Losing it...the post baby diaries...Sept 14

I am so tired...I want to go back to sleep.

You can't go back to sleep...if you do, you won't have time to work out and get showered before A arrives for a visit.

But I am exhausted! Not sleeping is worse for me than not working out...and I could probably fit it in in the afternoon...

You know you won't...you have work to do this afternoon. Besides, you are starting to wake up. It is time to wake up. Turn on the DVD, lazy bones.

Sound familiar? That was my internal dialogue this morning before finally deciding to work out while I put my little one back to sleep, instead of going back to sleep myself. Yes, I am tired...but I feel way better that I worked out. And I would still be tired even if I got that last hour of sleep. The dark circles under my eyes have been cemented by weeks, not hours, of lost sleep.

Last week, I only worked out three times so I set myself the challenge of at least 4 times for this week. As of today, I am 2 for 2 and already, things are feeling like they "work" a little better. This is probably because I was so drastically out of shape by the time I gave birth that any little increment of improvement is evident :)The 25 minute ab work is getting easier (well, the first 5 minutes is...) but my devotion to the method is intact because I can see subtle changes already. And, my weight is down 3 more pounds....just 20 more to go! I have to admit, that this is probably way more about breastfeeding than working out at this point, but it is still motivating!

So what about my diet strategy? Right now, my only rule is that I have cut out the junk food. No chips, cookies, cakes, candy....just real food. It's funny that before I got pregnant, junk food wasn't such a big part of my lifestyle. I saved room for the good quality stuff...a nice dessert from a good restaurant, the occasional chips (my nutritional crack) and liberal amounts of cheese. But regular junk food? Rarely! Not worth the calories, in my opinion.

However, when I got pregnant...I turned into a human vending machine. Sure, I still ate all the amazing healthy foods that I always do, like dark leafy greens, whole grains and beans but for dessert or snack time...I wanted garbage. I would eat almost anything put in front of me: from generic nasty cake to twizzlers to cheap pastries and chocolate I had to have junk every single day. Talk about maternal AND professional guilt! The dietitian was mainlining processed sugar and fats to her unborn on a daily basis. I comforted myself with the thought that all the nourishing food I ate on a daily basis was "insulating" the baby from damage. Do as I say, ladies...not as I do :) Stay away from the junk if you can! Your baby (and your butt) is better off for it.

So from the 6 week to the 12 week post partum mark, my only diet strategy is one of no junk food. I have three main lines of rationale for this decision (given my nature, I can't do anything, even something this simple, without creating theories to convince myself of the utility of a strategy or decision - professional hazard I guess!).

The first theory is that research has shown humans actually have almost like a "bank" of willpower. Use it up in pursuit of, say, working on your MBA and have less left for cooking from scratch every night. This is one of the reasons why super drastic "become a vegan yogi master overnight detox" plans rarely work for more than a few days before they fail dramatically via the bottom of a bag of Sour Cream and Cheddar Ruffles. It is also why, in my practice, I always preach slow and accumulating changes to try and create habits that no longer require willpower to maintain. So, keeping the diet simple will allow me to focus my willpower on restarting and maintaining my workout regime.

My second theory is that the weight gain battle is won or lost by relatively small changes in calorie balance and simply taking the daily junk out of the diet should have a great effect, especially in light of the energy that breastfeeding consumes and how healthy my overall diet is.

My third theory revolves around supporting the breastfeeding process: drastic calorie restriction will impede breast milk production...that means a little bit of hell for a mom trying to feed her baby. In addition, I am sleep deprived and I need energy! It isn't the time to cut back too much or I may end up brushing my teeth with mascara or washing my hands with spaghetti sauce or something else related to zombie like behaviour!

The idea is that if by week 12, things aren't progressing fast enough...I will ramp up the diet efforts. But before you walk away thinking...just cut out the junk food! Full disclosure...my diet may or may not look like yours...and that matters!

5 healthy diet habits I live by....

1. Processed carbs don't live here! All my grains are whole...the only bread in my house 9.5 times out of 10 is Silver Hills sprouted grain bread and it lives in my freezer because it takes the two of us at least 10 days to go through a loaf. Many of my meals are based on beans and vegetables and intact grains like quinoa or barley instead of couscous or pasta.

2. I don't drink my calories...I drink water, sparkling mineral water, tea and the occasional glass of wine. No soda, no juice, no desserts masquerading as coffee drinks.

3. We eat fruits and vegetables...lots of them! If I don't have vegetables, I can't make a meal. Fruits and vegetables are essential for nourishing your body with antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and fibre in a low calorie package.

