Meet My New Friend

... Dr Mehmet Oz.

Last week I added him to my DVR rotation and I'm so glad I did. I used to see him on Oprah from time-to-time, but every time I watched they were talking about poop and I thought it best to just delete.

Just this week I watched his show on food as medicine and it was probably the best hour I've spent in a long time. He went into why we needs the foods we do. Of course, I've read it online but there's nothing like it being broken in laymen terms, complete with visuals and demonstrations.

I can rattle off the foods rich in antioxidants, but I had no clue what I was trying to stop from oxidizing and why. True story. Did you know your insides can rust? You know how you cut an apple and the flesh begins to brown as soon as it makes contact with air? That happens to your organs,thereby making them less efficient! Antioxidants slow down that process. I knew you were supposed to sprinkle lemon juice on an apple to slow up oxidization (shout out to Rachael Ray), but never thought any more of it.

For me, this journey is about living the best life possible and being healthy. I'm always amused and alarmed by what I don't know about my body. Any tool to educate myself is one that I'll take advantage of. The con is I've diagnosed myself with a a brain hemorrhage, retrovirus, deep vein thrombosis and MRSA all in one week but hey...

Anyway, just wanted to share this jewel of a show because I've gleaned so much in just the last couple of week.

On the weight loss front, I've decided to only weigh in every two weeks now. It sounds odd but I can't deal with the high highs and low lows of the scale anymore. My "Un-Process Me" week was very clarifying in that way - my mood was great, energy was high, I slept well... and it reminded me of why I set out on this journey. The weight IS coming off. Of course I'd like it to come off faster but who am I racing?

Un-process Me: Wrap Up

Current Weight: 243
Loss/Gain: -4.1
Total Lost: 36.6
Pounds to Goal: 68

I've been a very bad blogger lately! I went out of town to NYC and spent the rest of the week with family and friends in town for the holiday season. I can't even tell you how refreshed my spirit and energy is by spending time with the people who matter the most to me. Totally healing.

As I said in my last post, my friend I was visiting's family has a personal chef and now I know at least one reason celebs are so damn skinny. Life is infinitely easier when you don't have to plan or prepare your own meals! Prior to my arrival, Dominic was made aware that I wanted to do as many whole foods as possible. My meals included corn & crab chowder, caramelized scallops, blackened halibut, cranberry brown rice, honey roasted squash and my absolute favorite, chilled fruit soup garnished with mint. I ate my weight in watermelon-kiwi soup. Breakfast and lunch were usually at home and we went out for dinner but even those meals were sensible. At the close of the week, I'd lost 4 pounds and I weighed in on the first day of my period. The end result was not just a great number on the scale, but me feeling absolutely awesome and that was the goal. I slept better, my moods was much improved and I noticed I didn't have the crashing that I usually have midday. I also suffer from headaches at least 1-2 times per week. I didn't have a headache at all that week.

To go from that week of pure eating to a week of sweet potato pies, macaroni & cheese and other food sins was quite the shock to my system. On the days leading up to Thanksgiving, I epic failed at the gym. Work was busy the first couple of days of the week and with friends and family visiting, the gym just wasn't a priority. I lost a filling on Tuesday and that was my saving grace! I was put on antibiotics on Wednesday and between discomfort in my tooth and a thwarted appetite because of the meds, eating was mellow. It's not ideal, but...

Tomorrow I'm back in the gym and while I'm not doing only whole foods/macrobiotic, I'm going to continue being conscious of my intake of processed foods. I've made my menu for the week and my shopping list is full of fruits, veggies and seafood. Just sucks I couldn't bring Dominic home with me... *sigh*

Un-process Me: Days 4 & 5

I didn't get a chance to post. Between visiting with friends and family and reading a really good book (The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton), the day, night and wee hours of the morning got away from me.

So yesterday was... maybe not so great. It started out innocently enough. I started reading this book and if you're not a book lover, you may not understand that thing that happens when you get a really good one. You know? When the rest of the world ceases to exist, the TV is off, your phone is on silent and you have to consciously remind yourself to breathe. That was yesterday for me. Eating was so totally secondary and it caught up to me that evening. I was just throwing meals together, no protein or anything throughout the day. By the time I met a friend for a girl's night out, I was famished! We picked a seafood restaurant because I thought it would be easy to do fish and veggies and it was... except that's not exactly what I wanted once I started looking at the menu. I had the 2-minute debate with myself - what I wanted vs whole foods. What I wanted won pretty handily.

Breakfast
Fresh strawberries & bananas

Lunch
Spinach salad dressed with citrus vinegarette

Dinner
Salad (It had cheese and croutons. Fail)
2 Peach Bourbon Glazed Scallops (AMAZING, but it was wrapped in bacon. Double Fail)
4 coconut shrimp, baked potato, half of a half order of shrimp pasta
And.... a Hurricane (Epic fail)

It was really good though. I bought home my leftovers, without thinking. I had to throw them away though. I should have eaten better during the day and that may have led to better decisions at night.

