Scale says

I'll be out of town this weekend, so I wanted to update while I had the chance.

W: 155
M: 40.5, 34.5, 40.5

Not much difference in the measurements from a couple of weeks ago. I've been drinking water and eating my veggies, so I'm getting back on a healthy track. I need to add some cardio! But that will come soon. Right now, what I'm doing is good for me and soon I will be able to add more good-for-me things to my life.

Recipe

The other day, Renee had a post about raisins that mentioned carrot and raisin salad. I make carrot salad/slaw in the summer all the time. It's an easy way to eat a good serving of carrots, plus it's very sweet. When I started making this, it was just carrots, raisins, and enough mayo to get a little coating on everything. But a couple of years ago, I tried a beet and carrot salad that had a delicious sweet and spicy dressing and now I use that. (I don't really like beets, so the beet and carrot salad has not been a repeat.) I just use the ingredients to taste, but it ends up tasting a lot fresher than the mayo version.

It's adapted from an Everyday Food recipe--issue 15, pg 123. Last night, I used the juice of one lemon, about a tablespoon of honey, about a 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil, a dash of cinnamon, a dash of cayenne, and a dash of cumin, and a pinch of salt. Whisk it all together and taste--add more of what you want to taste. That was enough for about four grated carrots. Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison also has a similar Lime-Cumin dressing that she reccommends for shredded carrot salads.

Just an alternative to mayo!

tomato sauce

Last week, when Renee had a post on her site comparing ravioli, I listed a comparison for the ravioli that we made earlier in the week. After doing that, I realized that the jarred tomato sauce was really high in sodium. So this week when I bought another jar I compared the sodium content for several brands. Almost all of them were the same high sodium--about 500-700 mg per 1/2 cup. Of course, I don't eat just one 1/2 cup of sauce usually.

But, when looking at the brands I found that the lowest at this particular store was Classic0 brand. 320 mg for 1/2 cup. Not bad. It also doesn't have any of the junk that I don't like: MSG, high fructose corn syrup, or hydrogenated anything. It's the fire roasted tomato and garlic version, and pretty good.

Scale says

156

I forgot to take my measurements this morning. The last week was not a pleasant one health-wise. The first half was taken up with finishing a final and the second half was out of town on a trip. Lots of junk food, little water or veggies and I haven't been tracking my nutrients at all. So it's not surprising to see that reflected in a gain.

It is very easy to be sidetracked by these kinds of things, but today I will go back to the grocery store and stock up for a few days with good food. I have already started tracking my food again, and I will start my jogging program! I just have to get back on track.

Weight based on body fat percentage

Ever since my doctor's appointment, I've been thinking about markers of health--blood pressure and iron levels. Of course, my health approach is to focus on RDA's through fitday rather than count calories or restrict food groups and this is also tied to markers of health. Other ones that I have been thinking about are body fat percentage, resting heart rate, and cholesterol level. In a way, I wish that ways to measure these things were as common in our homes as the scale seems to be, because weight seems to be a measure of health that can be more subjective and less related to health than these other measures (based on what little I know about them).

During the summer, I'm going to try to find out some more of my health markers. I will likely buy a heart rate monitor soon and I'm planning on going to the gym and paying the couple of bucks it is to have my body fat percentage measured. Maybe the health center offers cholesterol screenings. Also, I was reading about blood pressure and found that the NIH suggests that sodium be restricted to 2400 mg a day. I'm about 100 mg above that usually, so I am going to look into reducing that, even though my blood pressure isn't that high. Another reason to cut out Cokes!

Also, I looked at the body fat percentage calculator here and based on its calculations, I have 32% body fat. (I'm using the smaller number.) So, based on my current weight I have nearly 50 pounds of fat on me and the rest of me weighs about 105. If I aim for the "ideal" body fat percentage for fit women (22%), I think that would mean that nothing less than 127.8 would be healthy for me (assuming I don't become an "athlete" which is probably a safe assumption). Is that right? 104.7 *22%= about 23, 104.7 + 23 = 127.8. Math is like Klingon to me, so I may have made a glaring error in judgment, but I think that should be right. I think that this is probably more accurate than plain BMI.

Anyway, those are my thoughts for today!

Beginning Challenge

Yesterday was the first day of the 3-thing challenge. I started off well, since I walked on the treadmill at my parents', ate all my veggies, and drank my water. Today I won't meet the veggies part because our dinner plans didn't work out, and our second choice doesn't really have a huge veggie selection. But I walked for 15 minutes to see an outdoor art exhibition before coming to work and I have less than two water bottles left to drink before the end of the day. Since I'm working til 1 am, that shouldn't be a problem.

Scale says

154
39.5, 34.5, 40.5

Not much change, but I've started the challenge with Renee. A good way to get back on track and since I'm pretty competitive I will be glad to get my check marks!

Zinc

I've decided to write a post about each nutrient that is tracked on fitday, plus fiber, the different kinds of fats, protein, and carbs. Sort of like my own little nutrition class--and this is mostly for myself so I will be able to stop googling the same things over and over (and OVER!) again. I wanted to start with the ones that are hardest for me to work into my diet so that I will think about them more.

Zinc is a mineral that promotes a healthy immune system and the senses of taste and smell. It is important for pregnant women and children to have because it helps with proper growth and development.

Oysters are very high in zinc and can meet 100% of your RDA. Fortified breakfast cereals also can contain high amounts of zinc. Red meat and chicken are other good sources. Apparently, it is harder to absorb zinc from vegetable sources, but non-meat sources of zinc are baked beans, yogurt, and nuts.

Tonight I'm going to see if I can't find something with lean red meat in it for dinner.

Yay!

