The Holidays

Boy oh boy... the holidays have never been as tough for me as this year is.  Down almost 100 pounds now, it's soooo easy to say things like... "Oh, it's just this one bite" or "It's Christmas, I can nibble on this or that"

Really? Can I? NO!!! I CAN NOT!  Why?

Because it's just too easy to get into that bad habit again.  Ask me how I know.  I ate well in Hawaii, a few weeks ago... too well.  I ate some bread... GASP!! I know...but it was just sitting there on my plate, enveloping a lovely pineapple topped burger and avacado.  Could I have taken it off? Sure.  Did I? Nope.
Do I regret it?  Oh yeah!

Regret? is there any place for it? Yeah, especially when the bread hit my stomach like a brick, and my arthritis started flaring up ten fold.  I didn't stop there.  We circled the island in our rental car, and stopped at every stand to buy fresh fruit from sweet little Hawaiian ladies... but I also ate rice, and potatoes, and Japanese noodles.  All to my stomach's chagrin.

I gained 5 lbs on vacation.  I haven't gained one pound in a year and a half, and it took only one week to gain 5 lbs in Hawaii.  I've lost it already, but it took twice as long to lose it as it did to gain it.  I did MUCH better at our Thanksgiving meal.  I ate a ton of veggies, a small amount of meat, and ate NO BREAD AT ALL, and still lost 1 pound that week.  Thank God.

My hubby gained a little weight too.  He ate everything he wanted.  Bread, potatoes, fried foods etc... but you know what?  When he eats my home cooking... he doesn't gain any weight, in fact, when he eats my homemade bread, he LOSES weight, no matter how much of it he eats.  There's got to be something to that.

4 ingredients in my bread, compared to who know how many in store bought bread... hmmmm.... something to think about.  I know I can't have bread in my life, because I feel like my body doesn't do well with it in my system.  But... from time to time, I'll have an open faced sandwich made with my homemade sourdough starter, and it doesn't affect me in the least... of course, I don't over indulge either...

So... this Holiday Season... be kind to yourselves... and don't make excuses for eating badly... eat better 90% of the day, and your pants will fit you all the way through your holidays... eat the bountiful oranges, apples and tangerines that are on sale in the stores now... and stay healthier in the process...

Happy Everything people... much love to you all

Teaching Teens to eat well is such a blessing!!!

Aspartame is the DEVIL...

That's a one liner I wrote on my board last week during my Monday Monologue speech in class...

And it is...

But it's a hard sell to adults.  Everyone is so used to drinking diet this or that...thinking that they are doing something RIGHT by not ingesting calories... oh... but calories are better than chemicals... any day of the week.

Teens... on the other hand... take information and are interested.  They haven't formed life long opinions on food items yet, and are still moldable.  They bodies are young, beautiful, strong and agile, and many of them would like to keep it that way... especially in our youth obsessed, rail thin supermodel world.

It is such a pleasure to talk to teens about food, and have them really take the information in.  They want to live a long time, and have good health... just like us...

Talk to your teens about chemical additives in foods.  Let them know that fresh is best... and they are too precious to be science experiments...

Had a talk about processed foods with my class today...

I approached today's class with trepidation.  I have a very small budget for my cooking class at school, so one day of my week is spent just talking to my students... I'm sure they hate it... but it is a necessary evil.   It's sooo important to teach nutrition to young adults... I was very, very proud of my students today...  They made it very easy for me to teach...

I started with assigning homework requiring them to bring in a food label of any kind from home.  Only a handful of students did it... but it was a good class anyway...

I asked each of them to pass around the labels and write down on word they couldn't understand from the label, and then we went around the room and everyone said their word...

Disodium Phosphate
Maltodextrin
Soy Lecithin
Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil
etc... etc... etc...

I think by the end of class... they were either disgusted... or mad... I couldn't tell... LOL

We broke it down... and I wrote on the board... ASPARTAME = THE DEVIL... Cuz that's how I feel about it.

I told one lovely girl, I'd rather she drank a cup of water with a tablespoon of sugar in it rather than aspartame...

