My Diet

Creating a healthier Diet

2006-12-19T15:42:00.000-05:00

Starting to eat breakfast again was one of the harder habits to get going for me. I started with cereal but I quickly regressed to the sugary cereals. I guess that eating something is better than nothing as far as breakfast goes. However, recently I have started trying to cut most of the dairy out of my diet (I am alergic to milk and eggs). I have decided to go with Oatmeal. The benifits should be great as it's a high fiber, low calorie blob of goo. Oatmeal is about as tasteless as it gets for me though. I think my next step is to buy some frozen berry mix from Costco and mix them in. Adding any fruit to my diet is great.

Next I am trying to be better about bringing a lunch to work. This accomplishes two things for me. First it is generally a much smaller portion than I would purchase. Second it is generally much healthier than what I would purchase. Also I think I would like to include at least 2 days of salad each week. The other meals will most likely be leftovers or sandwiches. So far my biggest problem on this front has been the smaller portion. I often feel very hungry again within a few hours. I solved this by getting a some Walnuts and cashews. They are a little fatty but as long as the portion size is small there are alot of positives to eating them.

For Dinner I really don't have any plans to change. I have done my best to change the pastas and rice over to whole grains and make sure to include a veggie. Otherwise it is often my least healthy meal. I think the first two are good steps though.

Now if I could only get myself into a gym routine....

High Fructose Corn Syrup

2006-05-16T15:29:00.000-04:00

From everything I have heard High Fructose is bad. So I am trying to cut it out of my diet as much as possible. But it is hard, I mean it is even in whole wheat bread! Take a look at what you eat I beat 3 out of 4 things have it!

Glucosimine Week 3

2006-05-15T15:33:00.000-04:00

Some people swear by this stuff? Maybe they are crazy? Still no change for me.

Routine

2006-05-03T14:35:00.000-04:00

I have had a really hard time with my workout routine since I hurt my wrist. I finally am gaining some mobility back, but it has prevented me from lifting with my upper body for about 2 months. My workout now is pretty much exclusively cardio and some leg to get ready for wakeboarding and soccer. I never realized how hard it is to bounce back from an injury that I thought was minor. Hopefully the Glucosimine will help that joint too.

Glucosimine Week 2

2006-05-02T15:31:00.000-04:00

Still no change. If anything I would say my knees are worse, but this is probally from the crappy weather.

How much does Glucosamine help? Week 1

2006-05-02T10:22:00.000-04:00

I am hoping that the rumors I have heard are true for this one. I am taking Glucosamine daily at the recommended dosage to see what effect if any it has on my knees. So far after a week I haven't noticed anything (nor did I expect to).

I am starting outdoor soccer again in a few weeks and as soon as the water warms up a bit I will be out wakeboarding again. Those will be the real tests in my opinion.

What are Glucosamine and Chondroitin Sulfate?

2006-04-26T10:42:00.000-04:00

Glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate are substances found naturally in the body. Glucosamine is a form of amino sugar that is believed to play a role in cartilage formation and repair. Chondroitin sulfate is part of a large protein molecule (proteoglycan) that gives cartilage elasticity.

Both glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate are sold as dietary or nutritional supplements. They are extracted from animal tissue: glucosamine from crab, lobster or shrimp shells; and chondroitin sulfate from animal cartilage, such as tracheas or shark cartilage.

From www.arthritis.org

Snowboarding

2005-11-07T16:08:00.000-05:00

So after my busy summer it is time to once again join the gym world and stay in shape. Snowboarding season is set to begin on 11/19 so I have some catching up to do. I found this(scroll down a little) on staying in shape for riding. I think one of the best things she suggests is variety. Playing sports and other not so structured exercise is great for you and alot more fun.

More to come as I get back into my winter routine.

