What the F@ck????

Every so often something unexpected happens with my weight and I have no idea why. Two weeks ago I weighed in at 127 - 128 pounds. Yesterday I stepped on the scale and it read 131.2. Thinking it might be a temporary water weight issue, I watched my water and salt consumption yesterday.

So this morning I stepped on the scale and it still read 131.2.

Huh???

It had literally taken months for me to get rid of the last of my "winter weight" and I was actually hoping to get down to 125 or so in the next month or so. I managed to put back on in about a week and a half the weight that it took me 3 months to lose.

And, I really don't understand how I could have put it on. I had just come off my cleanse, and had been maintaining a pretty healthy diet. I wasn't exercising any less, and I've actually doing more chores around the house and yard which should be burning off extra calories. Hell, I spent over five hours in the last week, including time on my hands and knees, scrubbing down my master bath in anticipation of painting (the tile looked so grubby that I thought it would look even worse with new paint).

I had noticed that the waistbands on my shorts and skirts felt "tight" again, and couldn't understand why, but now I know.

It's just all so frustrating. At my age it takes forever to lose a pound, but a nanosecond to gain one.

This is Where You're Fat

A state by State break-down of obesity rates: http://www.good.is/post/this-is-where-you-re-fat/

Navigating the Diner Breakfast

This morning I had to take my 190 pound autistic son in for blood work. As you can imagine, he doesn't like needles, and getting him to sit still for any kind of injection or prick of a needle has become a real challenge. The last time he had to get a shot at the doctor, four of us had to hold him down.

This morning, because he had to fast prior to the blood work, I promised him that if he was good, I'd take him to the diner for breakfast afterwards. It was still a struggle, but between the diner bribe, and threatening to tell his father that he "wasn't good," three of us managed to get the needle in him and the blood drawn.

So off to the diner we went.

Now diner breakfasts can be a caloric and health disaster, both for me and my son, but my son absolutely loves to go out for breakfast at a diner, so it is a very effective motivational tool for us to use on him.

Believe me, when you have a child who weighs 70 pounds more than you, is seven inches taller than you and has the cognitive abilities of a four year old, you need every motivational tool you can lay your hands on.

So this morning I had breakfast in the diner with my son. Not only was I concerned about what I was eating, but what he ate as well. My son is not only allergic to wheat and dairy, but has low muscle tone and a tendency towards being overweight.

So here's what I did. After explaining the wheat and dairy issues, I ordered two scrambled eggs for him made with no dairy and no toast. Instead of hash browns I asked for fresh fruit to be put on his plate, and ordered up a side of turkey bacon for him. He loves bacon and part of the thrill of going to the diner for him is to get the bacon. I discovered a while ago that he was just as happy with the turkey bacon as the real stuff, and now order that instead.

For me, I had an egg white omelet with feta, tomato and asparagus. Instead of hash browns I got steamed vegetables and I ordered dry multi-grain toast. We both drank water, and I had a cup of coffee.

My breakfast was probably still more calories then I would normally consume for breakfast, but I wound up skipping lunch because it was so filling and just had a mid-day snack of fruit.

So mission was accomplished. I managed to get the blood drawn, and still stick to a fairly healthy meal despite going to the diner.

Pilgrims Progress

Sorry for not blogging the past few days, but we took the kids up to Plymouth, MA to learn about life in 17th century Massachusetts after the Pilgrims landed there.

I have to say, Plymouth Rock is very underwhelming. It's just this big rock under a big, Roman Doric portico designed by McKim, Mead and White. They don't even know for sure that it was were the Pilgrims disembarked. It's never mentioned by the Pilgrims, but 121 years after the landing some church Elder made the claim saying that some of the original Pilgrims told him it was.

The highlight of the trip with Plimouth Plantation--a recreation of the English settlement from around 1627 and a Wampanoag Native American homesite. In the English settlement section of the museum, interpreters dress, act and speak like 17th century settlers. In the Native American homesite portion, the staff dresses in authentic Native American garb, but interact with visitors from a 21st century perspective.

Notice I said "Native American" not "Indian." From the minute you walk into the visitors' center at Plimouth Plantation they make it known that you are not to call the Native American interpreters "Indians." They say it on signs, in the initiation movie, on more signs, etc.

So you can imagine my embarrassment when my daughter raises her hand to ask one of the Native Americans a question and starts it "Why do Indians . . . .?"

Ah well!! That's life.

The good thing about vacations is that you definitely do move around more than you usually do. I brought my pedometer with me and clocked that we walked just over 2 miles around Plimouth Plantation.

The bad news is, of course, that we often feel that caloric indulgences are justified by that extra activity. According to the calorie counter my pedometer the walk around the English settlement and the Wampanoag homesite did not justify me having a large, chocolate dipped cone with sprinkles at one of the ice cream shops in town (don't worry I didn't).

So while the extra walking on vacations is a good thing, you still have to be careful about what you eat. I probably would have to walk around Plimouth Plantation ten times to walk off that cone.

What I Made for Dinner Last Night

It's been a busy week. As you might have guessed, the kids are out of school, and there's no summer school or camp until July 6. There's only so much time you can spend with a 9-year old and an autistic 15-year old until you start to empathize with animals that eat their young.

Yesterday the whole day was spent driving up to New York state to take my son for a school interview. My husband and I want to outplace our son to a residential program so that he can hopefully, finally learn to do things like dress himself and shower independently. The school seemed to love him, so if he gets accepted the next step is to hire a lawyer to fight with our local school district to accept the outplacement. Needless to say, they do not want to pay for our son to go to a school where he may actually learn something, so it's time to gird our loins for yet another battle with the Weston School District.

Wednesday, however, was a bit calmer, I ran a number of errands with the kids, including taking a run up to "Farmer John's." That's the name my kids and I gave to a local farm stand. The real name of the place is Holbrook Farm. I've been going there, however, since my son was three months old, so the owner, John Holbrook, has seen both my kids grow up from the time they were infants, and both kids call him "Farmer John." His wife, Lynn, is also ever present at the farm, but for some reason she's just "Lynn" and doesn't get a special designation.

I'm weeks away from seeing a tomato come out of my garden, but Farmer John was already selling them. He can't be bothered getting an organic certification. "Too much paperwork," he tells me, but his crops are probably more organic and more pesticide free then most of the ones labeled organic in the supermarket.

Wednesday I tossed up a meal of pasta with pancetta and Farmer John's Kale. It was delicious.

Last night I again made pasta . We're going out tonight, and tomorrow we're leaving on a short trip to Plymouth, MA so that I don't go totally insane until the kids are in summer school and camp. I realized that I better use up the tomatoes I got at Farmer John's, so I whipped up a concoction totally out of my head and that actually proved to be delicious.

I sliced up all the tomatoes I had (six big ones) into a large pyrex dish and added in two, peeled, sliced, yellow onions. I then chopped up three gloves of garlic and added it to the dish with a sprinkling of hot pepper. I drizzled olive oil, and balsamic vinegar in, sprinkled in some salt and pepper, mixed everything together and popped the dish into the oven at 425 degrees for 40 minutes. Then I rinsed out a can of white beans, mixed it in, and popped everything into the oven for another 10 minutes.

In the meantime I boiled the water and cooked the pasta. When the sauce was done baking, I tossed it with the pasta and mixed in a generous amount of fresh basil from the garden.

YUMMY!! I'll have to write out a more detailed recipe one of these days.

Yeah Coffee!!

I knew there must be a reason why I love you so much: http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/coffeesmysteriousbenefitsmount;_ylt=AqOYPHq3exW5U27f7Fn7mLKs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTRiYXVubnBvBGFzc2V0A2xpdmVzY2llbmNlLzIwMTAwNjIyL2NvZmZlZXNteXN0ZXJpb3VzYmVuZWZpdHNtb3VudARjY29kZQNtb3N0cG9wdWxhcgRjcG9zAzgEcG9zAzUEcHQDaG9tZV9jb2tlBHNlYwN5bl9oZWFkbGluZV9saXN0BHNsawNjb2ZmZWVzbXlzdGU--

My Cleanse thus Far

I started a month-long, light cleanse at the end of May, and I'm happy to report that, as expected, the last of the "winter weight" I put on over the holidays has finally fallen come off and then some. With a few more days to go on my cleanse, I feel alert, clear-headed and energetic.

I haven't had a perfect record. Although caffeine was a big no, no, I did fall off the wagon a few times and had a cup of coffee. My staying away from any kind of white flour was also not 100% perfect, and I have to admit to splitting a desert at a restaurant twice.

