Science sometimes ain't so...

It's really difficult to do the best thing for your body
health wise when you read so may conflicting and changing
views about so many things day to day.

Margerine is good for you..wait, its bad for you. You
read one study that says coconut oil raises HDL and
lowers LDL and another that shows HDL is lowered.

Salt is bad..salt is good..

Makes you want to scream!

It is so hard to make educated decisions about
things. So, how do you wade through all the
"experts" and their own version of the "real truth"
and try to be as healthy as you can be?

Sometimes its a stab in the dark. Many times I'll
read as many articles as I can and try to find
the median truth and go with that, which means
whatever the majority of them agree with. LOL.

And sometimes we might still get it wrong. But, at
least we're trying :)

Hang in there guys.

Wal-Mart. The store we hate to love :)

I know..Wally World. Its loved by some,
hated by others, but tolerated by most.

We have many Wal-Marts in our area, most are
either Supercenters or Neighborhood
Markets. For those who are not familiar with
the Neighborhood Markets, it's the grocery store
side of a Supercenter put into a building.

We have found Wal-Mart to be instramental
when following YOAD. They have a lot of items
that are cheaper and YOAD friendly and other
items we like for the diet that just can't be
found elsewhere.

Coconut oil. Yes, I have spoke of it in lengths
before. We use coconut oil on the diet. We believe
its healthy and beneicial despite what the YOU
docs say. It's not a cheap item at most
stores. Other grocery stores have small,
10oz jars of virgin coconut oil for $15
and the refined for close to the same price.
Wal-Mart (and ONLY Wal-Mart) carries the LouAnna
brand that I believe is a 16oz jar of refined for
$3.00. We still buy the expesive virgin
for sautees, but for deep frying like french
fries or fish, refined is best because it has
a higher smoke point. BOTH are healthy :)

A couple of the Wal-Marts around us also carry
bison. We enjoy bison every so often and
it's healthier than beef. Bison is not
easy to find and Wal-Mart has the best prices
for it in town!

And then comes the conundrum of thier own brand of
100% whole wheat bread. When we go to other
local supermarkets for 100% whole wheat bread
without HFCS, we generally would be looking at
about $3 per loaf. A few of the Wal-Marts
around us carry their own brand 100% whole
wheat bread made with brown sugar (no HFCS)
that meets the diet and for less than $1.50 per
loaf. The trick comes in that in other Wal-Marts,
the SAME EXACT BREAD IN THE SAME EXACT PACKAGING
has HFCS in it instead of brown sugar. Ugggh!
Why would they do that? So, if you are looking
to find some YOAD friendly whole wheat bread and
want to check out your local Wal-Mart, check
the label to be sure it's brown sugar and
NOT HFCS.

Wal-Mart also has a nice produce section
and other items such as South Beach
Diet brand that are less expensive than
most other stores in our area.

So, we have to say, Wal-Mart is a store
we love for helping us afford the diet
and staying healthy!

My menu today

The weekend was so hectic I did not have time
to post my menu today. So, I'll post it here.

We ate at a new restaurant for breakfast. I
had three scrambled eggs, 1 serving
griddled hash browns and some whole wheat
toast with a little butter. And of course, coffee. :)

We kinda muched around lunch time because
breakfast was around noon-ish. After
breakfast we did some shopping and other
running around, then came home and did our
work out for about an hour.

It was then dinner time and we made some AWESOME
tacos. Here is what we used:

Organic taco shells (organic whole corn meal,
sunflower oil).

Also ground turkey with some organic
taco seasoning with lots of good stuff in it
including dried tomatoes and habaneros.

While the turkey was browning, in a seperate
pan I sauteed some diced fresh sweet onions and
orange peppers cooked in macadamian nut oil,
and then added it to the turkey with some
fresh diced tomatoes, pepper, kosher salt,
hot sauce, garlic powder and cajun seasonings.

To top the tacos we used some organic
pineapple salsa, lettuce, lowfat mozzerella
cheese and more hot sauce.

