Incredible Weight Loss Guide

Have you always looked for a

weight loss guide

? And you have no result!!! It is really hard to become a slim person nowadays. Lots of diets are fully recommended by lots of people. But, are they working? How can be sure and choose one of them to begin with...

I think this is impossible. Let's take a very fast look at one of the most appropriate diet that is available online:

• Breakfast- fruit and orange juice;
  
• Lunch- a salad or a yoghurt/yogurt
  
• Dinner- a chicken (without fats) or rice.

This must be the perfect diet... Is it right? I think it's not. How is this diet going to help you? Is it going to "give" you the perfect body you always have wanted.

I think you must try something new, something incredible nowadays... Something like Proactol. This is one of the newest products (Although it has more than 5 years experience). Before 2 months, it was not available in most of the countries around the world (only in the USA and Canada). But TODAY!!! It is available worldwide with up to 25% discount. But I am sure now you want some more information about this great product, aren't you?

This is a box that contains some pills. They are 100% clinically proven and the famous doctors worldwide fully recommend that everybody, who has a problem with the weight, should try it. This is the box:



It is nothing special, but it is very effective. These pills are going to change your life. And don't be afraid. There is nothing to be afraid of!!! You are not going to lose anything (except your WEIGHT). I strongly recommend that you should read now some of the thoughts of the people before and after using this product. Testimonials available online here.

Weight loss system

Beautification and looking good is a part of life. We all want to lose weight and go about doing this in different ways. For the past couple of months I have been looking for las vegas cheap hotels so that I can find a good deal. Today I will be talking about perfume, beautification instead of the usual best weight loss pills.

Many men and women often wear perfume. Generally people tend to opt for one or two alternatives and to vary between these flavors. A perfume is simply a mixture of alcohol and other extracts to get the fragrance is maintained for a long time on the body, thus making a person smell good. For many people it's very nice to see that the other person wears a nice scent. At the same time, if you get used to commonly use the same perfume, the aroma becomes a bit more for the individual, it becomes something that identifies it. Almost everyone can keep in your memory and fragrances associated with the person who wears it. It is thus believed that a perfume can show much about you.
A perfume is simply part of the dress and self-image. Just as a suit or dress can make a good impression, also can occur with a perfume. Moreover, the same perfume can feel different for each person because the extracts and fragrances are associated with skin contact and cause a different reaction in each body. In consequence of this is that some men and women fragrances can feel more intensely than others and some people can endure the smell a few hours and others lasting all day
In addition to forming part of the image, use perfume becomes a feature that shows the health and personal care. An individual who uses perfume is proving to be an individual who is interested in making a good impression and also care and personal hygiene.
Not wear perfume has to be something you do only thinking about the effect it can have on others. Furthermore it is nice to you. Use perfume can be a way to care for and worry about yourself. Smelling nice is always something that will help you feel better about yourself.

Till next time.

In a FUNK!

I had plans, BIG plans on March 1st...and a week later, I get a stupid cold.  I can work through colds, the minor ones, but this one, it was sneaky.  It came on mild, then after a few days, it hit HARD, then everything seemed fine.  Fine except for feeling like I got hit by a truck.  I seriously felt like I did when I had mono in my teens.  During this ordeal, I decided that a little break from exercise would be good to muster my energy back up.  So here I am, back to about 95% of health, planning to get back on the wagon.  I WILL hit my goal this year, just need to get back on the path that will get me there.

Life is like a bike ride - up a very steep hill

Yesterday I went for a bike ride in a nearby neighborhood that I've never been to before. I ended up on an extremely steep street as it wound down to the waterfront. Halfway down the hill I decided to stop and take a video (which didn't turn out).

When I was ready to take off again, I looked at how steep the hill was going down, I decided there was no way I could do it. I had a fear of flipping over head first. I'm use to hills, but this one was a suicide hill. I decided to turn around and head back up the hill. The problem, the hill was just as steep going up it as it was going down.

There were houses on one side and the waterfront on the other side. I kept thinking maybe there were people inside the houses watching me. My pride wouldn't let me push my bike up the hill. I thought I'm strong and powerful, I can do it.

After six failed attempts at getting my bike started back up the hill, after coming close to falling over and crashing to the pavement, I finally realized I couldn't do it. I couldn't bike up this hill starting at the mid-point. I swallowed my pride and pushed my bike up the hill. It was humiliating, but I had no other choice.

On my way home I starting thinking my bike ride is exactly how my weight loss has been for my entire life. Sometimes I just fly up the hills, sometimes I just can't do it and I fall, over and over I'll fall. My pride gets hurt, I'm humiliated with weight gains, and I finally, I just give up.

Right now I'm practically coasting downhill with my weight loss. I'm going through one of those "this is so damn easy, why was I struggling" phases. I'm smart enough to know the easy button won't last forever. It never does.

So why is my weight loss different this time? Why is this ride different than the other hundred plus times I've done this?

Number one is you. Yes, the you that is reading this right now. I feel like I owe you something, that I want you to know this can be done.

I'm just like you, I have a major problem with food. I love food a little too much, and it's been too big of a focus in my life. I use it for comfort and I use it for joy. I've struggled my entire life trying to get to a healthy weight and stay there. I want to prove to you it can be done by eating healthy, regular foods. I want to give you hope.

I know how hard it is to lose weight, I've been doing it since I was fourteen. I'm fifty-four. That's forty years of trying to lose weight. You would think with all that practice I  would have figured it out. The fact is I'm great at losing weight. I've lost hundreds of pounds over the years. My problem is that I've never kept the weight off for more than a year. I bet you're sitting there nodding your head yes, and thinking "me too!".

I want to show you this is possible. Believe me when I say this...if I can lose weight and keep it off, anyone can do it. Since I'm someone that's failed at this numerous times, it's logical that I'll fail at it again. Yet, I have confidence this time is different from all the other times. I'm not being cocky, and I'm not feeling like I'm superior or I have secret knowledge on how to do this. Or that I'm stronger or more disciplined than anyone else. In fact, just the opposite is true. I'm kind of lazy, I have no discipline, and my follow through on most things suck. Yet I truly believe I can do this, and I believe you can too.

There are some other things that are different this time around. It has a to do with my eating, how and what I'm eating. I have a post started which I'll publish later this week. I don't know if it'll help anyone else but it's working for me. Again, it's not secret information or any new revelation. It's just something I've been trying for the last three weeks that has kind of changed my life.

Speaking of bike rides, I think I'll go for one while the sun is still shining.

My weighin Saturday, March 28, 2010
I set the goal of 170 six weeks ago. I didn't quite make it, but close enough. I'm also losing a little faster than desired these last two weeks. The week before last I lost 3.2 pounds and then this week 2.8 pounds. That's a total of six pounds in two weeks. I was "talked to" by the weighin gal and then the Weight Watchers online weight tracker gave me a warning that I'm losing too fast.

I eat all the time (every three hours when I'm awake), but my night binges are under control. Plus I'm sleeping more these days, seven to eight hours a night.

Goal for next week, April 3, is 169.6.

My most favorite store
Of course it's a grocery store, what else would be my favorite store?! It's not just any store, it's HMart. I'm in love with this place. It's like a super store of Asian markets. It's huge.

It's a Korean store, but they carry all different kinds of Asian food and some American food too. The best part is their fresh produce section. It's unbelievable. For example, they have six different types of bok choy. The produce guys, who are all Korean, speak perfect English. The produce section is so huge they usually have four guys working in that area, putting out fresh produce. It's like a huge adventure every time I go there.

I wanted to take pictures because it's so amazing, but it turns out grocery stores have a rule of not taking pictures inside their stores. I got into big trouble at the Metropolitan Market in Seattle a couple weeks ago. I thought the guy was going to take my camera away from me. Stupid rule.