But overall I stuck to the cleanse, and ate clean and healthy for the majority of the time. I upped the percentage of plant-based food I consumed, and decreased meat, fish and dairy. White flour and refined grains were pretty much banished (with a couple of slips), and I did wean myself off coffee for most of the month.

Generally every June in the midst of my light cleanse, I spend a week or so in a more intense cleanse, but my ability to do so was hamstrung this year. Usually my husband disappears for a week every June to attend a conference in Washington, DC and that was the time I took to do a light juice fast and go completely raw, vegan.

This year, however, my husband decided not to go to the conference. Was I bummed!!! Not only because I lost the opportunity to cleanse a little deeper, but hell I just like getting him out of the house for a whole entire week!!!

I'm sure all you long time married ladies know exactly what I'm talking about.

Confuse a Cat

There's an old Monty Python skit where an elderly couple, concerned that their cat has slipped into a melancholic slump, are told to "confuse the cat." In the next scene a van pulls up to a tidy, British, suburban home and out pops the whole Python crew to perform absurdest skits to a rather bored, looking tabby. In the end, it works and both the tabby and owners were thrilled.

I've been having a feeling of ennui on my morning walks lately. I have several routes I take of various lengths. It's not so much that I don't like the walks, it's just that I've been bored with the routes. However, there's really no new way I can go and still loop back home eventually.

But the other day it occurred to me to just reverse the direction. Instead of making a right at my mailbox, I made a left.

It's amazing how one small difference in a routine can change one's whole perspective. Instead of two killer hills, I had a series of long, gradual inclines which was just as intense, and walking down the steep hills, as opposed to up, worked my butt intensely.

And, changing direction changed vistas. There is this absolutely beautiful 19th Century Classic Federal Farmhouse that I've salivated over for years on my route. In addition to the house, which is set back from the road (unusual in this area for 19th century homes), there are two impeccably preserved barns, a beautiful, decorative well-head, and a picture-perfect plank swing suspended by ropes from a perfectly pruned oak. Approaching it from the other side made the scene even more beautiful.

Even walking on the other side of the road made a difference. I've walked by this one small lake for three years now, but I was always across the road. This time, because I was on the same side, I noticed ducks that I don't think I would have seen.

Changing direction renewed my enthusiasm for my walks. I've, in a sense, doubled the routes I have to choice from.

I bring this up because in the long run it does get hard to stick with a routine. Ennui sets in, we get bored, and are just looking for something new.

But, what's important is to someone stick with what you're doing, and sometimes even small changes can make a difference, whether its food or exercise.

What's important is to not let the boredom lead you back to the old habits that led to weight gain to begin with.

Small positive changes to our new routines can help protect us from falling back into the old negative ones.

A Salad Bar in Every School!!

Brave New Lunch notes that if you put salad bars in schools, the consumption of fruits and vegetables in those schools goes up (well Duh!!!). Specifically:

"UCLA researchers found that fruit and veggie consumption rose roughly 25% after salad bars were placed in three schools (small sample size, but encouraging nonetheless). They suggest that 'poor eating habits at school may in part be the fault of poor selection, not resistance to fresh food.'"

I say that not only should there be a salad bar in every school, but it should be a priorty that everything on those salad bars is as fresh and tasty as possible. Nothing is more a turn off to eating right then limp lettuce and mealy fruit.

Check out Brave New Lunch here: http://fedupwithschoollunch.blogspot.com/2010/06/salad-bars-in-schools-ucla-researchers.html#comment-form

What I Made for Dinner Last Night

NOTE: Once again, for reasons I don't fully understand, Blogger won't let me space appropriately between paragraphs. If someone could explain the reasons for this phenomena to me, it would be appreciated.

A good friend of mine, Nadine, now raises chickens as a hobby. I'm a benefactor of her new past-time, because she regularly drops off fresh eggs at my house. If you've never had an egg from a chicken that spends its time pecking around outside, as compared to being cooped up inside in a cage, you've missed out.

Sometimes Nadine brings the eggs over and they're so freshly laid, they're warm. She raises several breeds, and the colors range from the traditional white and brown, to Easter egg colors of light blue and green. I haven't gotten a double yolk yet, but I'm still hoping.

With all the fresh eggs, eggs often play a central role in dinner. I've been making plenty of quiches and Fritattas. Another staple, however, is Pasta Carbonara--an almost meatless meal.

To make it healthier, I make my Pasta Carbonara with whole wheat pasta, and then toss in plenty of vegetables and herbs.

And, while fresh is best, frozen vegetables are second best. One of my favorite vegetables to add to Pasta Carbonara are thawed, frozen peas. Frozen, organic peas are a pantry stable, so they're always available to add to anything I cook. To thaw them out, all I do is put them in a colander and run a little warm water over them.

Making Pasta Carbonara is quick. Basically, in the time it takes to boil the water and cook the pasta the meal is done.

Here's what I did. I put a large pot of salted water on to boil, then ran and did a few other things, including practicing piano with the kids, and making sure the kid's homework was in order.

Just before the water started to boil, I began heating a large, deep sided saute pan over medium-high heat and added about 1/4 pound of pancetta--sliced to 1/4 inch thick and cut into cubes. When the fat from the pancetta started to render I added two medium-sized, peeled and thinly sliced white onions to the pan. I sweated down the onions and let them cook in the pancetta fat until they started to caramelize.

As the onions cooked, I added 1 pound of whole wheat linguine to the water and started to cook. If the onion mixture needed any liquid, I added some of the water from the pasta to the pan and scraped the bottom to pick up any brown bits.

Just before the pasta was done cooking, I removed the onion mixture from the heat and added a 10 ounce bag of thawed, frozen peas. Drained the pasta and added it to the onion mixture. I then beat four eggs and added them to the pasta and onions and mixed. I returned the pan to medium-low heat and stirred for a minute or two until the eggs were heated through. Then I added a mixture of chopped fresh parsley and basil to the pan and heated for another minute. I served with a sprinkling of Romano cheese.

Because just about everything in this meal is a pantry staple--pancetta, onions, eggs, pasta, frozen peas--I can always make it last minute. I always have the herbs on hand from the garden in Spring, summer and Fall, but you can easily leave out the fresh herbs. Since I always have salad fixing on hand, I can always whip up a salad quick to go with the pasta.

Congratulations to Brave New Lunch

Alison, who bills herself as a new generation lunch lady just scored a major coup. She had an article published on Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution website which you can read here: http://www.jamieoliver.com/news/brave-new-lunch#commentsForm

If you're not familiar with her blog, Brave New Lunch, check it out here: http://bravenewlunch.blogspot.com/

What I Made for Dinner Last Night

Accidentally, I discovered that if you cook salmon fillets just right, the salmon's skin turns into this marvelous, crispy, delectable treat. If you're someone who likes crunchy food, I guarantee that you will love Crispy Skin Salmon.

The problem is, that it has to be cooked JUST RIGHT. Cook it not long enough, and it's not crispy. Cook it too long, and it's crispy, but burnt. And there's no magic bullet to knowing just how long it will take. It's a matter of trial and error and cooking it enough times to learn when its the optimal time to flip the salmon so that the skin comes out perfectly.

Last night I made Crispy Skin Salmon with steamed asparagus and Lime Vinaigrette. The whole process of meal preparation took less then 20 minutes.

First I cut the tough ends off the asparagus and put them in the steamer to steam. While that was going on, I turned on the gas on to medium-high under my well-seasoned cast iron grill pan and lightly coated it with oil. I cut 1 1/2 pounds of salmon fillet with the skin on into strips and salt and peppered both sides. The salmon went on the grill pan, skin side down, and I cooked it until it looked to be about 1/4 to 1/2 the way cooked through then flipped it and cooked until done.

While the salmon cooked I checked the asparagus to see if it was tender, and when done I put in in a shallow dish. I whipped up a vinaigrette of 1/2 cup fresh lime juice, 1/4 cup grape-seed oil and 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil and salt and pepper. I drizzled some of the vinaigrette over the asparagus.

When the salmon was done, I plated it along with the steamed asparagus and drizzled the lime vinaigrette over the fish. The final touch was a sprinkling of fresh cilantro and chives from the garden over both the fish and the asparagus.

Good for You John Goodman

One of my favorite treadmill watching shows these days is HBO's Treme. It takes place in New Orleans after hurricane Katrina, and focuses on the music and the food of New Orleans, and the people struggling to bring it all back.

I love the show because I have a particular soft-spot for New Orleans. Ten years ago, after years of fruitless fertility treatments, my husband and I somehow managed to conceive my daughter there during a weekend get-a-way trip. A few Hurricanes (a drink) and oysters in New Orleans did what years of artificial insemination's, drugs and procedures could not.

