Post Thanksgiving Action Plan

Alright, I admit it--I splurged over the holidays. I contributed to every one's delinquency by bringing Rotel and Velveeta cheese dip (yes, with pork sausage) to every party I attended. I barely exercised, and I ate like it was the end of the world, only to get up today with the beginnings of a MUFFIN-TOP! Horrors! So I am back on my Herbalife Healthy Meal shake mix for breakfast and lunch with a healthy balanced dinner. I am also making sure to stay hydrated and drink half my weight in ounces of fluid--mostly water and some tea. And I plan on a long walk every day. I know that if I attack this issue now, I can get the few extra pounds off quickly, before the next round of parties for the Christmas/Hanukkah holidays. Let me know what your holiday action plan is to manage your weight.

Financial Impacts of Your Health

I ran into one of the graduates of the January Weight Loss Challenge, and she shared with me that when she and her husband got their blood work done for their life insurance policies, her cholesterol and triglycerides had fallens substantially. She was no longer considered "High Risk" and their insurance premiums were going to fall. Although she was pleased with the weight she lost in the program, it had not occurred to her that she would be saving money for her family by losing weight and eating more healthfully. I think that sometimes we forget about how much being overweight "costs" us. Maybe we wouldn't have to take statins or high blood pressure meds or insulin, just by losing weight (which is the case for many obese Americans.) I would be interested in hearing from you about meds you were able to give up after you lost weight.

Give anything up for Lent?

Every year I give up alcohol for the 46 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday. Well, truth be known, I usually allow myself two splurges during Lent. However, I learned several years ago that if I gave up my wine with supper, I had a terrible dessert craving, and I found I was substituting one sugar for another. So now I give up both alcohol and dessert (and any other refined sugar.) The hardest part of this is about the third day, I get a horrible sugar withdrawal headache. I felt as though I was going blind last Friday, the headache was soooooo bad.

However, Saturday morning, I was right as rain. I never really think about the addictive powers of sugar, until each year when I give it up. How about you? What do you periodically give up in your diet? Have you ever contemplated giving it up for good?

I am always grateful for how clear headed I am during Lent and always think I would be healthier if I just gave up alcohol for good

Books that Offer You Positive Inspiration

In addition to your reasons WHY you want to lose weight, and your Dream Board, another source of motivation can be books that inspire you. I think that finding positive affirmations are very helpful in two ways. First, if you are having a bad day, or are very stressed out, the right affirmation can calm you down before you head for that box of cookies or bag of chips. Second, if you have had a diet breakdown, affirmations can allow you to forgive yourself sooner and not let the breakdown turn into a total abandonment of your diet. I have a fun affirmation that I read in a Dr. Wayne Dyer book, and it goes like this, "Good Morning. This is God. I will be handling all of your problems today. I will not need your help, so have a miraculous day!"

If you have a suggested affirmation, or a book you like to read, please contribute it here.

Excellent Recipes in Jan/Feb Magazines

I have been catching up on my reading, and wanted to let you all know that there are some great recipes in several of this month's magazines. You can find these mags at our library if you would prefer not to purchase them. The first one I want to write about is the February issue of Real Simple, which has a number of recipes in an article called Classic Comfort Foods made Healthy. What I think is particularly great is that on page 191, the mag has included a nutritional index for a serving of each of its recipes, and they make for pretty healthy suppers or lunches, if that is your primary meal. They also are fairly simple to prepare. You can find additional recipes on line at www.realsimple.com/recipes.

The magazine also has a pretty good article that reiterates much of our class materials on getting back to the basics and eating better, rather than dieting, per se. Along this line, I also read a weblog called Zen Habits, and earlier this week it had a guest article on eating more simply. The link to that article is http://zenhabits.net/2009/01/the-zen-of-real-food-keeping-eating-simple/
It is written by the author of Modern Forager http://www.modernforager.com/blog/
When you have some spare time, navigate these blogs for anything that might inspire you.

Now back to magazines...this month's (January) Sunset Magazine also has a number of good recipes, across several articles, for yummy winter comfort foods. Each recipe also has nutritional content per serving at the end of the recipes. There is also a nice article called "Your A to Z Guide Feel-good Foods for 2009" that has great suggestions for new items to integrate into your diet. As I try these recipes, I will load my feedback on the www.jacksonholediet.com recipe page. If you have spotted a great recipe recently, please share it!

Trigger Foods

Trigger foods are a touchy issue around dieting. They are foods that you crave when you are stressed or multi-tasking or not paying attention and when you start to eat them, you cannot stop. My trigger food is Crunchy Cheetos (the nuclear orange colored ones.) When I am working on a work related problem or a financial issue, I need something crunchy, and if they are around the house I will reach for the Cheetos and before I know it, a whole bag is gone. In reality I will hunt for any crunchy salty snack when I am in one of these craving moods--so beware Wheat Thins, Tortilla Chips or Popcorn. I am coming. Of course, I feel horrible afterwards. So I don't buy any of that stuff any more. You cannot find it in my house. What are your trigger foods and how do you manage your craviings?