Comments on: To Be Healthier

By: Stephen M (Ethesis)

Stephen M (Ethesis) — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 02:57:38 +0000

Well, I’m a fan of Taubes Good Calories, Bad Calories and the Shangri La Diet. My life has really improved since I lost the weight two years or so ago, and I’m glad it stayed off.

By: janeannechovy

janeannechovy — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 01:10:36 +0000

I’m reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma for my book group, so I think I’ll be making a more concerted effort to avoid engineered corn in my food. We already eat mostly organic produce, dairy and meat, but I think when I start really looking at the ingredient lists I’ll want to start weaning my family off boxed breakfast cereals and (our biggest collective weakness) Reduced Fat Wheat Thins.

For me, I’m trying to implement the four basic rules from I Can Make You Thin (did anyone else watch this, on TLC, several months ago?): 1. Eat when you’re hungry. 2. Eat what you want to eat. 3. When you’re full, stop. 4. Move a little more. Sounds simple, right? But it’s amazing to realize just how much when and what and how much of what I eat is determined by factors other than what my body is telling me right that minute. And it’s sooooo hard to break the plate-cleaning habit.

By: FoxyJ

FoxyJ — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 03:45:23 +0000

Yeah, I’m a big fan of CSA’s–I live in north/central CA so I’m right in the mecca of local food, but I know they have a lot of options all over. It is definitely challenging to figure out how to eat stuff, and honestly none of us are big fans yet of greens (especially this week when we got bok choy, chard, kale, and collards!), but we are experimenting. I was totally surprised by how wonderful carrots taste when they are the fresh, organic juicy ones from the CSA and not those nasty little “baby carrots” that are always dried out.

By: Sam B.

Sam B. — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 23:06:24 +0000

Vada,
By all means, join a CSA! You do have to work to not let vegetables go bad, but through our several years of being in one, my wife and I have been introduced to amazing vegetables (bitter greens and bok choy leap to mind) that we wouldn’t otherwise have learned about. And, as long as you remember what each vegetable is (which I progressively got better at), you can always search for recipes at Epicurious.com, or whatever your favorite recipe site is.

It is amazing how much better real fresh, non-grocery-store, in-season, local vegetables taste, and it’s always fun, the day after the veggies arrive, to come up with a menu that incorporates them. (Use that as a selling point: having a menu and a shopping list cuts down significantly on impulse buying, and saves tons of money.)

Sorry this is long, but CSAs are one of my favorite things in the whole wide world.

By: MerHart

MerHart — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 22:04:23 +0000

I’ve been thinking about this a LOT lately — after watching my body recover from two very stressful pregnancies, I gained a new appreciation for my body and I really want to take better care of it and stop putting so much junk into it.

It’s tricky, though. DH has a soldier’s metabolism, so he needs lots of protein and tons of calories just to keep him from losing weight — but he’s allergic to EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING. He has non-IgE allergies/sensitivities to: carrots, apples, celery, pears, strawberries, melons, avocados, dill, parsley, potato, anise, coriander, peaches, prunes, all tree nuts (EXCEPT peanuts… and DS is allergic to those) and cabbage. And DS is likely allergic to a lot of the same things (still testing). This makes trying to incorporate veggies into the family diet INSANE.

But! I’m figuring out things I can do. Like I made a commitment to do most of my groceries shopping along the outside edge of the store (the fresh dairy, meats, and produce) and avoid the middle of the store as much as possible (processed foods, high sodium canned foods, soda and junk food). And I just bought Madhur Jaffrey’s World Vegetarian Cookbook and it’s becoming my bible for cooking. She organizes her cookbook according to vegetable and she uses a lot of unusual vegetables too — so I marked all the ones that no one in the family is allergic to and have been working through those.

BrianJ – stretching is a great idea. I think I’d feel better being active if I weren’t so stiff.

I started taking a multivitamin every day, but I hadn’t thought of probiotics. I’m going to have to add that.

By: Ziff

Ziff — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 22:02:15 +0000

Kori, I like the idea of loosing your pregnancy weight, so it can wreak havoc on the world.

Good question, Vada. I’m playing lots of active Wii games with my kids. Really I do it for fun, but I tell myself it’s also (a little) good for me.

That’s interesting about the gym childcare being a germfest, Jessawhy. My wife used to work in one, and that was her experience too. It was nice that she could take our kid(s) to work with her, but they did get sick a lot too.

By: Kori

Kori — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 21:55:33 +0000

Yikes! I meant lose my pregnancy weight.

By: Kori

Kori — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 21:53:08 +0000

I am still trying to loose my pregnancy weight. One of my small goals is to not eat anything after 8 pm. I got into the habit of making a snack after I put the baby to bed, and I am trying to break it.

By: Seraphine

Seraphine — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 21:30:05 +0000

This fall I realized how much junk I was putting into my body and how it was affecting me (negatively). I’ve since started trying to cut back on the sugar and processed foods and add more fresh fruits and vegetables, etc., back into my diet. This will be easier to do this summer when my CSA starts up again.

*I’m looking into taking yoga classes starting later this spring or summer.

*I want to go to the doctor and get tested for food allergies, etc. I have weird reactions to food (not as bad as Vada’s kids, but there’s something there), and I want to figure out what’s going on.

*I also need to look into vitamins and supplements (esp. eating/taking more omega-3).

There’s a lot here, but my current plan is to tackle it one thing at a time–for example, I’m starting with adjusting my diet/doing more cooking/taking vitamins, and I’ll go from there.

By: jessawhy

jessawhy — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 21:14:44 +0000

I try to be healthier, but it’s much easier for me to exercise than to remember to eat healthy. (Unless, of course, I began buy only health food
My problem is that when I take my kids to the childcare at the gym, they end up getting sick then I can’t take them back for a few weeks, then the cycle repeats.
Until June when the 100 + degree heat kills all virus and bacteria, and then we’re all pretty healthy, but dang hot.

Anyway, exercising is on my goal list, but better food hasn’t been, until now.
Thanks for the post!