yeah we're NEVER getting one of these on wednesday, are we. ANYWAY

in an effort to Take Care of Myself In Conk Creete ways, i've been looking into some kind of lite exercise routine that is sustainable. i figured since i got the diet thing under control, i might want to try this. i tried doing a zumba style dance class, because i like music and dancing, but it wasn't quiiiite my thing. also a lot more high impact than i would prefer. but i've been TRYING to do some kind of swim thing for a while. just getting the gumption up is hard! and there's a JCC literally 5 minutes from my house. with a POOL.

SO

i've been kinda slow prepping for all of this since the beginning of the year. i wouldn't call it a new year's resolution per se, but a similar kind of goal to try and start some exercise thing at least biweekly. i got some waterproof headphones with onboard storage and a new exercise swimmy suit about a month ago. then last week i contacted the JCC and they gave me a tour of the facilities. and TONIGHT after dinner i packed up my literal old swim duffle bag, donned my swimsuit, and WENT. TO THE POOL TO SWIM. PLEASE. CLAP!!!

as far as schedule goes, ideally i would like a monday night swim slot. spouse is busy monday nights, so that bit works out. tuesdays and thursdays i'm in office, so i'm keeping clear of those. wednesday night is another choice, but that means i lose another weeknight with the spouse. and friday i'd also kinda like to keep clear for Events And So On.

i have a few choices:

• monday night ~6 PM
• wednesday night ~7 PM; the swim team is there until 6:45 and the pool is only open until 7:45 so this isn't ideal, even if i'm only there for that amount of time
• monday or wednesday lunch ~12 PM; sacrificing my lunch to do the swim thing. the timing is just a bit tight
• monday or wednesday morning ~7 AM; doing the get up early thing, swim, come home, shower and just go right to work

so how did monday night go? GREAT ACTUALLY

there were only a couple people lap swimming, and one left basically when the deep h20 water class came in, so i had a half lane to myself. that was my biggest worry: that it would be too crowded. honestly though i scanned the fitness area (with the treadmills etc) on my way in and it wasn't super busy there either. so that is going to make my decision much easier about when to go. i can do my first choice!!

the waterproof headphones were especially good underwater. i did have to adjust my cap around them though. maybe if i put them under my cap? i'll try that next time. also, i was using my cap and googles circa 2007-2008 soooooo i could use new ones, especially for the goggles. they don't seal well and really squeeze my eyeballs. the cap squeezes my head but it's mostly just yellowed with age. so have the goggles tbh, so it wouldn't hurt to get new ones. i should also get swimming earplugs too if that's a thing, since i kept getting water in my ear.

the experience was good though! my endurance is obviously shot but i got to do some laps and remember my old swim coach's words on technique and so on. it all comes back really naturally. i do love swimming! i lasted for about 45 minutes, which i think is fine. i went from 6:15-7:00. i know they have showers there, but i'm so close that i just shower when i get home. then i can do my usual routine and put on all my creams. man were my lips and face parched after all that chlorine!!

so yeah, i was going to try all the possible time slots to see what fit best for me, but tbh i think this one is going to work with the volume of people there. if it changes, i'll try something else. going to aim for every monday, the routine as follows:

• no morning shower
• end work at 4:30
• prep dinner early to eat by 5:30
• leave around 6
• swim until 7
• full shower routine in the evening
• snack and cozy time

this'll work out re: shower too, because when i'm in office i don't morning shower for the sake of time (i'm rolling out of bed). so my hair will be for really fresh for work the next day. i'm not in every chewsday but 2 in the month most of the time.

look at me!!! doing stuff like this!!!! i feel like a real adult or something. extremely in my 30s. anyway, time to try another bracelet pattern. until next time!

okay SO i went to whole foods during my lunch break to get a few things, and then i thought i forgot to lock my car, so i basically did a speed-run of the whole thing, and also resisted the siren song call of whole foods sushi. their sushi there is good! but i didn't get to have much of a salad thing yesterday, and if you look at previous editions of this blogcast, you'll know that i ALWAYS try to have at least one portion of dark leafy greens per day. so this was distressing me.

