New Year's in September

I love September. These past few days have been cool and clear, and you can almost feel the back-to-school energy like electricity in the air. I was one of the few kids who could not wait to go back to school in the fall...all the way through high school. To me, it always represented a fresh start, another opportunity to reinvent myself. It was my "new year".


To this day, I still feel that excitement as September approaches. As much as I love the summer, by mid-August I'm longing for the cool, wood-smoke scented air that signals my fresh start.

And here it is!


I've already got a couple of irons in the fire on the reinvention front. But now it's also time to get back to business on my health.

I know, it's a risk to pile more onto my plate (no pun intended), but it has to be done. Anyway, I've been here before, so it should be easy. And I'm not sure I'm going to go all-out, gung-ho South Beach at this point, just sticking to the basics:

1. Drink the water. It does absolutely no good sitting there in the water cooler. My head and muscles will be so thankful.
2. Moderation, not deprivation. And not overindulgence, either -- I don't care what "they" say, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. Just ask my gut. And my husband.
3. Exercise. I don't care if it's just a walk around the block -- my butt needs to unstick itself from this chair at least once a day. And a trip to the fridge doesn't count. Neither does the trip across the room to the water cooler, although that is a good start (see #1).

That's it. Plain and simple. What are your "back to school" resolutions?

Four Weeks Down, a Lifetime to Go

I've just completed four weeks on the Beach (two weeks Phase I "detox" and two weeks on Phase II, the weight-loss phase), and I am feeling really good! And it's only the beginning. The thing about building healthy eating habits is, it's a lifetime commitment. Unlike dieting, which is often associated with deprivation as a means to an end (a goal weight) and therefore only undertaken for a finite amount of time, healthy eating is meant to be maintained over the course of one's life. Dieting is a sprint; healthy eating, a marathon.

I think that "dieting" is the reason that so many people "fail" in their weight loss attempts. They either deprive themselves of so much that they can't maintain the pace long enough to reach their weight loss goal, or they make it to their ideal weight and then think that it's okay to go back to the way they used to eat...and put the weight right back on, and then some.

Healthy eating is a long-term lifestyle change that, first and foremost, is meant to keep you healthy. The weight loss is just a bonus, a side effect.

Anyone who has ever run a marathon (I have - there I am, Vancouver Marathon 1998!) knows that you don't just suddenly start running 26.2 miles right off the bat. You have to train. A lot. You have to start small, and slowly work your way up. The same holds true with healthy eating. Make one small change at a time, and build up. For example, you don't have to completely cut out carbs from your diet; but if you're eating french fries every day, start by only treating yourself to french fries once a week. Then work from there.

Another thing about marathons: they are as much mental as they are physical. Changing habits, such as with healthy eating, are much the same. You are probably used to grabbing those fries every day; it's become a habit. But also, your body became used to having those fries every day, and it's become a craving. Or, to put it another way -- how many times have you said "I don't have the willpower" or simply "I can't do it" (I can't even begin to count mine)? Overcoming those doubts has to happen first, before you can even begin to work toward those 26-plus miles, or toward that healthy lifestyle. I truly believe that I was mentally ready to begin this journey, and that is why it is working so well for me now.

I figure if I can run a marathon, I can do this. And every day, I need to reaffirm this commitment to myself, because I plan to be in it for the long haul.

Eleanor Roosevelt once said: "You must do the things you think you cannot do." She also said: "Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product."

I'm really starting to believe her.

I Stripped My Way Through College

Well, no, I didn't...but I got your attention now, didn't I? Actually, I was in the city yesterday and happened to notice this guy walking along the sidewalk with a big thought cloud over his head that said "I stripped my way through college." No joke, it's true -- undoubtedly part of some very interesting ad campaign (it was a cut-out of a thought cloud mounted to a post that was strapped to the guy's chest), though by the time I could see the flip side of the thought cloud I couldn't make out the name of the company or campaign.

My first thought was Wow, I WISH I'd had the body to strip my way through college. Then I thought that actually, what I really wished was that I had the body image to be able to do that. Then I saw another guy with a thought cloud over his head that said: "I think that I am ugly." That really got me thinking... body image is such an interesting thing. There are a lot of things about my body that I am not happy with; I can think of ten things easy, right off the top of my head. But Dave, my husband, will look at me like I've got two heads if I mention any of them: "What do you mean? I think you look great." (Of course, one might say he is playing exactly the right card when faced with such a loaded comment.)

My point, though, is that body image is such a subjective thing. Why is it that when we look at ourselves, it is like looking into a fun house mirror? The image is completely distorted, and nothing like what the person standing next to us sees when he or she looks at us. And why, I wonder, does that body image have to be so closely tied to weight, or to fitting into size xyz pants? Distorted body image is what drives so many of us to crash diet, imbibe all sorts of "miracle" weight-loss concoctions, and at its worst is at the heart of depression, anorexia, bulimia and a host of other disorders. None of which is healthy.

Now, I can't change everyone's opinion of their own bodies, or how they choose to deal with it... but I can change my own. For my own sake, and for that of my daughter. More than the weight, more than fitting into those size 6 (or, dare I say it, size 4?) jeans, more than even eliminating the spare tire around my belly or the jiggle in my arms, I want to learn to feel as confident in my body as I imagine a stripper might. And I want to feel that way regardless of whether I "fix" any of the things I currently see "wrong" with my body. I want to feel that way because I am healthy, and active, and strong, and content. To do this, it's going to take more than simply changing my eating habits and exercising. It's going to take some real introspection, and a lot of mental work.