If you have an HMart near you, you absolutely must go visit it. It's always strange to me that there are so few Caucasians in this store. I was a towering blond amongst a sea of dark-haired, petite people. The variety of their produce and seafood is beyond amazing. I so love this store!

A few of my purchases yesterday (that's yucca in the middle - I'm making a Cuban dish with it tonight)

The neighbor cat, Bear. He's kind of in love with me. If I leave anything of mine laying anywhere, he curls up with it and goes to sleep. This was my iPod strap left on the bed. He curled up with it wrapped in his paw and went to sleep. He does the same thing with my clothes or my robe or my purse. Anything of mine, but not my husband's stuff. Which is odd because my husband is the one that keeps letting him in the house. I keep telling him to go home. Although he is pretty darn adorable.

A body worth keeping

I've had very few dreams in the last couple of years that I actually remembered when I woke up. Since I started sleeping more I've been remembering my dreams. Some of the dreams are good, some not so good, some borderline nightmares.

Last night was a good dream. I think it stemmed from something I've started doing every morning after I get out of the shower. The idea came from Mary, when she suggested to try and say something nice about our body.

I've been doing the opposite for years. Almost every day I've been saying something or several things bad about my body for as long as I can remember. During the past week, each day I've stood in front of the mirror, naked, and found something positive to focus on.

This little task is not always easy. My natural response is to immediately go for the negative. Hips too wide, thighs too fat, stomach sticks out too much. You know the routine.

Every morning  last week I said something nice to myself about my body. Nice shoulders, strong arms, narrow waist, strong legs. I also touch the body part and could feel the muscles underneath the skin. Skin that's 54 years old and has been stretched and shrunk many times with my yo-yo dieting. Even though it's not the taut skin of a 20-year old, it's still soft with firm muscle underneath in most areas.

I still turn sideways and stare at my belly with disdain, as well as the hips and thighs. However, I try to end each one of these morning evaluations with something positive. Love the shoulders Diana! Great triceps! Just one positive thing.

The dream last night was odd, but it was a good dream. I was doing the Camel yoga pose. It's the pose where you kneel, bend backwards arching your spine and grab your ankles, and stretch, tucking your hips in and thrusting out your chest.

While I was doing this, I was also outside my body. My other self was touching my naked back, admiring the firmness of it. My stomach didn't stick out since I was arched backwards. In my dream I didn't even notice my hips or my thighs. I just remember thinking what a strong body I had, that I liked it. That it was a good body.

It was just a dream, but I woke up thinking wow, that was profound. Was that my subconscious telling me it's okay that my hips are too wide and my thighs are fat? That I'm still strong and powerful and should be happier with my body.

Another thought I had when I woke up this morning is that I'll never be fat again. I know we all say that when we lose weight. It's the mantra I hear and read all the time. I've done it myself.

Recently I went back to some of my old posts where I said "85 pounds gone forever!". I was so cocky and so sure of myself. Then I gained 20 pounds. That knocked the wind right out of my sails.

I'm completely back on plan now and have been for about three weeks. I've made some significant changes in my eating which I'll write about in a later post. Things that we all know, but I never actually tried doing. There's no magic pill, but there are things that work like magic (with a little hard work thrown in).

I think I want to keep this body. If it means an hour at the gym every day for the rest of my life, I'm okay with it. I've been doing that for over two years now and it's really not that big of a deal. If it means I have to eat less but eat healthy, delicious foods, I can do that too. This body is worth any hard work it takes to keep it as healthy as possible for as long as possible. It's a body worth keeping.

I guess I found my words. :)

Fun Friday: It's All about Change

Are you ready for some good times?Then join us for the LivingAfterWLS Fun Friday weekly game where we answer questions, get to know one another and win fabulous prizes! This week our question is presented by our fun and daring Fun Friday Hostess DarlingGwenda from Down Under who asks the evocative and provocative question "How has weight loss surgery changed your life?" There are no boundaries

Grapes and the Low-Glycemic Index

Neighborhood Question:Regarding Low Glycemic Index Fruits & Vegetables: What about grapes? They are different on each list I've found. I don't have them as an ingredient in anything, but sometimes when I have to have something, instead of reaching for chips, I go for grapes.Kaye's Answer:Grapes - They are a crafty fruit so innocent and delicious yet such a real trouble maker when they mix with

Interesting Articles in the AJCN

I just received an RSS alert for the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition's latest articles. This upcoming issue is full of very interesting material:

1. Dr. Neil D. Barnard reviews food consumption patterns in the US from 1909 to 2007 (1). This is something I've written about a number of times. The most notable change is that industrial seed oil use has increased by more than 3-fold in the last 40 years, and even more in the last 100 although he doesn't provide those numbers. Butter and lard use declined sharply. Meat consumption is up, but the increase comes exclusively from poultry because we're eating the same amount of red meat we always have. Grain consumption is down, although it peaked around 1900 so it may not be a fair comparison with today:

In the late 1800s, wheat flours became more popular and available due to the introduction of new [high-gluten] wheat varieties, [low extraction] milling techniques, and transport methods, and during this time new breakfast cereals were introduced by John Harvey Kellogg, CW Post, and the Quaker Oats Company. Thereafter, however, per capita availability of flour and cereal products gradually dropped as increased prosperity, improved mechanization, and transport (eg, refrigerated railway cars) increased competition from other food groups. [Then they partially rebounded in the last 40 years]

2. Dr. S.C. Larsson published a paper showing that in Sweden, multivitamin use is associated with a slightly higher risk of breast cancer (2).

3. Soy protein and isoflavones, which have been proposed to do everything from increase bone mineral density to fight cancer, are slowly falling out of favor. Dr. Z.M. Liu and colleagues show that soy protein and/or isoflavone supplementation has no effect on insulin sensitivity or glucose tolerance in a 6 month trial (3). This follows a recent trial showing that isoflavones have no effect on bone mineral density.

4. Dr. Ines Birlouez-Aragon and colleagues showed that high-heat cooked (fried and sauteed) foods increase risk factors for diabetes and cardiovascular disease (insulin resistance, cholesterol, triglycerides), compared to low-heat cooked foods (steamed, stewed) in a one-month trial (4). The high-heat diet also reduced serum levels of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids and vitamins C and E.

5. Dr. Katharina Nimptsch and colleagues showed that higher menaquinone (vitamin K2) intake is associated with a lower cancer incidence and lower cancer mortality in Europeans (5). Most of their K2 came from cheese.

6. And finally, Dr. Zhaoping Li and colleagues showed that cooking meat with an herb and spice blend reduced the levels of oxidized fat during cooking, and reduced serum and urinary markers of lipid oxidation in people eating the meat (6).

The take-home message? Eat stewed beef with herbs, but don't pre-brown it in vegetable oil. Throw out the tofu and have some artisanal cheese instead.

Interesting Articles in the AJCN

I just received an RSS alert for the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition's latest articles. This upcoming issue is full of very interesting material:

1. Dr. Neil D. Barnard reviews food consumption patterns in the US from 1909 to 2007 (1). This is something I've written about a number of times. The most notable change is that industrial seed oil use has increased by more than 3-fold in the last 40 years, and even more in the last 100 although he doesn't provide those numbers. Butter and lard use declined sharply. Meat consumption is up, but the increase comes exclusively from poultry because we're eating the same amount of red meat we always have. Grain consumption is down, although it peaked around 1900 so it may not be a fair comparison with today:

In the late 1800s, wheat flours became more popular and available due to the introduction of new [high-gluten] wheat varieties, [low extraction] milling techniques, and transport methods, and during this time new breakfast cereals were introduced by John Harvey Kellogg, CW Post, and the Quaker Oats Company. Thereafter, however, per capita availability of flour and cereal products gradually dropped as increased prosperity, improved mechanization, and transport (eg, refrigerated railway cars) increased competition from other food groups. [Then they partially rebounded in the last 40 years]

2. Dr. S.C. Larsson published a paper showing that in Sweden, multivitamin use is associated with a slightly higher risk of breast cancer (2).