The one thing that has distressed me somewhat about the show is John Goodman. Not his performance, but his size. John Goodman is a big guy, and has never been what you'd call svelte, but in this series he's absolutely huge (probably close to 400 pounds by his own admission). His thighs on Treme look to be a yard around, and he has bigger boobs then most women. It's painful to even watch him move because it looks like he's struggling.

So I'm happy to hear that he's apparently gotten on the diet and exercise wagon and lost what looks like an entire human being. He was recently on the David Letterman show talking about his weight loss. Unfortunately, I don't have the technical know how to actually embed the clip, but you can watch it here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/16/john-goodman-talks-weight_n_615311.html

On Letterman, John Goodman looks like a closer approximation of his old Roseanne self. Still a big guy, but obviously a lot trimmer and healthier than he was when he filmed Treme.

Omega Juicer RIP

I like to think of my weight loss journey as an adventure. When I committed myself to losing the pounds I packed on once I hit 40, I promised myself that I would not be afraid to explore anything.

One of the greatest adventures I've had is juicing. When I first heard about juicing I was skeptical, but now I'm fully committed to it.

I've done short term juice fasts at home--up to three days. It's also not uncommon for me to use juice as a meal replacement a few times a week. A tall delicious glass of pineapple, watermelon strawberry juice is a fantastic way to start the day, and carrot, celery ginger juice is a terrific light lunch.

The only fly in the ointment, was the juicer itself. The juice guru at my local health food store insisted that I get an Omega juicer. I followed his advice but found the Omega hard to use, and worse, a bitch to clean. It also would start to vibrate excessively whenever it was not assembled perfectly or if I was juicing heavier fruits and vegetables like carrots and watermelon. And, I had to peel harder rinds like pineapple.

A few weeks ago I just snapped one morning when the Omega started vibrating to the point I couldn't juice from the moment I turned it on. Nothing I did would get it to stop vibrating (although it didn't do so the next time I turned it on).

Frustrated that I couldn't get my morning juice, I went straight to my computer and ordered a Breville Juice Fountain from Williams-Sonoma.

What a difference!!!! The juice guru may have had his reasons for recommending the Omega, but from a convenience point of view, the Breville just kills it. It doesn't vibrate at all, and is a breeze to clean compared to the Omega. Best of all, it can juice a pineapple rind and all, and the extra large feeding tube lets me juice with a minimal of chopping.

And, the Stainless steel Breville looks so much better in my Wedgwood blue, red and white kitchen. The Omega just clashed something awful.

Why Losing Weight is Like Gardening

As a long time gardener, I get a lot of questions about gardening. One of the most frequent is "how can I keep plants from dying?"

Well, a grande dame of gardening, Gertrude Jekyll, once said "if you never killed a plant, you've never gardened."

You see, I explain, if a plant is a perennial, that simply means that, if everything goes right, it should live for more than two years. It doesn't mean it will live forever. It's perfectly natural for your Columbines to die off after three years.

As for herbs, you're not doing anything wrong because your cilantro only lasts a few weeks before going to seed. That's what cilantro does and it's the reason why many seed packets say "sow throughout the season."

So when I hear people say "I can never lose weight," I know it's alot like gardening.

It's not that you can't lose weight, but you really don't understand HOW to lose weight. If you've been steadily gaining a half pound or more a month, you need to cut back your eating and start exercising just to STOP gaining more weight. If you really want to lose weight, you really have to increase your activity level pretty dramatically, and make some serious lifetime commitments to changing how you eat.

If you've been gaining weight, taking a 20 minute walk three times a week is good, and will help slow down the rate that you're gaining, but it won't lead to you actually LOSING weight.

Losing weight is actually a real bitch. It takes real work and real sacrifice, and you have to know how it works and what you're doing.

What the F@#K ate my Tomato Plants?????

There's nothing I love more in the late summer and Fall then going out into my garden, picking a load of fresh veggies, and then heading inside to make dinner with the bounty.

I don't have a huge vegetable garden. I can only do so much, but it's nice to have a source of vegetables that I know for sure haven't been sprayed with anything nasty. Generally, I plant stuff, and if it can't survive without pesticides, fungicides, etc. then it just doesn't get grown.

Being that I'm a nice Italian girl from Jersey, tomatoes have always played a central role in my garden. One of my biggest joys in life is that first day you can go out into the garden with a salt shaker, and eat fresh tomatoes, straight off the vine, in the hazy summer sunlight.

So you can imagine my dismay last year when every single one of my tomato plants fell to a nasty wilt last year that hit the entire east coast. One by one the plants steadily turned brown and died off, leaving me fruitless for the season. I couldn't even go to the farmer's market and get many tomatoes, because the professional organic growers were hit as well.

I found out that if I tried to grow tomatoes thisyear where I've always grown them the wilt will come back. Unless I was willing to treat the soil with a load of nasty chemicals, the tomatoes' former location was verboten for at least three years.

So, I had to clear out a new spot to grow tomatoes far from the previous location. Luckily, I had a good sunny spot up the hill behind the former chicken coop. It wasn't as convenient as their previous location right outside the kitchen, but at least it was sunny.

I cleared out a nice patch, worked in plenty of manure and garden soil (my dirt is rather clay like and needs heavy amending) and planted my tomatoes two weeks ago. I can't see the sight from my house, but I walked up the hill behind the chicken coop a few times in the last week or so to look in at them.

This week-end I got some nice chopped straw to mulch the tomatoes. I lugged the mulch up the hill to the tomato patch, and was horrified to see that something had eaten every last plant down practically to the ground!!! Now I've had raccoons and possums eat the fruit in the past once it ripened, but I've never had something actually eat the plants.

There was no way the plants would ever grow back, so today I had to run out to a local nursery and pray that tomato plants would still be available. Luckily there were still a few stragglers.

I'll plant them out this afternoon. But first they're going to be fully doused in a home-made concoction of hot pepper and garlic!!

Deconstructing the Twinkie

A photographer took pictures of each of the 37 ingredients in a Twinkie. Check it out here: http://www.good.is/post/picture-show-the-37-or-so-ingredients-in-a-twinkie/

After all these years of reading about them, I finally know what Riboflavin, soy protein isolate, diglyceride, and Red dye number 40 look like.

After seeing them, I'm even more convinced I don't want to eat them. And, what's up with the "whole egg?" It's powdered. That's powdered eggs, not whole eggs.

Healthy Cooking Gadgets that I love

One of the most used items in my kitchen is my Lodge cast iron grill/griddle. On one side it's a grill and flips to the other side to a griddle. It covers two burners on my stove allowing me to grill or griddle dinner for the entire family in one fell swoop.

I've had my cast iron grill/griddle for over ten years so it is seasoned to perfection--it's completely non-stick. Furthermore, because it kills two birds with one stone and is only about an inch thick, takes up far less space in the cupboards then separate electric grills and griddles.

Someone once gave me a George Foreman grill as a gift and I gave it away after one use. It took four times as long to cook a meal since I had to do it in stages, and the grilling actually came out better on my Lodge griddle than the Foreman grill.

Best of all, because my cast iron griddle/grill is seasoned so well, it's a non-stick surface minus all the horrendous chemicals.

Did you know that if you heat up a Teflon pan with a bird in the room the bird can die? I'm honestly not shitting you. Read about it here: http://www.ewg.org/reports/toxicteflon. DuPont itself acknowledges that heating Teflon around birds can kill the birds.

If Teflon is that toxic to birds, then just think what it's doing to you and your family every time you throw one of DuPont's pans on the stove and heat it up.

I'll admit that cast iron, even the so-called pre-seasoned cast iron, is initially not as efficiently non-stick as Teflon and the other man made products. But, over time, if seasoned right, cast iron's non-stick properties are actually superior. And, you won't have to worry about it killing your birds. Do you really want to release toxic chemicals into your house every time you make yourself and omelet?

What I Made for Dinner Last Night

Last year I discovered Springer Mountain Farms individually wrapped chicken cutlets in my local grocery store. They're hormone and anti-biotic free and convenient as all hell because they are individually wrapped. I can pull out just as many cutlets as I need from the freezer (they're actually fresh when I buy them but I inevitably freeze them), and pull out just as many as I need for a meal.

Yesterday's dinner featured grilled chicken cutlets with a salad. I heated up my indoor grill pan (you could grill outside as well), and salt and peppered the chicken. I put the chicken on the grill and cooked on one side for approximately 10 minutes then flipped to the other side for an additional five to seven minutes.

