recipes?

I have all kinds of recipes and cookbooks. Stevia cooking, low-fat cooking, whole foods cooking, vegetarian cooking, juice and smoothies and more.
Would you like me to share recipes? And if so, what kind would you like? Give me your requests and I will see what I can do.

Stop drinking your calories

I think the number one thing people could do to lose some weight is to stop drinking calories.

Ever notice how people are drinking all the time? Pop, sweetened teas, juice type drinks like Snapple, always something. Now it's coffee. But not just coffee – it's liquid dessert.

A 12 oz can of pop has 136 calories. 33 grams of sugar. How many do you drink per day?

A Caffe Vanilla Frappuccino Grande size has 430 calories. 60 grams of sugar.

A Cappuccino Grande has only 120 and 10 sugars.

Pumpkin Spice Latte has 380 and 49 sugars.

Just so you know.

If you take in 500 less calories per day, you can lose a pound per week.

Do you drink four cans of pop per day? Most people don't drink cans anymore they drink those bigger bottles.

How many Starbucks' goodies do you have per day?

Ok, so maybe you love this stuff too much to give it up. I'm just saying. Stop drinking your calories and you can probably lose weight with just that one change.

Now, there is nothing wrong with an occasional pop or coffee treat. But make it a treat. Back to the post on tasting the food. If you get a white chocolate mocha something, savor it. Enjoy it. Make it satisfying. Same with the pop. We tend to drink pop like water, especially with meals. These days I seldom drink it, but when I do, I make it last and I also have water with my meal and drink the water for thirst and the pop for flavor.

So, there's something for you to think about.

 

Cleanses

I am finishing up a stomach bug here, I hope!

Anyway, Robin asked about cleanses.
The only one I've done was a yeast cleanse.
Let me explain from the beginning.
We all have bacteria and yeast that grow in our gut. I call it my "garden". The proper name is intestinal flora. There should be more of the good bacteria than there is of the bad stuff. The good flora strengthens your immunity, insures good bowel health, provides proper absorption of nutrients and who knows what else.
In this age though, we do a lot that kills off the good flora. Because they are bacteria they can be called biotics. So, when you take antibiotics, you kill off all biotics; the ones that are making you sick, as well as the ones that are your friends. The drug doesn't know the difference. But the yeast is not killed by antibiotics. It is usually kept in check by the good flora, but now that it is all gone, the yeast thrives. It takes over the gut.
Sugar, food aditives and other things also destroy these bacteria.
I grew up on antibiotics. I took them several times a year, I'm sure. Every year. Until I was 24. So, how much good stuff did I have left, I wonder?
I developed IBS, or irritable bowel syndrome. I also had many symptoms of yeast overgrowth. Overwhelming fatigue for one. IBS, for another.
So, when I started trying to become healthy in alternative ways, I started doing a yeast cleanse. I found the rules online and took some products from my health food store. I think this really helped make headway in the situation. Then when I started seeing the nutritionist, she gave me clearer direction and also some better supplements. Her diet was actually less restrictive than the one I had been trying to follow.
The diet generally prohibits any kind of sugar including fruit and simple carbs. In prohibits anything containing yeast, alcohol, and mushrooms. She told me just to stay away from sugars including fruits.
Anyway, I think it really helped, although lately I've been thinking that maybe I need to do it again.
I can't remember the cost, although the money I saved by not eating all that junk probably paid for the cleanse.
I think I did a liver cleanse through my nutritionist, too, but I don't remember much about that. It was just some supplements.
I have heard from various sources that the Metagenics cleanse is excellent. My nutritionist had this as well, but I didn't do it. I know people who have and had great results. I don't know the cost, though.

Back to the yeast thing. One easy thing you can do to help get your "garden" in balance is to take probiotics. They are the good bacteria that you need. They come in pill, or liquid form. You can get a few in yogurt, but not enough to make a difference. Acidophilus is one that you've probably heard of, but there are hundreds of different good bacteria and yeast that we need. So I switch from brand to brand every time to get enough variety.

taste your food

Maybe you've heard of or even done the Weigh Down diet. I did. It had some good principles.

There is a book called French Women Don't Get Fat. It is a good book and you should read it.

The basic premise is similar to one of Weigh Down's principles. Taste your food. Enjoy it. Relish it. Savor it. If it isn't wonderful, don't eat it.

