One Day At A Time

Guest Blog by David Haas - Cancer and Healthy Lifestyle

2012-01-08T18:41:00.001-05:00

Exercise as a Natural Treatment for Cancer

By Guest Blogger David Haas

(Note From Blog Owner- Bev, aka Hockeygal4ever)

As a 6x cancer survivor I felt David's request to "Guest Blog" helped to serve my purpose in helping those who may be facing the same factors I've faced in life. The changes I've made in eating habits came about with literally years of work and trials & errors.

I finally became a part of a program called Fat Loss Ignition which has taught me not only how to slowly change my way of eating, easily but has also helped me ease into a more "Clean Eating" lifestyle. The first step is changing habits, then changing those habits to be even better choices based on amazing facts. The program has recently been introduced to the public and I highly recommend checking it out. My sweetie has lost 85 lbs and kept it off eating the recipes from the Fat Loss Ignition (F.L.I.) Program and I've utilized the program to make huge changes that turbo boosted my weight losses once again after nearly a year of standing still. Together he and I have lost over 200 lbs!!!!!! The FLI Program is a realistic approach to eating so your body literally runs at its most efficient, creating a healthier you. I've beaten cancer and I KNOW that this change in eating style and lifestyle has been an important factor. So please enjoy the information David has provided and if you or someone you know is dealing with cancer, take charge and change your lifestyle for the best. Only YOU can make a difference, one day at a time!

For the many who have been diagnosed with cancer, words like exercise and fitness are the furthest things from their mind. Newly diagnosed patients have enough on their mind as they try to understand a plethora of complicated terminology, such as mesothelioma, depression and anxiety, to be too overly concerned with making lifestyle changes. Most conventional doctors lose interest in encouraging patients to make lifestyle changes once they have cancer. A majority of their focus now is on radiation, surgery and chemotherapy. In fact, mesothelioma doctors wouldn't even bother to try to convince a person to quit smoking if they have lung cancer, knowing full well that cigarettes likely caused the cancer in the first place.

According to the National Cancer Institute, regular physical activity plays a fundamental role in improving the quality of life. Regular exercise is also a critical component of energy balance. Energy balance is a term used to describe the complex relationship of diet, weight and physical activity has on health, which also includes the risk of cancer. In recent years, evidence has grown to support the role of exercise during all stages of cancer treatment.

Chemotherapy and radiation therapy is frequently associated with side effects, such as anemia and fatigue, which can make a person feel very tired. But, it is very important to remain as physically active as possible. The combination of rest and diminished physical activity leads to loss of function, which can aggravate the symptoms of cancer, such as nausea, fatigue and depression. In addition, prolonged bed rest leads to muscle loss and painful joints which in turn can lead to decreased mobility. In most cases, the person will not be able to perform simple tasks, such as sitting up or walking, after only weeks of bed rest. A combination of gentle stretching helps relax painful joints and muscles, so they can be exercised and strengthened. Mild to moderate amounts of exercise can rebuild loss muscle mass. The positive effects of exercise do not end with building muscle. Researchers have found that exercise has been shown to help improve a cancer prognosis; increase survival rates and lowers the incidence of a relapse.

Over 50 studies on colorectal cancer have been conducted to explore the protective mechanisms of exercise. It's believed that exercise protects the body against colon cancer through its role in hormone metabolism, energy balance, insulin regulation and by decreasing intestinal transit time. The greatest magnitude of protective effects has been shown to be the strongest in high intensity activity. It's estimated that between 30 to 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise daily is all that is required to protect a person colon cancer. In the pre-cancer stage, individuals who exercise in moderate amounts have been known to help reduce their risk of developingcolorectal cancer by as much as 40 percent in comparison to those living a sedentary lifestyle, regardless of body mass index (BMI). Other studies have also found that regular physical activity not only reduces the risk of developing breast cancer by 25 to 30 percent, exercise has also been found to have an inhibitory effect on cancer cell growth.

The American Journal of Physiology, Endocrinology and Metabolism found that regular exercise helped release humeral factors from working muscles. These humeral factors are rich in myokines, which play a valuable role in immune response. The myokines are found in high concentrations after exercise, and have been shown to have an effect in slowing down the growth of cancerous cells in breast tissue. This is a strong indicator that women who exercised regularly receiving cancer treatment were more likely to survive and recover, than women who were sedentary. Even more surprising, these findings were unaffected by the level of physical fitness of the women before receiving cancer treatment.

Regardless of what cancer has affected a person's life, a personalized and consistent exercise regime has been shown to have significant effects on promoting recovery and preventing relapse. Endurance training from exercise plays an important role in managing the symptoms associated with cancer, and in the recovery of people following treatment. A recent report investigating the relationship between cancer and exercise, found that regular exercise after cancer treatment helped recovery physical function, as well as reduced the risk of cancer relapse and the mortality rate of some cancers. In addition, this study also found that physical activity further reduced the risk of developing other long-term conditions.

Thanks David! You have given my readers some excellent information and places to check out regarding healthy lifestyle and cancer. There is NO question that the two are tightly linked. Feel free to share your thoughts and ideas on David's guest blog with us!

Don't forget to check out the program that has changed both and saved the life of both myself and the love of my life... by losing over 200lbs. together so far!

Fat Loss Ignition

Check out the video that explains how easy it is to change your body to lose weight EASILY and not "DIET" but truly change your lifestyle and eat normal foods.

Why I've Been Missing

2011-11-16T15:29:00.001-05:00

These past few months have been pretty rough on me. Just when I think I'm getting a handle on things like dealing with my chronic pain and healthy eating lifestyle, etc. I get slammed with a new problem. I think my body is trying to take itself over and I have news for it... I won't take it lying down! LOL

I was recently diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) and Fibromyalgia on top of my numerous other issues. I had no clue and kept attributing my additional aches and pains to "getting older" and my chronic back pain from the cancer just getting worse, etc. The reality was my body was attacking itself once again. Unfortunately the end results of this have been me gaining back 30 lbs of my lost weight, which spiraled me into a bit of a depression and angst with myself feeling like I was a big, fat loser again. I'm not anywhere near where I had been physically and while I'm still working out in the pool it's not nearly as intense or as often. I'm hoping to make a come back in this entire situation and start losing again. Unfortunately I had turned to food again as a comfort and while, yes it's healthier options than ever before, my body hadn't been used to taking in extra amounts of food even if it's healthier foods. We are still going regularly though to the Y and I plan on continuing that no matter what. I'm so proud that we have now been members for over 1 year now!

On the brighter side the love of my life has now lost 81 lbs by following our healthy eating lifestyle. He works out by enjoying some "hoops" at the YMCA and he's even joined a rec league for fun. Every Tuesday he's enjoying a little fun and slight competition and he's just loving it. He thanks me every day for changing his life and his views on it. I simply comment that I nudged him into becoming more healthy for completely selfish reasons of wanting him in my life for many, many, many more years to come. He also inspires me to go to the gym and do my pool workouts even when I'm truly not feeling like doing it and 9 times out of 10 I'm really glad I did it. My pain levels are unreal lately and I'm dealing with that but I will overcome this barrier as I have all others.

The rest of my life seems to just be coming together as we move on. My oldest daughter has moved 2 hours away and I miss her so much. My twins are still here in town but we don't see each other nearly enough at all. I miss the mom thing. Nobody ever told me that when they fly the coop they tend to stay away much longer than you want them to. LOL But my guy and I have found ways to keep busy and enjoying life together now and I've come to grips with the fact that life changes and this is a right of passage for my kids to have their own lives and grow up. I'll always love them and be so proud of them and will just cherish the moments we do have together. This year we're celebrating our Thanksgiving dinner with the kids on Saturday after Thanksgiving. It's our way to still celebrate together, allow them to go to "boyfriends' houses and girlfriends' houses and work, etc." while still having our day together. I'm okay with that for sure as I'd rather have them here on a different day as opposed to not seeing them.
I have also decided I'm working on a new weight loss system based on the glycemic index. I've been cooking meals for us using the company's recipes and such and we seem to be doing well. For me the hard part is I can't do the exercise part of the program but to be honest I can change things up enough to compensate I believe. The program isn't yet released to the public but let me tell you when it does launch I'll definitely share the info here. I used to use AssistU supplements (all natural) and it was also how my guy was doing so well with his losses but they are no longer in business. It was a small company and unfortunately didn't take off in the amount of time needed to make a success. I really miss the supplement because it truly was amazing.
So that's where I've been of late. I apologize for kind of abandoning my readers. I promise to start sharing my meals again and my progress because I AM going to get back to where I was and surpass that loss to get to goal. I just really need the motivation and the hope of being in a little less pain. I have found a supplement called Joint Health by Coral Advantage at the Dietary Foods Store here locally. It's $37.95 for a month's supply and I have to say well worth it for the RA and Fibro symptoms thus far.

Until next time I hope you stick to your healthy lifestyle or are inspired to begin one. Please feel free to leave comments to get me pumped back up again... I will need it soon!

Wish me luck on my journey to trying to "eat more clean" and healthy!
Take care of the one body God gave you, please... before it's too late.
Inspire someone you love to do the same.
And please feel free to comment and share ideas for trying to live and eat "clean" and losing weight by changing to a healthy lifestyle!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

WE CAN DO THIS, TOGETHER
ONE DAY AT A TIME!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Don't forget to check out my newest Book Blog, where I give book reviews on recent books I've read. If you're a reader you'll want to check this out!

Like this article? Twit it to your followers!

Who Else Helps me get healthy?
These are just a few of the people online that inspire me....

Joe Gigantino - Fitness Trainer
This is the guy that really set me on the path to physical fitness - Sign up for his FREE newsletter! His tips were very inspirational in helping me take many of his routines to the water so I have less pain while being able to move!

BWJEN - Another WW Buddy and a 'bookworm' too!?

.

Sean Anderson the formerly 500lb man!
Diary of A Winning Loser - Sean is an inspiration to anyone trying to get healthy!

*Note I am not affiliated nor endorsed by Weight Watchers® at all, in any way. I highly recommend their program and cannot say enough GOOD about it, but I also have decided that they were my "stepping stone" to making a change in my lifestyle. Any mention of Weight Watchers®, their program or their term of "points®" does not mean they have approved, seen, or endorsed anything on my blogs.

Also, if at any time Points® are mentioned it is always with the assumption that you will analyze the recipes, foods, ingredients and figure the points out specifically for your consumption of any product, as ingredients may vary by brand, size, etc. and Points® is a registered trademark of the Weight Watchers® company.

Celebrating Our Birthdays

2011-07-20T15:46:00.001-04:00

This past weekend was "our" birthdays... mine July 16th & my sweetie's July 18th. We have tended to make a long weekend out of it and this was no different. We started on Thursday and went through Monday. LOL Okay so an EXTRA long weekend. I am so lucky. I have a wonderful "Sister In Law" - whom I just call my sister because technically my guy & I are not married nor will we ever be until we're both retired at least and because she's just like a sister. Her son, our nephew, also celebrates his birthday around ours so she invited us up to enjoy lasagna, drinks and cheesecake which started our "celebration" on Thursday. Yes, I ate all of those things and I did not gain an ounce. As a matter of fact all weekend we partook of quite a few delightful items only in smaller portions and we hit the gym (in my case the pool as I've explained so many times before) to work out. We loved having the extra time to do what we wanted for as long as we wanted and I literally spent HOURS in the water. For me this is like a slice of heaven on earth..... okay that and the Dairy Queen Ice Cream Cake & the Cheesecake. LOL My lesson in this paragraph: YOU CAN EAT THINGS THAT ARE "BAD FOR YOU" BUT YOU CAN'T EAT THE ENTIRE CHEESECAKE OR THE ENTIRE DQ CAKE! PORTION CONTROL AND BURNING IT OFF WHEN YOU'RE DONE CREATES THE PERFECT COMBINATION TO KEEP FROM GAINING!!!!! *Side note here... I would have LOVED to enjoy both the entire cheesecake and the entire DQ Cake as I am a sweets-a-holic. Instead of waking and enjoying leftover DQ cake for breakfast, I awoke and had a good for me, organic bowl of Banilla Low Fat Yogurt with Fiber One (technically I buy Wegman's Fiber Essentials which is much cheaper) for breakfast and got my creamy, sweet flavoring. Was it a DQ cake? Hellz no. But was it good? Double hellz yeah! End result almost a week of "misbehaving" as some would see it (I don't) but doing extra hours in the water and actually I lost 0.8 lbs. So let me recap this... I ate out almost every day of the week from Thursday THROUGH Monday. I ate cheesecake. I ate lasagna. I ate a steak (purchased the smallest one & cut it in half & accidentally dropped it.. oops on the floor so it was inedible) with steamed veggies (which I didn't really eat a ton of & mashed taties (which I ate all of). I ate 2 pieces of DQ Cake (but normal sized pieces not 1/2 the cake per slice, nor did I allow myself to go back to eat more and more and more). I also filled up on some good foods in the mornings to take me through the day so my portions would be reasonable. I filled up on things like my organic yogurt with fiber cereal in it (did I mention that already? LOL), LaraBars = high protein and filling, took me well into late afternoon. When I was craving some sweetness I gave in to a fiber bar and not a candy bar (which I had eyed up at the checkout I might add) or once again my love and addiction - Stonyfield Banilla Yogurt with a few carob chips or a few Fiber One Caramel Delight pieces of cereal in it.

