Back to our regularly scheduled programming

I give up trying to figure out what's going on with my stomach.  I felt kind of gross this morning so worked on the starch-tummy gentle theory for breakfast, so please ignore that part.  Also:  ignore the chocolate chip cookie.  I suck.   Then I started feeling fine again.  Many other places I could and will improve now that I'm apparently over this nonsense.  Sorry for the hinky formatting, I got tired of trying to convert the SparkPeople insanely set up nested upon nested tables.   Onward and upward.  Tomorrow:  No waffles, syrup, or cookies.  Or coffee.  Or popcorn, I suppose - though it's got fiber and is whole grain.  I dunno.  I have to figure out if I want to do the major detox thing or try to reduce to less than 100g a day and see if that gives any improvement.  I remain undecided.  I know what at least one person is going to say to me.  :P

PS - I'm going to be adding spinach into my salad tonight at dinner, so that will be a positive add on.

PPS - I am not having th epopcorn, I'm not hungry!

BREAKFAST                                                                                                  CALORIES            CARB           FAT         PROTEIN

Kellogg's Eggo Lowfat Homestyle Waffles, 0.5 serving                        83                           15                1             2

Maple Syrup, 0.5 tbsp                                                                                   26                           7                   0             0

Hard Boiled Egg, 1 large                                                                              78                           1                   5             6

Butter, salted, 0.5 pat (1" sq, 1/3" high)                                                      18                           0                   2             0

Breakfast TOTALS:                                                                                        204                        23                9             9

LUNCH

Cheese, Light 'n Lively Cottage Cheese, 1.75 serving                           140                        9                   2             21

Peanut Butter, smooth style, 1.5 tbsp                                                         142                        5                   12           6

Apples, fresh, 0.5 medium (2-3/4" dia) (approx 3 per lb)                       41                           11                0             0

Baby Carrots, raw, 10 medium                                                                   33                           8                   0             1

Lunch TOTALS:                                                                                              356                        32                14           28

DINNER

Pork Tenderloin, 5 oz                                                                                    285                        0                   12           42

Green Beans (snap), 0.5 cup                                                                       17                           4                   0             1

Romaine Lettuce (salad), 2 cup, shredded                                               16                           3                   0             2

Yellow Bell Pepper, 1 serving                                                                      14                           3                   0             1

Red Ripe Tomatoes, 0.5 cup cherry tomatoes                                         16                           3                   0             1

Broccoli, fresh, 0.5 cup, chopped                                                               12                           2                   0             1

Cucumber (peeled), 6 slice                                                                         5                             1                   0             0

Hidden Valley Original Ranch Dressing. 2 Tbsp, 0.75 serving             105                        2                   11           1

Olive Oil, 1.5 1tsp                                                                                           60                           0                   7             0

Dinner TOTALS:                                                                                             529                        18                30           48

MORNING SNACK

Homemade Nestle Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookie, 1 serving       105                        14                5             1

Morning Snack TOTALS:                                                                               105                      14                 5            1

SNACK

Regular Coffee, 1.5 cup (8 fl oz)                                                                 4                             0                   0             0

Milk, 2%, 0.5 cup                                                                                            61                           6                   2             4

Granulated Sugar, 1 tsp                                                                                16                           4                   0             0

Bacon, 3 medium slices, cooked (raw product packed 20/lb)              109                        0                   9             6

Snack TOTALS:                                                                                              190                        10                12           10

AFTERNOON SNACK

Popcorn, oil-popped, 2 cup                                                                          110                        13                6             2

Butter, salted, 1 pat (1" sq, 1/3" high)                                                         36                           0                   4             0

Afternoon Snack TOTALS:                                                                           146                        13                10           2

EVENING SNACK

Hummus, 2 tbsp                                                                                             46                           4                   3             2

Cucumber (peeled), 0.25 cup, pared, chopped                                       4                             1                   0             0

Evening Snack TOTALS:                                                                              50                           5                   3             2

                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

TOTALS:  CALORIES-1,582        CARBS-214         FAT-82        PROTEIN-100

 Fats 46.4%       Carbohydrates 28.5%    Proteins 25.1%

Perhaps most telling is this little tidbit from SparkPeople, where I entered all the foods.  Note the recommended percentages, s'il vous plait.