Did you see Ratatouille? The critic said "I love food. If I don't love it, I don't swallow."

And the rat said to his brother, "Don't just pork it down!"

Good advice.

I read an article by a lady who was being taught the same thing. Really taste your food. Think about it instead of just shoveling it in. And so she contemplated one of the potato chips she had been scarfing and realized that that it was rancid, too greasy, too salty and stale. She didn't even actually like it.

How much food do you eat that you don't even really love? Sometimes, I know, you have to eat what's available. But most of the time we have a lot of choice in what we eat.

The book (French Women) gave chocolate as an example. Put a small bite in your mouth and let it melt on your tongue. Roll it around in your mouth. Think about the saltiness, the sweetness, the bitterness, the texture. I found that when I do this, I can take one small bite of dark chocolate and get a huge amount of satisfaction from it. Then I don't feel like I want to eat a half pound at once.

So, today, try to really taste everything you put in your mouth. Except maybe your vitamins. But, you know, food. Think about it. Is it worth it? Is it worth the calories? You may find that you really like things you didn't think you did, (like dark chocolate) and that maybe you don't really like things you tend to pig out on, (like potato chips).

I need to do this, too. It certainly hasn't become habit with me. I still tend to eat without thinking and enjoying. I know that I eat a lot more this way, too.

Let me know what you discover. Let me know what you think.

And if you get a chance to read that book, tell me your impression of it as well.

supplements

The ultimate answer to my gallbladder problem, other than avoiding the trans fats, was supplements. I got frustrated with all of the information on line and finally found a nutritionist to guide me. She had me take beet green supplements that cleared the problem right up. I don't have to take them anymore. Only if I have a flair-up and I only have a flair-up when I eat trans fats.
Now, I want to point out that the ultrasound didn't show any stones. If you have gallbladder problems, then consider trying what I did, but keep in mind that what works for one may not work for another. Although, my nutritionist did tell me that she had never seen a patient that did not have good results with that particular supplement.

Now I take fish oil, Borage oil (supposed to be good for skin), Evening Primrose Oil (saved me from PMS), multi-vit, extra B complex, SAM-e (for depression, sleep, and arthritis), calcium and magnesium.
Sometimes when my stomach hurts I take DGL which is from the licorice root. It coats the stomach and heals it. Like natural Pepto-Bismol.

I also take something else that I will tell you about in a separate post.

juicing

My hubby has started a juice fast. He's done this before and had pretty good results. We have a juicer and he drinks nothing but fresh juices and water for a certain time. I'm not sure how long he's planning to do it. He loses weight, naturally, but it also clears out all of his cravings and cleanses the body.
I don't want to do it.
But, I do like juicing. When I was really sick with my gallbladder trouble, my stomach also got really bad. I think it was irritated from the other problem, somehow. But I couldn't eat anything. Not a cracker, not jello, not rice, broth, anything. It gave me a tummy ache. So the friend who gave me suggestions told me to start juicing.
So, every morning I made juice of carrots, beet, cucumber and apple. The beet helps thin the bile and the other stuff is just good for you. You know, it actually tastes really good. And it helped very quickly. I started feeling better within a couple of days.
I don't juice much anymore, but now that my hubby is doing it, I've been drinking more. I really would like to do it each morning. I feel very good when I do.
It can be expensive because the juicers are expensive. But I found one brand new online for $30 or $60, I can't remember. But either price is great for a juicer and it works very well. Its a *Krups brand. Buying the large amounts of organic produce isn't cheap, either, but if you're only drinking juice once per day, it isn't so bad.
And my hubby ate out everyday for lunch, so buying these veggies isn't costing us any more than we were spending, anyway.
*edited to correct the brand name of the juicer.

delicious recipe

Curried Yogurt Chicken

1 cup plain yogurt,
½ cup coconut milk
¼ cup fresh cilantro, ( I used 1/8 cup dried)
1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 Tablespoon lime juice
1 teaspoon finely grated lime rind
1 Tablespoon curry powder
Black pepper
2 lb chicken pieces

Combine all ingredients except chicken. Put chicken in a shallow glass dish and cover with mixture, making sure all pieces are covered. Cover dish with plastic wrap and let marinate for several hours or overnight in the refrigerator.

Remove chicken from marinade. Place chicken in shallow baking pan. Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes.