Food Diary: I Ate Red Vines

Some have scoffed at my I Ate Almonds, I Ate a Breakfast Burrito, and I Ate a Donut blog posts.

They said that it was all about me...and what I ate...and who cares?!

However, this morning I am vindicated. I am bolstered. And I am even more commited to blogging about what I eat.

Yes, I am going to blog about eating a pack of Red Vines today. But first, the reason for my new found conviction. Reuters is reporting today that a study shows that those that keep a food diary just about every day lose about twice as much weight as those who do not.

That's right folks...twice as much weight as those who did not!

Study shows value of food diary in losing weight

WASHINGTON - Keeping a food diary -- a detailed account of what you eat and drink and the calories it packs -- is a powerful tool in helping people lose weight, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.

The study involving 1,685 middle-aged men and women over six months found those who kept such a diary just about every day lost about twice as much weight as those who did not.

The skinny...

"For those who are working on weight loss, just writing down everything you eat is a pretty powerful technique," Victor Stevens of Kaiser Permanente's Center for Health Research in Portland said in a telephone interview.

"It helps the participants see where the extra calories are coming from, and then develop more specific plans to deal with those situations," said Stevens, who helped lead the study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

The technique also helps hold dieters accountable for what they are eating, Stevens said.

I'm not going to rub into your noses...you scoffers you! After all, two months of my friend telling me I should write down everything I eat didn't sway me to do so. It's only recently that I've attempted to blog and/or write down my intake. I'm far from perfection. Some days I don't journal anything. But now I have no excuse!

Back to the Red Vines. So, the other night, I had a craving for something sweet. I never, hardly ever, crave Red Vines, the Original Red Twists. But I bought a pack and ate it all in no time. I felt bad. I mean emotionally bad. My stomach seemed to fare better.

What was the calorie damage? About 400 calories worth. No worries on the fat grams though...that's a big zero. Total carbs were 72 grams, 48 coming from sugar.

So there...I feel better now. You know why?

I blogged about it!

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TheBigRuski's Marketplace Notes: I'm still waiting on my bottle of MonaVie to arrive. As I've written before, I take 2 ounces in the morning and night. It might not be the "miracle juice," but I tell you what, it works for me. I'm not a big fruit eater and this makes up for it! Find out more about the 19-fruit blend at MonaVie.

DIGG story!

Too Much Cheddar

Coming up on a week of TheBigRuski Goes Healthy and looking back, its been a roller coaster. Yes, I ate almonds for snacks, but it was too many of them. Too much fat...even if it is healthy fat.


I ate a breakfast burrito one morning, cooked it myself and it was pretty healthy. But on another morning I had a breakfast burrito from Rose's Donuts and Cafe, and even though I had them make it with egg whites, there was too much cheddar cheese.

I estimate I ate about a 1/4 cup of cheddar cheese in dat thar burrito. That comes to 266 calories, 22 fat grams, and 70 mg of cholesterol. Too much, too much, too much!

Then there was the Mudd Pie, but it was my birthday...calorie trade off? Not really, unless you also believe that there are no calories if you don't finish it all.

Then, comes 4th of July, and I'm off to the races with Super Nachos from Gringos, and then at a friend's barbecue: a cheeseburger, 1.5 brat sausages, potato salad, guacomole and chips, and a slice of blueberry pie...oh, and 1.5 grape flavored Crush sodas.

So, now we come to the day-after 4th, and I'm doing pretty good. I'm not going to break it down now, but I will say this...I had a shot of wheatgrass and an acai super antioxident from Jamba Juice for a late-morning snack.

Then, getting back to the week in review, there's the exercise. I increased the number of times I walked, and on a couple of occasions went for more than the half-hour duration I had alloted myself. So, although not impressive, the exercise was somewhat consistent and improved.

On a scale of 1 to 10, I rate my week a 6. TheBigRuski went mediocre, but my resolve is strong!

Hope you had a great 4th...and a healthy dose of fun!

Burning Off Donut Calories

As we continue in this saga, TheBigRuski Goes Healthy...and eats a donut along the way, we ask: How do we burn off the calories from an old-fashioned chocolate covered donut?

More specifically, how did I? How did I burn off 250 calories.

I did not, as the TheDailyPlate.com "recommends," do steel mill work, removing slag for 11 minutes. Nor did I play music on a guitar, standing for 39 minutes. I was thinking about officiating a basketball game for 17 minutes...but I thought that might interupt the flow of the game if I faked an injury at the 17-minute mark.

Nope, today I walked 30 minutes at a fairly slow pace. I'm nursing a bad back and can not really pound it out without being in some pain. So, that's what I did...walked for 30 minutes slowly.

Did I burn off the donut calories?

Well, not exactly, according to the TheDailyPlate.com, I burned off 130 calories. That's 120 calories short!

Am I going to cry? No. I will just carry on...you should, too!

TheBigRuski's Marketplace Notes: I finished my bottle of MonaVie tonight. I take 2 ounces in the morning and night. It might not be the "miracle juice," but I tell you what, it works for me. I'm not a big fruit eater and this makes up for it! Find out more about the 19-fruit blend at MonaVie.