Ok peeps, here it goes. We are finally going private. (of course, I say "we" even though Thomas NEVER even reads this blog... He may not even remember the address...) I've gotten a few weird comments and followers that I don't know at all, so I'm gonna play it safe. Message me your email address and I'll send you an invite. To be done later this week...
After I privatize I'll update you on happenings in Scott-land. :)
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Three-bite rule
Realized I forgot one thing I wanted to say- something Dr. Agatston talked about in his book that I loved was his three-bite rule for desserts. He says that if you want dessert, you should have it. But only eat three bites. Eat them very slowly, and then be done. You end up just as satisfied but without the guilt of eating a whole piece of cake, or slice of pie or whatever. I tried it and it SO works. It satisfies my craving for something sweet without overdoing it. I really like those little tidbits he talks about, things that I can do without following every part of his diet. Just to help us eat healthier.
Food, Glorious Food.
Right now I'm reading The South Beach Diet by Dr. Arthur Agatston. I'm not one for fad diets, but I like a lot of things that he has to say about healthy eating and making smart choices. I also learned all about how your body processes and absorbs food- I had NO idea about ANY of this! I found it fascinating, so you all have to hear about it. If you already know or don't care, don't read it! :)
So you eat food. Carbohydrates are converted/broken down into sugar, which equals energy for your cells. You need insulin to absorb the sugar into your cells so you can use it for energy- it's like a key that unlocks the cells. Your pancreas makes insulin according to your blood sugar levels. Your cells absorb the sugar/energy and you can run around chasing toddlers.
The more processed a food is, the less work your body has to do to get the energy out of it. The less work your body does in breaking down the food once you swallow it, the more energy can be stored (read:fat) because it doesn't use up energy as it breaks down the food you ate. For instance, if you eat cooked broccoli, it has already been steamed and made soft and warm, and stripped of some of its fiber/nutrients and stuff. This is what your body would have to do if you ate it raw. So your body doesn't have to work as hard to break down the cooked broccoli as the raw broccoli. This is true for any food that has been processed in some way before you ate it.
Carbohydrates can be good or bad. For example, eating a slice of white bread vs. eating a slice of whole wheat (with the grains and stuff showing). The white bread is made of white flour, which is really wheat stripped of some of its parts and ground up really fine. It's REALLY easy for your body to process white bread- it's practically like eating pure sugar from a glycemic index point of view. (NOTE: glycemic index is a measure of how difficult it is for your body to convert it to energy/sugar. They give each food a number to show which affects your blood sugar levels differently.) The whole wheat (meaning made of wheat that hasn't been processed to death, you can see the grains in the bread) is better for you because it hasn't been. However, if you ate the bread with some butter or oil, it's actually better for you (glycemic index talking) than if you had eaten the bread plain. Dr. Agatston talks about how if you eat carbs with a fat or a fiber, it slows down the speed at which the carbs are broken down, and slows the rate at which sugar is released into your blood. So eating a baked potato (lots of carbs, lots of starch) with sour cream and butter helps balance your blood sugar so the sugars are absorbed more slowly. Or eating chicken or fish, plus a salad and veggies with your pasta helps to slow the rate at which your body breaks down and releases sugars from the carbs in the pasta.
Here is the problem. Say you have waffles with butter and syrup for breakfast. Lots of carbs and sugar. Your body breaks down those carbs pretty quickly (making you hungry more quickly too, i might add), so the amount of sugar released into your bloodstream goes up really quickly (not to mention the syrup which goes straight to your bloodstream, as it needs no processing by your body to be used as energy). Because your blood sugar level goes up so dramatically and quickly, your pancreas pumps out a ton of insulin to correct that. That means that your blood sugar shoots up, and then the sugar is absorbed quickly so it drops down. When your blood sugar drops, then you have cravings for more carbs and sugar because that's what your body needs ASAP. Your body knows you need it quick so it can keep functioning, so that's what message it gives your brain- more sugar!
In contrast, if you ate eggs with peppers and mushrooms (veggies have a very low glycemic index, which is part of why Dr. Agatston's diet recommends the 2-week veggie thing) and some canadian bacon (he says its better than regular bacon), and maybe a slice of whole-wheat toast with butter. You fed your body protein, fiber, fat, along with some good carbs. So your body breaks it down more slowly, keeping you feeling full longer, and raises and lowers your blood sugar more gradually so you don't crash out at 10:00.
