I use one of those Magic Bullets to prepare this – but you can use whatever type of blender or smoothie maker that you have at your disposal.

2 egg whites (since they are raw, I use the pasteurized egg whites in the carton from EggBeaters)
1/2 cup fresh pineapple (no sugar added; chopped into small pieces)
1/2 cup of water
1/2 cup ice
3 packets Splenda
1tsp Imitation Coconut Extract
1tsp Imitation Rum Extract

Put it all into the blender and blend until smooth.

This gives you 2 ounces of protein – approx. 10g Protein total. You can add more egg whites if you need more protein to start your day!

Honestly? It tastes like the real thing! Yummmy good!

I use one of those Magic Bullets to prepare this – but you can use whatever type of blender or smoothie maker that you have at your disposal.

2 egg whites (since they are raw, I use the pasturized egg whites in the carton from EggBeaters)
3-4 med sized strawberries cut into pieces
1/2 cup of water
1/2 cup ice
3 packets Splenda
1tsp Vanilla Extract

Put it all into the blender and blend until smooth.

This gives you 2 ounces of protein – approx. 10g Protein total. You can add more egg whites if you need more protein to start your day!

Zero In On Portion Control

Sure..easier said than done… but possible!

If your parents always praised you for being a member of the ‘clean-plate club’, you still might be havving issues leaving food behind, especially when you’ve paid out hard earned money at a restaurant. Today, the portions on restaurants are HUGE – each site competing with the next on price and portion. Dining out is a major challenge for me.

Don’t let the size of the serving placed in front of you determine how much you eat. Keep in mind portion size – - like a baseball, or a deck of cards, for example – to remind yourself what reasonable servings of food should look like.

Ask the waiter to take away what you don’t want and pack it for later. Pay attention to hunger and fullness cues, and eat s-l-o-w-l-y.

Surf n’ Turf, anyone?

The all natural/organic part should thrill organic food lovers everywhere!

The true test for me, however, was this: how does it taste in my morning coffee?

On my diet – there is just one thing I cannot.. .no matter HOW BAD I want to lose the weight, I just cannot, for the life of me, compromise and that is my coffee. I know there are a lot of people out there who feel the same.

Splenda in coffee just is not the same – - neither are any of the other substitutes I’ve found.

I came across Stevia quite by accident one day while searching for organic foods online. I even recommended it to my mother, who is a diabetic and struggles with sugar substitute issues, as well. She is even more picky than I am – - and she’s a faithful Stevia user now!

Here’s the low-down for you on the product (which you can usually find at your local health food store, or in the health/organic section of your grocery):

• Stevia has ZERO calories. Yep – you heard it… ZERO.. as in NONE
• Stevia has a glycemic index of… yea, you guessed it… ZERO
• It is all natural and 100% organic
• Stevia is a naturally sweet plant native to Paraguay
• Stevia is 30 times sweeter than sugar in its unprocessed form
• The pure glycosides that are extracted from the Stevia leaves are 250-400 times sweeter than sugar
• For those of Jewish faith, Stevia is 100% kosher
• You can use Stevia not only for sweetening drinks like tea and coffee and quick meals like on grapefruit or cereal – but you can bake with Stevia, as well. There are hundreds of recipes – - below, I reference a Stevia cookbook with some great recipe ideas
• Be aware of the Stevia/Sugar conversion when using it, though – - remember, it is 30 TIMES SWEETER THAN SUGAR! Dont’ make the mistake of using the same volume of Stevia as you would with regular sugar. Below is a conversion table

What are Stevia’s equivilancies to sugar?

Some Great Stevia Recipe Books:

Stevia Sweet Recipes: Sugar-Free-Naturally
A review from Amazon.com says:Of the 3 Stevia cookbooks I own, this is my favorite. I would think that most people who want to use stevia, are looking for healthy too, and lower carb, not just how to replace sugar with stevia. He uses whole grains in his recipies, which are much lower on the glycemic index than their refined counter parts, making them good for diabetics and some less restrictive low carb diets. I was looking for a recipe for zucchini bread and none of the books had one, so I took his Oatmeal Banana Bread recipe and replaced the fruit with zucchini and it came out fantastic! I could do that because the basic recipe is sound. He gives a lot of info on stevia including the fact that you have to adjust it to your taste. He covers pretty much all the bases in this book, except as one person pointed out, the use of liquid stevia, other than to say that he prefers to use the powders to the liquid.

Sensational Stevia Desserts
A review from Amazon.com says:This is a good book. It gives you the nutritional breakdowns which is nice, and compares them to the same products made with sugar. She uses healthy ingredients, but not much in the way of whole grains. It’s definitely low-carb friendly, as you can easily see how many carbs each recipe will set you back. None of the recipies include other sugar sources which is nice to see in a stevia cookbook.

