Ok to my fellow Jackie devotees - since her new dvd is almost here, and it's unacceptable to pay shipping, I thought I'd review a couple Jillian DVDs I tried recently. I suppose you could buy some books for the kids or something to get the free shipping as well.
I know some of us weren't thrilled with the Shred. I actually remember liking it, at least level 3, but I never seem to choose it. Maybe I'll give it another shot. At any rate, I agree that Jackie's supportive and encouraging manner is far more pleasant than Jillian's admonishing drill sergeant tone. I tried two older and longer Jillian workouts and liked them both - and her tone, while not as supportive as Jackie, is not nearly as bombastic as the Shred. One is circuit training, the other cardio. Both are about 45 minutes of hardcore workout, with warm-ups and cool-downs making them longer so they're a nice choice when looking for a longer workout. I usually don't do cardio dvds, but since I've been running less lately I decided to try it.
No More Trouble Zones:
As for the circuit training, this is a better review than I could ever provide. Very hard with 5 or 8 lb weights. 3 lbs are too easy.
Boost Your Metabolism:
This is the cardio workout - NO props required, and much less mean tone or voice. At the end she even says that it's not about just looking good in a bikini but also about bringing intensity to everything you do in your life. Kind of refreshing. Although after 50 minutes of pain anything she said while we were stretching and relaxing would have been music to my ears. I outlasted Dave on this one.
Dave's favorite is the ultra-hard Sean Burch. I think he's too hard and too complicated. Kind of the male version of Jackie. I actually got Dave the book for his birthday one year and he's obsessed now. May get the dvds one day but they're very expensive and as far as I can tell require too much equipment for me.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Portion size
OK...I will warn in advance that this post is kind of ridiculously introspective about my eating habits...
I read in a book once that we only really taste the first several bites of what we eat. After that our tastebuds dull and we're just eating on autopilot. I employed this tactic when I started my diet, partly on purpose an partly by accident- For the first few days I was eating REALLY small portions. They were too small even for a dieter because I wasn't yet measuring, and additionally they were just WAY smaller than I was used to. The effect was definitely that my food tasted much more strongly - I never got to the place where my mouth was bored of what I was eating.
I still employ the idea of not eating a huge massive pile of something, even if it's low-calorie. I don't always do this, but I try to. It's much harder to eat lots of small portions of things - when I eat salads I try and eat some of the components separately, so I'm not just getting the dressing flavor for 30 bites of food or whatever.
Anyway, while it's kind of a pain, as you can't just throw together a big salad, ala Elaine, and be done with making lunch. But there is some merit to this practice. It really does help me naturally stop eating before I've overeaten - you know those times when the brain and stomach aren't quite communicating until it's too late and you're overly full? That doesn't happen too much to me anymore - not never, but not often.
And more than that - especially when I was eating so little, it was really important to me to eat foods I loved. Eating seemed like such a rare treat, in comparison to my former constant grazing and craving-indulging. But even now, I still want to love everything I eat. Life is too short to be bored. Thirty-five bites later, whatever you're eating just can't be that exciting any more. Calories are better saved for other tastes.
I don't always follow this - sometimes my salads, soups and bowls of cereal are too big. But I do try and keep this rule in the back of my head. I also considered posting this idea a while ago, but didn't as it's a little, um, not crazy exactly, but perhaps overly thought through and not for everyone. I'm kind of saying don't eat a huge salad just on principal, even if it's not too many calories. But I think that after months and months of this practice it really did rewire my brain to make better choices without too much thought - along the lines of Kessler's theories.
I read in a book once that we only really taste the first several bites of what we eat. After that our tastebuds dull and we're just eating on autopilot. I employed this tactic when I started my diet, partly on purpose an partly by accident- For the first few days I was eating REALLY small portions. They were too small even for a dieter because I wasn't yet measuring, and additionally they were just WAY smaller than I was used to. The effect was definitely that my food tasted much more strongly - I never got to the place where my mouth was bored of what I was eating.
I still employ the idea of not eating a huge massive pile of something, even if it's low-calorie. I don't always do this, but I try to. It's much harder to eat lots of small portions of things - when I eat salads I try and eat some of the components separately, so I'm not just getting the dressing flavor for 30 bites of food or whatever.