4. I love beans. I am not afraid to admit it...but the musical fruit has a starring role in our daily lives. I make a lot of one pot meals, focused on beans. I don't make salads without them and I often add them to soups, pastas and casseroles. Beans are super filling, feature lots of fibre and protein and are rich in trace minerals. A perfect food for maintaining a healthy weight.

5. I love fat...the right kind of fat. We stay away from trans fats and depend on anti-inflammatory extra virgin olive oil to cook our meals. We snack on raw, unsalted nuts and seeds and I get my dose of healthy omega 3 fats daily from Salba, hemp seeds and good quality fish oil. I would rather see a little extra fat in a dish than extra starch. Fat carries flavour, making foods satisfying and helps to fill you up and is essential for a healthy metabolism. Stay away from the cheap vegetable oils and try not to overdo the saturated fat.

Okay, I think my little one is tired of me ignoring him...play time!
Desiree

Losing it...the post baby diaries...Sept 8

I didn't work out today.


I am three days into my new workout plan and I didn't work out! I have been here before...with variable outcomes. My son, who has been sleeping well, decided he wanted to party all night long and then would only spend his waking hours attached to me - making working out a bit of a challenge. Even now, this blog post has been interrupted a few times...


I am undeterred. And sore. In that good, you are working out, way. So I know that tomorrow I will get up and work out again. And if I only make it four days, that's not bad for a first week. And I did manage to go out for a walk today since the stroller is my little boy's zen zone...as long as I am moving :)


Being so exhausted today, I really wanted a treat. Something huge and filled with a guaranteed sugar rush (subsequent energy crash be damned!). I triumphed there at least! Walked past the gelato shop, the coffee shops, the grocery store...and came home and ate the good stuff. I said that the next post would be about my food strategy but I think I might beg for the raincheck and instead share what I have been eating today...and I can go into details as to the why another (more rested) time.


Breakfast
1 slice silver hills toast with 2 omega 3 eggs fried in extra virgin olive oil, served with about an ounce of shredded light cheddar and a couple of tablespoons of salsa plus a cup of green tea


Midmorning
Large glass of Gerolsteiner mineral water with 1/4 cup of pomegranate juice


Lunch
1.5 cups of homemade vegetarian chili (fresh veggies, two kinds of beans plus veggie ground round) served with a tablespoon of light feta


Afternoon
1/2 cup of Naturesource Voyageur trail mix (unroasted, unsweetened, unsalted) and an organic apple (fresh from my SPUD box today!)


Dinner
1/2 box of Annie's whole wheat macaroni served with sauteed mushrooms and Parmesan


Evening
Cup of orange pekoe tea with milk and sugar and an organic pear


Here's hoping for a good night's sleep!
Desiree

Ask me...

Have a question about something you see on the blog? Or have some burning nutrition question you would like me to answer? Feel free to write a comment...or send me an email!


My email address is askdesireerd@yahoo.ca !

Losing it...the post baby diaries...Sept 6

"Ouch...welcome to the new you," I thought to myself this morning as I struggled through my workout. I gave birth to my son 6 weeks ago and today is the first day of my post-baby weight loss life. My wrists are sore, I feel like like my body is broken and I will never, ever have abs again. All of this awakening comes courtesy of the woman staring at me, gorgeous and strong, from my television screen: Tracy Anderson. 

I purchased the Tracy Anderson Post-Pregnancy Workout DVD online and just got it this weekend. Tracy Anderson is the ubertrainer to the long, lean and gorgeous set that I am hoping to rejoin (well, long and lean anyways...). She whipped Gwyneth Paltrow back into shape post-baby and Tracy herself gained 60lbs with her own son and look at her now. Seriously...look at her! She is proof that a mother in her 30s can look amazing and I found her totally inspiring. Tracy has created a unique workout program which she calls her "method". What I love is that the exercises are unlike anything you have ever seen before and they are tough. Super tough. My first experience with the "method" was a 10 minute leg workout webisode I purchased that literally kicked my ass. I was hooked.

Now that I am six weeks past giving birth, I have the all clear from my midwives to start working out seriously. I am devoting myself to the "method": she recommends doing the DVD 4-6 times a weeks so I am going to go ahead and make the full 6 day commitment. The workout contains a full 25 minutes of ab work, which I am considering more of a goal than anything :) A few crunches here...pause...stare at TV...try the next exercise...collapse in heap...wait for the next exercise. I bought her Dance Cardio DVD too but after going cross-eyed trying to figure it out, I decided to just focus on mastering one DVD at a time. Tracy also has a new book out this month...which I have in my Amazon shop here or on the side bar.

