12 Nov 201813 Nov 2018 by Chef Sharon Davies-Tight

28 Day Alcohol-Free Challenge Revisited (2 months out of sight)

Back in June of 2018 (this past Spring), I mused about how much weight, if any, I could lose by eliminating all alcohol from my daily consumption of calories. Although when I was doing the Rapid Fat-Loss diet my calorie count was reasonable, I did wonder if I eliminated the empty calories, would I shed more fat.

I played around with it for a while, then decided to go all in, so I could accurately report my findings, instead of just cutting back, which I had essentially done anyway.

So, sometime mid-September till now I consumed no alcohol in any form – didn’t even cook with it. So that’s about 2 months. I figure that’s enough time to smooth out any wrinkles.

I gained 1 pound after 1 month. I haven’t weighed myself since then, because even though I may not have gained and maybe even lost a couple pounds, I’d rather keep in the dark about it till the end of the year. I want to give myself more time to focus.

My calorie count didn’t go down since I just ate what I normally would drink in calories. I wasn’t too strict with myself.

It wasn’t difficult to abstain from alcohol, and Steve did it with me, but the habit of eating out and drinking out was the biggest obstacle to overcome. What do we do instead? Being animal-free, I didn’t care so much about the quality or availability of animal-free food when out, since I could have a couple of drinks and a salad or fries or just a veggie and still have fun. Without the drinks, it’s a whole different ballgame. I’m not going to pay twelve dollars for green beans or a salad that I could make at home.

You’d be surprised how much a couple of drinks will allow you to tolerate mediocre food. It’s just not worth it, and frankly, I’d rather be using my money for something else, rather than supporting every restaurant in the city that serves a vegan burger. It’s like, is that all there is? I mean, how many vegan burgers can one person eat and pay top dollar for them, in addition to the tip and the drinks?

I was shocked at how much a soda costs in a restaurant. It’s almost the cost of a beer. So that’s over. If a new place opens I’ll try it out, but I no longer consider it my responsibility to support restaurants that offer one vegan item or that have no imagination nor desire to please the customers with varied tastes. I fought that battle – for decades – now let others do it or not. I’ll eat my own cooking at home. It’s far superior to anything I could get out.

And the socializing thing? I socialized enough for ten lifetimes. It gets old.

I made myself a new skin and it’s alcohol-free and I’m comfortable in it.

I’ll check back before midnight on 31 December and record my weight progress.

Oh, and the exercise. I’m not noticing a big difference in the amount of exercise I do, or noticing an increase in stamina, but one thing for sure, all those little things that I often attributed to alcohol, didn’t end up being the alcohol at all. So that in itself could make someone decide what’s the point, I might as well drink. And I’d have to basically agree, except that I don’t worry as much about stuff. I’m feeling the presence of my younger self. I like that.

This new skin is a keeper.

28 DAY ALCOHOL-FREE CHALLENGE

Hunger Pangs vs Instant Gratification

I’m beginning to think that my fat-loss is so slow, because I’m not feeling the hunger. And why not?

The most obvious answer to my slow fat-loss is that I’m eating and drinking too much. However, my calorie count is lower than recommended. My fat count is low. My total calorie to fat calorie ratio is well below what’s recommended. I’m moving around a lot – up and down, down and up, walking, climbing, stretching, dancing.

So what’s going on?

Because I eat, I think I’m hungry. When I go to eat again, I think I must be hungry. But am I?

Maybe I’m thinking too much. Maybe I’m thinking about the weight so much that I’m putting my brain into chaos. Steve’s doctor told him to stop recording all of his stats regarding the lowering of his blood pressure. There’s a point when it becomes obsessive and obstructive. Steve agreed, and now Steve’s telling me the same thing.

You know what’s good for you. All your life you’ve focused on good health and maintained that health. So you have a little weight. We’re old, sure we’ll slim down, but not by record-keeping.

I wonder why everybody tells you to keep records of everything you do to change your behavior? It changes for the short-term, but long term I believe now that we need more physical recognition of ourselves, rather than viewing ourselves through the intellectual process.

If I don’t feel the hunger pangs, then I shouldn’t be hungry. During those five weeks I said I didn’t suffer or feel deprived. I ate and drank that which prevented hunger pangs. Even though intellectually I knew I should be feeling something to signal myself to get ready for a meal, I didn’t follow that rule of the body.

Preparing yourself for a meal isn’t the same as eating immediately upon thinking about it.

I believe that, for me at least, I have to feel the hunger if I’m going to lose the fat.

Instant gratification has become a norm in our society. Advertisements are in part responsible for making you think you’re hungry when you’re not – yet. Ever see some food on television and immediately want it, even though you weren’t hungry? It’s playing with the hunger receptors in your brain.

It’s impossible to remove yourself from the influence of advertisement – it’s everywhere, all the time.

