Potassium

Lately I have been getting Charlie Horses in my legs and started to read about where they come from.  Wikipedia.org defines a Charley horse as a painful spasm or cramp in the leg muscle. It is also called dead leg, granddaddy or chopper.  I have heard that spasms and cramps can come from low potassium in the body. Low Potassium  can also cause poor  circulation and constipation.

• Good Source of Potassium            About 400 mg or more
• Banana                                                              1 medium banana
• Cantaloupe                                                        1 cup 8 oz
• Orange Juice                                                      1 cup 8 oz
• Baked Potatoe                                                  1 medium potato
• Tomato juice                                                     1 cup 8 oz
• Honeydew melon                                              1 cup 8 oz
• Nectarine                                                          1 large
• Dates                                                                1/2 cup 4oz
• Dried beans                                                       1 cup cooked 8oz
• Water squash                                                     1/2 cup cooked 4 oz

   

• Other good sources               200 to 400 mg
• Collard                                                   1/2 cup 4 oz            
• Milk                                                       1 cup 8oz
• Spinach                                                  1/2 cup frozen or boiled 4 oz
• Broccoli                                                 1/2 cup 4 oz
• Raw tomatoes                                        1 medium tomato
• Cooked tomatoes                                   1/2 cup 4 oz
• Avacado                                                1/2 avacado
• Prunes                                                    4 prunes

  
Look for daily recommended amount on wikipedia.org


What is Potassium?

Potassium is a trace mineral essential for growth and good health. It helps to maintain normal blood pressure, transmit nerve impulse and enable the contraction of muscles.

See more about Potassium on the USDA.com and wikipedia.org
Warning: To much potassium can be dangerous to your health

Food Choices

I know I've spoken a lot about eating what ever you want when hungry but not much emphasis  has to be on how food makes you feel after eating.  If I feel sluggish after eating a certain food, next time I may only eat a smaller portion and add some fruit and vegetables to that meal. I also pay attention to my joints and other parts of my body like my stomach and how often food passes through my body.  How many times should one pooh in a day?  I notice when I eat more leafy vegetable the scale drops  and that should be a clue for the next time I get hungry.

Getting off the diet band wagon

Step one :  Stop dieting.   When I first rise in the morning I usually eat a piece of toast with jelly and a small amount of butter.  The butter usually satisfies my flesh and  the toast with jelly are used to jump start my metabolism. By the time lunch time comes I will be extremely hungry.  What happen to me before I started this journey was I developed an under active  thyroid problem which meant my metabolism was not working and all I could do was gain weight.  I started taking prescription pills from my doctor so that the problem could be corrected.  I heard that once you start the thyroid pills you will take them for life.  I actually liked the pills because I no longer felt fatigue that I have been feeling for years with depression and low energy.  After going on this journey I am no longer prescribed the medication.  I want to say it as my diet (new/old way of eating)  but my doctor says it was never really serious. (so why did she prescribe the pills in  the first place)?  She will no longer prescribe them because my thyroid is working fine now.  This is only my  story, and  I do not claim this for everyone who has a thyroid problem. Any way when I started eating I got free from the diet mentality and started getting energized.  I only lost  19 pounds last year because I guess I had to relearn everything all over again.  Now the weight is coming off and I feel great.  I need vitamins and my body now craves fruit.  I had a mango last night and you would have thought it was the best thing in the world.  Next post will be step two of how I got free from dieting.  Even though losing 19 pounds is not a whole lot in a year I am so glad that I didn't gain 50 like I had in previous years.
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Practice Practice Practice

