Category: diet0
low fat salad dressing #taste enhancer :(
Looks like only homemade low-fat dressing is actually healthy.
Outside versions usually have harmful ingredients, probably to improve taste and make the product sell.
H2O ] foods
I don’t remember any calorie-counting guide mention this fundamental factor — “Water content in foods seriously affect satiation, calorie density (kcal/100g) etc”
— eg: smoothie .. ice is filling (satiation)
Protein powder without ice is completely ineffective as a meal replacement.
— eg: congee .. water content improves calorie density.
Chinese soup has a similar feaure but usually has more oil.
— eg: lotus root powder .. I tend to put in mix 20g with 500g of water… much better calorie density
— eg: chia .. iFF soaked in water, chia would become filling.
It is ineffective to put it in milk or hot soup
“good”fatty foods@@
when people say avocado, nuts, salmon…are good fats for slimming, and backed by research, they mean “better than the mainstream junk foods”.
If you are already on healthy diet, then these foods could be LESS healthy than your current diet!
noHunger到家..appetite out@ctrl
See other analogs in in libido ≅ Availability situation
— Analog 3: you sustain an injury [like a bruise] during a basketball game, you notice the pain when you take a shower, or carry a chair. The fixation of your attention during the game tends to numb your nerves and protects you from the physical pain, so the physical pain wasn’t felt. When the fixation is removed, the pain invariably kicks in. This has nothing to do with weakness or loss-of-control. In a similar way, I sometimes come home not feeling hungry because 1) been preoccupied with office “engagements” 2) no unexpected enticing foods in office stash. As soon as I reach home, the recent memory reminds me to look in the fridge.
- If (on the rare occasion) there’s nothing enticing, then I would be disappointed yet relieved. Unaffected by any appetite out of control.
- if there is some nice food I have avoided for a while, then usually the separation has intensified the craving.
- if there is any nice food even if recently eaten, then automatically, naturally, in an entirely healthy and human process, the suppressed appetite wakes up, and derails my diet plan.
Q: However, in Bayonne home, my fridge did have enticing foods, so why was I in better control of my appetite?
A: unexpected foods ! Those Bayonne foods [ice cream, pudding..] were carefully chosen and well-hidden in my stash so that they won’t wake up the suppressed appetite.
The noHunger sensation is unreliable. It’s unfair to accuse myself as a weakling, based on complete misperceptions. The appetite on rampage is completely natural, and triggered by identifiable stimuli.
— reaching home after dining out
Q: re the unexpected food in the home stash, why it’s not a problem when I come home after a buffet?
A: no prolonged separation. no compensation-seeking.
Jolt: If a previous restaurant meal was a controlled_indulgence i.e. not satisfying enough, then the unexpected food in home stash would still awaken the appetite !
— prolonged endurance, on the verge
Analogy 2: after a 24H connected flight, I often felt “not sleepy”, but I would fall asleep often as soon as I reach home. It proves that the noSleepy sensation was unreliable.
Similarly, after fasting 16 (or even 20) hours, I often felt “no hunger”, but as soon as I release myself, the suppressed appetite would emerge. The noHunger sensation easily wiped out by any unexpected enticing food. It is on the verge, but a healthy human could maintain that sensation for probably a few days, pushing the limit of endurance.
As explained in prolonged separation intensifies attraction, a prolonged separation could appear to weaken appetite significantly, but the appetite is dormant.
— watermelon in Bayonne ^ TPY
In Bayonne home, when I return home after yoga and feel hungry, I sometimes eat lots of watermelon + other fruits to satisfy the hunger. Why doesn’t it work in TPY home? My answer is the availability of many unexpected enticing foods. Some hit separation->attraction. You can call it wrong-time, wrong-food, wrong-quantity temptation, but is very natural reaction.
[24] HuiMei chat after angiogram
- for LDL reduction, soluble fiber is more effective than insoluble fiber
- vegetable oil.. could be blend oil. Consider sunflower oil, corn oil, soybean oil
- Vit K2 for decalcification? Not good with Plavix
- transfat is present in ham, beacon, and many commercial (esp. deep-fried) foods
— meal pattern/timing
- intermittent fasting .. not recommended for my gastritis and my prediabetes “concern”
- What if I feel an empty stomach but no real discomfort?
- .. A: you have ignored it for decades. It may or may not mean acid
- cereal + congee .. good for breakfast, or even after dinner
- hungry after a full dinner .. warm, convenient fluid[milo, soups]. Avoid continuous snacking
- 2 bowels of fruits+milk in office? delay to 4pm, and split into two snacks.
Continuous snacking after dinner is worse than 3/4/5 afternoon snacks in office.
— specfic food items
- whole milk .. contains saturated fats and can affect my gastritis.
- watermelon .. fructose? Reduce if you worry about t2dm
- sweet rockmelon .. too much sugar? A: similar to watermelon
- purple grape and juice … antioxidant helps anti-clott? but high sugar? Eat in moderation.
- cheese .. Try reduced fat cheese. No cheese stick please.
