January 30 - Nutrition

Last week the hospital hosted a brown bag luncheon discussion titled "Embrace or Erase Your Belly". Julie Hamre (LRH's Dietician) and I didn't know how many people to expect and, to be honest, thought that if 10 men showed up it would be a success. You could say we were pleasantly surprised (and pleased) to see the room packed with more than 50 men (and one woman) in attendance! I guess the topic was of interest!!

Did I learn anything new? Not much. Julie shared much of the same information that she shared with me back in December. Julie did say that, from a calorie standpoint, having black coffee in the morning might not be so bad for me. I've cut coffee from my diet and, calories or not, have to believe that cutting back on the caffeine has been good for me.

One thing I continue to struggle with is snacking in between meals. It's not that I do this too much...I don't do it enough. I've replaced my breakfast of coffee in the morning with a bowl of raisen bran and fresh fruit and have found that I'm not hungry in the mid-morning. The same holds true after lunch in the afternoon. I thought this was a good thing but learned that my body needs to have these snacks to keep my metabolism going. It's kind of hard for me to understand but, in my case, I need to eat more to lose weight. Go figure!

Another thing I've learned is that, if you want to feel better about yourself, check your weight in the morning versus later in the day. I don't know why but I can drop 2-3 pounds overnight. I'm assuming this has something to do with not eating for 12 hours as well as going to the bathroom a few times but to lose that much weight while sleeping, go figure!

Increasing the fiber in my diet and cutting back on my portion sizes at meals seems to be working for me. Now if I could only eat more in between meals...