Posts Tagged ‘diet’

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Oatmeal Diet, Take 3, Day 2 (of 7)

Thursday, November 3rd, 2011

Bust! I deviated greatly from my original plan and did not eat only oatmeal today. I hang my head in shame as I confess that I had pizza and salad for lunch. In fairness, I was invited last-minute to meet my uncle who I see only every 4 – 5 years. It was an absolute pleasure to hear from him and I was excited to see him. I thought it would be better to simply put my oatmeal on-hold than bring a bowl of cooked oatmeal to lunch and try to explain.

My first 2 servings went as planned, first at 5:30AM and the second at 9:00AM. For the second serving I withheld honey which turned out to be a tasteless idea. Haha! Seriously, it was a little bland. To make up for the lack of sweetener I added salt; I don’t know if that actually works as an appropriate substitute…Hmmm. I managed to get it all down, and washed both servings down with 8 ounces of water.

A further deviation was at lunch drinking Diet Dr Pepper and coming home to 12 ounces of Mountain Dew Game Fuel, a specially made MW3-inspired beverage. Aaah. It’s delicious.

So what’s the plan, drop the diet like I never started, or get back on the horse and try again. I’m getting back up, dusting myself off and continuing for the remaining 5 days. Oh, I had a banana with peanut butter this evening. I have to admit, eating only oatmeal makes for an interesting…experience…in the…bathroom. *ahem* If you know what I mean. Less substance, more oatmeal. Ewww. TMI, I know. I’m sorry, but truth be told – it’s unusual and mildly uncomfortable. I ate the banana to compensate.

Tomorrow I’m back on schedule just as originally planned. Unless another long, lost uncle (or aunt for that matter) rings my tele and invites me to lunch I’ll continue eating just oatmeal.

Exercise: 1H, stationary bike. 19 miles!
Weight: AM, 182.8; PM, ?

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Oatmeal Diet, Take 3, Day 1 (of 7)

Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011

Whew! I made it through the day with little more than 5 servings of oatmeal. I say, “little more” because I broke down and, in an effort to circumvent a debilitating headache, consumed 32 ounces of Diet Mountain Dew. Other than that, I stayed right on task consuming oatmeal at every meal washed down with a glass of water.

For the first meal I woke up at 5:30AM, went into the kitchen and prepared my scrumptious feast. I ate it quickly and then went back to bed for a little more shuteye before leaving for work. At each scheduled time (9:00AM, 12:30PM, and 4:00PM) I went to the kitchen in our office break room and prepared another serving. I measured and poured 8 ounces of water into a plastic cup which I then marked with a permanent marker. From then on, at each “meal” I filled my cup to the 8 ounce mark and used it to wash down the oatmeal.

In total, I’ve consumed 5 separate meals of nearly pure oatmeal. In each serving I added up to 1tbsp butter and 1-2tbsp honey. In my 3rd serving (12:30PM) I added a packet of salt, but decided I can stomach the taste of the oatmeal without it. When you add it up, excluding the butter and honey, I’ve eaten 1,500 calories: 5 servings @ 300 calories, or 10 measured servings of oatmeal (as defined on the container) at 150 calories each.

I feel a little hungry, but not too bad. I honestly expected each serving to be less palatable than they were. I have to admit, eating just oatmeal this time has been pleasant. It helps to have some flavor. I’m adding just over 1 1/2 cups of water and microwaving for 2 minutes which (in my opinion) makes the oatmeal near-perfect.

Tomorrow, I’m going to use honey again, but I plan to buy some jam/jelly for flavoring on subsequent days. I’ll continue to have 1 8 ounce glass of water at each meal, and allow myself only 20 ounces of Diet Mountain Dew. Oh, in full disclosure I should confess I chewed a few pieces of gum which added a handful of calories…but who’s counting. ;)

Exercise: none. (I ran barefoot on the pavement yesterday and think I may have caused a stress fracture on the top of my foot.)
Weight: AM, 184.8; PM, 184.6

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Oatmeal Diet, Take 3

Tuesday, November 1st, 2011

As the title of this post implies, I’m at it again – eating Oatmeal for one full week. The gory details can be found in the immortalized words of both my first and second attempts. I’ll spare you details and get to the point.

This time I around I came at the diet from the same angle. I didn’t do any additional research, nor did I come up with a grandiose and earth-shattering plan. I’m still just a guy trying to eat oatmeal for a week. I have been thinking of trying this again ever since the end of my second attempt, and for some reason decided at noon today that tomorrow is better than any other day!

The rules are still basically the same. I’ll be eating 5 double servings which total 1,500 calories over the course of a day. I’ll be eating at specific intervals starting at 5:30AM, followed by another round at 9:00AM, 12:30PM, 4:00PM and finishing the day at 7:30PM. These times were not chosen at random, but have no more thought behind them than a logical way to break up the day so that 5 meals are systematically consumed.

I’ll spare you my specific flavoring plans for the whole week and take that piece of this one day at a time. Tomorrow, I’m planning to either flavor 2 and eat 3 bland, flavor 3 and eat 2 bland, or eat all five servings flavored. My flavor of choice for Day 1 is honey, and butter. In fact, I’ll introduce butter into every serving using no more than 1Tbsp each time. For my first and last meals I’ll allow using milk instead of water as the cooking / saturating medium. I’m not going to count the milk calories, well I say that, I’ll probably end up doing it anyway, but I don’t plan to at the outset because I haven’t fully committed to using milk!

