How One Woman Lost 45 lbs & has kept it off for 3 years

I would agree that six smaller meals works well and keeps your engine running. I have to eat every few hours or I just feel weak. This lady also does not deprive herself of treats..she just has a limit. That is the real secret - everything in balance. Everyone slips up at times and the important thing is to get back on track. If you have a not so healthy lunch, have a healthy supper.

Wednesday's Tip

Think In Food Groups

At every meal, get in two or three food groups - choose between whole grains, low fat dairy,fruits and vegetables and lean meat and fish. If you are going to choose cereal...then also choose low fat milk and some type of fruit to top your cereal.

Santa's Got A Brand New Bag

I love this song. If you listen to the lyrics they are singing about Santa getting in shape and changing his whole image. It gets you in the Christmas mood.

Roasted Red Potatoes

A 345 Calorie Dinner

6 oz of chicken,1 cup of green beans with 2 pats of low-fat butter,1 small tossed salad with 2 tablespoons reduced fat oil and vinegar dressing and 12 oz water

I am posting this to give you an idea of what 345 calories looks like and also you can see what a portion looks like. You could also go with a 4 oz chicken breast and add a small red baked potato and still come out just about the same.

A 300 Calorie Breakfast

1 whole wheat English muffin (100% whole wheat)

2 pats low fat butter (maybe a little smaller than what is shown here)

1 hard boiled egg

8 oz fruit juice (100% fruit juice) - hint..you are always better off picking the whole fruit than the juice (more fiber) but if your only option is to have the juice, take the juice

1 coffee or tea & a few berries

Just to give you some idea of what a 300 Calorie Breakfast looks like.

Thoughts Become Things

In this video Mike Dooley talks about making a scrapbook. I use the same idea but make mine into "mind movies" and watch them early in the morning when I wake up. I put them to music and they are fun to watch that way. In an earlier post I did a "mind movie" on health and wellness for each one of you to watch.

Goji Berries

Goji has been found to be the most nutritionally dense nutritional source on the planet! The goji berry (Lycium Barbarum, sometimes refered to as Gogi, Chinese wolfberry or Gou Qi Zi) is a sweet burnt-red fruit native to Asia. Goji has been used in traditional Tibetan medicine for centuries, serving as a botanical medicine, a supplement and a food. Dried goji berries have a very pleasant taste, vaguely sweet, but also a bit tart, somewhere between cherries, cranberries and raisins. Goji berries are a nutrient-dense superfood in a class all its own.

Everyone is not a fan. My kids and my husband do not care for them but I do. I keep some at my desk and munch on them throughout the day.

These nutrition facts have been found on various sources: 1/4 Cup portion, Calories 90, Fat 0g, Fiber 4g, Protein 4g, Carbs 24g, and Sugars 12g, Vitamin A 180% of DRI, Vitamin C 30%, Calcium 9% and Iron 15%. Another source noted that the berries contain 11 mg of iron per 100 grams.

Another company, lists this information for their sun dried goji berries. It is a very important fact to be remembered when purchasing the goji berries because there are many more nutrients in the shade drying berries than in the sun drying berries:

Serving Size: 28g

Calories Total: 112

Total fat: 1.4g

Saturated fat: 0g

Cholesterol: 0gm

Sodium: 84mg

Total Carbohydrate: 28g

Dietary fibre: 4g

Sugars: 4g

Protein: 4g

Vitamin A: 170%

Vitamin C: 20%

Calcium: 6%

Iron: 12%

One Of My Tips

Always, Always, Always, Eat Breakfast...no exceptions. Even if it is a handful of almonds and a piece of fruit or a power shake. Never skip breakfast because it is just that - a break in your "fast" and it is what gets your engine started. When you don't eat, that furnace doesn't turn on.

Nursery Rhyme

The best six doctors anywhere
And no one can deny it
Are sunshine, water, rest, and air
Exercise and diet.
These six will gladly you attend
If only you are willing
Your mind they'll ease
Your will they'll mend
And charge you not a shilling.
~Nursery rhyme quoted by Wayne Fields, What the River Knows, 1990

High Fiber Brownies

This is simple if you are craving a treat. I grease the pan with sunflower oil or use a non stick pan...not the butter. Pretty easy.