I will confess to spending more than "normal" times both at the gym/pool - I was truly in heaven doing that because it was hot out plus I just love being in that water. When I'm in the water I literally NEVER stop moving. I go to the deep end and if nothing else tread water for over an hour on top of whatever "exercising" I do. I also confess, *smile included*, to spending a few more hours um... snuggling with my man & burning some calories too. May I add that this is a WONDERFUL way to burn calories and stretch muscles... just saying. Celebrating has become more of an occasion than it ever was before for my/our birthdays yet we didn't really "buy" each other gifts or over indulge in huge cakes made for 20 people and only shared with 5 others. We bought an ice cream cake to last the entire weekend that was made to feed 10-12 and fed 9 of us (keeping normal portion sizes). We dined out together with friends and alone but ordered using our brains. I didn't go for the fried things and eat double portions that were brought out. I did however indulge in some spinach artichoke dip (everyone gasp.. do you know the calories, the fat, etc. in this?!) but I didn't wipe out the entire bowl myself. Three of us enjoyed it and had some left, of which the waitress asked if we wanted to take home and I quickly answered NO. Any other time both myself and my sweetie would have answered YES thinking (a.) We paid for it, we're eating it all - But instead this time thinking "We paid for it and enjoyed it immensely, that was good, now we're done!" and (b.) We can eat that again later! - Instead realizing that we treated ourselves this time and that's all we needed. Again, the lesson here is that celebration (as long as we are American or heck even 90% of the human race) revolves around food. We're not going to change that. It's expected. I'm certain if I had invited everyone over for an hour at the gym to celebrate our birthdays they would have looked at me like I was from Mars. It's okay that we expect to celebrate with food but what we need to do is rethink how much food, how often, how big of portions and most of all what do we do to compensate for the indulgence? In our case we truly would have fallen in the class of over-indulging a bit but then again in comparison to our old lifestyle we weren't even close to what we would have done. I would have eaten that entire 9 oz. steak! I would have eaten 2 DQ Cakes to celebrate (1 for day 1 with friends & 1 for day 2 with friends). I would have had that 2nd piece of lasagna easily, without even thinking. Instead I stepped away from the food and played with the kids and laughed. My end result was still indulging in some wonderful foods that I don't have often but love and also finding as much enjoyment in the company and the workouts (I use that word in a much different sense than others I'm sure) at the gym/pool to make up for the over indulgence. In a nutshell..... We Have Changed Our Way Of Life!

On the "Weight Loss Front" I am at about 118 lbs lost thus far (I know I have to update my bar on top). I seem to be keeping that nasty 8 lbs that kept fluctuating back and forth off finally. I also am reviewing a new book for an author called "Eat All Day - Drink All Day: A Never-Hungry way to get slim and stay slim" by D.G. Long. At a glance the book has some great recipes in it and it may be just what I need to continue my thought process on my lifestyle while changing up some foods. You'll have to check out my Book Blog listed below when I'm done with it to see how it's worked for me and what I think. I won't lie about a book, believe me. What I will do is find the positives in it as much as possible because I think anyone who takes the time to write and publish a book deserves that before they deserve to be beat down for the bad points; but I will point out what I find to be the bad points too if needed.

The love of my life is at about 48lbs off so far (since April 2011) and was amazed he lost this week. Again this is a man who went from eating healthy foods when he met me (he had no choice) but in huge quantities to eating healthy foods in proper portions AND moving again. He had gone 30 years since he'd even seen the inside of the YMCA nearby and together we've made it a regular stop at least 3-4 times a week or more. He loves the new lifestyle, the way he feels and he glows when he tells others about how he's changed. There's so much to be said about changing your lifestyle, not just dieting again. He decided this "long weekend" would be a real off the typical lifestyle weekend but in the end he realized how much different we think now that our typical lifestyle is so much healthier. He couldn't wait to get to that gym every day he was off. It was unreal. He's looking so good and feeling sooooo much better too. That's the most important part. I could care less about a big belly or a big butt, etc. What I want is the healthy aspect of it. I want to avoid diabetes, cholesterol drugs and blood pressure medications if we have the ability to do so. I think we are finding out we definitely have the ability to do so and the byproduct of this change in lifestyle is that the weight is just coming off. He weighs himself weekly or so. I weigh myself once a month anymore. I don't really care what the weight is, I can tell by the way I feel and my body itself. To me it's the same if I lose 2 lbs or 12 lbs, I feel better. Yes, it does feel good to watch my clothing change in the way it fits or go try on a size I've been in for the past 8 months or so and realize it's too big but I don't bank on the numbers. I bank on the feeling & I encourage you to do the same.

I leave you with this thought.... if you're on the line about "dieting" I say this: Don't do it! Dieting is not a lifestyle. Dieting is a life change that is temporary. Instead think long and hard about your life and how you can change completely, wholly, to bring out the real you that God created. If I can do it, you can do it. If the love of my life can do it, you can do it. Most of all, if you have even an ounce of love for yourself and those around you... you can do this. Make the choice to change your lifestyle not just start "dieting" because it's really true that DIETING begins with 3 letters that just proves you are going to feel deprived "DIE" and you don't want to DIE... you want to LIVE. Changing LIFEstyle begins with the words you want to.... LIFE. Best of luck and please feel free to share your ideas, your recipes, your thoughts here on how you are becoming a more healthy person by changing your lifestyle.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NEED TO GET FIT BUT DON'T WANT THE GYM MEMBERSHIP?

THINK ABOUT A TRAMPOLINE!

Check out The Trampolines King Website for tons of FREE information & guidance in purchasing this wonderful piece of equipment that is affordable and helps burn TONS of calories (not to mention tons 'o fun)!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Don't forget to check out my newest Book Blog, where I give book reviews on recent books I've read. If you're a reader you'll want to check this out!

WE CAN DO THIS, TOGETHER
ONE DAY AT A TIME!

Like this article? Twit it to your followers!

Who Else Helps me get healthy?
These are just a few of the people online that inspire me....

Changing Lifestyle - Not Dieting

2011-07-14T08:24:00.001-04:00

I really need to start making more time for blogging. I have so much going on in my life and so much to share but rarely take the time to do so here! I promise I'll try harder!

I am a "grandma" as of about 5 months ago. My son & his girlfriend had a baby. While I'm definitely not "thrilled" in many ways because of many reasons (biggest being he's 19 & not married & very unstable as a mature adult living with a very psychotic woman who has some major issues) but I must confess to being fully in love with the little guy that will eventually call me "Gramma" or whatever he ends up calling me. First I have to share a pic or two. Here's Ryan at 5 months (taken in July 2011) just giving that adorable smile he gives to melt your heart. He's a sweetie for sure!

On the "Weight Loss Front" I've really been at a plateau but I must confess I lost the drive I had when I lost my first 100 lbs. I seemed to be fanatical and while I still eat the same I'm not nearly as fanatical and dine out more often now too. I don't care what anyone says, you CAN dine out but it tends to lead to bad choices for most of us and when done too often it just isn't a healthy lifestyle. I have, however, been able to maintain and have small losses. At one point I had gained about 25lbs or so back of the 100 I lost but I'm not only holding steady at the 100 lost but added on another 10 or so lost thus far. Part of my issue is not being able to get out on my own anymore. I have no car during the week to get to the gym (I swim and "run/walk" in the pool plus do a bit of aerobics in the pool to keep my back from totally breaking/hurting) like I did when I lost the first 100 lbs and while it's an excuse because I could bus it I just don't. BUT... I do get there as often as possible with my guy when he's off from work. Sometimes we'll hit the pool after his work but not often. He comes home exhausted from the heat and long days so that's generally limited to once a week during the work week. But he only works 4 days a week so we generally do get there Friday, Saturday & Sunday. When he has vacation (like the 4th of July vacation time... 11 days off) we went EVERY day with the exception of one - which was because of my MS & the fact that I literally slept 21 out of 24 hours that day. So I'm at least getting 3 days a week workout.

The bad part is that I can't do much unless it is in the pool. For those that don't know I had cancer 6x of which the radiation & chemo has led to the deterioration of my spine & literally a crumbling spine. A neurosurgeon has said I shouldn't even be walking (who listens to doctors anyways? LOL) and that there's no way he would operate because my spine is so weak he can't assure that he'd cripple me and have my spine crumble if he were to "fix" the issues at hand from it all. I'm in constant pain and live on morphine that controls the pain as much as possible but I have good and bad days. Add to that the Multiple Sclerosis and you can understand why my "workouts" aren't typical and I am very limited. I got the Dance Vibes Wii game hoping I could do that and once in a while I can but most of the time it results in me being "down" for a few days afterwards with pain so it's not worth it. I've found the best workout for me is anything I can do on land being taken to the pool. I jog/run in the pool, walk, do aerobics, swim & tread water for a minimum of an hour when I "workout" and it's truly been a God send as far as finding a way to do any exercise to lose weight without literally putting myself in a vegetative state from pain. I highly suggest that anyone that suffers from joint or back pain from any reason who feels they cannot "workout" due to that pain to try working in the pool. It's also how my fiance has lost his first 45 lbs so far (since April) without having back aches & joint aches from the pressure of his weight on his body. He also plays some "fun" basketball by himself, just shooting hoops and working up a bit of sweat before showering and getting into the pool to "walk" for about 1/2 hour or so with me in the water but he doesn't have the chronic pain issues either so he can do that. It's funny but he commented not too long ago that he never realized he could "exercise" without being forced to do things he hated to do. He's played hoops since he was a kid and loves it so I showed him that just walking around, slight jog, shooting hoops can work up a sweat when you're out of shape and haven't left the couch in 30 years and THAT is called "exercise" even if it's not a set class or on a machine. When he realized simply moving made a difference he couldn't believe that losing weight has been so easy for him. Of course he's changed his lifestyle in eating but not as much as he thought he'd have to.

As lot of people think that "dieting" is the way to lose weight. It's not. Simply put "dieting" is a form of deprivation that will result in you going back to your old ways and regaining your weight PLUS more. I am proof of that because of my most recent weight issues. I had lost 118 lbs total but had gained back about 25 of that by not really doing much exercise plus being a glutton when it came to "treats" I would allow myself. What used to be a rare indulgence was once again becoming an indulgence more and more often. Basically I was resorting back to my "old lifestyle" and the result was a weight gain. BUT I was also making sure that I was still buying the same foods, along with the bad for me stuff I was starting to go back to. I continued to eat my organic yogurts and cereals, etc. along with my bad foods and I am certain that THIS was a major factor in not gaining back more of the weight. End result, I've put myself back on the path I was on and have lost all but 8 lbs of the original weight lost (I'm at about 110 lbs total right now) and the best part is I feel like me again. My whole reason for sharing this is that I want people to know that even if you do (and as a human you WILL) start to fall back to your old lifestyle, make sure you continue to purchase those items that you've utilized to have your weight loss from the start because losing weight is NOT a diet - it is a lifestyle change. You have to be sure you don't resort back to your old lifestyle completely and when you find yourself falling towards that direction catch it and as long as you've continued to eat the whole grains , the lower calorie/fat foods, the organic foods, etc. that you had success with you may have a gain by going back to those 'bad for you' foods but it won't be nearly as bad as if you were to stop buying the items you've found to be your 'good for you' foods. In my case, in a years time I had only gained 25-28 lbs at the most and took that back off again almost as soon as I started to get back to the gym and start behaving myself.

My love of sweets and ice cream will never end so I wouldn't be realistic to think I'm going to "diet" and not eat them. Doing so would only make me feel deprived and angry; resorting in me going back to eating like I did. Instead I found alternative items. I still eat ice cream but I eat Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches and treats that are lower in calories and fat (yes I know this is not "clean eating" & I am not a perfect clean eater although that is something I am striving for). I know I'm not going to NEVER eat a piece of cake or cookies so I either make my own organic, lower calorie, high fiber style of sweets (including cookies to die for) and make smaller batches so I don't over indulge. I eat bowls of Stonyfield Organic yogurts with oats or fiber cereal instead of big bowls of full fat ice cream with all the toppings. I try new "recipes" that I find or create myself. When I used to not even scoff at spending $20 on a pizza with all the toppings I now gasp at that thought while not even scoffing at $4 for a container of organic Greek Yogurt that I'm going to be trying a new "frozen yogurt treat" recipe with or $8 for a container of herbs to help me stay healthy. I spend $60 a month for a couples membership to a gym without even noticing instead of going out to dinner 5x a week spending at least that. My point is, priorities have to change and lifestyle has to do a complete 180 to the other side. Sometimes you're going to slide a few degrees but don't allow yourself to do a 360 all the way back to the way you were. Let yourself enjoy that INFREQUENT indulgence of a DQ Blizzard (can ya tell what I treated myself to yesterday? LOL) or go ahead and buy a bag of skittles (just not the super sized pound bag but instead a single, small bag) to get rid of that craving. Basically you have to be realistic about your body, your traits, your former lifestyle and your current lifestyle.

This weekend is my fiance and my birthdays. We will be celebrating but we have made a promise that we will also be sure to hit the gym as part of our celebration. We are buying an ice cream cake but ONE to share with many people and combining it for both our birthdays. This gives us the indulgence one time, as opposed to two times in a matter of 3 days yet not over indulge. OVER indulgence is what made me obese, not indulgence. In the end, we will do most of our celebrating without food but instead with activities that will burn a few calories and make our birthdays special. In the end we are simply making it so we will enjoy more birthdays than we previously would have ever seen if we had continued our lifestyle and most of all, giving ourselves more time together. I didn't find him until late in life so I refuse to give up years we could have together because of poor lifestyles. Instead we plan to grow old together much longer than we would have had the chance to do with our former lifestyle and we will continue our changed lifestyle so we can hopefully spend a long, long time together enjoying life as we've now seen it can be.

I leave you with this thought.... if you're on the line about "dieting" I say this: Don't do it! Dieting is not a lifestyle. Dieting is a life change that is temporary. Instead think long and hard about your life and how you can change completely, wholly, to bring out the real you that God created. You were not born obese and you did not get there by eating one candy bar or stopping for one beer. You will not lose weight by not eating anything you like for the next 6 weeks or even year. You will only get healthier and in that process lose weight by changing your entire lifestyle, changing your entire way of thinking about you, your life, how you spend your money and what's "worth" the price in various ways from financially to health wise when it comes to lifestyle. Nobody can make you change your lifestyle and you're not going to do it if you think it's going to be miserable. YOU have to find a way to create your own lifestyle and be able to enjoy it while getting healthy. If I can do it, you can do it. If the love of my life can do it, you can do it. Most of all, if you have even an ounce of love for yourself and those around you... you can do this. Make the choice to change your lifestyle not just start "dieting" because it's really true that DIETING begins with 3 letters that just proves you are going to feel deprived "DIE" and you don't want to DIE... you want to LIVE. Changing LIFEstyle begins with the words you want to.... LIFE. Best of luck and please feel free to share your ideas, your recipes, your thoughts here on how you are becoming a more healthy person by changing your lifestyle.

