TOFU! TOFU! TOFU!

Yes, it's tofu for February. I've selected four recipes and will try one each week in February.

1. Dark Chocolate Mousse
2. Lasagna
3. Caramelized Tofu
4. Artichoke Dip

Sound interesting? I can't wait. Even Hubby is anxious to try the chocolate recipe!

!!!!!!!!!!!

Hubby and I had our "End of the Month" weigh-in this morning and we are both a couple of inches taller now! We are very proud of ourselves! I lost 6.2 pounds in January!!! and the Hubby lost 13 pounds!!! Yay, Us!!! We're ready for Zumba classes now!(If you don't know what they are...Google them...you don't want to miss this. Richard Simmons...move over!)

********

I had a comment from Happy Blog Chick yesterday about Brian Wansink's fabulous book, "Mindless Eating", and Brian's reference to plate size as a tool in portion control, and she is absolutely right. If you haven't read the book, it is a must. Brian's research into food cues is outstanding and we can learn so much from it. There is a lot of information on-line about him, his book, and published articles at www.mindlesseating.org/ including a link to Brian's blog.

And before we leave the subject of portion control dishes, I'd just like to mention this site that I ran across yesterday...Grandma's Healthy Kids Club. It was started by a grandmother who lives right here in Indianapolis and offers useful tools for families interested in how to deal with the obesity epidemic in children. She has worked with experts, including a registered dietitian, to provide age-appropriate programs which include activity ideas, meal planning, and recipes. They also offer Activity DVD's geared toward children, jumpropes, and pedometers, and these cute little Yum-Yum dishes for children to eat their "treats" from.

********

It's time to think about Superbowl Strategies! It's as big a celebration as the Fourth of July...if you don't care for football, there are the funny commercials, and the FOOD to keep you entertained!

I made sure we had some healthy treats to nosh on last year as we watched the Colts play...very exciting for us here in Indy! Since the pressure of having a hometown team in the game is off us this year, maybe we won't feel the need to nosh quite as much, but I'm still going to make sure we have things we enjoy.

I think I'll make us pizza on whole wheat pita bread for half-time. Of course, we both love popcorn, so we could definitely have that. And we both love fresh fruit cut-up and ready to munch on. I have made Buffalo "wings" in the past using chicken breast strips instead of the wings...no butter in the dipping sauce...and fat-free Ranch dressing and celery sticks.

It is so much harder when you go out and are at the mercy of others who have prepared the treats...so be careful when choosing...and try to keep the big picture in mind. Step back and look at the situation objectively and keep your goals in mind before you reach for that loaded pizza and chips...not to mention the brownies and the beer! Remember how you felt after eating those holiday goodies? I sure do! Don't wanna go there again!

********

PLEASE READ JONATHAN TODAY!!!

PORTION CONTROL TIPS

When we decided to put healthier eating and weight loss on the front burner at our house, one of the first things we had to tackle was portion size. I decided it was time to change out some of the serving dishes we had been using for ones of smaller size. It is a "fool the eye" trick that a lot of spas use to make you think you're getting a "normal" portion.

The two bowls below are a good example of this. The one on the left was the one I used the most for serving soups and cereals. To fill it about 2/3 full...a normal serving in this bowl...takes 2 to 2 1/2 cups. The one on the right...which we now use...looks full at between 1 and 1 1/2 cups...a huge difference when Hubby begins pouring himself a bowl of cereal as a bedtime snack! And a huge difference to me when I am portioning out something like chili...that one cup serving looks so much heftier in the bowl on the right.

Now to these two bowls...I put the one from above next to the blue rimmed bowl for comparison purposes...the one on the left is the one I frequently serve our dinner salads in. Lots of room for the lettuce and toppings to get stirred around...and a generous portion to take the edge off our hunger before the main event.

I put the fork on the little platter below so you could see how small it is. I found this little thing at a yard sale...wish I had a stack of them...but I use it to serve up an egg and ham for breakfast. The smaller portion looks more substantial on this plate as compared to our 11 1/2" dinner plates! I'm looking for some 9" plates to replace them, by the way!

The casserole dish above the little platter is 6" square and just the right size to make little individual casseroles for us.

I have a stack of them in different colors...blue, green, burgundy, and brown...and they come in handy for serving spaghetti and sauce, rice with beans, and Hubby's cornbread muffin with navy beans on top...one of his favorites.

They don't photograph well, but I also have some pyrex bowls that hold 1/2 cup comfortably that I use to serve up higher calorie foods like mashed potatoes or corn. The only thing I set on the table for seconds is vegetables.

It's amazing how large serving pieces have become. If you go to antique shops and look at dinnerware, it is shocking to see how small the plates and bowls are. And restaurant plates are just outlandish! I'm embarrassed by the size of our salad bowls until I order a dinner salad at a restaurant and what comes out could easily serve an entire family! I know we like getting our money's worth...but I wish they would trim the portion sizes and the price they charge to reflect that smaller serving...we'd all be better off.

One last thing on smaller serving dishes...I also have a few little spoons left from when the grandkids were little that I use when I want to eat a half-cup portion of dessert...the tiny little bites make it last longer! Don't throw those baby spoons away. My favorite has Peter Rabbit on the handle. I also have tiny little shrimp forks that I pull out when I want to eat a calorie dense food that requires a fork!

Well...my month of quinoa is over. I put the last handful I had in the bag in a pot of chili yesterday. My final verdict: I love the fact that it is packed with nutrition, is quite easy to prepare, and doesn't have to be subtracted from my points allowance, even though it very closely resembles a grain or pasta in recipes.

I loved the Quinoa and Black Bean Salad...I will definitely make that again. I loved being able to throw a handful into brothy soups to give them a little added texture and thickness without changing the flavor. I will take the word of others that I probably wouldn't like it as a breakfast cereal...there are too many other choices out there, but I can see making a sort of pilaf with it to go along with meat. I will probably do something like that in the future. So...I will give quinoa a thumbs up and will buy more the next time I'm at the Natural Foods Market.

I'm trying to come up with a new food for February...any ideas? I'm toying with the idea of tofu. There are many different forms of tofu and I've seen a lot of interesting ways of preparing it recently. It is something I've had in the past, of course...but I've never really used it in homecooking. Anybody have any tofu experience?

CAPTION THAT PICTURE!

HERE HE IS...MY MIKEY!
HE'S BEING INTERVIEWED 19 DAYS OUT FROM DAYTONA.
AND I CAN'T HELP BUT LAUGH WHEN I SEE THIS FACE...

WHAT IN THE WORLD IS HE GETTING READY TO SAY?
WHAT IS HE THINKING?

• What is my freaking picture doing on a weight loss blog???
• So, you're a Junior fan, huh?
• So, what exactly do you think is wrong with my hair?
• No, Tony! I won't pull your finger!
• No, I will not let Rudy drive the NAPA Toyota!
• Kathy...I told you I will NEVER try quinoa!
  

WHEREIN I OFFER ADVICE...RUN FOR YOUR LIVES

The end of January is drawing near and I couldn't be happier. It is one of those months that just seems to go on forever. Doesn't the holiday season seem like it was months ago?

And just as my enthusiasm for January is almost nonexistent, I've also noticed a lot of waning enthusiasm for following food plans and exercising as I'm reading blogs.

It's natural. It's really hard to maintain that January 1st level of excitement about changing old habits for very long. As the early large weight loss numbers begin to disappear and the scale shows loss in tenths of a pound or even small gains, the self-doubts start creeping in, the reality of how long it will take to lose the weight stares you in the face, and the frozen dinners begin to all look alike! Dieting begins to be a real downer! And Super Bowl Sunday arrives just in time to break the spell completely! Pass the chips and save me some pizza!

I understand...but I also beg any of you who are feeling that way and are still reading blogs anyway, to please take a step back, rethink your original approach to the problem, come up with a less stringent plan, and hang in there. It really is worth it! If you can take the time to consider what didn't work with the January 1 plan, maybe, just maybe, you can alter it enough to make it work on January 29th. That is how the changes you can live with for a lifetime begin.

I would love to say that I saw the Weight Watcher plan and my life changed and I never wanted to stray from it again.

I would love to say that I read Michael Pollan's piece and the skys opened up and a beam of light directed the truth about healthy eating so deep into my psyche that I never wanted to open another package of food again!

But it just doesn't work that way. The progress I've made...and it has been major progress...has come a step at a time...sometimes two forward and one back...but progress just the same. Sometimes I have followed my plan grudgingly; sometimes, not at all...but I have continued to believe that I have it in me to make permanent change.

We all know from past experience that enthusiasm eventually wanes and it takes work and determination to meet long term goals...think of your education, your relationships, your finances...they all require commitment and occasional doses of renewed energy to succeed. Weight loss is exactly like that.

I hate handing out advice, per se, preferring to just share my own experiences...but, if I were to hand out just one piece of advice today, I would say this: Don't give up. Don't stop believing in your ability to accomplish real change in your eating habits. Don't let the scale be the arbiter of how much progress you are making. Don't let yourself believe that you are a failure. You are not bad...you are not lazy...you are not lost. You just need to make small changes that lead to more small changes...and pretty soon you have made real change...change you can live with for a very long time. Please...Please...believe me and all of us who have been doing this for awhile. The only difference between you and those people who are meeting their goals, is that the winners just keep trying. (Steps off soapbox.)

I'm still researching cornbread recipes...looking for one that will more closely resemble the one my Mom made on the farm. I ran across this one this morning and thought it looked nice and healthy:

CHICK CORNBREAD

• 1 cup buttermilk, soured milk, or skim milk
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup split peas
• 1/3 cup whole corn
• 1/3 cup whole wheat
• 1/3 cup whole oats
• 1 t salt
• 1 T kelp meal
• 2 T alfalfa pellets
• 1 T dried nettles
• 1 T brewer’s yeast
• 2 T oil
  
• 1 t baking powder

You just throw all the ingredients in a blender and then bake the batter at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes.

I'm going to my local Natural Foods Store this weekend to try and find the ingredients I don't have in the pantry.