ANYWAY i stopped by the premade salads and after a survey, i decided on the field greens & goat cheese salad. been really getting into goat cheese lately. it's delectably creamy and a brilliant contrast in a salad. my spouse and i went to the boutique restaurant and they had it in their arugula salad. divine. five stars.

so i get home, i put everything away. so this salad on the surface has:

• mixed greens (spinach, arugula, that purple-y lettuce, etc.)
• goat cheese
• candied pecans
• dried cranberries
• balsamic vinaigrette (on the side)

so i'm like "cool that's smart choices!" turns out there's 43G OF SUGAR IN THIS SALAD. WHAT?!? so i said "okay, okay, this has got to be pared down somehow. i can modify this". which kinda defeats the point of a so on the go premade salad, but i was just bringing it home As A Treat, For Me. the salad modding went as follows:

• candied pecans: now that will add a lot of sugar. i just took them out. luckily for me, i had REGULAR chopped pecans in the cupboard, so i added roughly the equivalent that i took out
• dried cranberries: not necessarily bad on their own? but there were a ton of them. i took out about half, maybe even 2/3. just enough to give a little sweetness. like to be clear it was like a whole snack pack of raisins worth of them
• i used maybe half of the dressing when tossing the salad
• added a couple freshly sauteed chicken tenders, chopped, to add a little protein

i'd say that i cut the sugar down by quite a bit doing all that! not that i have any way of actually measuring that.

and OH MY GOD. IT WAS. DELICIOUS!! mind blowing. i've got to get some goat cheese and make this same business on my own. i'll even do the balsamic! it goes with the meal!! maybe once i go through the romaine (that i just bought) and i'm getting more salad stuff, i'll get some mixed greens and make this salad.

for those of you keeping track at home, here are my salads so far:

SALAD A: "MODIFIED CEASAR"

• romaine lettuce
• chicken if applicable
• parmesean cheese
• dressing: olive oil, lemon juice, coarse dijon mustard, minced garlic (jar), pinch of salt

SALAD B: "ARUGULA: 

• arugula
• parmesean cheese
• dressing: olive oil, lemon juice, pinch of salt

SALAD C: "MIXED GREENS THE GOAT"

• mixed greens
• chopped pecans
• dried cranberries
• goat cheese
• dressing: balsamic vinaigrette

i think i should be okay just buying that off the shelf and not needing to try and make it myself. it SHOULD just be balsamic vinegar and oil. but if i go shopping and it's anymore complicated than that, then we've got trouble. (stevie nicks voice) whole lotta trouble

that should do it for now. wow we're really posting here lately! also might need to make a white woman wednesday: tuesday edition tag if this keeps up

okay SO in an effort to distract myself from the hideous growth on my butt, i mean the election, we're going to talk about what i've been doing the last few months, which is changing my diet for health reasons.

when i did my physical this year my numbers were in the pre-diabetic range, which considering i have PCOS that's not terribly uncommon. but i have diabetes that was in my family, so of course i freaked out. but i also thought that if i could change my diet a bit, maybe that could help. the idea is we do that and see in december where if it hasn't changed, then i go on metformin.

so after some advice from a friend and doing some research, i changed things up. because i'm not stupid and i know how nutrition works, i just thought i didn't have to worry too much since my numbers were okay. well, now they're not, so here's what i had to do:

inositol supplement
this was a good find, it's basically metformin lite. i take it twice a day. it's kinda expensive all at once, but they do give you a 90 day supply. plus the little packets are great for being out in the world or for traveling. it's annoying to take it at a restaurant with ice water, since it doesn't mix as quickly, PLUS if it's taken without a straw. but otherwise you can't taste it and it's great.

weekday breakfast
i was doing my old lady breakfast cookies, but those have a lot of sugar in them. this was an easy switch though: plain nonfat yogurt. it took a bit to find one that wasn't chock with sugar, but the fayge or whatever fancy yogurt does it, and so does trader joe's. i also add some low sugar granola (which was ALSO hard to find). there are a couple of brands that have decent stuff, but some are expensive. i've been alternating when i get bored with a flavor.

weekday lunch
this was something that i knew i had to change. i was basically eating just a big bowl of pasta for lunch, which clearly was not sustainable. so i got into making salads, as well as my own dressing. i really like caesar salads, but had to look into expensive vinaigrettes so they wouldn't just be overloaded with fat and sugar. then i looked up recipes and was like "hey! i can just Do That at home". i was doing chicken with it but sometimes i don't have the capacity for it.

the recipe for my lunch salad is:

• however much romaine you want to shred up in a bowl
• a drizzle of olive oil
• a splash of lemon juice (you can substitute white wine vinegar but you have to be even more judicious about your splash)
• a forkful of dijon mustard. i've been using the really coarse kind, where you see all the mustard seeds
• a pinch of jarred minced garlic. it tends to be less intense than fresh garlic
• a pinch of salt
• a good covering of fresh grated parmesean cheese (non-negotiable)

then you stir it all up or toss with your hands and presto! kinda caesar vinaigrette! that's about what is used in those homemade dressings. if you have a worchestershire sauce or fish paste, you could do a pinch of that too, but we don't have it and i don't think i'm missing anything

i do a dinner salad with arugula about the same way: just olive oil, lemon juice, some salt, and parm cheese tossed with the leaves.

