Recovering from Cheating on Your Low Carb Diet

Being on a diet is hard enough. Keeping your self esteem up during dieting is even harder. Falling off the diet pulls one down into a even deeper hole which is sometimes hard to climb out of.

Here is an interesting article for you to read.

Recovering from Cheating on Your Low Carb Diet

I have been trying to get ready for bikini season.... well not so many bikini's for me anymore at my age :/ Anyway, I have been on a low carb diet. Lot's of protein the first week, then slowly introducing carbs, the healthy ones the second week. I have found out that by cutting carbs made me hungry within about four hours. So the article mentions carrying some low carbs snacks with you which makes sense. I get so hungry I couldn't stand it. It was like I haven't eaten in days. My stomach would growl and I would race to the kitchen as soon as I walked in the door.

After I figured this out I now eat more often. No more skipping a breakfast and eat at noon like I used to be able to do when I was younger.

I have also noticed that I eat less at dinner. I get fuller faster and can push my plate aside and not sit there and continue to shovel it in.

Don't be so hard on your self. Don't weigh yourself every day. Some Dr. said once a month. Your weight fluctuates up and down with water weight and can tend to chew away at your self esteem.

Happy Spring ;)

Does Eating Sugar Cause Wrinkles?

Eating Sugar does cause wrinkles! Per Dr. Oz!

Eating too much sugar causes the sugar to bind to proteins to and in turn breaks down the Elastin in your skin especially over the age of 35!

Women should only have 6 tsp per day.

Men should only have 9 tsp per day.

To learn more about Elastin: Elastin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

20 Worst Drinks In America

20 WORST DRINKS

From Tend Setter:

The photomentary 20 Worst Drinks In America is a shockingly real way to create initiative among people to change their current diet.

You know you have a problem when the drink you are consuming has as much sugar as eight donuts, and you have several of them a day. When viewing the ‘20 Worst Drinks in America’ you may find yourself thinking, “No wonder we are all getting fat,” to yourself—at least, I did.

Five Diet Rules You Can Break

Five Diet Rules You Can Break - From The Today Show

• Don't deprive yourself dessert, as long as you work the calories in it's doable! Bank your dessert calories during the week and treat yourself on Friday or Saturday.

• Portion control? Don't worry about it when it comes to non starchy veggies eat your carrots, peas, celery, spinach etc... they are filling and healthy.

• Never skip breakfast?.... it's okay too!

• Salads are best? Not all the time.... make sure they are filled with non starchy veggies, you can have a low cal whole grain sandwich if your not a salad person. Salad's are not for everyone.

Happy Weight Loss ;)

I Love Blue Sea Online Seafood Market

If you are a fan of Seafood and order fresh fish online here is a company i love blue sea that supports "Sustainable Seafood".

What does that mean? Sustainable Seafood means that they make sure there will be enough fish to catch! They are very careful to fish only the abundant species and not over fish the species that are in danger of surviving.

You want to make sure that when you find a online fish market that the fish comes in fresh "sushi grade" prior to ordering. It's easy to do, just do your homework! If your ordering on line already you have the capability to check the company out before ordering.

i love blue sea a online fish market also featured by The New York Times, TLC, NPR, The Huffington Post and Mother Jones is a company that truly believes in Sustainable Seafood No Red Lobster here.

Happy Cooking ;)

Sustainable Seafood

Eat For Your Type Healthy Eating

Treeliving.com has a Food Section loaded with Healthy eating tips and ideas. You can read about eating for your body type. The site also has many other helpful hints and tips to help make your home and life a bit greener.

How to eat for your type and other healthy tips under "Food" Treeliving.com

http://www.mylike.treeliving.com/

Happy Eating Healthy ;)

Tip Of The Day: Vitamin B6 and B12 May Slow Alzheimer's

Vitamin B is shown to slow the Alzheimer's disease.

This just out today, research has shown from an Oxford University study found that a high dosage of the vitamin shortened the rate of brain shrinkage in elderly people with memory problems suffering from Dementia/Alzheimer's.

Vitamin B6 and B12, as well as Folic acid, lower the levels of an amino acid that is linked to the brain-cell damage similar to that seen in Alzheimer's.

Patients with the highest levels of the amino acid in their blood showed the most benefit.

