Food for thought

Frankie called my cell phones three times this morning. I picked up none of these calls because I was unavailable, at a very important meeting. On the last call, he left a message:

"Hey Jelly! Do we need to send a search party out for you? I know you ran this morning because I just read your blog, but are you hurt? Are you dead? Why aren't you at work yet? Are you supposed to have the day off? No one -- not even Bosslady -- knows!"

I found the last comment particularly funny and disturbing at the same time since I had told said Bosslady last week via email that I had an appointment on Friday that I just could not miss. Then I also put it in the communal whereabouts diary. We work in communications, but yet we haven't figured out how to communicate with each other. It's ironic.
Well, my very important meeting today was with the dietician -- finally. I'd like to say that it was an eyeopener of a chat with her, but there wasn't a whole lot that she told me that I hadn't already figured out by doing good ol' web research. I've already made a few "lifestyle" changes, including exercising regularly, and some dietary adjustments in the last couple of months. Dietician was impressed that I had adapted my eating habits -- having eliminated pop, sugar in coffee, and reduced the amount of dessert I'll have to cap off a meal.

Dietician had run a marathon before, and told me that those energy gels are important, especially through the long runs. You need 15g of carbohydrates before the run, and as much after. And she reminded me to take my daily pills because the blood/sugar level can be affected up to 24 hours post run.

I asked about what to eat prior to a run, as well as what after. Her answer: prior to run eat something light, perhaps a granaola/cereal bar. She preferred to drink a half-cup of apple juice before going out for a run.


Recall that my endocrinologist called me fat. I've lost about 10 pounds since I saw her -- a combination of increased mileage and smarter eating. The dietician said I have a little bit more work to do because she'd prefer to see my weight in the middle of the BMI range rather than the upper end.

We talked about what I currently eat, what I don't, what I have weaknesses for, and portion size. She would like to see me have more calcium-rich food, which I already thought I needed and talked about in an earlier post.

Then it was playtime. She put bowls, plates, and measuring cups in front of me and I arranged rubber pieces of corn, chicken, peas, cereal, milk, yogurt, fish, steak, etc etc so that I'd remember proper portion sizes and healthy balanced combinations. She said that is wasn't that I ate poorly now, but it was important that I count carbs. A total of 205 grams of available carbs per day over three meals and three snacks.
1 serving=3 tsp of sugar.

Whereas my endocrinologist ordered snacks out of my diet, the dietician put snacks back in the meal plan we developed. Armed witha color-coded poster of suggested foods, I see that I can have 7 soda crackers or 3 arrowroot cookies. One medium apple or 15 cherries. A half cup of chocolate milk. Two cups of strawberries or 30 pretzel sticks. Ten french fries or 3/4 cup of pineapple. Three cups of airpopped popcorn or a two-inch square of cake or brownie... but unfrosted.

I think it's snack time.