I got some really great questions too... One young man asked if someone could die from drinking an entire of case of Aspartame laden drinks in one day... OOOOHHHH... HOW I WANTED TO SAY YES!~!!   But, alas... I couldn't lie to him... but I did say it doesn't do that person any good... that's for sure...

Another young man asked... "Why is Diet Coke bad for you?"  I didn't have an answer that would jolt him... but I said that no one needs caramel coloring, aspartame, and all the other ingredients in it to quench thirst... I mentioned about three times that all we should be drinking is green tea and water...

Another young lady asked if Gatorade is bad... Again... I WANTED TO SHOUT "YES" FROM THE ROOFTOPS... but... I did admit it does have some electrolytes in it that are beneficial, and it should be drunk only during extreme workouts, and at half strength cut down on the sugar...

They may have been bored silly... but I liked the class... I felt like I may have made them think twice about the types of food we all eat...

Then I passed around an old picture of me 90 lbs heavier... my face looked like it was about to explode... and I explained that I understand that I have a lot more to go.., but on  the inside... I'm actually a 120 lb supermodel and my body hasn't caught up with my brain yet...

I told them... that one day... when they are grocery shopping with their babies and their hubbies one day... and they look into their babies sweet faces and want only the very best for them and they decide to buy their babies only the best, freshest, wholesome food available... and that will make all the difference.

It was a good day at school...

I love my class...

My new Job!!! Promoting good health to a new generation!!!

Boy, it's been a long time since I've been on here.  I sure miss it... but I've been so crazy busy with my new job, I just couldn't bring myself to get on the computer.  But alas... here I am... and so happy to be here...

My new job is sooooo cool!!!

I am a cooking teacher at my two older son's private High School... and I'm loving it... but it's sooo much more now that I have a new way of thinking and eating food.

Now, I have the opportunity to help 16-17 year olds think differently about food, to teach them that food doesn't come from a window while in a car, or from the frozen boxed food aisle.  AND IT'S WORKING!!!

Teens, it turns out, will eat fresh food if it's put in front of them.  GO FIGURE!!!  If the only choice is good, wholesome, fresh, simple food... THEY WILL CHOOSE IT!!!  Wonder of wonders!!!

Parents... listen to me... YOUR KIDS WANT TO EAT GOOD FOOD... I PROMISE... the only reason they eat so much fast food is BECAUSE THEY ARE ALLOWED TO!!!  I know it to be the truth...

I have been talking at length to the students about the detrimental effects of fast food and processed foods, and they are giving lots of information and talking about how they've begun to cut back on bad foods and eating more fresh foods...  SOOOO GREAT!!!

I have a microscopic budget, and cooking really fresh for the students is the best way to make a small budget stretch as far as it can go... ounce for ounce fresh is always less expensive than boxed processed stuff...

I am sooo proud of my class... so grateful I have changed my eating habits and have some young people to share it with...

Yahooooo!!!

Food that Fuels... beans!

Beans, beans, beans and more beans...

Any eating plan that doesn't include a TRUCKLOAD of beans, is not a good plan... in my opinion.

When I eat enough beans, I can go literally 6-7 hours straight without so much as wanting for needing another meal.  That's saying alot, since most adults eat every 4 hours or so...

Beans help everything "move" along in our systems.  Packed with fiber, so much fiber, it's hard to match it with anything else except maybe going out and munching on fresh wheat stalks in a field... beans are the perfect "meat" in a vegetarians day.  Coupled with some brown rice, it's a perfect protein source.

Now, I know that rice isn't "allowed" on the LDL plan... but I beg to differ with BROWN rice.  In a pinch, if I'm in a hurry, I'll scoop out a cup or so of brown rice I made up earlier in the week with just some water and little salt, and add a tsp of Agave Syrup and a splash of milk over it and scarf it down.  It's stays with me until I'm ready for my big lunch meal... and it's got some fiber in it too.

Beans, however, are great in the morning too.  Scramble up an egg or two, mashed up some beans with some hot sauce and seasonings, and place the scrambled eggs over the beans... and WATCH OUT WORLD... energy is at  your doorstep!

Don't enjoy the "music" associated with beans?  Put on drop of BEANO on them everytime you eat them, and that will never be a problem again...