But, I think I made this batch a bit too hot for
my wife. I like mine a bit warmer than she
does. However, I have to give her credit.
When we first met she wouldn't eat
anything hot or spicy. Now she is just
a few notches below me. I try to keep
it just hot enough for her and that
works for me. Sometimes I miss the mark
a little. But, she still enjoyed it. :)

Good health to everyone!

Phychological issues

No, I'm not a psychopath. But, then again, do
psychopaths know they are psychopaths? :)

Seriously, it has to do with my perception that
I am still FAT!

My wife says I am skinny, colleagues say I am
skinny, but I have some extra belly fat that I don't
like and to me that makes me feel like I am still
fat!

I have been told I am fat since the 9th grade so that
has been ingrained into me for a very, very long time
that I am NOT skinny. :)

I guess it's going to take a while to get used to the
idea I am at a normal weight.

I guess I am also worried once I "rest" and concede I
am normal, I won't work as hard to be sure I stay this
weight. But, I think that's just the worrier in me and I
really don't think that's going to be the issue.

Just me rambling on. But then, isn't that a point of
a blog? LOL.

Good day to everyone :)

5 pounds left to go...

Okay, today is not an official weigh-in
day which is not for another few days. But,
I do weigh myself 2 or 3 times per week
at different times. This is to see trends
and to learn how my body deals with what I am
eating and stuff.

As of this morning, I was exactly 185lbs.

Wahoo! My ultimate goal when I first
started YOAD was 180lbs.

It's actually the ideal weight for my gender, age,
height and body type :)

I would be happiest staying within 175lbs and
180lbs from here on out!

So, I have to get this last 5lbs off.

My last problem is that my body fat percentage
is still a few points higher than what I like
even though I am at a healthy weight. Stubborn
belly fat!

Well, I'm even more stubborn and I've
started to work out more to get this
extra body fat off for good!

I hope everyone has a GREAT Thursday :)

In a pickle....

This is kinda an update to yesterday's post about joining
the gym.

Up until yesterday, I had either been walking at work
OR going to the gym.

Yesterday I did both.

That would not necessarily be a problem. I came home,
and went to the gym before I ate dinner and then came
back home at about 8:00pm and figured out my total
calories for the day.

Oh boy! I was at at a 1300 calorie defecit for where I
I like to be for the day. Ummm..I don't normally have
1300 calorie dinners. LOL. Not anymore anyway *GRIN*.

Well, I squeezed in 1000 calories with my dinner
and dessert so I ended up actually not that bad.

So, today I plan on doing the same thing, go on my walk in
the afternoon AND work out at the gym tonite. So, I am
spacing the extra 300 or so calories between all my planned
meals ;)

It should make it easier on me tonite.

Of course, I am adding healthy foods like a banana, some
extra wheat crackers and some tuna.

I think I'm going to like working out more at night :)

Good health to you all!

I joined a gym :)

About two weeks ago I joined
a gym. Well, I joined a rec
center that has a gym inside :)

The rec center is literally
a half a block away from my front
door so it makes it very conveinient
to pop in for a quick work out.

The hours, though, are typically
8-9 Mo-Sa and 1-6 Su. This makes
it difficult to get in a morning
work out as I have to report
to the man at 8am.

Since starting YOAD I pretty much
have not been doing any other
exercises other than walking.
My wife and I started out walking
30-45 minutes most evenings, but
then I started to walk on my lunch
breaks at work and then my wife
didn't want to walk anymore at night.

So, its been two weeks now as a
member of the rec center. I am still
doing my 45-50 minute walk during
my lunch break at work. In the
evenings I like to go down and get
some extra time on the treadmill.
Usually 20-45 minutes. I also do the
stationary bike and I tried my hand
at the eliptical machine, but I don't
care for it.

The last three times I was there,
I'm starting to hit the weight machines.
I looked up online how to use them
and I am not doing all of them.
There is a vertical press, a horizontal
press and an ab machine I have been
working on. Not too tough. 10-15 reps
using a weight to make it kinda tough
to get the last 3 or 4 reps in.

It's a start. LOL.

I don't want to get buff..LOL..me???
Heavens no. But, I just want to
stop losing muscle while I continue
to lose the last 10% of extra body
fat I still have clinging on for
dear life :)

I hope everyone has a great Monday!