Sugar and Dough
Sep. 15th, 2006 10:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livingdebWarning: there's nothing really exciting in this entry unless you're interested in the issues of diet and/or finance yourself.
A co-worker told me that her current eating plan began with two weeks of eating no sugar. Based on what she said afterwards, it sounded like the diet where you can eat anything so long as it's not white (no white bread, no potatoes, no sugar, and, I assume, no marshmallows). This works great for her and she can lose ten pounds during the two weeks. Wow, that's a lot.
Those numbers stuck in my head for some reason. My current all-time record is losing seven pounds in ten months. And I thought I could maybe use a little jump start like that. But then I thought, no, I couldn't eat like that. I mean I could, but I never would if I had a choice.
But then I started thinking that I wonder if I could go on a no-sugar diet. No white sugar, no brown sugar, no corn syrup, no honey, no agave nectar. Fruit should still be allowed (in spite of the fructose or fruit sugar). But not if it's canned in sugar water. And milk should still be allowed (in spite of the lactose or milk sugar). Maybe a no-processed-sugar diet. Also no fake sugar (no running around buying sugar-free ice cream and sugar-free chocolates). But no. I really wouldn't want to do that.
But then I thought maybe I could do it for just a week. One week isn't very long to give up something. And after eating differently for a week, I might even have learned some things that I wanted to keep doing. And it might be interesting to see if I felt any different.
The two main problem areas would be breakfast and snacks. Current I usually try to have cereal for breakfast. Most of it is a perfectly reasonable high-fiber raisin bran. Maybe there are sugar crystals all over the raisins, but that wouldn't be so bad. The bad part is the granola I pour all over the top of it to make it taste good.
The thing I have for breakfast when I'm in a hurry is chocolate milk.
Well, I could make eggs and sausage and cheese and English muffins, when I had time. Or I could make up burritos like Tam. Or I could have yogurt, with maybe a banana mixed in. Or some berry sauce made by putting raspberries or mixed berries through the blender with just enough water to make it a sauce. I already know this is good, say on chocolate cake, with no added sugar.
For snacks I usually have some kind of granola bar with plenty of fiber and also some sugar. But I could have yogurt instead. Or peanuts. Or a bagel. Or pretzels. Or those pre-made burritos.
This might be possible. I'm thinking of really doing it sometime when I've bought enough groceries and when I don't have any parties coming up (like the two I'm going to tomorrow). My rule would be no processed sugar except for any minute amounts that come in things that I can't even taste. I would allow myself up to one or two cheats for the whole week in case someone brought in donuts or gave me chocolates or something like that. But no solo sugar eating. No dark chocolate. No super-dark chocolate with hardly any sugar at all. I would let myself eat other white things and probably way too much butter and cheese and other yummy fats. But I think I might like to try that.
**
In other news, my workplace is about to start offering Roth 403(b)s. These are like 401k's except that they are offered by different kinds of employers and the money is contributed after taxes (like a Roth IRA) so you never pay taxes on the growth of that money. I like that part because I think the tax rates are going nowhere but up during my retirement. Also, I'm still in the 15% tax bracket, and I'm unlikely to ever find myself in the 10% tax bracket, so it's a no-brainer to me.
I'm already contributing the max to a Roth IRA, which is even better because it has a lot fewer restrictions on it. For example, I can take out all the money I put in (just not the extra that has been growing since I started) at any time with no questions asked. And more importantly, no penalties. So you can risk putting too much in and still get it back out.
But meanwhile I've started researching the options my employer has. There are two things I'm looking at: fees and options. The providers we can choose from are AIG VALIC, Fidelity Investments, ING, Lincoln Financial Group, MetLife Resources, and TIAA-CREF. I've heard bad things about AIG VALIC fees. The fact that I know a slogan from MetLife (Get Met. It pays.) and that they have Snoopy imply to me that they spend a lot on marketing, and I have a bias against companies who do that because I can't help suspecting that this is where their priorities lie. I've heard good things about Fidelity as a regular (non-retirement plan) broker with low fees. And I remember that Lincoln impressed me with a presentation once. I've heard all kinds of good things about TIAA-CREF, which is known for having low fees. Another interesting thing about TIAA-CREF is that it offers its own mutual funds. They say their only fees are the fees charged by their funds.
