How to Cope with Food Cravings

Strong cravings for starchy, sugary foods often go hand in hand with being overweight, chronically tired, feeling blue or other symptoms of ill health. They can be the result of out of whack blood sugar levels, Candida (yeast overgrowth), and adrenal fatigue. These imbalances can potentially cause disease, premature aging, and us to feel far less than our most fabulous selves.

Fortunately, there are some great ways to overcome your cravings. Here are some tricks that will keep you from longing for that cake and desperate for that large packet of potato chips.

"You crave what you eat, so if you switch what you're eating, you can weaken your old cravings and strengthen new ones," says Marcia Pelchat, PhD, of the Monell Center.

Research shows that even after 5 days you will find that your body will yearn for your trigger foods far less, and after two weeks the cravings are nearly gone.

On a physical level, your blood sugar will begin to balance out, so your body won't be crying out for foods that it falsely thinks will balance things out. On an emotional level, you will know that it is possible to live without those foods, and you will most likely notice some improvement in your wellbeing, which will keep you motivated.

Read the full article, "How to Cope with Food Cravings" here.

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© 2008 Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. Please feel free to peruse my blog for more great content.

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Forbes Ranks Top 20 Junk-Food Obsessed Cities

People all over the country love junk food, but Oklahoma City is most obsessed with non-nutritional treats, according to a study by Forbes magazine.

Forbes magazine looked at market data from The Nielsen Co. to determine where soda, candy and other snacks are most popular.

Pittsburgh; Memphis, Tenn.; Little Rock, Ark.; and St. Louis were also in the top five. (See full top 20)

Fifty-two major markets were compared, and researchers looked at how much cookies, hot dogs, candy and pizza were bought.

Forbes also broke down the data to show which junk foods -- soda or candy, for example -- dominated in certain markets.

Pittsburgh, for example, led the way in ice cream. Oklahoma City was in the top of all eight categories that were covered, but the magazine said residents were particularly fond of potato chips and pretzels, as well as cookies and ice cream.

A food researcher quoted by the magazine said that ethnic differences could contribute to certain snacks reigning in certain areas. For example, areas with higher percentages of Caucasian people may like milk-based products such as ice cream more, because lactose intolerance isn't as prevalent in that group as others.

"It's generally thought by nutritionists that the two coasts have people who are lower in body weight than the nation's middle," he said. "In school, we called the Bible Belt the Blubber Belt," he said.

Forbes reported that, since 1980, the number of obese adults in the United States has doubled, and an estimated $120 billion per year is spent combating obesity-related ailments, such as heart disease, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Source: here

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Who Sells the Biggest, Baddest Burgers?

This is a Hardee's Monster Thickburger.

1,410 calories, 47 grams of carbs, 107 grams of fat

This bad boy takes home the prize as the biggest, baddest burger.

Can you feel your arteries clogging?



Next comes Burger King's Triple Whopper with Cheese.
It's a whopper all right!

1,230 calories, 52 grams of carbs, 82 grams of fat.



This 'modest' offering comes from Jack in the Box. It's called a Sirloin Bacon 'n Cheese Burger.

1,120 calories, 63 grams of carbs, 73 grams of fat.

This is the illustrious Supersonic Cheeseburger. Now you know why the Sonic girls have such big biceps, having to lug this big boy around.

980 calories, 58 grams of carbs, 64 grams of fat.




This is Wendy's Triple with Cheese. I don't see how people can open their mouth this wide.

980 calories, 38 grams of carbs, 59 grams of fat.





And though McDonald's Quarter Pounder with Cheese looks kind of puny compared to the burgers above, he packs quite a punch.

740 calories, 40 grams of carbs, 42 grams of fat.

What's really bad is we don't just order a burger. We want fries with that, and oh yeah, don't forget the Diet Coke!

So if the calories were listed on the menu board, do you think we would make healthier choices?

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© 2008 Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. Please feel free to peruse my blog for more great content.

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Hungry for Facts on Fast-food Calories

A proposed city rule requiring fast-food chains to post calorie counts on their menu boards is in limbo pending possible legal challenges - but New Yorkers say they're champing at the bit for the information.

Waleska Caquias said she had "no clue at all" how many calories she was consuming Monday morning at a McDonald's in Union Square, where she ordered a steak and egg on a bagel - and ate some of her 9-year-old son's pancakes, too.

"I think it's great," said Caquias, a 36-year-old Bronx cook. "I will start seeing those calories and seeing it's not good for me. I think it will make me change my mind" about her food choices.

The rule would apply to eateries that have at least 15 outposts around the country. It takes effect Friday unless the New York State Restaurant Association appeals a District Court judge's denial of the industry's petition to put the rule on hold. Fines could be assessed starting June 6.