So when a person is overweight, the reaction their body has to this process is slightly different. Consume food, breaks it down into sugars, same as before. The pancreas detects the level of sugar in your blood and sends out insulin, but in this scenario, the amount of insulin an overweight person's body has to produce is much higher (depending on how overweight they are). This is because when your body stores fat, it doesn't make new cells to store it in. It just adds it to the ones that are already there, so your cells grow larger and larger. When your pancreas produces insulin, it has to make more than a normal person's body because the cells are so large they don't recognize the normal amount of insulin. So their blood sugar levels drop much more quickly because by the time the cells recognize the insulin and accept the sugar there is so much insulin the sugars are absorbed really quickly. This leads to the crash and crave cycle- your body needs more sugar NOW.
I just thought all this was really interesting to read about. I also learned more about Type 1 and 2 diabetes, but I won't get into that right now.
So you eat food. Carbohydrates are converted/broken down into sugar, which equals energy for your cells. You need insulin to absorb the sugar into your cells so you can use it for energy- it's like a key that unlocks the cells. Your pancreas makes insulin according to your blood sugar levels. Your cells absorb the sugar/energy and you can run around chasing toddlers.
The more processed a food is, the less work your body has to do to get the energy out of it. The less work your body does in breaking down the food once you swallow it, the more energy can be stored (read:fat) because it doesn't use up energy as it breaks down the food you ate. For instance, if you eat cooked broccoli, it has already been steamed and made soft and warm, and stripped of some of its fiber/nutrients and stuff. This is what your body would have to do if you ate it raw. So your body doesn't have to work as hard to break down the cooked broccoli as the raw broccoli. This is true for any food that has been processed in some way before you ate it.
Carbohydrates can be good or bad. For example, eating a slice of white bread vs. eating a slice of whole wheat (with the grains and stuff showing). The white bread is made of white flour, which is really wheat stripped of some of its parts and ground up really fine. It's REALLY easy for your body to process white bread- it's practically like eating pure sugar from a glycemic index point of view. (NOTE: glycemic index is a measure of how difficult it is for your body to convert it to energy/sugar. They give each food a number to show which affects your blood sugar levels differently.) The whole wheat (meaning made of wheat that hasn't been processed to death, you can see the grains in the bread) is better for you because it hasn't been. However, if you ate the bread with some butter or oil, it's actually better for you (glycemic index talking) than if you had eaten the bread plain. Dr. Agatston talks about how if you eat carbs with a fat or a fiber, it slows down the speed at which the carbs are broken down, and slows the rate at which sugar is released into your blood. So eating a baked potato (lots of carbs, lots of starch) with sour cream and butter helps balance your blood sugar so the sugars are absorbed more slowly. Or eating chicken or fish, plus a salad and veggies with your pasta helps to slow the rate at which your body breaks down and releases sugars from the carbs in the pasta.
Here is the problem. Say you have waffles with butter and syrup for breakfast. Lots of carbs and sugar. Your body breaks down those carbs pretty quickly (making you hungry more quickly too, i might add), so the amount of sugar released into your bloodstream goes up really quickly (not to mention the syrup which goes straight to your bloodstream, as it needs no processing by your body to be used as energy). Because your blood sugar level goes up so dramatically and quickly, your pancreas pumps out a ton of insulin to correct that. That means that your blood sugar shoots up, and then the sugar is absorbed quickly so it drops down. When your blood sugar drops, then you have cravings for more carbs and sugar because that's what your body needs ASAP. Your body knows you need it quick so it can keep functioning, so that's what message it gives your brain- more sugar!
In contrast, if you ate eggs with peppers and mushrooms (veggies have a very low glycemic index, which is part of why Dr. Agatston's diet recommends the 2-week veggie thing) and some canadian bacon (he says its better than regular bacon), and maybe a slice of whole-wheat toast with butter. You fed your body protein, fiber, fat, along with some good carbs. So your body breaks it down more slowly, keeping you feeling full longer, and raises and lowers your blood sugar more gradually so you don't crash out at 10:00.
