Author Archives: Dena

Day 39-Dena Doesn’t Eat Cheese…

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Drunk Dena, However…That’s another story. Everyone has their weaknesses and temptations when it comes to food.  By now, it is very easy for me to avoid my food allergies of gluten, dairy, and eggs under normal circumstances. I have had enough experiences over the years where I have eaten food containing these ingredients and have felt the negative effects. Logic kicks in and I know to avoid it. On the other hand, give me too many drinks and I need cheese immediately…and I mean immediately. Exhibit A: 30th Birthday,October 2014. Exhibit B: New Years Eve 2015.  I do not know what it is about cheese, but for me…It was what I lived for as a child.  My earliest memories of food obsession was visiting my grandparents’ house. After dinner, my grandma would tell me that I had enough macaroni and cheese and would put the tupperware away in the fridge.  I recall sneaking into the fridge quietly and would help myself to additional noodles.

I guess what I am trying to say is: know your temptations.  Is it a specific food? Is it situational?  Try to be aware of what they are so you can do your best to control the situation.  Do not keep these items in the house if you can avoid doing so. If you are going to a party, eat something small before hand and do not be afraid to pack your own snacks. My favorites are mixed nuts and cut up vegetables like celery and carrots. Last week, we went to a super bowl party and Cliff had to remind me that it would be weird to bring left over pork so I refrained from doing so.

In addition to cheese, I learned that another weakness of mine is desserts that I can technically eat because they do not contain ingredients that I am allergic to. This past Saturday, Cliff and I had some people over to our apartment and I wanted to make some dessert.  I found this amazing Paleo friendly 7-Layer Bar recipe as well as a Paleo Egg-Free Chocolate Coconut Macaroon recipe online that I decided to try.  Now remember, just because something is Paleo or gluten free, does not make it healthy!  It had been over a month since I had sugar and various items like alcohol and grains so I wanted to treat myself and see how my body reacted off the detox.

Between Saturday and going to a friend’s house warming on Sunday, I consumed a few drinks, grains (quinoa), starchy vegetables (sweet potato), chips, soft corn tortillas for homemade tacos, and my Paleo friendly desserts sweetened with honey. The most noticeable reaction that I had was in response to the sugar.  There was a lot of honey in the desserts that I made and as I got shaky after tasting them for the first time!  I decided that Monday I would get back on track. To do this, I knew that I could not have any left overs Paleo desserts in our apartment.  I had to give all the leftovers to Cliff to bring in to give out to his co-workers.  If I brought them into my own work, I would gravitate towards them throughout the day. Interestingly, the past couple of days has been harder at night for me. Monday I had the worse headache.  It’s crazy how my body was feeling withdrawal just from indulging during the weekend. Also interestingly, I  have been craving something sweet at night and I have been snacking on grapes after dinner to try and satisfy my cravings.  In hindsight, the smart thing to do would have been to introduce one item at a time to see how it made me feel. Maybe next time!

-Dena

Day 34- Phase 2- Getting Over That Plateau Of Mine

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Sooo… It is safe to say that I have hit a plateau…I have been hovering around 129 lbs for the past 20 days which brings my weight loss to around 6.4 lbs in the past month. It is a bit hard not to get discouraged after seeing a consistent weight loss.  After doing the detox last March, I got down to around 123/124 lbs. However, I was slightly lighter at the beginning when compared to this time around.  Moving forward, I need to record my body measurements to see how my body is changing as time passes.

It is so easy for me to focus on the negative (weight staying the same).  What am I doing wrong? Am I eating too much? Exercising too little? Is stress contributing? Not enough sleep? Is my new medication making it harder from me to drop the last 5/10 pounds?  Etc Etc. It takes effort, however, for me to focus on the positive and I have to remind myself of my accomplishments.  It truly is quite amazing how good I feel from eating this way and I rarely have cravings. Jillian Michaels has a post on breaking through weight loss plateaus which offered me some reassurance that plateaus do exist and I need to just keep on my healthy life style. Please refer to the link below.  I plan on sticking to eating this way but I will allow myself some alcohol and added sugar on occasion.  My main fear for me is that the introduction of sugar will bring back those cravings I had.  The best I can do is to remain conscious of how my body is feeling after eating certain foods.  I will keep you posted on that!

