December 15, 2009 Diet Blog

My co-worker was out today and it was pretty busy. The stress is still pretty high and the co-worker that suffered through the open window has been home with a severe cold/fever for two days now. The co-worker that refused to close the window seems like she is oblivious to it all. It's a crazy world. I was glad to see 4:30 come...in fact, it couldn't come fast enough for me. I have tomorrow off. The goals are to study for my final and to get the rest of the gift wrapping done, as well as picking up small gifts for my son's father-in-law and his spouse, and my son's mother-in -law and her husband.
Body conditioning class was great. Since I began losing weight as I began the class, I believe that it helped me with the weight loss- such as it is. I learned a lot about nutrition too. Facts like: 60% of calories in our daily diet regimen should come from carbohydrates; there are two types of carbohydrates too. Complex carbohydrates, which are the good ones that come from grains, rice, pasta and breads, and simple carbohydrates, which are very bad and come from candy, soda, and junk foods like that. Glucose is the same thing as blood sugar, and Glycogen's are carbohydrates stored in the muscles and the liver and are used for energy. They can be 'sparked by adrenaline' for quick use.
Proteins have a basic unit called amino acid. They are used for recovery, repair and building up lean body mass. They also fight infection. I hadn't known that. There are two types of proteins. Complete proteins, which come from meats or animal sources, and incomplete which come from plant products and grains. Supposedly the Vegan diet, which has absolutely NO animal sources is the healthiest diet though.
Fats are actually good sources of nutrition in moderation. They are a concentrated energy source. 25% of our daily calorie intake should come from fats. There are two types. Saturated fats, which come from animal products and unsaturated fats which come from plant products. Unsaturated fats turn to liquid at room temperature and are much better for us health wise. You need fats though, because fats store vitamins.
Of course the best source of anything is the natural source but I learned a lot about vitamins as well. Did you know that supplements of any kind are not regulated by the FDA? In fact, they are not regulated by anyone. I found that amazing. They can put anything they want on the label so we need to be careful because too much of something- even vitamins can be dangerous and in worst case scenario has caused death. I was shocked to learn that.
I think that I may have known this little tid- bit, but it's worth an honorable mention: if a label on ANYTHING says 'enriched or fortified' that is fancy lingo for 'man made nutrients.' Put it back. It has no value what so ever if you are looking for a healthy food. If I sweep out some of the cob webs from my brain, I think I'll find that information on a back shelf somewhere.
Anyway- like I said I learned a lot. That's just a smidgen of what I need to study. I remember this much but there's tons of information in the book and in my notes. (sigh) I'll sign off here. I'm heading to bed. I'm exhausted and thankfully I can study this all tomorrow! See you next blog!
;-)