Image from www.amazon.com 

Am I ready for this? I think so...I am physically a bit weak but recovered. I was lucky enough to have a very positive birth experience and healed quickly (which I attribute to my lovely Hypnomammas class). I actually got into the gym, very gingerly, at 2 weeks postpartum. I did 15 minutes of no-impact cardio and some basic leg and arm exercises just to wake things up a bit. But now....it is time to get going again. The biggest challenge will be mental. I have a hard time really pushing myself when it comes to exercise and giving it the ol' "110%" instead of my typical 65% will take some willpower.

Given that I already have a blog, I thought I might share this experience with all of you. There are a couple of reasons for this: first, it will keep me honest. Nothing like making your goals and commitments public to keep you accountable. Second, because I am a dietitian. I counsel people on healthy eating and (sometimes) weight loss for a living. And being slim, no one believes that I know how hard it is to lose weight (Believe me, I do). So I am also doing this to earn a little "street cred" :) 

Even though I gave birth a full month early, I had already gained 36 pounds...the dietitian in me "knows" that a healthy pregnancy weight gain is 25-35 pounds. (This photo is me only a couple weeks before birth.) But the pregnant lady in me was hungry...really hungry. Since the weight loss was slow and steady, I assumed that my body needed the weight...so I didn't fight it. Six weeks postpartum, birth and breast feeding has helped me lose 18 pounds. Since my weight had crept up a bit before I got pregnant, my weight loss goal is another 23 pounds. So you are all my witness...I will eat and workout my way to a 23 pound weight loss and I am hoping to do so in about 6 months (which is a safe ~1lb a week weight loss). 

I will talk about food next time... until then I will be nursing my aching muscles.

Desiree

To Eat...or Not to Eat...Seafood

Image from http://www.vanaqua.org/oceanwise/ocean-wise-heroes.html

Five weeks in, the sleepless nights are now starting to add up and my little bundle of joy is robbing my brain of valuable thinking time. Well, at least I tell myself that my thinking time is valuable...So my "baby brain" has to thank my friend Steve for all of the good blog post ideas he has been providing me of late. 


Surprisingly (or not, for any other health professionals out there), very few of my friends or family actually ask me for nutrition advice. What is even more humorous is the discussions that occur regarding health or nutrition in my presence without anyone even so much as glancing my way. I have gotten used to just shutting my trap when this occurs because I have learned that unsolicited advice is rarely accepted with a smile. Maybe that is why I started this blog in the first place...to spew out all the information held hostage in my brain.


My friend Steve, however, is one of the few exceptions to this rule and a few days ago he asked me about what kind of seafood he should be eating, other than salmon (which is all most nutrition literature talks about). At the bottom of the email, he casually mentioned that the topic would make a good blog post and since I was stumped on what to write about next...voila!


Seafood is an interesting discussion, both from a nutrition perspective and an environmental perspective; one topic which I can claim to have a decent background in...the other, not. Here in BC, we are pretty fortunate to have the king's ransom of seafood at our doorsteps but few of us venture outside of a handful of comfortable favourites: canned tuna, fish and chips, salmon and prawns. When it comes to seafood, there are really two categories to choose from - the "superfoods" and the "healthy options". Read on, Steve...read on...


The Superfoods 
You guessed it, these are the cold water, fatty fish such as herring, mackerel, sardines and salmon. If you were only to eat one serving of seafood a week, make one of these stars your choice. Why are these so good for you? It isn't just the omega 3 fats...but that's a start. 


Omega 3s Cold water oily fish such as salmon are rich in anti-inflammatory omega 3 fats and what makes them really special is the kind of omega 3 fats they contain. We get ALA from vegetable omega 3s like pumpkin seeds and hemp seeds but fish give us what are called the "long chain" or "preformed" omega 3 fats, EPA and DHA. EPA and DHA are not technically essential fats because in theory, our body can make EPA and DHA from ALA - but we suck at it. The most efficient of us turn about 20% of the ALA we eat into EPA and DHA, which are the potent omega 3s in the body; some of us can only convert 5%. So getting your EPA and DHA directly from fish makes a lot of sense, because we know that these two fats can help us soothe chronic inflammation, help us prevent chronic disease and even boost our brain function. In fact, EPA and DHA are so good for you that they are one of only two supplements I recommend everyone take, unless they eat 3 good sized servings of fatty fish a week. Wild fish is your best source; it used to be that it had far greater amounts of omega 3 fats than farmed but of course the farmers just started adding omega 3 to the feed to boost the level in the farmed fish. Nothing like "design your own" salmon...come on, people...eat wild! If your seafood does not specifically say "wild", it isn't.....so look for the label.