Nah!...Just kidding! That recipe is actually one for baby chick feed that I found here...but, I have to admit, leave out the dried nettles and I just might go for it!!!

And...before January ends...one more quinoa recipe and a new blog for you to visit all rolled into one...enjoy!

FAILURE CAN BE A GOOD THING

I should just hire Jonathan to hand me subjects to write about...he is so skilled at it!

I decided I had to write about the dangers of perfection after reading his latest blog entry which was about a woman who had attended his meetings and reached goal while registering a weight loss every week. He described her angst when she met goal and no longer had that loss on the scale each week to spur her on. She was used to being perfect at the scale and had difficulty dealing with the normal ups and downs of maintenance.

I identified because I was that woman once.

I have dealt with being overweight all my adult life and back when my girls were children, I joined a weight loss group that I latched on to immediately. I followed the rules to the letter even when it was immensely difficult to do so. I was the perfect member...the one others put on a pedestal as an example of how well the program could work if you just followed it. I lost 112 pounds in 14 months...14 perfect months!

I wasn't perfect because I wanted to be...I was perfect because I knew deep down inside that my continued success would only be possible if I was. I was deathly afraid of letting anything cross my lips that wasn't part of the program because I knew that all the feelings I had toward food were still in me and ready to dictate my food intake anytime I set them free. I also knew that the first bite would be the one that spelled failure in my eyes and there was no room for failure in my program...it was perfection or it was failure...there was nothing in between.

So, it was inevitable that I would fail. It was just a matter of when. I think I was at a desirable weight all of about 5 minutes before I "cheated" and I was falling more quickly than I ever could have imagined right back from where I came. It was a miserable decline and kept me from believing in myself or any weight loss program for a very long time.

When I say now that I welcome failure and am proud of the fact that I can fail one day and continue my journey the next, I mean it with all my heart. After two years of doing this, I know for the first time that I am making real changes and I no longer live with that constant inner voice telling me that I will eventually fail and revert back to my old habits. I'm learning, at last, that I don't have to be perfect to effect real change in my weight.

I'm sincere when I say that we are blessed when we fail on occasion, because that is when true growth and learning take place. Our long term success probably depends on learning how to deal with imperfection, both in ourselves, and our adherence to any eating plan.

I know we would all like to be that person who loses weight every time they weigh in...the one who never seems to be tempted to revert to old habits, but experiencing those little bumps in the road probably prepares us for dealing with a lifetime of maintaining that eventual weight loss more than that perfect road does.

STATUS QUO ANTE

"Bureaucracy defends the status quo long past the time when the quo has lost its status."
Laurence J. Peters

Status quo ante refers to the state of things as it was before. We all resist change even when we say we want it the most. You could substitute "the overweight person" for "bureaucracy" in the above quote. Our words may be crying out for change in our lives, but our actions often reflect just how much we really want things to stay the same.

Hanlie referred in her blog post today to Dr. Phil's notion that we continue to support our overweight lifestyle because we are getting some "payoff" for doing so. That payoff could be as deep-rooted as wanting to hide behind fat for emotional reasons or as simple as just wanting to indulge in a lifestyle that is harmful to our bodies but is as easy and pleasant as sitting on the couch watching television while eating our favorite snacks.

And it is not just the overweight person himself who wants things to remain as they were...we are all surrounded by friends, co-workers, and family who have an interest in us not being successful at creating a new lifestyle for ourselves. Maintaining balance in relationships is a very powerful force...one that people may not even be aware they are seeking.

I had a friend a few years back who was quite thin. She was married to a very likable fellow who had a serious weight problem. He was constantly going on and off weight loss programs. I noticed that she always started baking the yummiest sweet items to serve at home and bring to work every time he began a new diet. It was so obvious from the outside. She was a great person and I seriously doubt that she did it purposely, but it did serve to maintain the "balance" in their family dynamics when he "failed" to maintain his eating plan.

We only have to watch any entertainment newscast to see how gleeful the public is to witness the downfall of "successful" entertainers.

Husbands are happy to see their wives looking better with exercise and better eating habits...but they may also resent the "new way of eating" or worry that the newly slim woman may notice his spare tire and thinning hair and begin contrasting his appearance with the athletic guy she fell for in the first place.

Co-workers look at the slimmer guy and decide he is getting "uppity" and "obsessed" by his new regimen.

Friends decide it is not as much fun going out with the girl who chooses lighter food and fewer drinks when they go out for some fun.

Relatives think you are "conceited" about your new look and the pretty clothes! Outlandish!

And...even worse...we are frequently our worst enemies! Part of us wants to be back in that drive-thru or guiltlessly eating that 4th slice of loaded pizza. Part of us wants to sleep in and not go for that morning walk. Part of us wants to not be challenged...to think about changing jobs, going back to work, meeting new people. There is always that little force inside of us wanting things to be "status quo ante".

Recognizing the fact that the desire to keep things the same is always there plotting against us is vital if we are to create strategies to overcome it. We can't expect our friends and loved ones to always act in our self-interest...heck, we don't always act in our own self-interest! We must understand the dynamics at work in the most loving of relationships and just as lovingly turn down those treats that were made just for us...turn down that second drink we know we don't need...wear those new clothes on that newly trim frame with pride...and convince ourselves that it is ok to expand our old boundaries and create a new status quo that takes into account our newly created lifestyle.

In the end, no one will appreciate our success as much as we do ourselves...we are worth it...and we must honor it and fight to maintain it.

WIDGETRY

You may have noticed a new Widget on my sidebar in the past few days...if you're on a reader, click on to see it. It's really a fun little device I'm giving a trial run. It actually puts your blog on a Widget and has lots of possibilities for application. I chose to put my recipe blog on one and put it in the sidebar here so the latest recipes I've added will show up and be easily accessible. I think it displays the latest 10 entries and can also be clicked to take you to the blog itself. And, no, I am not promoting it...I don't do ads...but I thought it was kinda cool and handy!

And speaking of the recipes, the apple slaw recipe I added yesterday is outstanding! Don't be afraid of using the brown sugar...it only adds 1 point to the entire recipe and really adds to the flavor. I don't keep brown sugar Splenda...it might be a good substitute since it has real brown sugar in it. My husband is really not fond of slaw, but he ate two servings of this one.

And the green beans are in the crockpot now cooking away for this evening...or a scoop for lunch...depends on how they are making the house smell by then! They are one of my "go-to" recipes...always good, the ingredients always handy...and totally WW friendly!

The salsa salad dressing is also embarrassingly easy, but I played around with ingredients for a long time before I came up with a combination of flavors that suited me. I was always wanting something to complement my taco salads without adding a lot of calories and this dressing is my answer.

The first event marking the coming wedding for Nurse Lara and DW is this weekend...my first event involving food that is out of my direct control since the Holidays. I was a little anxious about it, I have to admit. It is a bridal shower for Lara, but as luck would have it, the girl throwing the shower is not a cook and asked me if I would mind making the chicken salad she would like to serve for the event. Yes! Control back to Kathy! So I will make my usual calorie dense version for the event and a Core version for me. And I also found that she is making a fruit platter and a vegetable platter. So, I am safe...no worries!

SOUP...IT'S WHAT'S FOR DINNER!

I think we all have certain foods that, when we have them in the house, make us feel safe. They are the ones we know we can rely on to taste good...that we can eat a generous portion of without blowing our food allowance...that we know will make us feel warm and cared for.

For me, that food is soup. I always try to have some made up in the fridge. They are easy to put together, a good way to use up little bits of leftovers, and an excellent way to get in some vegetables.

One of our favorites is an Oriental soup. It takes on different forms according to what I have available, but the basis for making it is pretty standard. I begin with canned chicken broth which I take to the next level with the addition of chopped onion, minced garlic and ginger, a few spoons of chicken base, and either red pepper flakes or white pepper.

To that I add whatever vegetables are handy: bok-choy, mushrooms, carrots, pea pods, or just a bag of frozen Oriental vegetables. Hubby doesn't care for meat in soups, for the most part, but he does enjoy a few shrimp in this soup from time to time.

This doesn't take much time to prepare or to simmer. Today, I added the end of the bok-choy from my last vegetable delivery, some yellow onion, frozen vegetables, and a handful of quinoa (I throw a little in with a lot of the soups I've made recently). When I serve it for dinner, I will add a drop of toasted sesame oil to the top of each bowl for a little added flavor.

I've found that a bowl of soup at the beginning of a meal helps me feel satisfied sooner and I tend to eat less of the heavier food that follows.

IT WAS A GOOD DAY IN WISCONSIN

CONGRATULATIONS, TB!!!

COMMENTS DO MATTER

LOOK AT WHAT I RECEIVED IN THE MAIL TODAY!

WONDER WHAT IS IN THE JARS?

DOESN'T THIS LOOK HEAVENLY?

Back around the holidays, I made a comment on Kate's blog that I was playing around with the idea of buying a jar of mincemeat and using a tablespoon or two on top of my morning oatmeal.

A little while later, I received an e-mail from my "cyber-neighbor", Noelle. She said she had made some pear mincemeat and offered to send me a jar...if I would like it. I know she probably thought I would thank her and say, "Oh, no...I couldn't possibly!"

Boy! Did I fool her! (lol) I sent back an "I sure would...here's my address!" before she had a chance to step away from the keyboard!

So, today's post brought my prize...and a bonus...homemade cherry jam! Thank goodness for WPA's is all I have to say.

Noelle kindly reminded me that it has a lot of sugar in it so I'm measuring it out in 1 tablespoon servings and treating it like preserves for the points value.

Noelle...my forever friend...this stuff is wonderful! If I really lived next door, I'd slip over for a piece of your homemade bread and we'd share a cup of tea while I reminded you of how well Diane Keaton fared in "Baby Boom" and try to convince you to buy an orchard full of pear trees!

BTW...all you other bloggers...don't even go begging for your own jar! I may need a refill!

DENIAL AND DELUSION

You've heard it...denial is not a river in Egypt. Delusion is not what magicians perform. No, denial and delusion are tools I have utilized in an expert manner to maintain my overweight status.