While the chicken cooked I assembled a salad of baby lettuce greens, scallions from the garden and sliced cucumber. I also whipped up a lemon vinaigrette of fresh lemon juice, Dijon mustard, extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper (I've also whipped up a Balsamic vinaigrette for this dish as well.)

Once the chicken was done I plated both a cutlet and some salad on plate, and drizzled the vinaigrette over both. The final touch was some fresh chopped Thyme from the garden sprinkled over the chicken.

Dinner was made and served in less then 20 minutes.

Fat People Sit/Thin People Pace

A few years ago I remember reading a study about the habits of fat versus thin people. Essentially it boiled down to fat people sitting an average of 2 1/2 hours more then thin people, and thin people having a tendency to pace (i.e., move around) in activities such as speaking on the phone.

Fat people are the ones in the office who roll their desk chairs to the file cabinets. Thin people are the ones who get up and walk across the office to speak to someone instead of sending an e-mail.

My pedometer challenge got me thinking about this study. I read it when I was first trying to lose weight and I took it to heart. I really began thinking about all the time I spent sitting.

Now, since I'm a writer, I have to pretty much sit for a big part of my day (although there are standing desks). But, I realized I was sitting way too much when I really could be standing or even walking around.

Case in point. Everyday I wait with my daughter for the bus. When she started kindergarten, I brought a chair to the end of our driveway so that I could sit and wait with her. When I decided to get serious about losing weight, I realized the chair had to be vanquished. I now not only stand, but often pace around with my daughter while waiting for the bus.

Another adjustment--I now stand at parties. I used to be the person diving to find a place on the sofa. I now stand and speak with people and purposely try to "mingle" (i.e., move).

If the phone rang, I picked it up and sat down--I now pick it up and pace around.

Exercise and moving to lose weight and keep it off is about a lot more than just sweating. You have to just move more in general. Small adjustments to your daily moving routine will add up to more weight lost or not gained in the long term, then any once a week sweat burst.

Results of the Pedometer Challenge

Over 16,000 steps.

With the pedometer clipped to my waist-band yesterday, and me checking it constantly, I have to say it "inspired" me to move a lot more than I would have normally. I took a few extra trips out to the barn (our stand-in for a garage which is detached from the house), and a few more trips up and down the stairs.

It was such a good inspiration, that I've "pedometered" myself again today. I'm thinking it might be a good habit to get into on the days when I don't have any major social or business meeting (the pedometer would probably ruin the lines of an Armani dress).

I'm pretty sure the inexpensive model I've bought is fraught with inaccuracies, but the intent isn't so much accurately tracking steps, miles and calories, but getting me thinking about just moving more. Even if the pedometer wildly overcounted or undercounted, the point is that it made me conscience of just how inactive or active I was, and got me thinking about ways I could be more active.

So, in the end, it worked.

I'll Take a Calorie Count with that Burger

The restaurant of my dreams. It provides a personalized calorie count with every order, so you know exactly what you're getting yourself into: http://www.foodpolitics.com/2010/06/calorie-postings-go-personal/

Plus, it makes suggestions to you to lower your calorie count the next time you order there.

Pedometer Challenge

I've been digging my new pedometer so much I did a little Internet research on pedometers yesterday. I found out that generally you want to take 6000 steps a day for health and 10,000 to lose weight.

So today I'm wearing the pedometer for the whole day to see how many steps I take.

I clipped the pedometer on at 5 am for my morning power work, and now, at 7;48 am EDT I've clocked in 6,802 steps.

I've got health down, so let's see if I can hit the "weight loss" goal.

What I Made for Dinner Last Night

I thought it might be a good idea from time to time to chronicle what I've made for dinner. People always complain that it's too much of a chore to cook, or that they don't have time, and I want to show just how easy it can be.

Yesterday I went food shopping. Since our local grocery store has an excellent fish department, I always make it a point to buy fish for dinner the day I shop.

Usually I go shopping with no preconceived idea of what fish I'll buy. I just see what looks good, or is on sale and take it from there. Yesterday, there was some beautiful lemon sole on sale for $5.99 a pound. With a price like that, how can you pass it up? I bought 1 1/2 pounds of the sole then rounded up the other ingredients to make dinner.

I don't have an actual recipe because this is a standard way that I prepare fish. I just throw things in the pan, bake and serve. It's basically a one pan meal, although if you add brown rice (like I do from time to time), it's one pan and one pot.

So last night I took a large Pyrex baking pan from the cup-board in threw in a pint of cherry tomatoes, a cup of pitted Kalamata olives, six peeled garlic cloves and five ounces of fresh baby spinach. I peeled and roughly chopped up two red onions and threw them in the pan as well. I drizzled everything with olive oil and sprinkled on salt and pepper. The whole conglomeration got mixed up and put in a 425 degree oven for 40 minutes.

At that point I pulled out the pan from the oven, drizzled in some Balsamic vinegar and mixed. I then salt and peppered the sole and put it back in the pan and drizzled some more balsamic vinegar on top of the fish. I returned everything to the oven and baked another 15 to 20 minutes until the fish was cooked through. I served everything over brown rice and sprinkled with fresh chopped parsley.

Overall effort to prepare was less then fifteen minutes, although it did take close to an hour to cook (I worked during that time).

As I mentioned, you can make this meal with just about any fish. Cod and swordfish both work really well, although you have to adjust the cooking time because both take longer to cook.

Kind of Great, but Sad

Whenever I find a great new website to follow, I like to give it a shout out. Veggiecation (http://www.veggiecation.com/) is a school curriculum based lunch program to introduce children to the wonderful world of vegetables. There's a great blog as well at: http://www.veggiecation.com/

As you all know, I'm a huge believer in getting kids off processed foods (or just minimizing their exposure to it in the first place) and getting them to eat healthy so that they never have the weight and health issues that our generation does. I think any effort to get kids to eat healthier and teach them how to do so in school should be supported 100%.

But, on the other hand, it's also kind of sad that kids have to be taught this in school. It should just be a natural part of life. Let's face it, if processed chicken nuts, microwavable mac & cheese and take out pizza wasn't available, our kids WOULD be eating vegetables because that would be the only option they'd have.

Maybe instead of teaching the kids, we need to start teaching the parents?

Walking at 5 am has its Advantages

Needless to say, on the mornings I wake up at 5 am to walk, I don't eat breakfast first (although I always eat it afterwards once the kids are dressed, fed and ready for school).

I guess that's a good thing, because working out first, then eating burns more fat. You can read about it here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100603/ap_on_he_me/eu_med_exercise_while_hungry

What I had for Dinner Last Night

Yesterday, my comment that it was just as easy to make dinner as it is to go the take-out route pulled a "but it takes too much time to shop and prepare a meal" comment.

First of all, I don't shop for each meal I prepare. I go to the store once or twice a week and stock up on whatever I need, what's for sale, what looks good and cook from there.

So yesterday afternoon I was trying to decide what to make for dinner. Earlier in the week I had picked up a bag of peeled, cooked, frozen shrimp because they were on sale. So I knew whatever I made would include shrimp. I then looked at what else I had in the house and found a box of arugula, lemons, garlic, olive oil and pasta (the last 4 items being pantry staples). I also had half a pint of cherry tomatoes.

So here's the recipe for what I made:

1 pound of frozen, peeled, cooked shrimp, thawed
Juice of 3 lemons
zest from 2 lemons
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
5 ounces of pre-washed baby arugula
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
16 ounces whole wheat spaghetti

I combined the shrimp, lemon juice and zest, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper and set it aside to marinate. Then, I put on a pot of salted water on the stove to boil, cooked and drained the pasta.

Then, I tossed in the arugula and tomatoes with the shrimp mixture, and threw the hot pasta on top and mixed, allowing the heat from the pasta to wilt the arugula.

All told, it took 15 minutes of actual prep time and a grand total of less than 30 minutes to put a healthy, nutritious, low sodium meal on the table.

And, because the "sauce" for the pasta was uncooked, I only used one pot. So all I had was one pot and one pasta bowl to clean up afterwards.

Another easy meal--grilled boneless chicken breasts with salad. I keep boneless chicken breasts in the freezer and when I need a quick meal, I simply salt and pepper the thawed breasts and throw them on my grill pan (I have one that covers two burners so I can grill enough for the entire family). While the chicken takes fifteen minutes to grill, I make a salad and, if I don't already have salad dressing in the refrigerator, the dressing. Dinner done in under 20 minutes with no shopping (I always have salad fixings and dressing fixings in the house).