I have increase my water intake, exercise for at least 10 minutes a day and I have waited until I feel a sort of burning sensation before eating and I have noticed a change in my weight loss.  I have actually started seeing the scale go down every couple days.  This is even after I spent 4 days in Tunica Mississippi on a trip where I ate at "the all you can eat buffets" for 4 days.  I only ate when I was hungry and stopped before I was stuffed with the exception of going to the Paula Deans buffet located at Sams Town gambling casino.  I really tasted many of her food choices and got so satisfied.  Boy was it good!   I even ate a bowl of fried shrimp that was really delicious. Before the trip I had decided to eat only when I was truly hungry for 21 days. As I tried, I continued to fall right back into my old habits but told myself not to worry and to keep trying.  I was so used to feeling full that when I got hungry I was so uncomfortable that I had to keep telling myself to try to adapt to the new feeling of what hungry really feels like.  It has taking me a whole year but I do not regret my decision to change the way I think about food, it has become a new way of life.  I am much happier now that I do not have to worry about what I will eat next.  I am starting to pay attention to how some foods make me feel whether it is the  feeling of being light or the feeling of heaviness. Some foods that I once loved now taste like junk.  There was a time that I used to love TACO Bell but now I can hardly swallow it because it does not have as much value as it did before.  It no longer taste as good to me.  I was using weight watchers for a short period of time and it showed me how to look at portions but I don't think it will be necessary for me at this time. True hunger and learning to stop when satisfied seems to be enough at this time and this blog has been a sort of diary for me.  Believe me I was a hard core dieter with rules about certain foods but dieted my way right up to 340 pounds and could not control the weight gain.  I can hardly wait until the weight comes off now.  At one point in July I decided to check out the lap ban and started talking to a nutritionist and seeing a physical therapist. They have both guided me into making better choices about foods and exercising . I no longer want the lap ban. I realize everything is a practice and you really need to get prepared to lose weight or anything in life you really want to change.  
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Weight loss is stilll a struggle on vacation

Still struggling to wait for hunger.   It really does work if you wait for the hungry feeling.  I went on my yearly vacation and practice eating when hungry but the food looked so good, I went over board . The only difference between this year and last year was I only gained a few pounds instead of the usual 7 lbs. I did not beat myself up for eating so much, I enjoyed every minute of the delicious foods.  It has only been 5 days since  I returned home and already lost 4lbs. I really need to pay attention to the hungry feeling because I did not count calories  or weight watcher points. 
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Loose 52 pounds in 2 1/2 months diet

People are telling me that carbs are no good for me but I remember in biology that everyone needed at at  least 120 grams of carbs per day.  I remember eating the bacon and egg diet that says you can loose 25 lbs in two and a half months.  I tried on several occasions to loose on this diet but would always got depressed because as the diet stated this is a chemical break down diet but all it did was leave me feeling depressed in a chemical induced state of being. Around the afternoon lunch I would feel out of touch of sort and not feel like myself  but I would usually try to continue on the diet and only last until day three, by then,  I was out of control an looking for cake, cookies or chips.  I would feel like I  looked like a drug addict   searching for my next fix and usually would get so irritated  and quit saying I am failure again.  Thank God for this new way of eating. I was missing carbs on this diet but my body knew exactly what it needed. 
 

WHAT IF I CAN'T STOP EATING WHEN HUNGER STOPS

For me when ever I am out of control and can't seem to stop eating, it is usually because I am sad or upset.  During this process of eating when hungry I started to feel uncomfortable in my own skin.  I was irritated most days. I kept asking myself, what is wrong with you.  What happen was  I had come to a point where I was no longer using food to sadate myself so I had to feel all of the uncomfortable feelings I  pushed down with food.  I finally realized food was my drug of choice.  I would eat when I got off work because the day was so stressful.  I realize the job was making me fat and I either had to leave it or figure out how to deal with the stress without using food.  At this time I don't have the mind nor the fiances to leave the job so I need to figure out how to deal with the stress.  When I get off work now I come into the house and sit for about 30 minutes doing nothing with the thoughts of snacks and dinner in my head.  First I have explained to my children that Mommy needs 30 minutes to unwind so that we can all have a good evening.  My son usually ask."Did your 30 minutes start already? In this 30 minutes I ask myself, how was your day? then I answer exactly how it was.  I talk to myself about how upset something made me  and the best way to let it go. I tell myself that the uncomfortable feelings have become a way of life for my and I will try to embrace them until I figure out where to put them.  If I need to cry, then I will cry.  Putting them on paper has helped but I try to follow up with positive thoughts.  You might ask why is she making this blog but for me it has been very therapeutic.  I am greatful for the eating when hungry revelation. When I first started this blog I   really wanted to delete everything but as I go back and read it I really realize I have made such a transformation from my earlier depress state of mind.  I got off the yo yo dieting trip and I have never been happier. Now when I get those uncomfortable feelings I search my heart to see what it really needs.  You may not loose weight quickly but it does eventually come off.  Slowly but surely

