Category Archives: The Healthy Life

Breaking Bad for Thanksgiving, but Thankful Anyway

27 Wednesday Nov 2013

Posted by in The Healthy Life, Transitions

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My left foot, 24-hours after breaking bad.

My left foot, 24-hours after breaking bad.

I can’t help but think that when it comes to Thanksgiving, I’m operating under some sort of jinx. Ten years ago, my divorce was finalized the day before Thanksgiving. I wrote about that experience two years ago on this blog in a post that struck a chord with well more than a thousand readers after being featured on WordPress. The following year, the essay was reprinted on Better After 50, a terrific site for midlifers.

The post addressed the vast changes I grappled with in celebrating a major holiday right on the heels of my divorce, and how, newly remarried, my second husband and I would drive up to Ohio from Virginia, where we had recently moved. Having no home base any longer, we celebrated Thanksgiving in a restaurant. We were with all three of our sons, but it still felt alien to me.

Last year, my husband and I very nearly had to spend the holiday apart; he had just taken on a new job back in Ohio, and I was holding down the fort at our Virginia home, beginning, once again, the rituals of packing and preparing a house to go on the market. John could have had his turkey in the dining area of the Residence Inn, where his company was putting him up;  I would have had the better end of the deal: celebrating with our good friends in Richmond. But I flew up for a house-hunting trip, and my future daughter-in-law’s parents kindly invited us to join them for their Thanksgiving. Still, it wasn’t quite the same. This now made two years in a row that I wasn’t able to cook for my favorite food holiday.

So imagine my excitement this year when, finally settled in a charming 84-year-old house near the shores of Lake Erie, I began orchestrating plans for a Thanksgiving meal around my grandmother’s old table. I began to pull out my holiday recipes. I ordered an organic, free-range turkey from our local market. I put a fall wreath on the front door.

Because John’s older son and his fiancé couldn’t rearrange their work schedules, we actually celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas on Friday, November 8, with a homemade lasagna dinner at which all of our boys were present, joined by P’s fiancé and my son’s new bride. It was lovely. And it’s a good thing we had that at least, because two days later, I fell.

We were walking our dog Sunday evening. It was dark. This little deadly was on the sidewalk:

Ohio is the buckeye state. This is a buckeye pod. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Ohio is the buckeye state. This is a buckeye pod. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Long story short, a trip to the emergency room confirmed my worst fear: I had broken my left foot at the fifth metatarsal. The break, known as a Jones fracture, is an unfortunate one in that these types of fractures take an inordinately long time to heal. Something about diminished blood flow in that part of the foot. The orthopedic surgeon I saw the following day ordered a short-leg plaster cast and absolutely no walking on the foot for at least six weeks. At least the fracture doesn’t require surgery.

Now, let me tell you something about charming old homes that were built in 1929. They do not have first-floor master suites. They typically have only one bathroom, always on the second floor. Homes like ours, which have undergone renovation before we got to them, will have a powder room on the main floor. Ours is an anomaly in that the powder room, for which we’re grateful, can only be accessed by walking down two steps off our kitchen. We must also walk up three steps to enter the back door and two to enter the front. Do you see where I’m going with this? The operative word here is “steps.” Crutches are notoriously dangerous…perhaps as dangerous as buckeye pods. The only way for me to get anywhere vertically in our house is by scooching on my bottom. Unless you work out frequently and have impressive upper body strength (which I don’t), this is not as easy as you would think. Consequently, I have spent nearly three weeks marooned on the second floor of our home.

Here’s where I get to the part about being thankful.

My youngest stepson is enjoying a gap year from college. He has been here every day during the week since my fall, bringing me meals on a tray, walking our dog (carefully), and performing all manner of tasks and errands until my husband returns from work in the evening. In an attempt to help further his education (maybe not much of a deal for him), I’ve taken him on as an intern for my company, teaching him a few PR ropes. He is assisting me with an important project for one of my clients, and quite frankly, I don’t know what I’d do without him. Luckily my office is on the second floor. I tool back and forth from bed to bath and beyond (well, to the office) with this nifty knee scooter.

Zoom-Zoom

Zoom-Zoom

My husband is doing the cooking, marketing, also running errands, and tending to me in the most loving way imaginable—all while commuting to work each day. He has the patience of Job.

Our new church has arranged for us to have several home-cooked meals; one new church-friend even dropped by our home with altar flowers to cheer me. Two neighbors have helped me out with a couple of breakfasts when C. wasn’t able to be here in the morning. Members of the blogging community have reached out to me with love and good wishes. The positive energy from all of this could get a city off the grid.

So this Thanksgiving, when I bow my head before the turkey dinner that my husband will have cooked with the help of his youngest son, I know what my blessings are, and what to be thankful for. They are legion, and I am humbled by the generosity and selflessness of others.

But if it’s all right with you, God, I’m going to add a small request during my prayer of thanks: Please. No more broken bones. As You know, because You know everything, this is my third fracture.