So if you plan properly, you can make dinner every night in less then 30 minutes with no shopping involved.

I'm with Jamie Oliver on this one, there is absolutely no excuse to not make your own food. You are doing nothing but throwing your own health, and the health of your family to the food manufacturers when you cede food preparation to them.

Fat People Shop At Wal-Mart

I'm catching up on my reading today, and I found a really good piece on the differences regarding how rich, skinny people shop versus poor, fat people. You can check it out here: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/06/unhealthy_food_shoppers_and_inequa.html

I thought the above graphic showing the changes in food prices for different items since 1978 was particularly interesting. Calorie and sugar laden carbonated beverages are now 34% cheaper than in 1978, but the prices for fresh fruits and vegetables have risen by more than a third.

It's sad that healthy food has to cost so much more than unhealthy processed foods.

But I think the other message here is that if you do care about your health and weight, you have to change your shopping habits. You do have to make the quality of your food an economic priority.

Plus, I don't buy the argument that preparing your own food takes more time and energy. If you know some basic cooking techniques, its possible to make fresh food in the same amount of time it takes to prepare something that's processed.

I can make a whole meal in the time it takes to boil pasta, and can grill a piece of fresh fish and make a salad and dressing in less time then it takes to heat up a frozen chicken pot pie. The problem is not time and energy, it's will and know-how.

If you know how to make food, and have the will to do so, you can in less time then it takes to order in or heat up something that's pre-made.

Taking Control

Since hypertension runs in my family, I've always been acutely aware of salt in my diet and have always been on the look-out for products that added too much unnecessary salt to my diet. I still add salt to my cooking (after all we need it to survive), but I've made the conscience decision to avoid unnecessary salt by just not eating processed foods.

And, the salt I use at home is sea salt which allows me to get more of a salty taste in my cooking and baking without adding as much sodium to my diet as regular table salt does.

Since salt is kind of an obsession of mine, I found article from the New Republic interesting and thought provoking: http://www.tnr.com/article/75074/the-other-white-powder?page=0,0&passthru=NDQ2NTNmNDQ1YWVkMmM2M2JmMGNiZjQ0YzQ2N2Q4Njg

This passage particularly rang out to me:

"Thirty years ago is also when researchers spotted an uptick in numbers of obese Americans, the first sign of what is now described as an obesity epidemic. It turns out that, when we buy meals rather than make them, we generally wolf down larger portions (which manufacturers and restaurateurs prefer to sell to us, because bigger quantities yield more revenue) of saltier, fattier foods (which manufacturers and restaurateurs also like to sell to us, because we’re more likely to eat them whether we’re hungry or not). When dinner consists of a Swanson’s Hungry-Man XXL carved turkey meal, for instance, we may not realize that it contains nearly twice the recommended daily amount of salt—5,410 milligrams of it."

In other words, to take control of both our weight and our health, we have to take control of our food by preparing it ourselves. Food manufacturers have only one goal in mind---selling you food to make money. They have no interest in your health or seeing you at a healthy weight. In fact, the fatter you are the better it is for them because it means you're eating more and buying more, making more money for them.

So, if you don't already own them, buy a few good knives and pots, and learn your way around the kitchen. Put away the take-out menus, get out of the drive-through routine, and stay away from the frozen food and packaged foods aisles in the grocery storeStop ceding both your weight and your health to the food industry. Take control of your food, and take control of your life.

Gee, I wish Someone Would've Paid me to Lose Weight

Losing weight for dollars--it appears to be a trend: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100602/ap_on_he_me/us_med_dieting_for_dollars

Hey, I'm all for trying new things, but I have to wonder if paying employees money to lose weight will really change their bad habits in the long run.

After all, it's bad habits--eating the wrong kinds of foods and inactivity--that leads to excess weight gain. If you pay someone to lose weight, but don't do anything to change those bad habits in the long run, then will those people actually lose weight in the long term?

Maybe instead of giving employees money, employers should spend the money on things like treadmill desks, in-office gyms or exercise classes and nutritional counseling.

Overall, it's a positive step that employers are trying to help employees manage their weight. And, let's not kid ourselves, it's in the employers' best interest to do so to manage and control health care costs and absenteeism issues. But, you have to wonder if paying employees to lose pounds is the way to go.

Getting Techy

Anyone who's been following this blog for any length of time knows that I'm a somewhat low tech kind of gal. I'm not a complete techno-phobe, but I'm not exactly comfortable with using technology either.

Well, last week I finally broke down and bought a pedometer. I'd been thinking about purchasing one for a while now to track the mileage and calories burned on my walks, etc.

So last week when I in Eastern Mountain Sports getting some new sports bras (the old ones had gotten stretched out and were no longer doing their supportive job), I spotted a Timex Pedometer on sale by the check-out counter. It looked low tech enough for even this low tech gal, so I threw it on the pile of sports bras.

Well, since then I've become pedometer obsessed. I, of course, have been using it on my outside power walks. Today I took one of my "long" walks. According to the pedometer I walked 4.75 miles and burned 403 calories.

But, I'm also using it just to track how many "miles" I've gone and calories burned doing chores around the house and yard.

Now, I have to say that I think the calorie counter is a rough guess at best. It only asks for my weight to compute the calories burned, and didn't ask for age, sex, height, etc.

Additionally, it obviously doesn't track if I'm going up hills (I've got a few killer hills on my walks) or on level ground, and I'd imagine that carrying around a 25 pound of mulch would burn additional calories as well.

But, overall it's a fun new toy.

One thing I've learned from it. You don't burn any calories sitting in front of the computer, so I'm off.

Jack Sh*t I know How you Feel

Last week Jack Sh*t blogged about seeing a picture of a runner who had a rather nasty "accident" during a race. He didn't post the picture but I'm pretty sure it's this one. It's one I've seen before as well. You can read Jack's post here: http://jackfit.blogspot.com/2010/05/no-stopping-me-now-on-c25k.html

It's a pretty gross picture, but Jack was posting about perseverance--namely his own perseverance under similar circumstances. Jack's training to run in a race, and one day, mid-way through his loop, that old familiar feeling began rattling around in his gut. Rather than stop, he finished up without soiling himself, and viewed it, rightly so, as a major accomplishment.

I had a similar experience this morning. When I work up this morning at 5 am, I had that "feeling" that something was coming. The problem was that it wasn't quite ripe. Now, normally this wouldn't be a problem, but the reason I was up at 5 am was that it was the only time I could get my power walk in.

It was one of those now or never situations. If I waited until I was "ready" it would cut into my walking time. I could use the treadmill and hop off once the need became critical, but it was a beautiful morning and I wanted to enjoy the great outdoors.

So I bit the bullet, put on my Shape-ups walking shoes, grabbed my hand weights and Ipod and headed for the streets.

I'm glad to say I got my full 3.5 mile walk in and there was no repeat of the above photo (although I did have to make a mad dash for the powder room once I got home).

And, I was "rewarded" for my perseverance as well. I found a brand new, crisp $20 bill on the side on the road this morning on my walk.

It was like God was giving me a prize for sucking it up and going for it.

I'll have to think of something good to spend that $20 on.

There's Always a Price To Pay, When You try To Do Things the Easy Way

Turns out those popular weight loss drugs might give you liver cancer: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100526/hl_nm/us_glaxo_roche_diet

and : http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20100527/hl_hsn/rarecasesofliverdamagetiedtoweightlossdrug

Once again proven. There is NO easy way to lose weight. You have to suck it up, exercise more, eat less, and clean up your eating habits.

End of story.

Almost Meatless Meals

One of the first thing I realized when I started trying to lose weight was that I could not do it alone. For me to lose weight and keep it off, I had to change the whole family's eating habits.

Let me tell you, the biggest struggles I've had with weight loss was not actually losing the weight--it was getting my family to accept a new and different way of eating.

And, one of the most important changes I made was to dramatically reduce the amount of meat in our diets.

Now, I come from a large Italian family where meat was no-where in sight at many family meals.

My husband, however, was raised to believe it wasn't a meal unless it was mostly meat (and fish doesn't count).

So, when I started to introduce vegetarian meals into the family diet, there were some pretty bad knock-down, drag out fights. My husband was very resistant. But, I persisted. I explained the health benefits over and over. I also pointed out that his own doctor recommended the changes to confront his high blood pressure and a congenital heart condition.

Persistence pays. We know eat fully vegetarian (and often vegan) meals once or twice a week, and eat fish at least once.

But to further reduce meat consumption, I've developed a number of "almost" meatless meals. These are meals that contain meat, but only as a flavoring factor.

