Hello all! I am back after yet another long break.
Cannot believe my daughter is starting school in one week and my second born is already a year old. It's been wonderful spending one hundred percent of the time with thing1 and thing2 - tantrums, meltdowns and frustrating moments included .
After we settled down from jet lag and celebrated DS's birthday and ayushya homam and a couple of festivals, I am desperate to kick start my weight loss efforts yet again. For the last decade I have been struggling with this issue. Take 2 years off for each pregnancy and post partum phase - that's still a whooping 6 plus years. I realize now that a lof of the things I used to do in the initial few years were plain wrong - skipping breakfast, eating sugary cereals, significant portion sizes , eating a lot of white rice on most days and so on....
Weight loss strategy that works - yields favorable results is different for each one of us. It's like finding the right key to a lock from a bunch of about 150 different keys. For some the third or fourth one may be the right one; for yet other folks it may be 120 down and still trying! Not to say that this is entirely a matter of chance , random luck. What I mean is until you figure out what affects you, what exercise activity you enjoy and can sustain, what time of day works for you, which foods are agreeable to you and so on, the battle keeps continuing.
Anyway without making any more excuses I want to hit the ground running. I have been reading a lot about sugar, refined foods and the havoc they wreak on one's system. Dr.Lusting's Sugar- the bitter truth (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM) is a compelling scientifically backed presentation. Watch this 90 minute video when you find some time, it's hard to ignore its message once you've seen this. I also read the Sugar busters diet book -
http://www.amazon.com/Sugar-Busters-Cut-Trim-Fat/dp/0345425588
Like many testimonials I've read online of people who've gone sugar free and improved their health I am tempted to jumpstart my efforts with a cleansing sugar free diet. I completely acknowledge that temporary efforts only provide temporary results, and that anything I do should be sustainable in the long term - a lifestyle change. That said, this 2 week programme is aimed to tame our sugar cravings, to open our eyes to the sugar that is all around us in the form of energy bars and suaces, from ketchups to most fat free food we assume are healthy. Hopefully this will lead us to nix sugar from our diets most of the time, so we can eat an occasional pastry or one gulab jamoon once in a while. So this effort is aimed to get fit and not just to get rid of the fat, to get healthy and have more energy, to end up feeling like a million bucks instead of spending that kind of amount on hospital expenses two or three decades from now.
This time, with an intent to make this real I want to invite folks to join me in this challenge. This is not a fad diet knocking any group of nutrients off the list. Only processed foods( most of them with added sugar), refined junk is eliminated. A large variety of foods are permissible, providing plenty of options.
I am going to be doing a vegetarian version but folks joining me are welcome to choose any food of their choice as long as it adheres to the rules below. If you do have to skip one or two days for important occasions, that's alright, join me for as long and as far as you can! If you're joining in, please respond in the comment section here, so we stay accountable to each other.
The plan : To go sugar free for 2 weeks starting Aug 15th - Jai Hind! through Aug 29th
How do we do this :
Below is a list of allowed foods and those that are off limits. Follow the list.
Incorporate at least 30-45 minutes of exercise of your choice for a minimum of 5 days a week.
Eat breakfast, a midmorning snack, lunch, a late afternoon snack and an early dinner.
Foods not allowed :
Read labels of every single thing you buy/cook with to check for sugars.
table sugar and foods made with it like sweets, salad dressings, ketchup etc.
white rice, white rice flour and white flour( maida) - this includes bagels, pasta, pizza, doughnuts and so on and baked fare - white bread,cookies, cake,biscuit, cereals and breakfast bars , candy and YES chocolates
High fructose corn syrup
foods with added sugars like dextrose, maltose and any other -oses
anything with molasses, any sypup like maple syrup, agave nectar and honey
potatoes and all things made from it - chips etc.
corn and corn based items
bananas, raisins*
fruit jucies , sodas, soft drinks
idly, dosa and their variant *
canned products with added sugar - eg canned fruits and beans
jams and jellies
all processed food - fried snacks
Allowed foods :
Oatmeal
Brown rice
whole wheat or 100% whole wheat ( not just wheat - products tend to have added sugar)
Quinoa, flax seed, bulgur( cracked wheat), barley and other whole grains
whole wheat bread, pastas made from whole wheat, whole wheat couscous
all vegetables with the exception of potato. Go easy on carrots and beets.
Unlimited amounts of green leafy vegetables, cucumbers etc.
