Obsessed With Pickled Veggies (Because I'm Fat)

UPDATE: After a convo with a neighbor, I wanted to add something to this post about sodium content in vinegar. I made a rookie mistake and used the wrong type of vinegar the first time around. It was "seasoned" and did have sodium. I have since realized I should also use non-seasoned vinegar. I purchased some more vinegar (rice, red wine, white wine), and none of them contain sodium. The same goes for ACV. Read the labels before buying any. 

Another tip I am following is to skip adding salt to my home-made pickling recipes. I thought that it was a must to add salt. I do still add a bit of sugar.

A preamble:

I'm so mad at myself. I have gained some more weight. I realize it might be because I have been laid up sick but, still. I am not happy. So I am really going hard on changing up my eating routine. Well, mostly, I am just finding ways to cut out carbs. I've said goodbye (for now) to my homemade pizza dough and I will not be re-stocking the delicious little potatoes I love to air fry. So, for a while, I will be blogging mostly about how I am preparing food and my meals. Now, on to the first food post...

Pickling veggies is one of those things I wish I'd been doing forever. Seriously. It's so dang easy.

So far, I have pickled onions (red and yellow) and red cabbage. All it takes is your choice of vinegar, some water and seasonings (salt and sugar at a minimum), and some clean jars. I went with rice vinegar and of course, I included some garlic for my seasonings. I love me some garlic and the next thing I will pickle is a big bag of garlic cloves!

Since this was my first time pickling anything, I followed the directions from this dude.

He was funny but got right to the point. I like that he gave some pointers about choosing between different vinegars. You know I have now subscribed to his channel!

Here are my first results. Like I said, I will either be pickling a whole jar of garlic or adding several cloves to the other veggies I pickle. 

I can't quite catch the vivid color of the cabbage.

What I like about having the pickled veggies is that they can be used as condiments or as snacks on their own. While I have been under the weather, I haven't been much for fixing meals. It's nice to be able to snack on some of these tart veggies.

One mistake I made was to try using the same vinegar for both veggies. This rice vinegar is not strong enough to affect the cabbage (or else it takes a while longer???) so I had to add some Apple Cider vinegar to my bigger jar of cabbage. The rice wine though is my favorite flavor overall.

(this is "seasoned" & has sodium)

Another thing I like about pickling veggies is that I can save some things before they have a chance to go bad. I always end up with a little more cabbage or some onions left before I can use them up. Now I can just pickle them and get at least another week or more from them. Of course, I am going to be vac-sealing some of these jars and I have to pay attention to possible spoilage.

I don't think that my onions are going to last long enough to spoil. I cannot stop nibbling on them. Because I am not eating my usual carb-loaded snacks during the day (and because I am sooo sick of boiled eggs), I love chomping on the onions.

By the way, I am so slow that it took a couple of days for me to realize that the vinegar is sort of doing the same thing to the veggies that lemon or lime does to the ceviche shrimp I loved when I lived in Alaska. I mean, I know that pickling is not exactly like doing a ceviche prep but you know what I mean. 

Anyway, I will have to talk next time about what I haven't been doing with my Foodi all this time...

Peace

--Free

Call Me "Vegetarius" (for my health)

(My apologies in advance to any militant vegetarians or vegans.)

With all the madness of people randomly changing their pronouns - and, sorry, I think it's silly - I started thinking about my own choices. At first, I was going to ask everyone to refer to me as rich but decided that no one could suspend belief that high. Instead, I have decided to be more realistic and ask to have my eating habits referred to as being "vegetarius".

I wasn't born this way. What happened is that I got old. All the fat that my body used to repel the way oil repels water or citronella is supposed to repel mosquitos, found a workaround. Every croissant and donut and Moose's Tooth pizza I ever let past my lips was just waiting for me to turn 50 to bring their calories out of hiding to rest on my gut, butt, and the places under my arms right above my bra strap. And by the way, I like to blame the sarcoidosis and prednisone for my weight, but it's been over 10 years since I was on a really high dose of the steroid, so...