This week I also introduced working out at home for those days I do not want to trek through snow and ice to the gym.  I picked up a couple light weight dumbbells from the drug store and follow the “Sparticus” circuit based workout by watching a youtube video that takes you through each exercise. Link Below. This work out is one of my favorites because it is challenging and does not require a lot of machines or weights.  There are ten exercises you perform for 60 seconds each, 15 seconds of rest in between.  In total there are three rounds with two minutes of recovery between each round.  The entire workout takes 41 minutes.  I am working up to completing all three rounds.  So far, I can tell you that two rounds left me glutes sore for days. The ten exercises are as follows:

  • 1. Goblet Squats- 60 seconds, 15 seconds of recovery
  • 2. Mountain Climbers-60 seconds, 15 seconds of recover
  • 3. Single Arm Dumbbell Swings-60 seconds, 15 seconds of recovery
  • 4. T Pushups with Weights-60 seconds, 15 seconds of recovery
  • 5. Split Jumps- 60 seconds, 15 seconds of recovery
  • 6. Dumbbell Rows-60 seconds, 15 seconds of recovery
  • 7. Dumbbell Side Lounges and Touch- 60 seconds, 15 seconds of recovery
  • 8. Push-Up Position Row-60 seconds, 15 seconds of recovery
  • 9. Dumbbell Lunge and Rotation-60 seconds, 15 seconds of recovery
  • 10. Dumbbell Push Press-60 seconds, 15 seconds of recovery

This completes 1 round! Rest for 2 minutes and repeat for three rounds total

Jillian Michaels On Weight Loss Plateaus:

http://www.jillianmichaels.com/fit/lose-weight/break-through-weight-loss-plateau

Sparticus Workout:

Dena Day 19- Dining and Going Out

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While doing this month long detox, Cliff and I have taken the extreme by cooking and preparing all of our meals at home. It definitely requires some effort on our part but I think we have finally figured out a rhythm that works for us.  Since many social engagements revolve around food and drinks, I have to admit, I decided to make some adjustments like sticking to drinking only water at birthday parties or going to a museum instead of brunch. Look at that, I am staying hydrated and being more cultured!

I am not saying one can not go out to eat and order something healthy that is on the detox plan, but it is much harder to control what restaurants are putting in the food that you order.    Since I have food sensitivities to gluten, dairy, eggs, and yeast, at this point of the detox, I rather make my own food so I can avoid cross contamination.  However, this will not always be the case!  I absolutely love going out with friends to grab brunch or dinner. Whether you also have food sensitivities or have chosen not to eat certain ingredients, I thought I would share a few things that I have learned over the years and share some stories.

  • Don’t assume a dish is safe and free of your allergies. Make your waiter aware of your food allergies.  They can often guide you to what you can eat on the menu or tell you what changes need to be made to a meal you are interested in. I used to think if I ordered grilled chicken and vegetables, I would be safe. But unfortunately, they may use flour as a thickening agent or cook their vegetables in butter.  Also, I love Thai food and especially love curry. Years of ordering curry and feeling sick afterwards (I contributed this to overeating) but turns out, curry may be used with fish sauce or soy sauce that contains gluten.  The good news is not all curry has gluten in them. You have to ask though!
  • Some restaurants are more understanding of food allergies than others. It is such a treat when a restaurant has a menu that marks food allergies like gluten, dairy, what’s vegan or vegetarian, etc. I have had both positive experiences and negative experiences at restaurants.  My favorite was when I was ordering a salad at Chipotle and asked if their meats were gluten free and the woman immediately threw out my lettuce and changed her gloves as she sternly explained to me: “We take food allergies VERY seriously here. EVERYONE in here has touched a tortilla. EVERYONE!” Even though I was ordering ingredients that were themselves gluten free and dairy free, she was concerned with cross contamination. Her gloves had been handling flour tortillas and then were handling my lettuce.  I know you may think that this is crazy and that it’s probably such a small trace, but if you are sensitive to something, your body sure does react!  On the contrary, I once went to a restaurant in Brooklyn and told them my allergies and the waitress seemed annoyed with me as she responded,  ” weeeell, how allergic are you?”
  • Not all waiters understand what gluten is in or what has dairy. I once went out for a friend’s birthday brunch and let the waiter know my allergies. He was the nicest guy but thought that French Toast would be okay for me to eat.
  • Be “that” guy. Be picky! It’s perfectly okay to be picky and change your order to accommodate your personal needs.  My friends may be sick of me when we go out (hopefully not), but it’s my body and I do not want to feel ill from a meal.  An example of this:  “Hi.  I am allergic to gluten, dairy, and eggs. I would like the Chicken Cobb Salad, but without the blue cheese and the eggs.  Also, instead of the dressing, can I please have olive oil and lemon on the side?”
  • Check the menu ahead of time/Call ahead.  For me, If I am trying a new place out and I know where I am going, I check out the menu first. Also, I often call ahead to inquire about the menu to make sure there is something I can eat there.
  • Do the best you can. That is all you can do. The good news: It seems that more and more restaurants are getting on board with acknowledging food sensitivities and food allergies.  When I first found out I had these sensitivities in 2006, I had no idea what gluten was and I never heard it being talked about!