I could claim that I didn't do it purposely, but I don't think that would be entirely accurate. There have been times when I definitely chose to "look the other way" when the truth was wagging its finger under my nose. I've chosen to do this twice since beginning Core.

The Core list includes popcorn:

"air-popped or 94% fat-free microwave-popped only."

When I began eating from the Core list, I tried placing a couple of tablespoons of popcorn in a lunch bag and popping it in the microwave as many people have recommended, but my microwave is a little funky, cheap thing and insisted on burning a tennis ball size clump of popcorn every time, so I finally decided this was not going to work for me. So I reverted back to the prepared bags of microwave popcorn and because I was trying to be thrifty, I purchased the "light" variety from Aldi's. Now, I knew that I had researched the nutritionals on this popcorn when I was doing Flex, decided it was too many points, and gone on to buy 100-calorie packs instead.

I also knew, that in spite of the claim that it was a "light" variety, when I ate the popcorn from the bag there was a decided oily film on the inside of the bag...that couldn't be good. And I also knew that the amount of popcorn in the bag was more than I should be eating. But, I wouldn't let myself go there...I kinda purposely neglected to face the reality of what was on the side of that box in the nutritionals section...I kinda purposely deluded myself into thinking that this popcorn fell into my Core guidelines...but, deep inside, I KNEW...I KNEW!

I finally made myself look at the box and discovered I was eating 380 calories every time I ate one of those bags...and I was eating one every afternoon whether I was hungry or not...it was my afternoon treat and I fully expected to have it. After seeing the number that I had been avoiding like the plague, I had to come to the realization that this was a habit that I had to overcome...this was a reality I could no longer deny...this was a bit of self-delusion that I would no longer allow.

I now own a hot-air popper and I monitor the amount of popcorn I eat...veil lifted.

My second episode involved cereal. The Core list for cold cereal says the following:

"Puffed wheat, puffed rice, shredded wheat, and 100% bran cereals that do not contain added sugar are limited to one meal a day and must be eaten with fat-free milk or fat-free plain yogurt."

I hadn't been eating cold cereal, opting instead for oatmeal, so I had not put this to the test, but I bought some fat-free yogurt and I really enjoy a little cold cereal as a topper for yogurt. I have Fiber-One in the house and I really like it...I could easily go there. But I found a box of Kashi Go Lean at a good price at Aldi's the first of the year and bought it. I didn't check the nutritionals...it was Kashi...it was healthy...it had lots of fiber. And then the next time I shopped, they had a box of Kashi Go Lean Crunch. I'm always in for the crunch. Again, I didn't check the nutritionals...it's Kashi...it's healthy!

So, I'm using it with my yogurt and it's sweet and crunchy and that little voice is whispering in my ear that perhaps it's just a little too sweet and a little too crunchy and perhaps I should double check the wisdom of choosing this particular cereal. But, no...I chose to deny that voice...I chose to delude myself into believing there was really no difference in choosing this cereal over Fiber-One. But I KNEW...I KNEW!

Here are the facts:

Fiber-One,serving size 1/2 cup, 60 cal,14g fiber,1g fat,0g sugar, 0 points
Kashi Go Lean , serving size 3/4 cup,110 cal, 8g fiber, 1g fat, 5g sugar, 2 points
Go Lean Crunch, serving size 1 cup, 190 cal, 8g fiber, 3g fat, 13g sugar, 3 points

Now, I could reduce the damages by limiting myself to the same 1/2 cup serving that the Fiber-One uses to eek out that 0Point status (I was not, by the way), but the Kashi cereals were not Core. They both had added sugar. And while they are both far superior to a lot of the cold cereals out there, they are not the choices I want to make at this time.

Denial and delusion have led me to make some "not so wise" choices and they have given me permission to continue making those same choices repeatedly even knowing deep inside that they were not the best choices.

Denial and delusion led me to say that I was experiencing negligible weight loss because I was an older woman and that was to be expected, in spite of the fact that I was pushing the points value of the foods I was eating to the extreme.

Denial and delusion can undermine even the best weight loss plan. And as people with a history of overeating, weight problems, and repeated attempts at weight loss, most of us have become expert at utilizing these techniques to undermine our progress. Maybe today is a good day for pulling back that curtain and unveiling all our little self-defeating schemes so we can make some REAL progress.

FIRST YOU HAVE TO CATCH THE CHICKEN

I have eaten cornbread all my life. It was probably one of the first solid foods I ate as a child, crumbled up and then moistened with milk. It was a staple food in our farm kitchen. I don't remember ever limiting the amount I ate...I never had to...because I didn't overeat it.

But fast forward to today, and cornbread is on my list of foods that I severely limit. How did that happen?

Well, let's look at the cornbread I ate back then compared to the cornbread I've been eating as an adult.

My mother made cornbread from scratch...coarsely ground cornmeal, a little flour, eggs and milk which came from the chickens and cows we raised on the farm, and a little salt and leavening. It was good but it was heavy, coarse, and substantial. We ate a piece along with the rest of the meal and we went away full.

That cornbread was a far cry from what our family has been eating in recent years. Our cornbread of choice more closely resembles cake. It is from a box, has very finely ground cornmeal, quite a bit of sugar, and a good amount of fat in the mix. We then add eggs and milk that we purchase from the supermarket. It requires a minimum of labor to serve this cornbread and it is so light and cake-like that we find ourselves eating several pieces.

So, what I have learned from the comparison is that the original cornbread was labor intensive...we not only had to measure out raw ingredients and combine them to make the cornbread, we were involved in the labor of raising those chickens, gathering the eggs, caring for the cows, helping with the milking and cleaning up afterward, and gathering those raw ingredients and getting them to the kitchen. The ingredients were ones that very closely resembled those that my grandparents and grandparents would have used to make their cornbread.

There is little labor involved in today's recipe, the ingredients have been refined and so much sugar has been added that the end product is almost dessert-like in nature...so much so, that we find ourselves overeating it.

I'm trying to take into consideration the Core list of foods that I am to eat from for Weight Watchers and the suggestion that Michael Pollan offered up to eat more closely to the way in which our grandparents ate and I have come to the realization that short of raising and grinding my own corn, raising my own cows and chickens for milk and eggs, I can at least get back to finding the raw ingredients that more closely resemble those they might have used...coarse ground meal...and mixing them myself, leaving out the sugar and the less healthy fats.

I read a suggestion that we would be eating far fewer french fries if we had to prepare them from scratch at home...peeling, cutting, frying, and then cleaning up the mess. How about cookies, doughnuts, bread, and chips?

I don't even want to get into what we had to do to prepare a fried chicken dinner on the farm, but it began with outrunning the bird!

All this to say, that I think there is wisdom built into the Core list and Michael Pollan's admonition to go back to basics. Perhaps the better the ingredients, the more labor intensive the preparation, and the more difficult it is to put your hands on the finished product, the less likely you will be to overeat it.

I HAVE MOVED MY DAILY FOOD JOURNAL FROM THIS BLOG...IT CAN NOW BE FOUND HERE.

IT'S NOT A DESTINATION

I'm so grateful to be acquainted,through my blog, with several very committed people who have worked very hard to reach their goal weights and are now successfully maintaining. I can guess that most of them began their weight loss journeys with a desirable weight in their sights...one that they were hoping to reach at some point in the future. They may have even felt that reaching that goal weight was the destination to which their weight loss journey would take them.

But if you read their blog entries now, you will soon realize that this is a journey with no end. There are some wonderful vistas along the route...reaching the first 10%...a loss of 5 or 10 or 25 pounds...fitting into new clothes...the first compliment from a friend, but the journey itself really has no end.

It soon becomes apparent that reaching that number on the scale is just another of those vistas...perhaps one that is more scenic than the others, and one where we may pause and review the map we've been following, and take time to refresh ourselves before continuing on...but not the end of the journey at all.

Nor, are we assured that the journey will be carefree from that point on...in fact, the most treacherous part of the journey may just be beginning.

As readers of their blogs, we may take these people and their maintenance for granted...after all, they seem to have it all together and have been doing this for a while now. But their accomplishments don't come easily. They fight the same battles that the rest of us who are still plodding toward that precious "number on the scale" must wage. Their desire to eat just a little more or to go back to eating old favorites has not gone away. They still want to avoid the scale at times. They are still unsure of themselves at times. They still fight the fear that this new found gift will escape them.

We all get impatient...we all want to reach that number...but, maybe, we should learn from Roni, and Jonathan, and Skinny Guy, and now Noelle...we might as well relax and enjoy the journey because we are going to be on this road for the rest of our lives. We are always going to have to be aware of our eating practices and our activity levels. We are always going to have to balance what we want with what is best for us.

I honor these people (these are the ones I am most familiar with), but there are many more. I thank them for continuing to tell us their stories...good and bad...because I learn so much from them and their accounts of how they meet and deal with some of the same problems I do.

So, yes, I am anxious to reach some of those scenic views along the road, but I have definitely learned that healthy weight loss is a journey and not a destination.

FRUGAL FRIDAY: USE IT UP

Part of my job as a retired nurse and full-time homemaker is to see that the grocery money is well spent. I take that job seriously and try not to waste any of the great fresh fruit and vegetables I invest in...so Friday is take "stock of what's left in the fridge and use it up before the new selection arrives" day.

This is what I found this morning:

• *A covered bowl of diced red and yellow bell pepper, onion, and zucchini that I've been tossing into salads
• *2 green bell peppers
• *A few rainbow colored carrots
• *1/2 white onion
• *1 red onion
• *2 stalks of broccoli
• *A few stalks of cleaned and cut celery
• *A head of garlic
• *2 Roma tomatoes
• *2 Empire apples
• *2 red skinned potatoes and 1 russet potato (on the shriveled side)

So, here's what I'm doing with this food:

• *I'm making a pot of soup based on my recipe for "Stuffed Pepper Soup". I diced the 1/2 onion and a couple of cloves of the garlic and browned them a little in a soup pot sprayed with non-stick spray. I then tossed in the bowl of diced vegetables, the two green bell peppers, cleaned and chopped in rather large pieces, the Roma tomatoes which I diced, 2 cans of stewed tomatoes, a can of water, and a good amount of oregano and a little dried basil. I wanted to keep the soup ingredients from the Core list so I added a half cup of quinoa in place of the rice that my recipe calls for. It is now simmering on the stove and the house smells wonderful!
• *I used Alanna's recipe for "Power Food Broccoli Salad" and used up 1/2 the red onion, the two apples, and the tops from the broccoli. I substituted Splenda for the sugar (only to keep everything from the Core list), and a little ground ginger for the fresh (only cause the Hub prefers it), and I have to give the recipe two thumbs up! The mustard and the ginger give it a tanginess that is extra-special and leaves you wanting "just one more taste".
• *I did a diagonal cut on the celery and the broccoli stems, and a vertical slice through the other half of the red onion. This will get tossed into a stir-fry over the weekend.
• *I peeled the potatoes and put them in water in a covered bowl and stored them and the peeled carrots in the fridge. They will be ready to go with a roast in the crockpot.

There...everything is being used and the fridge is ready for the next delivery from Farm Fresh.

I really took to heart what Michael Pollan wrote in the New York Times article I posted last week about perhaps spending a little more on the quality of the food you buy but to eat less of it. I have been finding myself doing that very thing...perhaps choosing the fresh pineapple over the canned, paying a little more to get the bright red and yellow bell peppers instead of only the green, and having the organic home delivery over buying all my produce from the supermarket. Nutritionally, I can't be sure that those are the better choices, but aesthetically, I'm positive of it. By the way, Gourmet Magazine has a Q&A with Michael on line.

I'm in total agreement with Jonathan when he says he'd rather spend $4.95 on an heirloom tomato than the latest Health Magazine.

I had Alanna's Greek Chicken for supper last night and it was a definite winner...on the rotation of favorites! I was only fixing for myself so I just put a frozen chicken breast in a zip-loc bag with a couple of tablespoons of yogurt, a little minced garlic, and oregano. I left that in the fridge all day and baked it in the oven since I already had a casserole in there for the Hub and am much too easily distracted to use broilers! I baked it for about 40 minutes at 350 degrees (it was still partially frozen when I started baking it, so I let it have some extra oven time), flipped it over, added the feta, and returned it to the oven for another 20 minutes. It was flavorful all the way through the chicken and very moist. If I weren't so good, I could have eaten about four of them!...ah, who am I kidding? The only thing that saved me was the fact that I had only prepared one!

MEET ALANNA KELLOGG...YOUR NEW BEST FRIEND

Whether you're a Weight Watcher, low-carb devotee, vegetarian, or someone who just wants to cook a quick meal for the family, you will be inspired by the lady I want to introduce you to today. If you're already a fan, you can join in the chorus while I praise Alanna Kellogg.

Alanna's mother began a newspaper column called "Kitchen Parade" back in 1959 in Minnesota. It featured the kind of homey recipes that women shared with each other over a cup of coffee. That same column is still being written today by Alanna but has shifted to a St. Louis area paper. It still features family recipes made from "whole" ingredients.

A couple of years ago, Alanna began a project called the "Veggie Venture" in which she cooked a different vegetable in a new way every single day for a year. There are 750 vegetable recipes on that food blog now and she has conveniently categorized them into lists for Weight Watcher points and carb watchers.

Her recipes are simple, convenient, and inspiring and between the newspaper features and the food blog, there should be no reason to not serve some vegetables up for supper!

I'm going to try this Greek Chicken recipe tonight for supper, but will switch out the curried rice for a bowl of whole wheat couscous with broccoli I'm going to give a quick stir-fry with some fresh garlic and olive oil...yum!
EDIT: THIS CHICKEN WAS FABULOUS AND IS DEFINITELY GOING ON MY REGULAR ROTATION!!!

And, if you're looking for a smile...and another quinoa recipe...go here and read about the mysterious recipe ingredient!

THERE'S TRYING SOMETHING NEW AND THEN THERE'S THIS:

Yes, my fellow adventurers, I asked you to try something new...a little quinoa...a new recipe...but I'm not sure about this: The 300 Minute Egg! Do I have any takers???

NEW RECIPE POST...SWEET AND SPICY BUTTERNUT CHIPS

These are my latest invention...slices of butternut squash roasted with a sprinkling of both hot and sweet spices. Go here for the recipe.

I'M DOING "SWIMMINGLY"

A lot of thought and planning goes into this, doesn't it? Jonathan had a great paragraph in his post today about planning:

"It may be that some people will feel comfortable enough to rely upon the universe to provide and therefore don't sense a need to plan out meals. In America, some place is always open somewhere to sell you something."

Healthy food doesn't just land on your plate and we've all seen how little we can count on the fast-food industry to deliver us from the "supersize" meal.

Before I started this journey, my meals were about equally divided between those I fixed at home and those I ate out. Of the ones I ate at home, they were probably equally divided between pre-packaged processed foods and those I prepared from "scratch". So, when I began Weight Watchers, I chose Flex and set about modifying what I ate.

I still ate out a lot, but ordered more wisely and ate smaller portions. I still ate a lot of processed foods, but I chose ones that had been modified to add more fiber and reduce sugar and fat content to fit into my points count more favorably. And I adjusted my "from scratch" recipes to reflect the same requirements.

That was a huge step toward healthier eating...and I'm proud of myself for taking it. But I was still eating a lot of packaged 100-calorie and fiber-added foods and the weight loss just seemed to really bog down last year. I finally realized that, although I loved what I was eating, if I was to get the rest of the weight off, I needed to move forward. It was a difficult decision to make...and scary!

When I started eating from the Core list, I did some pretty severe pantry editing and donated a good amount of food to a local charity. In order to stick to the list and limit the number of Weekly Points I would consume in a day, I had to restock with what I considered "basic" cooking ingredients and go back to recipes that did not include cans of soup and cake mixes. It required adjusting menu plans to reflect an increased emphasis on fruits and vegetables. It took time and planning.

These changes seem major at first and you walk into the kitchen and think, "My goodness...what am I going to cook???", but it gets easier and a pattern sets in after a while. You accumulate a group of family favorites from the new recipes you try...you throw away a few "stinkers" that just don't work...and pretty soon, you look back at recipes from two years earlier and laugh that you thought it was a "healthy improvement".

Have you ever painted a room and suddenly see that the drapes are faded and the rug is worn, and you've been looking at that same picture on the wall far too long? I see the same thing when I read blogs entries from people who have been successful at losing weight...many of them then move on to improve the quality of the foods they're eating, eliminating other unhealthy habits, or removing stressful stimuli from their environment. Improving your life takes on a domino effect that leads to truly healthful living.

Some people can take the plunge and jump in with both feet from the very beginning. I'm one of those who needs to sit on the edge of the pool and get my feet adjusted to the water temperature first and then wade in a step at a time. I figure I'm about waist-deep right now and moving toward the deeper end of the pool.
WHAT I ATE TODAY:

• 1 cup oatmeal topped with 1/2 cup yogurt, chopped apple, and 1 Tbsp each honey and sliced almonds
• Core recipe chili
• Butternut squash chips
• Salad with boiled egg, ham strips, loads of raw vegetables, vinegar and olive oil; zucchini baked with tomato sauce, Italian herbs, 1 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese*
• 1/2 cup yogurt, 1 tsp honey, 1 tsp sliced almonds*

*denotes WPA's

STILL PLAYING WITH OATMEAL

Back in November, I experimented with various additions to our morning oatmeal and came up with some pretty good results. There was apple pie which had chopped Granny Smith apples and apple pie spice added to the basic whole oats and water recipe. Then, in a nod to Thanksgiving, I added a good scoop of canned pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice to the pot...as close to warm pumpkin pie as morning cereal could get.

So, I figured I had pie flavors down...where do I go now? Cake! So we had my version of carrot cake...shredded carrots, crushed pineapple, cinnamon and vanilla...really good! Even without TB's request for cream cheese frosting!

Then I found myself with a ripe pear, some apples, and raw cranberries and in they went along with some orange zest for Autumn Orchard oatmeal...probably my favorite of all.

Kate and I promised each other a gingerbread version...mine was ground ginger, cinnamon, and some molasses...but I kinda moved on after the holidays and never tried it out. I even found a Chai tea version that someone had made with oat bran and left over Chai tea and forwarded that to Kate.

And then last week I ran across muesli in a post and I immediately thought, "I loved muesli when I tried it years ago!" I made some up over the weekend...just a cup of milk poured over a half cup of whole oats with a little cinnamon and vanilla and left in the fridge overnight. I ate it cold with a sliced banana and a few raw pumpkin seeds. I gave the Hub a bite and his first reaction was that it just wasn't "right" to eat cold raw oats! But his next remark...that the oat flakes needed to plump up more...led me to agree and consider how I could do that...and that led me to my latest oatmeal creation...muesli-ish oats.

I know your eyes are probably rolling back in your head by now! Kathy...just grab some instant oats, for Pete's sake! They come in all kinds of flavors! I just don't work that way!

So while I was cleaning up the kitchen after supper, I brought 2 cups of water and a little salt to boiling in a heavy pan, added 1 cup of oats, covered the pan, and removed it from the heat. I left this pan sitting on the stove for a couple of hours. The oats were then just the way I like them...individual plump grains...kinda like rice. I refrigerated the oats and then just warmed my serving in the microwave in the morning. I then proceeded to add the traditional muesli topping of a half cup of plain yogurt with a little vanilla stirred in, a sliced banana, and finally, a tablespoon each of honey and sliced almonds (2 WPA's on Core).

It was an amazing breakfast with lots of textures and flavors...the warmth of the oatmeal and the coolness of the yogurt...the little sharp edge the yogurt has alongside the sweet smoothness of the banana and honey. It filled me up and kept me going all morning. And it was so good that I wanted it for every meal...I didn't...but I could have!

Oatmeal is such a versatile grain...good in meatloaves, soup, breads, and desserts...and so inexpensive...it's no wonder it has been a staple for so long.

Do you have a favorite oatmeal recipe? Share!!!