Some chains have already begun posting calories on their menu boards in New York City, among them Starbucks, Chipotle and Subway.

"There's a percentage that wants to look at the information and make decisions based on that," said Kevin Kane, a Subway spokesman. "It's ... not getting in the way of people who don't want it."

Johnny Dingle of Brooklyn is one who does.

"When you want to watch your weight and health, it's good to know how many calories you're consuming," said Dingle, 35. "I come at least twice a week."

Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday that the food fight "is a battle that we will win."

"Obesity is the single major public health problem that is actually growing in this country," he said. "We're trying to do something about that, not to take away anybody's right to a have a Big Mac or whatever you want to eat."

Source: here

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© 2008 Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. Please feel free to peruse my blog for more great content.

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The Worst Artery Cloggers in America

By: Brie Cadman

We know that fast food isn’t good for us. But some restaurants have simply gone overboard with the amount of fat, salt, calories, and carbs they’ve managed to pack into a meal. Below are the worst of the worst.

Breakfast of Caloric Champions: Denny’s Smoked Sausage Slam









This is the meal to eat if you like pig products: two eggs scrambled with chopped bacon, diced ham, and crumbled sausage, then topped with cheddar cheese. All rounded out with two strips of bacon, two sausage links, hash browns, and two fluffy buttermilk pancakes. The amount of sodium in this pile of pig garbage is enough to last you two days … if you don’t die of a heart attack first.

A better bet: Two eggs, bacon, and toast. It ain’t health food, but it won’t be a day’s worth of calories either.

Worst Thing You Can Eat with a Spoon: KFC Mashed Potato Bowl









The KFC bowl is for those who can’t be bothered with a plate. It’s a tub filled with mashed potatoes, layered with sweet corn, and “loaded” with pieces of fried chicken. To add insult to injury, they dump “home-style” gravy and cheese on top. I have a feeling this thing comes out in your toilet bowl looking the exact same way it went in.

A better bet: avoid KFC altogether.

Worst Italian Offense: Pizza Hut Meat Lover’s Personal Pan Pizza









The “personal” in this title makes one assume you’re supposed to eat the whole thing yourself. And then you do. And people wonder why we have an obesity epidemic.

A better bet: Veggie Lover’s—it’s “only” 560 calories.

Just Wrong, Mate: Outback Steakhouse Aussie Cheese Fries









Are the Aussies trying to mock us by giving us something they know we could never possibly work off in one day? Even if you split this monster of a fat bomb with three friends—it’s still just a side dish, and you’d still be packing away almost one thousand calories each. That’d take about two hours of kangaroo chasing in the outback just to burn off. Problem is, we ain’t got no outback in the US of A.

A better bet: Share the cheese fries with ten people instead.

Worst Dessert: Outback’s Chocolate Thunder from Down Under









I don’t mean to pick on Outback (who now no longer posts their nutritional information), but what were they thinking with this name? It reminds me of what happens after you’ve eaten there, not something you’d like to end a meal with. To burn this off you’d have to run for over two hours. Hmm … an apple isn’t sounding so bad after all.

A better bet: I would never feed this to a child, but you could order the Spotted Dog Sundae off the kid’s menu, and split it with another adult. It has 730 calories and 27 grams of saturated fat; diet food compared to the Thunder.

Worst Mash-Up: Sonic Drive-in Fritos Chili Pie









940 calories for chili? Well, I guess if you make it with Fritos chips and throw in a piecrust, anything is possible.

A better bet: A bowl of chili—without the Fritos.

Worst Appetizer: Chili’s Awesome Blossom









Chili’s is all sorts of wrong. The one and only time I ate there, I almost dove over the table and made the waitress give me my money back, it was so bad. It’s clear now I was just in a salt and sugar-induced rage. Even with their crappy food laden with sodium, fat, and emulsifiers, you’ve got to admire them. How they turned a simple onion into a day’s worth of calories and three days worth of fat is a miracle of food science.

A better bet: Skip the appetizer. Your meal will most certainly contain more calories, fat, and carbs than you’ll need for a week or so.

Truly, this is the short list of bad items at America’s popular restaurants; the long list would encompass most of their menus. Eating at a Chili’s, Outback, or any big fast food or chain restaurant should come with some sort of warning sign, a prescription for high blood pressure medication, a membership at a gym, or at the very least, prominently displayed nutritional information. Now that would be hard to stomach.

(Info Sources: CalorieKing.com, Eat This, Not That by David Zinczenko)

First published February 2008
Copyright © 2006-2008, Real Girls Media Network, Inc. All Rights Reserved

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© 2008 Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. Please feel free to peruse my blog for more great content.