The fat doesn't bother me like it did at first. The visuals of my fat I can deal with. I'm not ashamed of the way I look. The problem is I hate the way I feel. For almost 50 years, my frame was used to holding together about 100 to 135 pounds. Carrying so much more than since I was diagnosed with sarcoidosis has been taking a toll. 

My weight loss "journey" (there's another of those overworked terms) started with whatever plans were "trending" at the time. I tried the whole Cabbage and Carrots diet. That works until you start eating anything other than cabbage and carrots. I tried Keto; the juice and smoothie cleanse diet; food prep; OMAD, and so on. When I tried ADF (Alternate Day Fasting), I realized it was something I could live with long-term.

The problem with any change in diet for weight loss is that not only do you have to stick with it - pretty much for life - but it's a two-step situation. It's all about both how you eat and what you eat. For instance, I have no problem with how to do ADF. I actually love it. It feels natural to me. On top of that, I save on my groceries. 

All good, right? Just about perfect, but I did realize I needed to work on the what I eat part of the plan. 

Originally, I didn't really change what I was eating on the ADF diet plan. My general meals consisted of a lot of beans and chicken and rice and potatoes and vegetables with the occasional beef binge or pizza party thrown in. I discovered freaking Butter Burgers when I moved here to Iowa - Butter Burgers, people. Then I found those delicious Mama Cozzi's Take 'n Bake pizzas at Aldi's. 

Checking in for my infusion one day, the scale hit a number that made even the nurse do a doubletake. At my last infusion, I had weighed in at about 12 pounds lighter. Folks, I get these infusions every 7 weeks. The nurse didn't comment and neither did I - not out loud. Inside though I was telling myself that Sam Cooke never lied. A change was surely going to come. It had to. 

The next time I bought groceries, I used a list of kidney-friendly foods to guide me. (Because my kidneys are on the hit list with this sarcoidosis.) The first thing on that list was tofu. Other things were chicken,  fatty fish - like salmon and tuna - and lots of leafy greens and vegetables and blueberries. Things to avoid include most of the seasonings I had in my cabinet, nitrates, potassium, and - oh no - smoked fish. 

This is where my learning process started: which types of fish and seafood I can and cannot have; how to make skinless chicken more appetizing; who to season food without a lot of salt; and what the heck to do with tofu.

It's been some time since I started playing with my personal menu. As of today, my meals (for good and for "needs improvement") consist mainly of:

• Cabbage and collard greens (I love collards and can do interesting meals with cabbage)
• Frozen mixed vegetables (because they are super-cheap all year round)
• Whole-grain or seeded bread.
• Frozen blueberries (the only berry I really like that I can easily afford)
• Salmon - not always the cheapest when I need to buy it as fresh as possible. Thankfully Aldi's tends to keep a supply.
• Tuna - hard to find low-sodium kinds except online.
• Shrimp - cheaper if farmed, tastier if wild-caught.
• Tofu - so far only extra firm is my favorite

Olive oil and chia seeds and natural honey are staples now. I'm even trying to learn to drink my coffee black. My other go-to beverages are chocolate tea or sweetened vanilla soy milk blended with unsweetened cacao.

I snack on things like roasted black beans, the occasional tortilla chip, and peanut butter on bread. Every now and then, I will get an angel food cake and dress it up with freshly whipped cream and some berries. I make chia seed pudding in place of ice cream. If I really get a craving for something sweet I will make a 2-ingredients ice cream out of yogurt or cream with condensed milk.

Since I had to cut back on salt but just have to have some kind of seasoning, I have started using shitake mushroom seasoning. I don't look too closely at the label but will bring it up with the nephrologist next visit. And, cut me some slack, tofu needs seasoning!

To be fair, I have come to love tofu. It's fairly cheap and versatile. So far, I've only used the firm or extra-firm type and can do a version of chicken nuggets and chicken sandwich patties. I can't wait to try recipes using the softer or "silkier" tofu.