Wish me luck on my journey to "eating clean" and healthy!
Take care of the one body God gave you, please... before it's too late.
Inspire someone you love to do the same.
And please feel free to comment and share ideas for trying to live and eat "clean" and losing weight by changing to a healthy lifestyle!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NEED TO GET FIT BUT DON'T WANT THE GYM MEMBERSHIP?

THINK ABOUT A TRAMPOLINE!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Don't forget to check out my newest Book Blog, where I give book reviews on recent books I've read. If you're a reader you'll want to check this out!

WE CAN DO THIS, TOGETHER
ONE DAY AT A TIME!

Like this article? Twit it to your followers!

Who Else Helps me get healthy?
These are just a few of the people online that inspire me....

Making A Difference In Someone's Life

2011-05-26T21:39:00.000-04:00

I truly am in love with someone I would call my soul mate. We've been together a short time in comparison to our lives, going on 2 years, but we seem to be like 2 souls that were always together somehow. We are that couple that you just want to stick that finger down your throat and go "gag" and I fully give permission to do so but the truth is, it is just for real. We finish each others sentences, we think the same thoughts, we simply and truly complete each other. I have no doubt in my mind that God created us to be together.

I wanted to make my first "different" blog post about us and about our life. My life is so unlike it ever used to be. To be honest, it was very hard to grasp at one point. Within one year of my life I had lost my children to flying the nest and felt so worthless. I had fallen in love beyond words with a man that I truly didn't know but knew I had to be with. I went against everything I ever followed in my own rules and opened my heart to a man fully and brought him completely into my life. Add to all of that the fact that I moved into his house and started living a completely, almost complete opposite lifestyle. He was up at 4am, went to work early, worked a 10 hour day and came home for a few hours of rest and relaxation, then went to bed by 8 to 9pm. I was used to living with 3 teenagers, constantly running them to work and wherever, stayed up until 4am and would sleep whenever I could. I've been disabled from my cancer so work was never an issue. I'd started to work out at one point and loved it. I could only handle "working out" so to speak in the water where I had no pressure on my spine which has deteriorated from the cancer. Suddenly I was thrown into this early to bed early to rise situation. Let me tell you, this much change in under one year is not easy on a person.

This is the first I've said it out loud to anyone except my own doctor or my fiance' but I had so much change that I felt like I had lost Bev. I was nowhere to be found. The woman who spent days running kids around, doing online stuff while sitting in special chairs, doing what she wanted, having a house full of teens (which I always loved that I was the mom they all wanted to be with) and taking hours at the book store to just read (my favorite past-time and something I do "professionally" so to speak for writing book reviews in which I receive the book for compensation. I went on my own time, to wherever I wanted, and I was pretty free spirited. Suddenly I was without a car to go where I wanted, living in a home that didn't feel like mine, woke each day without the 3 people who were most important in my life and dealing with truly learning and understanding this man that I broke every one of my rules falling in love with. I became suicidal at one point, thinking I'm worthless and simply don't exist. It was just too much to handle. Luckily I knew that I needed help and luckily my doctor is one who listens and works with me. He's seen first hand how I hand life and its strains. You don't whip cancer over and over again while raising 3 children by yourself without being strong and he knew that if I was having these thoughts, I was truly at my wits end.

There...I said it!

I have never been one to show any weaknesses, oddly this has changed too. I have changed since meeting my love. I have changed so very much. But as I realized this I also realized that the man I was with I was also changing him and everything he knew about life. Suddenly I realized that no matter how hard it got at times, we were growing and growing together. It was wonderful. My best part is yet to come...

As I have mentioned, my beginning of taking care of myself I really delved in. I studied and I had a wonderful mentor, Yvette, who guided me in ways I've never known. I utilized aspects of the Weight Watchers® System because it's always worked for me, but I haven't always stayed with the program. I knew the basics behind their system were something I could rely upon but after joining and losing 0.4 lbs and being expected to get excited I knew this was never going to be the way I would do it. I had to design my own way that worked for me and, again, my mentor guided me with herbal remedies and aids. I found people I call my Fitter Twitters who often shared recipes, gave me strength and tweeted about their successful ways. I literally created my own world of getting healthy and in doing so the result was losing weight.

The love of my life was far from fit when we met. I have a thing for big, burly men to begin with and while everyone loves eye candy to look at for a while, what I was looking for I found in his heart. He accepted me being imperfect as I was (believe me I had issues.. LOL) and I did the same with him; but as we grew closer and closer I started to realize that his weight was killing him. I never used those words because I had heard them myself. I've had people who love me try in every way shape and form to tell me I was fat (like I had no clue) and it was going to kill me. I knew what it was like to be badgered and I wasn't going to do that to him. But without him truly knowing, he was already beginning to eat healthy. He'd come over for dinner every night and love what I cooked. Even the simplest things like grilled chicken breasts with herbs on an Arnold's bun with baked Alexia Sweet Potato Fries, he'd rave about how amazing I cooked and how wonderful it was. And the funny part was, at one point he commented "it's funny, you must be doing something good for me because I've lost weight, even eating the great dinners you make for me every night!" He now realizes that those dinners are typical of the way I eat and he does too and they have since created a whole new man. He changed doctors, going to my doctor and my doctor is thorough. He's wonderful because he knows that you know you're fat. It doesn't take an Einstein to figure that out does it? But he doesn't badger. He pokes fun of the fact that he too is round and round is a shape so he's "in shape" but he also tells you about things like "If you just lost 10 lbs do you realize..." and inspires you to feel like you CAN do it. He also takes blood work for everything, including glucose levels (not just fasting levels) and when doing this gave Rich the news that he technically would be considered diabetic and his cholesterol levels were slightly off, enough he threatened medication. Instead WE chose a path to eat healthier, much of what we were doing already only no more second helpings because he loved my cooking so much. We also joined the local YMCA and we go at least 3, sometimes 4 and 5 times in a week. He even looked at me at one point and said "I cannot believe you got ME to get up and do this and I LOVE it!"

So my point is this.... I didn't badger him. I commented that I wanted to get back to "the gym" (which for me means the pool to work out) and that I was joining the Y just down the road. I commented that he should come along and see if he didn't like it. He debated at first and my answer to that was, "Well I'm going for the open house, see what they have. You may as well tag along and if you don't want to join you don't have to.. nothing lost right?" Later he told me that because of the way I said it to him, the fact I didn't belittle him into being a bad person for NOT wanting to go and that I truly let him make the decision was the biggest reason he joined. He remembered going to the same Y as a kid, playing hoops and even swimming once in a while. We joined that day and haven't regretted it since. So if you get the chance to inspire someone to do something that will help them... do it! Do it in a way that they realize first of all you care and second of all you are giving them the option to make the choice. Badgering someone who's fat by literally belittling them only makes most of us angrier and go out to eat a bigger bowl of ice cream. But sharing with us how wonderful something is in your life, slowly sharing these things with them and giving them a chance to make the choice when they are ready is truly the only way it will work.

By the way, his favorite "snack" to eat now is a yogurt at night. He's munching on an apple as I type this and we just got home from the Y, spending nearly 3 hours total combining him playing some basketball, working up a sweat then joining me in the pool to walk and relax in the Roman Bath to end the day. As we walked out, hand in hand, he looked at me and said, "You know I'm really glad we did this tonight. It was such a shitty day but this just took all the stress away. I love that I have this with you." And THAT my friends is the entire reason why I'm glad I made a difference in someone's life and I want you to help someone you love be inspired to take care of themselves. It's not about the numbers. It's not about the pounds. It's about feeling better, about having a better life and about taking care of yourself. The pounds, the glucose levels, the cholesterol levels... they all fall in line when you're treating yourself right. I promise not to be so wordy next time. I just wanted to give you a feel for the new style I'm taking on. I will share pics of food, progress, recipes, etc. but I also will be sharing many other aspects that have helped me get where I am and inspire me to keep going.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NEED TO GET FIT BUT DON'T WANT THE GYM MEMBERSHIP?

THINK ABOUT A TRAMPOLINE!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Don't forget to check out my newest Book Blog, where I give book reviews on recent books I've read. If you're a reader you'll want to check this out!

WE CAN DO THIS, TOGETHER
ONE DAY AT A TIME!

Like this article? Twit it to your followers!

Who Else Helps me get healthy?
These are just a few of the people online that inspire me....

Pumpkin Cheesecake Cupcakes

2011-02-13T19:02:00.002-05:00

I have an addiction to pumpkin, without a doubt. I love pumpkin everything! So you can imagine my excitement when it dawned upon me to create a "pumpkin" version of these little babies! I know you've seen the age old recipe with the Vanilla Wafer Type cookies on the bottom, using a cheesecake type of batter in it. These are on the same order, but all pumpkin! Ooooh baby I am in heaven! I don't have the points® for these but I haven't been doing "point® counting" per say lately anyways. I've reached the point where I'm just paying more attention to what I'm eating and portion control. Which leads me to the next comment.... make sure you either freeze these immediately (in the downstairs freezer, tucked in the back LOL) or have something to take them to and share because you WILL want to eat them all!

If someone does by chance figure the points® out I'll gladly post them. I just find that I don't need the points anymore as I've always done my own version of the Weight Watchers® program and am adept enough to figure out what my limits are, etc. If I were to guess the points®, using the fat free or reduced fat (my preference) cream cheese, I would guess 2 to 3 points® each but again, I honestly have not figured out the value! My limit is 2 cupcakes per serving/per day MAX! Yes, it's sometimes hard to do; but knowing I'm getting more tomorrow if I want always gets me through the day!

Pumpkin Cheesecake Cupcakes

Makes 36 cupcakes

2 lbs. reduced fat cream cheese (can substitute fat free but it gives it a slightly different texture)

1 2/3 C. sugar

¼ C. flour

1 15oz. pumpkin pie mix (I use an organic pumpkin pie mix)*

1 Tbls. pumpkin pie spice

4 eggs

36 ginger cookies

Preheat oven to 325F

*Note: make sure you use pumpkin pie MIX, not pumpkin!

Cream together sugar & cream cheese until fluffy, scraping bowl often. Add eggs one at a time. When eggs are fulling incorporated, add pumpkin & pumpkin pie spice. Slowly add flour, mixing well.

Place papers in standard cupcake pan & place one cookie in the bottom of each paper. Fill with cheesecake mixture. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes until fluffy but not quite fully set.

Wish me luck on my journey to "eating clean" and healthy!
And please feel free to comment and share ideas for trying to live and eat "clean" and losing weight by changing to a healthy lifestyle!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NEED TO GET FIT BUT DON'T WANT THE GYM MEMBERSHIP?

THINK ABOUT A TRAMPOLINE!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Don't forget to check out my newest Book Blog, where I give book reviews on recent books I've read. If you're a reader you'll want to check this out!

WE CAN DO THIS, TOGETHER
ONE DAY AT A TIME!

Like this article? Twit it to your followers!

Who Else Helps me get healthy?
These are just a few of the people online that inspire me....

Joe Gigantino - Fitness Trainer
This is the guy that really set me on the path to physical fitness - Sign up for his FREE newsletter!

BWJEN - Another WW Buddy & A 'bookworm' too!?

.

Sean Anderson the formerly 500lb man!
Diary of A Winning Loser - Sean is an inspiration to anyone trying to get healthy!

*Note I am not affiliated nor endorsed by Weight Watchers® at all, in any way. I highly recommend their program and cannot say enough GOOD about it, but I also have decided that they were my "stepping stone" to making a change in my lifestyle. Any mention of Weight Watchers®, their program or their term of "points®" does not mean they have approved, seen, or endorsed anything on my blogs.

Also, if at any time Points® are mentioned it is always with the assumption that you will analyze the recipes, foods, ingredients and figure the points out specifically for your consumption of any product, as ingredients may vary by brand, size, etc. and Points® is a registered trademark of the Weight Watchers® company.

WHEN YOU CAN'T GET TO THE GYM...

2011-01-19T15:05:00.000-05:00

I don't have a car during the week so I often am stuck at home. Contrary to what many believe, it's not as horrible as it sounds. With my chronic pain, many days I'm on high amounts of medication so although I'm not even close to "high" from them I think it's best not to drive as if I were to get in an accident and someone truly question I could get in a lot of trouble. I actually like not driving that much anymore. But the bad part is, I'm stuck NOT going to the gym more often than going.

When I do hit the gym it's ALWAYS to use the pool. In the pool the weightlessness of my body does amazing things to my chronic back pain. I've had cancer 6 times and the treatments have left me with a crumbling spine, degenerative discs, bulging discs and a ton more down my entire spine from my neck to my tailbone. The ability to take almost all the pressure off my spine and move is nothing short of miraculous to me and one of the few times I feel ALMOST pain free in my life. You can imagine I love going to the gym/pool often and try to get there as much as I can. While in the pool I "run". I used to be an avid "runner" and miss that adrenaline. In the water, running can take place because of the lack of pressure to my back. It also burns 2x the calories running in the water versus land so that's a huge plus! I also do a lot of treading, water aerobics, etc. to work all the muscles and hopefully burn some calories. To be honest, I could care less if I lost a pound more as long as I kept feeling healthy and going in that pool keeps me feeling healthy.

So what do I do when I can't make it to the gym? As strange as some of these may sound, it truly does help burn off a few calories and get me moving a bit. Of course everything is based upon my pain levels for that day but I can always change up how I do certain things to alleviate any pressure or jarring of my back. Here's a few tips on how to just burn a bit without having to get to the gym.