146 Reasons Why Sugar Is Ruining Your Health

2005-10-05T13:01:00.000-04:00

1. Sugar can suppress the immune system.

2. Sugar upsets the mineral relationships in the body.

3. Sugar can cause hyperactivity, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, and crankiness in children.

4. Sugar can produce a significant rise in triglycerides.

5. Sugar contributes to the reduction in defense against bacterial infection (infectious diseases).

6. Sugar causes a loss of tissue elasticity and function, the more sugar you eat the more elasticity and function you loose.

7. Sugar reduces high density lipoproteins.

8. Sugar leads to chromium deficiency.

9 Sugar leads to cancer of the ovaries.

10. Sugar can increase fasting levels of glucose.

11. Sugar causes copper deficiency.

12. Sugar interferes with absorption of calcium and magnesium.

13. Sugar can weaken eyesight.

14. Sugar raises the level of a neurotransmitters: dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine.

15. Sugar can cause hypoglycemia.

16. Sugar can produce an acidic digestive tract.

17. Sugar can cause a rapid rise of adrenaline levels in children.

18. Sugar malabsorption is frequent in patients with functional bowel disease.

19. Sugar can cause premature aging.

20. Sugar can lead to alcoholism.

21. Sugar can cause tooth decay.

22. Sugar contributes to obesity

23. High intake of sugar increases the risk of Crohn's disease, and ulcerative colitis.

24. Sugar can cause changes frequently found in person with gastric or duodenal ulcers.

25. Sugar can cause arthritis.

26. Sugar can cause asthma.

27. Sugar greatly assists the uncontrolled growth of Candida Albicans (yeast infections).

28. Sugar can cause gallstones.

29. Sugar can cause heart disease.

30. Sugar can cause appendicitis.

31. Sugar can cause multiple sclerosis.

32. Sugar can cause hemorrhoids.

33. Sugar can cause varicose veins.

34. Sugar can elevate glucose and insulin responses in oral contraceptive users.

35. Sugar can lead to periodontal disease.

36. Sugar can contribute to osteoporosis.

37. Sugar contributes to saliva acidity.

38. Sugar can cause a decrease in insulin sensitivity.

39. Sugar can lower the amount of Vitamin E (alpha-Tocopherol in the blood.

40. Sugar can decrease growth hormone.

41. Sugar can increase cholesterol.

42. Sugar can increase the systolic blood pressure.

43. Sugar can cause drowsiness and decreased activity in children.

44. High sugar intake increases advanced glycation end products (AGEs)(Sugar bound non-enzymatically to protein)

45. Sugar can interfere with the absorption of protein.

46. Sugar causes food allergies.

47. Sugar can contribute to diabetes.

48. Sugar can cause toxemia during pregnancy.

49. Sugar can contribute to eczema in children.

50. Sugar can cause cardiovascular disease.

51. Sugar can impair the structure of DNA

52. Sugar can change the structure of protein.

53. Sugar can make our skin age by changing the structure of collagen.

54. Sugar can cause cataracts.

55. Sugar can cause emphysema.

56. Sugar can cause atherosclerosis.

57. Sugar can promote an elevation of low density lipoproteins (LDL).

58. High sugar intake can impair the physiological homeostasis of many systems in the body.

59. Sugar lowers the enzymes ability to function.

60. Sugar intake is higher in people with Parkinson’s disease.

61. Sugar can cause a permanent altering the way the proteins act in the body.

62. Sugar can increase the size of the liver by making the liver cells divide.

63. Sugar can increase the amount of liver fat.

64. Sugar can increase kidney size and produce pathological changes in the kidney.

65. Sugar can damage the pancreas.

66. Sugar can increase the body's fluid retention.

67. Sugar is enemy #1 of the bowel movement.

68. Sugar can cause myopia (nearsightedness).

69. Sugar can compromise the lining of the capillaries.

70. Sugar can make the tendons more brittle.

71. Sugar can cause headaches, including migraine.

72. Sugar plays a role in pancreatic cancer in women.

73. Sugar can adversely affect school children's grades and cause learning disorders..

74. Sugar can cause an increase in delta, alpha, and theta brain waves.

75. Sugar can cause depression.

76. Sugar increases the risk of gastric cancer.

77. Sugar and cause dyspepsia (indigestion).

78. Sugar can increase your risk of getting gout.

79. Sugar can increase the levels of glucose in an oral glucose tolerance test over the ingestion of complex carbohydrates.