- avocado .. heart-healthy but fatty? up to 3 avocados/week is safe (safer than animal fats or nuts), but can affect BMI
- .. my avocado smoothie .. fine if without the condensed milk. Additionally, consider alternatives to whole milk
- 3 yolks/week including century egg yolks
- beef is more (fatty) unhealthy than white meat? A: Red meat (incl. pork).. limit to 3 times/week
- sliced fish noodle soup .. is low-calorie if without the evaporated milk
— 24 Sep 2024 ..我今天第四次约见我的营养师。她记得我有冠心病，轻度胃炎，也顾虑血糖和血压。
蛋白质 — 她建议微调，多摄入各种蛋白质。肉、鱼、鸡蛋白之外，豆腐，乳制品也提供蛋白质。她说蛋白质有助于增加或维持肌肉。
我说与其多吃淀粉，我更愿意增加蛋白质。她点头。
体重 — 她记录了 2023 年8月至今4次体重，维持在64-67 公斤。她说很难得，尤其是最近半年瘦身。
她问了我每周运动项目，略表惊讶。她特别询问 有阻力运动 (resistance training)，因为她一直提醒我，上年纪容易肌肉萎缩。我提到爬楼梯，蹲起，引体向上。她认为很有意义。
过去半年，她认为最大的进步在于三餐规律化。我告诉她，90%早晨都吃一点，晚上大都在10点前开始进餐。她再次提醒我不要在正式晚餐结束后再继续吃零食，连续吃2小时。为此，她希望我减少边吃边工作。
她大胆地推测，这几个月体重减轻，最可能的解释就是晚餐总量正常化，不像以前，正式晚餐结束后，还继续边吃零食边用电脑，不知不觉又吃了第二顿晚餐，直到一两点才停。
今天我意识到，“正式晚餐”应该有始有终。
[23]availability: sys2background heat
In Sep 2023 I took a historic step to visited Hui Mei and then Henry Lew, to restart my calorie-restriction long-march (长征).
For a few months (at least) before Sep 2023, I was relying on sys1 more, and less on sys2 to regulate my cravings and respond to random attacks of enticing foods.
I now realize that /mindfulness/ (sys2 paying attention, self-regulating,,,) over my cravings/temptations/availability is important and often effective, as in the current context.
I am becoming mindful during office hours and after I reach home. I think sys2 workload is heavier in the latter, when availability is a bigger challenge.
— suggested techniques
* Hui Mei suggested swallowing very slowly.
* Hui Mei suggested holding a defense for 15m till the craving subsides.
* Henry suggested focusing on a part of the stomach
* Henry suggested a fixed allocation for the entire evening
These suggestions all require sys2 mindfulness.
— Limited sys2 resources for competing demands
Right now (Sep 2023) I have relatively few and light competing demands on my sys2 resources. (I will not list those demands.)
Safe to say that Circuit Breaker period was stressful. Tech xx (muscle-building) and demanding work projects often affect calorie-restriction. At those times, sys2 is overbooked, and I rely on sys1 (or no system at all) for calorie restriction.
— background heat .. Calorie restriction is a constant effort, and a classic background heat. I guess that when sys2 is tired out by such background heat, I would feel loss of peace and harmony, stressed out, less calm, more irritable.
Availability .. (esp. at home) is a necessary condition for the background heat. Fending off the wrong* temptations on a daily basis is an everyday workload for sys2.
[24]nuts #forgettable truths #lowQty=ideal
Many nuts MAY lower LDL iFF in small portions like 2 ounces/Day. Studies have shown that walnuts MAY help protect the heart and lower the risk of heart attack for people who _already_ have heart disease. HuiMei said walnut is low in saturated fat, won’t contribute to LDL, but calorie dense.
— portion control
For breakfast, Grandma takes 2 pieces of walnut.
I should slowly get into the habit of eating/buying small packet of nuts. This is based on an honest assessment of my limited self-restraint.
— risks
#1 Biggest risk with nuts … additives like salt, sugar, oily coating
#2 risk with nuts .. excessive intake per week. visually: nuts as dessert: sustainable strategy compares nuts against cheese, avocado and starchy-fatty foods
##lifelong struggles@@ Am battle-tested: diet++
k_Promethean_struggle
When I describe to friends diet restrictions (mine or otherwise), we often feel “This self-discipline is achievable perhaps for a year, but not for a lifetime”. It is a Promethean struggle and demands a /herculean/ self-discipline.
Today I decided to challenge this perception. I think there is lots of evidence that I (you too) have fought many lifelong battles and they didn’t tire me down.
— resist the brainwash, cosmic-ray of self-pity in the context of peer-benchmark
wrong priorities
OC-effective
— eg@Promethean: yoga
On the other hand, my forward-bend daily practice in Sec 1 was clearly unsustainable, torturous
— eg@Promethean: chin-up .. see separate blogpost
— eg: coding drill .. a harder struggle for my peers than for me
— eg: English listening, speaking, writing … felt like a lifelong battle until middle of my NUS years
review English vocab .. not a battle for me, but for other peple such as millions of English learners
==== less specific, milder (but lifelong) struggles
— eg: take the stairs once a while when everyone is taking the elevator/escalator
— eg@Promethean: brushing/flossing teeth, esp. with fixed retainer
— eg: math .. a struggle for my kids, and most students until they can opt out like in high school
say-no-to 1 cake at a time: 千里之行始于足下
k_daily_battle
Many dieters feel hopeless about cutting down one cake slice … because the next meal would see a wipe-out of this “improvement”. Promethean[def] struggle.
If you believe the temptation is always bigger than your resolve, then you would feel hopeless fighting it.
In reality, every successful dieter started by saying no to one cake.
We slowly change our diet habits and combat the temptation. The temptation is not always bigger than us. We are not doomed.