11.21.2006

#32 - Seat belts - Do they ever fit comfortably?

I hate wearing a seat belt. I think all women have some kind of loathing for the seat belt, with it's crush-my-boobies kind of issues. But being a fat gal, not only endowed with big boobs, but also having a ginormous tummy, seat belts are a nightmare! I've been driving a KIA Sportage for the past 5 years and have been pretty happy with my seat belt - isn't that a weird statement? (that just made me laugh) Anyway, recently I've been having trouble with my brakes, so I've been driving my mom's Suzuki. I climbed into the front seat of her Suzuki, drew the seat belt across my lap, and realized I couldn't fasten the seat belt (at least not comfortably). To my horror, I realized I had gotten so fat that I couldn't fit into some seat belts. How embarrassing! So now I've been driving around town without a seat belt. I know, I know. This is totally unsafe. But what's the alternative? Go get a seat belt extender? I swore I would NEVER buy any product that was designed to help accommodate fat people. So there you have it - reason #32 why I hate being fat - seat belts!

I'm hoping seat belts won't be an issue for that long. I've lost 20 pounds now and keep losing about 1 pound per week. At this rate I should be at my ideal weight in 3 years! LOL. Recently I had to make some sweeping changes in my diet. If you've been following my blog, you know I had a bout with fainting spells. It's been confirmed that it's due to hypoglycemia/hyperinsulinemia - in other words, early Type II diabetes. This is no joke anymore. It's not merely an issue of - I need to diet because I want to look thin. Now it's an issue of - if I don't change my ways I will die! And unfortunately there is no pill to help me, the only treatment is diet and exercise. So I had to severely restrict sugar, white flour, rice, and potatoes out of my diet. I'm kind of following a no sugar/South Beach/Weight Watchers Core type plan now. It's going pretty good - though I still have massive cravings for sweets especially cakes, cookies, brownies, pastries, doughnuts, etc., etc... I thought it was really funny though, a suggestion my nutritionist made. She was saying that I am allowed to have one type of sweets - peanut M & M's. I was like, what? Isn't that pure sugar? But she said because it's a great blend of carbs, protein and fat, and that it was allowed (in extreme moderation of course, i.e. a few pieces, not a whole bag!). So to satisfy my cravings, I have indulged in a few M & M's. Yummy! The hardest thing to cope with is the loss of white flour. Flour is in EVERYTHING! I've switched to using whole wheat flour in my recipes with limited success. I really need to invest in some new diabetic cookbooks. One thing I tried to make the other day was pumpkin bars (I was really jonesin' for some cake). I substituted the white flour with whole wheat flour, used Splenda instead of sugar, and even cut the oil in half and replaced it with applesauce. In theory, these would be great bars, right? Yeah, in theory! In reality - yuck!!! The Splenda was totally overpowering and left an after taste that lasted for hours, the whole wheat flour was ok, but the bars didn't rise very much (and I even added extra baking powder). The only good thing about them was the texture - it was spot on. Perfect mouth feel, initially good tasting, well balanced (except for the after taste). (Sorry I'm a taste biologist, so I'm constantly thinking about taste receptors and such). Anyway, I think my next attempt will use natural sweeteners like fruit juice instead. Artificial sweeteners = yucky! Maybe a packet here and there in your coffee is fine, but baking with artificial sweeteners...I think I'll pass!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I once tried to make meringue cookies with Splenda. You can guess how that turned out!

karaokekitty said...

I think you're better off just cutting down on the sugar in recipes. I just made a pumpkin pie this weekend and only used half the required sugar. It was still great!

Alisha Jordan said...

If you haven't already, try Dream Field pasta. It was specifically design for diabetics and is lower in digestible carb.

purplegirl said...

So you've probably already heard of it, but justtin case you haven't ... there's a great book called Protein Power, and a sequel calling the Protein Power Lifeplan, by Drs. Mary Dan and Michael Eades. The first is more about weight loss, the second is more overall health .... but they have great information.

More relative to this post, they also have The Low-Carb Comfort Food Cookbook which has TONS of recipies for traditionally high carb items, but made with different flours to cut the carb and sugar down drastically!

Also I second the post by Alisha, above, about Dreamfields pasta!