3. Soy protein and isoflavones, which have been proposed to do everything from increase bone mineral density to fight cancer, are slowly falling out of favor. Dr. Z.M. Liu and colleagues show that soy protein and/or isoflavone supplementation has no effect on insulin sensitivity or glucose tolerance in a 6 month trial (3). This follows a recent trial showing that isoflavones have no effect on bone mineral density.

4. Dr. Ines Birlouez-Aragon and colleagues showed that high-heat cooked (fried and sauteed) foods increase risk factors for diabetes and cardiovascular disease (insulin resistance, cholesterol, triglycerides), compared to low-heat cooked foods (steamed, stewed) in a one-month trial (4). The high-heat diet also reduced serum levels of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids and vitamins C and E.

5. Dr. Katharina Nimptsch and colleagues showed that higher menaquinone (vitamin K2) intake is associated with a lower cancer incidence and lower cancer mortality in Europeans (5). Most of their K2 came from cheese.

6. And finally, Dr. Zhaoping Li and colleagues showed that cooking meat with an herb and spice blend reduced the levels of oxidized fat during cooking, and reduced serum and urinary markers of lipid oxidation in people eating the meat (6).

The take-home message? Eat stewed beef with herbs, but don't pre-brown it in vegetable oil. Throw out the tofu and have some artisanal cheese instead.

Please stay tuned

It's not that I can't think about anything to write, I just don't feel like writing. Yet I don't want anyone to think I've quit or given up or stopped blogging. I know it's silly to post about nothing.

Just letting you know I'm still here, still eating right, going to the gym, and my pants are feeling looser these days. I'm reading more blogs too, so that takes up what little free time I have in the evenings before I go to bed and to sleep by 8:30 p.m. every day.

A few pictures from a lunch out yesterday with my team from work. They chose a Japanese steakhouse, not my first choice. Especially because they always pour a ton of oil and add what I think is lard (it looks like yellow Crisco) to whatever they cook on the Hibachi. Even if you ask them not to do it, they still do it anyway. I had the Hibachi Chicken, but I only ate maybe 1/3 of it. I'm sure it was still very high in calories and fat (Points). Oh well, I took one for the team.

I promise I'll get my writing mojo back eventually. Just not feeling it today. :)

And yes, that's a fireman putting out the fire. Very classy.

 Most people think this is cool, I don't really like it because I feel like I'm going to catch on fire.

Wowzarooony!

So.... many comments to moderate and MANY apologies for not blogging sooner - SORRY DARLINKS

Anyway, back to business. Now there's a word. The shop is going great guns, and was also the reason for the blogging absence. I have been at the shop every day, all day (and most evenings) since 1st March. - 24 looooong days and nights.Before we got the keys i was deliberating on having an unfill... well I did have a smidgen taken out. I SERIOUSLY considered having the lot out, but I ended up having 0.5mls out. DH suggested 0.5mls because I was fine on 7ml all through our Cretan holiday and afterward and that if that was all ok, then there should be no reason to have the lot out. So I plumped for 0.5, but to be brutally honest, I think I should have had 0.75 as I am still a bit too sticky for my liking and I wanted a rest.

If I have any more out I might even just go the whole hog and have a good long rest from the band and let my stomach lining plump up and then re-start this journey... but I am happy right now.
One of the main reasons for the unfill was because I was barely eating anything. I would cook all these beautiful meals and eat nothing. I would have to drink black coffee then milky coffee and then some warm mint tea to get the stoma working and then the mushy part of the dinner and then drink a bit and then some more until I was able to get to a part I needed to chew. If I didn't follow this regime I ate absolutely nothing and barfed. It was impossible to eat without having lots of drinks first and during the meal. they also had to be warm. Cold drinks = full stop stoma.

It was obvious I needed some out. Immediately after my unfill (after a day at work where I had stopped twice in a layby to HMS a coffee I had at a pupils house and then a cup of tea a little later on) I instantly slugged down a well needed glass of water. I felt it go straight down and was plain old relieved.

I could not face the prospect of renovating a shop and doing everything that my life entailed + all the extra on a tight as a badgers ass band. NAAAAaaaah AH!
Anyway, everything was sweet. The lady called Jane was really nice, even though it was a hefty price at £125, but she came to my house at a time that suited me, and to be fair it normally costs £90 and I have to drive for 5 hours to do it, and the petrol is about £35 anyway, so not really that bothered about it. It was great. Ran in from work and she was here having a coffee. I hopped on my sofa, she donned an apron, scrubbed her hands, disinfected my belly, opened a sterile blanket and laid out the needle and other such junk and we were done in about 1 minute. We had a good chat and then I got changed and went off to my FIL's wedding reception where I ATE REAL FOOD!!!!! WOW it was so cool. I even had seconds. then had a little panic that there was more taken out that she said, until I ate some bread roll and realized it was still not 100% me, my stomach and I all on our own thank God!!

So yes, that also tells you all that FIL from hell also finally married The Mistress. geeez what a state it was. I just cant sum it up well enough, but its on a par with the Sunday Dinner debacle of a year or so ago (for those of you who only just started reading my blog see Roast Dinner)We had been told to arrive at 7pm. Well DH doesn't walk through the door until 6:30pm, so we were on a bit of a hiding to nowhere trying to then get changed and to a pub 35 miles away by 7pm. We told him this in advance and he called us on the Friday to tell us he had told the 'caterers' to hold serving the food until 8pm for us. When he said caterers, he meant Dave and Marge the pub landlords of the poxy pub he was having it in.
Anyway, we didn't bother telling him that I was having an unfill which would push the time back further as it was soooo not worth the hassle - you see when we has said Sorry, we might be pushing it for 7pm he replied "Well it is a once in a lifetime thing!" - he being on his 2nd marriage and The Mistress being on her 4th victim now. It was all DH could do not to swallow the phone hole! Oh the laughs!!!!So at 7pm I was on the sofa being de filled, and we finally rocked up to the 'venue' (aka poxy grimy village of the damned pub) and walked in. FIL was at the bar and Mistress was in the other corner of the room. There were about 10 people dotted around. My first guess was that we were early (?!?!) but actually no one had bothered to come for sad bar-stewards wedding reception cos everyone hates him. You only have to consider the fact that neither of them bothered to come and say hello as we walked in, and didn't even acknowledge us. DH made a point of going up to him and saying hello and shaking his hand, but Mistress didn't even say hi all evening. There was an almighty row about 3 hours later when the taxi company didn't turn up to take the guests who had bothered to come back to their 'hotel' (aka the spare room in his house) and he then gets to use his favorite word 'sue' again. "I could sue them for ruining my wedding reception' 'Son, would you sign an affidavit saying that they never turned up?' of for FUCKS SAKE.
Its so pathetic. He got married in South Africa, sent us a postcard with a pre printed label on it saying they got married at such and such time, on such and such day - nice for a son to get that in the post - he couldn't even hand frigging write the thing! Then he comes back here. tell us hes hired a lovely 'venue', got 80 guests coming including some high flying sheik from Egypt, tells us hes managed to secure a couple of suites in a hotel for the guests and that they are having caterers to do the meal. Its formal wear etc etc.
the reality - which BITES ASS - its a buffet in a grim village pub for 14 people and you can stay over at his gaff for the night if you want. He was wearing Farah slacks and a nice cowboy checked shirt. Some freaking formal wear. We looked like we turned up to the wrong party!! DH and DS were both in Suits and I was wearing evening dress. its absolutely sucked bullshit.

