Day Thirty-Five

Day thirty-five without sugar. Well, except for those oopsies. Did you know that some brands of bacon are cured with salt and sugar? Not the maple syrup kind but the hickory smoke version? I guess I was thinking meat was carbless, regardless of its form. My deli black forest ham has less than 2 percent dextrose (sugar) in it. The turkey smoked sausage in my freezer has corn syrup in it which accounts for the less than one gram of sugar on the label. Those are now on my verboten list. Not forever but certainly not for right now.

So that explains why my weight was stalled as I went into a heavy meat-eating mode, mostly pork as you can see, over the last week or so. Plus I did try having popcorn a few times. That didn't help either. At least I didn't gain weight while in this mode.

Well, lesson learned and my scale is no longer stopped for a long layover but is now moving downward once more. And today I heated up my kitchen—even though the Dallas area has had over one-hundred-degree temps—but it was for a good cause: to roast beef and veggies. After this sating of my roast beef craving, I'll stick to chicken, fish, salmon, tuna.

I do love the colorful plates of food that come with this new eating lifestyle. My hot slice of roast beef is atop a bed of arugula to wilt it just a bit. Then the red, yellow and orange bell peppers roasted among mushrooms, bok choy and onions are just as beautiful as well as tasty. I bought fourteen bell peppers off the reduced rack for four dollars this morning at my grocery store. Three I set aside to have raw. They were still in good shape if I eat them soon.

I bought cheese thinking its fat would be better for me than the pork fat mentioned above. I love the Ilchester British golden applewood cheese. It's like a soft cheddar but the flavor is amped. Just amazing. And zero carbs and no hidden sugars. This is an experiment to see if it stops my weight loss. I'll let you know.

Also I got some fresh mozzarella on sale. Love it for caprese salads (slices tomatoes, sliced mozzarella, fresh basil leaves and all drizzled with EVOO). Again, no carbs and no hidden sugars.

Otherwise my diet remains largely the same: mostly (1) unbreaded (whole not ground) meats and (2) nonstarchy veggies. My daily staples are mint green tea (going through almost a gallon a day), avocados (sliced raw or in guacamole), tomatoes (alone or topped with tuna and EVOO and sliced green onions), nuts/seeds (pecans, almonds, pepitas, sunflower seeds) and a raw bell pepper or two. Off and on I go through an egg phase (deviled with no mayo but EVOO or scrambled).

I am looking forward to having some cheese as a snack later today, probably with a raw bell pepper. If I can handle that addition to my daily selection over the next couple weeks while still dropping weight, I may add in a few berries come August 25.

It's all a work in progress. And we each have our little individual quirks that we have to cater to when dealing with our bodies. I'm finding out mine. Like eggs are okay for me, but I should watch out for pork (and I love bacon). Oh, well. Better to have it occasionally and be at my perfect-for-me weight than to sabotage my health.

Here's to better health for all.

Denise Barker, author + blogger + copy editor

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Healthy Eating Side Effects

I'm only on day four of this resetting-my-body/cleansing eating (no white foods except of course cauliflower, so no dairy, bread, pasta, pastries, processed foods, rice, grains, sugar in any form, plus no soy, peanuts, corn, gluten). But it was day two when I noticed how warm I felt, as if exercising. I was not visibly perspiring or running a fever, but my internal body temperature was definitely raised and evident all day long. I count this as increased metabolism going on. Yippee!

I don't believe I have ever had this happen when dieting unless I was engaged in weight lifting, yoga, lawn mowing. This is a first. I must finally be on the right eating path.

My bad cravings are gone almost completely. I can actually pass up the dark chocolate in my house and the breads in the bakery at my local grocery store. I don't tempt myself too much though.

My hunger is more easily satiated. After all, eating sugar does not fill a nutritional need but an emotional/psychological one. So you remain hungry after eating sweets, chips, carbonated colas, ice cream, even fake sugar in all its forms. These make you hungry for real food.

Start eating real food and the always-there hunger stops.

Also the last two nights I've slept deeper, dreamed heavily and vividly. Clearly in the REM stage, even from my viewpoint. I'm usually a very light sleeper.

Of course my fickle old-fashioned bathroom scale is as wonky as ever and tells me nothing reliable and consistent. But I have a favorite pair of Levi's button-fly jeans that is a great indicator.

For those of you interested, I'm following the tenets of:

• J. J. Virgin's elimination/sensitivity diet (except eggs, which were cleared for me to eat as proven by my previous twenty-eight-day foray into her plan) found at jjvirgin.com; 
• Dr. Mark Hyman's diabesity-avoiding guidelines as in The Blood Sugar Solution;
• Tim Ferriss's Four-Hour Body confirms my slow-carb leanings; and
• Even a bit from the Atkins diet (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atkins_diet) as to the nine rungs, adding one food group for a period of time and allowing for five more net carbs per day for a week, starting from the intro restriction of twenty daily. This is great, pinpointing both the amount of net carbs my body can tolerate yet not gain weight while classifying each new food group reintroduced as either helpful or hurtful (per J. J. Virgin's foods sensitivities).

I'll update more later.


Denise Barker, author + blogger + copy editor

http://bit.ly/DeniseBarkerBlog

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Update re J. J. Virgin Elimination Diet

It is Day 16 for me of the 28-day program outlined by J. J. Virgin.  I've done amazingly well giving up all sugar, all fake sugars, all corn (no matter how disguised in foods), all gluten, all dairy (a tough one), eggs (but what do I eat for breakfast?), peanuts (easy), soy (easy, but watch out for it appears in almost everything).

Since I'm going from free info gathered off the Net, I'm not sure about her take on Stevia in the Raw and/or fruit.  But in my book, both are allowed.

My cravings are gone.  Already.

Days 5 and 7 were filled with extra bathroom trips.  Don't know why.  But instead of what were the normal hourly interruptions due to the intake of eighty or more ounces of water on top of my coffee addiction, it seemed to recur every twenty minutes.  Probably not that often, as I wasn't timing it, but still . . . it was A LOT.  Thankfully that has toned down ever since.

Day 14 and I woke to a flatter belly.  Overnight.  Weird, but much appreciated.

I've lost about 3.5 inches total from various points on my body since beginning this program.  Nice--and seems to be continuing.

I've also shed about 10 pounds (I understand that's the equivalent of one dress size--Wahoo!), but with my old-timey scale on a not-so-flat surface and starting off heavy with the needle between 3 and 5 instead of 0, who really knows the exact amount?

This is without the aid of exercise although, now that it is spring, I am doing yard work.  Still I hope to add in some aerobics on an every-other-day schedule, once my current writing project settles down a bit.

Anyway, I'm just happy to see downward movement on inches and pounds.

Unhappily, temptation arose in the form of a fruit pizza recipe today.  Grrr.  But nothing will deter me from completing the full 28-day cycle to rid my body of toxins.  Then I understand I add back in one element at a time to see if my body reacts with allergic sensitivities.

My only decision at this time is:  Should I start with cream in my coffee again or go straight to the dessert pizza?  Ha!

P.S. Copy editor disclaimer: Per CMS(15) Rule 8.6, initials have periods (and spaces when used with the whole last name like "J. J. Virgin" or no spaces when just the first two initials like "J.J." or no periods at all when three initials, like JJV or JFK or LBJ). Which explains what I've done above.  However, J.J.'s preference is no periods, no spaces, as in "JJ" per her own site. FYI.