What makes you feel tired?

Make good choices with your food so that you don't get sick.   If you like nachos, pay attention on how they make you feel.  I like donuts from Dun kin donuts and Crispy Creme but I think really hard before I eat them.  Usually I only like the first few bites but will devourer the whole donut but after I get tired and my energy level goes down.   I usually will  take a small piece of the cake donut then give the rest away because  I don't want that tired feeling plus I am usually satisfied after a bite or two.  Usually higher calories foods start to ware on your body and eventually make you sick in some way.  Pay attention to how you feel when you eat certain foods.  I love Auncha mima  pancakes with  Mrs Butters worth syrup but when I eat them I get so tired that I usually want to go back to bed so I only eat a really small amount to get satisfied then I wait for hunger then think about what I really want on the next meal and usually the rest of the pancakes are the further est thing from my mind.   Its not that I only eat small amount but I only eat small amounts of foods that make me tired. If trying to lose weight continue to eat when hungry and keep a track of your calorie intake.  I am using Weight Watcher points and My Daily Plate for a reference.  If I eat to many points on ww I don't worrry about it because it is only a reference guide. 
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Drink lots of water

When trying to lose weight, drink lots of water.  It will make you fuller when eating and it makes your food digest better.  I try to drink 1/2 my body weight and when I do I get great results.  Just try it, you should see a difference in a matter of two days.  The first day you may look like you have gained a pound (maybe) but the next day it should be gone with outstanding results.  Water helped with my foot problem to.  I was having pangs in the middle of my food and realized I had not  drank much water for  few  days because I just forgot  drink it and the pain disappeared within one day after drinking 1/2 my body weight. When I told some one I was having trouble with my foot, I got the respond of," maybe its arteries" i fee like it was water defiance.  Continue to eat when hungry and stop when your not hungry any more and you should start to feel better and better

Sparkpeople and Weight Watchers

I want to lose 5 pounds by 10-31-3010 so I went to SparkPeople.com and signed up.   The site calculated I should be eating 1800 to 2010 calories per day. That is approximately 36  to 40 weight watchers  points. I must also burn 1080 calories per week which is do able.  This eating when hungry, calories and points seems like a math equation that finally makes since.   The exercise is only 18 minutes per day which is do able. Man I feel all over the place.  The SparkPeople.com site says I need to burn 360 today to meet my goal so my exercise of choice is Stationary Bicycling: vigorous for 15 minutes and I would have burned 370 calories

Weight Watchers with Intuitive Eating

I love IE and have finally let go of the diet mentality.  I only lost 17 pound since IE and that took me a year, from Oct 2009 to Oct 2010.  that does not seem like a lot but I am smaller than  a year ago and I never felt better. I don't think of food all the time and I eat what ever I want.  I no longer desired a bag of cookies and Doritos now I only eat one or two cookies and a few Doritos and I feel satisfied.  IE takes you through changes and changes the way you feel about food.  I have started to use WW with IE because I could use the a guide line about the portions I am eating.  If I follow my hunger I seem to maintain.  I have only used ww points for the past 3 weeks and I have lost 7 pounds. I do eat more than the allotted points ww give you.