Pancetta, an Italian version of bacon that's cured instead of smoked, is a great for almost meatless meals. Just a little bit can infuse a pasta dish with that "meat" taste that satisfies my husband.

Last night I made one of my "Mostly Vegetables" fritattas by starting out sauteing a little pancetta in a pan. I then added tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, arugula and peas. Then I added just enough eggs and egg whites to "bind" the vegetables. The fritatta was finished off in the oven.

I got the idea for the "mostly vegetable" from Mark Bittman--the New York Times Food writer. It's simply a fritatta that's mostly vegetables with a little bit of egg, instead of one that's mostly eggs with a little bit of vegetables. To further"health it up" I use half egg whites and half whole eggs.

It's a healthy, quick to make dinner that satisfies my husband's meat cravings.

The Benefits of Almond Milk

As I previously written, after I turned 40 I not only started to put on a great deal of weight, I also became rather "bubbly." So bubbly, that it became an embarrassment in social situation, particularly when the "bubbles" where odorous.

My allergies also became worse as I aged, and I developed a permanent post-nasal drip.

When I decided to get serious about weight loss, I began reading every weight loss book I could get my hands on. One of the most influential was Skinny Bitch by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin,

Now, Freedman ad Barnouin's approach to weight loss was a little too radical for me. They preach a strict vegan approach to weight loss. But the book overall was very well researched, and one chapter I found particularly interesting was entitled "The Dairy Disaster." Cow's milk, they pointed out is designed to grow a 90-pound calf into a 2,000 pound heifer in two years. Calves can double their birth weight in just 47 days.

If cow's milk can do that to a cow, then imagine what it can do to a human?

Moreover, they pointed out, the human body was just not designed to digest cow's milk, and the result of consuming is disease. What's more, all the information you've heard about why you NEED to consume dairy products is pretty much all just propaganda put out by the dairy industry. The countries' with the highest rates of osteoporosis, are those in which the people consume the most dairy. Of the 40 tribes in Kenya and Tanzania, only the milk-drinking Masai suffers from osteoporosis.

The Skinny Bitch anti-dairy argument was intriguing but I still wasn't ready to reduce my dairy intake. It took a naturalpathic physician's recommendation that I try to eliminate it for a few weeks to get me to do it.

Once I eliminated dairy from my diet, my gas and mucus problems cleared up, and my allergies pretty much disappeared.

I'm not totally dairy-free, I do enjoy a piece of cheese now and then, or cream cheese on a bagel (and let's not forget an occasional dessert), but whenever I indulge, I do feel the effects for a few days.

Having sworn off dairy for the most part, I, of course, needed a substitute for things like my morning coffee. After fiddling around with various "milk" substitutes, I settled on almond milk. Soy milk, I learned was just as mucus producing as regular milk, and rice milk contained a lot of sugars.

You can read about the benefits of almond milk here: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1734140/10_benefits_of_almond_milk.html?cat=22

I also just love the taste of Almond milk. It adds a yummy nuttiness to anything you add it too. My son, who's allergic to milk, loves almond milk as well. He uses it on his cereal in the morning, and I'll make him hot chocolate with it in the Winter.

Some things I just Don't Get

One of my closest friends got married this weekend. It was a truly magical wedding held in a restaurant on Long Island Sound with spectacular views of the sound from the covered porch where the meal was served.

Since my girlfriend had been in the restaurant business for years (her first husband was a chef), the food was extraordinarily good, and I'm happy to report pretty healthy. The menu included salmon, pork and grilled vegetables.

But one thing mystified me--deep fried spinach. Yes, the chef took individual spinach leaves, deep fried them then coated them with a decidedly unhealthy dose of salt.

Why take something as healthy and nutritious as spinach, which tastes wonderful steamed or simply sauteed and deep fry it?

The taste certainly wasn't improved. It tasted like ultra-thin, green potato chips.

I only took a couple of bites out of curiosity, but it was definitely something to leave on the plate.

Which was a good thing since the wedding cake was my all time favorite dessert--carrot cake. And, it was YUMMY!!!

What can I say, every so often you have to treat yourself, and for me carrot cake is something you just go to go for.

Going for It

I've been practicing yoga for over six years now. I go to my Shala (yoga studio) at least three times a week, often four, and usually do an abbreviated practice at home on the days I don't go to the shala.

I was never one for "exercise classes" and I never liked lifting weights at the gym. Frankly, I never understood the point of aerobics, Jazzercise or Zumba. I mean you go into a class, you jump around and where does it get you?

Even weight lifting. I tried it, and even slogged through the whole Nautilus craze back in the 1980's. But even that left me somewhat cold. Lifting weights toned muscles, but, again, I'd ask myself where does this get me.

I had always been athletic. I studied ballet until I was a teen-ager, and skied competitively in college. I also loved to bike, hike, play tennis and do just about anything that didn't involve going to a gym. I loved to push myself running, to see how far I could go.

And, I loved the freedom of not being tied to any schedule. If I had a couple of hours free I could grab my bike and take a spin along the Charles River (when I lived in Boston), or around Central Park (when I lived in Manhattan).

But exercise classes and lifting weights were just not my "thing."

Even yoga did not appeal to me initially. My first forays into yoga where found me lying on my back counting ceiling tiles. But, then I wondered into an Ashtanga yoga studio.

I was having back problems and a physical therapist suggested I try yoga. So, one day after I dropped my daughter off at her pre-school I wandered into a nearby yoga studio which was an Ashtanga studio. I never heard of Ashtanga yoga before. After my first class I was sore for four days. This, I realized was a yoga program I could sign onto. Ashtanga yoga is fast moving, vigorous and physically challenging.

And, there are "goals." And Ashtanga practice consists of an opening sequence, a closing sequence and then you work on one of six series in-between. For the last six years I've been working on mastering the primary (first) series, and I've done some venturing into the second.

More importantly, I've seen how my body has changed because of my practice. When I started practicing yoga I couldn't touch my toes. Now I can hold onto my foot and get my forehead on my shin. I can sit in a lotus position, and do a head-stand. Asanas that I initially thought I'd never accomplish have been accomplished, or are near being accomplished.

So this week the Shala I attend announced that they will be holding a teacher training program. After the completion of the program (which will take five months), I'll be a certified by the Yoga Alliance to teach at the 200 hour level.

I've given it some thought, and I'm going for it. I don't see it as a money making proposition, but as a way to expand my knowledge of yoga.

Six years ago, I never thought I'd reach this point but here I am, moving from student to teacher.

Sometimes when you start a journey, you think you know where you are going, but the path you embark on takes you in a direction you may have never seen yourself taking.

Weight loss is a lot like that. You get yourself on a path, and if you keep on it, you probably will wind up someplace you may have never seen yourself.

But, it's important to stay on that path, no matter what road blocks emerge, and how scary the curve ahead seems.

Why Cleanse?

As I mentioned in my post yesterday, I'm gearing up to start a cleanse next week. I understand that the whole issue of detoxing is rather controversial, and many doctors view it with skepticism, but all I can say is that it works for me.

Three years ago when I started to try to lose weight I cut calories and began exercising diligently. But few pounds came off. Then someone introduced me to the idea of cleansing as a weight loss technique, and I was intrigued.

The theory behind cleansing (and I'll admit that there is zero scientific evidence to back this up) is that the toxins you absorb during your life, from foods sprayed with pesticides, to toxins in the environment you've been exposed to, are stored in your body's fat. Thus, your body is unwilling to release the fat as long as the toxins are stored there. By cleansing the body of toxins, your body becomes more willing to shed fat.

Now, I have to admit that some of the cleanses you read about sound extreme--and they are. Consuming nothing but water laced with lemon juice and cayenne powder for ten days is probably beyond the ability of anyone but the most dedicated cleanser (and not something I'm inclined to do). But there are a number of cleansing regimes out there that are quite sensible.

Three years ago, for one month I ate nothing but organic, raw fruits and vegetables, and during that time I did a few short juice fasts. I got a couple of colonics (recommended during cleanses), and practiced yoga and other exercises daily that were supposed to help with toxin release.

I lost 10 pounds in that month which never came back. But, more importantly, I finally began to shed weight. For the next several months (until the holidays hit), I started dropping one or two pounds a week (previously it took me a month to lose two pounds).

Since then, I haven't done as extreme a cleanse, but I have done a number of short term juice fasts and periods of going completely raw. Every time I find that weight starts creeping back on and refuses to come off, I find that if I do a cleanse, the weight soon comes off.

There are numerous ways to cleanse, but the basics are easy.

