Protein counts, low carb focus

As I am trying to drastically reduce the amount of carbohydrates in my diet (less than 70-grams a day is the goal), due to the diabetes, I am finding that I am taking in a LOT of fat in place of the carbs, which is not such a good thing.  Not only does fat have more than twice as many calories gram for gram, but too much fat in a diet is not good either.  So, I know increasing protein would be the best way to go, and I have found that I am not that savvy on lower fat, higher protein choices.  So, I have been looking in a variety of places, such as about.com's low carb diets, healthaliciousness,  and an eHow article on vegetarian protien, and have made the following spreadsheet to help me plan my menus, which may help others who are looking for high protein  low carb eating plans.

So, here are some basics:

• In general, 1 oz meat or fish is approximately 7 grams of Protein, so one serving of 3-4 oz (the size of an average person's palm approximately) would have around 20-30 grams of protein.
• Obviously, leaner meats have high protein per ounce, fatty meats have lower
• Most Plant based protein sources also contain carbohydrates in fairly high amounts, though good for you in many ways, if you are watching carbs, be aware of carbhydrate amounts aside plant proteins

		Grams of:	Grams of:	Grams of:
Beef		Protein	Carbohydrates	Fat	Calories
Ground Beef, 93% lean	4 oz	24.0	0.0	8.0	170.0
Ground Beef, regular	4 oz	18.8	0.0	30.1	351.5
Steak, Porterhouse	6 oz	36.2	0.0	12.2	265.4
Steak, T-bone	6 oz	40.9	0.0	29.4	438.8
Steak, round cut	6 oz	38.8	0.0	6.6	224.5
Steak, flank	per ounce	5.8	0.0	2.1	43.7
Chicken
Chicken breast, with skin	3.5 oz	30.0	0.0	13.4	249.4
Chicken breast, without skin	3.5 oz	26.8	0.0	3.2	142.9
Chicken thigh	3.5 oz	13.9	0.0	3.9	119.0
Drumstick	average size	12.8	0.0	2.1	73.8
Wing	average size	7.2	0.0	1.2	50.2
Chicken meat, cooked	3.5 oz	27.1	0.0	4.1	153.0
Fish
Most fish fillets or steaks	4 oz	30.7	0.0	1.9	148.6
Most fish, cooked	3 oz	22.0	0.0	3.8	126.7
Tuna, can in water	5 oz	36.2	0.0	1.2	164.4
Pork
Pork chop	3 oz	23.4	0.0	7.7	169.2
Pork loin or tenderloin	3 oz	25.0	0.0	7.0	171.0
Ham, Lean (5%)	3.5 oz	19.4	0.0	5.0	131.0
Ham, regular (11%)	3.5 oz	17.6	0.0	10.6	182.0
Ground pork	1 oz raw	4.8	0.0	6.0	74.6
Ground pork	3 oz cooked	21.8	0.0	17.7	252.5
Bacon	1 slice	3.6	0.0	3.1	43.3
Canadian style bacon (back bacon)	1 slice	5.6	0.3	2.0	43.0
Eggs and Dairy
Egg	1 large	6.3	0.4	4.8	72.0
Milk, whole	1 cup	7.9	11.0	7.9	146.4
Milk, 2%	1 cup	9.7	13.4	4.6	137.0
Milk, 1%	1 cup	8.2	12.2	2.4	102.0
Milk, Skim	1 cup	8.3	12.2	0.2	83.0
Cottage cheese, 2%	½ cup	13.4	4.1	2.8	97.0
Yogurt, plain, lowfat	1 cup	12.9	17.2	3.8	154.4
Greek Yogurt, plain, lowfat	1 cup	22.0	11.0	5.0	150.0
Soft cheeses (Mozzarella, Brie,Camembert)	per ounce	6.0	0.1	7.8	94.7
Medium cheeses (Cheddar, Swiss)	per ounce	7.2	0.4	9.4	114.0
Hard cheeses (Parmesan)	per ounce	10.0	0.9	7.3	111.1
Beans (including soy)
Tofu, soft 1/2" cubes	1 cup	16.2	4.5	9.2	151.3
Tofu, firm	1 oz	2.7	0.6	1.4	23.3
Soy milk	1 cup	6.0	8.0	3.5	90.0
Most beans (black, pinto, lentils, etc…)	1/2 cup	7.0	21.9	0.4	117.1
Soy beans	½ cup cooked	13.3	13.3	4.0	153.3
Split peas	½ cup cooked	8.2	8.1	0.4	115.6
winged beans	1/2 cup	27.0	38.0	14.9	372.2
Baby Lima Beans	1/2 cup	6.0	17.5	0.3	94.5
Green Peas	1 cup	8.6	25.0	0.4	134.4
Succotash (corn and Limas)	1cup	6.6	35.6	1.2	160.7
Nuts and Seeds
Peanut butter	2 Tablespoons	8.1	6.2	16.3	189.8
Almonds	¼ cup	7.5	7.6	17.5	204.1
Peanuts	¼ cup	8.6	7.9	18.1	213.5
Cashews	¼ cup	5.2	11.2	15.9	196.6
Pecans	¼ cup	2.7	4.1	21.4	205.6
Sunflower seeds	¼ cup	6.2	7.7	15.9	186.2
Pumpkin seeds	¼ cup	3.0	8.6	3.1	71.4
Flax seeds	¼ cup	7.0	12.3	12.0	177.0
Vegetables
Cabbage	1 cup chopped	1.3	4.8	0.2	22.3
Broccoli, raw	1 cup chopped	2.6	4.6	0.3	24.6
Kale	1 cup chopped	2.5	7.3	0.5	36.4
Cauliflower	1 cup chopped	2.0	5.2	0.2	25.0
Spinach	1 cup chopped	0.9	1.1	0.1	6.9
Mushrooms, white	1 cup chopped	2.2	2.3	0.2	15.4
Mushrooms, portabella	3.5 oz	2.5	5.1	0.2	26.0
Sun Dried Tomatoes	1 cup	7.6	30.1	1.6	139.3
Bean Spouts	1 cup chopped	3.2	6.2	0.2	31.0
Winged Bean leaves	50 grams	2.9	7.1	0.6	37.0
Lentil Sprouts	1 cup	7.0	17.0	0.0	82.0
Garlic	1/2 cup	4.3	22.5	0.3	101.3
Dried Seaweed (Sushi Nori)	4 sheets	4.0	4.0	0.0	32.0
Grape Leaves	2 cups	1.6	4.8	0.6	26.0
Copyright 2013 Life in Transformation http://80poundsin80days.blogspot.com If anyone would like me to email a PDF or Excel copy of this spread sheet to you to help with your menu planning, please let me know in the comments.

