'Twas the day after a foodie's happiest of days...

Ends up, mom read my blog post containing my pecan pie cup rant. And upon my arrival to Chicago, a pecan pie had made it's way into our Thanksgiving dessert line-up. While that was not by design, my Thanksgiving was complete by a small piece of delicious, savory, rich pecan pie. And just for confirmation, I tried a bite of a pecan pie cup. It was all crust, not the ooey-gooey deliciousness defining pecan pie. So, yep, pecan PIE is a Thanksgiving staple for all years to come.

Also in the T-day line up were: turkey, dressing, cranberries, sweet potatoes, jello salad, green beans, cornbread pudding, cheesy broccoli, and....pecan pie. Some delicious African red wine, as well! Mmm! I stuck to one plate, which I did not finish and one slice of pie for dessert. All-in-all, a successful, delicious, satisfying meal without going over the threshold of gluttony.

Mom and I were supposed to go to the gym this morning, however, I over-slept. With puppy being back in Tulsa, I found myself rising at 10am! Oops! Tomorrow...8am...step class + strength class.

Anyone get in a good workout today? Yesterday?? Black Friday participants out there???

We had an amazing Indian lunch with my friend, AJ and now we're off to see "The Blind Side"...I've been wanting to see it since the previews started running in theatres MONTHS ago!!

I hope you all had a wonderful, safe, and delicious Thanksgiving! Don't forget to enter in to my Newman's Own Organics Giveaway!

Slump...

I'm in a health slump.

I can't blame my lacking workouts on my puppy, but I'd sure like to! When I get home from work, I. am. exhausted. And I feel like I need to spend time with her for the brief 4 hours between the time I walk in the door and the time my head hits the pillow. I've avoided committing to ANYTHING on weekdays simply because I feel an obligation to be with my family and specifically, my puppy dog. You wanna see energy...swing by my house on a Thursday evening after she's been asleep most of the week...

I have the utmost admiration and respect for you healthy, active mothers of two-leggers. Bless your hearts and hats off to you for all that you do!

I've been trying LOTS of new recipes, all of which have been WONDERFUL! And I think I may be loving them so much that I'm over-eating! I am loving the fall produce -- squash, sweet potatoes, pears...mmm! Everything is going so well in life...I'm happy. But there's not enough hours in the day.

Since starting work in June, I've managed a pathetic 1-2 evening workouts a week. LUCKILY, I have exercise equipment AT work to use on my lunch hour...however, lunches have been far and few between with the case load of patients I'm seeing! Luckily, as well, I play at least 1, if not 2, hockey games a week. This week, however, both games are tomorrow! Wish they could be spread throughout the week a bit! 

I'm making excuses, some valid...some not. In the midst of this busy work/home life, I discontinued my gym membership as I was not able to attend any of the weekday evening classes. I'm really thinking that I need to sign back up and commit to weekend evening trips to the gym 2-3 nights a week. Convince me I am being a bad dietitian, I need motivation to get my tush in gear! This whole 3...maybe 4...workouts a week is not acceptable and I can no longer use husband, puppy, work, or fatigue as excuses!

Off to the health food store. I plan to chat with husband on the way about me re-joining the gym and committing to a few evening workouts each week...

And would my Illini do SOMETHING positive at some point this season! Embarrassing...

Have a good Saturday! I hope it's as beautiful there as it is here!

Blog topic request: sleep and diet

Our friend Lena requested a blog topic: sleep and eating. She asked, "How does sleeping tie into what/how you eat? Is there really much of a connection?" Lena, I'm so glad you asked!

Yes! There most definitely is a connection between sleeping and what and how one eats. There has been a lot of recent research focused on sleep and diet/weight/nutrition with the ever expanding obesity epidemic.

What's the deal? There's lots of theories and ideas, let's discuss.

Scientifically speaking, hormones such as leptin, ghrelin, and cortisol can become out of whack with insufficient sleep. Leptin is the hormone playing a central role in fat metabolism; ghrelin is a hormone counterpart to leptin, which stimulates hunger -- increasing before meals and decreasing after meals; cortisol is a hormone commonly referred to as the "stress hormone", which helps the body use sugar (glucose) and fat for energy (metabolism). A lack of sleep triggers a wave of reactions in the body that begins with the hormones mentioned above. This results in the body waking up exhausted and craving fat and carbohydrates, says Dr. Joseph Koninck, director of the University of Ottawa's Sleep Research Laboratory. There is no doubt that the hormones which control appetite are effected by insufficient sleep [1]. So, sleep more!

Basic math would also lead any logical person to the conclusion of less hours awake leads to less hours of eating, and thus, less calories consumed. Makes sense, doesn't it?

Those staying up late to watch TV, catch up on emails, or surf the Internet are more often than not consuming high-calorie foods. When you eat late at night, Dr. Koninck suggests one's sleep is more fragmented due to the body's digestion process. Lack of deep sleep can also cause a drop in the "satiety hormone", leptin. This can cause excessive hunger the following day, even after eating. All the while, ghrelin, the "hunger hormone", is rising...setting one up to overeat [1].