Anyway, the other day, my neighbor asked me if I was "going vegetarian". My answer is no. I don't want to "go vegetarian" but I have to go away from the way I've been eating for almost 60 years. I decided then to tell her that I am "going vegetarius". 

For me, being "vegetarius" means admitting that vegetarians make some good points about eating right. The rest of us typically do eat too much red meat and we don't eat enough vegetables. However, eating more vegetables and less red meat does not make me anywhere close to being a vegetarian. But I can eat better and healthier without getting any closer than is comfortable for me. 

As a vegetarius, I am going for a better-balanced diet. I can enjoy the once-in-a-blue-moon burger or taco and I don't have to scan the labels of everything I eat to make sure I'm not getting a single grain of meat by-product. I have enough trouble watching out for nitrates, potassium, sodium - or any other thing that adds flavor to food.

As a vegetarius, I am adjusting my eating habits for my own better health and not because I worship at the altar of the animal kingdom. 

You can see from the meals I listed, I have completely revamped my diet. However, quality of life is as important as the number of years lived. There is not a lot of fun in being on medicines and dealing with an illness that cuts back on the days you feel well. If I can get some pleasure from my food without literally killing myself, I'm going for it. So the vegetarius life is for me.

If there are any dieticians, vegetarians, or other folks with food knowledge, I would love to hear about some kidney-friendly recipes.

Peace

--Free

Some of the resources I use when grocery shopping

I'm not a medical professional. Always do your own research. I am just sharing some of the places I check when I am putting together a grocery list. I shop online so it's easy for me to open them in another tab. When I do go to a store, I try to have my whole list ready to take with me.

Be good to your kidneys. Trust me, I know what a toll dialysis can take on a person.

• This is the most comprehensive site I use. I have to pull it up almost every time I shop.
• And this is the "quickie" list when I don't have the brainpower for the first resource!
• This gave me a heads up about dairy alternatives. There is a catch to everything!
• Some "fast foods" that I found
• Seasonings that are "safe" (and not one is a favorite without salt!)
• I like this page for the different lists of "eat this not that" options. Scroll down on the page to find it.
• I hate this page but refer to it often. It depresses me.

**UPDATE** Intermittent Fasting & Some Apps

I've gotten so used to the IF lifestyle that I hardly think of it anymore. I wanted to post a little update and share some of the tools that have been helpful (and free) in the routine.

The day after my June 30th birthday, I went from doing the 16:8 plan (fasting for 16 hours) to the 20:4 plan. Strangely, I find it easy to fast for 20 hours where I struggled a lot with the 16:8 plan. Go figure.

These are 2 of the apps I use (in addition to occasionally using My Fat Secret):

Time Until 

 The Time Until app (above) is my motivator/reminder once I have set the number of hours I plan to fast. So far, I've stuck to the 20-hour fasting but the next app I'm showing you (below) lets me set a schedule of my choosing.

iFasting app

The above app is called iFasting and it is really, really handy for anyone setting a fasting schedule. I've been using it since I went 20:4 and I only have one complaint and that is that it got a couple of my counts wrong:

Or maybe I messed up keying numbers into the app or because fasting times ran into each other... I don't know ~shrug~. I've used the app so much that I considered upgrading to the Pro version. One big problem with that is the price. The Pro version costs $6. That's steep for an app. Since the descriptions in the Play store don't detail the upgraded features, I have contacted the developer to find that out. It's only fair since I am talking about it here on the blog.

I have been considering trying this other app that no one else has downloaded or reviewed. It's called Faster - The Fasting Tracker. I am hesitant because the only thing listed under Permissions is "Other". I really want to know what the heck that means...

Anyway, I have been progressing well with the fasting. My weight is weirdly staying in the same general area (and, no, I'm not telling what area that is), but my clothes are fitting looser and people have been commenting on the "loss". I'll take it. In addition to that, my legs and feet are a lot less sore and tired.

As far as My Fat Secret goes, I haven't been checking in recently. When I check in every day, I'm too focused on minute goals. Thinking too much about what I'm doing to lose weight is self-defeating for me.