WHAT I ATE TODAY:

• 1 cup oatmeal topped with 1/2 cup yogurt, 1 banana, 1 Tbsp each honey and sliced almonds*
• 1 cup roasted vegetables
• Core recipe for chili
• Salad with vinegar and olive oil, Corn Pone, Lima beans
• 3 cups popcorn
• Frozen grapes

*denotes WPA's

ANOTHER CUP OF COLD COFFEE

I've drank more cold coffee since I started blogging! I get the Hub off to work, grab a hot cup and sit down to check what's new and get so wrapped up in e-mails and reading blogs that I forget it's sitting there and the next thing I know, an hour has passed and I'm taking a drink of stone cold coffee! But you're worth it!

If you look at my sidebar, you'll see my "I ATE QUINOA" sign. I was teasing Noelle about making one and decided, "Why not?"

It is not so much that I think everyone should try quinoa, but representative of the fact that we're reaching out and trying new things and I think we should be proud of that. If you're eating quinoa, you're probably not having a plate of french fries along side it...you know! And if we're just trading a bag of baked potato chips for the regular ones, we're still keeping that style of eating alive. Get your family involved in trying new foods...let the kids pick out a different fruit or vegetable...Audrey thought my purple carrot was really cool the other night and when siced, it looked like a little flower in the salad with its purple ring around the yellow orange center.

I read an article this weekend by a lady who is part of the "eat local" movement and she was talking about how adventurous you have to be when you're presented with the same fruits and vegetables for several weeks and months as you are sometimes in the local markets. She said she was forced to try new recipes and methods of preparation to relieve the boredom that would have set in otherwise. I remember doing some rather inspired combining of foods when I was growing up on the farm...that's how we came up with sweet corn in scrambled eggs...we had to "use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without" at our house and we never let leftover corn from supper go to waste...we knew what went in to growing that corn...we had done the work ourselves!

If you'd like a fun read and a great looking recipe for Whole Grain Ginger Pear Muffins, go visit Farmgirl Fare...you'll love it!

I won't weigh until the first of February, but I can really feel the difference in my clothes...fingers crossed that this will be a good weight loss month! I did have a minor NSV last night...I reached up to rub my face and did a double-take! I had to go back for a second feel! My skin feels so much smoother!!! Maybe it's those healthy oils, huh???

Well, I'm off to get another cup of coffee...maybe I won't get distracted this time and I will actually drink it while it is hot!

WHAT I ATE ON WEIGHT WATCHER CORE TODAY:
Breakfast: 1 cup oatmeal, 1/2 cup yogurt, 1 banana, 1Tbsp honey*, 1 Tbsp sliced almonds*
Lunch: Salad of lettuce, tomato, bell pepper, onion, pea pods, carrot, celery, 1 boiled egg, vinegar and olive oil; 1 cup Core chili
Afternoon: Orange
Supper: 1/2 cup whole wheat couscous with roasted vegetables, 1 cup chili, 1/2 cup yogurt with 1 tsp each honey and almonds*
*denotes WPA's

This would so work at my house!

"Little Tommy had been to a birthday party at a friend's house. Knowing his sweet tooth, Tommy's mother looked straight into his eyes and said, "I hope you didn't ask for a second piece of cake."

"No, but I asked Mrs. Smith for the recipe so you could make some like it, and she gave me two more pieces without asking."

PAY IT FORWARD...THANKS, SUMMER!

I asked a while ago in this post if you wanted to have some fun. I had read about the Pay it Forward challenge on Summer's blog and decided I'd like to participate and I'm so happy I did...here's my prize and the note that came in Saturday's post. Isn't it cool...and so different than the crafts I do on a regular basis.

Noelle signed up when I posted and she will be receiving her "prize" very soon.

I made a great casserole for supper tonight. The original was a layer of sliced potatoes and onions sauteed in a skillet, flipped, swiss chard placed on top, cooked for a while to wilt that, and finally, a layer of cheese put on top and browned in the oven.

I decided to lighten my version and put it in an oven-proof casserole so I could make it ahead and bake it when I was ready. So I sprayed the casserole dish with non-stick spray, layered sliced potato, onion, and spinach leaves, ending with a second layer of potatoes. I added salt and pepper to the various layers. I then poured a cup of chicken broth over everything, covered it with foil, and when I was ready, baked it covered at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes. I then uncovered it, sprinkled 2 Tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese and replaced it in the oven for about 10 minutes, giving the cheese a chance to melt and brown. It is Core with WPA points for the cheese. It was really good and pretty with the contrast between the green of the spinach and the pale yellow of the Yukon Gold potatoes I chose.

WHAT I ATE ON WEIGHT WATCHER CORE TODAY:
Breakfast: Scrambled egg and a slice of ham
Mid-morning: Fat-free refried beans as a dip with carrot sticks, 1/2 banana
Lunch: Chicken and Rice* soup and salad with vinegar and olive oil and feta cheese*
Afternoon: Popcorn
Supper: 1 small slice ham, green beans, potato, onion, and spinach casserole with sprinkle of Parmesan cheese*
Evening: Skim milk
* denotes WPA

ENTERTAINING MISS AUDREY

I'm entertaining Miss Audrey this evening. She's open to trying any food and she loves helping in the kitchen...the perfect little guest.

We've watched "Eloise at Christmastime"...we never got around to it during the holidays...and one of my all time favorites, "Overboard". Who could ask for a nicer Saturday night?

I had two great salads today...no plain lettuce around here! And I love Muesli but haven't had it in years...it was a great change for breakfast. If you've never had it, give it a try. Just do a Google search and you'll find lots of recipes. I do the simplest version possible. I just pour 1 cup of milk over 1/2 cup oatmeal, add a little vanilla, a dash of salt, sometimes cinnamon, cover and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, I top it with fresh fruit and a sometimes a sprinkle of nuts. Some people top it with yogurt as well.

WHAT I ATE TODAY ON WEIGHT WATCHER CORE:
Breakfast: Muesli (1/2 cup oats and 1 cup milk soaked overnight with cinnamon), banana, and a few raw pumpkin seeds*
Mid-morning: Banana, Green tea with 1 tsp honey*
Lunch: Salad of Romaine lettuce, 1 boiled egg, shrimp, 1 Tbsp grated Parmesan*, olive oil and red wine vinegar, cantaloupe
Afternoon: Orange
Supper: Salad with lettuce, spinach, tomato, bell pepper, onion, peas, purple carrot, vinegar and olive oil, 2 Boca Burgers
Evening: Skim milk
*WPA

AH...H...H...H!!! HOW NICE WAS THAT?

I got this from Hanlie as a thank you for the Michael Pollan post yesterday.

Now...isn't that the sweetest thing???

Thanks, Hanlie!!!

'"THE SILENCE OF THE YAMS"

This is a quote from Michael Pollan's brilliant article in the New York Times in which he discusses "nutritionism". The quote is a comment on how America seeks what it considers "nutritious" foods in the center aisles of the supermarket where the latest "nutrient" fad is waiting...Lucky Charms promoting their newly found "whole-grain goodness"...while the silent yam is lying over in the produce aisle with no labels blaring its worth.

Michael Pollan's name can be found on just about every food and nutrition blog lately...he and his simple seven word mantra which he uses to summarize what we should be eating to be healthy: "EAT FOOD. NOT TOO MUCH. MOSTLY PLANTS."

The article from the Times is a must read for anyone who wants to know the "why" involved in the truth of that simple instruction. It is an eye opener and a great reminder of just how fickle the field of nutrition can be. He describes it as confusion caused by "the shifting winds of nutritional science and food-industry marketing" and attributes it to the idea back in the 1980's that we could improve the nation's health by breaking whole foods down into their various "nutrients" and figuring out how those isolated factors could affect us physically.

Thinking of food in those terms has brought us "the year of eating oat bran", protein diets, low-fat diets, low carb diets, high fiber diets...and the food industry's response..."edible foodlike substances"...packaged and manipulated to fit the latest craze. Increase the fiber, decrease the carbs, replace fat with sugar, add Omega-3...they are quite happy to isolate and manipulate the ingredients, package them, and give us "nutritional permission" to eat all we want of this new healthy "food".

The same fads cause potatoes to go in and out of favor...carrots to be "bad"...cream to be better than skim milk...and items with labels attached to be deemed safer to purchase than those without.

So back to the seven words of advice...I'll try to summarize...but, again, I really want you to read the article for yourself!

EAT FOOD: He's recommending whole, "unmanufactured" foods...ones that your great-great-grandmother would have recognized. Foods that require some cooking. Foods that are representative of cultures with a long history such as the Chinese, Mediterraneans, or Italians. His feeling is that these cultures would not have survived so long if their food cultures were not healthy ones. (There's lots more about that in the article! including how there will be a group of people who adapt and survive our own fast-food culture...but, in the meantime, survival of the fittest will require the dying off of those who don't!!!)

NOT TOO MUCH: Self-explanatory...we eat too much. But he reasons that we do because we are eating a higher-proportion of processed foods and fewer plants...especially the leaves of plants.

MOSTLY PLANTS: He reminds us that plants should provide the majority of our meal with meat as a side. It is healthier for us and for our ecology if we digest the plant food ourselves rather than having the animal do it for us and then eating the animal.

I've said before that I was amazed when I turned to the Core list for preparing my meals how familiar it seemed to me. I was cooking the way my mother and grandmother did and the way I was taught as a child. I think that's part of the reason it has appealed to me so much...it was like going "home" to a "food culture" that was part of me...the one my parents raised me in on the farm. I'm old enough to have been a part of that culture and feel a part of it still.

Well, enough going down memory lane with "Granny", but, I will definitely keep Michael's advice in mind as I prepare my shopping list and menus. And maybe I will take note of the "silent" foods in the supermarket...the ones with no advertising geniuses cloaking them in "nutrition speak" and health claims!