I looked up their financial ratings and TIAA-CREF has the highest ones. I really thought there would be some ties. And they do have plenty of offerings, too, so I think I'll go with them.
The only problem is how I'm going to find extra money, and how much? The minimum is $25 per month. Surely I can afford that. So that will be my default plan.
**
I've just been realizing lately that my budget could use some revamping. I set up a budget many years ago, and each year as I get a pay raise, I just raise the amounts in various categories by three percent (for inflation) and that's it. But now I'm realizing I want a separate category for home renovations and a separate category for health and now a new one for this Roth 403(b) thing, and it occurs to me that I might want to update the proportions of my other categories occasionally. I like where they are, but I should probably think about shrinking them so I can expand these new categories a bit.
Link of the day - My recent budgeting realizations are due in large part to the long and informative article "How to Create a Zero-Based Budget" presented in the blog "Getting Finances Done: Your Guide to Stress-Free Financial Control."
It's just another one of those resources that reminds you of stuff you really don't hear much about. It's good for people who like to play with spreadsheets, not so good for people who like to budget by just having the right amount of money in their pockets. It's also the article that taught me there's such a thing as Google Spreadsheets, which is what made me look up Google Calendar.
A co-worker told me that her current eating plan began with two weeks of eating no sugar. Based on what she said afterwards, it sounded like the diet where you can eat anything so long as it's not white (no white bread, no potatoes, no sugar, and, I assume, no marshmallows). This works great for her and she can lose ten pounds during the two weeks. Wow, that's a lot.
Those numbers stuck in my head for some reason. My current all-time record is losing seven pounds in ten months. And I thought I could maybe use a little jump start like that. But then I thought, no, I couldn't eat like that. I mean I could, but I never would if I had a choice.
But then I started thinking that I wonder if I could go on a no-sugar diet. No white sugar, no brown sugar, no corn syrup, no honey, no agave nectar. Fruit should still be allowed (in spite of the fructose or fruit sugar). But not if it's canned in sugar water. And milk should still be allowed (in spite of the lactose or milk sugar). Maybe a no-processed-sugar diet. Also no fake sugar (no running around buying sugar-free ice cream and sugar-free chocolates). But no. I really wouldn't want to do that.
But then I thought maybe I could do it for just a week. One week isn't very long to give up something. And after eating differently for a week, I might even have learned some things that I wanted to keep doing. And it might be interesting to see if I felt any different.
The two main problem areas would be breakfast and snacks. Current I usually try to have cereal for breakfast. Most of it is a perfectly reasonable high-fiber raisin bran. Maybe there are sugar crystals all over the raisins, but that wouldn't be so bad. The bad part is the granola I pour all over the top of it to make it taste good.
The thing I have for breakfast when I'm in a hurry is chocolate milk.
Well, I could make eggs and sausage and cheese and English muffins, when I had time. Or I could make up burritos like Tam. Or I could have yogurt, with maybe a banana mixed in. Or some berry sauce made by putting raspberries or mixed berries through the blender with just enough water to make it a sauce. I already know this is good, say on chocolate cake, with no added sugar.
For snacks I usually have some kind of granola bar with plenty of fiber and also some sugar. But I could have yogurt instead. Or peanuts. Or a bagel. Or pretzels. Or those pre-made burritos.
This might be possible. I'm thinking of really doing it sometime when I've bought enough groceries and when I don't have any parties coming up (like the two I'm going to tomorrow). My rule would be no processed sugar except for any minute amounts that come in things that I can't even taste. I would allow myself up to one or two cheats for the whole week in case someone brought in donuts or gave me chocolates or something like that. But no solo sugar eating. No dark chocolate. No super-dark chocolate with hardly any sugar at all. I would let myself eat other white things and probably way too much butter and cheese and other yummy fats. But I think I might like to try that.