Readers, I suppose I’ll have to tell you about those other bad breaks some time. For now, let’s all give thanks for family and friends.

Wishing you a blessed, healthy, and peaceful Thanksgiving!

FitBit Fits the Bill, I’ll Fit in New Dress

19 Thursday Sep 2013

Posted by in Product Reviews, The Healthy Life

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(Sung to the Cheers theme song: Where every electronic device knows your name...)

Just one of the ways the FitBit One greets me after I’ve been away.

Disclosure: I am participating in the Verizon Boomer Voices program and have been provided with a wireless device and six months of service in exchange for my honest opinions about the product.

You have to love an electronic device that cares enough to remember your name. And you know the relationship is promising when it strives to keep you motivated throughout your weight-loss program without barking like a drill sergeant or Jillian Michaels. For two weeks this month, I’ve dated—er, tested—the FitBit One, an adorable, unassuming little device, no bigger than an eraser, but with the brains of a computer and the heart of a personal trainer who really wants you to do well.

MorgueFile image

If only an eraser could make those pounds and all that cellulite vanish! —MorgueFile image

My son is getting married in a month. If there’s to be room for the mother of the groom in the dress that I bought, I should lose at least ten pounds before the wedding. As of this writing, I’ve lost six, and I have two trusty tools in my arsenal to thank for this success: the Digest Diet, a variation of which I’ve gone back on (you can read about my earlier success on the diet here) and the FitBit One.

I discovered the FitBit One when I went to Chicago this summer as a guest of Verizon Wireless and the Verizon Boomer Voices program. I assumed we’d be talking about phones, but that was just the half of it. The good people at Verizon Wireless and Motorola trained us not only on the DROID RAZR MAXX HD, but also on the FitBit One. We learned about other Verizon Wireless devices, too, but that’s another story.

You’ve no doubt heard that the path to great health is walking 10,000 steps each day. Well, FitBit has heard about that, too. Any day that you reach that goal (and I reached it…once), FitBit’s screen lights up with a sort of “atta girl!” message.

FitBit is more than a glorified pedometer, though. It tracks how many calories you burn each day and how many flights of stairs you climb. It also translates the number of steps walked into number of miles traveled. It’s genius, however, is in its ability to sync wirelessly with select computers and mobile devices—Mac or PC.

ShotofSyncScreenI downloaded the free FitBit APPs for my iPhone, my iPad, and the DROID I’m still testing. Control central, however, is my laptop, which I’m on every morning. There’s a mysterious little device that comes with the FitBit called a “Dongle.” Don’t ask. You plug that into your computer’s USB port, place your FitBit next to it, and it begins to sync. Once finished, you’re directed to log on to the account you’ve set up on FitBit.com. Check your tallies for the day, and you’ll see your stats appear on the site. Place your FitBit next to your mobile device, and it automatically syncs without your having to lift a finger.

There are bits of data you need to record manually. FitBit is not equipped—not yet, anyway—to miraculously determine what food you’ve eaten, how much of it, or when. But if you’re dieting you’re likely to keep a food log anyway; simply use the food log on the FitBit site. The calories are already programmed for many of the foods you are likely to eat, just enter your portions. Unusual items, like homemade, recipe-specific meals (the foods I prepare for the Digest Diet, for example), must be entered manually, but once you’ve done so they’re saved in your list of foods. Simply start typing to enter and the site’s predictive text brings it right up. Click and your entry is logged.

You can also record such activities as swimming, running, and other forms of exercise. And of course, each morning after you’ve weighed yourself, enter that, too.

Finally, if you’ve ever wondered whether you’re really getting a good night’s sleep, FitBit can tell you. Place it in the wristband that came with it, put it on the wrist of your non-dominant hand, and while you are sleeping, the FitBit records how many times you wake up and how long you’ve slumbered, gauging the efficiency of your sleep. It can even wake you up, if you like. And gently. Just set the alarm.

Since a wedding is prompting me to focus on my weight loss and overall physical health, I propose another perfect union: Digest Diet and FitBit should get married. The two together are simply awesome. (And it would be nice to have my favorite Digest Diet recipes already loaded into the device’s algorithms.)

Now that would be a perfect match.

The FitBit One retails for $99.99 and includes a rechargeable battery. Use of the FitBit website is free, but if you want to participate in FitBit Benchmark, an interactive tool that gives you access to the entire FitBit database, allowing you to track your progress against that of other users, you need to pay an annual premium membership fee of $49.99.

Product Review: Murad’s Vitalic Skin Care Line

30 Tuesday Oct 2012

Posted by in LifeStyles, Product Reviews, The Beautiful Life, The Healthy Life

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Three amazing skin care products from Murad‘s Vitalic Line: Energizing Pomegranate Moisturizer, Energizing Pomegranate Cleanser, and T-Zone Pore Refining Gel

Thanks to my Sicilian-Lebanese heritage, I’ve been blessed with Mediterranean skin. It has served me well for 56 years—I have no wrinkles or fine lines to speak of, my skin is rarely dry, and it has an elasticity that would make Gumby proud. You do know that there’s a ‘however’ coming, right?