So for me, "Walking the Beach" is taking on more meaning than I originally thought. While I will continue to muse about my food choices and building healthy habits, I see it also becoming a journey of self-discovery that I didn't exactly anticipate. I am excited to see where it will take me!

Phase I, Day 1

January 1, 2009

I'm a little anxious about starting the South Beach Diet today. Okay, a lot anxious. While I'm excited at the prospect of feeling as good as I did the last time I was on the Beach, I'm so nervous that I am not going to be able to maintain the good habits that this plan is supposed to impart. With all of the stress of taking care of a new baby, keeping house, and working from home, I worry that I don't have the structure or stamina to keep this going. I know that I need to take this one day at a time, one meal at a time, and try not to be such a perfectionist…and I'm going to try to do that. So here I am at day one of Phase I of the program.

For the record, so that I have them written down somewhere, here are a few things that worked for me last time:
1. DRINK WATER. I must squeeze in at LEAST eight glasses (64 oz) of water every day. I cannot have a cup of coffee until I have had my first full eight ounces of water for the day. I need to drink at least one eight-ounce glass with each meal. And I must have at least one eight-ounce glass before bed.
2. MEAL PLAN. Making a meal plan for the week will help me stay on track, both with grocery shopping and with getting motivated to cook. I know that if I don't have a plan for dinner come dinnertime, I will NOT want to figure something out at the last minute and will fall back on takeout.
3. BE PREPARED. I need to have a well-stocked fridge and pantry, so that I have plenty of options at my disposal at any given time. I also need to wash and prep all fresh vegetables as soon as I bring them into the house - again, if I have to do the work to prep the veggies at mealtime, I will be less inclined to do it.
4. CREATE VARIETY. If I have to eat eggs every day for breakfast…or grilled chicken every night at dinner, I will not last. I need to continuously look for new ideas for meals and snacks, and keep that information on hand in an easy-to-use format so that I always have them at my fingertips.

B: 1 poached egg, 2 pieces canadian bacon, 6oz V8, coffee

S: 15 almonds, red pepper slices with salsa

L: turkey roll-up, zucchini in tomato sauce, coffee

S: 1 oz laughing cow light on celery stalks; 1 oz lf cheddar cheese

D: spice-rubbed roasted pork tenderloin, fauxtatoes, green beans

S: chocolate espresso ricotta creme

Water: 8 glasses!
Exercise: 30 mins yoga

All in all, today went pretty well. I stayed right on track eating-wise, though I did have some cravings and felt a little crabby come dinnertime. My husband, who agreed to do a "modified" version of South Beach with me, snacked on three granola bars and some chocolate-filled cereal squares before I asked him to stop - it was more than a little insensitive, and certainly didn't help with my cravings. But we got past it (he felt bad, apologized, and promised to be more considerate). I feel good that I've gotten through my first day unscathed, especially for a day where I wasn't particularly active or busy (we basically just laid around watching TV; a good way to spend the first day of the new year). I think I'll make up one of those ricotta cremes for dessert - that should satisfy me nicely. Onward!

Cruising on the Beach. South Beach, that is. The diet, that is.

Okay, I'm going to start by saying that I am a notoriously bad blogger. I have started two or three other blogs in the past three years or so, and have a total of ten blog postings between them. Yah, not good.

But this time I think it's going to be different. I have something meaningful (to me) and regularly updatable (yes, I know that's not a word) to blog about.

I've started the South Beach Diet. Again. Though I prefer to call it a "plan" or "lifestyle." I hate the fact that by putting the word "diet" in something, it's automatically considered bad, or a fad, or restrictive...or a cult. In fact, the word "diet" actually has a definition beyond how we as a society have come to understand it. Mirriam-Webster defines the word diet as:

1.a: food and drink regularly provided or consumed b: habitual nourishment c: the kind and amount of food prescribed for a person or animal for a special reason d: a regimen of eating and drinking sparingly so as to reduce one's weight (going on a diet)
2: something provided or experienced repeatedly (a diet of Broadway shows and nightclubs)

Notice that the restrictive "diet" is last on the list of definitions pertaining to food. I don't plan to starve myself, or deprive myself. I have chosen to take two weeks, and two weeks only, to allow my body to clear out all of the carb clutter that I have packed into it over time and give myself a fresh start. Over the course of the next weeks and months, I intend to completely evolve my eating habits from the unhealthy (too much fast food, sugary snacks and fatty "comfort" foods) to the healthy (well balanced, low in fat, high in nutrition). South Beach has helped me learn to do that in the past, and I am betting it will do the same for me now.

Now, in the name of full disclosure, I'm already a week into this lifestyle as I write this post; I only today realized that it would be worth blogging about. So I will be retroactively posting my last seven days of entries throughout the day. By the end of today, I will have eight posts...only two shy of what I accomplished in the last three years!

Anyway, I hope that if anyone out there reads this, they will find my experiences helpful as they pursue their own path to a healthier lifestyle. Thanks for reading!