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From Lab to Lunch: Chemicals They Call Food

By: Brie Cadman
April 7, 2008

The other day I was snacking on some bright orange “nacho” flavored tortilla chips when I decided to do something very stupid. I flipped the bag over and read the ingredient list. Given the color, I wasn’t expecting to find nature, distilled, but the double-digit list of ingredients, many of which I hadn’t seen since working in a lab, was still disconcerting. In fact, some of the chemicals were the same ones that drove me out of the lab. (You can only read “extreme neurotoxin” and “mutagenic” so many times before pondering a career change.). What were they doing in my chips?

A tortilla chip seems so simple (corn, oil, salt) but the intersection of synthetic chemistry and food manufacturing has taken us far away from simple and much closer to complex. Instead of nacho cheese, we eat synthesized substances meant to approximate the flavor or texture of cheese, no milk products involved. Preservation, emulsification, hydrogenation, distillation, and esterification has resulted in some good things (like reduced spoilage and food borne diseases), but has also resulted in some questionable food additives like the compounds below.

I Can’t Believe It’s Not—Diacetyl!
Diacetyl is the chemical that gives microwave popcorn that delicious buttery flavor without the use of any butter. Unfortunately, extensive exposure to diacetyl can lead to a serious, irreversible, and rare condition known as bronchiolitis obliterans. First seen in workers at a microwave popcorn packaging plant, the condition is commonly known as “popcorn lung.” One consumer (who, somewhat freakishly, ate around four bags of microwaved popcorn a day) has developed the disease, and researchers recently discovered that small amounts of diacetyl can cause lung and airway damage in mice.

The Alternative? OSHA didn’t do crap to protect workers, but lawsuits and negative publicity scared some manufacturers into removing the compound from their packaged kernels. However, diacetyl abounds in packaged foods with fake butter flavor, often under the guise of “natural and artificial flavoring.” As for popcorn, pop your own and use the real golden stuff. Butter=good; popcorn lung=bad.


Would You Like Diet or Regular Benzene?
Benzene is an industrial solvent and a known carcinogen, so food companies generally try to keep it out of their products. However, two chemicals found in soda, sodium benzoate (a preservative) and ascorbic acid (vitamin C), can react to form benzene, especially in the presence of heat or light. In 2007, Coca-Cola and Pepsi agreed to settle lawsuits brought against them after benzene was detected in their products. The suit alleged that Pepsi’s Diet Wild Cherry drink had benzene levels nearly four times the maximum level set by the Environmental Protection Agency for drinking water. Oopsy. Both companies agreed to reformulate; however, thousands of soft drinks containing benzoate and citric acids are still on the market.

The Alternative? Probably most Coke and Pepsi products are “safe” (who knows what’ll turn up next!), but it’s a good idea to check the label.


Gone Fishin’—For Silly Puddy
The sticky texture of Silly Puddy is due, in part, to a widely used silicone-based polymer called polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). In addition to Silly Puddy, it is also found in caulks, adhesives, cosmetics, silicone grease, knuckle replacements, silicone breast implants, and … in McDonald’s Fish Filet Patties. They add it as an “antifoaming agent.” I had to look this one up (why is the fish foaming?) and as it turns out, foam, produced when vats of liquids are mixed or agitated, is a big problem for large scale food manufacturers. Lots of foam means frying vats can’t be filled to capacity, meaning fast food restaurants can’t fry as many fish (potatoes, apple crisps, whatever) as mechanically possible. Hence the need for silicone oils like PDMS.

The Alternative? The FDA allows up to ten parts per million of anti-foaming agents to be used in food products; they’re found in many processed foods. Though not harmful at these levels, their use does increase the amount of acrylamide (a naturally occurring but nasty chemical) that is formed during frying.


Ahhh, Olestra
Only in America would an indigestible molecule that inhibits the absorption of vitamins and minerals, causes abdominal cramping, loose stools, and gas take in over $400 million in its first year. Only in America would a chemical most closely associated with two words—anal leakage—still have a chance in the food market. (Saw it yesterday in a can of Pringles Light, giving new meaning to the “once you pop, you can’t stop” slogan.) Interestingly, Olestra was first filed with the FDA as a drug, not a food product. What a tangled web we weave…

The Alternative? Lick some raw chicken to get your anal leakage fix.


Too Sweet to Be True
Artificial sweeteners are generally considered safe (save for saccharin, which has that pesky “has been shown to cause cancer in lab rats” warning). However, two studies indicate they may not exactly be as guilt-free as once imagined.

