The Denim Diaries by Kami Gray

I’m on a Portland-based TV show tomorrow called AM Northwest. I just checked out their website and they’ve titled my segment, “Five Healthy Habits.” Good to know! I figured the best way to prepare was to blog about it! So here are five habits that you could start practicing right now…Chances are REALLY good that you will feel better, have more energy, and slim down as a result. Nice huh? I’m all about keeping it simple so these shouldn’t be too challenging for anybody. Be sure to use certified organic ingredients whenever you can and purchase food that comes from as local a source as possible. So give these five healthy habits a go…what are you waiting for?

1. Replace all refined sweeteners with natural, whole sweeteners. Ditch the white sugar, high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), and fake sugars like Splenda, Equal, Sweetn’Low and replace them with agave nectar. There are other good choices, but I’m keeping it simple here. Refined sweets like white sugar spike your insulin levels and metabolize very quickly and lead to fat storage. HFCS confuses your body (it’s that fake!) so your body does the only thing it can…throws it into fat storage! Sugar substitutes like Splenda, Equal, and Sweetn’Low basically tell your body it’s about to get sugar. Then when you don’t actually follow through on that promise, it goes after it with a vengeance! Sugar (aka, carb) cravings! You can’t fool your body! Agave nectar on the other hand is not refined and it contains one ingredient…nectar from the blue agave plant. It metabolizes slowly and doesn’t spike your insulin levels so unless you use the whole bottle on your morning oatmeal, it won’t lead to fat storage.  It’s really sweet and tasty (and fairly inexpensive) so one teaspoon easily does the trick! Check your labels…white sugar, HFCS, and sugar substitutes are in everything! Say NO to them and watch a miracle happen! I’ll have to shorten this for TV tomorrow!

2. Replace white, refined carbs with brown, whole carbs. For the same exact reason as I mentioned above…whole grain carbohydrates metabolize slowly and don’t spike your insulin levels like their white, refined, overly-processed counterparts. Whole grains have more nutrients as well, but they also have the added advantage of containing fiber (which was removed in the white carbs). Think of fiber as your very best friend! Seriously…BFF! Fiber keeps you satiated, maintains good intestinal health, creates slow digestion, and keeps things moving! I’m not elaborating on that last part! Read labels…you MUST see the word WHOLE before each grain and it should be the first item in the list of ingredients. Don’t be duped by clever food manufacturers. If you only practiced (all the time) habit #1 and #2…I’m telling you, a miracle is on the way! Get excited!

3. For meat and sides, think deck of card-sized portions. We eat too large of portions! At every meal, make sure the only mound on your plate is made up of vegetables…it can be a giant mound! If you eat a giant mound of anything else…expect a giant mound to present itself somewhere on your body where you’d rather it not appear!

4. Eat when you’re hungry. The best way to prevent overeating at the next meal is to stay satiated. If it’s 10:30 in the morning and I feel a hunger pang, I first drink a large glass of water or make some green tea (often times I’m just thirsty and not smart enough to tell the difference!). If it doesn’t subside, I am indeed in need of a snack… not a problem! Light string cheese, a handful of raw walnuts, a banana, a few whole wheat crackers (see #2) with a little “real” peanut butter, OR a 1/2 cup plain yogurt sweetened with agave nectar (see #1) and blueberries on top are all perfect snacks to keep me full until lunch time.

5. Move more. Dance around the house while you’re sweeping, attend a Jazzercise class (ridiculously fun!), pull weeds in the yard, walk to the grocery store, take a Pilate’s class (awesome!), or train for a triathlon. Do what works for you, but move more everyday. Take stairs, park far away from your target destination, or do jumping jacks while you’re waiting for the coffee pot to fill. Every little bit helps. Moving slowly or not moving does not help!

Of course, there are more good habits. No trans fats! Ease up on the coffee milkshakes! Eat breakfast! Wait! These and more are all in my book which just happens to be hitting bookstores and online retailers as we speak! It’s a fun read…I embarrass myself a lot! And other people too!

Eating whole grains not only transforms your body and makes you healthier; it also helps transform the Earth and makes our planet healthier.  You are requiring less energy from the planet when you eat food that is minimally processed.  The planet’s energy and resources aren’t expended taking apart the grain and processing, refining, and bleaching it. 