Use the Wii - I love my Wii! I'm thinking I'd love to get the Xbox360 with Kinects too but that's not in my budget so I keep hoping Wii has something similar that will come out at a decent price but until then I'll use what I have. Some of my favorite things to do is spend various amounts of time (again based upon my pain levels that day) playing Wii games. Some of my faves: Baseball, Tennis, Golf, Bowling and my all time newest fave Just Dance. I have to be careful with the Just Dance game because it's very easy for me to forget I'm not able to do certain things and I make myself hurt more for the next 3 days or so because I'm pig headed but all in all I keep it at a low level. I've always loved to dance so this is a great way for me to do so in a modified method, without being out in front of others. Might I add I would NEVER do the Just Dance in front of others. I'm certain, for me, it's just not pretty! LOL
Get Out The Cans... with having lost the weight I've lost I've always been concerned about those "floppy arms" that former fatties get when they lose a lot of weight. For this reason alone, I've been adamant about making sure I do exercises for my arms. I don't care if it's minimal exercising, it's still tightening up my "water wings" and can often be the exercise I pick on high pain days. As simple as it sounds, pulling out 2 soup cans and "lifting weights" with them truly helps tone those muscles. I do this a lot when my pain levels are high because I can literally sit in a chair where my back is supported and lift the cans. I follow some very typical moves that are basic weight lifting techniques in order to tone your arms. It's minimal, but it's something and always better than just sitting on the couch!
Yoga/Meditation... while we're not talking about a huge number of calories being burned we are talking about pain management and relaxation. I can't get silly with the Yoga poses but I can do a few that don't twist and push on my back hard. Again, when I find pain levels getting out of hand one of my absolute FAVORITE places to go to on the web is Meditation For Health with Dr. Puff. It's TOTALLY free podcasts and he even offers some iTune downloads if you want to take it with you or put it on your iPod. I'm truly a beginner but I started with podcast number 1 and keep going from there. It's amazing what meditation can do for you. They also show you man techniques as they explain how to do them. Meditation is truly one of my new favorite ways of relaxation and pain management. The breathing and focusing, while not high calorie burning, do bring your body in tune and I can't imagine they do anything but benefit. It's also a great way to take your mind off food if you want to eat due to boredom. I've often gone to a podcast when I'm craving sweets and after 15 minutes the craving's gone and I'm relaxed! Check it out.

Turn on The Music ... years ago I was inspired by the morbidly obese Mexican man when I was watching a TV show about how he was losing weight. One of the things he did was "dance" in his bed. Here was this man, over 800 pounds, stuck in bed because of his problem with eating and he was finding a way to "exercise". I thought about it. At the time I was close to bed ridden myself from pain that we couldn't get under control. I decided if this man could do it, my excuse of "it hurts to get up and move" was no longer an excuse. I often would sit in a comfy chair or even in my bed and "rock it out" to my favorite music. So turn on the tunes, if you can't or don't feel like getting up off that couch or bed or chair... you don't have to... simply rock it out sitting there. You'll be amazed that given enough time and the right moves you can actually work up a sweat or at least you're burning SOME calories and getting some muscles moving! Go ahead, pull out those old CDs you've been meaning to listen to and boogie. Nobody has to even know you do it!

So that's a few of the ways I manage to still "keep moving" or burning some calories even though I can't make it to the gym. One other thing I do is find some exercise programs on our local cable network. While most of the time I can't participate in much of the movements I can usually find a thing or two I can do and keep moving. If there's a will, there's a way. Believe me, I've made every excuse in the book how NOT to be active. If you really want to change it's time to do it and find what works for you. I'll share a secret... most people are not those die hard, "let's pump it up" types you see on television or read about in fitness magazines. Most of us are busy with our lives and need to MAKE time and find ways to get moving. Ever calorie you burn, every muscle you move is a step closer to being fit. Don't make it a numbers game. Make it a game of fitness, of feeling good and of living longer and in better condition. Your body was meant to be taken care of and it's time you do it! No excuses!!! Share your secrets to what you do when you can't get to the gym to work out! And until next time.....

Wish me luck on my journey to "eating clean" and healthy!
And please feel free to comment and share ideas for trying to live and eat "clean" and losing weight by changing to a healthy lifestyle!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NEED TO GET FIT BUT DON'T WANT THE GYM MEMBERSHIP?

THINK ABOUT A TRAMPOLINE!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Don't forget to check out my newest Book Blog, where I give book reviews on recent books I've read. If you're a reader you'll want to check this out!

WE CAN DO THIS, TOGETHER
ONE DAY AT A TIME!

Like this article? Twit it to your followers!

Who Else Helps me get healthy?
These are just a few of the people online that inspire me....

1.
Check out the Fab Fatties - tons of ideas, comic relief & great give-aways!

2. Joe Gigantino - Fitness Trainer
This is the guy that really set me on the path to physical fitness - Sign up for his FREE newsletter!

3.

4. BWJEN - Another WW Buddy & A 'bookworm' too!?

5.

5.

6.Sean Anderson the formerly 500lb man!
Diary of A Winning Loser - Sean is an inspiration to anyone trying to get healthy!

*Note I am not affiliated nor endorsed by Weight Watchers® at all, in any way. I highly recommend their program and cannot say enough GOOD about it, but I also have decided that they were my "stepping stone" to making a change in my lifestyle. Any mention of Weight Watchers®, their program or their term of "points®" does not mean they have approved, seen, or endorsed anything on my blogs.

Also, if at any time Points® are mentioned it is always with the assumption that you will analyze the recipes, foods, ingredients and figure the points out specifically for your consumption of any product, as ingredients may vary by brand, size, etc. and Points® is a registered trademark of the Weight Watchers® company.

Confessions of a Burger-holic

2010-11-22T16:43:00.000-05:00

Hi, my name is Beverly and I am a burger-holic. There it's out. I said it, the world knows. But there's not quite the stigmata I was thinking attached to those words because ya know what? Soooo many of us LOVE BURGERS! It can be detrimental to one's waistline for sure but it can also be approached, as with EVERY love of ANY food, with common sense and deep thought to end up making it a positive and very exciting way life!

I love burgers and for that reason I have to be realistic about my "eating habits". I will NEVER give up eating burgers nor do I ever WANT to give it up! What's life worth living for if you cannot enjoy the things in life that make you happy, even if that's food? This is why I've chosen not to DIET but to change my lifestyle, including the food choices I make. I eat chocolate, drink beer, eat burgers, nibble cheese and all kinds of things associated with otherwise making one a big butt girl! But now I do it with a lot of thought and a whole lot of changes too! You CAN enjoy a burger, in sooooo many different styles, quite often in your life IF you choose to do it right. I choose to do it right and I choose NOT to give up flavor and excitement when it comes to burgers. Oddly enough I'm often inspired by the same burger places I rarely if ever frequent anymore also! Wendy's (God love them for their ability to make the most amazing, fatty, delicious styles of burgers in the fast food industry) is one of my favorites to copy but I take everything from fast food joints to local pubs and burger joints with amazing creations. The difference between their burgers and mine? Ohhhh so many differences....

Mine are definitely less expensive
Mine are definitely MUCH lower in fat
Mine are definitely MUCH lower in calories
Mine are usually created with much finer ingredients (which you'd think would make them more expensive but think about it.. it just makes it so I can use quality ingredients without paying all the overhead.. aka waiter, tips, lovely decor, drunk on the barstool, insurance for said drunk on the barstool, etc.)
Mine can be eaten any time I want simply by walking into my kitchen and creating them
Mine can be created with ingredients that I know EXACTLY what they contain (organic when needed, low fat or no fat ingredients instead of high fat types, less to even zero chemicals, top grade and low fat organic meats, no surprises)

Here are a few tips I have for creating a delicious burger that's better for you at home:

Use good ingredients - while this should just be a "given" for most sometimes you don't think about something as simple as replacing their 70/30 ground beef with a 90/10 beef to literally make your burger not only very flavorful but so much less full of fat. Add to that an organic beef and organic or homemade toppings or ingredients or fat free/lower fat ingredients and you're really going to notice the difference in flavor, calories & fat
Replace "beef" with other things... my favorite is the veggie burger. But here's the key - KNOW HOW TO COOK THESE DIFFERENT "MEATS' OR "MEAT SUPPLEMENTS!!!!!! I cooked "veggie burgers" for years, always saying "they're okay" and never truly believing they were as good as a REAL burger. I'm not one to accept meat substitutes, especially for non meat ones. It's all about texture for me and I'm sorry there are very few non-meat products out there that I personally think taste like meats they're "replacing"..... until I realized how to cook them! See my info below for HOW TO COOK VEGGIE BURGERS. Remember that just because you use a beef replacement it doesn't mean it is going to TASTE like beef. The Boca Bruschetta burger has tons of flavor but don't go into it thinking it's going to taste like beef. That's not always the idea with beef replacements! However the Boca Grilled Veggie Burger, made the right way DOES taste just like beef and I can't tell the difference!
Load up the toppings! Quit gasping and listen to these words.... a cheeseburger will not kill you, did not put on the extra 30 lbs or more on your thighs and is NOT the culprit for weight gain. Picking different cheeses (fat free feta is AMAZING on top of a burger), lower fat versions of sharp cheddars & swiss cheese amongst many other flavors, center cut, Canadian or turkey bacon instead of higher fat regular bacon & sauces that aren't loaded with fat (Hello Frank's Buffalo Sauce or Simple Hot Sauce) will make a huge difference in your final creation! Cheeseburgers from fast food joints, loaded with fat, added onto a platter of deep fried greasy fries, dripping of grease from the bun.... THAT is what added to your big butt and you cannot lie! See the TOPPINGS IDEAS below for how to create that amazing mix of flavors!

Eat ONE burger, but load it up with goodies that are going to fill you up. Use HEALTHY sides, yes.. you CAN have "fries" but use things like the oven baked Alexia Fries in place of a deep fried or even oven baked unhealthy version. Pay attention to the sides! If you eat one burger, loaded up with a bunch of goodies, along with a single serving side dish, a healthy veggie or side and then sit for 10 minutes or so and STILL absolutely NEED another burger.... go for it. But I can just about guarantee you that you won't need that 2nd burger. When you go out or drive thru a drive thru window you often order 2 "because they're cheap" or "because they're not filling" or "because you MIGHT be hungry enough to eat them.... like you're NOT going to if it's there?" or on and on and on with excuses. So go ahead and make that 2nd burger at home, but don't put it on your plate. You can always reheat it for lunch (an amazing lunch I may add) the next day if you can't eat it for your dinner!

How to Cook A Veggie Burger - I cooked veggie burgers the wrong way for YEARS! I feared those little critters! While my mind wanted to love them, I'd buy every plausible brand and style out there only to be disappointed and walk away saying "it's not really a burger but it's 'ok'" every time! What was I doing wrong? I was thinking that because it was made of veggies it didn't need to be cooked for any long period of time. I read the directions, nuked them for a minute or less from frozen state and thought the makers had to know what they were talking about right? WRONG! Here's what I found. In order for the veggie burger to have the texture and flavor of a "real" burger you not only have to cook it super well done on a high heat but you need to add some flavorings while cooking it. My favorite thing to do is place the frozen pattie into a hot pan (you will hear the sizzle), splash it with some Worcestershire sauce & pepper (I omit the salt because of the salt content in the Worcestershire), cook it so it browns up almost on the verge of a "burn" but not quite on one side, then flip it. You may need to turn the heat down a bit at this point so you don't burn your pan. Now I top it with just a splash of steak sauce. While you don't have to cook it for a long period of time you do need to cook it on a high, hot heat and make sure it's browned up extra well. This is what takes the 'rubbery' type of chew out of the veggie burger that normally is always there. It also gives it just a hint of a "real burger" taste that comes from the Worcestershire and steak sauce.

TOPPING IDEAS - toppings make the burger. A plain cheeseburger becomes a bacon and cheddar burger with the change of one topping and the decision to use one particular cheese. Here are some excellent ideas on burger toppings that, when you pick a healthier version, can make your burger not only "over the top" delicious but keep them from being an unhealthy version of the same burger offered at your local burger joints!

Each Of These Burger Toppings can be used on VEGGIE Burgers also! Replacing a 90/10 burger with a veggie burger cuts the points in half from 4 to 2 or even 1 point depending on the type of veggie burger you use. I prefer the Boca Flame Grilled Style which comes in at 2 points.

Buffalo Style Veggie Burger

Black 'n Bleu Burger - created with a fat free feta, a few drops of fat free or low fat bleu cheese dressing drizzled on top and a slice of Canadian bacon cooked up crisp or 2 pieces of turkey or center cut bacon on top. This burger was inspired by the burger offered at Wendy's (see my piece written on it) and comes out a lot lower in fat, calories and points when you make it with fat free and lower fat ingredients!
Buffalo Style Burgers - again, the fat free feta comes to the rescue as it's melted on top and then drizzled with Franks Hot Sauce. Toast the bun (we know not to use normal buns right? Use the sandwich thin type buns or a light bun) and the toasted bun makes a world of difference in keep the ingredients all piled high!
Veggies Galore - I love grilled onions and I can't explain the "O-Face" I get when I bite into a huge burger piled high with sauteed sweet onions. No oils are needed, just a pan and some heat as you sweat out the onion and then just brown it! If you're a mushroom lover add the shrooms! (I'm not a shroom lover at all but this is a perfect companion if you are!). Don't stop there... add a pile of lettuce and some fat free, low cal condiments (ketchup, mustard, stadium mustard, relishes, fat free mayos, chipotle mayo - light or fat free or fat free/low fat dressings drizzled on top to create a different flavor each time) Pickles can put a zest in between your bun too and the sandwich thin styles give you some crunch without being too thick!
Spreads & Dressings - using fat free versions is the best way to get the creamy goodness and loads of flavor without the fats. I love to take a fat free mayo and add some ground chipotle powder to it, creating a fat free chipotle mayo! Dressings can turn a plain burger into a "Ranch Burger" or a "Bleu Cheese" burger. Using a fat free bleu cheese dressing gives that bleu cheese flavor and using some fat free feta with it creates the texture of a true bleu cheese topping!
Pittsburgh Style Burgers - anyone who has ever been to Pittsburgh loves the "Burgh Style" sandwiches made famous by Primanti Brothers. They are a totally fat laden, delicious burger piled with slaw and fries. But you can recreate the same taste without the fat & calories! Simply take some shredded lettuce (or bagged cole slaw), sprinkle a bit of sugar over it with some salt & pepper and let it sit in a cup for a few hours if possible but at least 20 minutes or so. Bake up some Alexia Fries, toss a couple of those on your burger with a cup of the slaw and VOILA you have a Primanti style burger without the calories & fat! DELISH too! Of course the toasted bun makes a huge difference. (are you noticing a theme with TOAST the bun?)