The first study showed that, compared with those who drank no soda, people who consumed one or more sodas a day—diet or regular—had a 50 percent higher risk of metabolic syndrome, a group of risk factors characterized by excessive abdominal fat, high blood pressure, and high glucose. Soda companies balked—how can diet beverages cause these things when they contain no calories? Logic would side with them, except for study number two, done in rats. It showed that rats fed with foods containing artificial sweeteners were more likely to overeat compared with those rats fed food containing real sugar. Reason? Sugar triggers our innate system to recognize sweet calories and restrict further food consumption; fake chemicals don’t trigger the “eat less” mechanism.

The Alternative? Calorie free sodas don’t add on weight, excess food does. However, if you’re drinking lots of diet soda and still loosening up the belt, you may want to rethink the diet approach. (Also, see benzene above.)


Hydrogenation Station
Oils are liquid at room temperature, while fats, like butter and lard, are solid. One way to make vegetable oil into a semi-solid compound, perfect for use in long-lifed packaged foods, is to hydrogenate it. Partial hydrogenation gets rid of some of the good unsaturated fats and also creates trans fats, the black sheep of the fat world, thought to be more deleterious to the old ticker than lard.

The Alternative? Bad press and labeling requirements have caused many food companies to remove trans fats from their products; check labels. (Kraft Fat Free Singles, for instance, contain no saturated fat, but do contain partially hydrogenated oils.) Regular, unsaturated vegetable oil is the perfect alternative for frying, yet restaurants can still use the partially hydrogenated stuff, unless the FDA, which still labels the oil as “generally recognized as safe,” steps up and bans it.


Butylated Hydroxyanisol (BHA)
BHA is an antioxidant that prevents fats and oils from spoiling. BHA is added to packaged foods, baked goods, some cereals, and meats as a preservative. It has been found to cause cancer in laboratory rodents; however, it causes cancer in an organ that humans don’t have, so it’s hard to translate the research into human populations. The National Toxicology Program states that BHA is “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen based on sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity in experimental animals.” Funny, it’s still in our food chain.

The Alternative? Check labels and (if this hasn’t already become clear) avoid packaged foods that have a shelf life lasting longer than the average tenure of a Supreme Court Justice.

As with most chemicals, dose makes the poison; small amounts of the above chemicals ain’t going to kill you (at least according to the FDA). But neither would eating a piece of real cheese.

Copyright © 2006-2008, Real Girls Media Network, Inc. All Rights Reserved

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© 2008 Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. Please feel free to peruse my blog for more great content.

My Other Websites: Are Your Vitamins Safe? Whole Food Nation Affiliate Link

Subway's Biggest Loser

I read the following article online today and wanted to share it. Jared Fogle is a regular guy who did something amazing. He lost 245 pounds and has kept it off for ten years! He is an inspiration to me.


Subway's Biggest Loser
By Sally Squires
Tuesday, April 1, 2008

He's known simply by his first name -- Jared -- and his claim to fame is being a loser, in fact a super-loser.

Meet Jared Fogle, who, as a college junior, shed a whopping 245 pounds on a self-devised diet of Subway sandwiches and became a spokesman for the fast-food chain in the process.

Now he has reached another milestone: maintaining that weight loss for 10 years.

With a rising obesity epidemic, the number of people who need to shed triple-digit pounds is also increasing. A growing number try to meet that goal surgically with stomach stapling or gastric bypass. That makes Jared's accomplishment all the more important.

"It's fantastic that he's done this, because weight-loss surgery is taking on such emphasis," says Brown University psychologist Rena Wing, co-founder of the National Weight Control Registry, a group of 6,300 "successful losers" who have shed at least 30 pounds and kept it off for at least a year.

"Jared supports our findings in the registry that it is possible to achieve and maintain triple-digit losses using behavior changes," Wing says. He lost his weight the old-fashioned way, by eating less and gradually moving more.

At his peak of about 425 pounds, Jared figures that he consumed about 10,000 calories daily, roughly five times the intake of the average adult.

How does a person consume that much? Easy. For breakfast, Jared ate two bacon-and-egg sandwiches with greasy hash browns and washed it down with coffee with cream and plenty of sugar.

Lunch was often an entire large pizza with extra meat and cheese. Bean burritos with cheese were his favorite afternoon snack, followed by an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet for dinner with ice cream for dessert and a bedtime "snack" that was a meal in itself of burgers, fries and more dessert. Not surprisingly, Jared says, his weight increased "exponentially."

Like many, his weight battle began in childhood -- although no one else in his family is overweight. His father is a family physician; his mother, a preschool teacher. None of his siblings have struggled with added unwanted pounds.

"I grew up knowing what was healthy and not healthy to eat," Jared says. "My parents always cooked fairly healthy food, and they didn't buy a lot of junk food."

Even so, he piled on pounds beginning in about the third grade. "From that point, food slowly but surely consumed me," says Jared, who has started a foundation to help prevent childhood obesity.