The food was very well thought out too... NOT. A buffet ok? Roast dinner, or Chicken curry. pudding was lemon meringue pie. What the? Who the hell chose that?
Anyway, thankfully its over and they can get on with their sad lives. It was just the most fun time looking through their wedding snaps where they had rent-a-crowd to their wedding reception + loads of half starved raggedy African children paid to sit still for 5 mins by the look of it - I am so NOT joking here. Then we got a nice one of their wedding bed covered in rose petals, and one of her leg with a garter cutting of the circulation to her varicose legs. *VOMIT* about 100 of them snogging - EWWWWWWWW. It is especially grim considering I could not shake the consideration of what its like to snog someone with 3 rotten stumps for teeth and has the worst vintage halitosis on the planet. Mmmm tasty!There was also a nice on of her looking over her shoulder at the camera all virginal with the shoulder of her dress pulled low. OMFG. ****WRETCH****

They must be so in love that FIL must have forgotten that his son took on a shop at the beginning of the month. Young love hey? So we got the keys the day after this horror, but FIL has not bothered to ask how its going, or come to see the place or anything at all. Nice kick in the guts for my darling DH.
So I have been working my little tooshie off turning it from hell to heaven, and its looking seriously good.
These are some photos of the place inside before the revamp
I took these while we were viewing the place before we got the keys... this is still has the other guys stuff in and all his crap before he moved out.
These are from when we got busy inside the place... I had to sterilize the place as the guy who had it before lived in it like an ANIMAL. There was a beef curry in the fridge 1 YEAR OLD and actual human faeces on the wash basin in the loo. GRIM doesn't describe it.

This is not DH btw, its the alarm systems engineer. lol


some during the refit...

And the finished article. I will post more when its completely open and I can get it with jewels in it too :)

Sorry...just can't find my words tonight

Ducks at the Angle Lake, near my office

I guess I'm going through a little something. Not really depression, just taking stock of my life. Trying to figure out if I'm really living my best life. My automatic answer to that question is no.

The food and exercise are going well. No crazy binges, no cravings, just me eating right, tracking my Points. Going to the gym. Boring stuff.

My favorite new dessert, frozen Red Muscat grapes - to die for. One cup is one Point. A green diamond filling food.

Sorry, no big revelations about anything.

Later.

Day 6 Checklist - Nurturing Checkup

Hello Neighbors & Day 6 Enthusiasts!As you know part of our "Day 6" way of life is closely monitoring how we nurture our bodies nutritionally, physically, emotionally, spiritually, and socially. In the Day 6 book this is covered at length and on Page 122 there is a daily checklist to help us monitor how we are doing so we can celebrate our progress and make improvements or corrections when

Avoid these 5 Day Pouch Test Mistakes

Weight Loss Tricks that can change your life forever

Some weight loss tricks, available online now in our blog. You have recently looked for some. We have collected it for you. We know all you want to

lose weight

.


Diet and the GYM are working methods for weight loss, but I disagree with the fact that they must be recommended methods for weight loss. Our visitors contact me on skype (patco444 is my skype ID) and asked me what to do in order to burn the fats. I want to give you some quick tips for weight loss. Proactol is the proven method for being a slim person. 100% healthy, more than 500,000 customers per month and 100% money back guarantee. You should read their website and see some more information. Thank you for reading our website, I hope we managed to help you lose weight.

New Review of Controlled Trials Replacing Saturated fat with Industrial Seed Oils

Readers Stanley and JBG just informed me of a new review paper by Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian and colleagues. Dr. Mozaffarian is one of the Harvard epidemiologists responsible for the Nurse's Health study. The authors claim that overall, the controlled trials show that replacing saturated fat with polyunsaturated fat from industrial seed oils, but not carbohydrate or monounsaturated fat (as in olive oil), slightly reduces the risk of having a heart attack:

These findings provide evidence that consuming PUFA in place of SFA reduces CHD events in RCTs [how do you like the acronyms?]. This suggests that rather than trying to lower PUFA consumption, a shift toward greater population PUFA consumption in place of SFA would significantly reduce rates of CHD.

Looking at the studies they included in their analysis (and at those they excluded), it looks like they did a very nice job cherry picking. For example:

• They included the Finnish Mental Hospital trial, which is a terrible trial for a number of reasons. It wasn't randomized, appropriately controlled or even semi-blinded*. Thus, it doesn't fit the authors' stated inclusion criteria, but they included it in their analysis anyway**. Besides, the magnitude of the result has never been replicated by better trials, not even close.
  
• They included two trials that changed more than just the proportion of SFA to PUFA. For example, the Oslo Diet-heart trial replaced animal fat with seed oils, but also increased fruit, nut, vegetable and fish intake, while reducing trans fat margarine intake! The STARS trial increased both omega-6 and omega-3, reduced processed food intake, and increased fruit and vegetable intake! These obviously aren't controlled trials isolating the issue of dietary fat substitution. If you subtract the four inappropriate trials from their analysis, which is half the studies they analyzed, the result disappears. Those four just happened to show the largest reduction in heart attack mortality...
  
• They excluded the Rose et al. corn oil trial and the Sydney Diet-heart trial. Both found a large increase in total mortality from replacing animal fat with seed oils, and the Rose trial found a large increase in heart attack deaths (the Sydney trial didn't report CHD deaths, but Dr. Mozaffarian et al. stated in their paper that they contacted authors to obtain unpublished results. Why didn't they contact the authors of this study?).

The authors claim, based on their analysis, that replacing 5% of calories as saturated fat with polyunsaturated fat would reduce the risk of having a heart attack by 10%. Take a minute to think about the implications of that statement. For the average American, that means cutting saturated fat nearly in half to 6% of energy, which is a real challenge if you want to have a semblance of a normal diet. It also means nearly doubling PUFA intake, which will come mostly from seed oils if you follow the authors' advice.

So basically, even if the authors' conclusion were correct, you overhaul your whole diet and replace natural foods with bland unnatural foods, and...? You reduce your 10-year risk of having a heart attack from 10 percent to 9 percent. Without affecting your overall risk of dying! The paper states that the interventions didn't affect overall mortality at all. That's what they're talking about here. Sign me up!


* Autopsies were not conducted in a blinded manner. Physicians knew which hospital the cadavers came from, because autopsies were done on-site. There is some confusion about this point because the second paper states that physicians interpreted the autopsy reports in a blinded manner. But that doesn't make it blinded, since the autopsies weren't blinded. The patients were also not blinded, so the study overall was highly susceptible to bias.

** They refer to it as "cluster randomized". I don't know if that term accurately applies to the Finnish trial or not. The investigators definitely didn't randomize the individual patients: whichever hospital a person was being treated in, that's the food he/she ate. There were only two hospitals, so "cluster randomization" in this case would just refer to deciding which hospital got the intervention first. Can this accurately be called randomized?

New Review of Controlled Trials Replacing Saturated fat with Industrial Seed Oils

Readers Stanley and JBG just informed me of a new review paper by Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian and colleagues. Dr. Mozaffarian is one of the Harvard epidemiologists responsible for the Nurse's Health study. The authors claim that overall, the controlled trials show that replacing saturated fat with polyunsaturated fat from industrial seed oils, but not carbohydrate or monounsaturated fat (as in olive oil), slightly reduces the risk of having a heart attack:

These findings provide evidence that consuming PUFA in place of SFA reduces CHD events in RCTs [how do you like the acronyms?]. This suggests that rather than trying to lower PUFA consumption, a shift toward greater population PUFA consumption in place of SFA would significantly reduce rates of CHD.

