Wednesday, March 6th

I am not going to lie...I am tired tonight!

I was up early for Tai Chi before breakfast this morning.  It was quite nice and calming.  (See my picture in front of the snow covered view that we had during the workout.)  And then I had breakfast.  I wasn't too happy about the oatmeal again today, so I am going to work on some new strategies for eating other foods on oatmeal day.

Our first class was with the nutritionist, Robyn, and it was about redefining healthy eating.  The new definition for eating is 1. Reduce Risk (i.e. if you have diabetes, you really should stay away from certain foods) 2. Components of Satiety (Eat to be satisfied.  Many times I eat to be healthy, but I am not satisfied by my meal, so I then just keep eating whatever trying to satisfy myself when maybe I should have just had the 'bad' food in the first place.) 3. Intentionally Eat 'Fun' Foods (again, if you deprive, you will eventually overeat...at least I do.)

The other part we talked about that I found interesting was the discussion of food modifications.  Such as fat free salad dressing and no fat cheese.  Since the idea behind mindful eating is to enjoy your food, many of us are still struggling with this idea.  But...what do you mean I should have full fat vinaigrette? First of all, Robyn said, "Look, you are already eating veggies...put a little fat on them to make them tastier and more fun to eat!  Your body needs some fat and if you are going to add it to a meal, add it to the veggies where it is needed most."  Also, to decide whether or not to eat a modified food or not, look at these three questions:  1. Does it taste good? 2. Does it serve it's purpose? 3. How does it compare (ingredients-wise) to the real thing?

I then went to a Cardio Combo class that was a really good work out.  I had to slow myself down a little at one point as I was getting side stitches.  Luckily, for every move, they have another instructor showing us how to modify and take down the intensity.

This was followed by a lunch of turkey taco salad that was very good.  And then onto a class about identifying our eating style.  It started with a little quiz and then our answers determined our style out of 5 styles.  My scores looked rather close to each other, so I got my calculator out and made a percentage of my styles.  The instructor thought this was pretty funny and a lot of the class followed suit.  What can I say?  I wanted to be accurate!  So it turns out that I am 69% Diet Mentality Eater; 62% Chaotic Eater (many items fall into more than one category, hence them not adding to 100%); 55% Dysregulated Eater; 43% Emotional Eater; and (surprise!) 0% Skillful Eater.  I've always just kind of said that I am an emotional eater, so it was a surprise to see that out of the types, I am hardly that.  What a relief to learn what my habits really say about me!

A Diet Mentality Eater is basically what it sounds like.  Someone who has so many 'rules' that it is hard to just eat normally.  A Chaotic Eater is so me!  Someone who doesn't eat at specific times and when they do, they don't know what they want or don't have anything available to them.  My hatred for shopping really falls into this category.  A strategy to help it is to have your groceries delivered to you like I did in Seattle.  So I may need to find a good service in Denver.

Within the Diet Mentality, it is really important for people to allow themselves 'Options'.  It's that approach again that if you deprive yourself now, what are you doing later?  Are you going to binge on the item?  Not be satisfied and overeat another item?  So we are to ask ourselves the following: 1. Do I Really Want the Food? 2. How Much is Reasonable? 3. Eat Mindfully 4. Then LET IT GO!  Stop thinking about it!

I then attended a Strength Training Circuit class which I really enjoyed.  I really like the circuit classes.  It helps to break it up a little.  It was good.

Snack was a 'Green Mountain Truffle' which is half an apple, cored, and stuffed with a mixture of peanut butter, powdered milk, raisins, and rice krispies.  It may sound really weird, but it was AMAZING!

My last class today was "What works for one body doesn't work for all".  This class had us discussing the many reasons why two seemingly identical people who follow the same 2 weeks at Green Mountain may not come away with the same results.

Then after a rest, I went to dinner which was flank steak, pad thai, and green beans followed by roasted pineapple for dessert.  Very good, but I don't count roasted pineapple as a dessert...add some crumbs to that sucker and call it a crisp!  That probably would have satisfied me more.  :0)

And that brings us to now...well after my shower, but that is TMI, I'm sure.  I can say that I do think the late snack helped last night and I was able to sleep better.  I am going to get it again tonight and then I am going to hit the hay.  I hope you guys don't mind all of the detail I go into about my classes.  Typing it all out helps me to absorb a lot of the information and I hope to go back and look at this in a few months when my mind starts to wander.  Schedule to follow!  Good night!