• Drink eight to ten glasses of filtered water a day to flush your system
• Don't eat anything containing sugar
• Eliminate all refined carbohydrates (e.g., white flour) from your diet
• Eliminate caffeine from your diet (that includes chocolate)
• Avoid saturated and hydrogenated fats (that means that McDonalds and just about anything in a box is out)
• Increase the fiber in your diet by eating more whole grains and raw fruits and vegetables
• Eat less meat and dairy, and when you do consume it, make sure its organic and free from hormones and anti-biotics
• Limit your exposure to environmental toxins. Explore replacing your household cleaning supplies with less toxic "natural" products, and take a good look at the soaps and cosmetics you use.

Caffeine Withdrawal

I decided that I really need to do a cleanse again. Despite cutting calories further, and doing more exercise, my "winter weight" is being persistent and just not coming off. I always find that the weight seems to come off more easily if I do a cleanse first.

I've also been a bit "sluggish" if you get my drift. I need to get things "moving" again.

So, earlier this week I decided to start a cleanse on next Monday. Nothing too dramatic, just eating and drinking right and taking a colon cleanse product.

Why put off the cleanse to Monday? Well, I have to get myself off caffeine first. I happen to love my cup of coffee in the morning, but I totally eliminate caffeine (along with sugar and alcohol). So, this week I switched from Coffee to green tea in the morning. The green tea still has caffeine, but a lot less then coffee.

Monday, I'll start the cleanse and will be caffeine free.

The Stages of Weight Loss

Jack Sh*t has a great post which I think just about anybody who's put on more pounds then they care to acknowledge can relate to. You can read it here: http://jackfit.blogspot.com/2010/05/stages-of-dieting.html (note that Jack calls it the stages of "dieting" since I really don't like that word, I did a bit of editing.)

Like Jack, I went through the same journey until I finally owned up to myself about what I had to do.

First, of course, there is DENIAL. For me, this was done by just avoiding mirrors, never letting myself be photographed (there's basically no pictures of me from ages 42 through 46) and if I did let myself be photographed, I'd stand behind someone else. I also never let myself be seen in a bathing suit. I also never stepped on a scale unless forced to in a doctor's office.

Second is ANGER. Like Jack, I'd start all these crazy diets looking for a quick and easy way to drop the 40 pounds, and then got angry when they didn't work. I was also angry with myself for letting myself get so out of shape and I routinely cursed my body for not letting me eat as I had always eaten in the past.

Third is BARGAINING. I'd bargain constantly with myself that I could eat this or that and I'd work it off later (which of course never happened). Like Jack, I was always promising myself that I'd work out more and eat less, but for some reason couldn't do right then and there. I was always putting off the hard work.

Fourth is DEPRESSION. Yes, I was really depressed, not only about the way I looked, but the way I felt. I was always tired, couldn't do the things I had always done for the length of time I used to. If I went out in the yard to garden, I was wiped after about an hour, when I used to work the whole day in the yard (and loved it). I was depressed that I couldn't wear the clothes I liked (without looking ridiculous), and that I could grab huge wads of fat all over my body.

Fifth is ACCEPTANCE. One day you wake up and realize that you have to get real. You have to realize that there is only one way to lose weight and keep it off. You have to EAT LESS AND EXERCISE MORE. And, you can't just eat less, you have to eat better. You have to cut out the processed crap and stick to wholesome, natural foods. I think my wake up call came after I went to a plastic surgeon to discuss liposuction. After I got a price to have fat suctioned from my stomach, hips, thighs and arms, I drove home, took off my clothes and really stared at myself in the mirror. Even if I spent the $15,000 to have the fat removed from those areas, I realized, I still wouldn't have the body I had before I turned 40. The next day I started shopping for treadmills, and began researching what I really needed to do to finally drop the weight.

Needless to say, the $2,500 I spent on the treadmill was a better investment then the $15,000 I would have spent on liposuction. It still wasn't easy to lose the weight after that, and in the first three months I had the treadmill, I actually only lost five pounds.

But, it was a start, and the more I got into my weight loss journey, the more I learned, and the more weight came off.

It hasn't been easy, and, in fact, it's been damn hard.

And, its still hard. I constantly struggle with not gaining the weight back. Even with my new exercise and eating habits, pounds still want to creep back on (it's a function of hitting menopause).

But, I've accepted the struggle, and fight on.

Thanks for the great post Jack.

Exercise is King, Nutrition is Queen

We should all look this good at 95!

Words to the wise from the legendary Jack Lalanne: http://correct-weight-loss.net/2010/05/15/jack-lalanne-self-improvement-plan/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CorrectWeightLossBlog+%28Correct+Weight+Loss+Blog%29

Let there be Light!!

This morning when I woke up at 5:15 am for my morning power walk, I realized it was now light enough for me to walk outside.

Normally, for most of the year, getting up at 5:15 to do my walk three times a week (because that's the only time I can fit it in when I know I'll do it), means it's pitch black outside, and I'm consigned to walking inside on my treadmill watching DVRed recording of Mad Men, True Blood or whatever else strikes my fancy.

But every year, at the end of May, something magical happens. I wake up to light!!! That means I can go outside.

Now I enjoy my walk either way (especially when you consider all the male eye candy available on Television these days), but I have to admit I prefer being outside.

When you're out walking at 5:30 am it's just me, the robins and lots of deer (who generally look at me as a pass by with a great deal of curiosity then continue munching on my neighbors' azaleas).

I'll have to enjoy it while I can, because in a few more months, it will be dark again.

And, besides going outside, the light just makes it so much easier to get out of bed in the first place. Once it gets really dark, all I want to do is cuddle under the covers and sleep. But, I see that light in the morning, and I'm ready to roll.

There Are no "Magic Bullets" When it Comes to Exercise

I found this post interesting because it's a question I get asked a lot: http://blog.nutritiondata.com/dieting_weight_loss_blog/2010/05/the-magic-bullet-exercise-formula.html

Since I've lost my weight, people are always asking what's "the best" exercise to lose weight.

My reply? "The one you'll most likely stick with for the rest of your life."

It does you no good to run out and buy a Stairmaster because you read it burns the most calories in an hour if getting on the thing makes you want to puke.

You have to find ways to incorporate exercise into your life that you'll like and will want to continue doing for the rest of your life. It may not be the most efficient exercise, calorie burning wise, but it has to be something you'll WANT to do.

Earlier this year I discovered Tai Chi. It's a slow moving Chinese Martial art, which I'm just totalling loving. It only burns about 230 calories an hour, but the bonus is that I do it every day, even if it's just for 10 or 15 minutes. I love practicing the forms. And, this practice is on top of my normal power walking and yoga routines. While practicing Tai Chi 10 minutes (in addition to the two one hour classes I take every week), may not burn a lot of calories, over time those extra burned calories do amount to weight lost or not gained.

Yoga is another one of my exercise staples. I use it for strength and toning. I would probably see faster results if I lifted weights (and burn more calories to boot), but I positively loathe lifting weights, and really can't stand the whole gym atmosphere.

Yoga, however, is something that fits better with my personality. I've been doing it steadily for six years now, going to the studio at least 3 times a week and practicing at home regularly as well.

So find an exercise you love, and (to steal Nike's thunder) just do it.

The Biggest Loser Versus Reality

Like the majority of Americans, I've watched the Biggest Loser--absolutely awe-struck at the weight loss the contestants experience. But, even though it is a reality show, the reality is that the Biggest Loser is not reality. As this story shows, the weight loss many contestants experience is actually illusory:

http://tvwatch.people.com/2010/01/06/biggest-loser-erik-chopin-faces-weight-loss-struggle-again/

Erik Chopin, who lost 214 pounds on the show and won, now has gained back 184 pounds. He's within 30 pounds of the weight he was at when he started the show back in 2006. In four years he's pretty much back where he started.

Anyone could lose weight if we had the time to exercise 6 to 8 hours a day and lived on a compound completely sealed off from pizza, gooey desserts and greasy fried foods.

Really losing weight means making life-long decisions about diet and exercise and sticking with them forever. Temporary changes to diet and exercise only leads to temporary weight loss. It means learning to have the will-power to say "no" to over-processed, processed foods or passing up a McDonalds in favor of going to a grocery store and buying a banana when we're hungry.

Losing weight and keeping it off means never going back. It's only by moving forward and leaving the past behind that we ultimately succeed in reaching our goals.

Can Fat Help you Lose Weight?

