Tera, yes I use commercial canned tomatoes for the marinara base. I buy them at the restaurant supply store. I kept trying different store marinaras and didn't like any of them. I'm a tomato, garlic, spice and onion girl. The recipe I created was a take off of Olive Garden's marinara. It was light and fresh. And I agree with Am2, you did have success in saying no to the many things in the eating out that would have put on a pound.
GS cookies are no longer a problem for me. They're made in a plant that has peanuts (and their dust) floating around. I had an allergic reaction to a Samoa a couple years ago and it was the made where evil allergens are used that was the only thing listed. that took away my love for them. Funny thing, is I see that warning all the time and chance it and never had a problem. That time I did and figured GS cookies weren't safe.
Am2, I'm happy you had your loss and and you will make it through the plateau. I have several grain free foods for my pups but I'm not sure they have problem with grains. I know two are allergic to lamb and the other is allergic to chicken. So I have to make sure that they don't have food interactions with each other. I'm a doggie feeding police at my house.
LOL at the cheezit story, Tera. When my first pup was dying from cancer, all she'd eat was brownies. And of course, chocolate is bad for dogs. It was my vet that said, "Marie, she's dying. Give her as many brownies as she wants." She did add that brownies don't have much chocolate - dark chocolate is the really bad one. And my dogs know that they get one dark chocolate M&M when I go to my gumball machine that holds my M&Ms. I figure 65 pound dogs are ok with an occasional M&M...
Diana, good job tracking the cals including the snacks. And walking is GOOD! Don't you just love watching the doggies sniff their world with such pleasure?
Things are fine with me. My cals are a tad on the high side and today I will bring them down a little. Here's my cal: Saturday was 1595, Sunday was 1682, Monday was 1666. I'd really be more pleased if they maxed at 1500 cals. I definitely need to focus better but I lost my mojo on the ease of cal limiting 10 days ago and its been a struggle again. As long as I never give up, I will be fine.
Marie
Marie, I am sorry for your loss of a dog to cancer. I am glad she was able to have her brownies.
My previous dog also had cancer & I held her as she passed over the Rainbow Bridge. I never had anything special to feed her at that time lol as I am prone to let them eat what they want at most times anyway as long as they don't have a known allergy.
I had a simply awful day yesterday & was tempted to eat wheat based cake but did not, so only was a little over in calories & am pretty well on track today.
Hiding out today from the world & went to Sprouts to find Uber Bars by Larabars. These are gluten free nut bars with fruit & they are wonderful. They have brown rice syrup in them, though, and that us the current food that some study or other says has arsenic in it unless from a good source. I love brown rice syrup so I am eating the bars anyway.
Last edited by Amarantha2; 02-26-2013 at 03:09 PM.
Todays cals-2055, Ex-60 min body sculpt class. I got into the bag of peanut M&Ms again-why do I torture myself this way? They sabotage my weight loss effort and make me feel guilty and powerless.(I do not just eat a few unfortunatly.) Plus, I had a high calorie lunch at Chilis this afternoon. I need to quit feeding myself food that does not fit in my new healthy eating plan. (If I write it here will it make it come true?)
Marie-Brilliant idea to purchase restaurant supply store size tomatoes. R u set for the whole year now? I loved the dogs and chocolate stories. It is nice to share the good stuff with furry ones now and then. These days, my dear old girl gets lots of apples, bananas, cheese, hard boiled eggs, chicken and an occasional pecan or walnut. She can barely hobble around on her two legs that are not comprimised but she always makes her way to the kitchen during meal preparations anyway. That is about her only exercise anymore. Of course we must reward her for all that effort. Good for you on the incredible shrinking calorie totals. You are almost there.
Am2-Congrats on ignoring the wheaty cake even when you were stressed. I am finding it quite easy to say no to anything with wheat. Unlike my run in with the peanut M&Ms which made me feel powerless, saying no to wheat makes me feel good. I hope you feel empowered as well-at least about wheat control anyway-for what it is worth.I also read about the arsenic in brown rice. I was not too disappointed since I prefer white rice and now have the perfect excuse to choose the non whole grain variety. However, I recognize the dilemma this creates in your situation-a pity the food scientists had to uncover this unwholesome distinction. In the end, there seems to be a downside to most food we consume so it just makes sense to make the best choice possible under the circumstances and eat a wide variety of foods-including the delicious sounding Uber Bars.
Tera, yes it IS a pity those pesky food researchers keep finding stuff like arsenic in the brown rice. I actually am not too worried about that and intend to use brown rice syrup as usual but be careful of quality.
Saying no to wheat makes me feel good, too. I find it pretty easy. What a great thing to have occurred.
Still there is a lot of angst going on in life for me at the moment and there are days I am finding that though I am not having binges, the calories are creeping up. So I have added a second challenge game, the royal good calorie level streak ... just want to see how many consecutive days I can string together at my good calorie level, which is 1600.