Anyway, while it's kind of a pain, as you can't just throw together a big salad, ala Elaine, and be done with making lunch. But there is some merit to this practice. It really does help me naturally stop eating before I've overeaten - you know those times when the brain and stomach aren't quite communicating until it's too late and you're overly full? That doesn't happen too much to me anymore - not never, but not often.
And more than that - especially when I was eating so little, it was really important to me to eat foods I loved. Eating seemed like such a rare treat, in comparison to my former constant grazing and craving-indulging. But even now, I still want to love everything I eat. Life is too short to be bored. Thirty-five bites later, whatever you're eating just can't be that exciting any more. Calories are better saved for other tastes.
I don't always follow this - sometimes my salads, soups and bowls of cereal are too big. But I do try and keep this rule in the back of my head. I also considered posting this idea a while ago, but didn't as it's a little, um, not crazy exactly, but perhaps overly thought through and not for everyone. I'm kind of saying don't eat a huge salad just on principal, even if it's not too many calories. But I think that after months and months of this practice it really did rewire my brain to make better choices without too much thought - along the lines of Kessler's theories.
USAToday Health Twitter feed...
USAToday seems to have a lot of interesting health articles in a little Twitter sidebar.1. Some good news on the supermarket choices front - simplifying ingredients.
2. Another push for the diet and exercise combo.
3. And this one raises something I think is ridiculous - the idea of selling a bunch of crap with added fiber and vitamins and calling it health food.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Easy dinner all around
Indeed, with all the weekend prep, dinner was a snap last night, and my fridge is much more cleaned out.
I made two soups in about 5 minutes. Of course I should have just made the mushroom - two separate soups for dinner is kind of ridiculous, but I was so curious about the pumpkin that I made that too. I heated up the mushroom soup, much of the fat skimmed, but much remaining. I really made this for Dave and he certainly didn't mind a little extra richness. I also made the pumpkin soup, but had to add about 4 times the suggested red Thai curry paste and also added in about 2 teaspoons each of a store bought ginger paste and lemmongrass paste. These are kind of cheats and not super fresh tasting, but they're massively convenient and pretty good. I must say the pumpkin soup was FABULOUS - and I'm only mad that I didn't have 2 cans of coconut milk to make a double batch. I used light coconut milk which tasted fine. It is one of those pea-soup like consistencies that gurgles all over the stove though.
So realizing that it would be unreasonable to ask the kids to eat either mushroom soup or spicy pumpkin soup I decided to make a second dinner for them - boxed whole wheat macaroni and cheese. We have inadvertently gotten away from having them each pick a meal once a week and need to get back to it. It makes a huge difference in their attitudes on the non-kid meal nights. At any rate - I did not doctor the mac and cheese with anything healthy and they both happily gobbled it up, not complaining that it was whole wheat, but instead seeing it as a treat - actual kid food! My was that peaceful! Maybe making two dinners isn't such a bad idea! Watching them shovel in the pasta, I couldn't help myself, and I did throw a few cold edamame beans on their napkins and insist that they get eaten. One quick complaint from each of them and they the beans were gobbled up so fast I actually thought they hid them. Interesting though as the kids ate easily twice as much mac and cheese as they do grown-up food - the two of them finished the whole box no problem.
Tonight we will eat the already prepared chicken and barley, and some zucchini, yet to be roasted - I need some sort of unifying sauce, often my downfall. Dave and I each got soup at work for lunch. I guess my weekend efforts were helpful after all.
I didn't even eat much of anything as I was not hungry from having overeaten the entire rest of the day. I need to get back on track with a more routine eating plan. Today I'm trying that. Also I still have about 8 cups of pumpkin left. Must get going on using or freezing it.
I made two soups in about 5 minutes. Of course I should have just made the mushroom - two separate soups for dinner is kind of ridiculous, but I was so curious about the pumpkin that I made that too. I heated up the mushroom soup, much of the fat skimmed, but much remaining. I really made this for Dave and he certainly didn't mind a little extra richness. I also made the pumpkin soup, but had to add about 4 times the suggested red Thai curry paste and also added in about 2 teaspoons each of a store bought ginger paste and lemmongrass paste. These are kind of cheats and not super fresh tasting, but they're massively convenient and pretty good. I must say the pumpkin soup was FABULOUS - and I'm only mad that I didn't have 2 cans of coconut milk to make a double batch. I used light coconut milk which tasted fine. It is one of those pea-soup like consistencies that gurgles all over the stove though.