80. Sugar can increase the insulin responses in humans consuming high-sugar diets compared to low sugar diets.

81 High refined sugar diet reduces learning capacity.

82. Sugar can cause less effective functioning of two blood proteins, albumin, and lipoproteins, which may reduce the body’s ability to handle fat and cholesterol.

83. Sugar can contribute to Alzheimer’s disease.

84. Sugar can cause platelet adhesiveness.

85. Sugar can cause hormonal imbalance; some hormones become underactive and others become overactive.

86. Sugar can lead to the formation of kidney stones.

87. Sugar can lead to the hypothalamus to become highly sensitive to a large variety of stimuli.

88. Sugar can lead to dizziness.

89. Diets high in sugar can cause free radicals and oxidative stress.

90. High sucrose diets of subjects with peripheral vascular disease significantly increases platelet adhesion.

91. High sugar diet can lead to biliary tract cancer.

92. Sugar feeds cancer.

93. High sugar consumption of pregnant adolescents is associated with a twofold increased risk for delivering a small-for-gestational-age (SGA) infant.

94. High sugar consumption can lead to substantial decrease in gestation duration among adolescents.

95. Sugar slows food's travel time through the gastrointestinal tract.

96. Sugar increases the concentration of bile acids in stools and bacterial enzymes in the colon. This can modify bile to produce cancer-causing compounds and colon cancer.

97. Sugar increases estradiol (the most potent form of naturally occurring estrogen) in men.

98. Sugar combines and destroys phosphatase, an enzyme, which makes the process of digestion more difficult.

99. Sugar can be a risk factor of gallbladder cancer.

100. Sugar is an addictive substance.

101. Sugar can be intoxicating, similar to alcohol.

102. Sugar can exacerbate PMS.

103. Sugar given to premature babies can affect the amount of carbon dioxide they produce.

104. Decrease in sugar intake can increase emotional stability.

105. The body changes sugar into 2 to 5 times more fat in the bloodstream than it does starch.

106. The rapid absorption of sugar promotes excessive food intake in obese subjects.

107. Sugar can worsen the symptoms of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

108. Sugar adversely affects urinary electrolyte composition.

109. Sugar can slow down the ability of the adrenal glands to function.

110. Sugar has the potential of inducing abnormal metabolic processes in a normal healthy individual and to promote chronic degenerative diseases.

111.. I.Vs (intravenous feedings) of sugar water can cut off oxygen to the brain.

112. High sucrose intake could be an important risk factor in lung cancer.

113. Sugar increases the risk of polio.

114. High sugar intake can cause epileptic seizures.

115. Sugar causes high blood pressure in obese people.

116. In Intensive Care Units, limiting sugar saves lives.

117. Sugar may induce cell death.

118. Sugar can increase the amount of food that you eat.

119. In juvenile rehabilitation camps, when children were put on a low sugar diet, there was a 44% drop in antisocial behavior.

120. Sugar can lead to prostrate cancer.

121. Sugar dehydrates newborns.

122. Sugar increases the estradiol in young men.

123. Sugar can cause low birth weight babies.

124. Greater consumption of refined sugar is associated with a worse outcome of schizophrenia

125. Sugar can raise homocysteine levels in the blood stream.

126. Sweet food items increase the risk of breast cancer.

127. Sugar is a risk factor in cancer of the small intestine.

128. Sugar may cause laryngeal cancer.

129. Sugar induces salt and water retention.

130. Sugar may contribute to mild memory loss.

131. As sugar increases in the diet of 10 years olds, there is a linear decrease in the intake of many essential nutrients.

132. Sugar can increase the total amount of food consumed.

133. Exposing a newborn to sugar results in a heightened preference for sucrose relative to water at 6 months and 2 years of age.