Below is an image of a menu where the waiter kindly told me what I could and could not have on their menu by crossing out everything but three items. I could have the oysters, pickles, or the Roasted Mackerel.  I had the Mackerel and it was delicious 🙂

IMG_5507 (1)

-Dena

 

Dena Day 17- Well isn’t that sweet…

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DID YOU KNOW…

  •  In a 2009 study by Dr. Serge H. Ahmed it was proved that sugar was eight times as addictive as cocaine?
  • Brain imaging studies in humans find that eating-or even seeing pictures of-junk and processed food lights up the brain like heroin?
  • Calorie for calorie, sugar is different from other calories that come from protein, fat, or non-starchy carbs such as greens? It scrambles all of your normal appetite controls. As a result, you consume more and more, driving your metabolism to convert it into belly fat.
  • Artificial sweeteners trick your metabolism into thinking sugar is on its way?  This causes your body to pump out insulin, the fat-storage hormone, which leads to more body fat.

Dr. Hyman’s book” The Blood Sugar Solution-10 Day Detox Diet addresses the above facts and further explains just how addictive sugar really is. Unfortunately, it is practically impossible to find packaged foods without sugar in it! The bottom of this post has a list of names for sugar that you can look for on labels and should avoid while detoxing. Even items that you would never expect to have sugar in them, have it! During this detox, Cliff and I searched high and low for chicken broth, as well as diced or crushed tomatoes without sugar added. We finally found what we needed! For chicken broth, Imagine has an organic free range chicken broth and Muir Glen has organic diced tomatoes. Your best luck is to find these items in the organic or health section of your grocery store.

The good news is that once you eliminate sugar from your diet, you no longer crave it.  I used to have cravings for something sweet after every meal–especially at night.  The first day where I attempted not to have sugar was the hardest. The cravings were so intense that at night I used my yonanas machine to make “ice cream” with a frozen banana and nut butter! I just needed something sweet. For me, I would say it took 3 days for the cravings to go away.  The best part of this detox has been that I now feel in control on my eating!

Today, Dr. Hyman posted on his blog “10 Ways To Ditch Your Cravings for Sugar, Salt, and Fats”  Check it out! http://drhyman.com/blog/2013/08/10/10-ways-to-ditch-your-cravings-for-sugar-salt-and-fats/

-Dena

List of Names of Sugar

1. Barley malt
2. Barbados sugar
3. Beet sugar
4. Brown sugar
5. Buttered syrup
6. Cane juice
7. Cane sugar
8. Caramel
9. Corn syrup
10. Corn syrup solids
11. Confectioner’s sugar
12. Carob syrup
13. Castor sugar
14. Date sugar
15. Dehydrated cane juice
16. Demerara sugar
17. Dextran
18. Dextrose
19. Diastatic malt
20. Diatase
21. Ethyl maltol
22. Free Flowing Brown Sugars
23. Fructose
24. Fruit juice
25. Fruit juice concentrate
26. Galactose
27. Glucose
28. Glucose solids
29. Golden sugar
30. Golden syrup
31. Grape sugar
32. HFCS (High Frustose Corn Syrup… Very Bad!)
33. Honey
34. Icing sugar
35. Invert sugar
36. Lactose
37. Malt
38. Maltodextrin
39. Maltose
40. Malt syrup
41. Mannitol
42. Maple syrup
43. Molasses
44. Muscovado
45. Panocha
46. Powdered Sugar
47. Raw sugar
48. Refiner’s syrup
49. Rice syrup
50. Sorbitol
51. Sorghum syrup
52. Sucrose
53. Sugar (granulated)
54. Treacle
55. Turbinado sugar
56. Yellow sugar
Bonus (Fake Sugars):
Splenda
Aspartame