So realizing that it would be unreasonable to ask the kids to eat either mushroom soup or spicy pumpkin soup I decided to make a second dinner for them - boxed whole wheat macaroni and cheese. We have inadvertently gotten away from having them each pick a meal once a week and need to get back to it. It makes a huge difference in their attitudes on the non-kid meal nights. At any rate - I did not doctor the mac and cheese with anything healthy and they both happily gobbled it up, not complaining that it was whole wheat, but instead seeing it as a treat - actual kid food! My was that peaceful! Maybe making two dinners isn't such a bad idea! Watching them shovel in the pasta, I couldn't help myself, and I did throw a few cold edamame beans on their napkins and insist that they get eaten. One quick complaint from each of them and they the beans were gobbled up so fast I actually thought they hid them. Interesting though as the kids ate easily twice as much mac and cheese as they do grown-up food - the two of them finished the whole box no problem.
Tonight we will eat the already prepared chicken and barley, and some zucchini, yet to be roasted - I need some sort of unifying sauce, often my downfall. Dave and I each got soup at work for lunch. I guess my weekend efforts were helpful after all.
I didn't even eat much of anything as I was not hungry from having overeaten the entire rest of the day. I need to get back on track with a more routine eating plan. Today I'm trying that. Also I still have about 8 cups of pumpkin left. Must get going on using or freezing it.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Weekend cooking efforts
I bit off more than I could chew or fit in my refrigerator yesterday. I had a plan to make mushroom and barley soup, pumpkin waffles to freeze, sausage and burgers on the grill, and pumpkin soup of some kind - all with homemade chicken broth. It was also a beautiful day and my neighbor implored me to go to a special Star Wars Halloween exhibit.
So - I made the broth, pulled off most of, but not all of the chicken, roasted and scooped out an entire pumpkin, made a huge mess of my oven, but that's another matter, made barley in the rice cooker (this was my first attempt at cooking barley in my whole life, with barley having been the poster-child for gross '70-era health food. My mother never cooked it but I had a distasted for it anyway, just from growing up near it), sauteed the mushrooms and other veggies for the soup, sauteed the peppers and onions for the sausage dinner, and ended up with almost nothing to actually eat. I couldn't finish the mushroom soup as I wanted to skim the fat off the top and I was waiting for it to solidify in the fridge, but that took too long. Eventually I poured the broth, fat and all, over the veggies as I couldn't fit everything in the fridge in separate bowls (and I have a big fridge), and I hoped the fat would rise to the top and not soak into the veggies. Remains to be see what happened - will report back later. Pumpkin waffles will have to be made as a dinner treat, maybe tomorrow night. But I did discover that there truly is a blog for everything.
Sausage, burgers and sautéed pepper/onion mixture got eaten for dinner (my husband really does eat a lot - easily ate 2 burgers and 3 sausages), as well as some past-prime plain steamed broccoli, which the kids preferred to the sweet, oily, gooey, caramelized pepper strips. What is wrong with them?? Natasha started to complain about the burgers too but Dave let her have it before the whining really got under way and she actually stopped - nothing like throwing in a mild swear word at the table to startle kids into behaving. Anyone see this? Perhaps the closest the NYT will get to writing an article about me.
As for the pumpkin soup, I decided to make this recipe, offered by Elissa, but first I have to run out and get Thai red curry paste and cornstarch. Unfortunately I just went to the incredibly busy and inconveniently located Asian market to get rice and I'm not going back - so I'll try something like Whole Foods first.
Currently I have a big soup pot in the fridge with some untested soup, as well as a huge bowl of pumpkin, and medium sized bowls of barley and soft boiled chicken, and still not much to eat in the way of a proper dinner. In theory, dinners will be sort of fast this week, with my prepared staples, but we'll see.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Delish Salads and hodgepodge dinner
Everyone sees my salads and says they look good. Here is what I ate the past two days.