Despite concern from his parents about his increasing girth, he resisted all their attempts to help him. "I even refused to go to the doctor," he says. "I knew the doctor would tell me to lose weight." As a rebellious teenager, he simply ate more.

"I ate lots of fast food and was always super sizing," he says. "I always wanted the biggest portion. I always wanted to be in a state of constant fullness."

It took his worried college roommate at Indiana University to persuade Jared to make changes. "He was a pre-med major and very concerned about my health," Jared says.

The roommate slipped a tape recorder under Jared's bed to capture the sounds that Jared made while sleeping. He played the tape for Jared and told him that he probably had sleep apnea.

Closely linked to obesity, sleep apnea causes brief interruptions in breathing during sleep and is a major risk factor for heart disease. Jared already had edema, or swelling, in his feet and ankles, often a symptom of heart problems. Plus, he was sleeping for 12 hours a day, "waking up and being completely exhausted," he says. "To be that heavy, that morbidly obese, affects every part of your life. After years of denial and not accepting that I had a problem, I had developed both sleep apnea and edema. I thought, 'Wow. Enough is enough. I need to make some changes.' "

His first attempts at weight loss were unsuccessful. Then he stopped in the Subway outlet adjacent to his apartment building. While waiting for his order, he read a nutrition brochure and looked at the low-fat sandwich section. This was his weight-loss eureka moment: He realized his "diet" could be composed of two of those sandwiches a day.

"It was sort of a crazy idea, but I thought it was worth a shot," he says.

As a college student who liked to sleep late, Jared decided to eat his first meal at midday. He ate a six-inch turkey sub with plenty of vegetables but no mayonnaise, oil or cheese, plus a small bag of baked chips. He also switched from regular Mountain Dew and orange soda to diet soft drinks. "That was very tough," he says.

For dinner, he ate a foot-long veggie sub with another bag of baked chips and more diet soda. The two meals added up to about 1,500 calories per day, about the amount recommended by many weight-loss programs.

When he felt hungry, Jared reminded himself that he was probably losing weight. The first month, he lost about 30 pounds but told no one of his efforts. By three months, he had shed 94 pounds. Friends and family started to notice. "Everyone was skeptical about it," he says, especially his father, who insisted that Jared have his blood tested regularly to make sure that nothing was going wrong. "Once they saw the weight was really coming off, they were really happy for me."

After he lost 100 pounds, Jared began to walk 30 minutes daily. It took him nine more months to shed the remaining weight. "The rate of weight loss slowed the more I lost, but it never stopped," he says. "At the end, I almost lost a little too much weight." He added back about 15 pounds the first year but has maintained his weight at 190 ever since.

Jared's story was featured in the university paper. Local radio stations picked it up. Then Subway contacted him to become the company's spokesman. He has since made more than 50 commercials and travels more than 200 days a year for company appearances.

Although Jared still dines frequently on Subway sandwiches (sweet onion teriyaki chicken with baked chips is his favorite meal), he has learned to eat other healthy food. "I read more nutrition labels and pay attention to what is a healthy way to prepare something versus not a healthy way," he says. "I'm not a calorie-counter per se, but I have learned to know what is a decent size of food for me."

He works out regularly with a personal trainer when he's at home in Indianapolis. On the road, he walks regularly for exercise.

"I think the reason why I have been around for nine years is that people can relate to my story," Jared says. "I'm not some buff jock or famous actor. I'm just sort of like everybody else."

In short, he's trying to eat smart and move more one day at a time.

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© 2008 Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. Please feel free to peruse my blog for more great content.

My Other Websites: Are Your Vitamins Safe? Whole Food Nation Affiliate Link

Students Turn a Profit from Candy Sales

Rachel Byrd, Staff Writer
March 20, 2008 - 3:27PM

VICTORVILLE — With candy sales banned on school campuses, sugar pushers are the latest trend at local schools. Backpacks are filled with Snickers and Twinkees for all sweet tooths willing to pay the price.

“It’s created a little underground economy, with businessmen selling everything from a pack of skittles to an energy drink,” said Jim Nason, principal at Hook Junior High School in Victorville.

This has become a lucrative business, Nason said, and those kids are walking around campus with upwards of $40 in their pockets and disrupting class to make a sale.

Schools have been individually banning junk-food sales for years, and enforcement was increased in 2005 when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger passed legislation to combat childhood obesity, according to the office of the governor.

Since then, schools have slowly adjusted by offering more healthy alternatives, such as baked chips and granola bars.

But Nason said that he sees just as much candy and soda as ever, because students still bring it from home — for lunch, and to turn a profit.

