The Healthy Weight and Eating Thread

[Nichole]

Had an awesome dinner last night: herb and baby greens salad with a shallot and sherry vinegar dressing, tossed with some smoked bluefish I got at the farmers market, plus a bit of baguette drizzled with mint honey.

That just made me hungry.

I fail at eating yesterday. I really hate to admit it, but I had fried chicken for lunch. I paid for it though, I felt horrible the rest of the day. Back on track today. Have a salad with some left over grilled chicken for lunch today and some strawberries to go with my almonds. Unfortunately, my husband and I usually go out to eat Friday nights and he is wanting to go to a pizza place. It is a really good place, but not part of any healthy eating plan. I could just get a salad, but that does not satisfy when cheesy artichoke dip and beer stares you in the face.

AE, I make a pasta salad with basil. Basically make pesto (I don't use pinenuts usually and I like to go overboard on garlic when I just make it for myself) and toss with Barrilla plus elbows, fresh mozzarella balls, grape tomatoes, and olives. Great for BBQ's.

Edit: Congrats Min! I just finished school a few weeks ago and it feels great!

[Greywolf2375]

I was wondering how accurate these things were! Interesting to know that they are fairly accurate.

I had a "bad" day yesterday...I had about 6 mini-Milky Way bars, and two glasses of wine at the family dinner. Today is another day!

well, like all things...not all of them are quality, we did some research since it was going to be used for a professional reason and found that Tanita had some good lines available.

I mean, the first one I stepped on said 29% ( which I knew to be wildly inaccurate), stepped on it again, 24%, again, 33%. We didn't go with it. Wish I could remember the brand though.

[Rubies & Jade]

You have no idea how hungry that just made me. Everything you just described sounds awesome. And pine nuts? Nice! I didn't think anyone else ate those, lol. They are really good in pasta sauces.

oh yeah, baby... toasted pine nuts totally rock. they are high fat, but one of those ultra "good" fats and a few in a meal aren't going to increase your overall fat intake much, but they sure do up the taste factor. I feel the same way about Kalamata olives, and some strong full-fat cheeses--you don't need to eat much of them to be satisfied because they are so tasty, and they certainly add umph to a dish.

[Minaku]

oh yeah, baby... toasted pine nuts totally rock. they are high fat, but one of those ultra "good" fats and a few in a meal aren't going to increase your overall fat intake much, but they sure do up the taste factor. I feel the same way about Kalamata olives, and some strong full-fat cheeses--you don't need to eat much of them to be satisfied because they are so tasty, and they certainly add umph to a dish.

Encourage him, because he wants to gain weight. :P

Edit: Chats, his family and his history is so working against him. Maybe you can send him for a "routine" visit and spring a physical on him?

Speaking of, once this kid is born I'm going to need a blood panel done to see what my cholesterol is. Funny how they'll tell me my glucose levels, my iron levels, and my Rh but neglect things like cholesterol.

[Minaku]

He wouldn't fall for it. He would also probably refuse to take cholesterol medications if his doctor determined they were necessary, so I don't even know why I bother to try and nag him about a physical.

He's got this thing to where he thinks he has to be "sick" to see the doctor. I wonder if he thinks a heart attack is sick enough???

I wonder if Stego or any of the guys (because this seems to be a macho attitude type of thing) could offer some advice on what to say or how to present my case?

Maybe you should use the Lysistrata treatment on him?

[cjfshaw]

I cannot stand that kind of attitude. I remember about a year and a half ago I was out for dinner with my boss and some other co-workers. I ordered a chicken salad and my boss made fun of me for being some kind of pussy. He had a heart attack a few months later.

I'd try to mix some wild salmon and nuts into the diet if you aren't already. Don't know what to tell you on convincing the guy to go in for a physical. I absolutely do not understand why anyone has a problem with doing this. I knew a guy in high school who refused to wear a seat belt. Smart.

A good salad always has its place. Sometimes you're just not in the mood for a steak you know? Salads have that whole cool refreshing aspect that typical dinner dishes lack, and sometimes tht is exactly what you are looking for.

I didn't used to wear a seatbelt, mainly because it was uncomfortable. Then I got into a car accident, luckily I was wearing a seatbelt. If not I'd be dead right now. Now I always wear seatbelts, lol.

[Swordfish]

Encourage him, because he wants to gain weight. :P

Edit: Chats, his family and his history is so working against him.

So true.

I'll share a personal story, which i never usually do on this board.

To give you an idea of my general fitness level, in August 2007 i ran an endurance relay which I had been training for for almost a year.

I've been a serious runner since high school.

In november of that year i got bronchitis.

When it cleared up and I started getting back into my running routine, i was having pain in the upper center part of my chest after about the first mile or so.

