Comments (4)

By jamie, March 4, 2010 4:16 pm

Recipes! I love them. I subscribe to several cooking magazines, and I have a modest collection of recipe books as well. And now I have some more, because Jillian has included a two week menu in Chapter 9, just to get us started.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I think my problem is going to be getting enough protein. I love carbs, and when I track my food, I find that they usually take up about AT LEAST 60% of my daily intake. It’s easy to add fat, even the good kind (I could eat an avocado every day and be happy). The protein is where I have trouble because, let’s face it, it’s not a great idea to just eat a big hunk of cheese, even if it is low fat (even though my toddler would disagree). Thank goodness for almonds, or I don’t think any of my snacks would ever contain protein.

Oh, and we are only supposed to have protein and high fiber carbs with dinner and no carbs after 9 pm. Right. Tricky.

For now, we are still finishing up our bad stuff. In fact, I am polishing off a bowl of churned ice cream as I write this (in case you were wondering, it doesn’t taste as delicious as it did before I started reading this book). I know Jillian would not be happy that I did not rent a Dumpster to get rid of all of our junk food, but at least I’m not buying any more.

Since this chapter mostly only consisted of menu options, I went ahead and read Chapter 10 too. This one is about specific hormonal disorders, and, according to Jillian, she worked with am M.D. (Dr Christine Darwin, the same one who wrote the forward to the book) to provide extra advice for people with the following: PMS, hypothyroid, metabolic syndrome, polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), menopause, or andropause (male menopause). She gives quite a few specific suggestions, but for any of the above it appears that you must avoid stress and get enough sleep.

Another major suggestion for everyone is to get enough calcium – 1000 to 1200 mg per day. One other thing I learned from reading this chapter is that eating simple sugars can make menstrual cramps WORSE. I thought I would pass that along in case any of you ladies self medicate with sweets – I guess it’s not such a good idea.

Scroll down for other posts about Master Your Metabolism:

Other posts about Master Your Metabolism:
Review
Part 1: So Long, Chocolate, Old Friend
Part 2: I KNEW It – My Hormones are Out of Whack!
Part 3: Nothing Funny About Chapter 3
Part 4: “There’s No Food in Your Food”
Part 5: Artificial Sweetener Can Mess Up Your Brain?
Part 6: “Okay, I’ll Admit it. Organics Can Be Pricey.”
Part 7: Ice Cream and Chocolate are Allowed!!!
Part 8: Really, Jillian, I Just Wanted a Cute Butt
Part 9: Protein! I Need You Protein
Part 10: Now, Off to the Market

Comments (7)

By jamie, March 3, 2010 3:05 pm

And now I have to be the self-appointed ambassador for my family to make sure we don’t poison ourselves with cleaning products, make up, etc. Actually, my mother-in-law has been using natural products since long before I met her. In fact, she has given us everything from toothpaste to dish washing liquid (she buys them from melaleuca.com). I have liked almost all of the products that she has given us so far. However, I have a public confession to make: I choose laundry products based on how they smell. I’m the girl who opens up twenty containers of fabric softener to find the best scented one. When someone walks by in me, or if I hug someone, I take a quick sniff to see what their clothing smells like – don’t worry, no one notices me sniffing them! Anyway, my mother-in-law has given us a lot of environmentally friendly laundry products, from detergent to stain remover, and I have been thinking that I will use it all up and then buy some more of “the good stuff.” Of course, it turns out that we have been using the good stuff thanks to her. So, thanks, M!

Chapter 8 is all about removing endocrine disrupting and cancer causing products from our homes. There are chemicals in everything from cleaning products to mouth wash. One one hand, I have worn make up probably three times since I got pregnant, so I am probably safe there. On the other hand, I DO brush my teeth, and I would like to avoid damaging my hormones (or worse!) in the process.

Did any of you read the article on CNN earlier this week that talks about how the lawn chemical, atrazine, can turn boy frogs into girl frogs? Jillian mentions this in her book as well. It may not turn human boys into girls, but it can negatively affect human endocrine systems. This is particularly disturbing to me because, on more than one occasion, I have caught by daughter licking the bottom of her shoe! I asked my husband what is used on our lawn (we have been paying a service to care for it), and he didn’t know. Homework!