134. Sugar causes constipation.

135. Sugar causes varicous veins.

136. Sugar can cause brain decay in prediabetic and diabetic women.

137. Sugar can increase the risk of stomach cancer.

138. Sugar can cause metabolic syndrome.

139. Sugar ingestion by pregnant women increases neural tube defects in embryos.

140. Sugar can be a factor in asthma.

141. The higher the sugar consumption the more chances of getting irritable bowel syndrome.

142. Sugar could affect central reward systems.

143. Sugar can cause cancer of the rectum.

144. Sugar can cause endometrial cancer.

145. Sugar can cause renal (kidney) cell carcinoma.

146. Sugar can cause liver tumors.

Summer

2005-07-27T10:25:00.000-04:00

So I have fallen off my gym regiment for the summer. I just don't have the time for it. I am still doing some situps and basic weight exercises in the morning, plus I wakeboard which is a workout and a half so overall my body is at a standstill. I have mostly given up soda and sugar drinks and general during the day(I only drink water at work) which is a huge cost savings if nothing else. I highly recomend not drinking soda for any diet or just for health.

Water

2005-04-28T10:38:00.000-04:00

I have implemented a new idea to my diet. Whenever I get "hungry" I drink a 8oz cup of water. Maybe I just need to drink more water in general but I find that this prevents me from snacking quite so much.

Sugar Drinks

2005-04-22T11:06:00.000-04:00

I find since I have cut back on salt my taste is changing. I can now eat more bananas, oranges and other fruits and actually enjoy them. The big challenge for me remaining is still sugary drinks. I cut soda out but I still crave iced teas and fruit juices. I am trying to reduce my overall calorie intake and these sugar drinks are a simple way to cut back. Refined sugar is an addiction similar to smoking I think at this point. Maybe I should try a Fast? I do feel healthier in many ways. I really need to weigh myself again, I am gaining weight but my fat is receding.

Why to keep a Workout Diary/Log?

2005-04-05T09:02:00.000-04:00

Recently I took some advice and started a workout journal. To get started I went out and bought a pocket notebook for under a $1 and a package of mechanical pencils(I don't feel like dealing with ink at the gym) at the drugstore next to my gym. I start out each entry by dating it and listing everything I ate for the day(gives some perspective on what helps/hurts a workout) and how I feel going into the workout(tired, hungry, strong...). The rest I log what exercise I am doing. This differs for each exercise(how many reps/how long) then at what difficulty(how much weight or resistance), and finally what settings(sizing) on each machine. I find this journal to be very motivating to see how I am improving as well as what works and what doesn't.

How to Workout

2005-02-19T11:30:00.000-05:00

First off I can make it to the gym about 3 days a week.
My main goals are:

Build my Endurance
Basic Cardio
Fat Loss

Why Endurance?: I want to build my endurance for snowboarding/wakeboarding. Last summer I would get so tired that I would be unable to complete more than one lap around the lake. My goal for this summer is 2.

Why Cardio?: I sit all day at work so I need to do something to get my heart rate up and at least move some blood around. This will also hopefully help with goal 3.

Why Fat loss?: I started getting a "beer gut" this last year. Basically my job involves sitting in front of a computer all day. My fat loss goal is to look reasonable with my shirt off. No big deal there.

For a three day program I have to do less isolation than I would like so I have split my workouts into two separate days

Leg Day:

40 minute cardio(in my case I like the elliptical)
Quad Machine
Hamstring Machine
Calf Machine
Full Leg Press

Upper body day:

25 minute cardio
Biceps + Triceps (on universal cable machine)
Shoulders (free weights)
Chest press
incline
various back machines

I am still refining it and I should probally get the real names of the exercises but so far I have already lost an inch or so from my waist and feel great.

High Fiber Diet

2005-02-18T12:12:00.000-05:00

As I research things that could be a good idea for my diet. Fiber has been an interesting topic. But of course for all the good stuff you hear, there is always an article to tell you that you are wasting time.

Now this is a difficult part, Fiber seems like it will be difficult to get to a reasonable level. I could supplement it, but I want to avoid making my "diet" cost me anything.

