2ManyCurves's Journal, 09 January 2014

After doing quite a bit of research on the benefits of coconut oil, I've been trying something a little different this week. I've used one package of swiss miss diet hot cocoa with 6 ounces of almond milk and one to two tablespoons of coconut oil. Heat the almond milk first (microwave or stove top) to nearly boiling. Then, pour it over the packet of cocoa and the coconut oil. I'd start out with one tablespoon of extra virgin organic coconut oil first until you get used to the texture. This will jump your caloric fat macro intake way up daily, but it definitely doesn't not seem to thwart weight loss. I generally have a little trouble taking in enough calories to meet my RDI (unless I'm on a cruise, of course) so I think this extra bit of calories fits nicely in my diet. Coconut oil is expensive! But, I'm liking what I read about the benefits. I'd been experiencing a little bit of hair loss. I have a lot of hair so it isn't uncommon for me to shed but lately it had been a little more hair than I'm comfortable with. So, I'm also hoping that adding the coconut oil to my internal consumption (it's known for being great to add superficially to your hair) will help even more since the hair I have been losing seems to come out from the follicle rather than simple breakage. I also have heard of people putting the coconut oil in their coffee in the mornings, if you happen to be a coffee drinker.

Another food discovery I've made that I thought I would share for those of you who miss pasta, but need to miss the added carbs and calories: Nasoya Pasta Zero. It should be in the health food part of your grocery store. I live in BFE, so if we have it here I'm sure you can locate it in the rest of the world. It is shirataki noodles that total 15 calories in 2/3 a cup and pack only 4 g of carbs. If you can't find the exact brand locally, Amazon appears to carry some equivalents. The other night I was really missing spaghetti. So I prepped 99% fatfree ground turkey (4 oz per serving-130 calories) 1/2 cup of marinara (best if you can make your own, but I was in a hurry and used some jar stuff that contained 70 calories a serving plus I added a ton of Italian dried herbs), and 1/4 cup of diced mushrooms per serving (one full cup if you cook for four people) for a hearty, meaty marinara sauce. Then I steamed the Nasoya Pasta Noodles. In under 10 minutes, I had a delicious spaghetti dinner that everyone (including the teens) loved. The best part was it was 215 calories total with reduced carbs (maybe not perfect for low carb diets due to the marinara unless you have figured a way to make Adkins marinara). I think most people use these noodles in asian dishes and they somewhat reminded me of Ramen Noodles. But, they integrated just fine into an Italian dish. It's been a while since I've had spaghetti and I thoroughly enjoyed this dish.

I received my on-call schedule for work yesterday. My boss had me down to work every weekend I had planned races. Fortunately, he was kind enough to swap everything out so that I can still meet my planned races. So far I have one 5K at the end of February, a 10K in early March, a 10 miler at the end of March and a half-marathon in mid April. I haven't decided where I will do a full marathon. I found one full marathon in May in Cincinnati, but I'm not sure I will be ready to complete 26.2 by May. I'd kind of like to see how I feel after the half in April. I am confident about the 5K and 10K right now. I do realize the 10 miler will be pushing it as I've only been training at 7 miles thus far. But I think that having three months to prep for the extra 3 miles is sufficient. I've been training with Jeff Galloway, but I've been using the 5K training program. My son bought me a Itunes gift card for Christmas though so I may well go ahead and get the marathon training version of the program and ditch the 5K training program I'm currently doing. I just feel that I can push a little harder than the pace of the current 5K program. I suppose I could buy the marathon trainer and if I find that it is too fast of a pace, I can drop back to the 5K program I already have purchased. Or, I could just purchase the half-marathon program (but my issue with that is I don't want to have to buy a program each time I bump up a distance). Ah, decisions, decisions. It's really funny that I am even debating this now in light of the fact that in August I could barely walk to the end of my road and back without stopping.

Anyway---I hope everyone has a great day! Keep up the momentum! Weight loss takes time. Patience is a virtue. I am saying this part more for me than anyone else.

Oh yes! I have hot water again finally! The water pipes are now unfrozen. Life is good and I will be a little less smelly with one less excuse to refrain from working out. I have a two hour date I am looking forward to with my sneakers and the pavement this evening.

2MC

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1503 kcal

Fat: 98.57g | Prot: 64.92g | Carb: 96.99g.   Breakfast: Silk Pure Almond Milk - Unsweetened Original, Swiss Miss Sensible Sweets Diet Hot Cocoa Mix, Nutiva Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil. Lunch: Fruit Salad, Hidden Valley Fat Free Ranch Dressing, Sara Lee Virginia Brand Ham, Treasure Cave Reduced Fat Crumbled Blue Cheese, Fresh & Easy Shredded Parmesan Cheese, Giant Eagle Cherry Tomatoes, Green Olives, Lettuce. Dinner: Archer Farms Hot Chili Pineapple Grilling Sauce, Olive Oil, Kale, Yellow Summer Squash, Omaha Steaks Boneless Pork Chop. Snacks/Other: Philadelphia Fat Free Cream Cheese, Powdered Sugar, Sargento Light Mozzarella String Cheese, Roasted Salted Cashew Nuts. more...

2111 kcal

Activities & Exercise: Dance (fast step, aerobic) - 20 minutes, Sleeping - 23 hours and 40 minutes. more...