So when a person is overweight, the reaction their body has to this process is slightly different. Consume food, breaks it down into sugars, same as before. The pancreas detects the level of sugar in your blood and sends out insulin, but in this scenario, the amount of insulin an overweight person's body has to produce is much higher (depending on how overweight they are). This is because when your body stores fat, it doesn't make new cells to store it in. It just adds it to the ones that are already there, so your cells grow larger and larger. When your pancreas produces insulin, it has to make more than a normal person's body because the cells are so large they don't recognize the normal amount of insulin. So their blood sugar levels drop much more quickly because by the time the cells recognize the insulin and accept the sugar there is so much insulin the sugars are absorbed really quickly. This leads to the crash and crave cycle- your body needs more sugar NOW.
I just thought all this was really interesting to read about. I also learned more about Type 1 and 2 diabetes, but I won't get into that right now.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Firsts and Changes
Bah so much for my goal to write all the time. I blame going out of town. That's a good reason.
Well, Audrey and Thomas made it home just fine. Audrey was happy to see me and she came back knowing a TON of new words and phrases. She still says "oh sure" instead of "ok" when I ask her if she wants something- dunno who that came from! She talks so much and she loves to play pretend everything Mom does. She also still talks about Gramma and Gramma Becca and Mo-Mo... sorry Grandpas. :) Every time I try to get her to say "grandpa" she says "gramma". We were eating breakfast the other morning and she told me she wanted to share her waffle with me, and then she said it was for Grandma. Cute!
We (Ethan and I) had a great week in AZ playing with Grandmas and Grandpas and family and friends. He was kind of overwhelmed at doing so much stuff, since we really don't go a whole lot of places and see a whole lot of people normally. But he did great. He actually slept really well in a new place/situation and I was so proud of him. In fact, we ended up moving him out of our room because he got used to sleeping in a dark, quiet room. Our first night back here in Rexburg was pretty bad- he didn't like sleeping in our room anymore. So now he sleeps in the shoe room with Daddy's shoes. :) And we LOVE having him out of our room. He sleeps SO much better and so do we. He also actually NAPS for REAL! WOWOWOWOWOWOW!!! I'm shocked. He's always been a great sleeper at night but he never really napped regularly. Until NOW! Ha! Love it.
In other "growing up" news, Ethan also loves rice cereal. He can roll from his front to his back and his back to his front now. He can scoot himself around, either on his tummy or on his back. He is 5 months old tomorrow! He also discovered the "buh" sound this morning at 5:00am when he thought it was time to get up. It's really cute. He's been "buh-buh-buh"ing all morning.
Audrey is getting so big too. She is officially TWO years old! She had a wonderful birthday. The only thing she wanted to watch all day was Bobby's World. We went to Wingers for dinner, and then went to the park afterwards. She loves the slides. Then we told her we were going home to open presents and she got so excited and kept asking about "presents" the whole way. I'm not sure she really understood what that was, but she still talks about her birthday. I think her favorite present was her Elmo she got from Aunt Missy- she carried him everywhere for about a week after. Second favorite was the card from Grandma and Grandpa Scott- it plays music when you open it and I have the cutest video of her opening and closing and opening and closing and so on. However she also LOVED Monsters Inc... we've watched that a few times and she likes it a lot.
Thomas is starting his new job today! He went in to Allstate for an hour or so to get things rolling there and then he will come home and start working for Auto and Art! He is doing some web stuff/marketing stuff that I don't really understand quite all what he will be doing, but I know Thomas is WAY excited about it and is so done with Allstate. He has to pull double duty for this month- still kind of working at Allstate til Shannon comes back from having her baby.
I have four students to accompany for this semester, which is awesome. The gal I was going to play for her recital this semester fell through- she said she just got so busy she didn't have time to practice so no recital this semester. But I'm excited to get to have a few accompanying jobs again. Ethan is older and I really feel ready to get back into that.
