Mindful Eating Experiment, Continued: After hearing much positive buzz about it, I'm testing one week of a photo food journal in blog form. I strained a few brain cells coming up with the scintillating title: it's called "Pubsgal Eats." Here's how I introduced it over there:
Today was the first day of my "Week of Eats": a photo food journal. All the cool kids seem to be doing this now, with the surge in
mindful eating from the Two Fit Chicks podcast.
Foodie McBody started one, inspired by
Mary of A Merry Life's food blog. It does seem like a good way to make oneself pause and contemplate the food that will be fueling one's body.
Anyhow, I'm going to experiment with this for a week. If it feels like it helps, I might keep it up longer. If I find it too crazy-making, out it goes. Maybe I'll even incorporate it into the regular blog, but then I'd sort of feel like I was copying Lori of Finding Radiance
and Biz of Biggest Diabetic Loser
I've only done it for a couple of days so far, but it's an interesting experiment. When I don't have a "whoops" meal--photographing empty dishes and wrappers--I find myself taking a little time to present the food and look at it, to appreciate the colors and textures before I eat. It made me realize that those "7 Guidelines" that flicker through my mind are kind of a heavy cognitive load. Why have 7, when 3 will do? I'm going with the old crossing-the-street saying, "Stop, Look, and Listen." As in, STOP just grabbing and shoving stuff in my mouth, stop when satisfied with the meal, definitely stop when eating starts feeling like a "forced march." LOOK at what I'm eating, take a little time to be thankful for it, and notice when the eating situation doesn't feel good (too distracted, multitasking, etc.). LISTEN to my hunger/fullness signals during meal time, to what I really want, to my feelings when I want to binge or want to eat when I'm not hungry.
Gym situation: So far, so good. Some classes are very different. The new ownership does not do licensed classes like BodyPump anymore. But our same darlin' Brazilian drill sergeant is there at the same time slot, kicking things up a notch with her Cardio Sculpt class...I've had to go lower on the weights for all body areas. It's scary-good what her newly unleashed creativity is coming up with. Other classes (non-licensed ones) are same, with the instructors and the course content and times kept fairly similar. But all class names have changed in a fit of creative writing. "Spin class" is now "The Ride." (Haven't been in awhile, so not sure if it's different...each instructor had their own style and music, so I imagine each class is still similar.) "Pilates on the Ball" became "Belly, Butt, and Thighs Bootcamp," although the instructor says that name is changing to "Power Ball." One change on the schedule had me puzzled: the Pilates instructor used to have a "Pilates on Foam Roller" class, and the name and description changed to "R&R," as in "rest and relaxation" (a flexibility class). The instructor said ignore the schedule, the class is the same; in other words, a complete misnomer. If they need a creative new name, I'd suggest "OWWAFEST" - as in, "Oh, when will (my) abs finally ever stop throbbing?"
So far, no rate changes, although I have a feeling they will eventually. If they change much, I may have to re-evaluate this gym. It doesn't have a pool, so I already have to go elsewhere for swimming. Right now, there's a community pool that I spend about $16.50-22.00 per month using, on top of my gym fees. So if the gym fees go up more than $15, it would be comparable to two other facilities that have a pool included, and I'd consider changing. The *almost* priceless part about my current gym is that it is right next door to my work, so no additional drive. The others are fairly close en route, but it would add extra time to my cram-in-a-workout schedule, probably an extra half hour at least. (Which explains why I typically only swim once a week, it's 6 miles round-trip out of my way.) Anyhoo, we'll see what the future brings.
Meet the Summer 2010 Neigh-bors: We have some lovely new faces on the other side of the back fence! You can't seem them too well, but there are two adorable foals in there with the mares.
Progress This week
7-day fasting blood glucose average: 107
7-day overall blood glucose average: 105
Weight: +1 pound this week. Considering I hit redline over the weekend, I'm happy that I was able to rein it in and get that down to only +1. (To put it in perspective, though, I'm still 3 pounds up from last month, where it finally looked like I was heading out of the 190s.)
Food goals:
* My goal was "Apply the '7 Guidelines', aiming for high fiber choices." I don't have time to do a detailed analysis at this point, but I'd say I did so-so on the guidelines and well on the fiber choices.
* Read "Savor" - Just got this and the vegan baking cookbook "Babycakes" from the library the other day and browsed a little bit last night.
Exercise goals: Here's the chart from my Daily Mile log. Love Daily Mile!
Misc. goals:
* Got about 7 or more hours of sleep most nights, exception being Monday night, where I got about 6.
* Morning tooth flossing works for me!
Goals for Next Week
7-day blood glucose average goal and fasting numbers: below 120.
Weight goal: Maintain or progress.
Food goals:
* Complete "Week of Eats" over on Pubsgal Eats, aiming for high fiber and "Stop, Look, and Listen" behavior.
* Continue reading "Savor"
Exercise goals:
* 30 minutes of activity 5 days/week, tracking through Daily Mile.
* At least one run, bike, and swim per week.
* At least 2 strength things per week.
Misc. goals:
* 7 or more hours sleep/night.
* Morning tooth flossing