Wish me luck on my journey to "eating clean" and healthy!
And please feel free to comment and share ideas for trying to live and eat "clean" and losing weight by changing to a healthy lifestyle!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NEED TO GET FIT BUT DON'T WANT THE GYM MEMBERSHIP?

THINK ABOUT A TRAMPOLINE!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Don't forget to check out my newest Book Blog, where I give book reviews on recent books I've read. If you're a reader you'll want to check this out!

WE CAN DO THIS, TOGETHER
ONE DAY AT A TIME!

Like this article? Twit it to your followers!

Who Else Helps me get healthy?
These are just a few of the people online that inspire me....

Hello Hard Cider!

2010-11-18T20:01:00.000-05:00

Ok, I have a confession..... I love to try different beers and such and while I don't really have the funds to do this often we sometimes splurge on a 6 pack of 3 different types or even 6 different types of beers. Enter my favorite store... Wegmans! Finally, Pennsylvania has begun to come into the 20th Century (yes I know it's PAST that time.. but we're a little slow) and starting to find ways to slowly but with much policing add the ability for us grown adults to actually purchase beer & beer type products (coolers, ciders, etc.) in the stores that have "Cafe's"!!!! WOOOOHOOO! Way to go Pennsylvania!You're only a few hundred years behind the other states around us but hey, who are we to complain?

So my best friend from college came 2 weeks ago for the weekend!!! Hoooray!!!! We, of course, find this to be a given reason to misbehave (just a little) and quickly purchase foods we shouldn't and alcoholic beverages. Did I mention we're COLLEGE BFF's? LOL So it's only right for us to celebrate our get togethers with some alcohol. Of course the lame, old ladies we've become we each partook of a single Hard Cider and switched to iced teas. We are sooooo old.

But I had to share this WONDERFUL find!!! I've heard of "hard cider" before but first off, assumed it was something that kind of "happened" by accident (you know, that gallon of cider that gets pushed to the back of the fridge until one day you pull it out and go "wow, I didn't know cider expanded a container like this!". I heard tell that "some people" create the stuff "on purpose" but had never truly seen it in the stores. Remember again, I live in Pennsylvania where the government runs the liquor that flows anywhere in the state. So when we saw it and were feeling so very "festive" of the fall nature we decided we had to try it!

Of course we also purchased many other items that were NOT on our list too... but we did get some wonderful veggies to roast for dinner that night (in case you wondered veggies cancel out any alcoholic beverages of chocolate conception... not that WE would partake of any of these things.. *cough*) I will however have a WONDERFUL blog post on the roasted veggies and the new veggie I found called Romanesca!

So this evening, as I partake in the last of our finds (and secretly vow to contact the local beer distributors to see if they sell this luscious stuff by the case... no, no I won't) I decided I had to share. It's definitely NOT a "diet" food. I do believe it's pretty "natural", so to speak... so I guess it does still count as "clean eating"? Am I stretching it here? LOL But either way, to partake once in a while in something this delightful is not only allowed but I feel completely necessary! *raises bottle up* So here's to good friends I miss and great times ahead and one heck of a WONDERFUL find! This is like a taste of "fall" in a bottle.

Wish me luck on my journey to "eating clean" and healthy!
And please feel free to comment and share ideas for trying to live and eat "clean" and losing weight by changing to a healthy lifestyle!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NEED TO GET FIT BUT DON'T WANT THE GYM MEMBERSHIP?

THINK ABOUT A TRAMPOLINE!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Don't forget to check out my newest Book Blog, where I give book reviews on recent books I've read. If you're a reader you'll want to check this out!

WE CAN DO THIS, TOGETHER
ONE DAY AT A TIME!

Like this article? Twit it to your followers!

Who Else Helps me get healthy?
These are just a few of the people online that inspire me....

Pumpkin Cookies - 3pts

2010-10-28T20:45:00.000-04:00

Today I decided to make something yummy. I'll confess up front it's not as "healthy" as it could be, but I had to use what I had around the house. In the end they were quite delicious and well, yes full of sugar & butter and yumminess that I should never have indulged in but we only live once and it is PUMPKIN! If it's pumpkin, it's okay to indulge. That's the rule. Look it up!

I found a recipe on the Libby's Pumpkin page here... Old Fashioned Soft Pumpkin Cookies

My version is only slightly different. I didn't glaze the cookies at all, instead I sprinkled with Cinnamon Maple Sprinkles. I also didn't use the spices they did, again.. used the GFS Cinnamon Maple Sprinkles. I also used organic pumpkin & organic butter, along with sea salt. Warning.... these are VERY sweet! But they're so good!
Here it is.....

Old Fashioned Soft Organic Pumpkin Cookies

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (you can combine 1/2 and 1/2 wheat flour to white)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 teaspoons Cinnamon Maple Sprinkles (From GFS - Gordon Food Service)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup organic butter (1 stick), softened
1 cup Organic Pumpkin
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease baking sheet.

Combine ingredients together. Their recipe suggested doing it by splitting the dry/wet ingredients & using a mixer... I simply dumped it all in one big ol' bowl and stirred with a big wooden spoon. I ended using my hands to pull it all together, so if that grosses you out you may want to use a mixer. It is a sticky dough. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto sprayed cookie sheet.

Remove from cookie sheet to cool and sprinkle with the Maple Cinnamon Sprinkles on top, just lightly.

Bake for 15 until edges are firm & browned.

Yields 36 Cookies

Nutritional Information per cookie (from their cookie - adjust to your ingredients)
Calories 120 Fat 3g Fiber 0.5g
WW Pts. according to their recipe, with a glaze on them is 3pts.

While I wouldn't suggest making these daily, they're a nice treat for a good cold fall night to snuggle and watch Shrek's Halloween Spooktacular!!!! *(Which is exactly what I'm doing with 2 cookies & a glass of soy milk!)

End result..... absolutely delicious, very sweet, very soft pumpkin cookies. Honestly, these freeze up well so you can make a whole batch and put them away so you won't eat them all. I made them for a weekend football party we're having so I'm hoping they last that long... we both keep stopping by the plate and stealing one! LOL Again, while it's not the most healthy recipe I've shared I honestly feel you have to create "goodies" once in a while to enjoy. These are well worth sharing and making but be sure you can either limit yourself with sweets (they're very sweet) or freeze them immediately (preferably in a freezer in the basement to deter you from just grabbing one to eat out of the freezer!)

Wish me luck on my journey to "eating clean" and healthy!
And please feel free to comment and share ideas for trying to live and eat "clean" and losing weight by changing to a healthy lifestyle!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NEED TO GET FIT BUT DON'T WANT THE GYM MEMBERSHIP?

THINK ABOUT A TRAMPOLINE!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Don't forget to check out my newest Book Blog, where I give book reviews on recent books I've read. If you're a reader you'll want to check this out!

WE CAN DO THIS, TOGETHER
ONE DAY AT A TIME!

Like this article? Twit it to your followers!

Who Else Helps me get healthy?
These are just a few of the people online that inspire me....

A Day To Celebrate!

2010-10-21T17:29:00.000-04:00

Today was truly one of the best days I've had in a long time! I love working out. I'm not a heavy duty, psycho, nonstop workout type. If you are.. please don't be offended. I am more of a "just get moving, do something you enjoy, get the heart a-pumpin' while you do something fun" type. I used to run regularly, about 2 miles a day. I have to do any walking or running in the water because of the side effects of my cancer treatments that have literally eaten away my spine. I have chronic pain, managed best as can be with a daily dose of 24 hour time release morphine. I am in constant pain, with the exception of when I'm in the water. I get in a pool and it's like entering heaven for me. You cannot begin to imagine how I feel in comparison with living 24/7 with pain so intense that even on morphine is always there. The morphine makes it less horrible, but still I remain in constant pain. But truth be told, I hadn't hit the gym for months. Between a recurrence of cancer (totally under control & beaten again) and moving to a different section of town (far from my old gym) I really just never got there. I now have no car, live quite a distance from the gym I was a member of and just basically wasn't going. I quit the gym, became more and more of a couch potato and my body paid the price. I gained weight, although not a huge amount and it kept fluctuating. I was an unhappy camper!
There certainly is no longer any shortage of brands out there that are low in fat, high in fiber, low in calories! The real issue is, which ones truly work for you. Everyone's different so what I love may not be what you love, but here are a few of my absolute "Can't Do Without" breads and what I use them for. I will however confess, I can be seen visiting Panera Bread once in a while to grab a loaf of asiago bread or some other absolutely divine, hearty bread for a pannini! Like everything, I think in moderation I'll be just fine with it & I don't treat myself often, as I know I can't behave!

So we move to today.... Our local "Y" was doing a special all this week, free trial week and $25 joining fee. I thought it also said something on the ad about no payments until January but they didn't say that at our "tour". So on Monday I went to one of the "Y's" on the west side of town (I live on the East side but my best friend since grade school goes to that one & offered to take me with her Monday night). I was in heaven. I got to do a little boxing on the heavy bag (this is my BIG stress reliever & I do it with much TLC so as not to overdo things with my back), I went from that to the pool and jogged a bit, not nearly my former 2 miles but wow did it feel wonderful! I swam a little and during the good 30-40 minutes I spent in the pool I was pain free. Once again... amazing!

Move on to today... Thursday. I had wanted to get to the "Y" on this side of town, not far from our house actually. I know that if I join this will be the one I use more often than not and I hadn't been to this one in a long, long time! I also know that this one I can get to via the bus regularly too so I have a much better chance of staying with it if I know I have options to get there. Now comes my "Best Day In A While" part.... I kept hinting and eventually asked my fiance' to come with me. I know, for a fact, that the last thing to do to someone is harp on them about getting "healthy". The more you harp on a person the less they want to do something & the more they will want to do just the opposite of what you're trying to get them to do. That holds true from everything from changing their lifestyle and eating habits to getting them to exercise. I knew that approaching him with "harping" wasn't the way to go. I asked him once, he said yes and then changed to "I don't think I will". I let it go for a bit then commented "Would you like to just go walk through with me and see the place since you haven't been there since you were a kid? You don't have to work out or you could take your stuff with you and if you do feel it, then do some stuff. If not you can go do your thing and maybe even join me at some point? Or you could sit in the lobby and watch some television... whatever. Just come to see the place." He surprised me with a hesitant but somewhat interested "Ok, maybe I will. But ..." and I interrupted him. "I'm not going to harp or fight with you. You do what you feel like." I know that his biggest reason for NOT going is plain and simple... and a fear I'd say quite a few others have... he's embarrassed that he's going to be that big fat guy that everyone stares at and laughs at, etc. I knew otherwise. I've been in gyms. There are people of all shapes and sizes, styles and abilities. I've even openly approached kids I see giggling or laughing at someone and told them they were being rude. I figure if the parents are too ignorant to say it, dammit I will. Sorry, I refuse to see anyone be belittled for doing something RIGHT!

End result.... we ended up going and taking a tour. It's nice, a little antiquated but not horrid. Some new things are there, 2 very nice pools but most of all the atmosphere is one where it's truly customer friendly & user friendly. I was impressed, so was my guy! This was a definite plus. I had good vibes already. Next we talked money, I was still good... we ended up with a "couples" program price offer of $55 a month. Not bad at all for 2 people! The norm around here for anyplace with a pool is about $40 a person. The gyms with just equipment are about half that but they're useless to me as I can't do much on the ground because I need the weightlessness of the water to allow my back to cooperate with working out. Add to this an amazingly large amount of classes (including water workouts) that go with the membership. He seemed happy with what we had seen and heard thus far. Next step was "Do you want to work out a bit? Toss the basketball around a little? Walk the track? Whatever?" He smiled. "Sure!" I almost fell over... the hurdle was jumped. Now it was all downhill from here & easy rollin'!

So we went our separate ways. I went directly to the pool. I couldn't wait to just get in there. I walked 1/2 laps (the lap pool goes from 3.5 ft to 7 ft. & I obviously cannot run in 7 ft of water since I'm barely over 5 ft. tall! LOL). I ran and then I'd change to treading water for a lengthy spell in the 7ft end. I was in heaven. I was pain free. THIS is my glory. But better than being pain free was when my man walked into the pool area. He had a smile on his face, some sweat on his forehead and he grinned to me as he commented "I can't believe you got me to do this, but I'm glad you did!" I laughed. "What'd you do so far?" He was like a kid again, reliving the days when he'd come to he "Y" to throw some hoops. "I tossed the ball around. I really suck now" I laughed. This was the man who barely moved from his chair each day, telling me he was shooting hoops. "Then I walked a bit. I think I'll go down and try those stationary bike things" I cracked up. I was so proud I could pop! He smiled again "Quit smiling so much", he quipped. He knew that this truly made me happy. I smiled at him and made one last comment. "I don't care if you are 800 lbs, what I care about is getting you moving, getting your body to love moving and getting you healthy." He looked at me with complete adoration and said "I realize that. I'm glad I came."