The downside of a skin type such as mine is excess oil that can lead to the occasional pimple, and a tendency toward clogged pores. As blessed as I am to have the skin I have, it nevertheless strikes me as unfair that at my age I still worry about blemishes. Now that’s a First World Problem if ever there was one.

Stress tends to trigger my breakouts; in August and September, with stress levels high, four pimples appeared like four badges of honor on my face. In addition, my skin looked dull and tired—probably because I was feeling dull and tired. Then two things occurred that brightened my outlook considerably.

First, I went on the Digest Diet in September and lost ten pounds. I’ve blogged about my weight loss journey (I’ve kept the weight off, too) and as I noted, one of the side benefits to the diet was a new-found clarity to my skin.

Second, I changed-up my skin care routine. I’d used Bliss products for years and liked them just fine, but my skin seems to have outgrown them. My face just wasn’t feeling clean or bright. As luck would have it, I was given an opportunity to try three products from Murad‘s Vitalic skin care line. Let me tell you a bit about Murad.

Dr. Howard Murad is the man behind the company. A board-certified dermatologist and a member of the American Academy of Dermatology, he has devised something called the “Science of Cellular Water,” which looks at the ability of cell membranes to retain water within cells as the fundamental marker of youthful good health. Dr. Murad combined this with an approach to skin care he calls “inclusive health.” It’s no surprise that my dieting, in tandem with Murad products, resulted in glowing skin: internal care is one of the three pillars of Dr. Murad’s plan, with the other two being topical skin care and sense of self.

I was doing aces in the internal care component, which, according to the Murad website, “maximizes the body’s healing capacity through choices in food … that ensure it has the building blocks it needs to produce strong, watertight cells.” Admittedly, I still need to find time for those “sense of self”—activities such as facials and massages that also help to reduce one’s level of cell-damaging stress.

Here’s how my path crossed with Murad products.

When I was at the BlogHer12 conference in New York City, I attended a fabulous party sponsored by BOOMBox Network. The B(L)OOMERS PARTY, as it was called, celebrated the theme of beauty and wisdom, and brought together, in one sophisticated location near Bryant Park, a whole flock of women who blog about midlife issues. (I have so much more to tell you about this event, but it will have to keep for a future post. For now, here’s a photo from the party.)

That’s me on the right; to my left is Carrie Tuhy, co-founder of the Second Lives Club.

Many of the party’s sponsors were eager to meet with us to show off their latest and greatest products, samples of which could be found in the swag bags we received. Murad was one company that immediately caught my eye. Our gift bags included a sample kit of their Resurgence line of skin care products, which are designed to address the signs of hormonal aging.

When I got home I gave the products a try, but I sensed—correctly—that they weren’t what my skin needed. When I wrote to the representative I’d met at the party to let her know, she told me that another product line might suit me better.

She sent me three different products to try from Murad’s Vitalic Line, which was created to even oily and dry zones, clear clogged pores, and keep combination skin like mine in balance. Here’s what I promised Murad: if I was pleased with the products, I would write a review. There was no expectation that I would do so; I could have tried the products, hated them, called it a day, and you’d be reading something else right now.

But that’s not what happened.

The pomegranate-kissed products in the Murad Vitalic line are exactly what I’ve been looking for. I absolutely love these products. I love the way my face feels after washing it with the Energizing Pomegranate cleanser. Besides having a pleasant fragrance—something akin to pink lemonade—the cleanser leaves my skin feeling freshly-scrubbed but not dry. One of its main ingredients is witch hazel, a botanical used to produce astringents. That’s one of the reasons I feel so clean after using this cleanser—the witch hazel actually removes the excess oil from my Mediterranean skin.

After washing my face and neck with the Pomegranate cleanser, I gently massage the T-Zone Pore Refining Gel over my face and neck. The packaging tells me that I can expect the retinol in this gel to help improve my skin texture, tone, and radiance; the glycolic and salicylic acids act as an exfoliant to help clear my pores and imperfections; and the pomegranate extract neutralizes and protects my skin against free radical damage. Now I studied biology, not chemistry, but I’m sure that indeed is what’s going on. The proof is in the mirror.

I think my skin looks great! Now if Murad has something to unpack those bags under my eyes….

The third-step is the moisturizer, which is oil free and contains broad spectrum SPF 15 protection—a nice added benefit. I don’t use this moisturizer near my eyes, however; in fact, I’m still using the Renewing Eye Cream from the Resurgence line for that area. I’d love it if Murad would manufacturer an eye-specific moisturizer in the Vitalic line—maybe something that can reduce the puffiness under my eyes. The other two products I have yet to try are the Energizing Pomegranate SPF 15 Lip Protector and a Pomegranate Exfoliating Mask. It’s been a long while since I’ve treated myself to a decent facial, so I plan on purchasing the mask and give myself one at home.