Truth in advertising...I don't claim to be immune to the allure of processed foods...I love my sugar-free pudding mix blended with my milk...I love Kashi cereals! But am I doing better and improving every day...you bettcha!
WHAT I ATE ON WEIGHT WATCHER CORE TODAY:

• Breakfast: 1 cup Kashi Go Lean cereal, 1 cup skim milk, 1 banana
• Lunch: Roasted vegetables (onion, pepper, egg plant, zucchini, cauliflower) mixed in 1 cup whole wheat couscous, 1 Tbsp feta cheese, olive oil, red wine vinegar
• Frozen grapes
• Supper: Greek salad with onion, feta, olive oil dressing, grilled tilapia
  

A COMEDY OF ERRORS...OR...WHAT HAPPENED TO SUPPER?

I had to laugh last night as I read Briana's comment to me about some restaurant meals:

"it feels that any actually healthy meal at a restaurant ends up being sparse and tasteless... so definitely not worth spending money on - especially when you have delicious cooking waiting at home (and I know, Kathy, that you probably do!) :)"

You see, it had been one of "those evenings" as far as supper had gone. I had planned on having a stew made with chunks of vegetables and turkey meatballs and a nice salad. The stew ingredients had gone into the crockpot early in the day and I had made the salad up ahead and had it in the fridge. Hubby is often on the verge of low blood sugar when he comes home from work because he eats lunch at 11 in the morning, so I try to have things ready to go most of the time.

I had just a little olive oil left in the bottle and decided to just pour the red wine vinegar in with it and shake it rather than measure it out like I normally would. So we take our first bite of the salad and discover that my "eyeball" method for measuring the vinegar to oil ratio must have been a little askew! The ratio is leaning a lot too heavy toward the vinegar side of the equation, but we managed to get the less than satisfactory salad eaten.

So, I go over to get the stew from the crockpot and it just looks like it has not "stewed" quite long enough. I taste an "al dente" carrot and decide that it is not quite done.(I go on to discover that the outlet that it is plugged into is one of those that will "trip" itself and for some reason, it had done so.) So I reset the outlet and let the stew continue to cook and we decided Hubby would take that opportunity to go to the supermarket for a few items we were out of.

"I know, Honey", I say, as he heads out the door. "Why don't you get a rotisserie chicken from the store and we'll have the stew tomorrow!"

So he returns with the chicken... which smells delicious...but by the time we remove the skin, which is where all the herbs and spices are, the chicken underneath was pretty plain and boring...and we both decide...a little on the greasy side! But we eat the breast meat and he has some applesauce and we call it supper.

But there was nothing pleasant, appetizing, or more importantly, appetizing about the whole affair. So much for my post of a couple of days ago about making your meals more attractive!!!

So...Briana...even Kathy has a bad day in the kitchen! But, at least we didn't go for a bag of burgers later in the evening, which is what we would have done in the past!

What we did do was have a small bowl of the stew later on...along with a shared bag of popcorn! Now there's a balanced snack!

Hungry Girl has news this morning about some high fiber food items just arriving on the market, including a Fiber One Yoplait yogurt which she says is really creamy...has no Fiber One cereal chunks in it...and is 1 point for a 4 ounce cup...80 calories...0 fat...and 5 grams of fiber. Go check it and the other new items out.

Cooking Light Magazine for Jan/Feb has a great looking recipe for a dip that I'm definitely going to try soon:

EDAMOLE
3/4 cup frozen shelled edamame, thawed
3 Tbsp water
2 Tbsp olive oil
1Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp hot pepper sauce
1 garlic clove, halved

Combine all ingredients in a food processor; process until smooth. Cover and chill. Yield: 6 servings of 2 1/2 Tbsp each.
Calories: 68, Fat: 5.5 g, Protein: 2.5 g, Carb: 2.1g, Fiber: 1g
WHAT I ATE ON WEIGHT WATCHER CORE TODAY:

• Breakfast: 2 eggs scrambled over a tiny bit of chopped ham, bell pepper, onion, and a light sprinkle of Parmesan cheese
• Orange
• Lunch: Couscous with tuna, onion, bell pepper, celery, tomato, garlic powder, salt and pepper, 1 tsp olive oil and red wine vinegar and a sprinkle of raw pumpkin seeds
• 2 cups milk with 2 tsp sugar-free pudding mix and ice blended
• 1/2 cup cottage cheese blended with 1 tsp dry onion soup mix, carrot strips
• Supper: 1 cup Oriental soup, Shredded steamed cabbage and 1 cup Great Northern beans
• Apple, popcorn (#2 for the week...limit reached)
  

COULD YOU GIVE ME A SIDE OF LETTUCE WITH THAT SALAD?

I ran across a list of the 20 Worst Foods yesterday...a list which included several chain restaurant sandwiches and salads which added up to thousands of calories! You've all heard the horror stories! It seems the fast-food industry has made it their goal to pervert once healthy sandwiches and salads into fat-laden monstrosities.

A sandwich can be such a beautiful thing when made with whole grain bread, lean meat, lots of fresh vegetables, a great tasting mustard...yum! And salads are a blank canvas for the creative combinination of healthy ingredients...absent the fried chicken strips, several ounces of full-fat cheese, and half a cup of a fat laden dressing.

I used to kid myself by ordering a "light" meal at one of our favorite restaurants...soup and salad...while Hubby had a steak, salad, and baked potato. I thought I was being so good and so virtuous! Well...seen with new eyes...I would have been much better off having Hubby's meal!

My choice was a salad with bacon bits, cheese, boiled egg, shoestring potatoes, and honey mustard dressing. It was delicious...it was a salad...and it was full of fat. Then came the soup. I chose French onion soup and their's was great. It had a big chunk of French bread and lots of melted cheese on top. And to round out this little, light meal was a couple of slices of fruit bread with a big dollop of fruit butter.

My little, "light" meal was anything but...and I wondered why I kept gaining weight when I was being so good...just soup and salad...not even a meal, for Pete's sake!

We went to the same restaurant about a month ago and after looking through the entire menu, I concluded that there was just nothing on the menu,short of the plain baked potato and the salad absent all the frills, that I would consider particularly healthy, and we decided to delete it from our list of restaurants we would visit in the future.

If you study the menus and order judiciously, you can come away with a meal that is "acceptable", but I'm realizing more and more, that my safest and best choices are at home in my own kitchen. You get kinda tired of ordering the plain grilled chicken breast and plain side salad with the fat-free dressing everywhere you go!

WHAT I ATE ON CORE TODAY:

• Breakfast: Cottage cheese and apple with cinnamon
• Mid-morning: 2 oranges
• Lunch: 1 potato, onion, shredded cabbage sauteed
• Afternoon: Apple
• Supper: Roast chicken breast, salad with EVOO and vinegar, 1/4 cup cottage cheese
• Evening: Vegetable/turkey soup, small bowl popcorn
  

FOOD AS ENTERTAINMENT

(A note to my friends...I changed the size of the font for my silly Vroom reference and then changed it back to normal for the remainder of the post, but through Blogger's stubbornness or my own lack of editing skill, it refuses to post it in normal size. So, forgive me if you have to get out the reading glasses...I don't want to type it all over again cause I have so many other more fun things to do! Thanks...and happy Tuesday!...Kathy)

I know it's Tuesday...I know today is the New Hampshire Primary...I know I shouldn't be boring you weight loss bloggers with this...and don't stop reading because I bring it up because it really will be only a really quick one paragraph reference to it...but, can you hear it? Listen carefully. There it is...that faint little Vroom...Vroom...Vroom coming from the south? Like the direction of Daytona? Darn...my heart is beating faster again!!!

Ok...I'm back. Now what was I saying about eating better?

Oh, yeah. Today, ladies and gentlemen...I want to talk to you about food as entertainment. Seriously...after the recent holiday madness, I don't think any of us doubt the fact that food is entertaining. It's on my mind in a big way because I'm putting a lot of time into the final planning for Nurse Lara and DW's wedding March 8...daughter and future son-in-law, that is. I'm doing the meal for the reception and a lot of creative energy goes into making the food for such an event not only good to eat, but also attractive to look at, and just different enough to pique the interest of the guests. Let's face it...in such an event...food is a major part of the celebration and needs to entertain.

I've spent months researching the presentation of the food items on the buffet...what the best placement for appetizers and nibbles would be...and the timing of the whole thing. I carefully balanced flavors so there is variety. I mentally rehearsed eating each appetizer to assure that it was easily served from the tray, not messy to hold, and was one to two bites in size.

We opted for cupcakes instead of a big wedding cake and we've pored over decorating possibilities and table arrangement to make them attractive and as "impressive" as an elaborate cake. We also wanted them to taste good and be eaten.

All this to say...it is not an accident when you find yourself overeating at these events. A lot of planning goes into making catered affairs and even restaurant meals as attractive as possible. It is the job of the person preparing those meals to make sure the food satisfies as many of your senses as possible so you are drawn in and entertained. You are meant to be overwhelmed by the sight and smell of the food even before you get around to tasting it. And the variety of items offered is an attempt to entertain your taste buds with a number of different experiences.

I see this upcoming event from two perspectives...first...I am the entertainer. I want to make this food so enticing that the guests will be overwhelmed and pleased. But...second...I will be one of the guests...the entertained...and as a person who is trying to get past the allure of the food and make rational choices while I am there, that is another challenge that I will be facing. It helps that I am on the "inside" and am very aware of all those "tricks" and I will have the opportunity to plan ahead and "rehearse" what I will choose.

There is no reason we can not live a healthier lifestyle and still give in to the allure of food...to be entertained by it. All of our food should be presented attractively. The orange sliced and put on a pretty saucer. The raw vegetables placed on a little plate with a small cup of a great tasting point-friendly dip beside them. The whole wheat crackers taken from the box and put in a little mini-basket. There are thousands of ways to make the great food we eat every day just as attractive and enticing...and satisfying...as the choices we are presented at those carefully planned affairs.

Make it a challenge to "entertain" yourself today with your healthy food choices.

WHAT I ATE ON CORE TODAY:

• Breakfast: Leftover fish, bell pepper, onion, 1 egg, 1 tsp Parmesan cheese*
• Lunch: Moo Shu Chicken...chicken breast strips, onion, shredded cabbage, mixed Chinese vegetables stir fried with soy sauce, garlic, 1 tsp brown sugar*, 1 Tbsp Hoisin sauce*
• Afternoon: 2 small oranges, 2 cups skim milk
• Supper: 1 potato, shredded cabbage, 1 cup great northern beans, 2 tsp. olive oil
• Evening: 1/2 large apple, vegetable chips*
  

NEVER SAY NEVER!

