Hi everyone,

I've posted in the past, yet I have yet to loose any real wieght.
Here's a little bit about me:
I have been struggleing with depression for well, years. Then i found out that alot of my depression and anxiety was side effects of a med i was on for 5 years. I have since stopped taking it, and am medication free now!

I also have research several herbs to rebalance my system and have had several accupuncture treatments and i feel better than i have felt in 3 or 4 years!

Need less to say, i am in favor of eating as natural whole and pure as possible. in my own life experience, i have found processed foods to be un-nourishing, depleating, addicting, and fattening.

I am aiming towards not only eating whole foods, but also having a holistic approach to exercise and living and out look in general too.

I just think i need to get started on the right foot and need some support or inspiration.

because of the pills i was on, i think i need to rest and rebuild my system as i stress out very easily. I swam for 45 min yesterday and was so tired the rest of the evening i barely could stay awake. Plus i felt the need to eat alot of food, which didnt do much for loosing wieght.

I know that i feel better when i eat more fresh whole foods. If i can just stick it out 2 weeks, I'm sure i'll see a change, and be on my way.

I have learned that being nutrient deprived can make wiegh loss quite a bit harder. I have taken steps to replenish lost nutrients and feel much less tendancy to binge eat. So i know that was a positive step. I also am thinking that quieting my mind will help considerably in making the right choices.

does any one else find that to have been the case, and if so, what helps you keep your brain calm and forcused.
Although my body is slow and sluggish, my mind seems to be anxious and flighty, which sort of , well, drives me nuts.

any tips? insights to share?

small steps at a time.

thanks,and take care,
kb.

Hey KB, it can definitely be overwhelming at first!

I would try to make little changes at first. I would write down the foods you typically eat/like to eat/like to cook and then try to figure out how you can make healthier versions of those foods. You are aiming for long term change, so you have to start with how YOU like to eat, so you can keep up your healthy change forever. For example, if you looooove sandwiches, giving up bread isn't going to work for you long term. If you like to make french fries, consider using sweet potatoes to make sweet potato fries. If you make sandwiches, think about how you can pile them high with spinach and tomato and red peppers.

Look into local farmer's markets - it is hard to beat fresh local produce in season.

Make vegetables the focus of your meal. I imagine my plate divided into quarters. 1/2 is vegetables, 1/4 is protein, 1/4 is a healthy complex carbohydrate. For example, I sometimes steam a head of broccoli and eat it iwth a small baked sweet potato and 4-5 oz of wild caught salmon. I also like shrimp stir fry over brown rice, sweet potato/black bean quesadillas and home made pasta sauce with chicken sausage over whole wheat pasta.

Don't be afraid to try new things. I had never cooked a beet in my life until last summer - turns out they are delicious roasted. I had never eaten kale (my previous thought - the stuff on the plate next to the pickle that no one ever eats??) either!

Read - there are some fabulous books. Super Foods Rx by Stephen Pratt, Ominivore's Dilemna, What to Eat by Marion Nestle, 150 Healthiest Foods by Jonny Bowden.

Finally, understand that you are making changes that fit within your life style. I know that I would love to make homemade pasta and bread and tortillas, but I just don't really have time for that. I opt for the convenience of sliced organic bread from the grocery store, Kashi frozen waffles and La Tortilla factory tortillas. I just do the best I can, as much as I can and don't aim for perfection!

I am a firm believer in whole foods + calorie counting as a method for weight loss/weight maintenance, good luck!!!

kb,

Last time I checked there was some evidence (not sure how strong it was though) that omega-3 fatty acids were helpful in fighting depression, and they are certainly helpful in preventing heart disease. I add a fish oil tablet with my daily multivitamin. But good, whole foods sources are fatty fish (wild salmon is especially good), tree nuts (especially walnuts), and ground flax seeds or flax seed oil.

thanks glory.

yes i tried fresh beets for the first time this year and i absolutley love them!
At first i tried roasting in the oven, but they also stir fry well, and are yummy with potatoes and herbs.

I have read omnivores dilema, and it opened my eyes to alot. I still refuse to put chemicals on my lawn. even though it is overgrown with weeds. So if you have a good solution to weeds, let me know.

Harvest for Hope by Jane Goodall is also very inspiring. I have read all of her books, and i just love her. I wish i could have lived her life.

Food logs used to help me alot, but for some reason it is not working for me. I've finally decided it would be better to try a different approach than to keep banging my head against the wall by starting the food log every day, but then overeating toward the end of the day. then i don't feel like bothering to recall every thing i've eaten because it's just too much work.