Stevia: Naturally Sweet Recipes for Desserts, Drinks, and More
A review from Amazon.com says: I have been using stevia as my SOLE sugar replacement for just about a year now with the aid of several cookbooks to keep me going. I find it hard to use many recipes that ask for non-nutritive sweeteners because they usually happen to be low-carb, high-protein/fat, and animal products abound. My first breath of fresh air to this dilema was this book. It uses whole grain flours and provides many purely vegetarian (vegan) alternative recipes.

At least, for me, its easy to lose confidence if I’m not reaching my weight loss goals the way I’d hoped. There’s always the temptation to blame myself. You know how it goes: you tell yourself that you just don’t have the staying power or will power to lose the weight.

It’s not easy – but banish those negative thoughts from your day. You haven’t failed because the pounds are proving more stubborn than you expected. For the immediate moment – focus on your successes!

Here’s a trick – you’ve managed to lose 5 pounds so far, which may not sound like a lot when you compare it to your overall goal. The next time you’re at the grocery store – grab a 5lb back of flour, sugar or potatoes. Carry it around with you as you shop.

It’s getting heavy, hey??

That’s the amount of excess weight you used to carry all the time. Five pounds on the scale may not seem like much, but when you tote it around in your arms and think of it as the fat you’ve lost – - you realize what a big accomplishment it really is!

Also, remember – pounds aren’t the only measure of success. Make a list of other benefits you’ve gained by following your diet and exercise program:

• Maybe your clothes aren’t as tight anymore?
• Maybe you’re more flexible?
• Maybe your energy and stamina have improved?
• Maybe you’re eating a healthier diet?
• Maybe you’re losing inches and toning muscle?

If you can make one change.. you can make two. If you can make two changes.. you can make three. Get the idea?

My motivator for the week? I’ve lost 10lbs total so far (I’ve been at this roughly a month). With those 10 pounds I have also lost 12 inches! The inch loss is appearing (or I should say dissapearing) from my waist and hip area, mostly (right where I need it!). I was de-railed on my program .. right in the middle of it because I had a gallbladder attack and had to have my gallbladder removed. Using my usual and old habits.. I *almost* let that completely de-motivate me.. because once I step off my diet and workout program, for some reason.. it’s really hard for me to get back on it. Trust me, I will use anything as an excuse! And surgery felt like a pretty damn good excuse! Although, the gallbladder surgery was a pretty minor procedure (done via laproscope) – and my recovery was quick… hardly any pain after two days and the very small incisions are healing very nicely.

Luanne, my personal trainer, kept encouraging me and gave me about a week before she called and said “Come on down to the gym – - don’t be worried.. we’ll keep it light and simple, ok?” – - so I dragged myself in and I am really glad that I did. I felt so much better afterwards…and have kept up my regular visits..and feel really motivated to keep moving!

Good luck!

People ususally feel much better when losing weight, it’s true! Some experience periods of fatigue, as well, however. When you take in fewer calories than you burn, you force your body to turn to the energy it has stored as fat. This is a good thing! However, falling short on calories can make you feel tired and rundown.. and yes, even grumpy (ask me, I know!). As a result – some people get tired of dieting, but you don’t have to let an energy drain get in the way of your weight loss goals.

If you’re feeling fatigue every day, talk to your doctor. But if you simply have occasional slumps and less energy than yo uused to, try eating smaller meals adn then snack more frequentyly during the day. Save the piece of fruit from breakfast to eat in the middle of the morning, or hold off on the sliced veggies you brought for lunch and have them later in the afternoon. Eating more frequently can steady your blood sugar levels so you won’t feel a slump when your energy supplies run low.

Another good way to combat fatigue is to fit extra physical activity into your day. It seems irnoic to be more active when you’re feeling an energy low, but research shows that physical activity can actually make people feel more energetic, rather than less. It provides a psychological boost that can banish the blues. Getting up and moving also increases your self-confidence. AND regular exercise increases stamina, so you’ll build reserves of energy for more activity!

Experts say a healthy weight loss plan should average 1 to 3 pounds a week. If you’ve lost 5-8 pounds after 8 weeks.. don’t be dissapointed! Within 8 weeks, you can expect to have lost anywhere from 8-24 pounds. Losing weight more quickly than that means losing muscle tissue along with fat, which could slow your metabolism adn make it harder to maintain your weight loss further on down the road.

If you haven’t started seeing the progress that you thought you’d like to see, there may be a few reasons. If you’ve significantly increased the amount of exercise you’re doing, you may be losing fat but gaining muscle (muscle does weigh more than fat – that is NOT a myth). There’s nothing wrong with that. Because you’re sure-fire way ot look firmer adn svelter is to tone and gain a bit more muscle, you’re doing good.. because you’re trading fat for muscle. Because of this, you may not see the results on the scale that you’d like – - one sure sign of this is that you may be going down in INCHES. Check your waist size!