Most Murad products are available at Sephora. Murad also has a line of professional spa treatments; if you visit the spa locator on their website you can find out whether there’s a salon offering Murad near you.

Please let me know if you have any questions about this review, or about Murad products in general. My glowing skin and I are happy to help!

Read this important update about Murad’s Vitalic skin care line.

My Mother’s Voice

12 Friday Oct 2012

Posted by in The Healthy Life, The Writing Life, Transitions, What's the Buzz?

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I wrote an essay—the first of many I will write—about my mother’s slide into the quicksand and darkness of dementia. I published it on my blog, and the editors of BlogHer honored it with a Voice of the Year Award for 2012. I’m proud of this, but not solely for the reason you might think. I’m proud of this essay because it exists, because I was able to write it at all. I managed to descend into that frightening pit of despair and start to tell my mother’s story, to return her voice to her, to leave something of her to this world that she left 12 years ago. This was not an easy thing to do, and I will have to do it again and again and again, until her story is fully told, until her voice is finally heard. It will be difficult, and I know there will be times I’ll be afraid to continue.

She was an intensely private person, but in this respect I think she would want me to keep going. She would want people to know, because, sadly, she was one among millions who have disappeared into the maw of Alzheimer’s, and who will continue to disappear until a cure can be found. Maybe if enough stories get told, if enough attention is paid, something that might be enough will be done, and the disease (the irony of my word choice isn’t lost on me) will itself become a memory. It happened with smallpox. It could happen again.

According to Alzheimer’s Disease Research, a program of the American Health Assistance Foundation, more than 5.4 million Americans are believed to have Alzheimer’s disease; by 2050, as the U.S. population ages, this number could increase to 15 million. There are nearly 36 million people living with dementia worldwide, and this number is likely to increase to more than 115 million by 2050.

The essay, “‘Have You Met My Daughter?’ My Mother, Her Alzheimer’s and Me,” is one of 80 essays representing 80 bloggers included in the Voices of the Year anthology, published by BlogHer in conjunction with Open Road Media.

The anthology will be available for download (from Amazon and iTunes) on Oct. 30, but advance orders are available now. Here’s what Amazon says about BlogHer and the book:

BlogHer is a unique media company created by women, for women, and—most importantly—with women, women like those whose voices you’ll read in this collection. Each year, BlogHer—the largest network of women who blog—hosts an initiative to identify the very best work from across the blogosphere. Submitted by the community, selected by a committee, and presented at the world’s largest blogging conference, the pieces presented here have it all because women live it all—online and off. Humor. Inspiration. Food. Family. Style. Sex. Politics. Tech. Career. Dreams. BlogHer’s Voices of the Year reminds us of the transformative power of blogs to connect us all via powerful storytelling.

My thanks to Elisa, Lisa, and Jory—the co-founders of BlogHer—for envisioning this project, and to Donna Schwartz Mills, a member of BlogHer’s conference programming team, for helping to administrate it. I’m humbled by the honor, and honored that my mother’s story will reach a wider audience.

My Gift to You: A Chance to Win ‘The Digest Diet’

08 Monday Oct 2012

Posted by in Special Events, The Healthy Life, Transitions, What's the Buzz?

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The recipes in this book are delicious and fun to prepare.

Thanks to the good offices of Reader’s Digest, I’m happy to announce that I have a beautiful, jacketed copy of The Digest Diet to give away. Here’s how to enter:

Visit the round-up post about my Digest Diet journey and leave a positive comment. That’s your “entry form.” Just a few caveats, however:

  • You have to live within the contiguous United States;
  • There has to be a way for me to get in touch with you to notify you that you’ve won. If you’re not sure that I have your email and postal addresses, please go to the contact page (found above the masthead in the drop-down menu under ‘Who is the Midlife Second Wife?’), and send me an email with that information. (There’s no form to bother with, but that’s where you’ll find my email address.) I do not and will not share your information with any third party;
  • If I am unable to reach you by email to notify you that you’ve won, I will draw another name;
  • And of course, you need to enter by leaving a comment on the round-up Digest Diet post. (“Enter by leaving.” I like that. Think I’ll start a meme to that effect!)

I’ll pick the winner sometime this weekend, and announce it next Monday here on the blog. Good luck, everyone!

The Digest Diet Day 21: Did I Do It? Am I Done?

02 Tuesday Oct 2012

Posted by in Food for Thought, The Healthy Life, Transitions

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This isn’t really a diet book, in my opinion. It’s more a handbook for a healthy way to eat.

Yes, I did it! I reached my implicit goal: to get my weight below 200. I now clock in at 199 pounds 8 ounces, for a grand total loss of 9 pounds 6 ounces. Yay me! Yay Digest Diet! Let’s recap, shall we?

