Why moms should ignore all the dieting articles and enjoy their Christmas cookies

Today's Examiner column is a re-run of a rant I went on last Advent about women's magazines that tell us we can lose five pounds by Christmas. I claim that this is the very worst thing you can do for yourself. We should enjoy our Christmas cookies and start working out in January. Use a little moderation and common sense here. A good friend of mine gained five pounds after following my advice and blaimed it on my article. Please click here to read it.

Elizabeth’s Fennel and Flax Vinaigrette

This is a very light, yet extremely healthy and satisfying dressing. I wanted something that would pour more easily than my Fennel Parmesan Vinaigrette , and one that would not spoil easily. So I came up with this, and loved it. Hours later, I still felt satisfied. If you are trying to cut out late-night snacking, this just might help you to do it.

½ cup balsamic vinegar
1 ½ cups 100% virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt (or regular salt, or sea salt)
1 teaspoon ground pepper
1 teaspoon fennel seeds, lightly crushed
1 teaspoon flax seed, milled or whole

Funnel ingredients into a jar and shake to mix. Serve immediately or refrigerate.

All the above ingredients, excluding salt, are excellent for cholesterol levels – bringing up the good and lowering the bad. The fats are all good ones, which help to burn “bad” fat, and help to keep you feeling full longer. Vinegar and pepper both help to burn both fat and calories. Fennel seeds are great for the digestive system. (Fennel seed tea was part of the cure for my bout with morning sickness a few years ago.) Flax seed is excellent for the circulatory system; milled has more calories but a greater positive overall effect on the body, while whole is recommended for those trying to lose weight.

For Goodness Sake, Enjoy Those Christmas Cookies!

One of our favorite pastimes in December is the making and eating of cookies. We have been making batches of cookies daily this week, a different type each day; and I keep meaning to make some dishes for the neighbors. After dinner the entire plate disappears like magic. “Oh well,” I say, “I guess we’ll have to make more tomorrow!”

I went food shopping this afternoon and became very angry when I saw the headlines on almost every one of the women’s magazines featured at the checkout line. “Lose 10 pounds by Christmas, Is Stress Making You Fat?, New Miracle Fat-Burning Food, Eat More and Lose Weight, What Happened to Oprah?”

It seems very strange that these titles would be so heavily featured between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the time that most adults tend to gain a few pounds. Women are stressed out, trying to prepare a nice Christmas for their families. This stress is increasing their cortisol levels, which causes them to gain weight. It is making them tired, which causes them to gain weight. Then they see these titles, which increases their guilt at eating delicious food, which increases their stress while eating, which causes them to gain weight.

Dieting right now can actually be dangerous. Cut out the carbohydrates that your brain needs and you will suffer headaches; the hormones needed to keep your mood stabilized will be short-changed, making you irritable or depressed. Resetting your metabolism to using less calories now will cause you to retain the calories when you do let yourself eat at a party.

Most of the editors of these magazines are women, and I am quite surprised that they can purposely do this to other women. I don’t know how they can sleep at night.

Advent is supposed to be a time of feasting and joy. We are supposed to sit by a fire, or on the couch under blankets, enjoying the warmth and the plenty of our tables. Our bodies are made to naturally conserve a little fat over the winter, to keep us warm. I say, enjoy those Christmas cookies, and forget about your weight until New Year’s.

“Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”
Psalms 103:5

Today we light the pink candle for the third week of Advent.

Stair Climbing for Winter Indoor Exercise

“Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for the temple of God, which you are, is holy.”
I Corinthians 3:16-17

Warning: While intended to inspire, this essay is not one that will make you feel good by passively reading without subsequent action.

I fell off the exercise wagon this winter. It must have happened sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and the effects are now undeniable.

It annoys me when women blame their weight gain on having kids. Sure, a nulliparous twenty-year-old can have a flat stomach without working out. We have to do crunches every day to net the same effect. A young woman might get away with skipping exercise for six months with little noticeable effect. Within a month, an over-thirty-five’s jeans no longer fit.

Age and multiparity surely have their effect on a woman’s metabolism. But with a purposeful attitude toward diet and exercise, the whole family can benefit from Mom’s judicial lifestyle practices. Wise shopping, cooking, and daily family walks can keep the entire family in good health and spirits.

Having had gestational diabetes in my third pregnancy, I took that as an “early warning” that I was at risk for developing diabetes later in life. This has been an added incentive for me to keep myself physically fit.

But when it gets cold outside, the excuses mount, and I am no exception. I may send the kids outside for daily exercise, but I really do not like winter weather. With young ones around, and no off-limits rooms, I do not consider weight equipment to be safe. And try working out to an exercise tape with a toddler – those kicks and arm movements may delight the baby but she is not going to give you a safety zone in which to work.

I have a few cardiovascular movements involving baby that can build muscle and get your heart rate going. One is crunches with baby sitting on your tummy. She loves this! And the extra weight on your stomach enhances the benefits of the movements. Another is holding the baby out in front of you and bringing her up over your shoulder level. This also is fun for her, and great for your upper body. And, throughout the day, simply holding your baby directly in front of you rather than on your hip will help keep that “pouch” in check.

Stair climbing is my favorite fallback. It requires no fancy equipment – just your time and motivation. This winter I had numerous excuses to not do this. Most importantly, the baby wants to follow. And when she is napping, I am afraid to wake her up.

