This topic contains 4 replies, has 5 voices, and was last updated by 
OldMt Woman 5 months, 1 week ago.
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Posts
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by Daisy Luther
I hope it’s going well with the new habits and that you’re seeing that success is within your reach.
As a reminder…
- We’re going to drink a glass of water before every other beverage we drink.
- We’re going to increase our movement, focusing on time only.
Today’s challenge
Today’s challenge is nutritional.
Don’t worry, I’m not suggesting the d-word. Lots of folks participating in this challenge may not even need to lose weight. We all have different goals and reasons we’re undertaking the challenge.
What we’re going to do today is not taking anything away. Eat what you want.
I want you to add something.
Just like drinking a glass of water before you drink other beverages, I want you to eat a serving of fruit or vegetables before you eat anything else.
- So at breakfast, have a banana before you eat your toast and eggs.
- At lunch, have some veggies and dip before you eat that sandwich.
- At dinner, grab an apple or an orange while you’re preparing food or setting the table.
- Alternatively, have a salad as an appetizer.
The above recommendations are just suggestions. Go with the fruits or vegetables of your choice. It doesn’t matter which you have for the purposes of this challenge.
The goal here is to add extra servings of produce to your diet. It nourishes you, it fills you with healthy fiber and vitamins, and it can serve as a way to reduce caloric intake if that is your goal. Many people who eat a plant-heavy diet also find that their immune systems are boosted immensely.
I suggest fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables, as they’ll have more nutrients than canned or dehydrated.
Why before your meal?
It is too easy for us to push aside the stuff we “should” eat for the things we “want” to eat. If you grab your extra fruits or vegetables first, then you’re sure to get these servings. Then, as I said, enjoy whatever you wish to eat – meat, bread, pasta – whatever you normally have.
This should not take the place of vegetables or fruits you’d normally have in the meal. These are to be additional servings to boost your nutritional intake.
How many servings of fruits and vegetables do you normally consume?
Do you eat lots of produce? What are your favorites? How will you incorporate the extra servings into your day?
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I am more of a greens salad type. I tend to get my veggies from salads. Yesterday, I just bought a whole bunch of salad greens as I have some tuna and salmon in my preps that expire this quarter. I decided to add them into salads.
I do have some carrots and apples in my winter stockpile that I use for snacks; dogs love the carrots and apples, too.
For lunch, I made a big pot of chicken and rice soup with plenty of added veggies. I will have it throughout the week. While cutting up the carrots, I had carrots before my soup.
I am doing pretty good on remembering my water before eating and drinking. I am doing good with quiting my diet soda habit; I am down to 1 a day
The Fitbit is reminding to keep moving. I just need to remember to charge the darn thing.
This week, I am starting my ski season. @crowbar, I downhill ski as I am close to a great ski area, which has great senior and military discounts. I have friends in their 50s, 60s, 70s, and older that still ski. One gal in her 90s is a terror on the slopes! She may move slow but she whizzes by everyone on her skis. I want to be like her when I grow up! Lol. The ski group motivates me to try to keep in shape. I have joined a group of them and ski with them on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays mornings. Nothing like peer pressure to keep you going. Part of the group also cross country skis on Monday and Thursday morning. I want to get started cross country skiing too, but I don’t want to over do it.
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I usually just served a salad before dinner and considered vegetables done. I will start adding some with the main course as well.
I nosh on the vegetables while I am making the salad. I have some cut up in the fridge for in between snacks.
Thanks for the small steps! -
Right now down to one meal a day… it’s pretty big guessing near 2000 calories. Doing intermittent fasting and I have shop duty right now so easier on calorie co sumption. Intermittent fasting resets diabetes insulin tolerance. Among other benifits plus son little light still till.mid Feb it’s only 7 jours usuable day light without electric light. So going to bed earlier on full stomach easier to do.
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We’re fairly remote so don’t get to stores that often. Our choices reflect what will store well. For fresh we always have carrots, apples, walnuts [are they fruit?], onions, potatoes….? We usually have peppers, sweet potatoes [kept at room temp in dark closet], cabbage, lettuce,….? When on sale we add cukes, zucchini, oranges, celery, Asian veggies, melons, tomatoes, mushrooms, …? We store canned tomatoes in all forms….and other assorted veggies and fruit. We have long term dehydrated fruit/veggies.
Most of the time, we plan menus just so we can eat up whatever that’s fresh but will go bad next. We also have an assortment of frozen veggies. We recently discovered we were out except frozen cauliflower and DH hit a great sale yesterday. He stocked up for the upstairs freezer and more in the downstairs freezer. We hadn’t realized we were so low til I made soup.
The recent soup had a few things that I had canned, but I also added some of the mixed [formerly frozen] veggies that I’d dehydrated back during the September Challenge! That jar came in right handy for stew…..just pour it in and simmer. Sure added flavor/nutrient.
So far today I had a banana and cereal. Added banana at the last minute. Good addition. We’ll see what else we have. One more orange that needs to be used soon. If I cut it up, we eat it. Otherwise they get ignored. We also decided that buying a more expensive bag of baby carrots got more into us. If we can just grab a handful, we eat them frequently…so I don’t fret too much about the increased price.
OldMtWoman
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