Well, we're hitting the second week in January...the first Monday of 2008. The resolutions have been made...the challenges begun...and there is still a lot of enthusiasm for losing weight in the new year. All of us feel refreshed and recharged as we step forward.

I've seen a lot of lists of pledges and promises on the blogs and they include a lot of words such as "never" and "always" and expectations of weekly or end of the year weight loss numbers that seem to be a little ambitious.

I hope that as the year moves forward that these same folks moderate their goals a bit and continue to move forward toward a healthier lifestyle. There are a lot of challenges ahead for anyone undertaking a lifestyle change.

The one thing I have learned through my own experience and through studying the blogs of those who have reached their weight loss goals and maintained that loss, is that there is little room for absolutes in this process. The people who have beat the odds and kept their weight off seem to be flexible, persistent, and knowledgeable enough to know that no matter how much you want something and how enthusiastic you are, there will be times when you will not be "perfect", and to believe that you will always be in control is an invitation to failure.

The past two years have also taught me that there is a learning curve involved in changing an unhealthy lifestyle that you have lived for years to an improved one. It doesn't happen overnight no matter how much resolve you may have. A lot of it is trial and error...two steps forward and one step back...until you find what works for you. We sometimes learn the most from what we consider setbacks. We will be living with the changes we make for the rest of our lives so we'd better make sure we alter our patterns in ways that are sustainable and comfortable. In my case, that would exclude any pledge that begins with the words "I will never" or "I will always".

We all come to this thing with different food backgrounds, family situations, abilities to cook and prepare meals, and the economic means to purchase certain foods and join clubs and gyms. But there is always a way to succeed if you seek it out.

I remember being in a grocery line several years ago when the low-fat thing was in full swing and a woman standing in front of me was buying a case of canned beans. She turned to me and said she had lost 60 pounds by eating those beans. It was a narrow approach, but one that was affordable for her and she wanted it badly enough that she went for it.

So, maybe it would be wise to review that list of goals and promises we all made on January 1. Now that a few days have passed by and we've had a chance to let the panic of seeing the scales after the holiday reside, perhaps it's time to make sure we've set realistic goals for ourselves.

NEED INSPIRATION?

I don't know if you have ever heard of the National Weight Control Registry...I've read on Jonathan's blog that he participates in it...but the registry has collected data since 1994 from people who have lost and maintained the loss of 30 pounds or more for over a year. They collect success stories from these people and perform long term weight loss research. It is a great place to read what approaches have worked for people who have long term success and what these people have in common.

WHAT I ATE ON CORE TODAY:

• Breakfast: Quinoa and bean salad
• Mid-morning: grapes, 1 cup vegetable soup
• Lunch: Vegetable and ham omelette, Asiago cheese*
• Afternoon: Skim milk, vegetable chips*, apple
• Late afternoon: Boca burger, onion, bell pepper
• Supper: Sweet potato "fries", Mahi-Mahi in cornmeal, baked
• Evening: orange
  

TANGELO?

TB asked me yesterday what a tangelo was so I decided to take a picture.
Bottom: tangerine; Top (l) tangelo, (r) orange

A tangelo is half orange and half tangerine. The flavor is a little of both as well...the skin peels easily like a tangerine.

Now...let me say I am a total convert to quinoa...love it. It looks and cooks like a grain, looks like a cross between brown rice and couscous...but remember, it is not a grain. It has the faint smell and taste of a very mild broccoli. Interested yet?

I made up the recipe for the Quinoa and Black Bean Salad and I love it. Of course, I played with the original recipe...I always do. First, I made half the recipe. Then I decreased the olive oil by half again...just 1 Tbsp for the half recipe...1 tsp per serving. And I thought a teaspoon and a half of chili powder would also add to the Mexican flavor. Perfect. And Core.

Hubby and my younger daughter did eat some of the potato soup recipe Friday night and both gave it a thumbs up!

WEEK IN REVIEW:
A positive week for the most part...I tried new foods, new recipes, kept my pledge to eat fruits and vegetables in the afternoon instead of that daily popcorn (I had only one bag), and chose well when eating out.

I still need to make sure I get my milk in and I tend to forget the olive oil unless I have a salad which includes it.

So, I will begin my new week in the morning with the pledge to continue eating popcorn no more than twice per week; I will make sure I will have milk and healthy oil every day.

WHAT I ATE ON CORE TODAY:

• Breakfast:Oatmeal
• Mid-morning:Tangelo
• Lunch: Quinoa and Bean Salad, sauteed Brussels sprout
• Afternoon: 2 cups skim milk, Fat-free sugar-free chocolate pudding, 1 Tbsp SF Cool-whip
• Supper: Stir-fry of chicken breast strips, snow-peas, onion, carrot, mushrooms, yellow bell pepper, celery; 3 chunks fresh pineapple
  

LIFE HAPPENS

Quick post...my soup is still in the fridge for tomorrow. I found myself away from home most of the day shopping for the wedding coming up in March, so I ended up eating out twice. That's fine...it will be there tomorrow.

WHAT I ATE TODAY ON CORE:

• Breakfast: Ham and scrambled egg
• Lunch: Salad with Feta cheese and 2 tsp olive oil dressing, 1/3 cup mashed potato, pork loin
• Supper: Shrimp, grilled bell pepper and zucchini, black beans, 2 Tbsp Guacamole*
• Evening: Popcorn...my first of the week...Yahoo!!! Apple and fresh cherries
  

AVOID CHAOS

Hubby and I have noticed a definite increase in the past few years of people ignoring stop signs and driving onto main streets from side streets without even hesitating...as if they had the right-of-way. Every time I see someone do this, I have to remark that it was that "Turn right on red" rule that allowed drivers to ignore red lights and turn right after they had come to a full stop and no one was coming. Is it any surprise to anyone that if you give some drivers an inch they will take a mile...that this opens the door to people thinking that they can begin ignoring all traffic signals and just use their "good judgment" to determine when it was necessary to heed the rules of the road? The feeling in the general public seems to increasingly be that rules and laws are silly.

But order requires limits be set and followed...if not, chaos follows.

Remember that fudge that our neighbor brought over for the Holidays? That was my "right turn on red"! That was when I gave myself "permission" to ignore the rules and use my own "good judgment". And that led to almost a week of Holiday chaos.

No...I'm not saying we have to be perfect and follow the rules all the time. But I pulled out onto that highway of eating sweets, knowing that it was a treacherous stretch of road, without coming to a full stop before proceeding.

The lesson I learned that I promise...promise...promise myself that I will heed next time is that I can't face an entire container of fudge and just eat one piece. I knew caution was necessary...that I should have come to a full stop to evaluate the situation before I proceeded...but I ignored it.

If I had stopped to think it through, I would have set aside 1 piece of that fudge for me and 1 for Hubby. We would have gotten rid of the rest of it. We would have savored that 1 piece, enjoyed it...like we promised ourselves we were going to do...and still felt in control and gone on to healthy eating. But we didn't stop...we didn't fully evaluate the situation. We grabbed a piece, shoved an entire piece into our mouthes, and didn't even take the time to enjoy it. So we had to have another piece to seek that "enjoyment" we had missed from the first piece, and then we went out of control...for several days.

So...I think I have learned this lesson. We will see. I need to avoid chaos at all cost when it comes to journeying down this path toward healthier eating.

SOUP FOR THE WEEKEND

I love having soup ready for a quick meal on winter weekends and I made up two new recipes this morning. One is a potato soup made with ham and cream cheese and the second is a chili recipe that includes a little brown sugar, vinegar, and mustard to give it a BBQ edge. I found the recipes on the net this morning and, of course, adjusted them to suit our needs and tastes.

We also loaded the pantry with oranges, tangelos, several varieties of apples, a pineapple, grapes, and fresh cherries as well as a variety of vegetables. We also have ham, eggs, and a large container of oatmeal already prepared with apples, pears, and cinnamon. We're ready for anything!

POTATO SOUP
about 6 servings
4 cups water
2 Tbsp chicken soup base or bouillon
2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
1/2 cup diced lean ham
1/2 medium onion, diced
1/4 tsp garlic powder
8 ounce pkg fat-free cream cheese

Dissolve soup base in hot water in medium saucepan. Add potatoes, ham, onion, and garlic powder and bring to boil. Lower heat, cover pan, and cook until potatoes are tender. Reduce heat to simmer and add cream cheese, stirring until melted. Do not allow to boil. Add salt and pepper to taste.

BBQ CHILI
4 servings
8 ounces extra lean ground beef
1/2 medium onion, diced
2 16-ounce cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed
14 ounce can fat-free beef broth
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp cider vinegar
2 tsp yellow mustard
8 ounce can tomato sauce
Salt and Pepper to taste

In medium saucepan, brown ground beef and onion. Add remaining ingredients and allow to simmer uncovered until flavors have melded and the soup has thickened somewhat.

Soups are one of my favorite foods both summer and winter and one of my favorite sites for finding healthy recipes is Heidi's blog, 101 Cookbooks. She had a really great looking recipe for a lentil soup on the January 3rd post that I am going to try soon.

WHAT I ATE ON CORE TODAY:

• Breakfast: I was really hungry this morning so I had 2 slices of ham and 1 poached egg
• Mid-morning: Apple, celery, and carrots
• Lunch: Tilapia and asparagus
• Supper: Salad with fat-free Italian dressing, roast beef, 1/2 baked potato, green beans, fresh cherries
• Evening: 2 cups skim milk

And finally, A Diet Prayer, from one of my favorite blogs, Old Lady Lincoln.

TRY SOMETHING NEW TODAY

"HOPE IS THAT THING INSIDE US THAT INSISTS, IN SPITE OF ALL THE EVIDENCE TO THE CONTRARY, THAT SOMETHING BETTER AWAITS US IF WE HAVE THE COURAGE TO REACH FOR IT...AND TO WORK FOR IT...AND TO FIGHT FOR IT!"...Barack Obama

One of the things that will throw healthier eating to the wolves is the habit a lot of us get into of eating the same foods every day or rotating just a few dishes over and over...chicken breast...salad...Lean Cuisines...a cold bowl of cereal...yogurt...and a 100 calorie pack of something salty or sweet. You can get away with those things in January, but come February, March, and April...you're gonna fall victim to reckless eating if you don't get some variety in there.