When I first started the 20:4 routine, I was trying to schedule my eating hours as late in the day as possible. I think the first few days, I was eating as late as 8:30 and 9:00 at night. That was great because I get most of my cravings at night. Also, I have finally learned to choke down black, unsweetened coffee. (The trick to that for me, by the way, is to make the brew weaker than I do for creamed/sweetened coffee.) Here's the thing, though I only have 4 hours (6 during my 18-hour fasts) to eat and I don't like having that one meal on my gut when I'm about to go to bed.

After a couple of days, my cravings subsided and I found I was eating less. Since that happened, the best schedule I have come up with is to eat during the hours of 1 to 5 or 2 to 4. That leaves a lot of time to be up and avoiding snacking so I make sure to have fresh coffee ready and some water in the fridge. Coffee seems to work as an appetite suppressant, although I messed up one evening and added turmeric to the black coffee. 1 teaspoon Turmeric = 8 calories. Oops. Speaking of sneaky calories, even fresh mint leaves carry a few. Sheesh! I am down to the plain and filtered tap water and weak black java.

My biggest annoyance is my neighbor offering me cookies, cake and margaritas every other day. I've just started giving her this look every time.

I want to point out that one of the reasons I even first attempted the 20:4 schedule is because I read that the body really starts to benefit from fasting at the 16-hour point.  Information at that link shows a chart and includes the following observation:

"But according to the information above, in terms of insulin level, the fast is only really getting going at 16 hours. Extending it further than this ramps the drop in insulin and the increase in lipolysis."

This made sense to me and I realized that my 16-hour fasts were only touching on my goals. Now I'm going for 4 hours into the "sweet spot" the article speaks of. The reduction in cravings is just another benefit.

I cannot wait to post some photos. I feel that, if I keep this up, by the end of this month, I will have some serious visual evidence of IF working. If I were ten years younger, I would have reached my goal weight within a couple of weeks. Alas, this almost 60-year-old body is a little more stubborn!

For those of you also doing IF, I hope you found something useful in this post.

Peace
--Free

Doing Yourself Healthy Natural Hacks, Solutions & Substitutes

It was nice browsing through information I found on other sites when I did the Do Yourself Beautiful post. So nice that I kept browsing through last night's insomnia. I thought I would pass along some things I found to address problems with dry skin and hair, wrinkles, dealing with other common healthy and beauty problems - in the most natural ways possible. (NOTE: when I speak of "natural" hair, I mean the hair african-american, bi-racial or other people who have naturally kinky-curly hair.) Here we go:

Treating your skin

• For eczema and dry skin
• Methods for treating wrinkles
• Ways to shrink pores (BTW, you can apply to write for this site)
• Beauty hacks for pretty lips
• Getting rid of blackheads
• 16 beauty hacks to try

For dry or damaged or "special needs" hair

• Damaged hair care
• A DIY protein treatment for natural hair
• Homemade treatments for various hair issues
• No (sham)poo cleansers for hair
• DIY hair conditioners
• DIY leave-in conditioners (especially for natural hair)
• Store bought, sulfate-free conditioners for natural hair

Inside Out Healthy (some lists to consider)

• 15 things about nutrition
• 23 ways to "eat clean" (warning: slideshow format w/annoying ad pop-ups)
• 10 healthy "superfoods" you might not know of (slideshow w/choice to view as a list)
• 20 healthy foods (listed by season)
• 8 healthy foods to eat every day
• 50 healthiest foods on the planet
• Top 10 healthy foods
• Another "Top 50" list of the healthiest (hmmm)
• 7 healthiest

(I think I'm going to compare all the lists & pick the foods that show up more than twice. Because, apparently, everyone has an opinion!)