Household cleaners – they may be doing more harm than good, and maybe we can save a little money for our expensive organic meats by cleaning with plain old water, lemon juice, baking soda, and white vinegar. And the plastics. We not only have to check codes to know what to recycle, we also have to make sure not to poison ourselves by putting food in the bad ones. Here are some rules to follow:

• Try to avoid buying foods packaged in plastics, but if you have to, try to make sure only to get the ones coded #1, #2, #4, or #5.
• When you do buy foods packaged in plastics, try to move them to glass containers as soon as possible.
• NEVER microwave food in plastic containers.
• Avoid buying flame-retardant clothing, bedding, pillows, or mattresses, as the chemicals used (PDBEs) are “linked to thyroid disruption, learning and memory problems, damage to hearing, decreased sperm counts, and birth defects.”
• Avoid antibacterial soap if it contains triclosan because “when triclosan combines with chlorinated tap water, it creates the carcinogenic gas chloroform and chlorinated dioxins, a highly toxic form of dioxin.” (Another quote from the book “The EPA found that dioxins, byproducts of chlorine, are three hundred thousand times more carcinogenic than DDT; they’re also very estrogenic.”)

Once again, I have not fact checked specifics, but as I read this section of the book, I was reminded of other things I have read on this subject, but chose to ignore because other sources (including government agencies and the manufacturers of products in question) found the chemicals listed here to be safe for human consumption. The more I hear evidence to the contrary, the more I am being forced to listen.

This chapter is full of ideas to keep your family safe from non-food toxins. Again, if you don’t buy or borrow the book, it might be worth it to skim Chapter 8 when you are somewhere that carries it.

Scroll down for other posts about Master Your Metabolism:

Other posts about Master Your Metabolism:
Review
Part 1: So Long, Chocolate, Old Friend
Part 2: I KNEW It – My Hormones are Out of Whack!
Part 3: Nothing Funny About Chapter 3
Part 4: “There’s No Food in Your Food”
Part 5: Artificial Sweetener Can Mess Up Your Brain?
Part 6: “Okay, I’ll Admit it. Organics Can Be Pricey.”
Part 7: Ice Cream and Chocolate are Allowed!!!
Part 8: Really, Jillian, I Just Wanted a Cute Butt
Part 9: Protein! I Need You Protein
Part 10: Now, Off to the Market

Comments (4)

By jamie, March 2, 2010 11:54 am

But, Jillian says they have to be made of real food, and not chemicals (so they have to be eaten in small portions, and in moderation – okay, fine). So, that means they cannot be low sugar or low fat, because these varieties are pumped up with chemicals to make them taste good. Oh, and I am veering slightly off topic here, but have any of you read that the trendy “churned” varieties of ice cream are bad for you? But how can that be – they are supposed to be the healthier choice?! Pipe down Jillian – I know that the food industry is not on my side – it still doesn’t seem right, though.

I am now facing the dilemma of throwing away food that I spent good money on or getting rid of it by eating it, even though I am filling my body with nasty chemicals in the process. On the one hand – how can you eat that stuff knowing that it is full of chemicals (there is no way you would eat poison just because someone added a delicious flavoring to it, right?!?!) On the other hand, I’m so pumped up with food additives anyway (given my years of eating low fat, low sugar choices, and – lest you think I have deprived myself too much – lots of tasty processed junk food and fast food as well). Honestly, how much more damage can I do, finishing off the cereal bars, the low fat ice cream treats, the aspartame-sweetened drink mix, or the (gasp) slow churned, non-fat, low sugar butter pecan frozen yogurt?

Other challenges introduced in this chapter:

1. Eat within an hour of waking.
- How many of you have kids (or jobs, or both) and are able to accomplish this? It’s tricky, let me tell you. Sometimes I look at the clock, and it’s almost noon, and I am reminded by the rumbling in my belly that I have not had anything to eat (or drink) and here it is almost lunch time.

2. Eat every four hours.
- Please refer to the comment above about having children or a job. Also, being in school makes this one tricky, especially because:

3. We should eat 30% protein, 30% fat, and 40% carbs.
- I know, pack a lunch. Eating at regular intervals is still enough of a challenge without having to be balanced about it.
- Actually, she has some good advice about this one. As long as we eat mostly whole foods (this doesn’t mean eating them all by themselves, as a friend of mine once thought and made life extra difficult for herself until she learned otherwise). If we eat mostly fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and healthy dairy and meat, we are probably getting a proper balance of nutrients overall.