“I think it’s original purpose was pretty good, but it doesn’t seem to be making that big of a difference,” said teacher Rolayne Allen of the junk-food ban.

Teachers are instructed to confiscate candy when kids have it in class, Nason said, and the punishment for making sales can be detention.

But confiscating candy all the time can be challenging, Allen said, especially around the holidays when students bring more of it to school.

Daryl Bell, principal at Apple Valley Middle School, said that he also sees an increase in candy around the holidays, but that for the most part, students steer clear of sodas and buy juice and water from the vending machines.

A few candy sellers are caught each year there, Bell said, but he does not see it as a problem on campus.

Since Hook moved away from junk food years ago, Nason said he has not seen a change in student health.

“I think they get a good nutritional lunch here, but looking at our kids and looking at physical education scores, I don’t see how it’s been a highly effective program,” Nason said.

One way around the problem is the school’s lunch accounts, Nason said. Parents can monitor what their kids are eating by putting money on their lunch cards to buy school meals instead of handing them cash.

But as long as kids can get candy, from the store and at home, they will continue to bring it to school, Nason said.

Rachel Byrd can be reached at 951-6232, or by e-mail at rbyrd@vvdailypress.com.

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© 2008 Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. Please feel free to peruse my blog for more great content.

My Other Websites: Are Your Vitamins Safe? Whole Food Nation Affiliate Link

Good Week for Fun - Bad Week for Weight Loss

Monday: Free Day - It was all good.

Thursday: I went with the girls from work to La Huerta Mexican Restaurant for lunch. We celebrated a coworker's birthday and had a going away party for another coworker. I had a plan: eat one shrimp fajita and drink water (no tortilla chips, beans, rice, guacamole or sour cream). Unfortunately, I failed to tell my waiter to hold the extras that come with the meal.

There are times when I have self control and great discipline. Yesterday was not one of those days. When he set down a plate of beans, rice, guacamole, and sour cream I knew the gig was up. A minute later, he brought a sizzling skillet filled with shrimp, onions and bell peppers. I ate three fajitas, some beans and rice and I even ate a few tortilla chips. It was really good and I was really bad.

It's kind of funny, but at the time I was eating, I really didn't feel guilty. In fact, I enjoyed every single bite! One of my weaknesses is when I make a mistake on my eating plan, I scratch the whole day and say to myself, "You blew it at lunch, you might as well forget eating right the rest of the day." That's exactly what happened. For a dinner appetizer, I ate a couple of raw oysters and saltines and after that, a handful of potato chips. For dinner, I had a steak and sweet potato fries (with melted cheddar cheese on top). Finally, I had yogurt for dessert.

Friday: The junkfoodaholic within came to the surface today. We had a team outing this afternoon at Oaklawn in Hot Springs. I had so much fun! I started out with $50 dollars and when I got home I had $14 dollars. That's a good day at the races for me!

Now for the bad news: I didn't even try to eat healthy today. It was a total blow out. I had a cheeseburger, fries, and a large Coke for lunch. A couple of hours later, I got a Coke refill. On the way home, we stopped at a convenience store to go to the restroom and got a cold drink. Being dinner time, I was hungry. So naturally, I bought a healthy meal: crackers, a Snickers bar, and a Coke. See, I told you I was a junkfoodaholic. Pitiful, I know.

Well, the good news is that my eating extravaganza week is finally over. I have read many testimonies of people who have lost 100 pounds or more and many of them said they had moments when they blew their diets. They all say the same thing: "When (not if) you fall off the wagon, pick yourself up and get back on track. Just keep going and don't give up."

So I'm looking at this past week as a scratch. It was a learning experience and I'm hoping I don't make the same mistakes again. I do know that I am very determined to lose this extra weight.

Over the past four weeks, I've lost twelve pounds. I have fifty-eight more pounds to go and hope to be at my goal weight by the middle of October. The reason I don't tell you how much I weigh is because my husband reads my blog. Do I need to say more? I will give all the gory details when this horror story is finally over. I will be thin, full of confidence again and not care how much I used to weigh.

I know it sounds corny, but I really believe, "Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels". I remember how good it felt to be thin. I want that feeling again, much more than I want to continue being a junk-food junkie.





Related Post: Progress Report

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© 2008 Thanks for taking the time to read A Junk-Foodaholic's Journey to a Healthy Lifestyle. Please feel free to peruse my blog for more great content.

My Other Websites: Are Your Vitamins Safe? Whole Food Nation Affiliate Link

What I'm Doing To Lose Weight

On January 1, 2008, I made my final resolution to lose weight. I am so tired of making that pledge. Year after stinking year. I am finally ready to change my junk-food eating ways.