Dena Day 15/ Cliff Day 13- Weight is just a number, but…

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I am quite shocked actually just how much weight Cliff and I have lost in such a short period of time.  In about two weeks, I am down 6.2 pounds and Cliff is down 7 pounds.  I mean, I can more understand Cliff losing weight because he loves his sugar, triple espressos, bagels, and sandwiches.  So, if he is eliminating added sugar, processed foods, caffeine, gluten, grains, and dairy, it makes sense for the scale to move, right? The good news is he’s been eating real food and is not hungry. We will see what he introduces back after this month and see how it affects the way he feels.  Me on the other hand, I was already avoiding gluten and dairy (my allergies) and aware of my added sugar…Maybe I was eating too many grains and complex starches for my body? Maybe I was eating too late at night? Maybe I was getting cross contamination of gluten from eating out which was causing inflammation?  Everyone is unique and reacts to foods differently and food sensitivities can play a major role in inflammation and weight gain.  I do know that cooking at home for the past couple of weeks has really helped my digestion. I can be 100% sure what is in my food.  Of course, after this detox, real life will continue and I will have to do my best when going out to eat with friends and find a nice balance.  Until then, I am definitely excited to see how far this detox will take me.

-Dena

IMG_7445

By the way, Seamless just sent me an e-mail about how they missed me. HAHA

Dena Day 13- Finding Balance

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I am learning that the hardest part for me of this detox process has been finding balance…especially now that I have introduced going to the gym! For the first week or so, I had found my rhythm and was doing really well on prepping meals.  If I didn’t have the groceries I needed for dinner, I had plenty of time to swing by the grocery store, meat or fish market, and eat at a decent hour. But, it was time to get sweating (and not from the oven while cooking up a storm). Two nights ago was my first day back into the gym and I had planned to go straight after work since I am not a morning person.  My first set back was when I ran out of time in the morning and did not pack my gym bag.  The truth was…I had no idea where my gym bag even was! No problem!  I’ll just swing by my apartment after work to change and head on to the gym! Well do you know how cold it was that night?!? And my apartment was soooo warm.  I convinced myself that I HAD to go since I failed the night before but I will only do a quick workout. After all, by the time I got home it was around 6pm and I also needed to run to the meat market to pick up ground turkey meat for the cauliflower pizza crust I wanted to make that night, and the meat market closed at 7pm.  So…I never made this recipe before, but how much trouble could it really be?  The funny thing is that I had no excuses not to go to the gym in the cold. I was going to walk to the meat market and the meat market is literally a block and a half away from the gym.  After the gym, the meat market, and the vegetable market to pick up the cauliflower, I was finally  home!  It is now a little after 7pm.  My advice to you is to: A- read the entire directions of a recipe beforehand and/or B-try more complicated dishes on the weekend if you are pressed for time during the week.  This meal was delicious do not get me wrong and I will definitely make it again. However, It just took longer than I expected! By the time I finished cooking, it was 9:15pm.

Lessons Learned (sort of)

The next day I made sure to bring my gym clothes to work in my recently found gym bag. Also, we had leftovers of pizza we were able to bring for lunch which was nice. Cliff was going to be at a comedy show at night so I did not have to worry about eating together and what I was going to make. But, I realized that we needed food for the next day’s lunch and dinner since we were going to see a show after work.  For some reason after work, I was really hungry so instead of going straight to the gym, I decided to go home and eat something small, digest a little bit, then go to the gym, then cook meals for the next day. Finished up at 10:15pm and I was exhausted!

Lessons Learned 

  • Plan meals ahead- decide what you are going to eat for the week or at least a few days at a time
  • Spend some time on the weekends going food shopping and gathering all of your supplies.
  • Cook a bunch on Sunday to get you through the beginning of the week
  • When possible, make extra food and freeze it for emergencies or when you do not feel like cooking. This works great with burgers!
  • Stock your cabinets with proteins like canned salmon, and sardines.  This can easily be added to a salad to create a quick meal.

-Dena

Dena-Day 11-Time to Move!

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I am not going to say that binge watching 7 seasons of Dr. Who this past Fall caused my weight gain, but there was sure indeed a correlation! While Cliff was going to physical therapy for his Tendinitis, my workouts went from hour long intense gym classes with Cliff at a new gym we were trying out (Epic Hybrid Training) to sprinting several blocks to catch the morning subway as I saw it approaching the station. When Cliff’s elbow starting bothering him, I thought he only needed to rest up for a couple weeks and I saw this as a little break for my muscles! But that turned into three months of physical therapy.  I know I could have gone to the gym by myself, but I was in a serious rut and I was secretly enjoying my evenings alone watching Netflix.  I could not wait to get home from work, make or order dinner, lay my expanding buttox on the sofa and watch some eps!

