Last Chance for Skinny

Hello Chubettes, Today I weighed in at 179.5 lbs.  I woke up feeling fat so I was surprised at the result.  My goal this week is to get to 175.  I hope I can do it.   Yesterday was a stressfull day, and I ate a lot of carbohydrates.  I didn't drink enough water so my goal today is to drink, drink, drink water, and I also realized that I'm not eating enough fruit.  In fact today I woke up with leg cramps.  (Not enough potassium maybe)

Food:  

I started breakfast off with 1 of Aunt Marlene's breakfast bars.  For snack I ate the vegan dumplings, and a large salad, then later on in the day I ate a huge plate of left over risotto (more carbs).  For dinner, I made a really cool vegan porcine lasagna.  I had two servings.  So as you can see, I pigged out on carbs yesterday!  Maybe that is why I only lost .5 lbs.  

Exercise:

Road my bike with my dear friend Joani, and she taught me some different exercises to do...so I will refer to them as the Joani exercises when I blog about them.  We planned to ride bikes 3 days a week, but we'll so how that works out because I am a master at making excuses for not exercising.  

So today I would like to talk about stress, sugar, and blood sugar.  Some people stop eating when they get stressed out.  I chain eat, linking one carb loaded meal to the other, so there is a constant flow of sugar going into my mouth, through my pancreas and into my blood stream. 

This requires mastering the art of "Two Fisted Consumption"!  Feeling full?  What does that feel like?  When I'm upset, all I feel is empty, and the only way to fill the void is to eat mass quantities of  carbohydrates.  Of course, it doesn't work.  The comfort food sets off a surge of ups and downs in my blood sugar, and then the eventual chain reaction:  High blood sugar, leads to low blood sugar, which leads to low energy and feeling sleepy, which is followed a nap, and consequently waking up with a craving for sweets.  If I give in to the craving, the pattern continues.  Stress, sugar, low blood sugar! 

Since I've been on the vegan diet, I feel more in control of my stress.  I am able to think clearer. How is that possible?  I'm not an expert but I think it has to do with blood sugar.  The 1980's Fit for Life Diet (R) by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond stresses the importance of regulating your blood sugar.  Until now, this is the most healthy diet that I have ever been on. The basic premise of the diet is to clean the body of toxins.  Beginning by regulating your blood sugar and kicking the habit of sugar, as well as eating healthy salads, meat, and whole grains, but isolating them so as not to consume them together. What they forget to stress is how difficult it is to kick the sugar habit.  After 3 days without any sugar I was freaking out!   Just like a real addict, I gave in, drove to the store in a Northeaster storm risking my life, and bought a candy bar and practically without chewing, ate it in my car.  But my lack of success with this diet was all my fault.  I didn't understand the real necessity to use natural substitutes. I just did it cold turkey and that is why I failed.  

So why is the vegan diet different?  I think that my blood sugar is regulated even if I eat carbs, because the carbs that I am eating are all whole grain with no added sugar.  The breakfast bars have saved me on more than one freak out, as well as the non-dairy ice cream sandwiches.  So even though yesterday was a highly stressful day, I did not crave any candy or unhealthy sugar snacks, I just ate healthy carbs that did not add to my stress level.  

FYI:  I learned yesterday that if you cook the pasta al dente, it doesn't make your blood sugar go wild, because it takes longer to digest.  Makes sense right?  

Signed, Last chance for skinny