Life Circumstances prompt change

So it has been a long time since I have blogged. As with most people, my life ebbs and flows in ways that sometimes limit my abilities to blog, either from lack of time/space, or lack of motivation to write, or difficulty in figuring out what is appropriate to blog about and what is not.  So the past month or so has seen a bit of all three.

So, some happenings from the past few weeks to update on:

1)  In early February my car decided to begin having serious trouble, and after a few attempted repairs, I contact the school to let them know that the car would likely not last the month in transporting the kids to school as it is over 110 miles every day to do so.  So, starting on February 11, the boys began being transported by the school.  Thankfully, unlike the 2 weeks from hell this past summer, they are both riding well.  It helps that the driver and aide were prepared by the experiences from the summer, and the aide is actually sitting in the back of the van with the kids, instead of just riding copilot with the driver (which is oddly how many aides ride even though the whole point of having an aide on the bus/van is to manage the kids not just provide conversation to the driver).  G is dropped off 20 minutes into the ride,so the time the boys are together on the van is limited.  In the afternoon,they ride separate buses back.  Both kids are doing well with the change.  This now means that I am home during the day AND have lost my primary income source, as I was getting mileage reimbursement for the transportation and was using about 1/3 of the reimbursement to cover some of our basic household costs, as the other 2/3 were required for the gasoline and basic maintenance of the car.  So, it is an adjustment both in location and in finances which I am trying to resolve.