I went to the doctor for a routine checkup today. The last two years I have had a low hematocrit level (27 both years) which from what I see online would probably mean I was anemic, since the normal range for women is 38-46. Last year, my doctor emphasized that and gave me a pamphlet to read (which I threw away, of course) about getting more iron.

This year, my hematocrit was 39! I'm sure that focusing on what I eat has helped this immensely. When I look at the past month in the fitday report, I have gotten 137% of my daily iron requirement.

I didn't get a chat about my weight, probably since I am down about 10 pounds from last year's appointment. Also, my blood pressure was 100/60 which seems decent to me, especially as I have been so slothful and slug-like recently and finals are going on!

New Habit Building!

Renee is starting a new 3 week May challenge, and I have joined up. Finals will almost be over on Sunday, so that will be a good way to break with the past.

My three things that I will track are: water, exercise, and veggies. I'm already tracking veggies somewhat, but I need to get back on the wagon a little. Too much fast food recently. So my goals are to drink 100 oz of water a day, exercise 90 minutes a week, and eat 2.5 cups of veggies each day. I hope that this will get me back to jogging again three times a week. I know I can do the water habit, but I need something to kick me into doing it again. We'll see! I'm pretty excited about this--I love challenges.

Scale Says

The same thing as last time. Measurements are the same too, so I will look at the big picture in order to have something to say. Since I started my blog on March 25, I have lost six pounds, which you can see from my fitday graph. In the past month, I have eaten 2055 calories a day on average (although it's probably a smidge higher than that), averaging 31% fat, 13% protein, 55% carbs and 19 g of fiber. I haven't exercised any since it is the end of the semester.

While I'm not focusing on weight loss per se, I am glad to see that focusing in on vitamins and nutrients isn't making me pack on any additional weight. Fitday says that my loss per week is almost a pound per week, which is in the healthy range. I can't say that I feel all that different from when I started getting more veggies/water/fiber into my diet, except for the pleasure I get from knowing that I'm usually eating better food for my body. I have been thinking more about what foods I'm fueling myself with, so I am more aware.

For the next two weeks of finals, I would like to: replace my caffeine with green tea instead of coke, drink more water, and make sure I keep my vitamin K levels up since that is one I have to think about but is easily solved (spinach!).

Ick.

I feel sick. I know that it is just PMS + eyestrain, but I just want to go home and go to bed. Probably wolfing down my dinner didn't help anything, but that is not really the problem. My head is killing me, my eyes hurt, and I'm nauseated and whiinnneeeeyyy. Unfortunately, I have two more hours at work and I need to do about that much more project work today. Plus, I came to work in a really foul mood since Mean Monkey forgot to come home on time and so we couldn't eat dinner together and I had to get take out and rush so I wouldn't be late. I don't know what he made for dinner, but that is really not my problem. He's a grown man, knows how time works, and knows that it bothers me when I'm counting on him to be somewhere on time and he gets wrapped up in his work. So, so frustrating because I know there is not one thing I can do about it and I need to just let it go. Also, I know that I am bothered more by it because of the PMS thing. ALSO, one whole arm of me stinks! Did I forget to put deoderant on both sides today or what? If it rains, it pours! Which really makes me laugh--all this aggravating stuff AND I stink! Good lord.

Tommorrow I must be more diligent about studying. I guess I will wind up in the library somewhere with a really nice chocolate bar. Last semester I made it through by making myself study to a set point and then having a little bit of chocolate. It sounds kind of pitiful, but I need something immediate and non-distracting. When I'm at home, I use the kitchen timer to give myself 30 minutes on/30 minutes off times--but I can't take that to the library.

Fuzzy

I think I've decided to stop shaving my legs.

Mostly because I'm lazy and I don't like having to think about it. Not that when I am thinking about it I do it very often anyway, so I'm not sure how much of a decision I've made. But for the time being, I'm just going to ignore it until it either icks me out or Mean Monkey absolutely hates it. Or something. Mean Monkey already makes fun of me for my slack shaving habits, but since he decided to grow a mountain man beard because he hates shaving I figure it's going to take a while before it's fair that he gets icked out. (I like the beard, so I'm not getting back at him or anything.) It's not such a huge step away from conformity because I'm fair skinned and light-haired, so most of the time it's not noticeable except to the stubble patrol. And I don't really deal with the stubble patrol, you know.

But once I started thinking about it (about 5 minutes before I started writing this), I got kind of curious as to what I would look like with fuzzy legs. It's been about fifteen years since I became fuzz free, and the more I thought about it the more I disliked it. I'm not really comfortable with the idea that 11 year old girls are expected to shave their legs (and I was not an early adapter of this habit). As an adult, it kind of creeps me out. Anyway, them's my thoughts today! Not really on topic, but oh well.

One down. . .

Well, one exam is over. I feel incredibly stupid, but that's no indication of ability with law exams. Just three more and a paper! Um, yay?

Also, as a break from studying while I watched my recorded tv I snacked on apricots. Guess what? Now I'm sickish feeling. Apparently I don't remember the whole eat a bunch of dried fruit, tummy rebels stuff that I wrote yesterday. Oh well. I don't think that I'll ever learn.

I can't wait until exams are over!! Then I will have a tiny window of stress-free living where I have nothing to do! I'm going to start exercising again--I can't recall the last time I did more than walk to the mailbox, so this should be fun. My friend and I have been planning to run a 5k all year, and I hope we can figure one out for the summer. I do feel better when I am exercising, but I just haven't been recently because I don't need one more thing to do right now! Also, the transportation bank is on hold until the end of the semester I think. Too much on my plate and I just need to scale back a bit. Right now, I'll just focus on getting 100% of RDA's on fitday. This week it's vitamin D, zinc, and magnesium that are problems.