Sometimes i feel pretty hopeless about the whole thing, but i just can't accept that i will feel out of shape and overwieght for the rest of my life.


I feel like if i can just get off to a good start for a few weeks, i'll be okay.

hugs,
kb.

ps.
it's funny, I know persistance is the key to success, yet at the same time, doing the same thing over and over with the expectation of a different result is a sign of insanity. So i start anew with my intentions of eating well every day. It's been going on for years. I keep feeling like i am having a positive out look by doing this, yet it's also starting to feel crazy. Hmmmm....

Hi wndranne

yes i have heard that too. i have a nice bottle of flax oil in the fridge, yet i keep forgetting about it. I m not sure the best way to use it. I know you arent suppossed to heat it so i don't stir fry with it.
Maybe i should just drizzle it on in the end?

thanks,
kb.

kb, I've heard people recommend making salad dressing with it, instead of olive oil. Never tried it myself, so don't know how it tastes. I do know that flax oil is very delicate and will go rancid rather quickly--refrigeration sounds good to protect that.

Anne

I've used ground flax to add to hot cereal (stir it in in the bowl, not while cooking) and my DH also adds it to cold cereal. One of my co-workers uses flax oil for salad dressing all the time. It comes in a dark bottle and she keeps it in our work fridge.

Hi Girls ,
thanks for all the tips, i have been feeling better this week. Since stopping that birth control , I think my body is still readjusting to making it's own hormones. Maybe i just hadn't given it enough time.

I've been doing accupunture and studying chinese traditional medicine, and have been feeling better.

I have noticed a definite fluctuating in my moods according with my cycle though. Seems i have a good week ( which is this week!) then varying degrees of feeling not so good as it gets closer to that time of the month.
everything from fatigue to crying to grumpyness. It is hard but i am told it will even itself out.

I am told i should eat more beef though. so i bought some grass fed organic beef at wild oats. I like the idea of being a vegitarian, but if i am going to eat animals at least i can make sure they were treated well in life.

bye and thanks,
kaebea.

Everything Glory said, and this:

If it helps, I began this business saying and feeling much the same things you are.

Your number one goal is nourishing your body so that you feel good. The weight loss is an incindental result of pursuing this goal. Don't worry about calories at first; just concentrate on eating nourishing foods when you are hungry, stopping when you are satisfied, with the agreement that you may eat again WHENEVER the hunger pops back up. Even if you are hungry again only ten minutes later, you must not beat yourself up for "being hungry at the wrong time"! There is no wrong time to be hungry—unless you are out somewhere there's no food!

The Superfoods book was the book that lit a fire under me. Wow—a book that lists what current research says are the most nourishing foods on the planet! Simply working to incorporate several Superfoods into my diet each day cleared up my mind and improved my mood and energy tremendously.

You've got a great start; by thinking things over like this you're laying down a solid foundation, probably without even realizing it. Good luck!

Superfoods, i will have to remember that.
I had a bingey day today. i felt like i should just eat some of the junk-esque foods i had bought and just get them out of the house.

tommorrow i will do better.

has anyone ever bought dates? i've never had them until today. they look scarey, but the taste really sugary. do they add sugar? i know with some dried fruits, sugar is added. who here is familiar with the date?

p.s.

does anyone here ever study traditional chinese medicine?

I've never bought actual dates before but Clif makes a bar with only 5 ingredients and the first one in all of them is dates. The bars are reasonably sweet, with no added sugar.

Those bars look sooooo yummy but I do WW and when I figured out the points once, I wasn't sure if the bar was going to be worth it or not

The packaging for the dates should say if they are sweetened. If not, just check the ingredients list!

Nope - sugar shouldn't be added to dates, they are just naturally that sweet. Nature's candy! (if you buy them packaged, you can read the packaging to determine if extra sugar has been added. Dates out of a bulk bin should still have ingredients printed on the container!).

http://209.196.51.230/ME2/dirmod.asp...4FE5E46&tier=2

I also love the Cliff Nectar bars (the 5 ingredient bars with dates) - LOVE LOVE LOVE!

No, i got 'em at trader joes, my favorite place, and it's only got a sticker with some recipe ideas. well, i'll check again, i have a way of over looking the obvious. the consistancy inside reminds me of pecan pie goo. It's good. Surprizingly enough, as the dried outsides of them reminded me of some sort of exotic dried bug/ delicacy snack.

Yeah, they are awesome! The natural sweetness means they are naturally high in calories - I try to measure a serving carefully! (Or just buy exactly what I want to eat for one serving out of the bulk bin).