The reading sounds like a neat idea, Bekah--good luck with your new job as publicist!
Yay on resisting the Halloween candy, and staying GF. I hope it helps you feel better.
I like the horse picture, too. The fact that you can't see his eyes makes it feel kind of somber and moody, I think.
I agree with both of you, Bekah and Chris--it is hard to make friends as we get older. On the one hand, I often wish I had closer friends, but on the other, I don't seem willing to do what that takes. I rarely initiate contact with the friends I already have. And there's a woman close to age at the Y that I talk to all the time. I really like her, and I know she'd like to go out for lunch or get together outside the gym, but I just can't seem to step out of little bubble of comfort. For one thing, I feel like I have so much else to do.
I have lots of goals, too--sometimes I laugh at myself for all self-improvement plans, but what's life without growth?
I'm kind of joking on the publicist thing. i enjoy helping her with it though. For the reading I"m going to make up a flyer with more information and about the author kind of thing and maybe a candy or trinket for the children.
The place does have some wild mustangs they took in. I'm not sure if that is one of them. He kind of looks like it though. Even his mane kind of hangs in his face.
Fitafter50 wrote:I agree with both of you, Bekah and Chris--it is hard to make friends as we get older. On the one hand, I often wish I had closer friends, but on the other, I don't seem willing to do what that takes. I rarely initiate contact with the friends I already have. And there's a woman close to age at the Y that I talk to all the time. I really like her, and I know she'd like to go out for lunch or get together outside the gym, but I just can't seem to step out of little bubble of comfort. For one thing, I feel like I have so much else to do.
I agree it takes effort to have close friends and it is much harder as you get older. I also don't feel like i have much in common with women age. I'm also more insecure than ever because of weight and health problem with meeting people. I think i'm going to just focus on doing social activities like volunteering, etc and not about developing friendships. there is a lot of volunteer opportunities and i enjoy them. And it gets me out and about with others anyways. :Thanks Mo.
I'm on day 14 gluten free. it's not too hard. This weekend i resisted Pizza (twice) (leftovers still in the fridge) and pancakes. Debating between less symptoms or good food and less symptoms wins.
I'm actually so motivated with improvements I want to lower non-natural sugar intake more and eliminate dairy for the next 2 months till the New Years to see how i feel. So that's what I'm going to do starting tomorrow. This will be harder of course.
I have lost weight as well. Weight loss is not primary focus though. I haven't been counting calories nor am i attentive to macros. I do try to eat protein with meals though.
Congrats on two weeks of gluten-free, Bekah! Good luck with the sugar and dairy. I find the important thing is to have a list of easy meals that fit the guidelines. It's when I have to resort to rummaging in the fridge/cupboards/freezer that I run into trouble. Crossing fingers that it all has you feeling much better!
Thanks Chris and Mo. I agree Mo about being prepared.
I'm on day 2 of dairy free and gluten free. I followed a pumpkin bar and banana bread recipe the past few days. I add protein powder in food as well. Not a lot so i don't notice the taste much. I add it to both recipes as well as salsa when i have tortilla chips. and stir fry sauce too.
It's just easier than trying to eat meat all the time.
The dr's plan i read recommended cutting out peanuts, corn or rice as well. I don't have a lot of any of those things but i do have small amounts so i decided to keep it in for now.
I'm willing though to try eliminating those too at some point. I thought i would get use to this first.
I'm also just doing intervals every day for 30 minutes walking daily.. Going to the gym twice a week for weights.
by the way the banana bread was REALLY good. It had oat flour. I don't have gluten free oats but i'm taking Mo's advice on not worrying about stuff like cross contamination too much. I also replaced some of the oat flour with a scoop of protein powder. Next time i might do 2 scoops of why protein powder that doesn't have casein in it. no eggs, no butter and no flour. really good. But it does have a lot of natural sugar. so definitely just a piece or two per day.
i think i will buy some gluten free oats though. It seems more of a debate than i realized after making them.
i calculated the banana bread out on a recipe calculator and it has 12 grams of sugar, there is 9 servings and 6 grams of protein, 3 grams of fiber and i think each piece was something like 167 calories.
