Overeaters Anonymous

About 4 weeks ago I joined Overeaters Anonymous (OA) and got a sponsor. I am skeptical  about OA because a large portion of it depends upon having a higher power. I am Agnostic, I don’t believe in God, prayer, faith and depending on and doing those things are irritating to me. OA says you can make anything your higher power, someone suggested I make “Reality” my higher power. You are supposed to give your will over to a higher power. So I guess I am supposed to give my will over to “reality”? It just doesn’t make sense to me and I’m not making the connection.

I’ve been attending the OA meetings every week, they suggest you attend six meetings. I’ve done four, and I bought the book called “12 Steps and 12 traditions”.

I had a sponsor for about 2 weeks but she dropped me cause she said I wasn’t ready. There was some things she wanted me to do that I didn’t feel like doing. I guess I need to be more open to those things. She just wanted me to plan out my food the night before and send it to her every night. She also wanted to talk on the phone to me every day. I thought both of those things were overkill. It’s probably what I need though. I need someone for accountability.

I need to do something different. I can’t do the same thing I’ve always done. I have a problem. I eat way over my recommended daily calories every single day. sometimes over 1000 calories over.

Being vegetarian has been pretty much fine. I don’t miss meat. In fact meat grosses me out now. I went to dinner with my mom and her friends and her one friend ordered ribs and sausage and I was disgusted, I couldn’t even look at her while she was eating that cause I felt nauseous.

I have eaten some fish, but I’m trying to eliminate that. I don’t eat much dairy unless it’s a special occasion. Like my birthday was last Saturday and I ate cheesecake and ice-cream and key lime pie. All full of dairy. Tonight I drank a milkshake. But it was because my weekly Ladies Dinner group went to this restaurant that makes Spiked Shakes and we eat there like two times a year so I just wanted one. But I don’t stop at McDonalds or Jack in the Box for shakes anymore. I use almond or soy milk at Starbucks. I don’t buy ice-cream I’ve been eating that So Delicious dairy -free dessert and it actually tastes better than ice-cream. Me and my mom LOVE that stuff. The only dairy I eat regularly is cheese because it’s in a lot of the microwave vegetables and meals that I buy. Like all the Indian food I buy has some kind of cheese in it, the broccoli has cheese in it, the Healthy Choice Power Bowl I love the most is called “white bean and feta”. So I do eat cheese regularly but I’ve cut all other dairy out and I do notice a slight difference in my sinuses. I still take Benadryl but not as much.

I bought some liquid B-12 because a lot of vegans and vegetarians have trouble with their b-12 levels. I’ve only taken it once. I don’t even know if I need it yet. I’m looking for a liquid vitamin D and a liquid Iron. I won’t take pills/capsules/tablets, but liquid is so easy.

My energy has been pretty good but I am sleeping a little longer than I was before. Maybe two hours longer, and I’m really tired when I wake up for the day. I’ve been drinking coffee lately and that is not normal for me.

As I said I eat way over my calories; Here’s what I ate today:

Breakfast: Banana, strawberry yogurt alternative (yeck was nasty!) – 210 calories

Lunch: chocolate croissant, venti iced caramel macchiato with almond milk – 600 calories

Dinner – Veggie burger with guacamole, skinny fries with ketchup, Spiked shake, Patron margarita – 1,919 calories

My total calories so far is 2,729 calories, that’s 686 calories OVER my recommended daily amount AND I am not done eating for the day. I have to eat with my medication so I will probably have some fruit later and maybe 100 calorie pack of almonds

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Vegan ice cream

Usually when I go to the movies I order a ice cream cone – pecan praline to be specific, to eat while watching the movie

well I’m trying to eliminate dairy from my diet so I can’t do that anymore, so I decided to purchase some vegan ice cream to eat before the movie (Avengers: Infinity War) to take away my craving.

I purchased : Halo top sea salt caramel and so Delicious Salted Caramel

The Halo Top is awful, it’s made with coconut milk, it has a chalky after taste and the taste is terrible, like a coconut with salt and caramel flavoring. It was a huge dissapointment.

The So Delicious was AMAZING! so good, does have a little nutty taste but if you’re searching for something to compare to pecan praline, this is it! Uh it was so good I ate the whole box. I gave my mom 1 and I ate 3. Only has 180 calories per bars wasn’t too big a hit on my calories.

I’m going back to purchase more of the So Delicious Dipped Salted Caramel bars, it was only $3.99 at my local Krogers. They were pretty much out of stock though, so these are popular, hopefully they have some when I go back.

Protein for Vegetarians

I thought I was doing pretty good eating Vegetarian the past week, then my accountability coach said I’m not eating enough protein at every meal.

According to MyFitnessPal my goal is to eat 99 grams of protein each day for weight loss, I’ve been eating 40 – 50 grams per day.