Entertainment. Food and drink is the entertainment.

Because of that alone, never mind all the other factors, it’s going to be a challenge to not eat when you’re not hungry.

Wait for the hunger pangs. Hunger pangs don’t kill; you’re not dying.

Fifteen minutes. Can you wait an hour? Do people really eat more after they abstain? I don’t think, for me at least, that it averages out to be more. Filling my stomach past capacity hurts, and I’ll back off.

Still, even though I’m doing most things right, I still have that gut. Frankly, being out of the 60’s helps (160’s). I’m not that bad off when I weigh in the 150’s. I’m out of danger. When I get up into the 60’s I’m out-of-bounds and I feel it.

My new goal: In five weeks from Friday 10 August 2018, using the GREEN DIET, that wasn’t so green the first two weeks, I want to be out of the 50’s. A hundred and forty-something. It can be 149.5, but out of the 150’s.

I have three weeks from tomorrow to accomplish that. This time there will be no maybes.

I know myself. I’ll dance around something for a while, before doing it. I do the same thing when I prepare to paint a picture. I don’t even know I’m preparing, till one day I paint and I couldn’t have done it the way I did it without the dance preceding the event.

In hind sight I recognize that familiar dance. It’s always the same.

Well, it’s the same here too.

When I zero in, it’s over.

Bye-bye 50’s.

19 Aug 2018 by Chef Sharon Davies-Tight

MOTT’S Granny Smith Applesauce = DIET FOOD

A six-pack of unsweetened granny smith applesauce = DIET FOOD to me.

3.9 oz. per container = 23.4 ounces for the whole six-pack. That’s a lot.

You could eat all six containers and still only be at 300 calories plus no fat.

I don’t know why I don’t buy applesauce more often, because I really like it, especially for a between meal snack, but also over sauerkraut pierogi or egg-free noodles with a smoked almond crumb topping mixed with minced fresh garlic and fresh grind black pepper.

Steve has certain foods that he buys on a consistent basis; not me. I don’t know the why of that either.

Zero sodium. That’s a plus too.

Applesauce doesn’t need sugar, unless of course you’re making it into a fancy dessert. We can do that too and still keep the added sugar to a minimum.

Tom Brady (New England Patriot football player) once said that chewing was over-rated. I believe that too. Sometimes soft and easy satisfies more. There’s no work to eating it. I’m tired of working so hard at everything. Why does eating have to be hard too? It doesn’t, so don’t let anyone tell you to eat the whole apple instead of the applesauce. There’s a half an apple per container. Eat two containers, then. Pre-chewed is the way I look at it.

We’ll get to the whole apple in a dessert. It doesn’t have to be whole all the time.

Give this applesauce = DIET FOOD a try. There isn’t going to be one food or one diet action that makes you lose all the fat you want to lose. It’s a conglomeration of a lot of simple, easy, little actions that gets you where you want to be.

2 Aug 201810 Aug 2018 by Chef Sharon Davies-Tight

Refried Beans @El Jalapeno Mexican Restaurant = Diet food

Okay, we all like to eat out, probably more than eating in. Some were raised that way, others wished they were.

You don’t have to cook, clean dishes, argue with your family, everybody’s happy.

But it doesn’t even matter if sometimes we experience bad or rough or not so great times when eating out – we all still do it – sometimes putting the onus on ourselves, or we look for better places and they abound – they’re everywhere.

Who wants diet food when they eat out? Okay, some elitists skinnies do. But that’s not the rest of us.

As all vegans know, it’s not easy-going without the animal in the food when we eat out, because restaurateurs want to keep the animal in – everything if they had their way.

So, I found a place that not only keeps the animal fat out of the refried beans, but there’s no fat, which is right up my fat-reducing alley. Plus they’re creamy delicious! And they serve $2.50 bottled beer on designated days. Steve always gets Heineken, I get Modelo Negra.

They also on designated days have a taco bar, so I can load my refried beans up with cilantro, tomato, onion, lettuce, (Jalapeno peppers, not for me), green and red salsa.

I also get tortilla chips and salsa and I do limit myself to 8 chips to use as scoopers for the entire dish. I could in future request flour tortillas that would help with the total fat grams – we’ll see.

A glass of red wine, a plate of side dish refried beans, 8 chips and all the trimmings, which are free foods (negligible calories and fat) = 451 calories and 6.6 grams of fat. The Fat Calorie to Total Calorie Ratio = 13% (well below the 25%-35% recommendation by the government forces that set them.

Now, if I omit the chips and don’t sub in the plain flour tortillas, this becomes a fat-free animal-free meal. However, when eating out, it doesn’t make much sense to deprive myself to that extent. I’m doing everything else right and they deep fry in 100% vegetable oil.

For all these reasons, I’m placing El Jalapeno’s refried beans on the Fat-Free Chef = Diet Food list.