Kind of interesting: http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20100512/hl_time/08599198798700

Confronting Comfort Zones

Losing weight is all about confronting our comfort zones. We get into routines that are comfortable, and don't want to leave. Whether it's stopping by Dunkin Donuts every morning for a breakfast sandwich and coffee, ordering in food every night instead of making dinner or sleeping until we only have enough time to dress and get to work, we all gravitate to what those routines that are easy and comfortable for us.

But, when we get to the point where we want to lose 20, 30, 40 pounds or more, we have to rouse ourselves to leave the zone of comfort. We have to make ourselves do things we don't really want to do, such as getting up an hour earlier every morning to work out, eating just fruit at home for breakfast, or making dinner every night.

We may have to make ourselves stop eating foods that we like and make us feel good, like french fries, McDonald's hamburgers, and cookies from a box, and eat foods we normally wouldn't such as salads, fruit and raw nuts.

Because if we don't confront our comfort zones, real weight loss becomes impossible.

I have a friend who has been trying to lose weight for years. She's over 250 pounds and needs to do it for her health. But she doesn't exercise. When I ask her why, she says she's too embarrassed to go to a gym and wants to lose weight first.

But, it's impossible to lose weight without exercising, I say. Even if it's just a mile walk daily around the neighborhood you need to do something, I tell her. But, my friend is insistent that she's too embarrassed to do even that. Because my friend won't leave her comfort zone, she not only doesn't lose the weight she's put on, she puts on more weight yearly. No diet alone has ever worked, and no diet alone will ever work. She's gone on every fad diet that has come down the pike and while all have led to temporary weight loss, she never fails to eventually put that weight back on.

Losing weight is a bitch, it's never easy. We have to confront what's easy and comfortable for us, and leave those old routines behind forever.

It's National Women's Health Week

I don't have a lot of time today, but I did want to mention that it's National Women's Health Week: http://www.dietsinreview.com/diet_column/05/its-national-womens-health-week/

Whether you're a woman or a man, probably the best thing you can do for your health is get your diet in shape. Cut out over-processed and fast food, and try to aim for a goal of the majority of your diet being plant-based.

Exercise is also important, even if it's a non-sweat inducing walk to the store.

Eat right and move. If we all did that, we'd be a much healthier nation.

The Ultimate Newsweek Cover Story

"What Would Jesus Eat? The New Science of Biblical Diets Could Be The Secret to Weight Loss."

LOL!!! Check it out here: http://www.theatlantic.com/personal/archive/2010/05/the-ultimate-newsweek-cover-line-updated-again/56270/

Lisa's Story

Prior Fat Girl has a must read post today on her blog which you can read here: http://www.priorfatgirl.com/2010/05/lisas-story.html

It's quite a compelling story about a girl who went from a normal weight, struggled with what seems to have been some form of anorexia, then went to being too heavy, and then back to a normal weight.

This young woman (she was just 22 when her eating problems began), had self worth issues and used not eating, then over-eating as a crutch.

One thing yoga has taught me is to be mindful about what I eat. To not just focus on the pleasure eating brings, but the health and ethical aspects as well. Mindfulness in our eating, should also lead us to analyze why we eat. Is it out of boredom? To fill some emotional need?

Sometimes we need to analyze not just what we eat but why we eat or don't eat.

Lisa did that, and now she seems to be on a healthier road.

Way to go Lisa!!

Quiche for Dinner

At least once a week, to my husband's dismay, I try to make a completely vegetarian or vegan dinner. Vegan is harder to do, of course, but a dinner made with no meat, fish or poultry is easier.

Tonight I'm making quiche. One of my girlfriends started raising her own chickens, and she dropped off these farm fresh eggs the other day. Some of her hens are the Martha Stewart Easter egg layers, so in addition to brown and white eggs, I got these cool light green and blue ones.

To make the quiche I tossed some steamed broccoli in the bottom of a store bought pie shell and tossed in some cheddar cheese and fresh chives from the garden. I then cracked open eight eggs, and mixed them up with a bit of skim milk, salt and pepper. The egg mixture was poured into the pie-shell and the whole thing baked for 45 minutes at 350 degrees. It's now sitting on my counter cooling.

To go with the quiche I made a big salad with lettuce, carrots, cucumbers and red onion. It's the perfect quick easy to make dinner. Assembling the quiche and salad took less than 15 minutes, and I got to work for the 45 minutes the quiche baked.

Get Outside and Exercise!!!

Turns out that taking time to smell the roses is really good for you, and if you can combine that rose smelling with a little nature walk, you're doing a really good thing for both your mind and your body. A new British study shows that exercising outdoors does marvelous things for your health and well being: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8654350.stm

I love my treadmill because it gives me "no excuses" to not exercising, but the reality is that I so much prefer getting outside and exercising. I love checking out what's happening in nature, whether it's the trees blooming, the leaves changing or the leaves falling. I also love to see the bird's and whatever wildlife is around.

But getting outside even to just enjoy nature, is so much better then just staying inside watching TV. You don't need to take a power walk, just going out in the yard and pulling a few weeds is good for your health.

It's National Salad Month!!!

Did you know that May is National Salad Month? I didn't, but you can read about it here: http://www.dietsinreview.com/diet_column/05/may-is-national-salad-month/

As if I need an excuse to eat salad??? I love salad. I had a salad for lunch yesterday, and then had one with dinner. For my main course last night, I brushed salmon steaks with a little olive oil, sprinkled them with salt and pepper then grilled them on my indoor grilled. I made a big salad with lettuce, avocado, mango, almonds, cucumber and red onion, then drizzled both the salad and the salmon with a home-made lemon vinaigrette. It was a simple, quick, easy on the calories, but filling meal.

It's almost lunch time, and I think I'll whip myself up another salad of lettuce, cucumber, red onion and shredded carrots with a ginger-carrot dressing.

There's no Trading In this Chassis

I am a new car person. I've heard the argument dozens, if not hundreds, of times about how financially wasteful it is to go into a new car dealership every seven to eight years and plunk down my hard earned cash for a car that reads "0" on the odometer, but I don't care.

I have my reasons, for wanting a new car and it has nothing to do with breathing in that new car smell (which is probably bad for you anyway), or having a shiny new car.

You see, I just like to get in my car, put gas in it, make my monthly payments, and do some minor regular maintenance like oil changes.

Older cars are drama queens--they're always demanding attention and money. While it's probably cheaper to fix a transmission on a car with 100,000 miles then buy a new one, I've made the decision that I don't want the drama of breaking down on a superhighway the first day into a vacation and having an unexpected, unplanned large automotive repair bill.

I've gotten to that point with my current car, but its a rather sad decision for me. I'm currently driving a 2004 Volvo XC70 with just under 80,000 miles. Believe it or not, although it is a station wagon, it's my second favorite car, and definitely my favorite "MOMMobile" since I've had to start driving large vehicles that can haul large amounts of people and stuff.

My absolute favorite car of all time was the 1966 Mustang I drove in high school. No power brakes, no power steering--it drove like a tank, but man it was a cool car.

I love my Volvo, but it's drama queen tendencies have become pronounced of late. In the last two years I've had to spend over $1,500 on the brakes, another $1,300 when a tire went flat and it turned out that the tire had some how rusted onto the axle requiring a week in the shop and four new tires (we couldn't replace just the one that went flat), an $800 tune up, and $2,500 when the computer system that runs the ABS brakes went out (it was in the shop for a week then as well). Right now I've got the "Check Engine" light flashing although the shop is telling me it's just something wrong in the circuitry and I've been waiting for the part to correct that for over two weeks.

So, this weekend my husband and I headed out to the dealerships looking at new cars. It would be simple if Volvo still made the same car I now drive--I'd simply buy another one. But since I bought my car, Volvo has gone a bit downhill. The XC70 has gone from being a luxury wagon to an expensive Taurus, and, Volvo no longer sells it with a jump seat, so I can only get five people in it.

I'm bringing up this whole car saga because our bodies are a lot like cars. They run fairly well with minimal maintenance and care for a number of years, and then all sorts of unplanned and expensive shit starts to happen. But, unlike a car, you can't just get a new one. You have to deal with what you got. So while a car may need new brakes, you may need a new knee.

And, like a car, the kind of repairs that you'll need to do can be minimized with good maintenance. Take care of those regular oil changes, and you'll avoid expensive engine problems later on.

Yes, like older cars, older bodies are drama queens. There's always an achy shoulder, a sore knee or some female or male organ that demanding attention. But, we can minimize some of the drama with good maintenance. The most important maintenance you can do on your body is maintaining an appropriate weight and exercising. Excessive weight can lead to diabetes, cardiac issues and cancer. So watch your weight and avoid the drama.