Stanford University connected a lack of sleep to the rise in obesity back in 2004. Their 15-year study of 1,024 volunteers with sleep disorders found that individuals sleeping less than 4 hours a night were 73% more likely to be obese [1]. If you don't have time to sleep, you certainly don't have time to cook or eat properly, right?

Think YOU'RE getting enough sleep? Maybe not!

In 2006, University of Chicago researchers found that while adults may be in bed for 7.5 hours, the average woman slept for 6.7 hours, while men enjoyed a mere 6.1 hours of rest [1].

How much sleep does one need? Follow these steps to find out...

1. Set a bed time. Calculate back 7 1/2 hours from the time you need to get up to figure out what time that bedtime ought to be.

2. Go to bed 15 minutes earlier every day. Make note of what length of sleep leaves you feeling refreshed and awakening without the use of an alarm clock. This is your optimum length of sleep -- likely between 7 1/2 and 9 hours each night.

3. Keep a journal. Track when you go to bed, when you get up, any restless periods, when you ate and exercised before bed, whether or not you napped, and if so, for how long.

4. Keep on this schedule! Your body and waistline will thank you!

Key points to remember:
- exercise 30 minutes daily, but not within a few hours of your bedtime
- keep your bedroom a place for sleep and sexual activity only
- get into a pre-bed routine (i.e. bath, music, reading)
- DO NOT check email, watch TV, or play video games before bed -- it can leave you sleeping restlessly or unable to get to sleep
- cut out caffeine in the afternoon and evening hours
- DO NOT go to bed on a full stomach OR hungry
- use alcohol in moderation, and not as a sleep aid!

I have to say, I may ace this test. Mark and I climb into bed around 9:40 every night. My alarm goes off at 6:22 am, which is when I get up, so long as Lily has a restful sleep, too. Generally, I feel refreshed and ready for the day. While I still require one dose of caffeine and an alarm clock, I think we happily master the sleep routine.

What time is your bedtime? Are you often tired? What gets in your way of getting more sleep?

[1]. Beun, Chown, Julie. Dozing to diet: Sleep as a diet aid works, research shows. Canwest News Service. September 18, 2009.

Precious Z's

According to my recent poll, sixty-six percent of you reading my blog (and responding to the poll...) wanted to lose between 15 and 30 pounds. Well, listen up!

I returned from my honeymoon last night. Husband and I spent 7 days in beautiful Puerto Vallarta at the Dreams all-inclusive resort and spa. Red flag: all-inclusive. Or, as I consider it: (nearly) guaranteed diet failure.

The mini bar...stocked with juice, beer, and sodas. Included. The restaurants on the resort...ohhh the restaurants. Five in total serving from 8 am to 11 pm. Included. Before or after that...you, my friend, were ordering room service. At any hour of the day you can order room service (full menu). Included. If this wasn't enough, the "preferred club" tower of rooms offered varying arrays of food and beverages throughout the day...in case picking up the phone and/or walking to a restaurant was a bit too much to bear. Included. Did I mention the beach and pool service? Forgive me. Included. There was that, too. About every 15 minutes, like clockwork, a resort staff member would approach you offering you a beverage of your choice: pina coladas, mojitos, daquiris, beer, dirty monkey, soda...you get the point. The calories flowed without cessation 24/7.

While I dug deep for dietitian self-control, I often found it difficult myself (especailly since we all know that when in Mexico, don't drink the water*!). When we arrived back home, I somewhat feared stepping on the scale. Though I didn't look or feel any bigger, I imagined that a diet so far fetched from my norm had to have caught up with me. To my pleasant surprise, the scale barely budged!

I got to thinking how this could be. While I wasn't inhaling the buffets or drinking the bar dry, I thought a few fellers would've surely stuck around to torture me. It wasn't until we picked up our new puppy that I thought maybe there was something in Puerto Vallarta working in my favor to ward off vacation weight......sleep!

While I embrace meeting the recommended 8-9 hours of sleep each night, husband and I surely exceeded this each night while on our honeymoon. Our room was just ten stories above the "adult only" pool on the resort, which was constantly occupied by a myriad of crunked adults. I actually heard one couple (from Canada, if that matters) state their disappointment in the swim-up bar not being in the adult-only pool. Let's just say I can count my lucky stars that it was not, as I'm sure our twelve-hour sack sessions (give or take) would've been interrupted with even more drunken debauhery.

Similarly, Lily, our bulldog, sleeps constantly. And when you're sleeping, typically you aren't eating. When she's not sleeping, however, she has the appetite of a cow in green pastures and can consume an obscene amount of food for such a lil peanut. If she weren't a bulldog, I'd think something was truly wrong with her. I swear, she defies puppyhood in my book. We got on our webcam tonight to show Mark's parents their new grandchild, and she wouldn't even open her eyes. She was curled up in her princess bed sighing at the disturbance. We're such a bother, didn't you know?

Lesson learned: sleeping does the diet good. And surely the same goes for the ill-mannered bulldogs out there.

* Take my advice (along with the millions of other unlucky and/or wise guys) and don't drink the water in Mexico. Swine may not hold a candle to what Mark and I experienced one evening while honeymooning.