Well it seems that more good than bad comes from High Fiber diet. Nothing says it hurts you, the stuff that has high fiber is supposed to be healthy. So for now it is raisin bran, wheat bread, and peanuts for me.

Wheat Vs. White

2005-02-17T11:47:00.000-05:00

Today I started one of the harder changes in my diet(at least for me). I bought wheat instead of white bread. I bought it because I need to eat a more fiberous diet and the wheat bread(not whole wheat just regular wheat) has twice the fiber. Also today googled around a bit and it seems that the refined grain used in white bread causes size gain in the waist area. So for me at least it is a start at being a little more healthy in the long run.

My second fiber aimed purchase was whole grain pasta. Basically from what I read on the box they blend in some grains into the pasta. So it has double the fiber of regular pasta.

What bothers me is that even with doubling all these small areas of fiber I am still going to be under 50% of what is suggested to be healthy. This might be a tough one without supplements.

Low Fat, High Sodium

2005-02-17T09:00:00.000-05:00

While grocery shopping last night I came across something that may be of interest. I was looking at the nutrition of various things I was buying when I came across something interesting. Low Fat food has more sodium. So in my case my fat intake is not that bad, however my sodium intake is awful. So as appealing as something with half the fat is I went with the regular(in this case granola bars).

What I concluded from this is that no matter what a product says on the front, its the nutrition on the back that matters. Read the Nutrition facts for everything you eat, you might be surprised how much crap you are putting into your body!

So Far

2005-02-16T15:46:00.000-05:00

I have been off of soda and on reduced salt for a few weeks now. The biggest difference so far, is that I am drinking a great deal more water. I am up to about 8-10 glasses a day(at work). Maybe my body is cleaning itself out or maybe it is just the weather.

The Biggest Bonus I can think of right now is that if I were drinking half as much soda it would be $5 a day. So my diet is saving me about $25 a week so far.

Another "Side Effect" is that I seem to wake up drinking the water. I am not having the sugar/caffine spikes I would get with other drinks. I do think water is the way to go, though I did slip and get a small gatorade with my lunch today.

I think the next steps are going to be:

1. More Fiber
2. More Fruit
3. More Veggies

Still, I want to do this without changing too much. If the change is too drastic I will never stick with it.

My Diet

2005-02-15T11:46:00.000-05:00

I Decided I don't like any of the fad diets nor do I have a need for one. What I do need is to prevent myself from becoming your stereotypical beer gutted guy(and maybe look a little better in the long run). I also want to be healthier (maybe even getting sick less). I want to do all of this without buying slimfast or power bars. This blog is mostly just to keep track of what I am doing and if it works at all. If it works I should see improvement in a few months.

So Here are my initial goals:
1. Join a gym
2. cut my Sodium Intake down to under 100% of the daily value
3. Stop Drinking Soda

Why Join a gym?:

Now this is probally the most expensive part of my diet but that is part of why I wanted to join. Because I joined a gym(with another person) I will feel guilty if I don't go. I think going and getting some basic excercise will increase my metabolism and just generally keep me healthy.

Why Cut my Sodium intake?:

Pre-Packaged food(soups, raviolis..) are great for bringing to work and saving a few dollars on lunch. When I started "eating better" I just simply looked at the labels. I realized that some of the things I was eating were easily 50% of my sodium in one tiny cup of soup! In the context of my diet I realized 2 things. First my arteries are going to just turn rock solid and stop working. Second Sodium makes you retain water. So if nothing else I can probally lose a pound or two just by cutting back.

Why Cut out Soda?:

This is probally the hardest of my first three goals. Sugar to me is a mild form of crack. I am pretty sure I am going into withdrawl because of not having it so much. Now I suppose I could go to diet soda, but I dont need the caffine, and I don't really like it. So cold turkey it is, from probally 2-4 soda/iced teas a day to none. If nothing else this will save some money cause water is free! Soda is awful for my stomach, rotting my teeth and adding in the range of 500 calories a day to my diet of useless sugar.