Thank Goodness It's Monday!!!

http://www.thankgoodnessitsmonday.com/video/tgim.html

Click on the link to watch the clip

Yoga Of Speech

Which Carbs Should I Eat?

These are the kinds of carbs to avoid at all costs:
sugary snacks and pastries
sugar-sweetened soft drinks or fruit juice
candy
cookies
regular fried greasy chips
processed, packaged snack foods
high sugar kids cereals
processed white flour products such as white bread and pasta
These foods offer virtually no nutritional value, and they contain far too many calories. Some of these foods also contain saturated and trans-fats that are bad for your heart, and sugary foods can lead to such diseases as type II diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Specifically if you are already insulin resistant, you should avoid these bad carbs as they will just ruin your day by making you tired, slow, and hungry.
Instead choose these kinds of carbs:

fresh fruit
vegetables
whole wheat and whole grain products
beans, nuts, and other legumes

Health & Wellness Mind Movie

This is a mind movie that I put together using pictures I found on the internet. I hope it inspires you.

Anyone can make their own mind movie. I used Windows Movie Maker and added my own affirmations.

What's Up With The Whole Grain Claim?

The following article was posted on "askcassyfirst.com"

More and more, we are seeing the term ‘whole grain’ on boxes and packages at the local grocer. It’s appearing on everything from muffins to bread, pasta to breakfast bars. But what does the saying ‘whole grain’ really mean, and will eating foods with this label be healthy or harmful?
Whole grain foods provide fiber, and fiber offers numerous health benefits to the body, including support to the digestive and cardiovascular systems, as well as for appetite control. But it’s important that we not substitute the terms one for the other in our mind, because according to current labeling regulations, “whole grain” does not necessarily deem a product as being high in fiber.
Marketers of healthful and not so healthful foods are urged by the Food and Drug Administration to label their products truthfully, but currently there are few legal definitions for ‘whole grain’ statements.
Manufacturers can make statements of fact on their labels, for example, “14 grams of whole grains." But according to a 2006 article published by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, what’s not heavily regulated is what constitutes a ‘whole grain’ product in the first place. And, more importantly, it’s not clear how much whole grain must be present to allow for the ‘whole grain’ label.
With statements such as, ‘made with whole grain,” “whole grain bread” and “multigrain product” being used without specifics which define the quantity of the whole grain ingredients, the market has become increasingly confusing for the consumer.
Just because it says ‘made with whole grain,’ does not mean that it is 100% whole grain, or that it will provide any serious degree of health benefit to the body. Nor does this label tell us that a product contains significant amounts of fiber. In fact, it probably isn’t “100% whole grain,” or the company would have said so in the first place. Indeed, many mainstream products on the market which use this label also contain high quantities of refined flour in their formula. In tests, some products are found to have as little as 10% whole grains, yet still make the claim.
So, if your toasted snack crackers or sandwich cookies say ‘made with whole grains,’ does eating them constitute a health benefit to the body? Guess again. The typical sandwich cookie, even the ‘whole grain variety’ will also pack plenty of sugar as well as low quality fats.
Unfortunately, the label might encourage you to consume more because it infers ‘health’ to some degree. And if you’re like many folks on a diet, you’ll often take any excuse to eat foods which are normally forbidden. In the end, it’s calories that make the true difference, so eating a box of sugar cookies made with whole grains is not only inadvisable, but could certainly be damaging to the waistline.
So while the fact that you’re attempting to consume more whole grains in your diet would be applauded by your nutritionist, you’re less likely to get high marks if those whole grains are coming from products whose ingredients tell a different story, that they are loaded with sugar, sodium or unhealthy fats. Instead, be careful, and make your choices wisely. Look for the fiber content on the label. Investigate the ingredients, check your quantities, and don’t take the marketer’s words at face value.
These days, it is more important than ever to read your labels. Be careful not to confuse the term ‘whole grain,’ with the term ‘fiber,’ which can be found on the Nutrition Facts panel. Dietitians and health care practitioners are regularly promoting the benefits of increased fiber, so we need to be smart and learn how to decipher the packaging, and get what we pay for.