Healthier eating is not boring eating unless you let it be. If you look at the blogs of people who have lost a lot and kept it off, you will see that they have a set of routine foods that they fall back on frequently, but they have also been willing to try new foods prepared in new ways. There are thousands of good recipes from simple to complex on the internet. Roni has a great recipe site and even does videos to demonstrate how to prepare some of them. Kate and I also have recipe sites...and there are many, many more. Promise yourself to try a new one every week. Expand your horizon.

I've developed dozens of new recipes since I began my journey two years ago, and I've tried some new foods and spices. One that I have on my list to give a try is Quinoa. The magazine I mentioned yesterday had a great article on 5 "Power packed foods" and Quinoa was one that they featured. Here's some of the things they had to say about it:

"Quinoa helps prevent migraine headaches, breast cancer, colon cancer, heart disease, and Type II diabetes. It can be added to soups, salads and breads or eaten as a breakfast cereal.
Although it's considered an "ancient grain", it is actually a cousin of leafy green vegetables like spinach. Where it differs from its counterparts is as a protein source: Just one cup has 20 grams of protein-twice as much as oats and about the same as a three-ounce serving of cooked cod. It is one of the few plant foods that provides all nine essential amino acids simultaneously."

I'm going to try it this weekend with this recipe. If you want, you could definitely substitute brown rice or couscous for the quinoa.

QUINOA BLACK BEAN SALAD
serves 6

• 1 cup quinoa, washed and drained
• 2 cups water
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• Juice of 2 limes
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 can black beans, rinsed
• 1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes, cut in half
• 5 green onions, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• Salt and pepper, to taste

*Wash and rinse quinoa. In a saucepan, bring quinoa and water to a boil. Reduce to simmer, cover and cook until all water is absorbed, about 10 to 15 minutes. Let cool.
*In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, lime juice, cumin, and red pepper flakes.
*Combine cooled quinoa, beans, tomatoes, and onions in a large bowl.
*Drizzle dressing over salad and toss in cilantro. Season with salt and pepper.
Nutrients per serving: Calories: 299, Total Fat: 10g, Carbs: 26.5 g, Fiber: 3g, Protein: 5.5g

ALL OR NOTHING AT ALL

Great song but a totally unnecessary attitude to assume when it comes to weight loss. There really is no need for perfection.

I look at the healthy guidelines and strive to meet them each day. Sometimes I do...sometimes I don't. Drinking all that water has always eluded me. I am just not naturally thirsty...I have to force myself to drink anything except my morning coffee which I look forward to without fail. So, after 2 years of trying to force the issue, I finally said...just drink more of anything! And with the pressure gone to be perfect about drinking that water, I actually find myself drinking more water! Who knew?

I have never been a milk drinker so while I was on Flex, I never "wasted" my points on milk. Now that I do Core, I feel compelled to get that milk in, so I have come up with cocoa made with skim milk, cocoa powder, Splenda, and vanilla. Or a milkshake or smoothie prepared with the allotted milk, ice, Splenda, and 1 tsp sugar-free pudding mix per cup of milk thrown in the blender. For a smoothie, a add some fruit. The pudding powder adds just a little flavor and a thicker texture to the drink that makes it much more palatable to me. I'm now pretty close to 100% compliant with that guideline.

I have done low-fat for so many years that it is still hard for me not to want to "save" my healthy oil for supper or do without it to save calories. No...no...no, Kathy! You need that oil to be healthy! I am constantly finding myself at the end of the day without any oil intake.

Fruits and vegetables are normally easy for me...unless I'm not planning my meals...like during the holidays when I "forgot" to include those veggies!

I know that I will not be perfect every day...but I strive to do better and use the guidelines as a model for a great day of healthy eating.

NEW MAGAZINE:
I subscribed to a great new magazine recently and received the premiere issue yesterday. It's called Clean Eating and I found an abundance of articles and recipes in it that fit right into my plan. I've subscribed to Weight Watcher Magazine and Cooking Light for years, but this one is so much better.

Their philosophy is one of encouraging the inclusion of colorful fruits and vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins and water in your diet; and steering clear of overly processed, refined foods, flour and sugar, saturated and trans fats, fried foods, and sugar laden colas and juices. Sound familiar?

The magazines will contain the following:

• 30 days of meal plans and shopping lists
• Strategies for dealing with emotional eating
• Features on seasonal and regional foods
• Weight loss stories and motivational articles
• Recipes
• Fitness advice

The magazine ran 118 over-size pages. If you're interested, you can find more at their website:

cleaneatingmag.com

WHAT I ATE TODAY ON CORE:

• Breakfast: Oatmeal
• Mid-morning: Orange
• Late-morning: Carrot and Celery sticks with 1/4 cup fat-free refried beans
• Lunch: Salad with lettuce and carrots, vinegar and olive oil dressing, chicken breast
• Afternoon: Apple
• Late-afternoon: Sugar-free fat-free pudding and 1 Tbsp Cool Whip*
• Supper: Salad with 1 oz feta cheese*, pork loin, 1/3 cup mashed potato
  
• Evening: Skim milk, 2 cups
  

WANNA HAVE SOME FUN?

I was visiting Summer's blog and she is participating in Pay-it-Forward - The Blog Edition. I thought it sounded like so much fun...I love knitting and meeting new people so I decided to take a shot at participating and made the cut! If you're reading this and would like to make something crafty and send it on to three other people, here’s how it works:

“I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.”

Now, if you're wanting to play, just leave a comment and I'll get back to the first three people, get your address, and I promise I'll have something nifty in the mail to you well before that 365 day mark!

Come on, crafty bloggers...creating something with your hands will keep you out of the Cheetos!!!

I've about overdosed on politics today thanks to the run-up to the Iowa caucuses tomorrow, but I have shown restraint in regard to my popcorn eating!!! I'm keeping my pledge.

I went to bed early last night and skipped my evening milk and fruit...so about 11:30 last night, I wake up to this gnawing in my middle and I'm wondering "What's the deal with that?" when I realized that I was hungry...truly hungry! I'm not a night eater, but I couldn't get back to sleep until I made a visit to the kitchen and drank my allotted milk. Then it was back to bed and straight to sleep.

I've made a careful habit throughout my life of not going hungry so it is an uncommon feeling. I won't make that mistake tonight...I'm having that milk.

WHAT I ATE TODAY:

• Breakfast: Vegetable omelette, orange
• Mid-morning: Carrots and celery
• Lunch: Taco salad made with head lettuce, tomato, bell pepper, onion, chicken breast, fat-free refried beans, 1 tsp olive oil
• Supper: Pork loin, butternut squash, sauerkraut, apple
• Evening: 2 cups skim milk
  

ROUTINE...SWEET ROUTINE!!!

Well, we officially returned to normal at our house this morning...up at 5...my new programmable coffee pot (a hand-me-down from daughter, Lara, when she got her new one for Christmas! Ms. Frugal here!!) had the house smelling so good. Breakfast served...lunch packed...kiss at the door...and "It's just you and me again, Kipper!"

Staying on plan is so much easier when there is a pattern of eating and not the flying by the seat of your pants style that ensues when we have a whole day of possibilities open to us. I'm ready for this.

And I'm so happy that I already have a plan established. You've seen the ads...we're going to be bombarded with weight-loss for awhile. Even the first 15 feet at Aldi's was nothing but "diet" food this week!

My daughter told me that a co-worker had grabbed her during the holiday and said, "We're going to salad and Slim-Fast it come January!" And a lot of people are going to be going the extreme route starting today. There will be a million promises to never eat sweets again...no more excess...back to the gym...and whatever new diet is going around the office. We've all been there, haven't we?

I want so badly to grab them by the hand and say, "Sit down...take a breath...let me talk to you.", but we all have to come to the right conclusions in our own way. It's a learning process. We all fell a few times before we learned to walk...we learned to talk one word at a time...and we hit a few curbs before we learned to maneuver a car down the street with confidence.

In year three, I am more aware than ever that choosing a food plan that is flexible and healthy is step one to long term success. Step two is being willing to follow that plan most of the time. Step three is to shake it off and jump right back on plan when I do fail to follow it. All is not lost...it's just a blip and I can and will recover from it...it's not like jumping off a cliff.

An eating plan should be a guideline that leads you to healthier eating...something you utilize and feel comfortable with. If it is too strict or leaves you wanting, then it is like a pair of shoes that may be well made and beautiful to look at, but if they don't fit your feet then they are going to be painful to wear on a daily basis. No one wants to live like that...and no one wants an eating plan that doesn't fit either.

Choose a good healthy plan today...I hope you are like me and already have one...and then, as Tim Gunn would say..."Make it work!"

I PLEDGE...

Well, day one of my pledge to eat fruits or vegetables in the afternoon instead of my daily popcorn has been successful. Hubby peeled and cut up some carrots for me and we had those and Golden Delicious apples this afternoon. I felt so virtuous!

We decided it would be fun to have pizza for supper and we figured out our WPA's and headed out. We both started out with salads and fat-free Ranch dressing and ate less than our allotted servings of the pizza. We both felt so virtuous! lol

I have a personal weight goal that I have in mind and I am more determined than ever to meet it. That determination has me feeling especially strong right now and I'm going to run with it.

For my South African friend: "It's possible to live a good life even though it isn't an easy life."...Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen

WHAT I ATE TODAY:

• Breakfast: Ham slice, Frittata of egg, onion, bell pepper, mushroom, tomato, and 1 tsp grated cheddar cheese*
• Lunch: Grilled orange roughey, 1/2 baked potato, boiled cabbage
• Afternoon: Raw carrots, Apple
• Supper: Salad with fat-free Ranch dressing, 2 slices thin crust vegetable pizza*
• Evening: 2 cups skim milk and banana