We are also excited that we will probably be moving by mid-November into a new house! Well, new to us. The bank accepted our offer on a foreclosure on 3 acres out in Hibbard and we love it. It's a 1996 doublewide on a foundation, 1800sq ft and very open floor plan. We are getting a super deal on it. It needs a little work, but we like that because we can make it our own and do what we want with it. We will miss this ward and our little double-wide here in Mill Hollow, but we are kind of done living here. It was a chapter of our lives and now it's time to begin a new one. And we could use a little more space for Thomas' shoes (I crack myself up every time I say that) and so he can have an office to work from home in. We won't close on the house until after he's had two full paychecks from his new job, which works out well since that means I can stay til the Sacrament Meeting program is done! I'm excited/scared to see that through... but mostly excited. :)
I was gonna upload some pics... but Ethan just woke up and I ran out of time. Maybe later today! :)
Well, Audrey and Thomas made it home just fine. Audrey was happy to see me and she came back knowing a TON of new words and phrases. She still says "oh sure" instead of "ok" when I ask her if she wants something- dunno who that came from! She talks so much and she loves to play pretend everything Mom does. She also still talks about Gramma and Gramma Becca and Mo-Mo... sorry Grandpas. :) Every time I try to get her to say "grandpa" she says "gramma". We were eating breakfast the other morning and she told me she wanted to share her waffle with me, and then she said it was for Grandma. Cute!
We (Ethan and I) had a great week in AZ playing with Grandmas and Grandpas and family and friends. He was kind of overwhelmed at doing so much stuff, since we really don't go a whole lot of places and see a whole lot of people normally. But he did great. He actually slept really well in a new place/situation and I was so proud of him. In fact, we ended up moving him out of our room because he got used to sleeping in a dark, quiet room. Our first night back here in Rexburg was pretty bad- he didn't like sleeping in our room anymore. So now he sleeps in the shoe room with Daddy's shoes. :) And we LOVE having him out of our room. He sleeps SO much better and so do we. He also actually NAPS for REAL! WOWOWOWOWOWOW!!! I'm shocked. He's always been a great sleeper at night but he never really napped regularly. Until NOW! Ha! Love it.
In other "growing up" news, Ethan also loves rice cereal. He can roll from his front to his back and his back to his front now. He can scoot himself around, either on his tummy or on his back. He is 5 months old tomorrow! He also discovered the "buh" sound this morning at 5:00am when he thought it was time to get up. It's really cute. He's been "buh-buh-buh"ing all morning.
Audrey is getting so big too. She is officially TWO years old! She had a wonderful birthday. The only thing she wanted to watch all day was Bobby's World. We went to Wingers for dinner, and then went to the park afterwards. She loves the slides. Then we told her we were going home to open presents and she got so excited and kept asking about "presents" the whole way. I'm not sure she really understood what that was, but she still talks about her birthday. I think her favorite present was her Elmo she got from Aunt Missy- she carried him everywhere for about a week after. Second favorite was the card from Grandma and Grandpa Scott- it plays music when you open it and I have the cutest video of her opening and closing and opening and closing and so on. However she also LOVED Monsters Inc... we've watched that a few times and she likes it a lot.
Thomas is starting his new job today! He went in to Allstate for an hour or so to get things rolling there and then he will come home and start working for Auto and Art! He is doing some web stuff/marketing stuff that I don't really understand quite all what he will be doing, but I know Thomas is WAY excited about it and is so done with Allstate. He has to pull double duty for this month- still kind of working at Allstate til Shannon comes back from having her baby.
I have four students to accompany for this semester, which is awesome. The gal I was going to play for her recital this semester fell through- she said she just got so busy she didn't have time to practice so no recital this semester. But I'm excited to get to have a few accompanying jobs again. Ethan is older and I really feel ready to get back into that.
We are also excited that we will probably be moving by mid-November into a new house! Well, new to us. The bank accepted our offer on a foreclosure on 3 acres out in Hibbard and we love it. It's a 1996 doublewide on a foundation, 1800sq ft and very open floor plan. We are getting a super deal on it. It needs a little work, but we like that because we can make it our own and do what we want with it. We will miss this ward and our little double-wide here in Mill Hollow, but we are kind of done living here. It was a chapter of our lives and now it's time to begin a new one. And we could use a little more space for Thomas' shoes (I crack myself up every time I say that) and so he can have an office to work from home in. We won't close on the house until after he's had two full paychecks from his new job, which works out well since that means I can stay til the Sacrament Meeting program is done! I'm excited/scared to see that through... but mostly excited. :)
I was gonna upload some pics... but Ethan just woke up and I ran out of time. Maybe later today! :)
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