So this morning, I decided it was time to stop putting it off. It didn't matter that I didn't have a fancy notebook or excel spreadsheet to write it down in. I got a lined yellow notepad from the office supply closet at work (shhh....don't tell!) and started calculating breakfast.
I know breakfast is important blah blah blah, but I just can't make myself a huge plate of food in the morning. I usually eat an apple with a bottle of water. Sometimes, I have an atkins bar or an activia shake to go with it. I wanted to write down the calories and carbs of everything I eat. Since apples don't come with nutritional information on the side, I had to look it up online. I started at About.com's Calorie Count
In case you have trouble seeing that, it says 1 large gala apple has 22 carbs!!! I was shocked. I knew there would be some natural sugar in the apple. It's sweet. But I wasn't expecting 22 carbs. That's almost my daily allotment of carbs.
I love apples. I eat them daily. But now, I need to seriously rethink that. 22 carbs is a lot. I knew I needed to avoid grapes, raisins and bananas, but I thought apples were okay. I decided to get a second opinion. Sparkpeople.com says that apples have 9.5 carbs, but I couldn't find anything on gala apples specifically.
And here I've been avoiding strawberries, and Sparkpeople.com says they only have 5.8 carbs. Calorie Count says 11.7. I love fruit. I know a person is supposed to have several servings of fruit a day (I've seen 2 cups or 5 pieces), but how do you do that and avoid the carbs? Most, if not all, fruit have natural sugars.
I seriously have a lot to learn.
If you think apples are bad, you are CRAZY!!!! LOL. Do you see the big A it gave the gala apple? I think the important thing is where the carbs are coming from (apples or bread). Read Eat This & Live by Don Colbert. I'm pretty sure he'll tell you they are ok. :)
ReplyDeleteSeriously, girl! You are missing out on some things that are very good for you! Grapes, Raisins, Bananas?? FULL of nutrition! :)
Hello! My friend Melissa (above) mentioned your blog to me and I thought I would stop by and check it out. First I want to say CONGRATS ON LOSING 32.7 pounds so far! That's a great accomplishment!
ReplyDeleteSecond though... eat your apples!! :) And grapes... grapes are REALLY good for you. Fruits have a lot of nutrients that we NEED... especially when losing weight. You see... toxins store in fatty tissues. When we lose that fat we also release all those toxins in to our body and our liver has to do it's job. We can also sweat out toxins. But either way your body will be working harder at cleansing itself as you lose more and more weight and it is really important to make sure you are getting your nutrients and keeping your body healthy and strong.
Plus... strawberries and apples and grapes and bananas are sooo yum! Enjoy them! They are the healthy way to get your carbs. :)
I'm no expert and I have no degrees in this stuff... just things I've read and picked up over time. But that book that Mel suggested... Eat This and Live... will help you gain tons of info on eating the right things. I highly recomment it!
Good luck on your journey!
Thanks ladies for the advice. I know it seems silly to think that apples are bad. My husband and I have been trying to stick to the atkins diet as much as possible and fruit really isn't all that great when it comes to carbs. But after re-reading my post and then your comments, I kinda realized that it was ridiculous to avoid such obviously health food items. So....we're rethinking the atkins diet. I'll update with a post when we've figured out what we want to do.
ReplyDeleteI would be careful of any diet that has you exclude things... especially things like fruit. Don Colbert is a really great author that focuses on changing habits and eating healthy instead of "dieting". Hopefully you can find something you can do for life. :)
ReplyDeleteYeah, i've heard the adkins diet is great for weightloss, but it's not something you can stick to for LIFE b/c it has you skipping carbs & carbs can actually be good for you! Especially the fruits! Ya know? Kinda glad you are re-thinking it! :)
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