Category: Health and Wellness
So I had a doc appointment yesterday and needed to fast for about 10 hours. Not diabetic but I sure was starving by the time of the appointment. How in the world can a diabetic fast like that? Had to get the blood tests for cholesterol and such. Also want to lose weight; any suggestions for healthy snacks that aren't fattening? Fruits And veggies is all i can think of.
Okay I'll start by saying this is my opinion.
I'm really in to health and do not believe in fasting unless you must as you did. The body goes in to what is called starvation mode, so you don't lose weight as fast and it is unhealthy to do it that way.
To lose properly you need to eat regularly, and things that are not fattening, but building. Exercise is also a most do, and doesn't have to be done in a gym.
My rule. Think of what you can eat that is as close to it natural state as possible, and eat that. That means cutting out processed foods, canned, boxed, packaged.
Now Frozen foods are going to have to be packaged, but I'd only use the veggies in that state.
If you don't like to cook, get a slow cooker, or blender and make things in them. A shake with Oats, milk, fruits, pean nut butter and seeds is a meal.
Here is an accessible site you might read articles for women.
www.bodybuilding.com
Yes it is for bodybuilders, but you'll find some great articles on losing weight, and specificly for women.
If you want to lose weight and feel great, consider the paleo lifestyle. It's more than food, in fact I first started in on it for the exercise. Start reading at ModernPaleo.com and SimplyPaleo.com
The basic premise is, before agriculture, your ancestors ate a lot of meat and veggies, no grains and no sugars. The premise is we're basically evolved to eat that way. Modern thinking is that meat makes you fat, when in fact its mainly sugar does that.
I agree about the fasting, though intermittent fasting is supposed to be fine. Also rather than counting calories, consider there are smart calories that work with you and then there's the junk calories like all the processed sugars, breads and stuff like that.
Follow the 80 20 principle, meaning do what you should 80% of the time and let the other 20% go. You just have to test yourself and see how you do with things. I know I dropped a good 20 pounds basically stopping sugar for a few weeks. Now, to be fair, I work out a whole lot, 5 days a week at least. I'm not a freak I just like it, and it helps destress after work. I cross-train which means a lot of mixed up workout: hard cardio, interspersed with push-ups, ball exercises, etc.
But at your age you probably won't be doing that, not meaning to be comdescending or anything, just don't let that stop you from doing what you actually want. The best workouts are geared to a total fitness level where you enhance your own lifestyle. Meaning, just because I don't lift as much weight as I did in my 20s, I don't really care, because in real life when are you running around lifting 4 to 500 pounds? So you have to figure out what that means for your own lifestyle and abilities. You said once you had some operation on your foot or something, so whatever exercise you do you want to do it to match how you are. Remember, the concept of exercise like we think of isn't very old: your predecessors just did things, and that worked them out pretty good. So design your workout to match the types of things you're doing, be it walking places, carrying things, roughhousing with the grandkids or nieces and nephews, stuff like that. I don't know if this makes sense. It's far less institutionalized and not very mainstream popular so if you have some people that work in that industry in your circle of friends they may ridicule you for it, but it's mainly like the religious types crying persecution.
The best way to go paleo as a lifestyle is do your own research and think for yourself. I've just sort of given you a bit of an overview and there are people who communicate this stuff far better than I. At its core it's mainly about you using your own wit and resources to make it happen. Nothing different there: we're all blind, we sorta do that anyway.
Good luck on whatever path you pick. If you have questions about paleo you can pm me and I'll try to point you at a page or several to go look it up and decide for yourself.
I think she was asking about fasting before doctor appointments where you have to have blood drawn, not fasting in general. I'm diabetic and schedule my appointments for 8:00 in the morning so I don't have to starve all day. I test my blood sugar when I get up, and it has always been fine on the days of appointments. But I'm sure any doctor will understand the need to eat something if you are diabetic and your blood sugar is too low.
You folks all said what the doctor said. More exercise probably and fruits and veggies for snacks. I have severe osteoarthritis in one foot which makes it a little more difficult.