I started the Digest Diet three weeks ago, weighing in at 209 pounds 4 ounces. I’m a 56-year-young thyroid cancer survivor with a job where I spend most of the day sitting in front of a computer in my home office. If you were paying careful attention, you can count three significant factors in that previous sentence: age, the loss of the body’s metabolism regulator, and lifestyle. These factors gave rise to my weight gain over the years. My issues with weight have been pretty consistent: I’ve needed to lose a good bit of it, and I’ve lacked the proper motivation.

There’s no motivator quite like telling the world what you’re up to. I believe one reason I’ve found success on this diet is because I’ve checked in a couple of times a week—not just here, but also on the Digest Diet Twitter hashtag (#DigestDiet) and their Facebook site. The community of Digest Dieters in the blogosphere has been incredibly supportive, as have the staff at Readers’ Digest.

If you’ve been tracking my progress, you’ll recall that my explicit goal was to lose 15 pounds. Although I fell slightly more than five pounds short of that goal, I’m satisfied with my results. The big deal for me, at least psychologically, was not to see the numeral two leading off the numbers of my digital weight. I cannot tell you what this means to me. I also went down a bra size, too. (I’m not much for measuring myself—I’ve always sort of gone by how my clothes fit and look on me—so I don’t have those stats.)

But let’s take a look, shall we? Here are my before and after pictures:

After

Before

When I tell you that this is the best diet I’ve been on, these are the indices I used:

  • I continually lost weight. I might have plateaued a day or three, but I never reversed direction. The trajectory was down, down, down. And I hope you can tell from the photos, but the sleeve on my shirt is looser than in the first photo, the girls look more reined in, and one of my middle bulges is nearly gone.
  • My self-esteem trajectory was up, up, and up.
  • I had more energy. It was easier to take extended walks for exercise—at minimum one mile—because I didn’t get winded and my knees didn’t hurt.
  • My skin has more clarity.
  • With one or two rare exceptions, I’ve absolutely loved every recipe I’ve prepared from this book—so much so that I plan to incorporate almost everything I tried into my regular routine. And here is the answer to the second question in my headline: I’m not done. Not by a long shot. Not only do I not want to see weight creep again, I want to continue this pattern of healthy eating. And I promise to check in with you down the road to let you know if I’ve done so.

Here’s what I cooked for dinner the other evening, toward he end of the diet. My husband loved this, and so did I.

Spaghetti with Super Mushroomy Marinara

I’ll try, before the end of the week, to share the recipe for this pasta dish. Coming from someone who is half-Sicilian, you know you can trust me when I tell you that this satisfied my pasta fulfillment requirements.

Now, three minor caveats about the Digest Diet:

First, it will help enormously if you love to cook, don’t mind cooking frequently, and have access to a good market with a wide array of produce, seafood, and the occasional esoteric item, such as almond oil. Fortunately, I love to play in the kitchen and a fabulous market recently opened up within walking distance of my home, so I enjoyed pulling these recipes together. But do note that there is a time, labor, and shopping factor involved here, and this diet will require a level of commitment that must take those factors into account.

Second, I’m not sure I would have been as successful on the diet if I were working full-time away from home. The flexibility that being self-employed gives me enabled me to weave the demands of frequent cooking, shopping—and yes, eating—into my day. You’re eating five times a day on this diet, not three, so those with a different daily schedule might find it all a bit challenging. If you are willing to be more organized and dedicated, you’ll do fine. Trust me. Two days into this you will want to keep going. When you see the results and experience how you’re starting to feel, you’ll find it’s worth spending the extra time in the kitchen and at the market.

Finally, there are no guidelines in the book about eating out in restaurants while you’re on the diet, something that my husband and I do about twice a week. (We just avoided restaurants for the duration.) I did, however, find a page on the Readers’ Digest website that addresses this issue. Perhaps a subsequent edition of the book could incorporate the great information on the website.

Last Friday I had a lunch meeting with a client, my first foray into a restaurant since starting the diet. I chose a tossed green salad with feta cheese, grilled chicken, walnuts, and cranberries in a raspberry vinaigrette. I ate some of the cranberries but felt they might have too much sugar, so I left most of them on my plate. Once you’ve been on the diet for a week or so, you’ll get a sense of what foods to avoid and what foods will help you continue to release those damn fat cells.

Would I recommend this book to someone struggling with weight? In a New York minute! I have tried so many diets throughout my lifetime, and nothing—I repeat, nothing, compares to the Digest Diet in terms of results. At no time did I feel I was starving or denying myself of something delicious to eat.

Do you believe that some things in life are just meant to be? I do. I was meant to go on this diet, right now. Here’s the sign the universe sent to tell me so. Do  remember the chocolate chip/coconut/walnut cookie from my first Digest Diet post? You know, the “Royale” from Richmond’s Café Caturra? Here’s a photo to refresh your memory:

The restaurant doesn’t make this cookie anymore. They changed distributors and no longer have access to the required ingredients. Now if that’s not a sign from the gods, I don’t know what is.