2)  My fairly new relationship with JM is going very well. It has been a long time since I have had that silly twitter-pated feeling
(From the movie Bambi "Flower: [about two birds fluttering around] Well! What's the matter with them? 
Thumper: Why are they acting that way? 
Friend Owl: Why, don't you know? They're twitterpated. 
Flower, Thumper, Bambi: Twitterpated? 
Friend Owl: Yes. Nearly everybody gets twitterpated in the springtime. For example: You're walking along, minding your own business. You're looking neither to the left, nor to the right, when all of a sudden you run smack into a pretty face. Woo-woo! You begin to get weak in the knees. Your head's in a whirl. And then you feel light as a feather, and before you know it, you're walking on air. And then you know what? You're knocked for a loop, and you completely lose your head!" ).  Dictionary.com also defines it as " excited or overcome by romantic feelings; smitten."
It is a wonderful, amazing experience, and one that is stronger than I have felt with my previous relationship...maybe because I am older, or because I know more about who I want in my life and how I want to be treated, or because I have met a handful of not compatible people over the past year, or maybe I have just found an amazing person that I can connect deeply with on a number of levels.  So spending time each weekend with JM has also taken some of my time and energy, and also given me energy and joy.

3) School break was last week...9 days of the kids without school.  We had a very eventful week.  The first weekend, my best friend KP drove out from the Boston area (six hours away) to spend Friday evening through Monday morning with us.  We had a great time visiting with her.  She also go to meet my new dear, as JM came down for the day/evening on Saturday living 2 hours apart limits the time we get to spend together, so I am very glad my best friend got a chance to spend time getting to know my honey).  The boys were at AB's house (my ex) for Friday night, so we went down and picked them up Saturday evening and KP, JM, myself and the boys all went out for dinner at the Outback, courtesy of KP!  We had a great time the whole weekend, hung out at home all day sunday, did some shopping and stuff on Monday before she headed back home.  Then throughout the week, my niece and nephew came to play while my sister was at work.  So the boys had playmates all week.  And one of Josiah's friends from his time in Kindergarten came over for a couple of hours on Thursday, so they had fun reconnecting.  Then, over the second weekend the boys and I were invited up to JM's house to meet the family and spend a couple of days there, which was great. They headed back to school on Monday, though ave today off as a snow day as the roads were icy this morning and it has been snowing heavily since mid-morning.  I was supposed to do a training run on the buses that transport disabled adults from their residences to their day hab program, I am going to be an on call sub for them, which will hopefully bring in some income. But alas with the weather, everything was canceled this morning.

4)  My health has taken a back seat to other things, and as such,I have felt more yucky than normal.  I had been doing well with exercising at the YMCA, but alas with the inability to drive down every day, that has not been happening.  I did get an old elliptical machine out of the garage and am trying to get it working again.  But I have not been very focused on it.  I also have not been doing well with my food choices.  So I feel run down and tired much of the time. I need to renew my commitment to improving my overall health, particularly via my choices in food and exercise/activity.

Sorry for the hiatus...

It has been a busy couple of week and i have not had a lot of time to blog. Tow weeks ago I started exercising at the YMCA in the mornings after dropping my son off at school.  the first week I had no hiccups and went all five days, exercising for at least 35 minutes each time, and then getting ready for my day.  Last week, the second week, I did not make it even one day as each day something came up that got int he way.

Monday the 28th, i had to drive out to Syracuse, which is 2 1/2 hours away on a good day, for the boys to have their appointment with their neuro-developmental specialist.  Of course I did not realize I was driving into an ice storm, as the weather said it was supposed to stay snow for the area I was traveling through until around 4pm.  Most of the way out was just snow, but as I got within 45 minutes of the hospital, i hit ice falling from the sky, so that last leg took a lot longer than expected, so we were late.  But then, most patients were coming in at odd times because of the weather, so they had a lot of chaos at the doctors office.  So we were in the tiny little room for 3 hours, which in the end created too much stress for the kids.  So it was meltdown city--a very difficult day.  Then the way back was in the midst of a massive ice storm and it took nearly 5 hours to get home.  It was one of the longest and most stressful days, particularly the drive home on ice covered roads where I had to keep stopping and scraping the ice off my wind shield.