End result..... we walked out with him saying "So tomorrow let's come a little earlier ok?" I couldn't have smiled any more. "Yes!", was my immediate answer. Then he asked the girl at the desk about joining to which I answered, "You pay the first month & fee, from then on it's mine. Deal?" I knew that I won't get paid until the 3rd of the month so I wouldn't have the money to join while the special was running. He smiled and said "Sounds good". So it looks like WE are going to have a Y membership! I am truly the happiest girl around right now! I don't expect miracles but for every MINUTE I get him out of that chair and moving, doing anything other than just sitting there.... I feel like I've gained a minute more of life with him! I'm truly celebrating!

Wish me luck on my journey to "eating clean" and healthy!
And please feel free to comment and share ideas for trying to live and eat "clean" and losing weight by changing to a healthy lifestyle!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NEED TO GET FIT BUT DON'T WANT THE GYM MEMBERSHIP?

THINK ABOUT A TRAMPOLINE!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Don't forget to check out my newest Book Blog, where I give book reviews on recent books I've read. If you're a reader you'll want to check this out!

WE CAN DO THIS, TOGETHER
ONE DAY AT A TIME!

Like this article? Twit it to your followers!

Who Else Helps me get healthy?
These are just a few of the people online that inspire me....

Gotta Have Bread

2010-10-14T09:35:00.000-04:00

I will confess, I am a bread freak! I love my bread, plain & simple and I refuse to give it up. This is one area where I won't negotiate... I will never be without my bread! But how do you approach it with a healthier lifestyle approach? Many will argue that it's very simple, you either "can't" have it or you can't have anything but the gluten free, non-flour, all whole types. To them I say... "good for you, enjoy it". But for me I say, "there has to be something out there that tastes good and is somewhat healthy".

There certainly is no longer any shortage of brands out there that are low in fat, high in fiber, low in calories! The real issue is, which ones truly work for you. Everyone's different so what I love may not be what you love, but here are a few of my absolute "Can't Do Without" breads and what I use them for. I will however confess, I can be seen visiting Panera Bread once in a while to grab a loaf of asiago bread or some other absolutely divine, hearty bread for a pannini! Like everything, I think in moderation I'll be just fine with it & I don't treat myself often, as I know I can't behave!

So here are some of my faves in the bread aisle:

Sandwich Thins - originally Arnold's were the only ones out there in my area but now there are tons. These are simple, round slices to create sandwiches in and come in a variety of types from Whole Grain White to Multi-Grain, Honey Wheat, Rye or Wheat. They're plain, simple and do the job of giving you a fairly healthy option, high in fiber, low in calories and decent in taste for making your sandwich. I love the rye sandwich thin for my ham and swiss melts! IowaGeek has some neat ideas for using the sandwich thins in a variety of ways!
Italian Sub Thins - much like the bread above, these "thins" are a version created that is longer for a sub style sandwich. While they seem to accommodate sandwiches a bit easier since they're long, they don't offer any extra flavor or "beefiness" to your sandwich. They're good and serve their purpose as both a sub roll and a hot dog roll (although they do offer a specific thin for hot dogs too)
Bagel Thins - These top my list for both sandwiches and stand alone. I always

4 Pt. Cajun Egg White Bagel Sandwich

purchase both styles, the plain and the "everything" bagel thin. I use the plain when I have a flavorful meat that I don't want extra flavors coming from the bread. I use the everything when I want a bagel (yes these really do hit that craving with a pack of Laughing Cow light and creamy swiss, which is almost like cream cheese) or when I have something that can handle the full flavor of a combination of sesame seed, poppy seed, onion and garlic. As you can see by my picture here, I also LOVE using them for breakfast sandwiches!
Ezekiel Breads - these are actually one of the healthiest in terms of content but they're not exactly low in calories. They offer quite an array of flavors and generally are kept in the freezer to extend the life. They have NO additives so this bread is the REAL thing, like great grandmum used to make, without the chemicals and additives to give it a long shelf life. No big problem though with freezing it because it tends to pop apart easily and toasts up well. My favorite is the Sesame Seed bread because it has just a touch of sweetness to it when toasted. I tend to toast it and slide just a hint of peanut butter across the top to get a little protein. Downside is, if you're counting points 1 slice is pretty much all you're going to want toast up for a light breakfast with some fruit or juice on the side. For some reason I always use these breads for toasting or making French toast as opposed to sandwiches. I'm not sure why. It could be a texture thing, a flavor thing, I really don't know but it's my go to when I want toast or am making French toast. Plus side: it's hearty and completely natural! They're made by Food For Life, who also offers an array of other items! Check them out here!
Naan Bread - you have to read the labels on these and be sure you realize what a serving is! I love these for instant and delicious Naan Pizzas! They come in so many different flavors!

Please feel free to share some of your favorite breads or styles to use the ones I've mentioned!

IF YOU LIKE FREEBIES HERE'S YOUR CHANCE!
Check it out! You can win some glass straws from Glass Dharma & Incredible Smoothies HERE!

Wish me luck on my journey to "eating clean" and healthy!
And please feel free to comment and share ideas for trying to live and eat "clean" and losing weight by changing to a healthy lifestyle!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NEED TO GET FIT BUT DON'T WANT THE GYM MEMBERSHIP?

THINK ABOUT A TRAMPOLINE!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Don't forget to check out my newest Book Blog, where I give book reviews on recent books I've read. If you're a reader you'll want to check this out!

WE CAN DO THIS, TOGETHER
ONE DAY AT A TIME!

Like this article? Twit it to your followers!

Who Else Helps me get healthy?
These are just a few of the people online that inspire me....

Tips on Getting The Day Started

2010-09-22T09:37:00.000-04:00

So often the biggest battle of my day is STARTING it right. I'm NOT a morning person, but I've come a long way since I've been with my fiance' I must admit! He IS a morning person... no let me rephrase that... he IS a morning FREAK! LOL My guy wakes at 4am each day, Monday - Thursday and I'm a freak about MUST waking up with him. Yes, ok.. say it.. I'm a glutton for my own punishment! In my defense I love him so dang much I can't help but WANT to be a part of his morning routine, so I get up with him. I love it, I must admit! When I don't get up with him in the early morning we're both kind of "lost". I've had days when the flu hit or my MS was really bad or pain levels too intense to really do much of anything so I've remained in bed. We're both like lost puppies when I do this so I will admit while I'm NOT a morning person... he's made me love my mornings.

While I may be UP at 4am I'm rarely eating anything before 6am or much later. I'm simply NOT a morning person! I can't eat as soon as I get up and need a little time to get my body "moving" so to speak. Unfortunately, that often leads to sometimes putting off breakfast longer than I really WANT to... aka "being lazy"! All too often I fall prey to putting off breakfast so long because I just don't feel like "making something" that in the end I indulge in a couple of "2 Point® Bars" (Special K® Bars, Fiber One® Bars, etc. that come out to 2 points®) which rarely pull me through until lunch. End result.... nibbling on things I shouldn't or gorging myself with what normally would be healthy "treats".... definitely NOT a breakfast option!

My issue may be somewhat similar to all of you out there that work outside of the house. You're busy, hectic, running around and simply don't have the time to stop and create something healthy, filling AND delicious. It's the age old "never any time for me" and basically why a lot of us have had weight issues... we put everyone else FIRST!

4 Pt. Cajun Egg White Bagel Sandwich

It's time to STOP and MAKE THE TIME for yourself. I am here to tell you.... if you start your day off with a satisfying breakfast, the rest of the day just seems so much easier to stay on track!

Here are some tips and ideas to make your breakfast a little easier and perhaps healthier, so your day starts off right:

1. Prepare Ahead - while it sounds logical, we often put off things we can do ahead to make our breakfast literally faster than a "drive-thru"! HOW? Simple... prepare ahead!

Chop Veggies and Keep them in baggies so you can quickly toss them into some egg whites for a sandwich or scrambled egg white omelette
Make a bunch of pancakes ahead of time (I do this over the weekend usually) and freeze them. It's less expensive than purchasing the frozen types, just as fast and often healthier because YOU know what you're putting into them. Create different types with a "base" batter as you go along so you have some flavor throughout the week! (Add some frozen berries, bananas, even some chopped up low fat turkey sausage pieces to create a flavorful pancake) BE SURE TO MAKE THE PANCAKE THE PROPER SIZE so your serving sizes are on target and calories or points® are correct! When you're ready to eat them they easily go from freezer to microwave or toaster oven for an instant breakfast!
Learn how to make the "omelette in a bag"! It's fun, easy and a quick way to cook up some egg whites for breakfast. Kids love this idea!
Prepare Breakfast Sammies ahead of time, toss in a sandwich bag and then nuke at home if you have the time or just grab and go to the office with it! It's so easy to simply nuke your sandwich while you're pouring that cup o' Joe in the morning and it keeps you on track with a GOOD breakfast! (Not to mention the money you're saving by NOT doing the drive thru thing... or the calories.. UGH!)

2. Think "outside" the breakfast box! - Simply put, you can create "non breakfast" type meals that are healthy and enjoy them. What matters is that you fill your belly, enjoy what you're eating and it's healthy!

Breakfast Sandwiches don't have to be put on a bagel or bun, you can use some of those already prepared pancakes as your "bread", with turkey sausage, cheese and a touch of maple syrup (I swear by the Maple Sprinkles by GFS - Gordon Food Service to give my sandwiches and my pancakes that maple flavor without all the calories! A sprinkle is 0 points®!). Bagel thins are wonderful containers for those ingredients you love too, most are only 1 point® each! Naan bread comes in a variety of flavors too and can make an amazing egg white breakfast sammie!
Leftover whole wheat pasta with some veggies or even mixed up with some egg whites make a filling and delicious breakfast treat. My fave way to use the leftover pasta is to add 3 egg whites scrambled, cook it up in a fry pan or microwave it all together, add a sprinkle of fat free parm cheese and YUMO!
Pizza is one of my favorite food groups... okay so it's not a "food group" but it is one of my favorite foods! I love a slice of pizza (leftover from the night before or so) reheated as my breakfast. Make sure it's a weight friendly pizza and not one loaded with fats, meats, and such! Obviously if it's a slice that's 20 points® it's not figure friendly but some whole wheat crusts with low fat cheeses and lots of veggies makes a great dinner AND a terrific breakfast that's waistline friendly! OR use a Naan bread to create your own pizzas low in calories or points®! Eat half for dinner and half for breakfast the next day!

Add some of your own ideas of how you make breakfast quick and easy! What are some of your favorite recipes or ideas to get your day started "right" so you stay on track?

Wish me luck on my journey to "eating clean" and healthy!
And please feel free to comment and share ideas for trying to live and eat "clean" and losing weight by changing to a healthy lifestyle!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NEED TO GET FIT BUT DON'T WANT THE GYM MEMBERSHIP?

THINK ABOUT A TRAMPOLINE!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AssistU has been the whole reason I've had
the best results following the
Weight Watchers® program...
changing 1 lb or less losses to
an average of 3 lbs most weeks!
Check out this ALL NATURAL HERBAL SUPPLEMENT!
Mention Beverly's Blog "One Day At A Time" when you order
to get the best price available!

Don't forget to check out my newest Book Blog, where I give book reviews on recent books I've read. If you're a reader you'll want to check this out!

WE CAN DO THIS, TOGETHER
ONE DAY AT A TIME!

Like this article? Twit it to your followers!

Who Else Helps me get healthy?
These are just a few of the people online that inspire me along with AssistU....

Quinoa..Anybody?

2010-09-08T12:55:00.000-04:00

So, a friend of mine had commented on how he and his family eat quinoa all the time. They're huge "health food" people & eat organic/clean, probably more so than anyone I could ever find in my world! I thought, I'll give it a try. Of course I bought a package of organic Quinoa and it has now sat in my cupboard for the entire summer. I had good intentions but I've yet to hear ANYONE say they love the stuff!? So what to do?

I set out on a mission to find some recipes. It's not as easy as it sounds. I've found some but nothing I'd honestly like to try. For example, just today there was a recipe shared in my local newspaper for QUINOA TABBOULEH. I have not clue what the words mean (Ok, I could look them up but I'm just saying.. it sounded so 'artsy, ecclectic, nuance, worldly' that I think they threw the word in with Quinoa only to entice you to think you were eating something so worldly & different). It has a lot of ingredients that (yes, I know as someone who's attempting clean eating I should jump at veggies and such, especially raw.. but I don't think I'll ever acquire the taste) I think most of them just turned me off instantly. I'm more a creamy, cheesy, obviously bad for you type of food gal. (Gee I wonder how I got so fat? LOL). It's the first recipe listed below but click on the link there's a ton of other GLUTEN FREE recipes listed here!

Below I've listed some recipes I've found. None that I've tried. But I am getting ideas of what I want to do with my Quinoa. Now if I just muster up the courage!!!!

QUINOA TABBOULEH
11⁄2 cups quinoa
21⁄4 cups water
1⁄4 cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
1⁄2 cup chopped parsley
1⁄2 cup chopped scallions
4-inch piece of cucumber, diced
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Garnish: lemon slices, black olives, tomatoes
1. Rinse quinoa thoroughly and drain. Bring quinoa and water to boil in saucepan. Reduce heat and let simmer until all water has evaporated, approximately 20 minutes. Allow to cool.
2. In bowl, add quinoa, lemon juice, oil, parsley scallions, cucumber and grape tomatoes. Mix well and season to taste with salt and pepper. Garnish with lemon slices, black olives and tomatoes, if desired. Makes 6-8 servings.
— adapted from “The Complete Vegetarian Cuisine,” by Rose Elliot
Nutritional Info: Per serving: 162 calories, 5.9 grams fat, 2.9 grams fiber, 5 grams protein, 23 grams carbohydrate, 45 milligrams sodium, 0 cholesterol. Values are approximate.
http://www.quinoa-recipes.com/ has a curried Quinoa Recipe (below) that I may try. I have to buy some spices first though, so that's why I haven't tried this one!