(Just don’t ask me how I know.)

Related posts:

How to Buy the Book

13 Things You Didn’t Know About the Digest Diet

The Digest Diet: Day 18 and Wow! The Loss I’ve Seen

A Fat Releasing Salad that’s Good and Good for You

The Digest Diet: Day 13 and Slowly Getting Lean

The Digest Diet: It’s Day Eight and I’ve Lost Weight

The Digest Diet: Day 3 and 2 Pounds Free

21 Days of the Digest Diet: Days 1-4, There’s a Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On

Buh-Bye, Cookie. I’ll Be Blogging it Off With the Digest Diet

The Digest Diet: Day 18 and Wow! The Loss I’ve Seen!

27 Thursday Sep 2012

Posted by in Food for Thought, The Healthy Life, Transitions

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This is more than a diet book. It’s a food book.

I know what you’re thinking. The Midlife Second Wife has really done it now. She drank the Kool-Aid. Have you not been following this? Kool-Aid is not allowed on the Digest Diet. But yes, I agree with you. Two exclamation points in one headline is a tad zealous. In my defense I could not help myself. Why? I weighed myself this morning and since starting this diet 18 days ago, I have lost nearly nine pounds. (Eight pounds six ounces, for the sticklers among you.) I am less than one pound away from my implicit goal: to get my weight under 200 pounds. Put another way, I began at 209 pounds four ounces, and I now weigh 200 pounds eight ounces. I have lost eight one-pound packages of butter, for crying out loud. Can you blame me for expressing a bit of fervor?

How is this even possible? I have rarely felt hungry, I haven’t had a single craving for anything I used to consume with such abandon, and I really enjoy preparing the foods in this diet book. To call it a diet book, however, seems wrong, somehow; I think—and I hope the coming weeks will bear this out—that this is really a food book. A book on the best food to eat, how to eat it, and how often.

Collateral benefits? I’ve had a few. My knee joints are not as painful as they once were. I have more energy. And my skin has much more clarity than it did two-and-a-half weeks ago.

Let me tell you what I had for lunch recently. No wait. I’ll show you first.

Gazpacho served with five-grain whole wheat bread and skim milk

Here’s how easy it was to prepare this lunch. First, go to the market and buy a small
boule (French for ball) loaf of five-grain whole wheat bread and a carton of skim milk. For the gazpacho, which is served cold or at room temperature, grab a couple of plum or Roma tomatoes, a cucumber, a small red onion, and—if you don’t already have some stored in your refrigerator—flaxseed meal. You probably have the rest of the ingredients in your pantry (red wine vinegar and Cayenne pepper). Then, do this:

Spicy Blender Gazpacho
—Makes One Serving

Coarsely chop two plum tomatoes, one-half of a cucumber (peeled), and one-eighth of a small red onion. Throw ’em in the blender. Add two tablespoons of flaxseed meal. Then, to your taste, add cayenne pepper and red-wine vinegar. Blend for about as long as it takes you to pour a half-glass of skim milk.

And that, my friends, is that. Delicious. And as I’ve found so often with these recipes, I couldn’t finish the entire serving. I’m going to have the one-quarter cup or so of gazpacho for lunch today with a tuna, egg, chickpea, and arugula salad (with buttermilk dressing, if you can believe it) that I made for lunch yesterday.

I’d hang around and tell you more about all of this, but it’s time for my mid-morning snack. What am I having, you ask? It’s a dreamy little concoction that reminds me of a prune Danish without the pastry. I stir two chopped organic prunes into one-quarter cup of low-fat ricotta cheese and add a pinch of cinnamon to taste.

(The book calls for dates but I don’t have any; I do, however, have a package of organic prunes in the fridge. It also asks for fat-free ricotta but I wasn’t able to find that.) Even using low-fat rather than fat-free ricotta, I’m on a roll. And it’s better to be on a roll than to have one around your middle. My roll, dear friends, is deflating as we speak.

Other than providing me with a copy of The Digest Diet, Readers’ Digest is not paying me to blog about my experience on the program. (If I lose the weight I hope to lose, that will be compensation enough.)

A Fat-Releasing Salad That’s Good and Good for You

24 Monday Sep 2012

Posted by in Food for Thought, The Healthy Life

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Dressed with the Digest Diet Vinaigrette, this salad is worthy of any menu

It’s Day Fifteen of the Digest Diet, with six days to go. The needle has hovered at 203 for the last few days. (In a manner of speaking. I have a digital scale so of course there’s no needle; some visual memories just die hard.) I’m pleased to report, however, that this morning I dropped another half-pound, and have decided that even if I don’t meet my 15-pound weight loss goal, I’ll be satisfied to welcome a poundage report that does not begin with the number “2.” Can’t remember the last time I clocked in at under 200.

