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I gained 2.5 pounds this week. I cant say I am shocked because I have been slacking off a lot and I feel it. I am having my time of month and I am bloated and achy and have no energy and I still have this headache that will not quit. I am in the process of making cranberry wine and the cats keep trying to attack the bubbler. I guess they think its some great toy. I feel crappy. After reading back through what I have been ingesting it's really no wonder why I feel like crap. Yesterday I was really on a binge. I drank 2 cups of the hydrogenated cream coffee I had a grilled cheese sandwich for breakfast, for lunch I went to Carls Jr and ate the six dollar burger and waffle fries, then on my way to work I had a chocolate attack and stopped at the store and bought a piece of chocolate cake, a big fruit and nut candy bar and one of those cadbury caramel filled eggs and ate them all in one go. For dinner I ate a big bowl of honey nut cherrios.

I have been a country music fan for the past 15 years. Last night the inner rocker came right back out of hiding. Esmerelda and I went to see Bon Jovi at the Verizon Center in DC. We had a good time catching up, having a good brisk walk, people watching and singing along with Jon. I saw someone in their vintage Slippery When Wet t-shirt, I remember that from high school and I just had my 20 year reunion. The crowd was entertaing to watch--grandparents & grandkids, families, drunk college guys, lots of mid-30s to mid-40s folks and the librarian looking lady behind us totally rocking out!

Jon has definitely gotten better with age, Richie, not so much!

Here is the playlist from the show:
LOST HIGHWAY
BAD NAME
RAISE YOUR HANDS
RUNAWAY
CAPT. CRASH
SLEEP w/ Jumpin' Jack Flash
IN THESE ARMS
WHOLE LOT OF LEAVIN'
BORN TO BE MY BABY
BLAZE OF GLORY w/ Knockin' On Heaven's Door intro
WE GOT IT GOIN' ON
IT'S MY LIFE
BAD MEDICINE w/ Shout
STRANGER - RICHIE VOX(YOU WANT T0)
MAKE A MEMORY
I'LL BE THERE FOR YOU
BED OF ROSES
WHO SAYS YOU CAN'T GO HOME
HAVE A NICE DAY
FAITH
PRAYER

ENCORE:
WANTED
I LOVE THIS TOWN

Just really great music from 1983-present, there is a band with some staying power! Oh the memories some of those songs brought back. Obviously I haven't been to a concert in a really long time because the $60 t-shirts made me blanch!

What I am about to share with you is amazingly true. About 15 years ago I read an article on how to lose weight while you sleep. At the time I didn’t have weight to lose nor did I understand the way our bodies worked. I didn’t care about losing weight back then so I had no reason to remember this article until many years later.

A thin person's body contains approximately 20 billion fat cells while someone who carries more weight has at least 150 billion fat cells or more. Fat cells build in the tissue of our sub cutis which is the layer of tissue just beneath our skin. It is necessary...more
http://www.healthmad.com/Weight-Loss/Lose-Weight-While-You-Sleep-with-Apple-Cider-Vinegar.49274

I got a great workout last night while dancing with Jon Bon Jovi! Unfortunately I did not have him to myself, I had to share him with about 20,000 other fans at his Lost Highway Tour concert.

The concert was amazing and I was so impressed with the energy level of Jon Bon Jovi. He danced, jumped, sang, ran, and wowed the crowd for over 2.5 hours! It is no wonder that he looks so fit and wonderful! (can you tell I am a big fan?)

Dancing is a great workout and what better way to do it than with a bunch of friends on a night out? Gather up some friends and go dancing this weekend, you will have tons of fun and burn some serious calories!

Moving on to some of my favorite links over the past week:

Mrs Furious was stuck in a slump with her fitness plan but recently got back on the treadmill. Click here to find out how she got her mojo back.

Maria from Fitness Cure gives us a round up of fit and athletic celebrites from the Oscars. They are fit, healthy and gorgeous! (I absolutely love Jennifer Garner!)

Katie from Sister Skinny is training for a 10k. She blogs about training for her race and shares some pictures from her running route that make me very jealous. I think I could handle running in the cold if I had scenery like this!

That is it gang. Get your dancing shoes on, grab your mojo, and go be active! No excuses!

photo credit: for_ladybug

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Bon Jovi with a side of fit and healthy links

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5 Key Benefits of an Organic Diet
Pour a glass of wine? Bet that's the first time you've seen that "step one" on a diet plan.