The fritters were really easy, Sue. I ate them again tonight! Since today I was mincing hot peppers from the garden to put in the freezer, I added that tonight and liked them even better spicy. Here's the recipe: Mix up a beaten egg with 2 c. grated squash, 2 T chopped onion, 1/2 t salt, and 6 T flour (I used half cornmeal and half gluten-free flour). Drop onto hot skillet with a good coating of butter or oil (I used coconut oil, but butter or olive oil would be fine, too, I'm sure) and flatten to about 1/4" thick. Fry till they are brown and crispy on both sides. I used about 1/3 to 1/2 c. blobs so they were easy to flip. Yum.
What kind of squash and flour did you use? what's a good flour to get that you think i would like as gluten free? It sounds really good though.
I use either zucchini or yellow squash, or a combination of the two. As far as flour, Bob's Red Mill makes a basic gf blend that works well for most things. I have all sorts of gf flours: millet, sorghum, oat, sprouted garbanzo, buckwheat, . . . the millet, oat, and sorghum are inexpensive and, in opinion, pretty mild tasting. For the fritters, you could probably use any of those. But to bake a cake or bread, you'd probably want to add in a little xanthan gum with the gf flour.
(You can make oat flour by buzzing your oatmeal in a blender or food processor.)
Coconut flour is an option, too, but it can't be subbed 1-1 in a recipe--it's very absorbent and you pretty much have to use recipes developed for coconut flour.
Almond flour is delicious, but pretty expensive, so I save it for special occasions.
Fitafter50 wrote:Want to share your banana bread recipe?
I will but i feel insecure about it not being healthy. I don't think it is real healthy but it's natural anyways.
I will tell you the ingredients though.
unsweetened apple sauce one small serving container
honey or agave or maple syrup 1/4 cup
oat flour
cinnamon
3 bananas
baking soda/powder
vanilla
i think that was it. I replaced one scoop of oat flour for protein powder and next time i will do 2 scoops. After it's baked and cool you can melt a tsp of coconut oil with a handful of chocolate chips. I did butterscotch chips and drizzle it over the top.
Sounds good, Bekah. "sweet meter" is adapting to less sugar, so I'd probably use really over-ripe bananas, omit the honey, and stir in a handful of chocolate chips before baking, but it looks pretty healthy to me as is. Much better than a traditional recipe full of white flour, white sugar, etc.
I think sugar really is worse for me than anything. The chips had gluten in them and the oatmeal might have had cross contamination too. It wouldn't have been a lot and it wasn't done on purpose though. Knowing everything with gluten and dairy is hard. Sugar also has links to mental health. I never really though that food could influence mental health. But it certainly doesn't hurt to try with diet as well.
I will do what you say next time for lowering the sugar. also i won't use gluten chips or oatmeal. I might actually throw it out and start over with it. I want it to be gluten free and not so sweet.
20 days gluten free and 4 or 5 days dairy free. It's different this time. I don't weigh in much. I don't think too much about it at all except what's gluten free and dairy free and new recipes and ingredients to try. I don't calculate calories or macros. I don't really have any temptation to even eat badly. I think it's because I've been through so much with mental health this means more to me than just losing weight.
Although so far it's been a nice side effect. I do want to track calories for a week though but again that is just to see the amount of sugar i'm eating for mental health.
Mo do you have a good suggestion on how much sugar i should be eating daily?
Boss Man do you still exist?
Working on a lot of stuff though and keeping busy.
Bekah, I think the recommendation is to keep sugar intake to 5% or less of your daily calories. I don't worry about the naturally-occurring sugars in fruit or dairy, but I do try to limit added sugars to less than 2 T./day.
I hope it helps you feel better.
I rarely initiate contact with the friends I already have. And there's a woman close to age at the Y that I talk to all the time. I really like her, and I know she'd like to go out for lunch or get together outside the gym, but I just can't seem to step out of little bubble of comfort. For one thing, I feel like I have so much else to do.
i enjoy helping her with it though. For the reading I"m going to make up a flyer with more information and about the author kind of thing and maybe a candy or trinket for the children. 