Those whole grains you’re eating are eventually processed or broken down though – guess where that energy comes from?  YOU!  So not only are you saving Earth’s precious resources and energy that are required to process whole grains into white foods; your body is using its energy to break down those whole grains instead.  That’s good news for you.  When your body uses more energy, you become less fat.  With “white” foods; all the good stuff, like the nutrients and the fiber, are thrown away and end up as waste.  By eating whole grains, you are conserving the planet’s energy, becoming less fat, and being less wasteful.

Since carbohydrates have been a significant part of my success in maintaining my weight for twenty-one years, I find all this low-carb business particularly fascinating.  This is not to suggest that you eat carbs willy nilly and they should make up the bulk of your diet. Instead, the right carbs should become an integral part of a balanced diet. Harvard School of Public Health has a terrific nutrition section on their website.  In surprisingly plain English, they explain the real deal with carbohydrates and how fad diets such as Atkins and South Beach and other low-carb diets have “led many Americans to believe that carbohydrates are bad, the source of unflattering flab and a cause of the obesity epidemic.”  They go on (and on and on) to say how that type of thinking is a “dangerous oversimplification.”  

Not all carbohydrates are equal.  This may be the understatement of the year or even the decade.  While easily digestible carbohydrates such as white bread, white rice, white potatoes, white pasta, and highly processed foods can contribute to weight gain and can prevent weight loss; whole grains found in foods like whole wheat bread, whole wheat pasta, and brown rice can have the opposite effect.  They are not only the key to weight loss and weight maintenance; they can also reduce your risk of heart disease and diabetes.  Not to be overlooked are beans, legumes, fruits, and vegetables, which are also carbohydrate superstars.

White bread, white pasta, white rice, and white potatoes are an extremely inefficient source of fuel for your body.  These “white” foods raise your body’s Insulin levels instantly, but only for a very brief period of time. Not good because Insulin creates fat storage. Whole grains raise your body’s sugar levels gradually and sustains them over a long period of time making you feel full for a lot longer.  If you’re thinking that’s not important, think again.  Feeling full and satisfied prevents us from overeating or eating the wrong foods, which in turn can prevent us from getting fat.

A friend and I were talking about her lifelong battle with obesity. She shared with me that she’d recently lost ten to twelve pounds on the Atkins diet. This discussion took place during a weekend trip to Central Oregon with a group of friends. At first I just listened and observed. When we when out for breakfast, she ordered a cheese-laden omelet and a side of bacon. Before dinner one night, she ate tons of vegetables, but also munched on handfuls of smoked nuts and cubes of cheese. At dinner, she downed a hefty steak. At a Starbucks stop, she took four packets of Equal in her ice tea. This gal is considerably overweight and was recently diagnosed with Type II Diabetes. She said she used to eat white carbs by the truckload which could have led to her diabetic condition. On day two of the trip, after I’d enjoyed a few glasses of wine, I saddled up next to her in a window seat for a little girl chat.  She’s more like a friend of a friend and someone I wanted to get to know better so I tried a delicate approach rather than my usual bulldozer style.  I blame the wine because that tactic did not last long.

I commended her for trying to get control of her weight. I also told her that I was concerned with a few aspects of her diet, specifically the large amount of saturated fat and sodium, the artificial sweeteners, and the sheer number of calories she was eating. She said she’d never felt better and was extremely pleased with her progress.

I did my best to convince her that in the long run, that weight will return and there could be serious and harmful consequences from a diet high in saturated fat and sodium. I forgot to mention that in the meantime, her breath would smell like a litter box and she would spend most of her days constipated. She said she’s the kind of person who needs quick results and her new diet was working. I fervently challenged her to recall one time in her life when anything beneficial, meaningful, or long-lasting happened as a result of a taking a shortcut.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to persuade her that eating whole grain, high fiber, low glycemic carbs is the path to permanent, albeit slower, weight loss. I did plead with her to make a few modifications in the interest of her health; eat lean meats or soy meat and only the occasional serving of red meat and bacon, ease up on the cubes of cheese and handfuls of salty, smoked nuts, and to discontinue using Equal or other fake sugars since she was not on a doctor’s order to do so. She probably just wanted the conversation to come to a crashing halt, but she agreed. I wrapped up my lengthy rant by telling her I would send her a copy of The List when it comes out next spring so when the weight comes back, she could read it.