Yesterday - Halfway Cobb Salad
Romaine lettuce - chopped up whole bag and put in Tupperware with wet paper towel on top. Will last for several days that way. Mom's trick I learned years ago! Each evening I make a salad up for the next day.
-Trader Joe's "Just plain chicken" This is flavorless and mushy and comes cut up in chunks already - almost like solid babyfood! For some reason I like it. My tastes really have declined. I think because of my TMJ I'm drawn to mushy foods.
-2 Tbs crumbled Gorgonzola dried cranberry blend from TJs - saves a step!
-1/2 cut up small orange pepper
-For dressing I used a TJs bottled olive oil and red wine vinegar dressing I keep at my desk. I prefer it to be disposable as washing a cruet out at work is kind of icky. Lasts a few weeks and gets tossed.
-Can't remember the carb - must have been a slice of some whole wheat bread.
-I had some walnuts after as I was hungry.
Today - Lazy Woman's Thai Salad
-More leftover Romaine
-more plain chicken, and a few leftover steamed shrimp from dinner last night
-1/2 cup brown rice leftover from dinner, thrown right into the mix
-several pea pods, would have been nice if I actually cut them up, but again getting lazy.
-1 Tbs peanut butter - just glopped it on for added "peanut sauce" flavor
-few slices mango (sadly I must admit I have taken to buying this fresh, pre-sliced and in a plastic container. Horrible, I know)
-another bought dressing - TJs spicy peanut something - not fantastic but making from scratch is pretty labor intensive and I often don't have fresh limes. I actually put this on the night before but tried not to get it on the lettuce, so it wouldn't wilt.
This one was delicious.
Poor Dave got a bowl full of various leftovers - taco beef bits, baby lima beans, brown rice, cabbage strings. I haven't heard any complaints yet.
BTW - To make baby cabbage strings - a great garnish or side...
-Buy one bag shredded cabbage for coleslaw
-spread on baking sheet
-very lightly sprinkle with oo and salt
-roast at 400 for 10-15 min or so
-kind of like a dietetic onion string. Ok sort of - it's no Outback or anything. I made kind of as an after thought as it was getting sad looking, but It would be a great garnish, in the way restaurants do that with onion strings - a nice dinner party trick!
Dinner last night -
-Roast pork loin with garlic, soy and sesame oil
-steamed shrimp
-brown rice
-peanut tofu
-broccoli-slaw salad (can buy broccoli stems shredded like cabbage in a salad bag)
I know this was 3 main dishes but I didn't expect them to all get eaten at once. I was also kind of planning to make "combination pad thai" but with broccoli slaw instead of noodles, and some rice to fill people up. I ate the tofu over the salad, and since I was too hungry to wait for the rice to finish cooking I decided to have extra dessert. Um, not sure about that decision but oh well - ended up eating 240 cals of dessert in 4 bites. Dave ate a lot of everything. Kids complained about all choices. The kids wanted the plain boring overcooked steamed shrimp of all things. Why didn't they want that delicious pork with the homemade sauce???
Of course I gave everyone more choices than they should have had and ended up with far fewer leftovers than I expected. Pork gone. Shrimp - 4 left. Lots of rice. Small amount tofu. Some salad.
Alex ate a bit of rice, a couple bites each of shrimp and pork chopped up orange pepper, which he declared he liked more than he thought he would and Natasha ate a couple pea pods and some shrimp. Neither kid ate much. They were allowed small desserts and I was positive they'd be complaining of hunger later but they didn't. I guess they weren't that hungry.
New jeans
To everyone who wanted me to buy fancy jeans - I finally did -
$30 for a pair of Lucky's at Filene's Basement. They're nice! But not worth $150. I also found a super-soft long cashmere sweater for a good price. And it has long sleeves. What is up with short-sleeved sweaters? Not a practical trend. Now I have to return 4 items at 4 different stores that I don't like. This is a full-time job. I need to go to Loehman's, Target, TJMax and Filene's Basement. Obviously I'm very fancy. I also have a sweater vest that I love that is 2 weeks old and already ripping - and that's from Banana Republic. I'd rather sew it than return it, but I'm pretty annoyed.
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