And now I would like to say a word about fat. There are, as I’ve learned on this diet, good fats and bad fats. Examples of foods containing good fats are coconut milk, olive oil, salmon, and nuts, seeds, and nut butters—especially flax, walnut, and sunflower. There are also bad fats, and I love cooking and baking with one of them—namely, butter. I must admit that for the past 16 days, I haven’t missed butter at all. I will welcome its return (I’m an epicurean gourmet, after all), but I will be mindful of my intake. That’s one fat lesson learned.

(And while we’re on the topic, stay away from margarine. That’s me telling you, not Reader’s Digest. I don’t think there’s anything real in margarine, and your body simply does not know what to do with that stuff.)

Now here’s another nugget from the Reader’s Digest Diet: Some foods are actually “fat releasers.” That is, they are rich in certain micro- and macronutrients that encourage weight loss. Vitamin C, calcium (including dairy sources of calcium), protein, reservatrol (found in red wine, red grapes, and peanuts), fiber, vinegar, quinoa, honey, and cocoa are all beneficial—and natural—elements in a weight-loss program. The salad I made the other evening and pictured above is a great example of a fat-releasing dish. I served this with broiled cod and steamed green beans and quite frankly it was all so filling that I couldn’t finish my allotted portions.

I’m sharing the recipe for the salad and its accompanying vinaigrette here because it shocked me. How? Because its main ingredient is a green I previously disliked: arugula. I’ve never been a fan of bitter foods, and arugula is notorious for the bitter snap it leaves on the tongue. Something about the combination of watercress with the arugula, however, softened its bitterness. The fat releasers in this salad are the watercress, arugula, red onion, olive oil, lemon, Parmesan cheese, almonds, black pepper; in the vinaigrette, the troopers are the garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, and pepper. (By the way, I use freshly ground pepper. Forever and always.) I really liked this salad and will be glad to serve it long after I’ve passed the final day of the Digest Diet. I hope you’ll enjoy it, too!

Watercress-Arugula Salad with Parmesan “Crackers”
—Makes 4 servings

1 bunch watercress (6 ounces), tough stems trimmed, coarsely chopped
4 cups packed baby arugula (about 4 ounces)
1/2 small red onion, very thinly slivered
3 tablespoons Digest Diet Vinaigrette (below), made with lemon juice and no herbs*
8 Parmesan “Crackers” (below)

In a large salad bowl, toss together the watercress, arugula, and onion. Add the vinaigrette and toss again to coat. Serve each salad with 2 Parmesan “crackers.”

Parmesan “Crackers”
—Makes 8 crackers

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese (I used freshly grated Parmigianno-Reggiano)
2 tablespoons almond meal (As permitted, I substituted ground up pistachios)
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Preheat the oven to 375-degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick liner.

In a small bowl, combine the Parmesan, almond meal, and pepper. Spoon 1-tablespoon mounds of the mixture onto the baking sheet, 4 inches apart. With the back of the measuring spoon (I found that using the heel of my hand worked better), gently press each into a round about 2-1/2 inches across (make sure there are no gaps in the mixture).

Bake until turning golden all over, about 10 minutes. Let cool for 3 minutes on the baking sheet, then carefully transfer (they’re fragile) to a wire rack to cool.

Digest Diet Vinaigrette
—Makes 1 cup

1 clove garlic
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (or fresh lime juice, or vinegar—red-wine, white-wine, sherry, rice, red balsamic, white balsamic)
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon, oregano, mint, or dill (optional)*
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1. Grate the garlic on a citrus zester into a small screw-top jar or any tight-sealing container. Add the juice or vinegar, mustard, herb (if using), and pepper. Shake well to combine.

2. Add the oil and shake to emulsify. If you have the time, let the dressing sit for a while so the garlic can flavor the oil. Store in the refrigerator.

*I prepared this vinaigrette the first time it was a component of the diet, and I still have a fair amount left. Because I hate to waste food (and in order to save time), I used this version for the salad, herbs and all (I believe I added French tarragon), rather than make a new batch without herbs. Had I not already prepared this with lemon juice, however, I would have made a new batch.

Copyright © 2012 The Reader’s Digest Association. Used with permission.

Other than providing me with a copy of The Digest Diet, Readers’ Digest is not paying me to blog about my experience on the program. (If I lose the weight I hope to lose, that will be compensation enough.)

 

The Digest Diet: Day 13 and (Slowly) Getting Lean

22 Saturday Sep 2012

Posted by in The Healthy Life, Transitions

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Shrimp Soup from the Digest Diet—delicious and satisfying

Well, here it is, the 13th day of the Digest Diet, and I seem to have plateaued a bit. Don’t get me wrong: I’ve lost six-and-a-quarter pounds and for that I’m grateful. I’m still on the downward trajectory—and that’s better than the alternative—but I’m trying to determine why the weight loss has slowed.