Curried Quinoa

1 Cup Quinoa
1½ Tbsp. Vegetable Oil
½ Onion Diced (about 4 or 5 oz.)
1 Tsp. Grated Fresh Ginger Root
½ Fresh Green Chile
(Finely Chopped)
1 Heaping Tsp. Turmeric
1 Heaping Tsp. Coriander
¼ Tsp. Ground Cinnamon
1¾ Cups Water
½ Cup Fresh or Frozen Peas
Salt to Taste

Rinse quinoa with cold water. Use a fine mesh filter or coffee filter. If you're a klutz like me use the fine mesh filter or a lot of quinoa is going to wind up in the sink!
Quinoa is coated with a natural substance called saponin that protects the grain by repelling insects and birds. Rinsing the quinoa is important to avoid a raw or bitter taste. You can tell if there is saponin by the production of a soapy looking "suds" when the seeds are swished in water. Good news! If you are using Ancient Harvest Quinoa you can skip this step. It's already rinsed!

Place oil and diced onions in a heavy saucepan. Saute the onions on medium high heat for 4-5 minutes.

Add the ginger root, chile, and quinoa. Cook for one minute stirring constantly.

A fine, white spiral appears around the grain as it cooks.

Stir in the turmeric, coriander, cinnamon, and salt. Cook for one minute stirring constantly.

Add the water and bring it to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 15 minutes.

Stir in peas. Cover and cook for four or five minutes or until peas are tender and all the water has been absorbed.

Fluff with a fork before serving.

Here's a Quinoa Vegetable Pilaf From The Savvy Vegetarian
Ingredients:
1 c quinoa

1 celery stalk, trimmed & chopped in small dice

1/2 sweet red pepper, chopped in small dice

1/2 c. cooked chickpeas

1 Tbsp olive oil

2 - 3 garlic cloves OR 1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 Tbsp peeled & minced fresh ginger OR 1/2 tsp dried ginger

1/2 tsp brown mustard seeds

1 bay leaf

1/4 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp gr. coriander

1/4 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp thyme leaf

1/2 tsp salt

1 3/4 cup water or soup stock

Optional: 2 cups chopped spinach or chard OR 1/4 c. minced parsley or cilantro OR 1/2 cup frozen peas

Fresh ground pepper to taste

Directions:
Soak quinoa 15 minutes, rinse twice, leave to drain

Heat olive oil on medium low in a 3 - 4 qt saucepan or sauté pan

Peel & mince garlic & ginger, sauté with mustard seeds for 5 minutes

Chop celery and red pepper, add to pan and sauté another five minutes

Mix in the bay leaf, turmeric, coriander &; cumin

Turn the heat to medium high. Add the quinoa and stir until it's dry and starting to pop

Add 1 3/4 c. hot water or stock, and salt. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer 15 minutes

Stir in the optional greens, peas, parsley or cilantro, and fresh ground pepper

Cover and cook 5 more minutes, then serve

Seriously, if you eat the stuff & have a recipe that's flavorful and delish... please send it to me. Post it here or post a link to it for me to view. I'd love to find a way to eat the stuff! I have no clue why I'm so frightened, other than the numerous people who have commented on Twitter who've said things like "Yuck!" or "I've yet to taste quinoa that has any flavor at all!" and so many other negative comments that now I'm running scared! I did find, surprisingly, that quinoa is NOT a grain. Quinoa is a plant protein, hence why so many vegans love it because it's chuck full of protein and a vegetable! I swear, by my next post I'm going to have a recipe that I've either created or tried & I will share! Of course YOU could share yours so I could try it?! Let me know if you're a quinoa fan and how you prepare it!

Wish me luck on my journey to "eating clean" and healthy!
And please feel free to comment and share ideas for trying to live and eat "clean"!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NEED TO GET FIT BUT DON'T WANT THE GYM MEMBERSHIP?

THINK ABOUT A TRAMPOLINE!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Don't forget to check out my newest Book Blog, where I give book reviews on recent books I've read. If you're a reader you'll want to check this out!

WE CAN DO THIS, TOGETHER
ONE DAY AT A TIME!

Like this article? Twit it to your followers!

Who Else Helps me get healthy?
These are just a few of the people online that inspire me along with AssistU....

Moms Chocolate Oatmeal

2010-08-25T11:07:00.000-04:00

Who else would make an amazing oatmeal that's chocolate, but MOM?! I actually ran across these doing my weekly shopping at Wegman's 2 weeks ago and decided that at $1.99 for a 5 pack, how could I say no? Mom's Best Dark Chocolate Instant Oatmeal practically begged me to buy it! It's all natural, oatmeal (good for me) and chocolate! Done deal!

I actually have been making "chocolate oatmeal" for a few years. One of my favorite ways to get some "naughty chocolate" into my tummy, while losing weight, was to create my own version of chocolate oatmeal using some plain ol' Quaker quick oats packs and a packet of sugar free hot cocoa mix. But with my changes towards a "cleaner eating" style, I had to give up basically everything "sugar free" or with added "fake" sugars in them so there went my chocolate oatmeal in the morning!

Until now!

I finally made a bowl for breakfast the other day and I must confess this will be a staple in my cupboards now! I love the texture, the flavor is very real and it's all natural! The price comes out even friendlier than my original "homemade" version($1.99 for a box of 5.. that's 40 cents a serving), plus I'm now filling up my tummy with all natural products and not a bunch of chemicals! MUCH BETTER!

The nutritional numbers come out great too.

One serving/packet, prepared with water is 160 calories, 3g fiber and 2.5g fiber. On the Weight Watchers® point® system that comes out to 3 points® a bowl. Add a glass of OJ (1 cup) and you have a very filling and healthy breakfast for 5 points®. That should last you well into the late morning for sure!

Wish me luck on my journey to "eating clean" and healthy!
And please feel free to comment and share ideas for trying to live and eat "clean"!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NEED TO GET FIT BUT DON'T WANT THE GYM MEMBERSHIP?

THINK ABOUT A TRAMPOLINE!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Don't forget to check out my newest Book Blog, where I give book reviews on recent books I've read. If you're a reader you'll want to check this out!

WE CAN DO THIS, TOGETHER
ONE DAY AT A TIME!

Like this article? Twit it to your followers!

Who Else Helps me get healthy?
These are just a few of the people online that inspire me along with AssistU....

Purple Potatoes Galore

2010-08-08T20:04:00.000-04:00

My "sweetie" had commented nearly a year ago that he was dying to try something he once read or heard about called "Blue Potatoes" or sometimes also referred to as "Purple Potatoes". He said that they claimed these strange colored potatoes made "the absolute best, most phenomenal mashed potatoes, ever!" So of course it became a mission for him to find these great little spuds. But it wasn't exactly easy!

We don't exactly live in a large city where "different" and adventurous fruits and veggies can be easy to find. If it's not pretty "main stream" it can be quite difficult to find here in Erie, PA. Lucky for us we have a WONDERFUL grocery store called Wegmans, that is so customer service oriented that it's rare they will tell you "sorry we don't carry that and can't get it for you" unless it's pretty obscure or nearly impossible to buy it and re-sell enough to at least pay for what they purchased. Seriously, it is THE ONLY place we shop for our groceries and for many reasons... customer service being first and foremost. (No, I don't work for them, nor does anyone in my family.... so honestly just because I mention them ALL the time doesn't mean I get a paycheck... but I'll take one if they'd like to! LOL) Here's a link directly to the product itself at the Wegman's site that gives all the nutritional information also! Note that your local grocer may not have the item but ask!!!! That's how we got the store we visit regularly to start ordering them and then by word of mouth and just putting them out there, they've become an intriguingly new addition to a lot of tables in the Erie area!

So I began investigating the "Blue Potato" aka "Purple Potato" and contacted the produce manager at Wegman's (on West 23rd) who quickly did his own investigating and came back with an email that said basically... "Sure, we can get them and should have them in store within 2 weeks!". And so the love affair began.

They aren't exactly the "prettiest" potato you will ever see. The taste is what I would call somewhat "earthy" and if there is such a thing a little more "hearty" potato flavor. They are definitely odd looking, both on the inside and out. I expected that only the skin would be purple/blue but nay, nay... the inside is just as purple and quite interesting looking. The first batch Wegman's had ordered for us seemed to be very small, almost the size of a "new red potato". I wasn't too sure about mashing these as my first thought was "to mash them you generally peel and boil" and these little babies weren't exactly large enough to truly peel but then after thinking about it I realized DUH, when you make mashed new reds you generally wash the potato, boil it and mash, pulling the skins out a bit while mashing while leaving a few in the finished dish. So I decided to do just that. I do need to add that you have to be careful to NOT overcook these beauties because they tend to get super mushy if you do. They don't hold their shape well and are what are considered a "medium starch" content, compared to other potato varieties. The second batch we bought were much larger (I kind of liked the bigger version because you could bake them better) and close to the size of a small, average white russet potato.

We also baked them and they were quite delicious this way also. So after doing the "basics" with these little beauties I decided to find a few other recipes. Here are a few I've found, but haven't tried yet. We tend to buy them in small quantities as they are around $1.69 I believe per pound (which can add up quick with potatoes). We generally end up with between 3 and 4 pounds each purchase and if we're making mashed it takes about 1/2 of that or a little more, leaving 2 or 4 for baking. Since we've tried our 2 favorite and typical ways to enjoy these spuds, it's now time to try a few other recipes.

Fork Crushed Purple Potatoes - a simple, yet interesting combination of purple potatoes, shallots, lemon, olive oil, parsley and sea salt.
Herby Purple Potatoes - while the pictures on this site don't really make me want to run out and make them, the ingredients sound delicious enough to definitely give them a try!
Purple Spanish Tortilla - this is more of a frittata to me but WOW does it look amazingly good. THIS is my NEXT recipe to try for sure! Can't wait! (See the picture to the right of this one!)
Marinated Purple Potatoes - this is more of a "potato salad" style recipe but looks very delicious. My guy won't go for the "heat" but I'm thinking I can tone it down and bit and I think in place of ricotta cheese I may do a fat free feta.

Why purple potatoes, you may ask? Well, I wondered the same thing. Our original reason for purchasing them was simply based upon the words "best mashed potatoes you will ever eat". I'm not sure I'd go with that completely, but they are definitely the most interesting mashed potato you will ever try. If the color alone doesn't start a great conversation nothing will. But what are the real reasons for these strange creatures to dress your table, other than great color & a conversation piece?

Purple potatoes were "created" so to speak in 2006, according to NYMag.Com, in Colorado. They were a natural cross breed, created for the main reason of making a high antioxidant potato. They wanted an almost "Super Spud" so to speak that was blessed with the normal great vitamins and health benefits of the potato along with super high antioxidant levels. They were brought mainstream by chef Alex Paffenroth of The Greenmarket and seemed to kind of take hold with a lot of different chefs after that.

Wish me luck on my journey to "eating clean" and healthy!
And please feel free to comment and share ideas for trying to live and eat "clean"!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NEED TO GET FIT BUT DON'T WANT THE GYM MEMBERSHIP?

THINK ABOUT A TRAMPOLINE!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Don't forget to check out my newest Book Blog, where I give book reviews on recent books I've read. If you're a reader you'll want to check this out!

WE CAN DO THIS, TOGETHER
ONE DAY AT A TIME!

Like this article? Twit it to your followers!

Who Else Helps me get healthy?
These are just a few of the people online that inspire me along with AssistU....

Some Sweet Desserts

2010-07-29T11:58:00.000-04:00

One of my biggest loves is ice cream and of course ice cream in the summer is even better. I will confess though, I do not need hot sweltering days to make me crave that smooth and creamy treat!

Today's find was a bit of a surprise for me and just a spoonful of heaven with my first bite. Haagen-Dazs Mango All Natural Fat Free Sorbet is really quite an amazing dessert! The ingredients remain simple (part of my attempt to 'eat clean' as often as possible) and the nutritional values are amazingly good too! There's 120 calories in 1/2 cup serving, with 0g fat and 0g fiber. It would be better if we could sneak fiber in somehow but oh well! Of course it IS Haagen-Dazs so what did I expect but great flavor? The downfall is that it IS Haagen-Dazs, so it tends to be a little pricier than a store brand or other brand but that is also why it's filled with great ingredients AND tastes so delish! Luckily, many stores locally have been putting Haagen-Dazs brand on sale a lot over the summer so I've managed to sneak a few extras in the basement freezer!

Here's a list of the ingredients: WATER, SUGAR, MANGO PUREE, LEMON JUICE CONCENTRATE, PUMPKIN JUICE CONCENTRATE, CARROT JUICE CONCENTRATE, NATURAL FLAVOR, PECTIN.

Pretty simple and "real". Yes, purists will argue there are sugars and pectins, etc. but my issue is "chemical content" more than natural things like sugars and pectins. Sugars and pectins were used by my grandma and her mom so I'm pretty sure they're not one of the biggest issues of cancer and such that I'm battling. I personally feel good about these ingredients.

I think my favorite is the Mango flavor but they offer a few others. I loved the raspberry sorbet too! (note, the bowl they show on their site is definitely NOT 1/2 cup serving! LOL) I saw a strawberry and one other listed on their website, along with some great looking other fat free or lower fat options in frozen dessert products! Check out the Haagen-Dazs site to see all they offer. I have noticed the flavors locally change in each store and even sometimes aren't available numerous times so if you find one you love, grab it up now and put it in the freezer for later!

Of course the hardest part is portion control with this delicious treat, but that tends to be my issue with any "ice cream" type food!

Wish me luck on my journey to "eating clean" and healthy!
And please feel free to comment and share ideas for trying to live and eat "clean"!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NEED TO GET FIT BUT DON'T WANT THE GYM MEMBERSHIP?

THINK ABOUT A TRAMPOLINE!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Don't forget to check out my newest Book Blog, where I give book reviews on recent books I've read. If you're a reader you'll want to check this out!

WE CAN DO THIS, TOGETHER
ONE DAY AT A TIME!

Like this article? Twit it to your followers!

Who Else Helps me get healthy?
These are just a few of the people online that inspire me along with AssistU....

