"Success is not a place at which one arrives, but rather the spirit with which one undertakes and continues the journey." (Alex Noble) There is such a thing as "fasting fatigue" and I think I have it! Thankfully it is Day 5 and I have some awesome clients plus an evening mat class to keep me busy. In the art of fasting, distraction is an important component to success. When I would feel my habitual desire to grab a snack, graze, or prepare food sometimes something as simple as brushing my teeth, starting a load of laundry, cleaning out a junk drawer, or taking a quick walk was all I needed to reset my focus on my goal. The goal was autophagy, where glucose and insulin levels drop and the body clears, removes and replaces damaged cell components. Although it is difficult to measure autophagy, increased ketone levels, are often an indicator which can easily be measured in your blood, breath or urine using special meters or strips. A few benefits I noted included more energy and better focus. When it comes to work, I explain and describe Pilates exercises for nearly the entire training hour. Today I had 4 training hours and felt my words and sentences flowed, my brain didn't struggle to find the right words, and I sensed a better brain/body connection in demonstrating the exercises. My appetite was significantly reduced. It is surprising how much more food we eat, beyond what is actually necessary for survival. While eating should be enjoyed and savored, sometimes we enjoy and savor far too much food. It was unusual to know my one breakfast L-bar would have to sustain me until lunch. With hot tea or coffee I learned to savor every bite of each breakfast bar! I was also more productive with my time. I have noted in previous posts eating was often an avoidance tactic, whether house chores, unorganized spaces, relationship issues, or general boredom; snacking could fill in the gaps and make me believe I was doing something useful. My boredom would lead to eating. My emotional stress would lead to eating. And perhaps dopamine, the hormone that contributes to cravings, would also lead to eating. A program like this develops conscious awareness of your choices and makes you more accountable to yourself and your well-being. So what are the drawbacks, if any, of my experience? My first concern that I grappled with was the price. If I am going to spend $150+ on food, I want a lot of it! I have considered ProLon for nearly 2 years so it wasn't an impulsive purchase but one I had investigated and explored. The idea of paying money in order to "fast," to essentially go without food is certainly counterintuitive, however based on my own experience I could not have made it 5 days without food! I can hardly make it 5 hours! Plus, with my history of Hashimoto Thyroiditis, prolonged fasting is not normally recommended. I know I feel better with healthy fats and protein. The L-breakfast bar has 22 fat grams, primarily monounsaturated from the pecans, almonds and almond butter. And yet the proprietary blend is designed in a way that reduces glucose and insulin spikes and assists in weight loss and autophagy. I would rather invest in a program that educates me as to the fundamentals of fasting, an investment in health-care versus an investment in sick care. Typically I avoid a meal that contains 24 grams of carbs, particularly if it is just a small bowl of soup from dried spices. However, their soups were tasty and the ingredients wholesome and I still reached ketosis/autophagy without feeling excessively hungry. The soups contain a small amount of rice flour while the almond/kale crackers contain tapioca flour. Over the years of following Milwaukee cardiologist Dr. William Davis of Wheat Belly and Undoctored fame, I have learned to avoid these flours. His belief is they are not much different from white or wheat flours in elevating blood sugar. The servings however are quite small and I can't argue with the flavor nor with the positive outcomes. If I make my own granola bars, fat bombs, or soups however I would not include tapioca or rice flour. This is one of my favorite "fat bombs" called "Joy Balls" from the Conscious Cleanse book, pin.it/15pW2po I do believe that food can be medicine and over the years I have trained myself to love walnuts, salmon and blueberries for brain health; kiwi to strengthen immunity; avocados and coconut as healthy fats for the liver; apples, flax seeds, and brussel sprouts for fiber and digestion. I had to reconcile daily the fact that I was not indulging in these health generating foods in order to meet my goal of autophagy. It is also disconcerting for those of us who love fresh foods to instead dine from these packaged foods. I can assure you however, these small meals and snacks are not "highly processed foods." In fact, it is the superior quality ingredients, research, supplements and packaging to maintain freshness that account for the price. Would I do it again? Absolutely! Would I feel more confident doing my own 1-day fast after this experience? Most definitely. Am I more knowledgeable about foods and their relationship to blood sugar and insulin levels? Of course! ProLon has a supportive Facebook group, Fastination, that offers great guidance. Daily texts and emails offer additional insight. I also look forward to Wednesday's phone call with my ProLon coach Wendy. These services are included in the price and I found to be quite valuable. Doing this program with friends and family would likely add to the accountability. I wasn't perfect, some people claim to be with this program, but I still got good results. ProLon shares research articles on their page indicating the high success rates of people who follow the guidance and rules precisely. Many on the facebook group are on their 4th or 5th round of ProLon. Consciously choosing foods, activities, programs and relationships that make you feel good, that contribute to vibrant health is a daily endeavor. A time to reboot, reset and rejuvenate, ProLon's tag line, is a necessity in all areas of life. Thanks for reading!