Anyway today started anew and I was right back at it.

Breakfast
Fried egg (not oil or butter, just a good non-stick skillet)
Grapefruit

Lunch
Grilled fresh herbed chicken breast with sage, rosemary and thyme
Roasted rosemary red potatoes
Asparagus

Dinner
I have a spinach salad left to eat with leftover sea bass but honestly, I'm stuffed for lunch. Can't really think about dinner right now!

Exercise
60 minutes of spin class (891 calories burned)
45 minutes of strength training (arms & abs)

Tomorrow I'm heading to NYC and am determined to stay on program for the remaining two days. I'm going to visit my friend whose family has a personal chef that makes meals to order! She has assured me that her chef is well versed on whole food diet recipes and has my back for the rest of the week! I can't tell you how excited I am to not have to worry about planning! She's really into working out so I'm packing my sneakers and sweat in preparation for a good workout or two. New York is a tough city to exercise discipline but there's always Sunday... John's on Bleecker here we come!

Un-process Me: Day 3

Last night I slept for an uninterrupted 9 hours! Maybe the magnitude of that statement is lost on you guys but it's the equivalent of me saying, I lost 75 pounds in my sleep. It's crazy; it just doesn't happen.

If I don't take sleep medication, it's not uncommon for me to be awake until 4-5 a.m and I'm usually awake by 9 or so. I'm used to only getting about 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep and even if I have the option of staying in bed, I can never seem to fall back asleep. During my research, I read that refined carbohydrates, preservatives, additives, chocolate, colas etc. all can interrupt sleep. I can't say definitively if it's the meal plan, but I know that sleeping that long made me feel like a new woman!

I also got a pat on the back from my trainer about the intensity of my workout. And let me tell you, pats on the back from Mr. Mike Royce is few and far between. At the end of every workout, I usually get the "Next time, I need to {insert any word here that means give more/try harder}. My energy felt inexhaustible today and I think I may have worn him out.

Breakfast
Strawberry, Mango, Banana smoothie made with coconut water.
My nutritionist recommended coconut water because of it's health benefits. Upon research, I learned it's chock full of electrolytes, calcium, potassium, magnesium; everything that is good for you. Doesn't hurt a thing that it tastes yummy!

Lunch
Leftover Low Country Boil, which is shrimp, corn on the cob and red potatoes boiled in crab boil seasoning.
Spinach salad with grapes, dried cranberries and oranges in a citrus vinegarette

Dinner
Sea Bass with Balsamic Curried Orange Glaze, spinach and grilled plantains.
AM-A-ZING! Seriously, I could have licked the plate! I omitted the brown sugar and the canola oil and added honey. There are no words! I wilted some spinach with garlic and it looked like something worthy of Top Chef.

Exercise
60 minutes of interval cardio training - recumbent bike, treadmill and elliptical machine. (976 calories burned)
60 minutes weight training - back, chest & abs

Tomorrow is Day 4. I don't have any doubts I can stay on plan for the remaining days. I have no cravings right now and I'm enjoying challenging myself in the kitchen! This was definitely a good idea.

Un-process Me: Day 2

Current Weight: 247.1
Loss/Gain: -1.9
Total Lost: 32.5
Pounds to Goal: 72.1

I forgot to include my weight on yesterday's post. I weighed in a day early in preparation of this week and I was down 1.9 (but my home scale said something so much cooler today!)

So I've gotten a lot of comments (and two emails) saying that this Operation Unprocess Me is "ridiculous" or that it's going to be difficult/impossible. Yeah well, so is being obese and I've managed. It's not forever; it's 7 days! For me, it's a way to refuel my body with what it needs but also to challenge myself and get me back to being disciplined. I've been candid about my struggles to exercise discipline so this one way to force myself to do the right thing since it's still not coming organically. I actually looked into doing this months ago after reading an article about the adverse effect of preservatives and artificial flavoring and coloring on the body. I'm intrigued by macrobiotic and whole foods diet but I know me well enough to know that it's nothing I can sustain over a significant period of time but seriously... it's a week. I've clued in my nutritionist to what I'm doing and she's very supportive/ecstatic!

If it seems too extreme, then the solution is simple... you don't try this at home!

The prep time on everything has been crazy, but what I'm finding is the meals are so filling! Today after my early afternoon spin class, I was sure I'd be famished by lunch time but I was still feeling full from breakfast so Ionly ended up eating half of what I prepared for lunch -- very rare. I also had some concerns about my calcium intake this week. I checked with my nutrition consultant and she told me to try Almond Milk and that was such a good call! I've been drinking Soy Milk exclusively for a while now but I think I'm a convert. If you haven't tried it, add it to your grocery list!