Orange Cream and Sausage Pancake Wrap

2010-07-27T09:31:00.000-04:00

I have really been enjoying the glories of summer and creating smooth, creamy, cold drinks almost daily!

This morning I decided to create something sort of reminiscent of my childhood days called a Tangerine Freeze. There was a little candy & soda store downtown when I was very small that my mom used to take me to. We'd sit at the counter and order "Tangerine Freezes" for a treat on a hot summer day. They were much like today's Orange Julius type of drink but so much more tasty with a lot of flavor. I think the secret was definitely the "tangerine" instead of orange juice but sometimes you just don't have "tangerine juice" handy! Of course I needed to create it with what I had around (which was organic orange juice & not tangerine juice) but I decided to once again use some of my luscious Oikos Fat Free Vanilla Greek Yogurt to give it a creamy touch. As always, a few ingredients & a blender and I have created a yummy cold morning drink that's filling & delicious!

Orange Cream (2pts)

Serves 1

Ingredients:

1/2 cup organic orange juice (1pt.)

zest of 1 orange (this just sort of gave it a little more kick & "orangey" flavor)*not a must if you don't have an orange around or the time to zest it!

3 oz. (1/2 container) Oikos Vanilla Greek Yogurt (1pt.)

1/2 cup crushed ice

Simply blend together in a blender until smooth and serve!

I drank my yummy orange cream with a buckwheat pancake (1pt.) wrapped around a Jones light all natural sausage link (1pt.) & 1/2 slice organic cheddar (1pt.). It's a lot like those pancake/sausage wraps you can get to just nuke, only all natural and a lot lower in calories/fat & points! For a total of 3 points® I had my breakfast. Another 2 points® for my drink and there was a delightful 5 points® worth of breakfast to take me well into the late morning!

One of the things I love to do is make a batch of 50 cent piece sized buckwheat pancakes (maybe a little larger) and freeze them for the week. My guy gets up in the morning (4 a.m.) and nukes them himself for breakfast & thinks he's in heaven with his homemade pancakes. It's a lot cheaper than purchasing the pre-made/frozen versions of regular pancakes, not to mention none of the chemicals & extra fats! When I get up, a single one usually makes a "wrap" or I will sometimes use 2 pancakes to make a breakfast "sandwich" with a Jones Dairy Farm all natural sausage patty & 1/2 slice of organic cheddar. As always, I sprinkle my pancakes with the maple brown sugar sprinkles from GFS (Gordon Food Service) and you'd almost swear you were eating one of those "horrible for you" Griddle Sandwiches you can get at a drive thru fast food restaurant in the morning. Literally in about the same amount of time because everything just needs to be nuked and slapped together!

Wish me luck on my journey to "eating clean" and healthy!
And please feel free to comment and share ideas for trying to live and eat "clean"!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NEED TO GET FIT BUT DON'T WANT THE GYM MEMBERSHIP?

THINK ABOUT A TRAMPOLINE!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Don't forget to check out my newest Book Blog, where I give book reviews on recent books I've read. If you're a reader you'll want to check this out!

WE CAN DO THIS, TOGETHER
ONE DAY AT A TIME!

Like this article? Twit it to your followers!

Who Else Helps me get healthy?
These are just a few of the people online that inspire me along with AssistU....

And Yet Another Smoothie - Lemonade Smoothie

2010-07-21T14:22:00.000-04:00

If those words "Lemonade Smoothie" don't just scream SUMMER nothing does!

This recipe comes from the Stonyfield website (actually from their newsletter that takes you to the site) and I couldn't wait to try it out. Of course the first thing I did was get to the store to purchase a nice, juicy seedless watermelon. Instead of using "premade" lemonade I created a glass to my liking with all natural products, sweetening it with a little organic raw honey. Just click on the pic below to get to their original recipe! It's SOOOO delicious and just screams SUMMER TIME FUN! I've listed "my version" below.

Stonyfield's Lemonade Smoothie
(Recreated Bev Style)

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 cup prepared lemonade *Note: I created this by simply adding equal amounts of lemon & water to 1/2 the amount of honey (I like it sweet) - You could use Stevia or Agave nectar if you prefer, to your taste.

1 cup chopped seedless watermelon

1 cup Stonyfield Oikos Fat Free Vanilla Greek Yogurt

2 cups crushed ice

Simply blend together in a blender until smooth and serve!

I ended up making the lemonade in a glass and sipping it as I went along to figure out how much more "sweetener" I needed. I may try it with Agave next time but I'm not so thrilled with the flavor of agave. I may actually just go ahead and use a simple syrup also,with raw sugar. Yes, I like to limit my sugars but sometimes it's okay for a treat. Here's a great recipe using simple syrup and creating a homemade lemonade I found... HOMEMADE LEMONADE MADE WITH SIMPLE SYRUP and I think I may try it, again using a raw sugar.

Wish me luck on my journey to "eating clean" and healthy!
And please feel free to comment and share ideas for trying to live and eat "clean"!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NEED TO GET FIT BUT DON'T WANT THE GYM MEMBERSHIP?

THINK ABOUT A TRAMPOLINE!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Don't forget to check out my newest Book Blog, where I give book reviews on recent books I've read. If you're a reader you'll want to check this out!

WE CAN DO THIS, TOGETHER
ONE DAY AT A TIME!

Like this article? Twit it to your followers!

Who Else Helps me get healthy?
These are just a few of the people online that inspire me along with AssistU....

Reeses for Breakfast?

2010-07-20T11:32:00.000-04:00

Well I didn't EXACTLY have some Reeses for breakfast but I will confess this was as close as I could have come while still trying to "eat clean & healthy"!

Today I, once again, enjoyed my new found love... Oikos Greek Yogurt but decided to do something a little different for breakfast. I'll confess, my pay period comes early in the month once a month with some supplemental incomes here and there so usually by late in the month my fridge is getting pretty sparse! Today was the beginning of sparse. I had no more Vans waffles left to create my favorite breakfast sammies (*gasp) and even my yogurts were running on the low side with one chocolate one and one honey vanilla left. What was a girl to do?!

I ended up thinking outside the box with what I had in the fridge/freezer and came up with this AMAZING treat that really was quite delightful! It truly was a "healthy take" on a bite of Reeses Peanut Butter cup without the bad stuff. The best part is this is going to be a stand-by for an evening snack when I'm craving something sweet & filling, because it's both..... sweet, creamy & chocolaty along with quite filling! Here's what I made, quick, simple and oh so delicious!

I toasted up 2 slices of Ezekial Sesame Bread, spread a very small amount of all natural peanut butter on it and had a side of Oikos Chocolate Greek Yogurt. I actually made it a point to eat a bit of yogurt with each bite of peanut butter toast and found that it truly tasted like a peanut butter cup! WOW! Great surprise, especially since I didn't have a lot to choose from this morning!

In the crockpot I have some organic low fat beef meatballs that I had made up & froze a while back slow cooking in an amazing organic spaghetti sauce. Smells delicious! While I debated having them over some organic wheat pasta, I may end up just having "meatball subs", using the Sandwich Thin Fill 'Ems & a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese on top! We'll have to see what I'm feeling by dinner!

Wish me luck on my journey to "eating clean" and healthy!
And please feel free to comment and share ideas for trying to live and eat "clean"!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NEED TO GET FIT BUT DON'T WANT THE GYM MEMBERSHIP?

THINK ABOUT A TRAMPOLINE!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Don't forget to check out my newest Book Blog, where I give book reviews on recent books I've read. If you're a reader you'll want to check this out!

WE CAN DO THIS, TOGETHER
ONE DAY AT A TIME!

Like this article? Twit it to your followers!

Who Else Helps me get healthy?
These are just a few of the people online that inspire me along with AssistU....

Chocolate Razz Banana Smoothie

2010-07-17T19:57:00.000-04:00

Since my recent postings about the Greek Yogurt I've come to find soooo many uses for this miracle treat! LOL While this is a short but sweet post, it does share one of my absolute favorite smoothies I've created to date!

This creamy chocolaty treat is made extra special with Kefir. I love the low fat version and happened to grab some raspberry. I figured why not give it a try. Raspberries are in season, chocolate covered razzies seem to be the craze around our local "chocolatiers" and this inspired my creation.

Chocolate Razz Banana Smoothie
Serves: 1

1/2 medium banana, frozen
1/2 cup raspberry Kefir (low fat)
1/4 cup fat free vanilla Greek yogurt
1 ice cube (crushed) - my fridge gives crushed ice so I estimate about 1 cube
1 1/2 tablespoons chocolate syrup

Simply blend ingredients until smooth and pour! Delicious, creamy, chocolaty treat!

I had Chobani Greek Yogurt (not an organic yogurt) and to be honest I don't think it's nearly as creamy as the Oikos Greek Yogurt by Stonyfield. I also think Oikos is creamier and a bit sweeter too, it's just my personal preference. The Kefir does give it a little tangy taste & I'm sure you could mix up the flavors! I'm anxious to see what other low fat Kefir is out there!

Wish me luck on my journey to "eating clean" and healthy!
And please feel free to comment and share ideas for trying to live and eat "clean"!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NEED TO GET FIT BUT DON'T WANT THE GYM MEMBERSHIP?

THINK ABOUT A TRAMPOLINE!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Don't forget to check out my newest Book Blog, where I give book reviews on recent books I've read. If you're a reader you'll want to check this out!

WE CAN DO THIS, TOGETHER
ONE DAY AT A TIME!

Like this article? Twit it to your followers!

Who Else Helps me get healthy?
These are just a few of the people online that inspire me along with AssistU....

Lovin' My Greek Yogurts!

2010-07-14T12:46:00.000-04:00

I've been wondering about "GREEK YOGURT" for quite some time. I've read a lot of blogs by "healthy eaters" that rave about it, but I've never been too quick to buy it for a couple of reasons. First, I loved my fake flavors (Key Lime Pie, Red Velvet Cake and so on) that was loaded with chemicals. I was clueless to the horrors of what I was putting in my body, especially with the aspartame (aka rat poison if you do your research). So I enjoy yogurt but must admit that since my change in lifestyle and trying to eat more "organic" or "clean", my choices are limited. I don't eat anything with aspartame in it and I try to eat fat free or lower fat. Yeah, you can see where I'm going with this... my choices are pretty limited.

Thank goodness for Stonyfield! They have at least a decent tasting and affordable organic fat free yogurt! But wait.... welcome to their GREEK YOGURT! I kind of fell into it, forgetting that this was even a possible "organic" option. And what to my wondering eyes should appear...... Oikos Organic Greek Yogurt in caramel! A delightful creamy vanilla yogurt with a thin layer of delicious caramel on the bottom. All natural, fat free, creamy delicious, delight!

Next thing you know, I'm already quite happy to find this delightful caramel dream when I come upon Oikos Organic Greek Yogurt with chocolate on the bottom. Okay, are you following me here? I've found not only the worlds creamiest and most delightful organic yogurt but yogurt with caramel on the bottom or chocolate! It's fat free, delicious, organic, and did I mention caramel or chocolate?! Yes, I'm in heaven!!!!

And the best part is that the Oikos is completely affordable! A 4 pack can be found at most grocery stores and I paid about $2.49. Once again, we stifle the common thought that eating "organic" or "clean" is unaffordable! If you're counting points® each serving comes out to 2 points® each, so it's very weight friendly! All I can say is "Thanks Stonyfield!" Check out their website for coupons and more info on the products they offer! How can you NOT feel good about a company that truly does take our world into consideration when creating a nutritious and delicious treat like this? They have all kinds of freebies on their site, from coupons to screensavers!

Wish me luck on my journey to "eating clean" and healthy!
And please feel free to comment and share ideas for trying to live and eat "clean"!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NEED TO GET FIT BUT DON'T WANT THE GYM MEMBERSHIP?

THINK ABOUT A TRAMPOLINE!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AssistU has been the whole reason I've had
the best results following the
Weight Watchers® program...
changing 1 lb or less losses to
an average of 3 lbs most weeks!
Check out this ALL NATURAL HERBAL SUPPLEMENT!
Use DISCOUNT CODE 112BP to get the best price available!
Ask for a free sample!

Check out my Daily Menu Food Log for a quick glance at what I'm eating to get where I'm at, which is a healthier & therefore thinner ME! While I don't always keep it up to date.. I do give you some different ideas of what might help you change up your daily menu!

Don't forget to check out my newest Book Blog, where I give book reviews on recent books I've read. If you're a reader you'll want to check this out!

WE CAN DO THIS, TOGETHER
ONE DAY AT A TIME!

Like this article? Twit it to your followers!

Who Else Helps me get healthy?
These are just a few of the people online that inspire me along with AssistU....

One Day At A Time

Guest Blog by David Haas - Cancer and Healthy Lifestyle

Exercise as a Natural Treatment for Cancer

Why I've Been Missing

Celebrating Our Birthdays

Changing Lifestyle - Not Dieting

Making A Difference In Someone's Life

Pumpkin Cheesecake Cupcakes

WHEN YOU CAN'T GET TO THE GYM...

Confessions of a Burger-holic

Hello Hard Cider!

Pumpkin Cookies - 3pts

Ingredients

Directions

Nutritional Information per cookie (from their cookie - adjust to your ingredients) Calories 120 Fat 3g Fiber 0.5g WW Pts. according to their recipe, with a glaze on them is 3pts.

A Day To Celebrate!

Gotta Have Bread

Tips on Getting The Day Started

Quinoa..Anybody?

Here's a Quinoa Vegetable Pilaf From The Savvy Vegetarian

Ingredients:

Directions:

Moms Chocolate Oatmeal

Purple Potatoes Galore

Some Sweet Desserts

Orange Cream and Sausage Pancake Wrap

And Yet Another Smoothie - Lemonade Smoothie

Reeses for Breakfast?

Chocolate Razz Banana Smoothie

Lovin' My Greek Yogurts!

Nutritional Information per cookie (from their cookie - adjust to your ingredients)
Calories 120 Fat 3g Fiber 0.5g
WW Pts. according to their recipe, with a glaze on them is 3pts.