before Valentine's Day, but I ate his too. Then I had to go back and buy him another -- bought myself another too -- ate that until I was sick of chocolate. It just didn't taste good anymore). I started getting sick the next day. I was in bed for 2 weeks not long afterwards, feeling absolutely miserable.

Lessons learned?

1) Too much of a seemingly good thing is still too much.

2) My health is fragile -- I need to be more careful.

3) Eating "healthier" versions of junk from the health food store still isn't as good for me as whole foods. Dr. Fuhrman talks about this in his Eat for Health book. He talks about how a nutritarian (someone who eats for nutritional excellence primarily from high nutrient plant foods) is different than a vegan or vegetarian. Many vegans or vegetarians are not much better off health-wise than those on the Standard American Diet if they are eating processed foods (soy products and cereals included), sugar and flour.

I remember a few summers ago when I went to a Raw Food Expo with my cousin (who wasn't even interested in being a raw foodist, but wanted to spend time with me and thought the event would be fun. She was cute -- she skipped a class mid-day to go eat an omelette across the street). I remember something she said to me in the hotel room the night before. She talked about a friend of hers who had decided to clean up her eating and to eat much healthier. Her friend started shopping at the health food store, but would come home with bags of junk food -- just the healthier versions. Sure, if you want a Ritz cracker, it's better to buy the Classic Rounds by Back to Nature or the Late July version. (They don't have any hydrogenated fat and use organic ingredients). But that shouldn't be the norm of what you eat. Those crackers provide little nutritional value. I saw myself in her statement. It wasn't uncommon for me to walk into the health food store to get some groceries and to come out with chocolate bars, a variety of Clif bars, potato chips, cookies, soy ice cream, etc. -- all very low on the nutrient density scale.

So, yes, I've gotten away from many refined foods. I'm still working on moderation with the health food versions too. I'd say I'm doing better than a year ago on this. But hopefully next year will be even better because I'd rather feel the full effects of good health than spend another day of my life sick. I'd love to say goodbye to my asthma problems forever. I've learned to avoid asthma much more than I used to, but once I get it, it gets severe pretty fast.

I'm still not completely better and I don't enjoy writing as much when I'm not feeling well for some reason. But I'm on my way back and I'm more determined now than ever to feed my body well and to give myself optimal health.

Fun Fitness Spoof -- Body Fusion

I don't know if you've seen this video before. It's a Saturday Night Live skit with Drew Barrymore called Body Fusion. For anyone who was around or aware of the early fitness videos, it's pretty funny. Even if you weren't, I guess you'd still enjoy it (my kids do :)).

Yesterday morning, I was rebounding to a Cardio Coach cd while watching an old FIRM video (thought that would be more fun to watch than the normal stuff on TV -- I used to do this video a lot and it brings back fun memories to see it. You might have to be what people on the Video Fitness website call a "vidiot" to understand that :)). Anyway, just watching the way they used to do FIRM workouts reminded me of this Drew Barrymore skit -- the mansion setting, the pastel colors, trying to be lovely while being fit. Thought I'd share it. Enjoy!

Rethinking the whole baking thing

I love to bake. I always have. I love how food smells when it comes out of oven. I love how it looks when it rises above the pan. I love cooking with Pampered Chef stones and just acquired another one last week (the bundt pan, well, they call it the fluted pan). I love how it heats up the house in the winter time. I love how it fills me up when I'm really hungry (or not -- often it just makes me want to eat more and more despite how much I've decided I'll eat before hand).

When I was younger, I learned to bake cookies and breads partially because it was a fun thing to do and partially because my mom never bought snack foods or desserts - - if we wanted something besides apples, oranges or saltine crackers, we had to make it from scratch. I didn't mind. I loved it and my dad would often call me "Cookie" because I baked cookies so often. It was fun to bake and see everyone excited about what I made. I loved to give baked gifts to friends. One Christmas I made several Teddy Bear Bread loaves to friends and relatives -- the dough shaped like a teddy bear with a plaid bow tied around its neck. Very fun.

I also liked to eat what I baked. Sometimes I'd hide the cookies or muffins in a big paper bag to keep my 4 brothers from eating them all up. One of the most clever hiding places was the dryer. They never thought to look there. Once I hid some cookies in a low cupboard way in the back. I guess I forgot about them. A few months later, my mom was cleaning out the cupboards and found the bag of stale cookies along with a stiff mouse. Glad I wasn't doing the cleaning that day!

Anyway, the habit was born and I really didn't put on any weight from it until college. I baked way too much in college and my metabolism had slowed down a bit. I gained 20+ pounds and never felt all that energetic. When I got married, I saw a pattern emerge. When I baked, I put on weight. When I didn't bake, I either lost weight or remained the same. But now that I'm in my 40's, I can't eat any baked goods without gaining weight. I just stepped on the scale this morning for the first time since New Year's and I've put on 5 pounds. I was stunned! I shouldn't have been if I'd stopped to think about how much baking I've done in the past several weeks. I could just do the math and it would be evident what the result would be.