4. “Don’t eat after nine p.m. Especially carbs.”
- Now wait. When am I going to eat all of the things I don’t want my daughter to eat so she does not see me and ask for some? Oh, never mind – I’m not supposed to be eating those things anymore.

There are some other rules in this chapter, but basically Jillian doesn’t make you count calories or anything too difficult. I will try to follow her advice. Moving forward I will buy more whole foods to feed my family. The biggest challenge of all, for me, will be getting hubby and kiddo to eat them. My daughter has taken to licking things she is not sure of instead of actually taking a bite of them and then making a face and saying “I don’t like it.” Then she will sometimes take a bite – but only if you don’t try to coax her too much. (And I was sure I would avoid this by making her baby food – oh well.) She is EASY compared to my husband (although he now allows different foods to touch on the plate, so there is hope for him too).

Scroll down for other posts about Master Your Metabolism:

Other posts about Master Your Metabolism:
Review
Part 1: So Long, Chocolate, Old Friend
Part 2: I KNEW It – My Hormones are Out of Whack!
Part 3: Nothing Funny About Chapter 3
Part 4: “There’s No Food in Your Food”
Part 5: Artificial Sweetener Can Mess Up Your Brain?
Part 6: “Okay, I’ll Admit it. Organics Can Be Pricey.”
Part 7: Ice Cream and Chocolate are Allowed!!!
Part 8: Really, Jillian, I Just Wanted a Cute Butt
Part 9: Protein! I Need You Protein
Part 10: Now, Off to the Market

Comments (10)

By jamie, March 1, 2010 8:52 am

Reading this chapter, of course, makes me want to buy all organic foods all the time. At the same time, Jillian acknowledges that not everyone has that kind of food budget. Her advice: Go to www.foodnews.org and find out what fruits and vegetables contain the most pesticides, and make an effort to buy them organic. If you can’t buy organic, she suggests removing the peel (for example, I just checked, and apples and carrots are on the list) and, for lettuces, to throw away the outer leaves and thoroughly wash the rest. Among other foods, she recommends legumes (lentils and beans), garlic and onions, colorful fruits and vegetables (not just green), and nuts and seeds. Also, especially if you do not get enough sun, consuming vitamin D-fortified dairy is particularly important, in order to help prevent a host of terrifying ailments, from MS to cancer.

As for meats and milk – she emphasizes that they are important components of a healthy diet (I was actually pretty surprised at how she doesn’t recommend vegetarianism AT ALL), and then she makes a very strong case for going organic. She DOES say that organic seafood is a waste of money (of course, seafood is usually more pricey than other proteins). So, how does a person on a budget, especially one with a large family, accomplish this? She basically says to try your best, and to buy organic whenever you can. She also says to look for generic organic products in all of the grocery stores you have access to, and that even “big box stores” are starting to carry organic choices – I actually do this, and buy organic, free range eggs and hormone free milk for less money than the name brand options that share shelf space with the store brand.

Oh, and she personally told me to give up eating Twizzlers (she actually mentioned my favorite candy by name, so obviously she was talking to me), because it’s mostly processed corn filler.

Scroll down for other posts about Master Your Metabolism:

Other posts about Master Your Metabolism:
Review
Part 1: So Long, Chocolate, Old Friend
Part 2: I KNEW It – My Hormones are Out of Whack!
Part 3: Nothing Funny About Chapter 3
Part 4: “There’s No Food in Your Food”
Part 5: Artificial Sweetener Can Mess Up Your Brain?
Part 6: “Okay, I’ll Admit it. Organics Can Be Pricey.”
Part 7: Ice Cream and Chocolate are Allowed!!!
Part 8: Really, Jillian, I Just Wanted a Cute Butt
Part 9: Protein! I Need You Protein
Part 10: Now, Off to the Market

Comments (1)

By jamie, February 27, 2010 10:01 am

I know that, in our society, we equate “diet” with our weight. This book even includes the promise of a “hot and healthy body” on the front cover. While reading Chapter 5, though, it was very hard to think about something so frivolous as “hotness.” No one wants to get cancer or Alzheimer’s – compared with these challenges, who really cares about being fat, or chunky, or whatever the case may be? I don’t want to poison myself, and I certainly do not want to poison my daughter. Yet is seems as though that is what we are doing when we feed her most processed foods. Now, I should point out that she usually eats better than we do – her snacks are usually organic, as was her baby food when she was an infant, because we made most of it ourselves. This is starting to be less true now as she gets older though – she is not yet two, yet knows what chips are, and at our Superbowl party she took her first taste of soda (she sampled from someone’s glass when they were not looking, and then announced, “I like it!” when she was discovered).