But this week I realized I had to stop my continued denial of my winter weight gain. I realized I was relying on my stretchy jeans beyond week 4 of my cycle. During the months of January and February I did a colon cleanse, drank apple cider vinegar before meals, and ate organic grapefruits. They might have cleanse my system but did nothing for that five pounds of abdominal fat. There was no easy fix here. I really had no choice but to get back into exercising if I was to fit in my bridal dress for my sister’s wedding this summer.

So, yesterday, all excuses were put aside. I put the baby in for her nap, took off my shoes, and started running up and down the stairs. I did this ten times before running out of breath. It was a good start. After doing that, I felt so mentally energized that I sat down and sent off a poem to a magazine, and a book proposal to a publisher.

Today, I was determined to reach the benchmark of twenty, but knew I was not yet ready to do this consecutively. I did five, then continued at a slower pace as I accomplished other tasks. On each trip, I would jog around the floor looking for things that had to go either up or down the stairs. This gave me a little breather between the more demanding climbing. After number 15, I swept the kitchen floor. I ran up the stairs and cleaned my bathroom (16). I ran down, out the door, got the mail, and brought it up (17). I ran down for a glass of water, brought it up the computer and turned it on (18). Two more times and I was done. The housework was done and I was ready to get into writing mode!

The workout can be enhanced by doing warmup calisthenics beforehand, and a cool-down. As you get used to stair climbing, you can add light weights. Simply holding them while climbing boosts the cardiovascular and muscle-building effects of your movement.

If you live in a ranch or your stairs are under construction, you have a good excuse not to try this at home.

Stock Photo Above: Arc de Triomphe by Francis Toussaint

Gestational Diabetes: A Book Proposal

I am preparing a book proposal to submit to a publisher of informational health books. My working title is “Gestational Diabetes: What to do if you have it, and natural ways to reduce your chances of having it in the future”. This is the sort of title I wish I could have found in the library during my third pregnancy and in preparation for my fourth pregnancy.

It came as quite a shock when I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes in the third trimester of my third pregnancy. I had always exercised and had excellent nutritional habits. I was 29 years old, had never been overweight, and had no family history of diabetes.

Now I had to follow a special diet. I roamed the aisles of the food store for over an hour that first week, studying food labels and shaking my head in dismay at my limited choices. I made up a spreadsheet, upon which I diligently recorded everything I ate. I took my blood sugar upon waking and after each meal.

I was given a book with dietary guidelines, but many things I had to find out on my own. I soon noticed certain foods were causing my sugars to be elevated. Tomato sauce and rice were the main culprits. I learned how to make my own tomato sauce, and avoided rice. I also realized that if I made my own oatmeal cookies I could have one with a glass of milk without causing my sugars to go up.

My nurse practitioner was pleased at the recorded blood sugars. My son was born a day before his due date, completely naturally, at a weight of 9 lb. 13 oz.

My first child was 7 lb. 6 oz.; second child was 8 lb. 13 oz. “Does this mean if I have another child he or she will be 11 pounds?” I asked my NP at my postnatal checkup.

“Not necessarily. But you should know that the woman’s body is made to be able to deliver that size baby no problem.”

“Is there anything I can do to prevent having gestational diabetes in the future?”

“Not that I know of. But your sugars were in such good control that I wonder if you ever did have it in the first place.”

I looked in vain for a book that would address the prevention of gestational diabetes. Nothing. I did find little bits on GD in various pregnancy books, and scoured the internet for the original studies. What I did find were several correlations suggesting a diet high in fiber and magnesium, among other nutrients, as well as exercise, tended to lower a woman’s chances of contracting GD.

I went with the information I had in preparation for my fourth pregnancy. When I mentioned the data I had gathered, my NP said she wasn’t sure if it would work, but it would not do any harm to be circumspect in my diet. She did say magnesium was excellent as a preventative for several pregnancy related disorders, and was surprised it was not included in my prenatal vitamin.

My file was red-flagged as “high risk”. My NP informed me that she would be sending me for an early sugar tolerance test. Assuming the worst, she had me skip the one-hour and go straight for the three-hour test.

Now during this time I was avoiding all refined sugars, baked goods, and prepared foods. I was eating a high-fiber diet, complete with lots of vegetables, whole-grains, protein, and some fruit. My fear of GD was high enough to keep me in complete control. I actually found that my appetite was fully sated and I had no food cravings whatsoever!

It was wintertime, so I took out several exercise DVDs designed specifically for pregnancy. One had me dancing to salsa music. It was fun, and I felt good! Weather permitting, the kids and I went for a daily one-mile walk around the block after school.

I passed the first test at five months, and the second test at seven months. My baby was a healthy 8 lb. 3 oz. Amazingly, within a week of delivery, I was only ten pounds over my pre-pregnancy weight!

My book will outline what I learned through my own personal experience, and will be heavily documented with methodologically sound research.

I am looking to incorporate the experiences of other women out there who found ways to deal with their GD naturally, and/or who were able to have a subsequent pregnancy without contracting GD. Any correspondence would be kept completely confidential. Any details that could be provided will be helpful. Age, race, number of pregnancies, other risk factors, and pregnancy outcome (health of baby and mother, weight of baby, etc.), are some important details.

Correspondence may be sent to me at my personal email address.

Find out about “The Mystery Painting at Hampton Court” here.