Thursday, December 18, 2008

Random musings

Could it be? Another boring, no photo post? Yup. It is.

So I'm kinda bummed. We decided this morning that we are going to forgo the Beat The New Years race. My good, sweet hubby with his heart always in the right place, made me realize it's more important to ring in the new year with our precious kiddos than the two of us, freezing our butts off in the cold. I'm bummed, because it seems like race after race that I try to do, something changes. Oh well. There will be other races for sure, and I totally plan on doing another 1/2 next year so that will be fine.

It's one week! ONE WEEK! I think I am more giddy about this Christmas than I have been in a very long time. I'm beyond excited to give my inlaws their gift, cause it's freakin' awesome! I'm also totally psyched to give Tracey his mystery box. I hope he will love it. It's such a great idea that he will not ever suspect. Sorry love....It's not the Mark II. :0( Maybe next year.

Veggies? Anyone have any great veggie dish recipes? I'm taking veggies to my inlaws for our Christmas dinner this upcoming Sat. and I'm not quite sure what to take.

Hormones and weight loss. Did you know our bodies produce lots of hormones that can cause havoc on trying to lose weight? This is all stuff that I've learned over the past year from doing research on weight loss but I just got the info again in my Fitness magazine that just came and figure that some of you might like the info, cause I know a lot of you are trying to lose weight just like me!

Ghrelin if you skimp on protein. Ghrelin is a hormone that is produced in the gut and normally spikes before mealtime stimulating your appetite. The bigger the spike, the hungrier you are. Eating protein curbs ghrelin. Try to reduce carbs as they are digested so fast that it causes hunger-inducing ghrelin to rise and rebound to higher levels. Outsmart ghrelin by increasing your portion of lean protein in your diet by about 25%. Try snacking on low fat cheese.

Cortisol during stressful situations (the nasty bugger). When you are tense your adrenal glands increase the release of cortisol or the "stress hormone". Your body interprets the sudden surge as a response to a fight or flight situation, causing you to crave high-fat and high-sugar foods meant to replenish the energy your body believes it spent warding off danger. Cortisol is also partly responsible for the belly bulge or muffin top as I so lovingly refer to it. Because the abdomen has a greater density of cortisol receptors than other areas in the body stress affects that tissue the most. So eating sugary or fatty food in combination with high cortisol levels tends to cause fat to be deposited around your middle and central organs. Outsmart cortisol by EXERCISE! Physical activity triggers the release of endorphings that signal to the brain that everything is okay helping to drive cortisol production down.

Letpin after you consume high-fructose corn syrup and sugar. HFCS has been shown to lower levels of leptin a hormone that gives the "I'm full" signal to your brain. Sugar does the same thing. While consuming any food containing sugar or HFCS may lead to weight gain, sweet drinks are the wors. Not only do the lower leptin they put more strain on the liver than food because they are processed so quickly. Experts believe that the fast action may decrease the livers ability to store the sugar leading to an unhealthy jump in triglycerides which is a harmful blood fat. Outsmart leptin by reading ingredients. Avoid items with sucrose or HFCS in any of the first three ingreditents.

Bored yet?

I'm bored of typing.

If anyone is interested in learning more, I can post some more tomorrow. Really it's all pretty basic stuff, but I had no clue about a lot of this stuff before I really began researching earlier on this year. I think paying attention to some of the little things has really helped me to drop my 20 or so pounds so far this year, and hopefully continuing to pay attention to these little things will help me drop another 15!

The other topics are PYY & GLP-1 in combination of waiting more than four hours to eat (Although I firmly believe that 3 hours is a better target for eating), Progesterone during PMS (This was actually new info to me that I hadn't learned before....interesting stuff) and Ghrelin & Leptin if you don't get enough sleep. (Also new education for me!)

Well. Have a great day!

3 comments:

Michelle said...

I have a veggie recipe for you. Have you ever made veggie pizza? So good (chopped veggies, cream cheese and more) Call/email me if you want the recipe.

Very interesting post. I vote you post more weight loss info tomorrow. I SO need it!

Jennifer said...

I don't have anything great as far as the veggie recipe goes but I do have a cool way to display them...Buy one of those foam cones at the craft store and use toothpicks to cover the entire cone with brocoli and cherry tomatoes to make it look like a Christmas tree. You can also go hog wild and buy varying sizes of cones and make an nice center piece with 3 trees. Cauliflower and cherry tomatoes for a flocked tree also is a nice touch. add some ranch dressing around the trees and there you have it!

Carol said...

I think you need to post more about weight loss hormones too please. :D And for veggies why don't you just fill up your crockpot with baby carrots and cover it with butter and brown sugar. My dad always makes this and it's yummy and simple! :)