Everyone goes to the gym for different reasons.  For me, it’s not only for weight maintenance, but it really helps me with my moods.  In addition, I have loose ligaments (perhaps from doing years of dance and gymnastics as a child?) and it is important for me to keep my muscles strong around my joints or else I suffer from subluxation-mainly in my shoulders   (This condition is known as shoulder instability and may result in the upper arm bone (humerus) moving partially or completely out of the socket during certain arm movements).   Since I stopped working out, I have experienced a multitude of issues with my shoulder.  But for some reason, it was just sooo hard for me to get back into my routine.

As the new year approached, of course one of my goals was to get back to the gym. The idea of a packed gym filled with people beginning their New Years Resolutions was a bit daunting to me. On top of that, the first week of the detox left me pretty exhausted and I could not get up the motivation to get to the gym.  After about a week though, I began sleeping better and my energy went way up (especially at night for some reason). This combined with the numbers decreasing on the scale has given me that extra boost of motivation to get back to the gym!  I only did a quick work out today but I am on the right track to getting back in a routine

-Dena

 

Dena-Day 7

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Starting a new plan and way of eating can be very daunting and appear to require too much work and effort on your part.  Last March, when Cliff and I did Dr. Hyman’s 10 Day Detox Diet, I stressed way too much over having to be perfect and I did not want to stray too far from the dinner recipes given in the book.  The best part of following the book’s recipes was that I learned many new recipes and found some new favorites which I have continued to make regularly.  If this is your first time trying to detox, I HIGHLY recommend following Dr. Hyman’s plan and trying as many recipes in the book as you can! They are super yummy! However, instead of following one of these recipes, Dr. Hyman does say that you can opt for choosing a green to steam or lightly saute such as broccoli, asparagus, arugula, spinach, kale or chard, and combine it with 4-6oz of protein such as chicken, turkey, salmon, shrimp, grass-fed meat,canned salmon, sardines or herring, hard boiled omega 3 eggs,tofu or temph.

So this time around, in order to save some time and relieve stress, Cliff and I are trying to make dinners so we have leftovers that will last us.  My favorite thing to make is a roasted chicken.  And by my favorite thing to make…I really mean my favorite thing I eat that I make Cliff make.  It requires very little effort to cook one of these and in my opinion, you get the most bang for your cluck…I mean buck. Now we have left overs that are versatile and can go in many dishes.  I was able to add some chicken to my salad I had for lunch today and Cliff and I had some for dinner tonight and there is still a bunch left!  Another cooking time saver I have discovered is roasting vegetables.  Drizzle a little olive oil, salt, and pepper over your veggies and pop them in the oven. I make sure I make extra so I have those leftovers.  Tonight’s dinner included chicken, left over broccoli and mashed garlic cauliflower (another one of my favorite sides!)
Chicken
ChickenDinner

Day 5 for me/Day 3 for Cliff

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You may be wondering why Cliff and I started the detox on different days… We originally agreed we would both start this past Monday and that would be our “Day 1”. Well…You see…I got on the scale last Friday night and got a reality check!  I know everyone weighs more at night but the scale was reading higher than I hoped.  At first I was totally convinced that the scale was off and that it was not zeroed before I got on it to weigh myself.  I demanded that Cliff “fix it” right away! After removing the batteries over and over again and restarting this scale, I came to the realization that it wasn’t the scale that needed fixing.  After some sulking, I am now no longer in denial about my weight gain. I can no longer blame my tight fitting pants on water retention.  I knew I had to start detoxing pronto and decided to start the next morning. The good news is I have lost 3 pounds so far and I am really excited for the process and seeing where I am at the end of January. Unfortunately I haven’t been sleeping that well the past few nights.  I have been waking up several times during the night and therefore do not wake up feeling refreshed. I took melatonin last night and listened to a meditation tape before bed.. but I still woke up in the middle of the night. I am rather foggy throughout the day and feel like I am on the verge of getting sick.  Is this my body detoxing?  Since I have been feeling under the weather, I decided to not increase my exercise at the moment and just concentrate on eating clean and not snacking at night.  Well.. that’s all for now. My brain is a bit foggy and it’s time for me to get to bed!  Night !