The most important thing now is not to get discouraged! Make a pact with yourself to use a little extra time and effort in the coming month to reach your goal and make sure the number is realistic!

I happen to be a lover of hot cereal. Growing up – there was nothing that fell into that category of ‘comfort food’ than a nice hot bowl of oatmeal with milk and brown sugar (whole milk back then.) As I grew up, I gave up on the oatmeal thing – - it just took too long and the instant varieties never really floated my boat.

Kashi has an instant hot cereal solution for me and I tried it tonight and it was delicious!

Another problem with my diet planning is that I cannot stand skim milk. I have to at least have 1%, or I won’t have any. Skim milk just isn’t creamy and rich enough for my tastes. I have found a solution to that, however – - using Fat Free Half and Half instead of skim milk. No fat – more taste. Perfect!

So, Kashi GOLean Creamy Truly Vanilla hot cereal with a splash of Fat Free Half and Half does the trick! OH OH! I also recently found a sugar substitute that is completely 100% organic and really does the job for me more than Splenda ever will! It’s called Stevia – and you can read all about Stevia right here. It’s a natural herb that is extremely sweet. In fact, this remarkable noncaloric herb, native to Paraguay, has been used as a sweetener and flavor enhancer for centuries.

The Kashi GoLean cereal has 7 whole grains plus protein and fiber – including Flax Seeds to provide you with just the right kind of fat you need in your diet (abundance of omega-3 fatty acids). (read about Flax Seeds here) – - Here’s the breakdown of the rest of the nutritional information in the Kashi hot cereal:

It is possible to have a healthy pizza dinner that is both low in saturated fat and loaded with veggies—and even fruit! Boost the fiber content of your meal by 50% simply by using whole-wheat pizza dough, which is widely available in supermarkets (check the label and avoid those that contain trans fats). Or make our Whole-Wheat Pizza Dough, which comes together in a snap. Substituting low-fat mozzarella for regular cheese lowers saturated fat and cholesterol. Then pile on the veggies for extra fiber and nutrients. And don’t forget the fruit—pears, apples and pineapple make great toppings too!

Healthy Pizza Dough Recipes
Pizza Dough Prestissimo
Quick Pizza Dough
Quick-Rising Pizza Dough
Whole-Wheat Pizza Dough

Healthy Pizza Recipes
Caramelized Onion & Artichoke Pizza
Caramelized Onion & Olive Pizza
Dessert Pizza
EatingWell’s Pepperoni Pizza
Greens & Gorgonzola Pizza
Grilled Pizza with Eggplant, Tomatoes & Feta
Grilled Pizza with Garden Tomatoes
Grilled Pizza with Pesto, Tomatoes & Feta
Peperonata & Sausage Pizza
Pear, Walnut & Gorgonzola Pizza
Pesto Pizza
Pizza with Broccoli & Black Olives
Pizza with Potato & Artichoke Topping
Pizza with White Beans, Prosciutto & Rosemary
Smoky Corn & Black Bean Pizza
Tex-Mex Pizza
Thai Chicken Pizza
Turkish-Style Pizza
Wild Mushroom & Sage Pizza

EatingWell Magazine also provides us with these tips about pizza:

Grilling Pizza
The first time you slide a circle of dough onto a grill rack, you realize this technique really is going to work. We found that a covered grill with a large surface area is best because it allows you to crisp one side of the crust over hot coals, then flip the crust over onto indirect heat to warm the toppings and melt any cheese.

Using a Pizza Stone
One way to ensure a really great pizza crust is to use a wood-burning oven that reaches a temperature of at least 600°F, a feature most home kitchens lack. Fortunately, you can transform your regular oven into a pizza oven by baking directly on a hot pizza stone. The unglazed clay surface absorbs and distributes heat evenly, producing a crisp crust.

Using a Pizza Peel
The best way to transfer a pizza to a stone is to use a wooden paddle called a peel—and it is much easier to slide a small pizza from a peel than to slide a large one. To use a peel for recipes that call for 12 ounces of dough, divide the dough in half and roll each piece into a 10-inch circle. Transfer one crust to a cornmeal-dusted pizza peel. Turn edges under to make a slight rim. Assemble the pizza, using half of the toppings. Make sure the dough slides easily on the peel; add more cornmeal if necessary. Open the oven door and set the tip of the pizza peel near the back of the stone. Pull the pizza peel toward you, letting the pizza slide onto the stone. Quickly close the door. Baking time for a pizza baked directly on a stone is shorter than for pan pizza: allow 8 to 10 minutes. Assemble the second pizza on the peel with the remaining dough and toppings while the first one bakes. Remove the pizza from the oven with a wide metal spatula to slide the pizza onto a pizza peel or pizza pan.

Buying Pre-Made Pizza Dough
Look for whole-wheat pizza-dough balls at your supermarket. Check the ingredient list to make sure the dough doesn’t contain any hydrogenated oils.

Thanks EatingWell!