**
In other news, my workplace is about to start offering Roth 403(b)s. These are like 401k's except that they are offered by different kinds of employers and the money is contributed after taxes (like a Roth IRA) so you never pay taxes on the growth of that money. I like that part because I think the tax rates are going nowhere but up during my retirement. Also, I'm still in the 15% tax bracket, and I'm unlikely to ever find myself in the 10% tax bracket, so it's a no-brainer to me.
I'm already contributing the max to a Roth IRA, which is even better because it has a lot fewer restrictions on it. For example, I can take out all the money I put in (just not the extra that has been growing since I started) at any time with no questions asked. And more importantly, no penalties. So you can risk putting too much in and still get it back out.
But meanwhile I've started researching the options my employer has. There are two things I'm looking at: fees and options. The providers we can choose from are AIG VALIC, Fidelity Investments, ING, Lincoln Financial Group, MetLife Resources, and TIAA-CREF. I've heard bad things about AIG VALIC fees. The fact that I know a slogan from MetLife (Get Met. It pays.) and that they have Snoopy imply to me that they spend a lot on marketing, and I have a bias against companies who do that because I can't help suspecting that this is where their priorities lie. I've heard good things about Fidelity as a regular (non-retirement plan) broker with low fees. And I remember that Lincoln impressed me with a presentation once. I've heard all kinds of good things about TIAA-CREF, which is known for having low fees. Another interesting thing about TIAA-CREF is that it offers its own mutual funds. They say their only fees are the fees charged by their funds.
I looked up their financial ratings and TIAA-CREF has the highest ones. I really thought there would be some ties. And they do have plenty of offerings, too, so I think I'll go with them.
The only problem is how I'm going to find extra money, and how much? The minimum is $25 per month. Surely I can afford that. So that will be my default plan.
**
I've just been realizing lately that my budget could use some revamping. I set up a budget many years ago, and each year as I get a pay raise, I just raise the amounts in various categories by three percent (for inflation) and that's it. But now I'm realizing I want a separate category for home renovations and a separate category for health and now a new one for this Roth 403(b) thing, and it occurs to me that I might want to update the proportions of my other categories occasionally. I like where they are, but I should probably think about shrinking them so I can expand these new categories a bit.
Link of the day - My recent budgeting realizations are due in large part to the long and informative article "How to Create a Zero-Based Budget" presented in the blog "Getting Finances Done: Your Guide to Stress-Free Financial Control."
You'll probably miss an expense or two at first and find yourself part way through the month saying "shoot, I forgot to budget for that." To address this scenario, be sure to budget a "cushion" account (last week I called it a "grease" account, but I think cushion is simply more understandable and descriptive, so I'll stick to that). I recommend starting at about $100 at first. Over time, you'll be able to get a feel if this is too much or not enough.
It's just another one of those resources that reminds you of stuff you really don't hear much about. It's good for people who like to play with spreadsheets, not so good for people who like to budget by just having the right amount of money in their pockets. It's also the article that taught me there's such a thing as Google Spreadsheets, which is what made me look up Google Calendar.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
on 2006-09-16 01:39 pm (UTC)Becky
no subject
on 2006-09-16 02:16 pm (UTC)By the way, your comment goes perfectly with the "dough" part of the title!
no subject
on 2006-09-16 02:39 pm (UTC)I substituted baking soda for baking powder (which I didn't have). I checked another recipe to get the amount right (try a scant half-teaspoon, and reduce the salt to half). They don't rise quite as much as I expect they would with baking powder, but the texture is still quite good. I've also stinted on milk and filled in with a bit of water, but that's one that usually works for me with quick breads.
And except for the first time, I've made them without rolling them out and cutting. I've been just pinching off some dough and forming it with my hands. I love that the dough isn't so sticky.
no subject
on 2006-09-21 04:18 am (UTC)