I do calorie cycling so 1600 is challenging as normally I up it to the 2000s a couple of times a week but it is getting to be the norm and not the up amount.
I don't desire to stay as low as 1600 or below forever, just playing a game.
Yesterdays cals-1825, ex-60 min step class at the Y. Yesterday was also weigh in for my 2nd week of eating wheat free and I came in at 145. I am not going to bother to change the ticker since it is so insignificant for me-just the usual. Despite my lack of weekly progress with my actual weight, I did very well with the exercise and tracking my calories. My problems last week had to do with peanut M&Ms and going out to eat-both manageable areas that I did not successfully negotiate. My goal for the next week is to stay away from the candy and restrict my restaurant food to low calorie selections.
Am2-Wow, look at you. Great job at stickin the calorie level! You deserve an "A" for effort. Keep it going.
Yesterdays cals-1925 Exercise-60 min yoga class. I am love, love, loving the yoga class. It is my silver lining to the unemployment situation. I am counting the days until my wheat free trial is over. I miss bread very much. However, I am adding to my list of few and far betweens. Which makes me truly sad but I have to admit to it's deleterious effect on my health and well being. You would think I would be a whole lot happier that I found something that made me feel so much better. But, it feels like giving up smoking. It was very difficult to do and I missed it for many years-really. I even had dreams about it. Sometimes I was happy I was smoking and sometimes I was totally panicking about being addicted again. I must admit I have not had a single dream about eating wheat-that would be hilarious though.
Am2, I'm so sorry that Monday (geez was that really the beginning of the week already) was awful. I hope as I read on your week improves. Congrats on not bowing to the wheat cake during the nastiness. I can't say I was able to duplicate your victory yesterday.
Tera, definitely I didn't continue on the shrinking calories. Like you and your peanut M&Ms, I tortured myself yesterday with chocolate chip cookies. I can say I didn't regret it as they are wonderful and I LOVE baking. I brought one for my 10:00 snack this morning. I figure the vege/fruit morning snacks aren't working so I'd bring what I really wanted and hope that kills the munchie need.
So what I thought was just asthma with a flare up of my allergies is really a cold. I've felt like crap all week and chocolate chip cookies were my comfort last night. I wanted to back - yeah while sick is such a great idea... - and the cookies were incredible. They aren't as tempting the next day. I like them warm and gooey. Now that the beinning part of a cold is over (aka the fevers are gone), there's just the cough and congestion. Irritating but not feeling crappy. So that is good. I'm so looking forward to weekend, though. I hate being at work when sick. I'm happy I have my own office so I don't spread too many germs. At least I hope I'm not spreading them. And just a side b!tch, I really hate when people ask the question they really don't want an answer to : How are you? I hate the expect lie of FINE. OK, off my soapbox.
Wednesday cals: 1326 (woot)
Thursday cals: 1841 (hiss - thank goodness for Wed and an average of 1583)
Today... heavens only knows. I hate when I struggle with calories!
Marie
Marie, thanks. My week has been steadily improving and today was quite good as I fought through a lot of problems and issues to reach a better mindset, or at least improve some of the concerns bothering me.
Glad your cold is better and that the baking helped you.
I love to bake, too, when not too lazy.
Tera, thanks for the kind words on my streakity streak. You are doing great.
Re the wheat, not everyone has to give up wheat or any specific thing. Everyone is different.
I don't seem to crave bread or wheat based goodies of any kind. Sometimes I get a thought that I should be having a piece of cake or bread or some pretzels but I then tell myself if I really end up craving it I can go to Sprouts and get bread or cake that is gluten free (which by definition eliminates the wheat) but it is a weak urge to do that and I end up eating some potatoes, my substitute of choice. I still want to sample more gluten free baked goods and make some but am in no hurry.
There was a fundraiser on PBS earlier with someone discussing food common food sensitivities (not allergies) and one of the most common, she said, was gluten. Another was dairy. I love dairy but used to be sensitive to it, but over time became non sensitive (my phrase lol) to it and now happily consume it daily.
Not sure I'd do that with the wheat whether or not I'm sensitive to it. I love the non wheat lifestyle and may move on to other grains lol.
Queen's Royal Caloric Level Streakity Streak
Day 1, Wednesday, February 27, 1530
Day 2, 1560
Day 3, 1540
Day 4, TBD
Last edited by Amarantha2; 03-01-2013 at 10:32 PM.
Am2, I'm glad you're moving to a better place mind wise. It's hard when life's bumps pull you down. It's harder to fight the bumps when your down. I couldn't do your potato substitute. I love them but my stomach doesn't love them (or corn). Wheat it has no problem with. Definitely everyone is different and why one diet doesn't work for everyone.