I’m not undereating, in fact my calories are usually way over. My carbs , sugar, and fat grams are really high.

I’m trying to find a way to add about 10 additional grams of protein to every meal. I eat 4 meals a day. I added almonds, roasted edamame, peanut butter, chocolate soy milk and protein granola to my grocery list for this upcoming week.

What else can I add that does not require meal prep or cooking?

You can figure out your protein requirements by going to this link:

https://fnic.nal.usda.gov/fnic/dri-calculator/

What I ate again

Yesterday was the first time in about 2 months that I ate under my allotted calories for the day.

Breakfast : Starbucks banana bread, Iced caramel macchiato with almond milk – 670 calories

Lunch: White bean and feta salad, banana – 560 calories

Dinner: potatoes, brussels sprouts, fruit bar – 390 calories

Snack: Lean Cuisine Parmesan Crusted Fish, fudgescicle – 380 calories

Total calories ate for the day: 2000

What I ate

What I ate today as someone new to the Vegetarian eating plan.

Breakfast: Almond dairy-free peach yogurt, 1 banana, oatmeal – 700 calories

Lunch: Couscous curried with almonds and cranberries, broccoli and cheese Steamers, Simply Nature Mango Fruit bar – 320 calories

Dinner: Seasonal mixed fruit, Amy’s Mattar Paneer, fudgecicle – 510 calories

Snacks: Veggie Snack Tray (tomatoes, snap peas, carrots), roasted garlic hummus, Roasted Garlic and Herb Baked Pita Chips, dried fruit – 925 calories

Notes: that yogurt alternative was not very good, it didn’t taste anything like greek yogurt which is what I am accustomed to eating, I have 3 more cups of that stuff, I hope the other flavors are better.

What’s killing us

Tonight I’m watching the documentaries; ‘Forks over Knives‘ and “What the Health” on Netflix.

Although they have their critics, I highly suggest these films for people who are meat/poultry/dairy/egg eaters.

Among other things, these documentaries explain;

1. that dairy has strong links to asthma and mucus production, both of which I have currently. I’m reducing all my dairy consumption, no yogurt, no ice cream, less butter, way less cheese because I would like to clear up my sinus issues which I have had since I was about 15 years old. The doctors said my sinus issues (chronic sinusitis) are caused by a deviated septum which can be corrected with surgery, but that’s confusing cause how does a deviated septum CREATE mucus? I understand that the mucus doesn’t drain properly with a deviated septum but it can’t CREATE the mucus in the first place. I believe that is caused by dairy. Keep in mind I haven’t drank milk in over a year, but I have been eating yogurt, and turkey egg & cheese croissants, and milk shakes, and boba tea and ranch dressing on my salad. All containing dairy.
2. why eating animal protein causes cancer and heart disease and why drinking milk CAUSES calcium deficiency contrary to what we’ve been taught.
3. The leading source of sodium in the American diet is CHICKEN, even ‘all natural’ chicken is injected with sodium. Similar to cigarettes, CHICKEN is full of carcinogens.
4. Even fish have estrogenic and cancer promoting properties. Depending on the fish it’s high in cholesterol like salmon or a mercury sponge. Farmed fish are no healthier either.
5. The dairy industry (butter/milk and milk products) have made a concerted effort to confuse the consumer into thinking saturated fat is ok. They funded studies with an outcome favorable to their agenda.
6. Companies like Kraft, Dannon, Oscar Mayer, Tyson, KFC and more—which sell processed foods high in fat, sodium or sugar like mac and cheese, hot dogs and flavored yogurt—are sponsors of the American Diabetes Association, American Cancer Society, Susan B. Komen, and may have a financial stake in diet recommendations by health groups.
7. A whole foods / plant based diet reverses heart and cancer conditions and decreases risks for a host of other illnesses such as inflammation, high blood pressure and diabetes.

Vegan is the goal

I don’t think I could go Vegan immediately, but this guy makes a compelling argument for it. I have to get to a point where I’m even comfortable eating vegetables. I love certain fruits.

I do eat ice-cream, cheese and butter on my veggies.

I can go without honey, eggs and animal milk.

I love yogurt but I can get a yogurt alternative easily, wal-mart sells Silk yogurt alternative.

I love blue cheese and ranch dressing on my salad. Wal-Mart doesn’t even sell a vegetable tray without ranch dressing.

It’s crazy how dependent we are on dairy in one form or another.

I wish I could find a ethical dairy farm that doesn’t rape the cows, tear the calf away from it’s mother or pump the cow for milk till pus comes out. I

t’s hard to find prepackaged microwaveable vegetables that don’t have any dairy on them.

I only like pumpkin in my pie and that has eggs in it as do most baked pies and cakes. Check out Gary’s website: http://adaptt.org/veganism/ethics.html