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Sooooo, the stomach bug I thought I was over came back yesterday afternoon.  I'm back to the only 2 foods that don't make me feel awful:  chicken soup with some ramen-type noodles in it, and hard boiled eggs.  Oh - and apples.  It started on, Saturday?  I guess - I'd get hungry, eat something, and 20 minutes later my entire abdomen is cramping up.  Once it's digested in a few hours, I feel fine again, and the cycle repeats.  So that was Sat, and early Sun - then late Sun afternoon I felt fine and went to a family get together where I had potato and pasta salad and a sandwich and cake, and....lol, figuring it a send off before the hard work beginning on Monday.  Then Sunday night I had my last hurrah, some tuna noodle casserole, and felt fine.  Monday morning I felt fine, had my low carb breakfast and lunch and snack, and then in the afternoon after I had the snack in me for a bit that feeling came back again.  BLEH.  Around 5pm I started feeling crappy cold-type symptoms, so I'm pretty sure it's a virus.  Soooo, I'm going to stay on soup and the occasinal egg and apple for a couple days to let this virus work its way out of me, and when I'm back to normal, we'll git-r-dun. I was actually pretty psyched at how yesterday was going until I felt crappy. 

Here's what I managed before I started feeling bad again:
- 2 eggs over medium on a bed of baby spinach with a few bell pepper strips, 3 strawberries, and 3 slices of bacon.
- half an apple with 2Tbsp peanut butter
- 2 slices of ham in a couple romaine leaves with a little mayo, with a handful of baby carrots
- a handful of almonds
- a serving of cottage cheese

Then I started feeling crappy.  The plan for dinner was the steak/mushroom part of some stroganoff with a green beans and a big salad, and then a snack of hummus and carrots later on, but that did not come to pass. 
 
Basically, whenever I was hungry I reached for a small something of protein/fruit/veg and no grains.  It worked out pretty well.  The biggest thing was to get into the idea of adding veggies at breakfast, because I am programmed that breakfast=fruit.  About 3 bites in, my stomach and brain were yearning for some wheat toast to dip in those yolks, but it was OK without it.  Not nearly as tasty, but OK enough.  I suppose after this "induction" phase, I could have one slice of toast (instead of the usual THREE I would have with 2 eggs - 2 for each yolk and one to eat the whites with).  With the bread I use that would be 14 g carbs with 2 g  fiber and 3 g protein.

I think in the end, this is going to be fine, and really not too difficult.  I think I'll be totally OK with ONE slice of toast.....or 4 french fries instead of 25....or 3 forkfulls of pasta instead of a platefull.  I don't want to eliminate carbs completely, but I really, REALLY need to get a better handle on the portion sizes, and if I have to 'detox' for a couple weeks before bringing them back in slowly and in SMALL portions, then so be it.  Also on the list, no more soda.  I'm going to do my friend's trick of starting with juice + seltzer (which I've done before succesfully) and then slowly wean the portion of juice down until it's straight seltzer.  Then when I need that fizzy feeling with a burger or wings, I can have it without all the nonsense.

The overview.

The impetus:  My weight, high blood pressure, and hypothyroidism.  And brain.  I've just been reading too much about this whole thing lately to let it go anymore.

The inspiration: Primal/paleo, Zone, and "Good calories, Bad calories"  (which is still a long read even as a summary and my eyes glazed over at times ingesting it all).

The backstory:  I was very fit and trim (gah, I feel about 80 years old writing that) as a child and teen, up until I went to college...and honestly, I can attribute my massive (80 pound at this point?) weight gain from 18-37 years old to: Too big portions of carbs, sugar, and/or junk foods.  It's pretty direct, for me.  Sure, the thyroid doesn't help, and the drastic decrease in exercise.  But my portions and content were way out of control for way long.  Soooo, I figure why not see if we can reverse it?  The trickle down to my kids and husband will be good, too, though tthe kids eat way better than many others I've seen already - the husband?  Well let's just say we'll hope he sees some results too and hops on the bandwagon.

The plan:  Do a 1-2 week "carb detox" where the carbs I'm getting are from veggies and limited (low carb) fruits, and then go to a point where I'm only having minimal, whole grain carbs/starches.  Up the protein/fat to help with hunger, and test out the theories above.  Whole foods, not processed foods.  Allowing fast food maybe once a month instead of once a week.  I'm going to be doing a hybrid of the paleo/zone/good-bad calories thing, because I don't want to do packaged foods and artificial sweeteners, and I also don't want to eliminate whole grains (oats/whole wheat)/dairy/beans.  Initially it will be way restricted just to get over the addiction to carbs/sugar, but then I'll get them back in slowly and reasonably.

The concerns:  How hard the carb detox is going to be.  Finding acceptable subs for some foods since I don't want to get into packaged/prepared foods much.  Sharing meals out with friends/family.  Will this break the bank?

What is NOT happening:  Low fat or packaged diet foods.  Artificial sweeteners.

Now, please pardon me while I go boil up a dozen eggs for this week.