In case you’re wondering, I’m using Quaker Oats; Quick-1 Minute in the large cylindrical container. The honey is raw and was produced in the local area; I bought it over a year ago. I’ll take a container full of honey, the Quaker paper container of oatmeal, 1 stick of butter, a metal spoon and a 1/4 cup measuring spoon. As the clock strikes due time, I’ll scoop out the required portion, head to the kitchen and add water (1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups), and microwave for just under 2 minutes. I then add the butter and honey, and voila – oatmeal. :)

I’ll still be exercising and will post that information here as well. I’m wondering how much weight I’ll lose during this process, although don’t be fooled – this isn’t a ludicrous attempt to shed a bunch of pounds. This afternoon I weighed 183.6, but that fluctuates by 1-2 pounds each day, at least according to my scale. I’ll post my morning and evening weights here, along with the details of the day and the exercise I completed.

Feel free to subscribe and/or comment as you’d like. Oh, and please forget that history has a tendency to repeat itself – I’m going to do it this time!

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Diet Diary

Wednesday, April 13th, 2011

Earlier today a friend and I were discussing each others eating habits. We’re both trying to lose weight and taking two very different approaches to the same goal. He’s going the diet pill, heavy protein, no carbs (and no fruits and veggies for that matter), work-out-until-you-pass-out route. I’m going the Paleo Diet-ish and regular exercise route I’m not an official Paleo Dieter, but I use that philosophy as I think about what I’m going to eat. I use the rule if it were at one time living, it’s OK to eat, with as little processing as possible. (I’ll talk more about this later)

As he and I talked about our choices in food I thought it might help to share what I’m eating and how I’m approaching the task of losing 40 pounds. Below is the list of foods I ate today. I don’t know the exact quantities and don’t really care; I don’t count calories or weigh my food. I eat a modest amount of everything, and I try to snack (on what I have listed) throughout the day.

Breakfast

banana
peanut butter

Post-Workout Snack

large apple

Lunch

carrots
grapes
salad: iceberg lettuce, black olives, fresh mozarella (home-made, but not by me), cucumbers and sunflower seeds

Post-Work Snack

provolone cheese
raisins

Dinner

steak
onion
green peppers
rice

Not every day is this healthy, but I’m making a concerted effort. I put my lunch together in the morning before leaving to go to the gym. I’m up at 5:30am and try to be out the door by, or before 5:45am, so I don’t have much time. I use Rubbermaid Easy Find Lids containers because they’re reusable, they pack a tight seal, the lids stick to the bottom of the container, and I’m trying to be more Eco-Friendly. :)

Dinner is usually off the cuff. My wife and I start talking about the evening meal just before it happens. I’d like to have a meal calendar with breakfast, lunch and dinner planned in advance, but for now we just wing it. I’m planning to follow the Paleo Diet meal plan which will make some of my erratic preparation unnecessary and the task of food preparation much simpler.

Afterthought: the Paleo Diet (as I understand it) was championed by Loren Cordain, PhD. I bought his book and read it with vigor. I soaked up all the scientific explanations about how our bodies process food and how important it is to eat lean meats, fruits and vegetables. I’ve found some other websites about the Paleo Diet school of thought that I found useful:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleolithic_diet
http://paleodietlifestyle.com/
http://altmed.creighton.edu/Paleodiet/Foodlist.html
http://www.earth360.com/diet_paleodiet_balzer.html

After, afterthought: I’m also experimenting with sourdough (thank you, Mom); it’s not exactly Paleo, but it’s healthy and fun. :)

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Oatmeal Diet, Day 2 (of 7) and DONE

Tuesday, April 5th, 2011

(This post is a few days late, but I wanted to get it out here regardless.)

I started Day 2 (of 7) with renewed vigor. I woke up late and missed my first serving which was supposed to be, as scheduled, at 5:30am. I didn’t get in the first 300 calories until 9:20am. This time I tried honey, but not just any honey. Last year we bought clover honey at the Roanoke Farmer’s Market. It was still good, although mostly crystallized. I added approximately 2tbsp along with 1tbsp (measured) of butter and a few cranks on the old salt grinder. Mmmm. I think I could actually get used to this.

My wife and meandered, poke, piddled, and otherwise wasted most of the morning. I didn’t get in my second 300 calories until after 12:00pm. It was just as good, if not better than the first. I prepared this round of oatmeal in the same way and enjoyed every last bite. (I didn’t think this was possible after my first few experiences.)

Later that day we went to my parents house. While there my mother told us all about ‘sour dough starter‘ and her new kitchen / food projects. I was impressed with her diligence in getting educated and practicing new methods and recipes. At the same time I told her about my oatmeal diet about which she read (briefly and in passing) on Facebook. She seemed to think that there was some real science behind it and asked where I had heard about it. I told her I’m doing it just because and there’s no scientific basis for my odd choice of diet food. It was then that she explained phytic acid.

I’ll post a few links to the technical definition(s) of phytic acid and what it does, or doesn’t do for you. As I understand it, phytic acid exists in most grains and in rather high amounts (or concentration) in oatmeal in particular. It inhibits the absorption of most of the nutrients and minerals contained in the grains we eat and therefore limits their nutritional value. For this reason, my mother suggested I quit the stupid diet and eat real food – in this case, sourdough cinnamon rolls fresh out of the oven. Mmmm.

There are ways around the phytic acid element in grains. Most of the research I’ve done recommends a 7 to 24 hour soak in some type of culture like yogurt, buttermilk, water with whey or vinegar. There are, as always, different opinions on the level of phytic acid and the real benefit obtained from soaking. I think it’s especially worth doing, regardless of the risk (or lack thereof) if you’re eating nothing but oatmeal. It couldn’t hurt and should only improve any existing nutritional yield from oatmeal and/or other grains.

I may give this one last go after carefully planning in what and how to soak my oats. I’ll let you know what I decide. In the meantime, here are a few articles for your reading pleasure:

 

And finally, the oft quoted and seeming experts on all of this rigamarole, Sally Fallon and Mary G Enig, PhD book Nourishing Traditions:

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