Looking at the studies they included in their analysis (and at those they excluded), it looks like they did a very nice job cherry picking. For example:

• They included the Finnish Mental Hospital trial, which is a terrible trial for a number of reasons. It wasn't randomized, appropriately controlled or even semi-blinded*. Thus, it doesn't fit the authors' stated inclusion criteria, but they included it in their analysis anyway**. Besides, the magnitude of the result has never been replicated by better trials, not even close.
  
• They included two trials that changed more than just the proportion of SFA to PUFA. For example, the Oslo Diet-heart trial replaced animal fat with seed oils, but also increased fruit, nut, vegetable and fish intake, while reducing trans fat margarine intake! The STARS trial increased both omega-6 and omega-3, reduced processed food intake, and increased fruit and vegetable intake! These obviously aren't controlled trials isolating the issue of dietary fat substitution. If you subtract the four inappropriate trials from their analysis, which is half the studies they analyzed, the result disappears. Those four just happened to show the largest reduction in heart attack mortality...
  
• They excluded the Rose et al. corn oil trial and the Sydney Diet-heart trial. Both found a large increase in total mortality from replacing animal fat with seed oils, and the Rose trial found a large increase in heart attack deaths (the Sydney trial didn't report CHD deaths, but Dr. Mozaffarian et al. stated in their paper that they contacted authors to obtain unpublished results. Why didn't they contact the authors of this study?).

The authors claim, based on their analysis, that replacing 5% of calories as saturated fat with polyunsaturated fat would reduce the risk of having a heart attack by 10%. Take a minute to think about the implications of that statement. For the average American, that means cutting saturated fat nearly in half to 6% of energy, which is a real challenge if you want to have a semblance of a normal diet. It also means nearly doubling PUFA intake, which will come mostly from seed oils if you follow the authors' advice.

So basically, even if the authors' conclusion were correct, you overhaul your whole diet and replace natural foods with bland unnatural foods, and...? You reduce your 10-year risk of having a heart attack from 10 percent to 9 percent. Without affecting your overall risk of dying! The paper states that the interventions didn't affect overall mortality at all. That's what they're talking about here. Sign me up!


* Autopsies were not conducted in a blinded manner. Physicians knew which hospital the cadavers came from, because autopsies were done on-site. There is some confusion about this point because the second paper states that physicians interpreted the autopsy reports in a blinded manner. But that doesn't make it blinded, since the autopsies weren't blinded. The patients were also not blinded, so the study overall was highly susceptible to bias.

** They refer to it as "cluster randomized". I don't know if that term accurately applies to the Finnish trial or not. The investigators definitely didn't randomize the individual patients: whichever hospital a person was being treated in, that's the food he/she ate. There were only two hospitals, so "cluster randomization" in this case would just refer to deciding which hospital got the intervention first. Can this accurately be called randomized?

Remembering Army Private First Class Erin McLyman - A real war hero

Driving home tonight I noticed the large flag next to the ball field was flying at half mast. The wind was blowing hard and the flag was at 90 degrees from the flag pole, as though it was saluting those passing by. Every time I see a flag at half mast my heart sinks because in Washington state that usually means another fallen soldier.

This young lady, U.S. Army Private First Class Erin McLyman, died in Iraq last week from a mortar attack supporting Iraqi Operation Freedom. A real war. Her story is amazing because she completely turned her life around as a teenager, but her life has had a sad ending.

My heart and prayers go out to her new husband and her family and all the other soldiers fighting for freedom.

Lifestyle-related Chronic Diseases

"Of the one trillion dollars America spends annually on health care, the CDC estimates that 70% of that is spent on lifestyle-related chronic diseases, such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.  A surprising number of people accept all this as a normal part of life, believing that some of us are just fortunate to have "good genes" and the rest must cross their fingers against bad luck...The story is sad, but the good news is that your destiny for the most part is in your hands."  -  Mark Sisson

While working on my degree, I read this over and over, and it's true!  Most of the health issues we see today, are related to our lifestyles.  If we can change our lifestyles, these diseases won't be so prevalent.  According to the above statistic, Americans are digging their graves one spoonful at a time.  Are you?

Sunday update: It' not really a war

I managed to get to the gym this morning. After three days of bed rest and nursing my cold, it wasn't an easy workout. Thirty minutes on the StairMaster and 40 minutes of upper body strength training. I felt weaker than usual, but I got through it.

While I was on the StairMaster I was thinking about my post from earlier this morning, about it being a war trying to stay on track. I insinuated every day is a battle, but that's not really true. Some days are definitely difficult, some days are easier. Sometimes it feels like there's an internal battle of wills going on in my head, eat this but don't eat that, or don't eat at all.

There are times I just want to stop thinking about food, stop thinking about Points, and just let it be. Unfortunately, that type of thinking is what got me up to my highest weight of 245 pounds.

I believe it's wrong to think of this as a war. I can't live in a constant state of battle, fighting with myelf about doing the "right" thing when it comes to food. Constantly condemning myself for making the wrong choice serves no real purpose except to lower my already low self-esteem.

My ultimate goal is to make peace with food. To eat when hungry, to not overeat for comfort. Basically I want to eat to live, not live to eat. I don't want to constantly have the fight going on in my head about food.

I don't want to live in a battleground about food on a daily basis. That's not sustainable for the long run, and I'm in this for the long run. Whether I'll ever reach that goal of making peace with how I deal with food is yet to be seen, but it's something I'm striving towards.

Lost a battle but not the war

Last night I had a little slip. I went to bed at 8 p.m., exhausted from being awake all day and fighting my cold. I took a dose of NyQuil and fell asleep immediately.

At midnight I was wide awake and ravenous. No matter how hard I fought with myself to go back to sleep, I couldn't do it. I felt hungry and finally after tossing and turning for about thirty minutes, I headed to the kitchen for a snack. Just a little something so I could go back to sleep. It felt like I was sleep walking, but I was aware enough to not go totally crazy.

I decided on an Oroweat Sandwich Thin with Weight Watcher whipped cream cheese. I didn't measure the cream cheese, but it was about three tablespoons. I also had about a cup and a half of fresh strawberries. Total value of four Points, which I added to the tracker under yesterday making it a 33.5 Point day. Ouch.

Certainly not my best day, but I could have done a lot worse. Remember the cup of pecans I had a few weeks ago for 20 Points? Along with a variety of other foods in the middle of the night. I didn't even bother to keep track of what I was eating during those middle of the night rampages.

I lost the battle of wills last night, but it was just one night and a minor infraction. That kind of thing is going to happen. I'm not perfect and I don't pretend to be perfect. The war continues.

Losing Weight by Running

David has lost over 160 pounds in under one year. He used to weight 360 and now weighs just under 200.

He did this by changing his eating habits and by starting a running program. He's training for his first marathon. A year ago he couldn't run 18 yards, last week he ran 18 miles.

See an inspiring video of him before and after his weight loss here.

The little train that could

I managed to get showered, dressed and drive to my Weight Watchers 11 a.m. meeting today. Even though I still feel stuffed up with a runny nose I wanted to see the results of a week of really trying to stay on plan.

I'm one of the unfortunates that when I'm sick I'm more hungry than when I'm not sick. Instead of my usual, "poor me, I'm sick, eat whatever I want" attitude". . I really worked on re-wiring my head this past week (thanks Roxie!). I decided just because I didn't feel good, it didn't mean I had to eat whatever and whenever I wanted.

