Keeping it level

That's my big goal right now, is trying to keep my blood sugar as stable and level as possible. That's why at the center where I am getting help at, Dewy (Disorderly Eating Woman, Yay!) suggests that I eat every 2-3 hours and really trying never go to over that three hour threshold. Since adopting this method I can honestly say my energy level is better than it has been in a very long time and certainly since my daughter was born.

I've got that down fairly well through the week when I'm at work, as I tend to be more in a pattern then. I get up around the same time, I set my reminder on my email to tell me when I should (generally) have my snack, I have pushed my lunchtime back to fit in this schedule, I have a second reminded pop up to tell me to eat my second snack and then I have dinner. Dinner is the one that is always a tricky one. I sometimes go over my 3 hour limit before eating dinner as I'm busy paying attention to Sadie (my delightful daughter, check out her blog). The weekends, well, they take some strategic planning sometimes and I can improve on my eating during that time for sure.

I'm encouraged to eat six times a day with my first time eating being as close to when I get out of bed as possible. The reason being is that it's probably been a very long time (10-12 hour) span of time since I'd last eaten, therefore my blood sugar would be extremely low, if I would test it. A lot of people (including me) say "well I'm just not hungry in the morning", which may be true, you may not feel hungry, as in, your tummy isn't growling, BUT if you would check your blood sugar, you would see that your body is, indeed, hungry.

There is no cut off time as to when I should eat last. If I am awake and it's been 3 hours since I've last eaten I should have something, anything, to keep my levels, well, level. Some "diets" encourage you to stop eating after a certain time in the evening such as 6 or 7pm, yet most people don't go to bed until 10, 11 or even later. As you will be able to figure from the paragraph above, if you stop eating a 6 and then don't eat again until 6, 7 or even 8 the next morning, you're really asking a lot of your body!

Notice I'm not counting calories, I'm not counting points, I'm not counting anything except the hours and logging my food intake every day. Yes, I have been given a list of good foods and snacks to help me make better choices but let's face it, it's not that I don't know that an apple is a better choice than a muffin. I know (for the most part, sometimes you can really be fooled!) what is "healthy" food and what isn't and they're not tyring to teach me that. They are focused right now on getting my eating in a normal pattern with normal portion sizes.

So, that said, I wanted to share with you what my last couple of days have been like just so you can get a real idea of what I've been doing. Keep in mind I am not perfect, and you will see that. I am not trying to be perfect, I'm just trying to do a little bit better that I've been doing in the past.

This is copied and pasted from my food log:
(wwbb stands for whole wheat brown bread and I've left some other descriptions in the text below for things not everybody may know)

Feb 1st


8:00 - 2wwbb 1 w/ humus, 1 w/ butter and honey, 2 cappucinos w/ sugar
10:00 - sultanas (fruit snack bar, 2)
1:00 - 2wwb w/ light cream cheese, 2 slices ham, apple, 2 diet cokes
3:00 - banana
5:00 - 2 time out biscuits and a cappuccino w/ sugar
7:00 - Thai curry chicken and veggie w/ noodles
9:00 - sultanas
worked out for 30 minutes, was very hungry afterwards, so had my late snack even though I had eaten 6 times already that day

Feb 2nd

7:30 - 2wwb humus, cappuccino w/ sugar
10:15 - sultana
1:00 - cheese tortilini w/ meat sauce and veggies (1/2 portion), diet coke
3:00 - apple
5:00 2 mandrins, 3 pieces of chocolate
8:00 steak w/ sauteed onion, mashed potatoes, greek salad, diet coke

Feb 3rd

8:45 - oatmeal w/ raisins, brown sugar and cinnamon, 1 capuccino w/ sugar
10:45 - apple
1:00 - 2 wwbb w/ mayo, roast beef slices, salami, cheese, tomato, cuke, lettuce, 2 diet cokes
2:15 - 1/2 slice of apple tart (office party)
4:30 2 mandrins
7:00 - thai curried beef w/ veg and rice (didn't eat my usual full portion,felt full)


Feb 4th
8:30 - oatmeal w/ sprinkle of brown sugar and cinnamon
10:00 - 2 mandrins
12:45 - white fish w/ pesto (baked), w/ small fries (10), 4 onion rings, mushrooms and onions (sauteed), 2 diet cokes
3:30 - apple
7:00 - ceasar chicken salad, 100 ml optimel kwark (this is a Dutch yogurt type food)
in bed at 10


Feb 5th
8:15 - 2 wwbb humus
10:00 apple
2:00 - tomato soup, 2 wwbb w/ butter and one slice of old cheese
4:30 - 100 ml optimel kwark
8:00 - baked chicken breast w/ bbq sauce, roasted pumpkin

Also in my log I mention if I have had a struggle or emotional day as to later see where my destructive patterns are.
 
So that's what I've been up to as far as how and what I am eating for right now. Once this becomes more 2nd nature I will start focusing on other aspects of weight loss.
 
I hope you all are having healthy, successful weeks!