The results conflict with earlier findings that Alzheimer's disease patients did not benefit from vitamin B.

This study is published in the journal of American Medical Association (article from CBS/WLS).

Those of you who have a family member suffering from this disease should be aware of the chances you may get it. It is important to prevent this from happening to you. See your Dr. and get a check up and ask about what you can do to prevent you from getting the disease.

Back To School Healthy Eating Guide

Traffic Light Eating:

A Healthy, Easy-to-Follow, Eating Guide!

I picked this up at my Son's School this morning and wanted to share with my readers! So important.

Green = Go!

Eat anytime and as much as you want.

Includes: All Fruits and Vegetables (foods grown on trees or from the ground)

Yellow = Slow Down!

OK to eat every day, but not too much.

Includes: Whole grains (pasta, rice, bread), eggs, fish nuts, seeds, lean meats, turkey/chicken, olive and canola oils, low-fat yogurt and cheeses.

Red = Stop and Think!

Think about making a better choice.

Includes: Butter, cookies, cakes, candy, ice cream, doughnuts, white breads and bagels, chips, sugary beverages (i.e. soda, sports and juice drinks), processed and fatty meats.

"Traffic Light Eating" is the foundation of the L.E.A.N. Programs, developed by famous Pediatrician and child-rearing author, Dr. William Sears.

Taught exclusively by certified L.E.A.N. coaches, L.E.A.N. programs are simple and practical educational workshops designed to inform and educate Parents and caregivers on how to help their children grow up with healthy eating an exercise habits.

The focus of these programs is on the four pillars of health:

Lifestyle - How we live

Exercise - How we move

Attitude - How we think

Nutrition - How we eat (incorporating Traffic Light Eating!)

Parent Workshops: Dr. Sears' Click this link for more info:

Workshops starting January 25, 2010

Birmingham Community Education

Happy Eating!

Mother Nature's Sugar "Honey" Stalked By Impostors?

I read today in the Detroit News that the old fashioned honey bear is losing a long battle! My guess is that if I didn't know it either do you.

There are Honey-flavored syrups now on the store shelves and you the consumer may not even be able to tell that what you are buying is not the real thing!

The honey fakes are packaged just like the real 100% honey and unless you "read" the label you may be purchasing it with out knowing.

It will say 100% pure honey. Period.

The best way to buy pure quality honey is to get it from your local bee keeper. You need to buy it from a local keeper not one from across the country. The bee's honey is produced from the flowers right in your back yard and there for better for you and have been known to help fend off allergies.

Honey has 17 grams of carbs, and 64 calories per tablespoon. Loaded with flavonoids and phenolic acids which act as antioxidants that get rid of free radicals (as stated in the article and from several other sources). Honey is also has healing properties and has remedies to relieve sore throat, flu, sinus pressure, congestion and allergies.

I buy all my "home grown honey" from a gal out in Davisburg, MI where I grew up. Her name is Blanche Barber. Her Husband a former Bee Keeper and volunteer fireman David E. Barber has now passed away but her family still collects and bottles the honey.

You can get Jars, bears, honey sticks for hot tea or for the kids, honey comb, wax, candles and more.

The next time I'm out I will take some photo's and post. It's great to have grown up with such a wonderful piece of Mother Nature. Too bad it took me until I grew up to appreciate it ;)

If you are interested in purchasing honey from Mrs. Barber please call to order: 248-634-7017.

While your out be sure to stop and visit the Davisburg candle factory... been around for over a hundred years and is still making candles!

Quick and Easy Healthy Chicken Stir Fry

In a hurry to make dinner and not a lot of time to do it or are you tired? If so here is a quick and easy recipe any one can do with any meat and veggies on hand.

Here I've whipped up a quick chicken stir fry. In my new handy dandy wok which I love by Nordic Ware provided to us by CSN Stores.

Ingredients:

• Two large chicken breasts sliced thin
• One stalk celery sliced 1/2" thick on an angle
• One large carrot sliced 1/2" thick on an angle
• Two handfuls whole french green beans
• Two scallions (green onions) sliced on an angle
• Two cups cooked whole wheat thin spaghetti noodles
• One large clove garlic, chopped
• Low Sodium Soy Sauce
• 1/2 cup cold water or cold chicken broth
• Corn Starch
• Salt
• Pepper

You can add more or less vegetables: mushrooms, fennel, kayle, ginger etc...