Breakfast
Grapefruit
Poached eggs with homemade salsa {made with my Magic Bullet of course!}

Lunch
Stir-fried chicken with bok choy, carrots, brocolli and bean sprouts
Brown rice
2 cups of strawberries

Snack
Grapes and pistachios

Dinner (Cooking as I type!)
Low country boil baby! That's corn on the cob, shrimp and potatoes boiled together with lots of seasoning! It's one of my favorites and I'm so glad it's included in this diet.
Spinach salad dressed with homemade citrus vinaigrette

Exercise Regime
60 minute spin class - 917 calories burned
45 minutes of strength training - abs & legs
Oh... and playing with my goddaughter, Mady, at Gymboree. That's a workout!

Day 2 almost done and I'm feeling absolutely awesome!

Un-process Me: Day 1

Balance has been the overarching goal of this journey for me - mental, physical, emotional and now, I'm including spiritual. One of my favorite professors used to always tell me, "Get out of your head!" I grew up softcore Christian but we were by no means a religious family. As I got older, my hows and whys about faith, salvation, God's connection to humanity began to overwhelm me. By the time I was college, I begin to explore other faiths and philosophies and thankfully, I had the kind of family that was supportive of my experimentation. Lately I've a felt a spiritual void that sometimes left me short of breath. No matter how great we think we are or how great life is going, we need that connection to something that's bigger than us.

This morning I revisited the church that I went to as a teenager. The church that I was so moved by that I joined, without my parents, and got baptized at the age of 17. Talk about coming home. Every know and then we hear something that we think it's tailored for us. While several points of the sermon resonated with me the one that gripped me is about how we deal with our own deficits and shortcomings. One of those stand-ins listed, was food. Through humor and candor, it made me reflect on my own journey and made me again realize why I'm doing all of this. I felt so ready to hit the ground running. Who knew it wouldn't be a big number on the scale or an awesome workout or even giving up processed foods that would reenergize me. It was a reminder from the pulpit that as a child of God, I deserve the best life that I can create for myself and what I can't do myself, I have someone just a prayer away to help. My prayer today sounded something like:

"Dear God, please let spinach taste akin to pizza. That would make your child happy. Amen"

This first day of eating whole foods is going pretty well. It's much harder than I thought. When I ordered my salad for lunch, I never thought about the dressing.... Vinegar and olive oil definitely don't occur in nature. Hmmm... may have to make some adjustments. I found several recipes this week on a website of Whole Foods Recipes

Breakfast
Mixed strawberry and bananas
Spinach & egg omelet - so yummy, even without cheese!

Lunch
Crab, Shrimp & Avocado Salad
Fresh mixed greens tossed with seasoned grilled shrimp, tomatoes, red onion, black olives and egg topped with lump crabmeat and avocado with homemade citrus vinaigrette.

Snack
Almonds, mixed with dried cranberries

Dinner (Planned. I've not started cooking yet!)
Broiled Halibut (dressed with lemon juice)
Baked sweet potatoes
Gingered cabbage (savoy cabbage with scallions, ginger and garlic)


What I learned today is that this is going to no doubt be time consuming. This morning when I slept a little longer than I should have, I was lamenting the fact that I just couldn't grab something and go. It's also as expensive as it is a drain on time but I'm going to see this challenge through. One day down, six to go!

The Last Supper

Tomorrow begins Operation Unprocess Me. In my previous post I talked about my attempts to give up processed foods for one week. Maybe I was a bit cavalier about the whole thing or underestimated how difficult it would be. To be clear, I know this is not something I can sustain for a significant amount of time but I'm up for a short term challenge.

In creating my list, there was something major I overlooked. I mean something... HUGE. Cheese is processed. Yep, true story. Cheese cannot be found in nature. My logic is well... it came from a cow... and you just have to let it sit for a while....and... maybe it turns into asiago, maybe it'll turn into manchego or a really nice cheddar. I was rationalizing my ass off at Whole Foods and I had a moment where I thought about quitting before I even began. I was going to buy some nuts for snacking, so I thought, let me get a really yummy flavor. Maybe a nice honey roasted something.I turned over the canister and it had 14 ingredients, most of which I couldn't pronounce so I knew those were out. Raw cashews and almonds, it is.

I spent most of the day with my family and of course, we went out to dinner. I knew that this was would be my last supper, of sorts and really? Do I need a reason to eat? I thought I had done relatively okay. I passed on dessert and was sure to have a speck of green on my plate. However, after calculating the points, my dinner cost me.... wait for it... wait for it.... 56.5 points! I know. Epic fail, Crystal. Epic fail. I was on the go all day so that was my only meal of the day, which I of course know is wrong. No excuses, just poor decisions but tomorrow is a new day and I'm excited about the challenge ahead. Well as excited as you can be without preservatives.

I will be sure to post my progress and menus through the week. I'm hopeful for a good number on the scale, but mostly I'm excited about feeling better and increasing my energy level. I've got my workout times scheduled, my classes penciled in and I'm thinking it's going to be a legendary week!