I'm not sure why -- okay, maybe I am. I was going to say I'm not sure why flour has such an effect on me. I've eliminated white flour and have seen big improvements from that in my digestion and pelvic floor strength. But even whole wheat flour seems to make me feel more stuffed (well, yeah, I eat so much of it) and triggers the urge to eat more. Back to the "maybe I am" from the top of the paragraph -- I should know why -- I eat too much bread, muffins, or whatever I bake. The calories just add up.

There's also talk about the leavening in breads, muffins, cookies, etc. - - that they add gas to your body whether it's yeast, baking powder or whatever. I've noticed this the most when I've been eating raw foods for weeks then eat even a bit of bread. My body gets really gassy (like you wanted to hear that, huh? :))

I remember when I first tried the Eat to Live program. For the first week, I lost 8 pounds. I was eating the cup of grains/starchy vegetables during those days mostly in the form of cracked wheat (boiled into hot cereal with raisins, cinnamon, and ground flax seed - - so hearty and yummy). Then I decided to bake bread one day. From that day on, my weight loss stopped. At first I was keeping to the portions recommended, but still the weight loss stopped. And then I ate too much. It was a slippery slope that I couldn't handle.

So why am I writing all this? Well, the weight gain thing - - now I have to embed this into my brain even more so to stop baking so much, to eat more vegetables instead, and to get my grains in more whole forms (even though most people consider fresh ground flour whole - - my body doesn't receive it as well as with the fiber intact). Notice how I said "stop baking so much" ? Why couldn't I just say "Stop baking" ? I've done it before. I can do it again. I really can (even if I am coming up with a bunch of excuses in my head as I type).

I'll do some actual research by doctors and nutritionists on this subject and will add that knowledge to my own musings on the subject. Hopefully they'll mesh together well and benefit your life as well. For now, I need to get my kids in bed (way past their bed time!) and I'll be back soon.

Added the next morning -- Here's a Q&A I found from Dr. Andrew Weil's website on the subject of wheat being better for you in it's whole form (not ground into flour). I remember something similar from him when I subscribed to his Self-Healing newsletter a few years ago. Now it's making more sense to me now that I see how my body responds.

What's Wrong with Whole Wheat?

Q - In your book "Healthy Aging," you recommend eating whole grains but not whole-wheat flour products. Why?

A - Answer (Published 11/29/2006)

I recommend eating whole grains because they're a great source of important nutrients, including protein, fiber, vitamins, minerals, and, especially, carbohydrates that are low on the glycemic index (GI), a ranking of carbohydrate foods on the basis of how they affect blood sugar (glucose).

This is important for many people because eating a lot of foods that are high on the glycemic index will produce spikes in blood sugar that can lead over time to insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is associated with obesity, high blood pressure, elevated blood fats, and an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, and other chronic diseases.

Grains in their natural form have a low glycemic index, while processed carbohydrates, including those made with flour or puffed grains, have a high GI. The reason is that it takes longer for digestive enzymes to reach the starch inside whole grains or grains cracked into large pieces, slowing down the conversion of starch to sugar. True whole grains include wild rice, barley, quinoa, millet and wheat berries. You can be pretty sure you're eating a natural grain with a low GI ranking if you have to chew it or can see grains or pieces of grains in food products. The more your jaw has to work, the better.

But when grains are pulverized into flour, whether whole or not, their surface area expands dramatically, providing a huge, starchy surface area on which the enzymes can work. Consequently, the conversion to sugar happens very quickly. Whole wheat bread and products labeled "whole grain" are usually made with flour.

If you check a list of the glycemic index of various foods, such as the one at www.mendosa.com/gilists.htm, you'll see that finely textured whole wheat bread has the same GI as white bread ? about 70, making both high GI foods. I recommend cutting down on all products made with flour and increasing consumptions of grains in their more natural state.

Andrew Weil

Hilary Burnett -- Soothing Pilates

I've been doing so much Pilates lately that I'm realizing how many great Pilates instructors there are. I've only talked about a few so far. I think I've only posted about Ellen Barrett and Brooke Siler. So today I'll tell you a little about Hilary Burnett.

Hilary Burnett is a certified instructor at The Pilates Center in Boulder, Colorado, at least she did when she made her videos in 2001. (I just checked and she's not listed as an instructor there anymore, but she did teach a variety of classes, workshops and personal fitness training while there -- and may somewhere else now). At the end of her videos during the credits, it shows her teaching this huge class -- always fun to see.

She made 4 videos -- Pilates Basics, Pilates Intermediate, Pilates Advanced, and Zen Stretch. They all came out on video orginally, then were produced on dvd in 2005, which was very exciting for those of us who loved Hilary's Pilates. It doesn't look like Zen Stretch ever made it to dvd. Maybe it wasn't as big of a seller. After I explain it, you'll probably see why it didn't reach a wide audience.