Several factors come to mind. First, last week a couple of events sort of knocked me off schedule. I didn’t eat any prohibited food, but I actually missed an afternoon snack and a dinner meal one day, compensating by having my afternoon snack in the evening. The practice of skipping a meal—or even a snack at this point—is one to avoid if at all possible. When you don’t eat, your body is tricked into thinking it’s in starvation mode and therefore clings to the fat for dear life. A paradox, but then so is the fact that women in France who eat butter- and cream-laden foods remain thin because they drink wine with nearly every meal. My resolve for the coming week: stay on track.

The other possibility is the fact that on the fifth day of the diet I shifted into its second gear. The Digest Diet is divided into three phases:

  • Fast Release
  • Fade Away
  • Finish Strong

During the first four days, the weight really came off—I lost three-and-a-quarter pounds by the end of this phase. I also enjoyed two delicious shakes each day and only one snack. I’m presently in the Fade Away phase, with only one shake per day and two snacks. The “Fade Away” phase is rather like a Mediterranean-style diet, with lots of green vegetables and protein, and it allows me a four-ounce glass of red wine at dinner (if I skip the wine I can have a handful of red grapes for dessert). I’m sure that diet results are as varied as people are, but I also wonder about something else.

I’ve heard that muscle weighs more than fat. I’ve been walking fairly regularly, and this past week I did get up to two miles. My legs look and feel more toned, but is it possible that my weight loss isn’t quite as dramatic right now because I’m replacing fat with muscle?

In an earlier post I stated my weight loss goal: to lose 15 pounds. I’m almost halfway there with eight days remaining in the program. I’m confident that I’ll make it, because even though I’m in something of a holding pattern, the meals on this diet are delicious enough, interesting enough, and filling enough, that I have no desire or intention to bail out.

It’s time now to prepare my lunch—a “Fade Away” shake. Tomorrow will be the last day of shakes on the diet, and I have to say I’m going to miss them. I don’t miss pizza, but I know I’ll miss these shakes.

Not missing pizza? That strikes me as another positive, and therefore another plus for the Digest Diet.

Other than providing me with a copy of The Digest Diet, Readers’ Digest is not paying me to blog about my experience on the program. (If I lose the weight I hope to lose, that will be compensation enough.)

The Digest Diet: It’s Day Eight and I’ve Lost Weight

17 Monday Sep 2012

Posted by in The Healthy Life, Transitions

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Bell peppers cut into short strips are sautéed with fennel and garlic in this delicious dish.

I won’t leave you hanging. So far I’ve lost five-and-a-half pounds on the Digest Diet.  This is amazing to me, not because I’ve never lost that much weight so early in a diet before, but because, with a few rare exceptions, I haven’t felt hungry or starved. I’m eating well—good, wholesome, healthy food—and it’s mostly been delicious. I wasn’t wild about a snack of green pepper boats stuffed with low-fat Ricotta cheese and sprinkled with pepper, but then I’ve never been a fan of raw green pepper. I love Ricotta. I’m half-Sicilian, for goodness’ sake. All of the meals I’ve prepared, using recipes from the Digest Diet book, have been superb. Take a look at this photograph, for example. Yes, those happen to be green peppers. They’re accompanied, however, by red and yellow bell peppers and sautéed in extra-virgin olive oil with fennel and garlic. Delicious.

And what a wonderful feeling to use salt again. I always cook with Kosher salt, using sea salt as a finish when a recipe warrants. The recipe for Peperonata with Fennel called for a generous pinch of fine sea salt. I buy coarse-ground, but since I have a mortar and pestle I simply ground the salt to the desired consistency and keep it nearby for later use.

I served this dish with a 4-ounce grilled boneless pork chop for Saturday’s dinner. And guess what? I enjoyed it with a 4-ounce glass of red wine—a robust Zinfandel. If this is what losing weight tastes like, well, I do believe I can keep this up for the full 21 days!

The recipes in this book are delicious and fun to prepare.

Everyone will tell you that it’s not enough to eat mindfully; it’s important to exercise, too. Monday through Friday last week, I walked one mile each day. I took the weekend off, and probably shouldn’t have. But this focused commitment to walking regularly is not in character for me. When I was walking regularly, it was only three times a week. (I wrote a post about the health benefits of walking last year. I’m disappointed in myself for not keeping the momentum going, but I’m trying. I really am.)

So this morning, after drinking a mug of hot lemon water (that’s not in the Digest Diet, but actually a regimen a good friend recommended years ago, when I was recovering from surgery for a broken leg), I walked a mile in my favorite park.

Here’s a picture, taken last year, of my favorite place to walk. (It’s too early in the season to make way for goslings.)

I like to listen to French music when I walk. I wonder: if I continue to lose weight thanks to the Digest Diet and regular, brisk walks accompanied by the French chansons of Edith Piaf and Charles Trenet, do I have to count my weight loss in kilos?

Other than providing me with a copy of The Digest Diet, Readers’ Digest is not paying me to blog about my experience on the program. (If I lose the weight I hope to lose, that will be compensation enough.)