On February 18, 2008, I put my healthy eating plan (HEP) into action. It's been 3 weeks since I started and I have already lost 10 pounds! Yea me! The great thing about this is that I am finally doing it the right way.

What am I doing? Here's my daily routine:

• fresh vegetable juice blend of carrots, apple, tomato and celery (8 ozs. per day - read how my eyesight was restored)
• one Pop-A-Purple in the morning and one Pop-A-Green in the evening
  
• lean meats (one fist-sized portion per day)
• unlimited vegetables (no potatoes, corn, or peas)
• unlimited fruits (no more than one ripe banana per day)
• keep dairy to a minimum (I eat no more than 1 serving of lowfat cottage cheese or lowfat yogurt per day.)
• five green olives per day and an occasional avocado (good fats)
• handful of almonds per day (good fat, good protein, heart disease & cancer fighter)
  
• water (3-4 20 oz. bottles per day - more if exercising)
• no bread, no flour, no pasta, no white rice
• no sugar
• no caffeine

My goal is to lose 2 pounds a week. If I lose more than 2 pounds that will be great. If I lose less than 2 pounds, then I will take a look at what I did the previous week and make changes accordingly. I know as soon as I start exercising, I'll lose even more weight.

I want to be fit and trim. Once I lose this weight, I want to maintain it and never have to go through a challenge like this again. I know it won't be easy, but with much effort and great determination, I will reach my goal.





Related Post: Progress Report

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© 2008 Thanks for taking the time to read A Junk-Foodaholic's Journey to a Healthy Lifestyle. Please feel free to peruse my blog for more great content.

My Other Websites: Are Your Vitamins Safe? Whole Food Nation Affiliate Link

Hello. My name is Laura and I'm a Junk-Foodaholic.

They say the first step to recovery is being honest about your addiction. Mine is junk food and I know I'm not alone. America and many other nations are suffering with a growing obesity epidemic.

I have gained and lost weight many times in my life. However, I was never an overweight child. The first time I remember gaining weight and being concerned about it was when I was 15 years old. I noticed that my jeans were tighter than usual. Since I never weighed myself, I'm guessing I probably gained 5 or 10 pounds. By the time spring and summer rolled around I lost the weight easily.

When I lived at home, my mother would keep me in check. She cooked healthy meals for me and my brothers. If she thought I was gaining weight, she would mention to me that I needed to do something about it.

In 1981, I became pregnant. I gained 30 pounds during the pregnancy, which put me at 182 pounds. Once my daughter, Rachael, was born, I lost the extra weight by drinking Slim-Fast. This is when my dieting roller coaster began.

By this time, I am newly married and living hundreds of miles from my mother. I ate whatever I wanted... however much I wanted. I gained 30 pounds over a period of three years. I then decided to do the Atkins low-carb diet and lost 20 pounds.

In 1986, my husband and I decided to separate. My daughter and I moved back to Texas to live with my mother. Shortly thereafter, I read a book about fasting that my mom recommended. We decided to do a 7-day fast together. We broke the fast by getting on the cabbage soup diet. I lost weight with each thing I tried, but eventually I gained the weight back. Being 30 pounds overweight again, I decided to try NutriSystem. The diet worked and I lost the weight. You know the drill by now... I slowly gained back the weight.

There were times when I lost weight by eating less and exercising daily. But once I started eating what I wanted again and stopped exercising, the weight came back. It's a vicious cycle, but I've learned many things along the way. I've learned that losing weight is the easy part. Keeping the weight off is the real challenge.

I have learned many things about myself while on this journey. I discovered that I love junk food. I love good food. I even love healthy food. The truth is I love food a little too much. Instead of treating food as a necessity for the health of my body, I have a love-relationship with food. Food is my friend, my very very close friend. I am an emotional eater. I eat when I'm happy and I eat when I'm sad. I also eat when I'm bored. But I seldom eat when I'm hungry. I may think I'm hungry at the time, but often I simply want to eat because it tastes good. Food makes me feel good.

I love Ding-Dongs, chocolate donuts, and powdered donuts. I love chips. I love Schlotsky's sourdough bread. I love French bread. Come to think of it...I just love any kind of bread. I love Snickers, Milky Ways, Butterfingers, and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. I love lasagna. I love Mexican white cheese dip. I love Pizza Hut's pan pizza. I love cheeseburgers with fries. I love Coca-Cola. I love Dr. Pepper. I love an ice-cold IBC root beer. I love fried shrimp and fried oysters. I love eastern North Carolina barbecue. And that's the short list! I like a lot more junk food than what I've listed here. If I took enough time to list it all out, it would probably shock you.