Marinate the chicken slices in two tablespoons low sodium soy sauce while you are slicing up the veggies.

Add one tablespoon olive oil to wok and heat.

Season chicken with salt and pepper add to heated wok, let sit a minute to lightly brown and then turn and cook through. Remove from wok and place in a covered dish, set aside.

Add a dash more oil to wok and add the veggies. Season with salt and pepper. Cook veggies until almost tender but with a bit of a crunch for that "fresh taste".

Mix in a small bowl one tablespoon cornstarch, two tablespoons low sodium soy sauce and 1/2 cup cold water or cold chicken broth, set aside.

Add cooked chicken, whole wheat noodles and veggies to the wok toss to combine and heat, add corn starch soy mixture, toss to combine until thickened (if too thick add a little more broth or water a little at a time).

Remove to serving platter and enjoy.

Serves (2) healthy size servings.

Happy Cooking :)

Counting Calories A New Adventure: Google and Aunt Millies Bread

Okay, so I have been looking at labels once again.

Since I started looking at how many calories I consume daily I have lost three pounds! Not sure where! The clothes don't seem any looser :( but the scale seems to be telling me the truth.

I was very shocked to see that some of my favorite things were on the "oh don't go there list"!

Like rice for instance. One portion is about 238 calories! So my guess is that I will make a recipe with more veggies and less rice? Eating rice is not like eating a portion of fried chicken it's the calories from fat right? Unless you are an expert in the calorie department I recommend checking out this free service from Google:

Free Calorie Counter

This little counter from Google is a wonderful little calculator that lets you type in the food item and it produces the item as well as similar items and the calories. Best of all it's just FREE! You don't even have to sign up or log in ;)

I did find a item to share with you all while starting this little adventure! Aunt Millies's Light Whole Grain Bread. No High Fructose Corn Syrup and it's only 35 Calories Per Slice. Another bonus is that it has 3 grams of Fiber per slice.. yipee! We eat a lot of bread in our house and it has always been some sort of "wheat". After reading the ingredients (the first five which are the most important) it contains: water, whole grain wheat flour, sugar cane fiber, wheat gluten, corn starch and yeast. Dr. Oz says the first five are the most important. So I am not so sure about the "sugar cane fiber" but you bet I will find out and let you know ;)

Happy Calorie Counting ;)

Counting Calories A New Adventure

Okay we eat healthy. We buy organic meats, produce and dairy. On any given day when you open our fridge it is filled to the brim with food, all mostly healthy.

We have cut down on the amount of red meat we consume and have added more fish especially wild Salmon to our diet. Yes, we do have "ice cream" in the fridge, cookies, candy and eat cupcakes once in a while". Yes, we do go to McDonald's but only if we are traveling and only for a special "treat" for the kids once in a while. Drive through is not a daily part of our diet.

Both my husband and I work out. He works out I would say almost everyday. I being the Mother, running kids back and forth to school, cleaning, cooking, errands, laundry have to squeeze time in. So my workouts are about every other day but I do try to get in cardio at least five times a week fitting in yoga and Pilate's.

This Spring I have been working out more. In my mid 40's it is getting harder to keep it off. I have not lost but have gained! What is up with that. The Dr. said I need an hour on the treadmill not a half hour anymore :( So I try to get in the hour and weight, yoga or the others also... pushing it! I cannot get rid of the few extra pounds I have put on.

So, I have started counting calories. I don't eat breakfast so this morning I had a piece of whole wheat toast (dry) with a sliced egg white on top. About 90 Calories. The egg white has no fat but has tons of protein. Whole wheat has the needed fiber you need. And guess what, I just finished and I feel full! My Son had a pop tart 450 calories each!

I started poking around in the fridge to see what the calories were for the every day items we eat. Being surprised a lot of food we do eat has low calories, except the natural peanut butter! It has 200 calories per teaspoon! I buy the natural not Jif, that has basically Crisco added to it. Jelly only has 50 calories, shocking, I thought it would have more than the "healthy" peanut butter!

In moderation right ;)

I will keep you posted on how I do. The other day I basically starved all day and lost 1/2 pound. I know that is cheating and will not help. So today we are doing it right. I am fueled up and ready to go.

Have a great day ;)