All fruits except banana - I have not taken pineapple,mangoes, apples and watermelon off the list, but go easy on them, they are high in natural sugars
sweet potatoes
nuts and nut butters
popcorn without butter occasionally
low fat milk, yogurt, cheese in moderation
A word of caution :
Since weight loss is a primary goal here, remember to be cautious of oily foods, butter, meat intake. Eat fruits judiciously and avoid them after your evening snack. Nuts and nut butters are preferrable to regular butter. Midmorning and late afternoon snacks can be any one of these- fruit , a fistful of nuts, some cottage cheese, whole wheat pita chips with no added sugar.
* I would not eliminate any fruits in the long run, their fibre and nutritive value far outweighs the sugar in them, if eaten in moderation. Same goes for idly dosa and poha - these are healthy breakfast/tiffin options and anyday better compared to boxed, frozen fare with a shelf life. Same for honey. But to make any significant strides by cutting out sugar these must be eliminated for the said 2 week programme.
I am also not a fan of sugar substitutes - be it Splenda or Stevia or truvia , for me those are off the table too.
Comments , suggestions and ideas are most welcome.
Cannot believe my daughter is starting school in one week and my second born is already a year old. It's been wonderful spending one hundred percent of the time with thing1 and thing2 - tantrums, meltdowns and frustrating moments included .
After we settled down from jet lag and celebrated DS's birthday and ayushya homam and a couple of festivals, I am desperate to kick start my weight loss efforts yet again. For the last decade I have been struggling with this issue. Take 2 years off for each pregnancy and post partum phase - that's still a whooping 6 plus years. I realize now that a lof of the things I used to do in the initial few years were plain wrong - skipping breakfast, eating sugary cereals, significant portion sizes , eating a lot of white rice on most days and so on....
Weight loss strategy that works - yields favorable results is different for each one of us. It's like finding the right key to a lock from a bunch of about 150 different keys. For some the third or fourth one may be the right one; for yet other folks it may be 120 down and still trying! Not to say that this is entirely a matter of chance , random luck. What I mean is until you figure out what affects you, what exercise activity you enjoy and can sustain, what time of day works for you, which foods are agreeable to you and so on, the battle keeps continuing.
Anyway without making any more excuses I want to hit the ground running. I have been reading a lot about sugar, refined foods and the havoc they wreak on one's system. Dr.Lusting's Sugar- the bitter truth (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM) is a compelling scientifically backed presentation. Watch this 90 minute video when you find some time, it's hard to ignore its message once you've seen this. I also read the Sugar busters diet book -
http://www.amazon.com/Sugar-Busters-Cut-Trim-Fat/dp/0345425588
Like many testimonials I've read online of people who've gone sugar free and improved their health I am tempted to jumpstart my efforts with a cleansing sugar free diet. I completely acknowledge that temporary efforts only provide temporary results, and that anything I do should be sustainable in the long term - a lifestyle change. That said, this 2 week programme is aimed to tame our sugar cravings, to open our eyes to the sugar that is all around us in the form of energy bars and suaces, from ketchups to most fat free food we assume are healthy. Hopefully this will lead us to nix sugar from our diets most of the time, so we can eat an occasional pastry or one gulab jamoon once in a while. So this effort is aimed to get fit and not just to get rid of the fat, to get healthy and have more energy, to end up feeling like a million bucks instead of spending that kind of amount on hospital expenses two or three decades from now.
This time, with an intent to make this real I want to invite folks to join me in this challenge. This is not a fad diet knocking any group of nutrients off the list. Only processed foods( most of them with added sugar), refined junk is eliminated. A large variety of foods are permissible, providing plenty of options.
I am going to be doing a vegetarian version but folks joining me are welcome to choose any food of their choice as long as it adheres to the rules below. If you do have to skip one or two days for important occasions, that's alright, join me for as long and as far as you can! If you're joining in, please respond in the comment section here, so we stay accountable to each other.
The plan : To go sugar free for 2 weeks starting Aug 15th - Jai Hind! through Aug 29th
How do we do this :
Below is a list of allowed foods and those that are off limits. Follow the list.
Incorporate at least 30-45 minutes of exercise of your choice for a minimum of 5 days a week.
Eat breakfast, a midmorning snack, lunch, a late afternoon snack and an early dinner.