I tried to eat mostly filling foods (the green diamond foods) and cut out as much processed food as possible. For example, no Weight Watchers junk food...ice cream bars, since it seems it's impossible for me to eat just one of any of their products (more on this later).

I also ate every three hours and really tried to make every snack a "complete" snack of a protein and a carb. The snacks are never over two Points. Something small, just to take the edge off the hunger.

The other thing I did this week that I haven't done in months is that I allowed myself to feel a little hungry. Not the starving to death hunger, but a little bit hungry. I have to accept that it's normal to get hungry between meals. It's not a bad thing, in fact, it means my body is probably digging into its stored fat for energy. It won't kill me to have a few hunger pains. I just need to accept it as part of life.

I'm pretty happy about this week's results. It just proves that I still know how to do this, I know what it takes to get to where I want to go. A few tweaks here and there and I'm back on track.

My husband reminded me today that we're going to Denver the first part of May for our niece's graduation from college. She completed her Master's in five years which is cause for celebration. All of my husband's family will be there so I really need to get back down below 160 by May 8. As the little train that could said...I think I can, I think I can...

Fatty Liver: It's not Just for Grown-ups Anymore

The epidemic of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of my favorite topics on this blog, due to the liver's role as the body's metabolic "grand central station", as Dr. Philip Wood puts it. The liver plays a critical part in the regulation of sugar, insulin, and lipid levels in the blood. Many of the routine blood tests administered in the doctor's office (blood glucose, cholesterol, etc.) partially reflect liver function.

NAFLD is an excessive accumulation of fat in the liver that impairs its function and can lead to severe liver inflammation (NASH), and in a small percentage of people, liver cancer. An estimated 20-30% of people in industrial nations suffer from NAFLD, a shockingly high prevalence (1).

I previously posted on dietary factors I believe are involved in NAFLD. In rodents, feeding a large amount of sugar or industrial seed oils (corn oil, etc.) promotes NAFLD, whereas fats such as butter and coconut oil do not (2). In human infants, enteric feeding with industrial seed oils causes severe liver damage, whereas the same amount of fat from fish oil doesn't, and can even reverse the damage done by seed oils (3).

So basically, I think sugar and industrial oils are major contributors to NAFLD, and if you look at diet trends in the US over the last 40 years, they're consistent with the idea. Industrial oils are harmful due (at least in part) to their high omega-6 content, which is problematic partially because it disturbs normal omega-3 metabolism. A potential solution to fatty liver is to reduce sugar, replace industrial oils with natural fats, and ensure a regular source of omega-3. I've posted two anecdotes of people rapidly healing their fatty livers using diet changes* (4, 5).

I recently came across a study that examined the diet of Canadian children with NAFLD (6). The children had a high sugar intake, a typical (i.e., high) omega-6 intake, and a low omega-3 intake. The authors claimed that the children also had a high saturated fat intake, but at 10.5% of calories, they were almost eating to the American Heart Association's "Step I" diet recommendations**. Busted! Total fat intake was also low.

High sugar consumption was associated with a larger waist circumference, insulin resistance, lower adiponectin and elevated markers of inflammation. High omega-6 intake was associated with markers of inflammation. Low omega-3 intake was associated with insulin resistance and elevated liver enzymes. Saturated fat intake presumably had no relation to any of these markers, since they didn't mention it in the text.

These children with NAFLD, who were all insulin resistant and mostly obese, had diets high in omega-6, high in sugar, and low in omega-3. This is consistent with the idea that these three factors, which have all been moving in the wrong direction in the last 40 years, contribute to NAFLD.


* Fatty liver was assessed by liver enzymes, admittedly not a perfect test. However, elevated liver enzymes do correlate fairly well with NAFLD.

** Steps I and II were replaced by new diet advice in 2000. The AHA now recommends keeping saturated fat below 7% of calories. Stock up on those skinless chicken breasts! Make sure there isn't any residual fat sticking to the meat, it might kill you. I do have to give the AHA credit however, because their new recommendations focus mostly on eating real food rather than avoiding saturated fat and cholesterol.

Fatty Liver: It's not Just for Grown-ups Anymore

The epidemic of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of my favorite topics on this blog, due to the liver's role as the body's metabolic "grand central station", as Dr. Philip Wood puts it. The liver plays a critical part in the regulation of sugar, insulin, and lipid levels in the blood. Many of the routine blood tests administered in the doctor's office (blood glucose, cholesterol, etc.) partially reflect liver function.

NAFLD is an excessive accumulation of fat in the liver that impairs its function and can lead to severe liver inflammation (NASH), and in a small percentage of people, liver cancer. An estimated 20-30% of people in industrial nations suffer from NAFLD, a shockingly high prevalence (1).

I previously posted on dietary factors I believe are involved in NAFLD. In rodents, feeding a large amount of sugar or industrial seed oils (corn oil, etc.) promotes NAFLD, whereas fats such as butter and coconut oil do not (2). In human infants, enteric feeding with industrial seed oils causes severe liver damage, whereas the same amount of fat from fish oil doesn't, and can even reverse the damage done by seed oils (3).

So basically, I think sugar and industrial oils are major contributors to NAFLD, and if you look at diet trends in the US over the last 40 years, they're consistent with the idea. Industrial oils are harmful due (at least in part) to their high omega-6 content, which is problematic partially because it disturbs normal omega-3 metabolism. A potential solution to fatty liver is to reduce sugar, replace industrial oils with natural fats, and ensure a regular source of omega-3. I've posted two anecdotes of people rapidly healing their fatty livers using diet changes* (4, 5).

I recently came across a study that examined the diet of Canadian children with NAFLD (6). The children had a high sugar intake, a typical (i.e., high) omega-6 intake, and a low omega-3 intake. The authors claimed that the children also had a high saturated fat intake, but at 10.5% of calories, they were almost eating to the American Heart Association's "Step I" diet recommendations**. Busted! Total fat intake was also low.

High sugar consumption was associated with a larger waist circumference, insulin resistance, lower adiponectin and elevated markers of inflammation. High omega-6 intake was associated with markers of inflammation. Low omega-3 intake was associated with insulin resistance and elevated liver enzymes. Saturated fat intake presumably had no relation to any of these markers, since they didn't mention it in the text.

These children with NAFLD, who were all insulin resistant and mostly obese, had diets high in omega-6, high in sugar, and low in omega-3. This is consistent with the idea that these three factors, which have all been moving in the wrong direction in the last 40 years, contribute to NAFLD.


* Fatty liver was assessed by liver enzymes, admittedly not a perfect test. However, elevated liver enzymes do correlate fairly well with NAFLD.

** Steps I and II were replaced by new diet advice in 2000. The AHA now recommends keeping saturated fat below 7% of calories. Stock up on those skinless chicken breasts! Make sure there isn't any residual fat sticking to the meat, it might kill you. I do have to give the AHA credit however, because their new recommendations focus mostly on eating real food rather than avoiding saturated fat and cholesterol.

Still under the weather

I still have my cold, but it's just a cold. It's not like I'm going to die from it or anything. I did manage to sit upright for a couple hours today. I'm feeling better but not great. Two days in a row not exercising. That seems very strange.

In order to combat my never-ending hunger I made a feeding schedule for myself today (I know, babies and old people). I allowed myself to eat something every three and a half hours. At least I knew I had a snack in my future so it helped me calm down a little about being so hungry. Then I fell asleep at 1pm and slept until 7pm so kind of messed up my schedule.

Since I didn't exercise or barely move yesterday or today I had to keep my Points down to the bare minimum of 21 the last couple days. Which really sucked big time because that's not very much food.

I managed to read a few blogs earlier. I really love Bitch Cakes:Neurotic Glamour Girl's Weight Watchers Experience and Fitness Adventures. I enjoy her writing, especially her enthusiasm for life and her very unique style. You have to read her Tuesday's post, recovering from a binge. She  has a great attitude and we could all learn from it.