Vitamin D The next reason that these fish are so good for you is vitamin D, the other of the two supplements I recommend every man, woman and child consume. You can see my post on vitamin D here. There are very few natural food sources of vitamin D, which is critical for our immune function and likely helps us to prevent cancer. Salmon is the star here, with the most vitamin D: a wild Sockeye Salmon steak can have as much as 900 IU of vitamin D (which is 90% of the 1000IU that many experts are now recommending as a daily dose). Nothing else in nature comes close to this level.


Antioxidants Again, gorgeous wild salmon is the star here (remember, colour equals antioxidant pigments) and in salmon, it is the pigment astaxanthin that is responsible for the lovely colour. Same old story with farmed salmon...that pink colour is added via feed manipulation. A unique member of the carotenoid (like beta carotene) family, astaxanthin does not convert to vitamin A in our bodies but the significance of this is not really known. Astaxanthin is being studied for its potential role in reducing inflammation, protecting our skin from sun damage and preventing cancer.


The Healthy Choices
This is the category I will lump most other seafood into. Fish and seafood stand out for being beautifully lean sources of protein, making them a great addition to the diet. White fish and shellfish are low in fat and calories and nutritious: scallops are rich in heart healthy magnesium and anti-oxidant selenium; oysters excel for blood building iron and skin loving zinc and sablefish boasts the electrolyte potassium for healthy blood pressure. I generally recommend that (non-vegetarian) folks divide their daily protein choices between vegetarian sources, poultry and fish throughout the week for better health and choose red meats only occasionally.


There is one health caveat with shellfish and that is the cholesterol in foods like shrimp and lobster. However, these foods contribute very little cholesterol to our diets in comparison with red meats and cheese. In addition, unless you have a significant cholesterol problem, it is the saturated fat in our diet that we worry about with regards to our blood cholesterol levels than our dietary cholesterol intake so feel free to enjoy shrimp every once in a while, guilt free!


Mercury and other Contaminants
The biggest health risk that seafood poses is that of the neurotoxic contaminants, mercury and PCB. When it comes to seafood and contaminants, think to yourself: "Good things come in small packages." Women who are or can become pregnant and children are most vulnerable to dietary exposure to mercury and should take care to avoid highly contaminated species of fish. 


Since contaminants like PCBs and Mercury are not excreted, they accumulate as you move up the food chain - yes, that goes for us too! All the fish we eat (if we are eating highly contaminated species) deposit these nasty toxins into our own system where they stay put and wreak havoc with our health. The superfood fish are all low in contaminants because they are small fish. Stay away from the "big game" fish like swordfish, marlin, shark and fresh tuna. When buying canned tuna, choose light tuna over white tuna, which comes from smaller tuna species. 


Which fish are best for you when it comes to contaminant levels? Rather than have me reinvent the wheel, read this Health Canada article which lays it all out on the line...pun intended.


Sustainability
Now for the larger question...is it sustainable to eat seafood at all? This is a far more complex issue. With the best Sockeye Salmon run we have seen in BC in years, this little voice might get pushed to the back of our minds as we clammer down the dock to buy this delicacy by the bushel load. As news of the health benefits of eating fish grew, our appetite (and therefore demand) for seafood, salmon in particular, grew alongside. And what the affluent Western world wants, it gets - to the detriment of less affluent nations that used to rely on seafood as the main source of protein in their diets.


As our love for seafood grew, we learned to choose wild over farmed, line caught over trawled and local over exotic. These changes went a long way towards "greening" our seafood choices. However, some experts argue that we should refrain from eating seafood at all as even stocks of typically "sustainable" sardines and mackerel in South America and Scandinavia are at risk of overfishing (some say that we are already there) to supply us with fish meal used to fatten up farmed salmon. Others, like the pioneering chef Frank Pabst at Blue Water Cafe believe in introducing us to less favoured items like sea urchin and jellyfish. 


I will stop there or risk exposing my lack of depth when it comes to exploring this topic. Where you stand on this issue is a personal choice but there are some great resources to help you make your decisions. Home grown Ocean Wise is an education program from the Vancouver Aquarium which guides you towards local businesses providing sustainable seafood options, designated by the Ocean Wise logo. The website also provides a list of more sustainable species. The Monterrey Bay Aquarium has its own program called Seafood Watch, where you can print off a handy little pocket guide that I like because it organizes itself with a stoplight system to categorize sustainable choices and also alerts you to high mercury choices so you can avoid them. If you have an iPhone, you can even download an app to keep at your side as you shop and dine. 


In good health,
Desiree