When I was a little kid, I remember being really scared after watching The Incredible Shrinking Woman (on DVD of course, as I am only 20 – ). It’s about a woman who starts to shrink after she ingests a very specific, yet not-yet-discovered, mix of chemicals. I remember that one of them was hairspray, and, if I’m not mistaken, the final ingredient was a free sample of cheese spread in the grocery store. (How fitting that the last straw would be processed food.) I remember being terrified for weeks afterward that I would somehow, inadvertently, consume the wrong mix of ingredients and that something bad would happen to me as a result, even though I knew the story was fiction, and that it was supposed to be a comedy at that. Oh, the nightmares. Thanks, Lily Tomlin!

So, it turns out that my nightmares were not the stuff of fantasy after all. According to Jillian (again, I have not fact checked), even when a food says it lacks a particular toxin (such as transfats), it is actually allowed to have trace amounts of that substance “per serving.” So, if you eat an entire bag of chips, for example, you may be consuming measurable amounts of a particular substance (such as MSG) that has been shown to be hazardous to your health. And if you eat or drink many different foods containing these trace ingredients (or especially if you eat the ones that actually list the substance in their ingredient lists), they all add up, you could be doing “permanent” damage to yourself. You may not start shrinking, but your brain chemistry can be effected, leading to a host of chronic diseases! That’s way more scary than falling down the bathtub drain (yeah, I was a very imaginative child).

Another scary thing that I have been thinking about since I finished reading this chapter is that it’s hard to know what is really true unless you spend the bulk of your reading time keeping up with medical and academic journal articles which, for many people, are – let’s face it – a bit dense. A Google search might lead you to information written by the PR firms of various food manufacturers – can we really expect them to tell us the truth if they have successfully lobbied to keep some ingredients off of their packaging? Some friends who know I am reading this book (including one who is in the medical field) have pointed me in the direction of a few books that help separate facts from fiction. When I read these books, I will compare what they say with this book, and share the information here.

Among the many chemicals described in this chapter, one of them stood out for me – sucralose (Splenda). Doctors have recommended this sugar substitute to people I know who are insulin resistant as a better alternative than other similar products – we expect our doctors to know what is safe for us to consume, so this is a prime example of not knowing who to believe. As for aspartame (NutraSweet), Jillian says it may cause “permanent damage to our brain’s appetite center.” The explanation goes something like this: our brains naturally perceive sweet tasting things as having a higher caloric value than some other things we eat, and helps us to both consume less and metabolize more calories immediately afterward to make up for the sweet treat. When we consume sugar substitutes, our brain gets confused, because our bodies to not receive the accompanying influx of calories along with the sweet taste. This may cause the body to crave extra calories. Also, over time, our brain stops expecting extra calories when it experiences a sweet taste, so when we consume actual sugar, our body ignores the extra calories instead of attempting to metabolize them quickly. My husband has been a strong opponent of sugar substitutes for as long as I have known him – again, I haven’t fact checked this yet, but it looks like you may be right, honey!

Scroll down for other posts about Master Your Metabolism:

Other posts about Master Your Metabolism:
Review
Part 1: So Long, Chocolate, Old Friend
Part 2: I KNEW It – My Hormones are Out of Whack!
Part 3: Nothing Funny About Chapter 3
Part 4: “There’s No Food in Your Food”
Part 5: Artificial Sweetener Can Mess Up Your Brain?
Part 6: “Okay, I’ll Admit it. Organics Can Be Pricey.”
Part 7: Ice Cream and Chocolate are Allowed!!!
Part 8: Really, Jillian, I Just Wanted a Cute Butt
Part 9: Protein! I Need You Protein
Part 10: Now, Off to the Market