Feed a cold, feed a fever

I've started about five posts today and deleted every single one of them.

I have a cold. My nose is like a faucet that I can't turn off. My throat is sore. My head hurts. My teeth hurt. I feel bad.

I stayed home from work. I've been fighting the desire to overeat all freaking day. So far I'm winning the battle but it's a giant struggle.

I'm trying Roxie's idea of re-wiring my brain. Just because I'm sick and feel icky it doesn't mean I have to reach for food to comfort myself. Just because I can't go to the gym doesn't mean all is lost. Most importantly, I won't die from a little hunger, even if I am sick.

My goal today is different behavior, not the same thing I've done my entire life. Feed a cold, feed a fever.

I wish it was time to go to bed.

Eight hours

I simply can't believe the difference eight hours of sleep a night, every night, is making in my life. Why didn't I do this thirty years ago?

For as long as I can remember I've been a night person, and stayed up as late as possible. Every morning was torture for me as I'd drag myself out of bed, feeling more tired than when I'd gone to bed five, four and sometimes even three hours earlier.

In the last two years I've been a night AND a morning person, going to bed at 11pm or midnight or even 1am and getting up at 4:30-5am to hit the gym, almost every week day. Weekends I'd try to "catch up" on sleep. Just for the record, you can't catch up on sleep. It's something you need on a daily basis.

I've literally been walking around in a sleep-deprived state for years. It's a wonder I've even been able to function. It feels so good not being in a physical and mental fog all the time.

The best side effect of eight hours of sleep is how I feel about food. It's not that I don't get hungry, because I certainly get hunger pains and sometimes even get that feeling of "if I don't eat right now I'm going to perish off this earth from starvation". The difference is that I feel mentally stronger to fight the compulsion to overeat. I feel like I actually have some control over what I put in my mouth. My mind is stronger, and I can reason with myself. Who knew?

The only downside of sleeping eight hours every night is there aren't as many hours left to read blogs. I'm falling behind, and I'm not commenting as much these days. That bothers me. I love my readers' comments. They lift me, encourage me, and make me feel like I'm not in this alone. I want to return the favor.

Somehow I need to find more hours in the day. Any suggestions?

Corned Beef & Food Safety

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Many of us will be preparing and serving corned beef in celebration of St Patrick's Day today. As a quick refresher here is the US Department of Agriculture's Fact Sheet on Corned Beef and Food Safety. Make sure you are familiar with all safety measures to avoid any unpleasant food incidents that would disrupt your celebrations! Have a great day!Corned Beef and Food

Book Review: The Primal Blueprint

Mark Sisson has been a central figure in the evolutionary health community since he began his weblog Mark's Daily Apple in 2006. He and his staff have been posting daily on his blog ever since. He has also written several other books, edited the Optimum Health newsletter, competed as a high-level endurance athlete, and served on the International Triathlon Union as the anti-doping chairman, all of which you can read about on his biography page. Mark is a practice-what-you-preach kind of guy, and if physical appearance means anything, he's on to something.

In 2009, Mark published his long-awaited book The Primal Blueprint. He self-published the book, which has advantages and disadvantages. The big advantage is that you aren't subject to the sometimes onerous demands of publishers, who attempt to maximize sales at Barnes and Noble. The front cover sports a simple picture of Mark, rather than a sunbaked swimsuit model, and the back cover offers no ridiculous claims of instant beauty and fat loss.

The drawback of self-publishing is it's more difficult to break into a wider market. That's why Mark has asked me to publish my review of his book today. He's trying to push it up in the Amazon.com rankings so that it gets a broader exposure. If you've been thinking about buying Mark's book, now is a good time to do it. If you order it from Amazon.com on March 17th, Mark is offering to sweeten the deal with some freebies on his site Mark's Daily Apple. Full disclosure: I'm not getting anything out of this, I'm simply mentioning it because I was reviewing Mark's book anyway and I thought some readers might enjoy it.

The Primal Blueprint is not a weight loss or diet book, it's a lifestyle program with an evolutionary slant. Mark uses the example of historical and contemporary hunter-gatherers as a model, and attempts to apply those lessons to life in the 21st century. He does it in a way that's empowering accessible to nearly everyone. To illustrate his points, he uses the example of an archetypal hunter-gatherer called Grok, and his 21st century mirror image, the Korg family.

The diet section will be familiar to anyone who has read about "paleolithic"-type diets. He advocates eating meats including organs, seafood, eggs, nuts, abundant vegetables, and fruit. He also suggests avoiding grains, legumes, dairy (although he's not very militant about this one), processed food in general, and reducing carbohydrate to less than 150 grams per day. I like his diet suggestions because they focus on real food. Mark is not a drill sergeant. He tries to create a plan that will be sustainable in the long run, by staying positive and allowing for cheats.

We part ways on the issue of carbohydrate. He suggests that eating more than 150 grams of carbohydrate per day leads to fat gain and disease, whereas I feel that position is untenable in light of what we know of non-industrial cultures (including some relatively high-carbohydrate hunter-gatherers). Although carbohydrate restriction (or at least wheat and sugar restriction) does have its place in treating obesity and metabolic dysfunction in modern populations, ultimately I don't think it's necessary for the prevention of those same problems, and it can even be counterproductive in some cases. Mark does acknowledge that refined carbohydrates are the main culprits.

The book's diet section also recommends nutritional supplements, including a multivitamin/mineral, antioxidant supplement, probiotics, protein powder and fish oil. I'm not a big proponent of supplementation. I'm also a bit of a hypocrite because I do take small doses of fish oil (when I haven't had seafood recently), and vitamin D in wintertime. But I can't get behind protein powders and antioxidant supplements.

Mark's suggestions for exercise, sun exposure, sleep and stress management make good sense to me. In a nutshell: do all three, but keep the exercise varied and don't overdo it. As a former high-level endurance athlete, he has a lot of credibility here. He puts everything in a format that's practical, accessible and empowering.

I think The Primal Blueprint is a useful book for a person who wants to maintain or improve her health. Although we disagree on the issue of carbohydrate, the diet and lifestyle advice is solid and will definitely be a vast improvement over what the average person is doing. The Primal Blueprint is not an academic book, nor does it attempt to be. It doesn't contain many references (although it does contain some), and it won't satisfy someone looking for an in-depth discussion of the scientific literature. However, it's perfect for someone who's getting started and needs guidance, or who simply wants a more comprehensive source than reading blog snippets. It would make a great gift for that family member or friend who's been asking how you stay in such good shape.

Book Review: The Primal Blueprint

Mark Sisson has been a central figure in the evolutionary health community since he began his weblog Mark's Daily Apple in 2006. He and his staff have been posting daily on his blog ever since. He has also written several other books, edited the Optimum Health newsletter, competed as a high-level endurance athlete, and served on the International Triathlon Union as the anti-doping chairman, all of which you can read about on his biography page. Mark is a practice-what-you-preach kind of guy, and if physical appearance means anything, he's on to something.

In 2009, Mark published his long-awaited book The Primal Blueprint. He self-published the book, which has advantages and disadvantages. The big advantage is that you aren't subject to the sometimes onerous demands of publishers, who attempt to maximize sales at Barnes and Noble. The front cover sports a simple picture of Mark, rather than a sunbaked swimsuit model, and the back cover offers no ridiculous claims of instant beauty and fat loss.