Some Random finds

• Bunch of categories of remedies around the kitchen
• 5 beverages to substitute for sodas
• And if you just have to have soda, try these (in that annoying slideshow format)
• Deodorant alternatives (why oh why these slideshow things that I hate?!)
• Substitutes for white sugar
• Recipe ingredient substitutions/baking hacks
• Alternatives to potato chips (yes, another slideshow)
• More chip alternatives (and no freaking slideshow!)
• And more chip alternatives - with recipes (I really love this list)
• Reasons to find a chip alternative (and some tips) Like this one too!
• Best food & drink for healthy kidneys
• This thing about Matcha that has me applying right now to review some

Well, that ought to keep us all busy for a while, right? BTW, I'm not kidding about the Matcha powder. I just applied to try a few different brands, but I will probably start by picking some up locally. When I get a chance to try it out, I will do reviews for you guys. So stay tuned, and do let me know if you try any of the listed hacks and recipes. I want to know what you think.

Peace

--Free

Getting Better - Inside & Out

Getting back into shape is hard work. I have pounds to take off, body parts to tone up. It's like a job. I have been walking and stretching and bopping around while holding weirdly shaped objects. I've got ankle weights and a pedometer and this stretchy-band thing that could be used as a weapon - against myself... And that's just for the outside.

See?

Well, that Burlington gift cert went to good use!

But it's all working, even though I get a lot of my exercise just walking away from certain foods. When I went on the regular Saturday outing with my sister, she said that I looked very nice in a blouse that I haven't been able to get into for months. My jeans looked very un-mom-like, thank you very much, and I felt a lot like the old me. The best thing is, I'm not going to have a problem keeping up with all this. The walking is fun and calming. On the days I don't walk and do indoor workouts instead, I enjoy myself because music can make anything bearable.

Like I said, though, that's all just for the outer part of me. The tough part is going to be getting my insides into shape.

Since I gave up smoking and started eating somewhat better, I do feel... better.  I could be, and need to be, doing a lot better.

But I have come a long way...

From here...

I want to feel THIS happy again

...and here...

THIS healthy & THIS in shape

...to here... when the sarcoidosis hit me...

I never want to be HERE again (July 2011)

...and here... when the prednisone hit me.

That is almost a double chin. June 2012

I have started looking into ways that I can change up and make my diet more interesting and healthy. There is a difference between dieting and living life. I want to live life. I'm bad at diets. I've done the juicer thing, the no-white thing, the low-carb thing... What I want is to do my thing.

About six or seven years ago, I started drinking soy instead of milk. I made that a part of my life. Now I just need to find a way to replace some of the burritos and red meat with fish and vegetables. That won't be too hard or expensive since I do live in Alaska: land of salmon, halibut and hooligan. (I love hooligan!) Vegetables are wonderful here - in the summer. We make the record books for cabbage and such. Our weekend Farmer's Market gets written up. Yeah, it's great. In the summer. In the winter time, you have to take out a signature loan to buy tomatoes, or groceries in general. (That's because the cost of living is a bit higher here.)

I've been reading about the various things I can do to improve my whole self by what I put into my inner self. It's interesting. And confusing. Here's the latest:

Cashew butter vs peanut butter
Nut butters in general
Green juices
Juice cleanses
Almond milk vs soy milk vs ...

See? This crap gets complicated.

Here's my verdict: I need to just keep things simple. Some of this trendy stuff, I can deal with, but a lot of it is too much for me.

I can do cashew butter because I've lived without peanut butter for years. I only need an occasional hit of creamy any non-dairy butter. I like the idea of green juices, but juicers cost too much and so do the store-bought juices.

Guess I'll make do with fresh and canned veggies and an every-now-and-again green drink. And not the good-tasting fun stuff like Naked, but something serious and so-nasty-it's-gotta-be-good-for-you. I will keep eating all that dang salmon that my family stocks their freezers with. I will have to just mooch more hooligan since that's a little rarer in my circles.

I really miss the days when I could eat all the starch and butter and other things that probably glued my insides together and kept me in a size 4. I miss them, but I am realistic enough to appreciate being (I refuse to use the word "Mature") grown. I want to live long enough to make up for all the hell I raised when I was younger.

Peace
--Free