Wednesday, May 8, 2013

New Eating Challenge- the Healthy Comedian May 2013

No nuts for my squirrel brain
For May 2013, I decided to take the  Health and Comedy- Low Carb challenge. Dan French, along with Amy Kubal and Corben Thomas , have a  the podcast of the same name. I've been listening and have picked up on the inside jokes over the last few months. I love that Dan, Amy, and Corben are talking about what they do, eat, and are sharing it with others. Humor is a great way to get people talking.

The rules for the challenge are on Corben's website -Paleo Life 365.

Why I did the challenge: I eat pretty clean Paleo to start with, but eating cleaner/low carb for 30 days is a good way to get a few pounds that I gained above my maintain weight range over the last few months. Plus, I was snacking on nuts, too much. Once I saw coffee was involved, I was sold!

What foods I cut out for the challenge:
Nuts! Almonds and macadamias are back in the shoebox with the note card on it.
Fruit Bars. I gave up most of my bar "habit" during the Whole30 in Jan 2013. You can still see a Lara bar lurking in the shoebox.
Salmon burgers from Costco: these processed salmon burgers have a bit of canola oil and other stuff in them. They are out for May.
85% Chocolate. Wahhhhhh, booooo hoooo.  There, 5 second whine. I'm OVER it.
Jerky with added sugar: an occasional snack, not hard to drop this for a month.
Two fruit servings: I can get by with one or none most days.
Foods not in the challenge
What foods I've added or eat more:
Vegetables: Yeah! I'm eating between 35-50 carbs a day or so all from vegetables and one berry serving a day. I still eat onions and a few carrots, and Brussels sprouts. Bell peppers, shredded cabbage, celery, broccoli slaw, big a$$ salads, cherry tomatoes, guacamole, fresh salsa. Bring it on.

More protein: I've probably upped my protein a bit for this challenge. I've been keen for the ground Bison from Trader Joe's and I picked up some grass fed beef at a Farmer's Market while on vacation. Yummy stuff and the relatives packed it back.  I'll do a separate post on this soon.

How's it going:
 Great. I've dropped down from 3 meals with 2 snacks a day to just 3 meals, no snacking.  That's been working well, so far. I'm fat adapted , so eating low carb helps with hunger between meals. I've been sleeping better, too. I stayed on challenge except for the one item below while I was on a weekend vacation. 

Not so great: I ordered breakfast from a farm food truck over the weekend. The eggs had some cheese in them! I figured it all out after I was back at the hotel. Dairy is not on the plan, so I picked out the cheese and ate the egg and spinach omelet anyway. It didn't effect me GI wise, and compared to a cinnamon roll, fig newtons, or any other off plan item, I'm doing okay. ;) Progress!

Onward

weekend walk photo







10 comments:

  1. YAY!! You're doing AWESOME! Keep the updates coming and thanks for doing this with us! -Amy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Will , do Amy. I learn so much from challenges. Good to keep my brain engaged in this stage of weight maintenance.

      Delete
  2. Hi Karen! As always, I come here to read your excellent analysis.

    :-) Marion

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love the shoebox idea! I have to rotate foods in and out, too. Sometimes, I can eat dark chocolate responsibly and do fine. Other times, though, it seems to trigger the urge to binge, and I have to put it away for a while. I like the literal-ness of moving the food to an off-limits location.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks Marion and Kaki. I'll be very careful about bringing back in the off the nuts. I may not for a long time. Messes with my head sometimes. I'm down to only pacing 1 time a night in front of the pantry. :0

    I miss nuts more than chocolate. That's probably a big heads up for the future.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hope all goes well Karen. I just love vegetables with meat and fish! This time of year you can't beat great salads and the variety you can make is amazing. I say this time of year because I do still relate summer to salads, well it will be summer soon in the UK - we hope. Must get out of that habit because you can eat salad at any time of year, just add different ingredients.

    All the best Jan

    ReplyDelete
  6. I read this yesterday but I forgot to say I love the box as well. :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. I like your plan for May. I would love to be eating this way and it is something I plan on working on. You sound very strong and I am sure you will have success in losing the few pounds gained recently.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I've seen that box before and I love it! Sadly, I'm not strong enough to have one in my house. Looking forward to following your progress on this challenge!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Leigh, as each month goes, the items in the box get fewer and fewer. I might do away with the box. But the 85% chocolate stays!!! :)

    Loosing the Rolls- glad you stopped by. Start by removing barriers in the way. Good luck.

    Jan- the in season veggies always taste better. So looking forward to the farmer's market. Glad it's warming up in the UK.

    ReplyDelete