Recently we were at the grocery store and Auburn asked to purchase Quaker Oats, "Oatmeal To Go" bars. She explained a good friend had them at her house and heating them in the microwave, accompanied by a glass of milk, made for an ideal snack. In my shopping haste, plus sometimes even I get tired of immediately stating, "No," I agreed to her request. Once home curiosity got the best of me and I scanned the ingredient list...90% of it I could not pronounce. Auburn and Trey enjoyed the 6 bars that came in the box but they too were surprised by the extensive ingredient list for such a simple breakfast snack; the second primary ingredient being high fructose corn syrup. I saved the box for future reference and they agreed they would be willing to sample my cleaner interpretation of the Quaker Oak snack. I for one love anything with oats so I looked forward to the challenge. Healthier Breakfast to Go Banana Chocolate Chip Bars 1 cup Gluten-Free Oats 1 cup Gluten-Free Oat Flour (just blended a cup of oats in my Ninja to make the flour) 2 bananas smashed 1-2T honey 1T coconut sugar 2T coconut oil 1T almond milk (or any milk you choose) 1/4-1/2 cup Chocolate Chips (I used Enjoy Life mini dairy/nut/soy free chips) 1-2 tsp cinnamon To Prepare: On stove top melt coconut oil with honey and coconut sugar. Remove from heat. Mash banana in the same pot and add the almond milk. In another bowl mix dry ingredients. Add wet to dry and stir. Cook at 350 for 20-25 minutes. Trey's eyebrows shot skyward and his mouth gaped with the first bite. He had no idea his mom could create a delicious yet nutritiously acceptable snack. He declared, "This is probably the best unhealthy to healthy snack you have ever made!" Auburn and her neighbor friend who introduced us to the breakfast bars also unanimously agreed they were scrumptious. A word to the wise, these are sweet and the recipe could certainly be amended to lessen or eliminate the chocolate chips and coconut sugar. I only added the coconut sugar as the Quaker Oats brand contained brown sugar, one of the few recognizable ingredients on the list. It was also really important to me for my kids to like them...I have to regain trust after some notorious fails (black bean brownies.) Like we discussed in the previous banana bread post, bananas are sweet enough, we really don't need additional sweeteners. These would make a perfect school snack or birthday treat for the class room this school year. You could add blueberries, dried fruit, probably even mashed peaches to make other flavors. I again used My Whole Food Life as a resource as she offers great oatmeal recipes. Hope you enjoy them! The Braswell siblings sent flowers to our parent's in Florida today. (Love the War Eagle AU sign by the patio door!) Today they celebrate 49 years of marriage. When I think back to the 4th of July, Halloween, Christmas parties, Easter egg hunts, school, church, meals, lunches, field trips, community events...plus everything in between...I am in awe. My parenting efforts and social life pale in comparison. Thanks Mom and Dad!
Thank you for reading!
My discovery is not as earth shattering or inspiring as Columbus, Darwin, or Einstein's contributions; but due to the rare nature of new discoveries in my home, this at least deserves an honorable blog mention. We all likely deserve an honorable mention for something each day; whether as peace-keepers, innovators, providers, encouragers, caregivers, detectives; we become meritorious contributors just from our sustained effort to do the right thing. Today they right thing was using up a few old bananas before they succumbed to Darwinian fruit flies! I did what I always do to find a recipe, referred to a few trusted cookbooks only to recall that most banana bread recipes call for a stick of butter and more than a cup of sugar. Having experimented over the past couple of years with more whole-food baking I knew bananas were plenty sweet when mashed, combined, and cooked with compatible ingredients...primarily peanut butter and chocolate! In fact, earlier this week I made a Caramel Peanut Butter cookie recipe from My Whole Food Life with Melissa King which only required 4 ingredients: cashew butter, ground dates, baking soda, and chocolate chips. While the cookies received generally positive reviews from my taste-testers, ultimately we all agreed a teaspoon of peanut butter with chocolate chips on top is just as satisfying with less prep and cook time required. For my banana bread I referred to another trusted site, Lisa Leak's 100 Days of Real Food and found she had similar ideas. We don't need margarine, sugar, and white flour to make delicious breads and muffins. Honey, coconut oil, whole-wheat flour and even yogurt can give it the consistency of traditional bread without the sugar crash aftermath. Her recipe did call for 1/4 cup plain yogurt which I did not have on hand (successfully minimizing dairy;) thus, with a little contemplation, my Einstein light-bulb moment, I elected peanut butter as an appropriate substitute for yogurt. Tonight the loaf is almost gone, enjoyed by kids, friends, spouse, and of course mostly by the culinary inventor! Whole-Wheat Banana (Peanut Butter) Bread Ingredients 2 1/4 cup whole-wheat flour 3/4 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 3 ripe bananas, mashed 1/4 cup peanut butter 1/4 cup honey 2 eggs 1/3 cup oil (I used coconut oil) 1 teaspoon vanilla Instructions 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease pan. 2. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt 3. In a separate bowl mix mashed bananas with peanut butter, honey, eggs, oil and vanilla. 4. Fold the banana mixture into the flour mixture until blended. Do not over-mix. 5. Pour batter into prepared pan. 6. Bake large loaf for 40-50 minutes (mine was more like 55 minutes) Trey, in his funny way, asked, "So what gluten are you using this time mom?" Overall he was impressed with the true bread texture, density, and flavor but he did mention it was not as sweet as some he has tried (it is missing the usual 1 cup of granulated sugar!) But, with his Aunt DeAnn's mulberry jam or a little honey on top he too found great satisfaction with this revised banana bread. If you are like me, and have done an occasional sugar detox, you will find the bread plenty sweet! Enjoy! Thank you for reading. |