Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Overcoming Originally Ousted Olives

I hate weight-loss diets. I really don't think I need one anyway, because I actually eat pretty well. In fact, I have an almost entirely organic (hey, another O!) diet. But I don't consider that a special weight-loss diet. It's just a healthy lifestyle. It's not set in stone or anything. I eat out with friends, and sometimes even eat food that is pretty nasty if I'm at a party and don't want to starve.

The only problem is that I had been gaining a bit of weight. I've gained it slowly, over a long period of time. It's probably due to my love of dairy products. I also love chocolate, although I prefer my chocolate very dark. I'm actually not a big fan of sugar. I don't even like most salt, which can also cause weight gain.

So, I've been very annoyed by my weight-gain, without wanting to do anything drastic to fix the problem. I exercise a bit, but even training and competing in a zombie run didn't really help me lose much weight, and left me with foot and ankle pain that wouldn't go away for a long time.

The only olives I can stand to eat.
Also notice that they are sitting between
two dairies in the fridge: organic raw cream
and organic yogurt. Yum! :)
So, I was watching Dr. Oz (hey, another O!) one day, and he has some guests on talking about a really easy way to lose weight: just add a little more food to each meal. That food can consist of about an ounce of anything from nuts to dark chocolate to avocado. They call these foods MUFAs.

The problem is that I love everything on the MUFA list so much, that I have a tendency to eat way more than an ounce of those things. So, I decided to go for the one MUFA item that I hate: olives. In fact, my two least favorite foods in the whole world are olives and grapefruit. This was going to be interesting.

My mother and I decided to try the diet together. My mom loves olives, so she's always trying to get me eat try new types of olives. I usually do try them, because the one thing that can override my possible hatred of a food is my curiosity of how it may taste.

I've hated all olives so far, but I decided to choose the one type of olive I hate the least: Castelvetrano whole green olives by Mezzetta. They have the seeds in them, but they are the most mild olives I've tried. I still don't like them, but I'm getting used to them. At least I can tolerate them.

The best part is that it works! I've actually lost weight without changing anything in my nearly non-existent exercise routine. I just eat one or two olives with each meal, and lose weight. It's very cool.

There's one other thing I've been doing that stopped the weight gain, before trying the olives. I will talk about that for W. My W word stopped weight-gain, and olives helped me to actually lose weight. Stay tuned!


42 comments:

  1. Thank you for the information. I expected to lose a lot of weight when hibernating. But I didn't. So, having an open mind, I'm going to consider those mufas. Olive them.

    Blessings and Bear hugs!
    Bears Noting

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  2. Well now that's interesting. I happen to love olives black and green ones. There's really not many things I can say that I don't like..unless we're talking liver. egh I hate liver.

    Dark Thoughts Blog

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    1. And here I love liver, but only when I'm in the mood for it. :)

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  3. I've also been gaining slowly over a few years. Because I used to be quite skinny, it didn't worry me in the beginning. But now I'm shocked to find I have clothes that don't fit. So olives it'll be. We also seem to have ankle issues in common...got to do regular exercises to strengthen it. -Belinda [A - Z participant; hope to see you around MROP soon].

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    1. I had exactly the same problem. I used to be so skinny, the kids made fun of me for being too poor to eat. I used to run a lot when I was younger, so the ankle issues are so annoying. I never used to have these problems way back when! :)

      Thanks for stopping by!

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  4. I need to lose weight but could never eat an olive.

    http://joycelansky.blogspot.com

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    1. There are other things on the list I've linked. You could go for the nuts or chocolate! :) Thanks for stopping by!

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  5. Very, very interesting. I can't wait to read your W post.

    I too hate olives, but will try that with those olives you mentioned. I'm going to start going all organic too. I'm just about finished with my food stock and will need to go shopping soon. I'm excited to see the difference my body will have by eating all organic. And by eating 2 nasty olives with every meal. :) Writer’s Mark

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    1. Yay! We can have an organic, olive-haters club! :)

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  6. Just look at those who live in the Mediterranean - they consume a lot of olives and olive oil. And they are thin. So it makes sense.

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    1. Yep! There are other, non Mediterranean options on the list, but the way they explained it on the Dr. Oz show made sense. All those olives probably have something to do with it. :)

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  7. Replies
    1. Cool, that makes it easy! :) Thanks for stopping by!

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  8. Well that certainly an easy way to lose weight or keep it down... I will definelt try it when I gain a couple of pounds. Unusually exercise it away, bi I really like this idea much better...

    Thanks for the info.

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    1. Haha, well it is definitely the easiest way I've found! :) Thanks for stopping by!