The drawback of self-publishing is it's more difficult to break into a wider market. That's why Mark has asked me to publish my review of his book today. He's trying to push it up in the Amazon.com rankings so that it gets a broader exposure. If you've been thinking about buying Mark's book, now is a good time to do it. If you order it from Amazon.com on March 17th, Mark is offering to sweeten the deal with some freebies on his site Mark's Daily Apple. Full disclosure: I'm not getting anything out of this, I'm simply mentioning it because I was reviewing Mark's book anyway and I thought some readers might enjoy it.

The Primal Blueprint is not a weight loss or diet book, it's a lifestyle program with an evolutionary slant. Mark uses the example of historical and contemporary hunter-gatherers as a model, and attempts to apply those lessons to life in the 21st century. He does it in a way that's empowering accessible to nearly everyone. To illustrate his points, he uses the example of an archetypal hunter-gatherer called Grok, and his 21st century mirror image, the Korg family.

The diet section will be familiar to anyone who has read about "paleolithic"-type diets. He advocates eating meats including organs, seafood, eggs, nuts, abundant vegetables, and fruit. He also suggests avoiding grains, legumes, dairy (although he's not very militant about this one), processed food in general, and reducing carbohydrate to less than 150 grams per day. I like his diet suggestions because they focus on real food. Mark is not a drill sergeant. He tries to create a plan that will be sustainable in the long run, by staying positive and allowing for cheats.

We part ways on the issue of carbohydrate. He suggests that eating more than 150 grams of carbohydrate per day leads to fat gain and disease, whereas I feel that position is untenable in light of what we know of non-industrial cultures (including some relatively high-carbohydrate hunter-gatherers). Although carbohydrate restriction (or at least wheat and sugar restriction) does have its place in treating obesity and metabolic dysfunction in modern populations, ultimately I don't think it's necessary for the prevention of those same problems, and it can even be counterproductive in some cases. Mark does acknowledge that refined carbohydrates are the main culprits.

The book's diet section also recommends nutritional supplements, including a multivitamin/mineral, antioxidant supplement, probiotics, protein powder and fish oil. I'm not a big proponent of supplementation. I'm also a bit of a hypocrite because I do take small doses of fish oil (when I haven't had seafood recently), and vitamin D in wintertime. But I can't get behind protein powders and antioxidant supplements.

Mark's suggestions for exercise, sun exposure, sleep and stress management make good sense to me. In a nutshell: do all three, but keep the exercise varied and don't overdo it. As a former high-level endurance athlete, he has a lot of credibility here. He puts everything in a format that's practical, accessible and empowering.

I think The Primal Blueprint is a useful book for a person who wants to maintain or improve her health. Although we disagree on the issue of carbohydrate, the diet and lifestyle advice is solid and will definitely be a vast improvement over what the average person is doing. The Primal Blueprint is not an academic book, nor does it attempt to be. It doesn't contain many references (although it does contain some), and it won't satisfy someone looking for an in-depth discussion of the scientific literature. However, it's perfect for someone who's getting started and needs guidance, or who simply wants a more comprehensive source than reading blog snippets. It would make a great gift for that family member or friend who's been asking how you stay in such good shape.

Four Must Try Recipes from the Neighborhood

We are always looking for great weight loss surgery recipes that are economical, delicious, family friendly, and easy for our busy schedules. Over the years we've collected some great recipes in the Neighborhood Kitchen - here are a few that are getting quite a bit of attention lately. Just click the link to go directly to the recipe and let's get cooking!Taco Lasagna by Beverley"Made this on the

Happy Anniversary Neighborhood!

Healthy tips for a healthy lifestyle

Every person wants to be healthy and moreover more and more people are looking for healthy-life tips online in order to increase their healthy life level.

As you know, the first thing every person have to try, if he wants to be a healthy person, is to begin a sport. Something like yoga is also an alternative option.

For example she is going to the GYM. But it is very hard to lose weight with the help of the

GYM

. But it is also healthy to visit it about twice per week, if you have time and if you want of course.

But one of the most important things is the food. You need more fruits, such as apples and oranges. I will present you my favourite diet that can also be useful for you too- Special Diet For You. I will surely continue writing such articles. I hope you enjoyed reading this article.

Putting the binge monster to sleep

I haven't had a binge for five nights in a row. The solution, which many of you suggested, was so simple that I can hardly believe it worked.

I've changed a few things, but the one thing I think is the key is I'm in bed and asleep by 8:30 to 9pm every night. I know that sounds insane because it's so early, but it works, and I feel about a hundred times better. I think it's a combination of getting eight hours of sleep that makes me emotionally stronger, and the mere fact that I'm asleep during my peak eating hours.

I thought this wouldn't matter, and I'd just choose some other time of day to stuff my face, but I don't. In fact, it's actually changed how I look at food. I feel like I'm in control of my food, not that my food is in control of me.

A few other changes recently that are helping, in addition to the sleep:

1. Water - I'm back to guzzling the water. Sure, it's inconvenient, more trips to the kitchen at work for water and more trips to the bathroom, but it's my health and that's a priority.

2. Healthy oils - I'm getting at least two teaspoons a day. I've always thought it seemed like a waste of Points but it's necessary.

3. Dairy - I'm drinking two cups of milk a day. It should be three because I'm over 50, but I take a calcium pill so I think I'm covered.

4. Snacks - this one is big and I think has really made a difference. I'm been following Lyn's blog, Escape from Obesity, as she writes about MediFast. First of all, I'm not an advocate of using MediFast long term. However, I think what Lyn is doing is perfect for her. What's even better is she's sharing tips on what she's eating. For example, the snacks should be a combination of a carb and a protein. I've known this for years (from a nutritionist friend), but I chose to ignore it.

It makes a huge difference in how satisfied I feel with my snacks being a "complete snack". Instead of just blueberries or just an orange, I'll have half the portion of fruit I use to have and add some protein, like 1/4 cup of cottage cheese or some yogurt, or even a couple ounces of sliced turkey.

5. My lunch and dinners are smaller, but I eat more snacks and eat more often. I think this one is huge too. If you're following Lyn's MediFast diary, she eats often. Usually every three hours she eats something. Always something low in calories, but high in nutrition and fiber. All the food has added fiber.

I've found about three hours after eating I'm feeling hungry. After four hours I'm starving. If I get to the starving mode, all bets are off and I lose control. The key is to not get to that "I'm starving to death and am going to chew off my own arm" stage. Eat something for God's sake! I can't believe the difference in how this makes me feel less out of control.

6. Cutting out the crap - this one was tough for me, really tough. When I say "crap" I don't mean cakes and cookies and candy, I mean "diet" crap. Like diet sodas. I may only have a couple a week, but I cut them out totally. Weight Watchers ice cream bars are banned from this house. Sugar-free Coffeemate, I poured it down the drain. I like my sweets but I switched from Splenda to Stevia. I don't know if that's really better for me, but at least taste a lot better. I only have a packet once or twice a day in my tea and it seems to satisfy my sweet tooth.

So far, so good! The giant monster called my out-of-control hunger is resting peacefully.

Exercise
None yesterday! My gym was burglarized (all TVs stolen) and vandalized. It was closed for a police investigation when I got there at 5am. Then my iPod that's three years old completely died. Not a dead battery, it's just frozen and I can't reset it (I think my sweat finally destroyed it). I can't workout without music so no evening workout either.

I'm now the proud owner  of a new 5th generation pink iPod that I bought last night. It makes movies, has a built-in pedometer and an FM radio. Now if it only worked out for me. :) No wonder when I tried to buy a new armband for my old iPod last week the guy at Best Buy laughed at me, saying, wow, they don't even make those anymore! It was "only" three years old. In technology world that's like 20 years. Anyway, love the new iPod!

Have a totally awesome day everyone. And tonight, get to bed early so you're not so darn tired tomorrow. :)
~Diana