The thing I love about Hilary is that her Pilates routines have a peaceful yogic feel without incorporating yoga. It's pure Pilates, but the production and her voice give it a feeling that many yoga asanas have -- relaxing and peaceful. The set has dozens of candles lit on the dark, marbly steps of the Bastyr University Chapel in Seattle. The set also has pillows and draped clothes tossed here and there with soft guitar music playing in the background. Hilary Burnett's calm teaching style amidst a room of pillows and candles provides a relaxing escape into Pilates.

Her Pilates Basics dvd is a perfect way to be introduced to Pilates because she explains the breathing and movements well. She also provides a window with modifications, which are very helpful when you are first starting to learn Pilates exercises and especially while doing the roll up. This workout is just 24 minutes long and includes the following sequence (commonly known as the Series of 10) of Pilates exercises:

Breathing exercises

The Hundred

Leg Circles

Rolling Like a Ball

Single Leg Stretch

Double Leg Stretch

Spine Stretch Forward

Side Series - Forward and Back Kick

Kicks to the Ceiling

Seal

Pilates Intermediate is a little longer (just over 30 minutes) and the moves go at a slightly faster pace. This is the dvd I've done the most. I love some of Hilary's visualization cues like on the kicks to the ceiling, she says "Up through water, down through clay." That help me know to float my leg up and bring it down with resistance. She also says to imagine your waist in a tight corset or mermaid suit. It helps me bring everything inward. Hilary does a few sitting stretches at the end, which are nice (and not always the case for Pilates workouts). She shows that you can put weights over your ankles on the neck pull, which is extremely helpful. I've yet to master the neck pull!

Here is the sequence in Pilates Intermediate:

Breathing Techniques

Roll-up

Single Leg Circles

Rolling like a Ball

Stomach Series: Single Leg Stretch

Double Leg Stretch

Scissors

Double Leg Stretch

Twist (or Criss Cross)

Spine Stretch Forward

Open Leg Rocker

Corkscrew

Saw

Swan

Single Leg Kick

Double Leg Kick

Neck Pull

Shoulder Bridge

Spine Twist

Jack Knife

Side Kick Series: Forward and Back Kicks

Kicks to the Ceiling

Teasers

Hip Circles

Swimming

Seal

Light Stretches

In Pilates Advanced, it's actually shorter than the Basics and the Intermediate (22 minutes) and moves at a brisk pace. Brooke Siler says in her book that Pilates becomes aerobic when you flow quickly between moves. Hilary definitely does that in this dvd. And she does less repetitions of each exercise. That's my only regret for this workout, that she only does 3 or 4 reps on some moves that I'd rather do double that. But it's still nice to do when I want a challenge, but don't want to spend too much time either.

I did this one last week and realized that since Hilary does so many inversions (where your feet come up over your head or up in the air above your head) that for me, it's better to do at the end of the day instead of first thing in the morning when my body is less flexible. I don't know if you'd experimented before, but I can easily do a plough pose at night time, but am hit and miss (more often miss) when I attempt it in the morning.

Here are the exercises she does in Advanced Pilates:

Standing Balance Pose

Footwork

The Hundred

Roll-up

Roll Over

Single Leg Circles

Rolling like a Ball

Single Leg Stretch

Double Leg Stretch

Scissors

Double Leg Lower Lift

Twist (or Criss Cross)

Spine Stretch Forward

Open Leg Rocker

Corkscrew

Saw

Swan Dive

Single Leg Kick

Double Leg Kicks

Neck Pull

Scissors

Bicycle

Shoulder Bridge

Spine Twist

Jackknife

High Bridge (back bend)

Side Kick Series: Kicks Forward and Back

Kicks to the Ceiling

Heel Beats

Teasers Advanced

Hip Circles

Swimming

Leg Pull-down

Leg Pull-up

Kneeling Sidekicks

Sidebends

Twist I

Twist II

Boomerang

Seal

Crab

Rocking

Control Balance
Pilates Push-up

Standing Stretches

As you can see, she fits many moves into this short workout. It's different than any other I have because of the pace and all that I accomplish. Plus I get the loveliness of Hilary's demeanor and beautiful setting.

I haven't done Zen Stretch in ages. I traded it long ago, but remember it as being a workout I could do parts of and enjoyed watching more than attempting. In her Pilates dvds, she is the only one on the set. In Zen Stretch, there is another woman who does the moves along with Hilary. The moves are so advanced and quick that it's fun just to see what they can do. And it's short -- just 15 minutes long. It's not a stretch video at all -- more of a combination of Pilates strength, flexibility and modern dance. I can see why it didn't make it to dvd. Probably most people couldn't do it. But it was fun to see how much Hilary could do, how much Pilates could enable your body to do if you really made it a priority in your life.

Here's an interview that Hilary did with the Video Fitness website a few years ago. VF Interview If I ever find anything new about Hilary Burnett, I'll let you know.