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  9. obesity is such a pain in ass problem now a days
    anyway grt tips. I can never imagine eating olive though :(
    I have oats and also ppl say pine apple extract and honey reduce weighht.
    Never helped me much. WAITING FOR UR W word. Wat do u usually do in gym ? am a gym lover. so asking

    Btw wanted U to read this. On my LOL post u said u didnt understand Y i typed in small font :) Its just that Rajnikanth- the one in picture is a famous south Indian actor on whom people frame many jokes saying he can DO ANYTHING . nthng is impossible to him and you should need guts to ask who is he ? he is that much famous :P Hence I typed it in small font as if whispering to go and check out on google silently.

    Phew it was a joke but if its still not clear :-/ :) Its ok

    hav a good day

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    1. There are other things on the MUFA list, and I link to the list in the article if you want to try one of those instead. I actually hate the gym, but I love to run outside. I grew up part of my life on a farm and used to run and hike all over the place. Now, it just hurts my feet and ankles. I guess I should start on a stationary bike at the gym or something, but I have a hard time working out if I can't do it outside with nature.

      I explained what I meant by my comment on your post. I think the wording may not have come off right.

      Thanks for stopping by!

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    2. I had that same problem when my feet started bothering me. Have you tried riding a real bike outside? Works well if you have a good place to do it.

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    3. I just don't have a bike anymore. I'm going to get a new one as soon as I'm able.

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  10. Cool. Going to look more into the MUFA thing and give it a whirl...thanks. Looking forward to your W.

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  11. Olives, huh? Wow! I love olives, so it would be a problem to only eat two. I love avocados and dark chocolate too, but don't eat sugar, salt, or dairy products, except cheese. I don't really have a weight problem though, but this is interesting. I can't wait to see what the W post is too.

    About 30 years ago, I lost 35 pounds in three months just by brisk walking four times a week for 20-30 minutes and cutting my portions down. I've kept if off too. Just a thought for anyone reading this.

    Sunni

    http://sunni-survivinglife.blogspot.com/

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  12. Olives as a means to losing weight? I hope it works for you. Like you, Kristen, I hate olives too.

    Cynthia Rodrigues Manchekar at Cynthology

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    1. There are other items on the list, but I do love the results of the olives. :) Thanks for stopping by!

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  13. I went down two dress sizes last year by cutting out bread and dairy (both which I discovered I'm intolerant to), red meat, reducing alcohol and everything with sugar in it. I don't eat anything processed either. I feel a heck of a lot better for it too. Don't get me wrong, I still eat a slice of cake every weekend and have a glass of wine twice a week. The thing I miss the most, though, is chocolate. Sigh. And, like you, it's the dark stuff I love.
    My husband used to 'force' me to eat at least one olive every time we went out for dinner. Over time, the hatred turned to love and now I eat them almost every day!
    Suzy Turner, YA Author

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    1. Wow, you're dedicated! I don't think I could do it if it weren't easy for me. I'm lazy when it comes to this stuff. :)

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  14. Olives? Really?? Now, thats some new information!
    Thanks for this post

    Bhavya
    Just Another Blog

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  15. Good luck with your weight loss program! Does sound unique!! Thanks for stopping by my blog today, too.

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    1. Thank you, and thanks for stopping by too! :)

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  16. Yay for Olives, dr Oz, organic, ounces and dark chocolate! Great post Kristen thank you and good luck! You could try olives stuffed with red peppers and mozzarella, but don't get me started. I love olives, black, green, olivey colour ..
    What does MUFA stand for?
    Susan Scott's Soul Stuff

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    1. Thanks for the tip. I just can't imagine wasting the good stuff I'd have to stuff inside the yucky olive. I'd rather down the plain olive, then eat the yummy stuff to get the taste out, haha! :)

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  17. Urgh Olives! not a fan, even if they helped me lose weight. I do like Organic though. Curious about your 'W' post now?

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    1. W is here! Also there are other things on the MUFA list, which I linked to within my post. :) Thanks for stopping by!

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  18. Olives noo way! I hatee. Why don't chocolate can be a weight loosing product? Wow. It would be heaven then. ;)

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    1. Actually, there are other things on the MUFA list, which I linked to, and a little bit of chocolate is on there. It's just that I would want way more than a little, so I went with the one thing I don't like. :) Thanks for stopping by!

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  19. I have grown to like olives over time. I agree with you that dark is the way to go with chocolate.

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    1. I don't know if I will ever *like* them, but I can tolerate them now. They used to make me heave. The black olives would probably still do that to me. Thanks for stopping by!

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  20. I did get my olives and have been having at 'em! Maybe because I'm not eating them for enjoyment, I don't think they're as horrible as I felt before. I like the lighter green ones better than the darker ones. I do feel an energy boost and feel they help with the appetite.

    And I've been trying to drink much more water. (Is that your secret W tip?) But still need to get back into exercising. Writer’s Mark

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    1. Water is a good one too, but I chose wheat for my W today. :) Thanks for stopping by!

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