I chalked it up to inflamed bronchial tubes, and didn't think much about it.

It kept getting worse, so eventually (in may) I went to see the doctor.

Blood test all normal. My cholesterol levels have always been good.

Stress test. Angio. 3 stents.

here's the problem:

My dad had a heart attack at 41, and has had open heart surgery twice, and 2 angioplasties.

My mom has had open heart surgery once and one angioplasty.

When I had mine, I was 34 years old.

So yeah, tell him to go to the freaking doctor. (even though i procrastinated).

And before you ask (you know who you are), my out of pocket cost was about $120.

;)

He wouldn't fall for it. He would also probably refuse to take cholesterol medications if his doctor determined they were necessary, so I don't even know why I bother to try and nag him about a physical.

He's got this thing to where he thinks he has to be "sick" to see the doctor. I wonder if he thinks a heart attack is sick enough???

I wonder if Stego or any of the guys (because this seems to be a macho attitude type of thing) could offer some advice on what to say or how to present my case?

I will get James on board with this (asking his stepdaddy - Darling - to grill some salmon, should work like a charm). And I'll start buying almonds to snack on at home, as well...I usually keep them at work.

Omega 3 supplements are also good and can be disguised as good workout supplements.

[Swordfish]

Haha - Good to hear.

heh....

:cheers:

Man, that's crazy. I'm glad that you're doing well. It so strange to me that people who done so much running can have heart problems early in life. It's like a few years ago when Alberto Salazar collapsed at Nike from a heart attack. Crazy.

Thanks. it's not that bad actually. i was sort of expecting it. No matter what you do you can't run from your genes unfortunately(pun intended). Granted, i wasn't expecting it that soon especially since I was a lot more health conscious than my dad, but what are you gonna do, right?

the worst part is that there really isn't much i can do differently to prevent it form happening again. it's almost a dead certainty that I'll need at the minimum one more angio in my lifetime.

the good news is that they are really, really good at doing these procedures.

ETA: Billed cost of the hardware (stents)alone : $24,000.

[Greywolf2375]

Chataya - I might try doing a little research on what brand of Omega-3's you buy. One of the things that frustrates me about supplements is how they aren't really legally required to be of high quality. I don't think there are too many crap supplements out there but there are at least enough that I'm a bit cautious now. Nordic Naturals is one brand of fish oil that I think has a really good rep for being pure.

Yeah, you do not want to get an Omega-3 that isn't from a smaller deep sea fish - off the east coast of S. America being the best (cleanest water); the ones that are from the upper ocean or from lake trout have many more heavy metals and impurities due to the pollutants. Really important to do some research...I really like the one I use and it doesn't have as much of a "fishy taste" to it. PM if you'd like some info on it.

[Lord of Oop North]

I personally don't like sardines all that much so I'm still searching for a way that I like to eat them.

Fresh sardines, a grill, sea salt, olive oil, lemons, and freshly ground black pepper are all you need.

[ztemhead]

eh I broke down today and had the milkshake from JITB. I was tired and it was hot out. When I'm like that, the brain shuts down and I go on autopilot.

I also had a pretty bitchin salad from Baja Fresh earlier in the day. Lots of stuff in there I"m not getting enough of.

[Stego]

Swordfish, you humble us, man. Best of luck.

And lucky for you that you live in an enlightened nation.

[lokisnow]

I love sardines, I'm still mad TJs stopped carrying King Oscars baby sardines in olive oil, those freaking rocked. The big fat ones that are in most sardine tins are okay, but I think they take on more a canned flavor than the baby sardines. It wouldn't be so bad if TJs had a decent TJ brand replacement for them, but all the sardines they have are boneless, skinless and tailless, and who wants to eat such wretchedly robbed sardines?

[Xray the Enforcer]

Fresh sardines, a grill, sea salt, olive oil, lemons, and freshly ground black pepper are all you need.

Fuck, yes!

Canned sardines =/= fresh sardines and the latter are far, far superior to the former. A few weeks ago, Mr. X and I made a flawless meal (Limecat may remember me describing it) of fresh homemade pasta, garlic, olive oil, sauteed fresh sardines, lemon juice and seasoned breadcrumbs.

[lokisnow]

um, I had a bad day yesterday, but lucked out with good results in the end.

Trader Joes, the fiends, had a new chocolate mouse dessert. It's a half inch of brownie (or thick heavy dense, rich chocolate cake) covered by two inches of chocolate mouse and a thin layer of chocolate ganache on top. 510 calories each comes in a box with two and I ate both last night an hour or two before bed. This on top of eating a lot of chocolate candy and cookies for breakfast at work instead of oatmeal, gorging on the sausage and beef and cheese bread brought in by the catering for free food friday at work (I love brazilian food) and skipping friday's workout to go to a movie.

result, weight friday morning 207.6, weight saturday morning, 205.2

so clearly the best way for me to lose weight is to eat a ton of crap food and skip workouts, right. ;)

lol, this is exactly why numbers are so fucking useless.