Yesterday I ended the day at 1464 cals. YAY!!! When Diana mentioned the walking videos, I dug through my DVDs and found Leslie Sansone's 5 mile advanced walk. I did a 3 mile one earlier this week and last night did 2 miles of it. DH and I are going for a bike ride (long) today so I didn't want to do too much 12 hours before leaving. I also wanted something that wouldn't raise the heart rate much since I have a chest cold. The walking video was a great choice. I figure I won't lose fitness using them while sick.
DH is up so we're going to get going. Now the hard part - keeping cals in line while traveling (we're riding on a trail 135 miles south of us) and while expending cals. A deficit would be good but I'm not hopeful. When I was in the losing phase (when I lost the 70 pounds) I was and didn't deviate. Maintaining allows my to show. I will log anything I eat.
Marie
I figured out how to customize my avatar. Brave new world for me. I have been taking the time to watch some tutorials on my computer and my phone. It is not so bad after all, just like my daughter has been trying to tell me for years.
Yesterdays cals-1760, Ex-60 min step class at the Y. I am jealous of both of your tiny calorie loads. Now if I could just turn my envy into something more useful, perhaps a modicum of resolve; well, then I would be on my way to the Land of Svelte. I was already thinking of prematurely losing my Delete Wheat standard and making corn bread with dinner tonight but maybe I should not. I have time to think about it.
Marie-I do believe chocolate cookies are the correct prescription for a cold. Due to my propensity to overdose on cookies, when I am in a similar circumstance, I am required to substitute a less soothing alternative such as hot tea. Sorry to hear about the nasty cold, I hope you get well soon and are able to enjoy your bicycle trip.
Am2-I think I probably also watched the same PBS special. I watched three last Fall and found they all three had very similar messages. Then I read Wheat Belly and also watched a segment from another doctor on Dr Oz and they are all saying pretty much the same thing. Something about inflammation, blood sugar and the gut. Anyway, what I took from all of that is if I want to increase my chances of beating some of the more common age related diseases, it might be wise to pay more attention to what I am eating not just how much I am eating. Fortunately eating well pretty much equates with eating less so it pretty much win-win to choose to make healthy food choices. Dang it, I think I just talked myself out of the cornbread!
Marie, I have to keep the potato servings small or definetly they would be unkind to my stomach. Just a little satisfies me. I'll likely get tired if them soon, need new recipes.
I love Leslie Sansone. I have been doing her vids for decades.
Tera, I actually fell asleep during this one but I liked it. It is the first one I have seen on my local PBS that addressed gluten & did not repeat the message to eat a mostly vegan diet. Not that such would not be a good diet but I was an ovo lacto vegetarian for decades & am no longer interested in being vegetarian or vegan. I am very interested in being wheat & gluten free as that is relevant to my body.
But I also think as you say that the amount of food eaten is relevant but that what the diet consists of is relevant to how much we eat.
Marie, ITA that are all so different when it comes to diet preference.
Inflammation, blood sugar & food sensitivities as well as digestion & a lifestyle do kind of sum up my wheat free world, which has already improved a host of physical & other concerns in my life, so for me it has been great, but I do need to control calories, too, to get where I am going lol.
Going to finish my walk, woot. It is beautiful out. Got a lot done.
Last edited by Amarantha2; 03-02-2013 at 04:09 PM.
The bike trip was fantastic. We rode 16.4 miles and it was so nice. We chose a relatively flat area (gentle ascents and descents) that didn't tax the heart rate. DH didn't like my cough and was unsure whether it was a good idea to ride and I assured him it was. His GPS said we expended 1000 cals and my Cyclemeter app said 800. So my 1640 cals yesterday were somewhat in line.
Am2, I bet your weather is amazing this time of year. I'm totally envious. I like Leslie S as well. I did stop doing her videos because they didn't give me an aerobic workout. That said, I wouldn't be an exerciser without her. I bought a two mile DVD about 7 years ago and truly it was her that got me started. But when I'm not feeling well, it was a perfect workout.
Tera, good job on talking yourself out of the cornbread. You set a wheat free duration goal and you'll meet it. You'll be pleased when you reach the end of you goal and didn't give in to the little that urged you to end prematurely. BTW, I when I read that CC Cookies were the perfect prescription to the cold. I still have the cold and DH ate the cookies. Perhaps today I could bake...
Marie
I also read about the arsenic in brown rice. I was not too disappointed since I prefer white rice and now have the perfect excuse to choose the non whole grain variety. However, I recognize the dilemma this creates in your situation-a pity the food scientists had to uncover this unwholesome distinction. In the end, there seems to be a downside to most food we consume so it just makes sense to make the best choice possible under the circumstances and eat a wide variety of foods-including the delicious sounding Uber Bars.
and didn't deviate. Maintaining allows my 
to show. I will log anything I eat.
when I read that CC Cookies were the perfect prescription to the cold. I still have the cold and DH ate the cookies. Perhaps today I could bake... 
