Eating on the Road

I've noticed it's a lot harder to stick to dietary goals while traveling. I get agitated when I don't have my favorite meals. Then I end up eating all kinds of junk food and I can't stop snaking. I'd really like to lose weight while traveling but that never happens.

I hurt my back right before the trip. Even walking is painful and slow, especially stairs. So I'm stretching every day hoping to get the kinks out of my back. I don't know if it's a pinched nerve or a pulled muscle or just old age and scoliosis catching up with me. It's just no fun being in this condition.

One of my favorite things to do in San Luis Obispo, CA is to walk around and see the sites. But I can't. I had to content myself with a visit to the craft store and then a long sit-down on a bench in the shade as traffic and people went on about their business. I wish I could stay here. I never want to leave.

New Giant Yard

I'm getting a lot more walking done now that I live in the desert and have a giant yard. I purposely planted things on the very back fence where there is no running water to force myself to walk down there and back at least once a day, and on some days half a dozen times. I started a Zen garden back there so I can get exercise by moving rocks and wood and raking sand and carrying water. Yesterday my sunflowers sprouted and I planted gourds everywhere. We have miles of fencing, and I want to grow as many things as I can on the fences. After being cramped with apartment sized yards for years, I'm not missing any opportunities to grow things. All that gardening is great exercise that doesn't feel like 'I'm going to exercise now.'

Why Portion Control Doesn't Work

I just had a revelation after tracking my food on Sparkpeople for almost 2 weeks. My Dr. kept telling me all I needed was portion control. From doing the food tracking I realized there is nothing wrong with my portions. The problem is that I'm eating too many foods with no nutrition. So at the end of the day my salt intake was too high and my intake of calcium, potassium and magnesium was way too low. And potassium is one of the things that helps regulate blood pressure.  So I made a list of all the best foods for potassium and I need to stuff more of those into my diet to replace the empty calorie foods. I like everything on the 'best potassium' list, I just have to remember to buy things like yams. Mushrooms are great so I'm thinking more mushrooms on my pizza and mushroom and spinach omelets.

Once again it all boils down to eating more fruits and veggies.
Best Potassium: dried fruits and nuts, green leafy vegetables, mushrooms, wheat germ, bran, yams, bananas, oranges.
Good Potassium: Many other fruits and vegetables, meat, fish, legumes, and poultry

I also found out miso is a good source of Zinc. So in this cold and flu season, have yourself some miso soup or black eyed peas.