Fun and Mental Changes

What is it that sets me off?  I don't know what it is, but there are days I want to eat non-stop.  And I mean literally just keep chewing and chewing until my jaw seizes... except it never does.  I've always been a lover of food; a little is never enough.  Some people talk about emotional eating or bordom eating.... seriously gang.... I will eat just to eat. I will eat because things are going bad; I will eat because things are going great. I will eat because nothing's on TV; I will eat because something good is on.  I will eat because I'm going out, or because I'm staying in.  There is no rhyme or reason to why I binge.  I know, because I've been journaling about it for years.  But recently, I've noticed that there are certain foods that have been making me feel satisfied, that I can also eat a lot of, but doesn't cause damage to my weight loss achievements.  Here is a list of foods I've been incorp...

With this crazy economy and money tight, I STILL manage to vacation at least once a week. I had a phone conversation with my sister the other day and we discussed the power of visual and scent or flavor triggers that make you relax. Pictures of tropical beaches that we love to set as our screen savers is a VERY good example. So today I'm going to touch on how and where I "vacate" every week. I'm also going to throw in a little bonus a la my sister. 1.) Key lime Pie Protein Smoothie: A protein shake recipe straight out of my favorite recipe book of all time, Eating For Life. Every time I taste this shake I'm whisked back to my visit to the Florida Keys a number of years back, enjoying the BEST key lime pie on earth! Every sip is a mini vacation. You can see from the pic that I milk this mini-vacate to the hilt, full-on with decorative palm tree drink stirrer... a frozen one at that! It extends my get-away a little without leaving my kitchen. 2.) Tea Time: I don...

This post is for everyone who shares in my quest for health and fitness. If you have a goal to lose weight or build muscle, where exactly does that goal fall on your list of priorities from day to day? Do you have other goals that come before this particular one? If you do, then you'll probably just want to pass on this blog post because in today's post I'm talking about MY discoveries on the road to attain my goal of ultimate health and fitness and THAT IS MY FIRST PRIORITY. Not to say that God and family are not important.... they are actually my HIGHEST PRIORITY! But I've realized that those relationships are lacking when my health and fitness levels are low. The healthier I am, the more energy I have and the more I have to devote to God and family. So, with that said, let me tell you about the greatest tool I've found to reach my goals... A schedule! A schedule is really just a list of your priorities with a road map for planned execution. Steven R. Covey writes...

I've never been a calorie counter. While I think that calories are a good gauge of daily food intake, I personally do not believe that calories are the be-all-end-all to lower or maintain your weight. My reasoning for this is because if I ate Snickers bars totaling 300 calories at every meal I would be a larger person than the person who ate the same 300 calories in wholesome nutritious food. It's not about the calories, it's about what your body will process, absorb, utilize and then get rid of. Empty calories do not cause one's metabolism to ignite, empty calories slows down your system and causes fatigue which means the body is not only NOT using the energy you're taking in, but it's making the burning of excess (stored fat) even slower. When eating wholesome nutritious food, more calories can actually be eaten and the 'eating' of this food will promote weight loss. Your body burns a lot of calories processing foods packed with nutrition. Now, with al...

This meal is beyond delicious, healthy, and what was for dinner last night. This is my Rosemary Chicken with Quinoa and Asparagus. I brush the asparagus with EVOO and dust with sea salt and pepper. I fix the quinoa per the package instructions and then added 1 Tbsp. beef base, onion, cilantro (from my garden!) and diced bell pepper. The chicken is fixed per the recipe from Eating For Life which just happens to be my all time favorite cookbook. The recipe in the book called for cous-cous, but I HATE cous-cous. However, I LOVE quinoa (which has the consistency of cous-cous, but with much more protein), so I always make that instead with this chicken recipe. I found out that I love quinoa cooked AND raw. It actually makes a terrific salad once it's been sprouted. Wonderful stuff. I'll have to fix that and post the instructions next week (from my Raw Food Real World recipe book). Stay tuned for that! In the meantime, I recommend clicking on the link for the cookbook and checking ...

I posted a blog a couple of days ago about the Bountiful Baskets . I talked about all the beautiful organic produce I received. Well, for a moment I was afraid... very afraid. Part of the bounty I received included some really weird leafy green that had red stems. I had never seen anything like that before (at least I don't think I have...). After a little research I discovered that it was swiss chard. Ok, now what? I then "Googled" how one goes about preparing swiss chard and the online consensus seemed to be to saute it for the best flavor. And when I say saute, I mean saute in butter. THAT was not going to work for me. So today after starting the roast in the crock pot I decided to get a little creative. I chopped up garlic and cut up the chard and put them both in the same bowl to marry. What can I say, I'm a romantic! LOL. When the roast was done, I removed it from the pot and added the cut up chard, garlic and all into the still hot broth in the pot. The broth c...

So I was on my group message board at P eertrainer.com and someone made a recommendation that I thought was wonderful! So wonderful in fact that I spent the afternoon balancing my checkbook to see if I can afford it!!!! Apparently the Magic Bullet is quite the go-to gadget for trainers and athletes! Why? Isn't that just another piece of garbage that they are trying to push on those infomercials??? Well, that's what I thought, but I've gotta say that more than one person in the discussion said that this piece of garbage is invaluable in keeping them on track with their nutrition. Here's what I heard today about the Magic Bullet: It's got a really powerful motor It really is quick and easy to use (the infomercial didn't lie) The handy single servings make it quick and easy to whip up a power shake for a quick "treat"! If you drink more than one a day, you can make many different types of shakes without continually dirtying up an entire unit! NICE! A co...

You know, I have to laugh at myself sometimes. I really do miss the obvious... ALWAYS! My sister and I have been in discussion after discussion regarding what we feel the best diet is. After reading The China Study , my sister is convinced that a 100% raw diet is the way to go. I do NOT feel this way as my health has been completely turned around prescribing to a life centered around balance (I'm sorry, I have removed "balance" from my vocab. I meant harmony), balance of rest and play, balance of work and family, balance of protein and carbs , etc. The person in me knows that I am happiest when I have a little bit of everything and no one portion or area out weighs another. I also know that Leviticus Chapter 11 goes into great detail about meat that we can eat and meat that we cannot eat. But after reading The China Study , my sister is convinced that all meat is bad. I made the point that due to the fact that farmers do not give the ground a rest after 7 years (Exodus 23...

For quite some time I have been focusing on my diet. My husband's physical therapist recommended a diet that was PACKED with fiber, fruit, vegetables, and lean mean.... all the good stuff. Unfortunately, this diet was very hard to stick to because it was the same food over and over. That led to me looking for recipes that I could substitute some of the meals with on this very wonderful (but boring) diet. ** A quick note: it was a wonderful way to start changing the way I eat! Let me know if anyone would like a copy of it. It has a full 2 week eating plan. No guess work. What you need to eat is outlined daily. I first grabbed my "old standby".... Eating For Life ( Click here for link to Amazon.com ). This book is FULL of terrific recipes that are very easy to make, but lacked in the amount of vegetables that the previously mentioned diet included. Then I found it! Volumetrics! This book is fantastic. I am including the Amazon link as well as a blog link so that you can all...