weekday dinner
i do the salad thing as above, especially if i didn't have one earlier in the day. we're still doing hello fresh which is decent on portions and meal planning, so i don't worry too much there. my spouse also advised me not to worry too much there either.

other changes
i've tried to get away from red meats and fatty meats. more chicken and fish than sausage and beef. i'll substitute sometimes with impossible/beyond beef for certain things. i've even been trying tofu! hard to get my spouse into it though. i reserve that for lunch times.

i've cut out most breads and basically all pastries out of my diet, unless i make them myself. i'll make an exception if we're out, or on the occasional Fun Day. otherwise i avoid white bread all together and stick to high fiber wheat options. i only have pastries in tiny amounts, or if i can make them myself and control the sugar.

i've gotten monkfruit as my sugar substitute of choice, but i'm thinking about stevia too if i can get it in bulk. for those times when i need a cookie. speaking of cookies, i found an excellent "breakfast cookie" recipe that i did a couple times, and was able to cut basically all the sugar out of it. i've gotten whole wheat flour as a substitute too.

i had cut out a lot of soda, but now i've completely cut off ALL sodas and fun drinks, which is sad because one of the american pasttimes is having a fun drink. i'll have a margarita out every so often, but that's really it. no generic candy.

i've made a big effort to turn over all the snacks in the house. whole wheat tortilla chips, nuts, and chickpea crunchies are around now. popcorn too! i've gotten super plain popcorn to douse how i'd like it. so now if i have a snack craving it'll at least be...kind of decent.

been getting into hummus lately too, paired with carrots or with tortilla chips. love some garlic hummus.

i've looked into chocolates that have low sugar rather than outright sugar substitutes. sometimes if you have too much of certain sugar substitutes you pay for it on the toilet. don't want that! so i've had to move over to dark chocolate for the most part. unreal has some good options (though expensive), and if i pay attention i can find a decent dark choco bar. i found some dark chocolate peanut butter squares at BJs that are REALLY good. it's not the same kind of sweet fix, but it does the job tbh.

pasta
for pasta, i've been experimenting with the different alternatives. here's how THAT's going so far:

• chickpea: it's Okay. the cook time is a little fussy (you have to boil it WAY less) and there's definitely a texture difference
• red & yellow lentil: these are pretty fine, the cook time is a little longer than usual. the texture isn't bad but by the end of the dish i was like "oh i am Done with this"
• whole wheat: this is as close to "normal" pasta as you can get, but doesn't quite have the same benefits as the others
• "veggie" pastas (zucchini, cauliflour): these aren't bad, but i need to nail the cook time on them, since they take longer

i have on tap a "fortified" one that has wheat AND some of the alternatives, as well as veggies, so they're packed with nutrients as well, but haven't tried it on its own.

what i HAVE tried is different boxed mac & cheeses. i tried the chickpea one and wasn't super impressed, but THEN i tried goodles, which are the fortified noodles (combo of wheat, chickpea, and veggie). and THOSE are good. the cook time is basically identical to normal pasta, and they have more protein and a bunch of good vitamins in them. plus they have fun flavors! they've replaced annie's in my cabinet. i don't have them every day, but it's so good to have around when the craving strikes.

ice cream
this is probably a big sugar contributor, but i REFUSE to give up ice cream completely. luckily i DO like frozen yogurt and it has more protein. UNfortunately it seems hard to find in pints these days. but you can find bars! i've been into yasso. they're expensive for how many you get, but i really only have one of them in the evening (except on Fun Days), so i can stretch it out. the mint chip is good, and so are the choco crunch vanilla & strawberry, and the pistachio. just the fruit flavored ones aren't my favorite.

i'm thinking to look into halo top again. i used to be meh on it when i was eating a lot of full fat ice cream, but now that i'm not on a daily basis, i could look into it again. the thing is i think i can only get it at the big grocery store, which is not in my typical shopping loop. That's Fine, i'll do what i gotta.

rules of thumb
i boil down my choices to these little guidelines:

• at least 1 dark leafy green salad per day
• no sodas or sugary drinks
• very small amounts of bread/pastries (unless prepared properly)
• no snacks with more than 10g of sugar per serving. the ice cream bars are the exception but they don't go much higher than 13-15g
• make conscious choices when preparing food at home
• make the smartest choices you can when eating out, but don't torture yourself

so has it worked
WELL i think i feel a little better? i have lost 14 lbs just from the diet change (as of today, i did happen to go to the doctor). not that weight loss was necessarily something i was going for, i CAN'T chase that number or else i will have a #meltdown and possibly develop an eating disorder. i've just tried to adjust what i eat and get healthy choices that i know i'm going to commit to. favoring protein over carbs and so on. we're just going to have to see when i get bloodwork done again next month.

i also went so hard on my diet because i KNOW i'm not good at exercising. so hopefully these efforts do something. i'll update that later.