In 1990, I remarried. Three years later, I had a baby boy. I was 189 pounds when I became pregnant and I had gained 35 pounds by the time my son, Dylan was born. He weighed 10 pounds, 4-1/2 ounces. Six weeks later, I lost all the pregnancy weight. I didn't diet to lose the weight, it just came off. I breast-fed my baby, so I know that helped.

Unfortunately, my marriage was rocky. We had just separated when I found out I was pregnant. We stayed separated until our son was born and reunited as a last-ditch effort. By the time my son was 13 months old, we separated again and eventually divorced. I was overweight and miserable. My daughter, son, and I moved in with my mom. She helped me lose the weight by dieting and exercising with me. I felt so good about myself, I decided to take acting lessons and even posed for some Glamour Shots.

However, I was soon back on the roller coaster ride again. It took a year and a half, but I succeeded in gaining all the weight back. In October 1995, my divorce became final so my mom, daughter, son, and I decided to move to Arkansas to be near family.

Over the next four years, I lost and gained weight several times. Then I watched the movie, You've Got Mail and decided to give online dating a try. I was 30 pounds overweight, but wanted to check it out anyway. I posted a really nice picture of myself on my profile, thinking it might help attract interest. Well, it worked! I met my husband, Paul on a Christian matchmaker site. Of course, he thought I looked like the picture I posted on my profile! His first email to me said, "Wow." I said to myself, "Uh oh".

From the moment I received his first email, I knew I had better lose the weight. What did I do? I started a fast. For the next 30 days, I didn't eat a speck of food and I exercised every day. By the time we met (a month after our first email to each other), I had lost 30 pounds and looked great. We married four months later in November 1999. I know it's crazy, but we were in love! We still are, thank the Lord.

After Paul and I married, I did a pretty good job of keeping the weight off. Paul introduced me to juicing and whole food supplements. Though I was doing some things right, I eventually gained the weight back. I heard about the Body-for-LIFE program, so I bought the book and read it from cover to cover. I decided to do the Twelve Week Challenge. I followed the program religiously. Along with dieting, I did cardio and weight training six days a week. I managed to lose 30 pounds in 12 weeks. I was thrilled! Do you think I stuck with the program that was delivering such fabulous results? No, I sure didn't. I sure wish I had, though. I was really looking good.

On January 1, 2003, I made my annual resolution to lose weight. I did the Atkins diet again. I lost 20 pounds, but eventually gained it all back. I couldn't figure out why I was not losing weight, even though I was dieting and exercising.

After a routine pap smear, my gynecologist asked me if I had anything I wanted to talk to him about. I told him that I was very concerned about my weight gain over the last year. He referred me to my family doctor to have my thyroid checked. My doctor tested my blood and confirmed that I had hypothyroidism. In case you don't know, your thyroid helps to regulate your metabolism. The doctor explained that my thyroid was under-performing. He put me on thyroid medication and I still take it every day. I thought that by taking this medication, my weight problems would be solved. Boy, was I wrong. Instead of losing, my weight continued to climb. Keep in mind, I was eating whatever I wanted and that meant junk food. I reached a point where I just didn't care about losing weight anymore. I was disgusted.

In July 2006, I found out I was pregnant! It came as quite a shock. I thought I couldn't have a baby because of the perimenopausal signs I was experiencing. I was 42 years old! Well, God has a sense of humor. Even though I was overweight and as the doctor put it "of advanced age", I was delighted to be having a baby. My husband, Paul, was thrilled that he was going to be a daddy, as this was his first child.

The pregnancy went exceptionally well. Two weeks before my due date, I was at my OB appointment and was told that my blood pressure was too high. The doctor sent me to the hospital so they could monitor me closely. After an hour, they decided to admit me. Labor was induced the following morning but things were not progressing as expected. Because the baby was large, my doctor advised a C-section. Brady Thomas Eilers was born March 29, 2007, weighing 9 pounds, 11 ounces. Six weeks later, I lost all the pregnancy weight. I breastfed Brady for 9 months, so I didn't diet during that time.

On January 1, 2008, I made my final resolution to lose weight. I am so tired of making that pledge. Year after stinking year. I am finally ready to change my junk-food eating ways.

On February 18, 2008, I put my healthy eating plan into action. It's been 3 weeks since I started and I have already lost 10 pounds!

My goal is to lose 2 pounds a week. If I lose more than 2 pounds that will be great. If I lose less than 2 pounds, then I will take a look at what I did the previous week and make changes accordingly. I know as soon as I start exercising, I'll lose even more weight.

I want to be fit and trim. Once I lose this weight, I want to maintain it and never have to go through a challenge like this again. I know it won't be easy, but with much effort and great determination, I will reach my goal.

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© 2008 Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. Please feel free to peruse my blog for more great content.

My Other Websites: Are Your Vitamins Safe? Whole Food Nation Affiliate Link