[Lord of Oop North]

Do you do that on tin foil? And do you get the kind that don't have skins?

Canned sardines =/= fresh sardines and the latter are far, far superior to the former. A few weeks ago, Mr. X and I made a flawless meal (Limecat may remember me describing it) of fresh homemade pasta, garlic, olive oil, sauteed fresh sardines, lemon juice and seasoned breadcrumbs.

Fuck, yes I remember! :)

Could you give me a little more help on the sardines? First of all can you or Limecat confirm that his little instructions above involved tinfoil? I assume so but just want to be sure.

And how are you sauteing them? Are you doing it in olive oil and then adding lemon juice and bread crumbs to the saute?

Last question on sardines. I'm realizing now that I don't even know where to get "fresh" sardines. Do they have them up at the seafood counter? I've only ever bought canned. And if the fresh ones come bones, skin, all do you grill them and saute them with all of that stuff still on?

I don't use any tinfoil. I simply charcoal grill each side for a few minutes. I don't clean the fish before I grill them, either, because that rids them of most of their flavour when they are cooked. To my family, buying cleaned sardinhas would be akin to treason. They would probably skin my cock and hang me from a lamp-post, to set an example.

X-Ray has the right of it. Fresh Sardinhas are far, far superior to the canned variety. It is not even a contest. I get mine at a local Portuguese seafood store. I've never seen them in a supermarket, so you might want to try checking out some ethnic fishmongers.

[Swordfish]

Thanks for the kind words everyone!

Swordfish, you humble us, man. Best of luck.

And lucky for you that you live in an enlightened nation.

Definitely. I'm very grateful for sure.

They technically consider angio and stents a 'cure'. So until i get clogged up again I have smooth sailing for the most part. The only real restrictions I even had were two weeks of no running, no heavy lifting, and that was mainly do to the incision in the femoral artery.

heck, I was only in the hospital for a little over 24 hours, and i ran a 10k about a month and a half after surgery, just to prove to myself I was fine.

Pretty amazing, and it's a pretty interesting procedure actually. they don't really even knock you out completely, so you can see what's going on for the most part.

They do, however give you IV fentanyl, so I don't remember very much of it.

;)

[Xray the Enforcer]

Tris -- because I am not Portuguese, I can safely have the fishmonger clean and scale those little fuckers before I take 'em home. Or you can get 'em whole. For the pasta dish, you're going to have to somehow get them off their backbone (either before or after cooking) because you toss them with the pasta.

Here's the copy/paste of my description of the dish -- we included the anchovies because we love them in this house, but it's optional.

the recipe turned out surprisingly good. Basically, buy fresh sardines (have the fishmonger clean 'em for you). Take out their backbones, cut them in half lengthwise, and then cut those into inch-long pieces.

Dry-roast a cup of breadcrumbs in a pan and set aside.

Heat a goodly bit of olive oil (you want it to really coat your pasta, because you'll be putting toasted breadcrumbs on the whole lot once you're done), throw in a few minced cloves of garlic, (optional step: crush 3 anchovy fillets in olive oil and add these, too), then the fish, a bit of water (to help cook the fish; optional you can add some tomato paste here, too), add minced flat-leaf parsley, and saute for 5 minutes or so.

Toss sauce with cooked pasta, squeeze the juice of 1/2 a lemon over the whole lot, then toss some of the breadcrumbs [[to taste]] with coated pasta. Season with black pepper. It's really frickin' tasty and once you deal with the sardines, damned easy.

Does that help? :)

Oh yeah, and a tip: fresh sardines aren't always available, so determine that you can get the fish before you decide to cook that dish that night. Everything else in that recipe is pretty much a kitchen staple or is easy to find at the grocery store. :)

[Datepalm]

Yeah, you do not want to get an Omega-3 that isn't from a smaller deep sea fish - off the east coast of S. America being the best (cleanest water); the ones that are from the upper ocean or from lake trout have many more heavy metals and impurities due to the pollutants. Really important to do some research...I really like the one I use and it doesn't have as much of a "fishy taste" to it. PM if you'd like some info on it.

l

Hm, I did not know about mercury and tuna. I have basically lived off tuna for weeks at a time more than once, and still eat quite a lot. Darn - I like tuna.

[Xray the Enforcer]

Also, Sword -- damn. That's intense. Glad that things worked out in the end.