Foods not allowed :
Read labels of every single thing you buy/cook with to check for sugars.
table sugar and foods made with it like sweets, salad dressings, ketchup etc.
white rice, white rice flour and white flour( maida) - this includes bagels, pasta, pizza, doughnuts and so on and baked fare - white bread,cookies, cake,biscuit, cereals and breakfast bars , candy and YES chocolates
High fructose corn syrup
foods with added sugars like dextrose, maltose and any other -oses
anything with molasses, any sypup like maple syrup, agave nectar and honey
potatoes and all things made from it - chips etc.
corn and corn based items
bananas, raisins*
fruit jucies , sodas, soft drinks
idly, dosa and their variant *
canned products with added sugar - eg canned fruits and beans
jams and jellies
all processed food - fried snacks
Allowed foods :
Oatmeal
Brown rice
whole wheat or 100% whole wheat ( not just wheat - products tend to have added sugar)
Quinoa, flax seed, bulgur( cracked wheat), barley and other whole grains
whole wheat bread, pastas made from whole wheat, whole wheat couscous
all vegetables with the exception of potato. Go easy on carrots and beets.
Unlimited amounts of green leafy vegetables, cucumbers etc.
All fruits except banana - I have not taken pineapple,mangoes, apples and watermelon off the list, but go easy on them, they are high in natural sugars
sweet potatoes
nuts and nut butters
popcorn without butter occasionally
low fat milk, yogurt, cheese in moderation
A word of caution :
Since weight loss is a primary goal here, remember to be cautious of oily foods, butter, meat intake. Eat fruits judiciously and avoid them after your evening snack. Nuts and nut butters are preferrable to regular butter. Midmorning and late afternoon snacks can be any one of these- fruit , a fistful of nuts, some cottage cheese, whole wheat pita chips with no added sugar.
* I would not eliminate any fruits in the long run, their fibre and nutritive value far outweighs the sugar in them, if eaten in moderation. Same goes for idly dosa and poha - these are healthy breakfast/tiffin options and anyday better compared to boxed, frozen fare with a shelf life. Same for honey. But to make any significant strides by cutting out sugar these must be eliminated for the said 2 week programme.
I am also not a fan of sugar substitutes - be it Splenda or Stevia or truvia , for me those are off the table too.
Comments , suggestions and ideas are most welcome.
I would suggest one diet change at a time.Keeping in mind it has to be a permanent change.It has to be something that you can sustain for a long period of time. The key here is to lose weight and "keep it off".
ReplyDeleteThere is no point in going full throttle and then losing steam halfway.
I agree Hemi! But IMO this is an exercise in self awareness. For example at the end of this 2 week period I may conclude that I am pretty okay to skip sugar in my coffee but can't go without a small dessert or vice versa. It isn't easy but it isn't impossibly restrictive either. And I've read that after a 2-3 week period of going sans sugar you feel more energetic, people tend to have fewer headaches, mood swings and so on. So even though weight loss is key,the health benefits of even partially weaning oneself of sugar is supposed to be very real. Already I have experienced that I can easily go without white rice 4-5 days of a week. I completely agree with you that it has to be a sustainable and forever change wihtout an end date. This challenge is a test to see if I can do without the myriad foods sugar is hiding in, to look for alternatives that I am still discovering and may enjoy as much or even more than their sugary counterparts! Only time will tell!
ReplyDeleteGood luck ! I hope it works for you.
ReplyDeleteI think weaning yourself off sugar( esp sugary drinks..if that is the main source of your sugar) is a very good Idea. It definitely helps and I dont miss it. But overdoing it by removing all kids of carbs might not be sustainable.
I prefer to think I am not depriving myself of anything.:-)
Thanks. I am definitely not removing all carbs, only the refined kind. Brown rice, oatmeal, cracked wheat and whole wheat, all whole grains and other complex carbs are most certainly in. So are a lot of fruits and veggies which are not allowed on certain restrictive diets. You know I am a coffee addict and I take sugar in my coffee. at the rate of 1.5 tsps per cup of coffee, times 4 in a day - 6 tsps on an average per day, I'd defn benefit from kicking sugar off my coffee. I am totally with you in that I wouldn't want to deprive myself too.
ReplyDeletehey suja.. Sorry missed tis article.. Saw it just now.. Im with u.. As we discussed.. lets do it..!! ;) Did u try tis for 2 weeks? tell me about it.. even i ll follow ur footsteps.. :D
ReplyDeleteYes! would love to know how it went!
ReplyDelete