Watch as Steven Segal demonstrates the art and visualize his opponents as the "processed sugar" enemies. There's the pie/cake/donut enemy, the candy enemy and the pasta enemy. Watch as he skillfully diverts them away from his body.

As marines are trained in ju jitsu they may find this method more to their liking but anyone can do it.

That Doesn't Taste Like a Diet Drink

Here is a mouth-watering chocolate milkshake recipe supplied by our friends at South Beach Living. It's low-carb, low-calorie and low-fat. Since I have been making this I have managed to avoid countless calories from the carbs I would have consumed had I not been completely satisfied with this particluar substitution. I used Nature Sweet as my sugar substitute but otherwise followed their recipe. (the secret ingredient here is; a touch of vanilla extract). I have made the same shake using other flavors too: cherry, peppermint, almond and rasberry but I keep coming back to the one with vanilla.

Have this one for desert and savor it like you would a fine brandy or as a snack to ward off the sugar-monster. It's a guilt-free way of satisfying your cravings for sweets and it works for me. I have already lost over 120 pounds while enjoying recipes like this. The key to my weight loss success has been substitution - find a way to replace the bad with the good and if it don't taste good - forget about it!

Here is the actual recipe:

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tablespoons granular sugar substitute

Pinch salt

3 cups cold 1% milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Ice cubes

Instructions:

In a medium bowl, stir together cocoa powder, sugar substitute, and salt. Slowly pour in 1 cup of the milk. Whisk until smooth, and then whisk in remaining 2 cups milk and vanilla.Fill 4 (8-ounce) glasses with ice. Pour Chilly Chocolate over ice and serve.

The bottom line: Per ¾-cup serving: 90 calories, 2.5 g fat (1.5 g sat), 12 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 95 mg sodium

For more mouth-watering recipes like this visit our friends at South Beach Living  

Fit And Fat?

Yep, it's a proven fact. All you need to do is look at some of the bigger players on your favorite NFL team to know that while these big guys might appear to be fat they are actually fit as a fiddle! And most of these guys can sit down at the trainers table and test well within normal ranges for blood sugar, cholesterol and blood pressure! By the way, I would never call an NFL player FAT, not if I want to live, I refer to them as BIG and it seems to be ok.

Size Doesn't Matter

At least when it comes to fitness! And, it turns out that those skinny little wide receivers are more prone to heart disease than their blocking buddies! It's enlightening (and encouraging, in a weird way) to discover that almost 25% of thin people are more prone to heart disease than their overweight brethren.

Naturally, this sort of attitude has great potential for disaster - and brother did I ask for it! All of a sudden I turn around and I am a FAT 55 year old capable of being weighed accurately only by a truck scale out on the interstate! Seriously, at 5'-9" tall and close to 400 lbs. that is nothing short of blobsville.

Long story short, self-esteem goes down the tubes, depression leads to eating, eating leads to depression, a cycle you can ride straight to hell if you aren't careful - and on this hog a helmet won't help! At the point where I thought I had reached bottom I discovered the book, Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution and saw light at the end of the tunnel. If I had learned anything at all about my yo-yo battle with weight over the years since leaving the Corps I had forgotten it and then it hit me; everything I had put in my mouth up to that point had done absolutely nothing for me but make me unhappy, why not try something new?!

And when I went through my Mother's losing battle with cancer my stress relief was eating. I am paying for that now but believe me, it's never too late to change, no matter what your age or condition. I have already lost a 120 pounds but a guy as big as me can lose that in no time.

Blame it on dopamine, the hormone in us that is linked to the pleasure and motivation centers of the brain. If you have a problem with weight gain you may have fewer dopamine receptors and need more food to get that food "high."

I heard somewhere that conscience is "internal dialog" and I immediately recognized it as the number one factor in my inability to lose weight, I would commit to dieting then almost immediately start telling myself it was ok to eat this and ok to eat that. No devil required, I was doing fine all by myself, thank you. Even though my internal dialog kept reminding me of past failures, falling off the diet wagon so many times even though successful at losing weight with plans like; Weight Watchers, Nutrisystems, Low-Carb, Low-Fat, Cabbage soup, Grapefruit Diet, I still didn't get it.

It wasn't until I could truthfully acknowlege the righteous voice in my head, a voice that allowed me to see the error of my ways and pointed me to the light of self-discipline and accountability that I was able to succeed in acheiving my weight loss goals.

#1 Watch Your Carbs

#2 Watch Your Fat

#3 Watch Your Portions

#4 Exercise

Simple, huh? What?, were you wanting a magic pill maybe? Tsk Tsk! 

Here is the last and final secret to weight loss success - obey the first four!

That's the good news. The bad news is you may be one of those people who have to excercise to do it. If you are a skinny person and can eat anything you want without gaining an ounce, you have been blessed with a fat-burning metabolism. Those who are pre-disposed to gaining weight (like me) have to exercise regularly in some way to keep the fat under control.

Check with your doctor before starting any kind of exercise program, walking works best for me, and it doesn't cost anything!