I make my own beans from a bag every week, but you can use canned.  Just be sure to rinse them so all the salt goes down the drain too.

Sooo... eat your beans... and lose that weight!!!

What to do with a 5 foot long zucchini!!!

Ya cook it!!!  That's what ya do!!!

And I did just that...

My Mom brought this home for me from my Uncle's house in San Pedro the other day...

It's 50 inches long.

For those of you that don't know what it is... it's a Squash... a buttery, light green ridiculously yummy one too!

When she presented it to me... it was like being in Zucchini Heaven!!!

My mind immediately started thinking of all the things I was gonna do with it...

Was I going to chop it, slice it, stuff it, fry it, bake it, steam it...

and the answer to all of those is...

YES, YES, YES, YES, YES, AND YES!!!

With a 5 foot long zucchini, you can do ALL of it!!!

Soooo...

I cut a 2 foot section off, and seeded it, rubbed it with Olive Oil, salt and pepper and baked it

to tenderize it... just for a few minutes...

Then I stuff them!!!

This is a mixture of saute'd onions, celery, mushrooms, romano cheese and a tiny bit of Feta on top...

I can smell them now!!!

Lunch is gonna be soooo good!

Then...

I sliced another 1 1/2 feet of it into diagonal medallions...

Sprinkled them with Dill, salt, pepper, granulated garlic, and they are going to bake

in the hot oven until tender...

I will eat them as it...

My family will eat them over Fettucine Pasta dressed with hot olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper and Pecorino Romano shavings...

I still have another 18 inches or so in the fridge... for another day...

Since it fits in the fridge now... I can savor the flavor another day...

Buone Mangiare!!!

Make your own soda at HOME!!! BLECH!!!!

I was taking William to football practice the other day, and I heard on the radio about a product (I refuse to mention the name) that allows people to make their own soda.  The announcer was just RAVING about this product and how it will save the planet from all the bottles and cans using it will save.

I. Was. Sickened.

They were touting that this product will and can help us MAKE OUR OWN SODA at home...

Yep... just what everyone needs... to make soda in the comfort of their own home...

They went on to say that "You can now control what goes into your soda, in your own home... just purchase the product and buy any or all of the 30 flavors of soda syrup, and watch your money add up in your bank account from all those costly cans and bottles!" or something to that effect... YUCK!!!

What they failed to mention was that the "SYRUP" has all the nutrition and benefits of ABSOLUTELY NOTHING... and everyone might as well just start an IV line of chemicals and byproducts and HFCS directly into their veins...OH... and go ahead and make an appt with a Diabetes Doctor, Cardiologist, and the Funeral Director...

Why don't people get it yet!!!  Having never been a real soda drinker, but being married to one, has difficult in the past 20 years.  Drinking sodas wreaked havoc on my husbands system... Luckily, he's over his soda addiction and his blood test numbers are all normal now... but seriously... drinking all that junk, DIET OR OTHERWISE... is just about the WORST thing someone can drink... I swear, I would sooner drink bleach!!!

Diabetes is SKYROCKETING around the globe, predominantly in CHILDREN... and I believe that juice boxes, soda, and DIET soda's are the main culprits... couple that with a few fast food meals every week... and it's "goodbye mortality rate" ... hello... funeral director!

Then, yesterday, I was driving home from Los Angeles, and a big sign for a fast food restaurant touted...
"Go on... this is easier than this"  And it showed how the bag of fast food is soooo much easier than walking into a kitchen.  So the picture showed the bag of food on one side... and a kitchen on the other...nice.. really nice...  Why take responsibility for ourselves when permission is EVERYWHERE to just do what is easiest!!! 

The two beverages that should be ingested are these... water and tea.  THAT'S IT!

If everyone would just switch to drinking ONLY water and tea for a month, not only would the soda habit get broken, but... skin will get better, more money will be in your wallet, health will improve, sugar levels will be lower and weight will be lost.  Yes, even diet soda's are the devil... fake sugar is poison... always has been...always will be...

Take the challenge to end your addiction to soda's... won't you?  You'll be so glad you did!!!
One month, nothing but water and tea... YOU WILL LOVE THE RESULTS!!!