So Tuesday I was exhausted, woke up late, realized Josiah had no school that day due to a staff development day at school,and ended up just vegging with him at home all day, and trying to recuperate from the exhaustion of Monday.

Wednesday Josiah had school but Gonzo's school was delayed, so I did not take my stuff for the gym because I would have to drop Josiah off and then run back up to drop Gonzo off.  But when we got to Josiah's school (an hour away from home), G's teacher's aide had left a message for them to give me to tell me that g's school had been closed for the day due to road conditions in the outlying areas.  So G and I had the day to hang out.

Thursday A had an interview and I was the ride to and from.  I had planned to work out that day and dropped some clothes off to A right after dropping Jos off at school, figured i'd have time to work out and then go back to give A a ride to the interview, but A asked me to stay for moral support.  The interview did go well, so hopefully A will be starting a new job as a car salesman again, which A does excel at.

Friday I dropped the kids off and then went to pick up someone who I met a few weeks ago who is becoming very special to my life.  I have found a person that makes me very happy, that I love talking to and spending time with.  While we live 2 hours apart, we are able to connect via phone and computer daily, and have spent at least a day together each weekend the past couple of weekends.  So, i had a wonderful Friday with a very special person.  Thank you J.

Today I did not go tot he gym as A was supposed to have another interview that I was going to be the chauffeur for, but alas when I go to A's apartment, I found that the interview had been canceled.  but I had not brought my workout clothes or even my sneakers, so there was no going to he gym.  So I ran around and did errands instead for a couple of hours and now I am at the library, trying to catch up on my woefully behind writing and blogging.  Tomorrow I will definitely be picking back up at the gym!  I felt good when I exercised every day!

And I will start food tracking again.  It is so easy to get away from it when life gets hectic and busy.  I need to find a way to solidify that commitment a bit more and make it more a natural part of my day rather than it being "something I have to fit in".  This week I am also getting blood work done and will schedule an appointment to see the doctor next week to go over the blood work and figure out how to manage my blood sugar better.  So, the ball is rolling on that.  I will post the results/decisions about that once I have them.

And I will be trying to get back to blogging 4-5 days a week, as I also am more motivated when i am sharing my eating, exercise, and other life transforming activities with all you readers.  Blessings abound to you.

Day 11 New Start--interconnected issues

Well, I am again finding that the more I focus on trying to drastically transform my body, the more my body image issues and things related to that arise.  Particularly when those include larger-scale changes in eating habits (I have been able to make many small, healthy changes to my eating habits over the past couple of years that have really gotten incorporated into my normal way of living--whole grains instead of process/enriched grains, 5+ servings of Fruits and veggies every day, drinking at least 8-10 cups of water a day, choosing raw/fresh/frozen over processed foods, etc...).

So while my overall eating habits concerning WHAT i put into my body have improved greatly over the past two year, I still struggle with portion control and emotional eating challenges.  I do not often talk about these in detail on this blog, though I have mentioned them on numerous occasions  I have to say that I am realizing how big of an obstacle the emotional ties to food/eating are in my life.

I could sit and try to figure out WHY--
do I associate food with love?,
do I use food to stuff down uncomfortable feelings?
Do I use food to keep from expressing anger?
Do I use it to bury shame?
Do I use food and body size to keep people (particularly potential romantic partners) at arms length?
Is it a form of self-sabbatog?
Is it an expression of self-hatred?
Is it a form of slow suicide?
Is it a buffer zone created to keep from being hurt emotionally?
Do I keep my excess fat as a way to have something to blame if people do not like me?
Is it a little bit of any or all of these things at different times?

But I have worked on looking at all of these different angels, and while they were important to identify (as it is not just one thing that creates my unhealthy relationship with food), knowing the potential "why's" does not solve the problem.  At this point, going round and round about the potential "why's" is really just a distraction, each one of the above is part of psyche of my fatness and body image issues.  The why's are not simple and straightforward, there is a lot of complexity, both to how those why's are formed, and how to understand them, but that can not be my focus right now.  Sure I do need to chip away at a variety of old, stale, untrue beliefs, and work through some experiences that I am hanging on to that cause me to react in self-sabbatoging ways (not just eating habits , but those can be worked on simultaneously while changing behavior.  They have to be actually, as the behavior and the experience thoughts/psychological reaction to those things are all intertwined.

What I need to focus on now though, is not the WHY am I fat, why do I eat the way I do, why do I make the choices I make--I already have a lot of those answers.  The focus now needs to be on HOW.  HOW do I change those behaviors?  How do I better cope with those challenging emotions/memories/thoughts that come up when trying to change my physical body?  HOW do i keep moving forward on the path towards better health?  What do I need to do at each step, to keep moving forward to a better transformation, a healthier me?

That is what I need to work on more, and let the why be processed as it needs to be.  Behavior modification I think, is going to have to become much more central to my process than psychological understanding.  While I have worked on both fronts, and will continue to, I think it will be the behavioral changes that are going to be a greater focus now....

Real quick--food journal for today so far--2 eggs scrambled with onions and green peppers, 3 cups of coffee with half&half, and 5 cups of water....time to pick up the kids....
 

Day 10 New Start--

Well, I did not post yesterday, but that is okay.

I did weigh myself again this morning, after that weird weight from the other day and I am at 282, so DOWN 3 pounds from the initial day 1 weigh in.  Probably some weird water weight or something a couple of days ago.

Today's post is just that quick bit.  I hope to log in later when I get home to do my food journal and maybe some reflection, but for now,my time is short...

Day 8 New Start 2013--weird scale

Okay, so as I begin my second week of this new start to transforming my physical health, I stepped on the scale to see how my eating the last week impacted my weight, most of which was less than normal aside from two days that I went a little squirrely and ate like I had been eating, and I was discouraged.  Last week I weighed in at 285.2 lbs, so yes, I had gained some back over the holidays.  But I ate like a fool over the holidays.  Sure I kept up with the higher amounts of fruits and veggies, and lower amounts of commercially processed foods (aside from candy....is it any wonder my blood sugar has gone haywire?), but I did eat too much on many days and far too many simple sugars over the holiday season.  So it had not surprised me last week when I was back up to 285.  What did surprise me was that today the scale read 290.0 lbs, which does NOT make sense, as I have been eating less this week, and even doing some exercise.  So, yeah, I am feeling a bit discouraged, but also further motivated to push down two numbers--my blood sugar number and the number on the scale.

So this week, I am committing to redoubling my efforts.  I will not let emotional eating get the best of me, so instead of eating to feel better when attacked by strong and/or irrational emotions, I will:
--Stop and breathe, concentrating on my breathing until the flood subsides or at least lessens
--Get out and WALK, even if it is just 50 feet, to try to move the emotive chemicals in my body around and expend some energy
--Drink Tea or water

As a preventative measure to preemptively control challenging bouts of emotion which may increase the desire to eat for non-nutrient based reasons, I will:
--Try to get at least 6 hours of sleep a night (wouldn't that be something!?!)
--Exercise, walking or elliptical or step-ups, at least 45 minutes a day
--Pre-plan meals for the week, and stick to the plan
--Avoid stress-causing situations as much as it is possible to do so
--spend 10-30 minutes each day in meditation/prayer/contemplation
--make a reaonable to do list, amd focus on completing it
--Forgive myself for the tasks I did not finish today without negative self-talk

So today's food diary:
(Thus far 12:04 pm)
2 hard boiled eggs with salt
16 oz coffee with 1.5 TBS milk
5 cups water

Plan for the rest of the day:
lunch:
3 oz tuna
2 small dill pickles
1 TBS thousand island dressing
1.5 cups broccoli crowns raw
3 cups water

snack:
apple
1/4 cup almonds
tea

dinner:
3-5 oz lean steak
1.5 cups spinach, steamed
1 cup Kale, raw
1 TBS vinegar
tea

snack 2:
3 celery stalks, large
1/4 cup salsa
1.5 TBS sour cream
tea