Relax, and if wine is your thing, pour a glass and enjoy. You’re about to embark on a delicious and revolutionary way of thinking about the food you eat and the way you buy it. You’ll enjoy the discovery of gorgeously fresh, simple and healthy foods and ingredients which will make delicious dining as good for you as it is for the planet.

Here are 5 main benefits for you:

1. It rids your diet of over-processed, over-packaged, additive-laced, pesticide-sprayed food-like substances.

2. It replaces that junk with real, "whole" foods, deliciously and simply prepared.

3. It helps you ditch the faux foods, franken foods(a genetically altered food, especially a fruit or vegetable.) and fast foods that now make up so much of the American diet.

4. It causes you to fall in love with foods that are safe for you and sustainable for the planet.

5. It helps you to feel great and eat well. Eating green and organic is the fastest-growing food trend today. It’s morphed from grass-roots to mainstream and is fast changing old ideas about what to eat. New recipes, new cookbooks, and new restaurants featuring these kinds of foods are arriving every day.

Most wine is good for you in moderation provided you don't have substance abuse issues. Organic and biodynamic wines beccoming more widely available. Red wine has resveratrol an important antioxidant.

For more on this post and how to green your diet in 30 days

Ingredients

1 Packet Filo Pastry


For the Cream

250g butter – 50g for the cream and the rest for the filo
1 litre fresh milk
2/3 cup fine semolina
1/3 cup thick semolina
Grated rind from 2 lemons
4 eggs
2 vanilla essence
½ teaspoonful grated cinnamon


For the Syrup

2 cups water
3 ½ cups sugar
3 sticks of cinnamon
3 slices lemon peel
1 tablespoonful syrup
15 cloves plus some extra for the filo



Preparation of Galaktoboureko

Remove the filo from the fridge and let it come to room temperature.

Simmer the milk in a large pan with the sugar and the semolina, stirring continuously until the mixture starts to thicken.

Lower the temperature and add the eggs one at a time whilst stirring vigorously.

Allow the mixture to thicken whilst stirring continuously.

Add the remaining ingredients for the cream.

Set the cream aside, covering it with cling film which is in contact with the cream so as that it doesn’t form a crust.

Melt the butter.

Spread half of the filo on the bottom of a large round oven dish and spread melted butter on it.

Spread the cream on top of the filo.

Place the remaining filo, spread with melted butter, on top of the cream.

Cut round the edge of the oven dish to remove the extra filo.

Fold the filo over the edge of the oven dish.

Butter the surface.

With a sharp knife, score the top of the filo diagonally into portion sizes. In the centre of each portion place a clove.

Bake the galaktoboureko in a preheated moderate oven for about 40 minutes or until it has a golden colour.

Allow it to cool and cut it where it has been scored, whilst it is still in the oven dish.

It is better to leave it overnight and prepare the syrup to go on top the following morning.

Preparation of Syrup

Put the water and sugar in a large pan.

Add the rest of the ingredients for the syrup and boil gently for 20 minutes.

Pour the syrup on top of the galaktoboureko, allowing it to be absorbed.



When serving, sprinkle some ground cinnamon on top of each portion.

Eat and Enjoy!

Mark this day down.

I woke up and just didn't feel like eating. I just didn't feel like playing this game today and I thought that not eating anything was better than eating what I shouldn't.

I ended up grabbing a 100% Whey Protein shake before making my run to preschool.

On the ride I was trying to figure out how I was going to fit in my workouts today. I scheduled for upper body and Week 1 Day 3 of C25K.

I decided I would go home, do my workouts, get changed and then head back to preschool for pickup. I then have to race home, get the three kiddos lunch and then run out to the pediatrician for my girly girls 2 year check up.

So I did just that. I got home and went to workout.

And I lost steam during my upper body workout. I will give myself the credit for dying out on the last exercise. Let this be a lesson to myself that 1 shake does not an energy packed workout make.

So now back to the drawing board. I came upstairs and made myself some egg whites and toast and I guess I'll see if I can get my C25K in when the kids go to bed. Hubster is working at Roundtop tonight so I don't have him to entertain : )

Have a great day!

Editor’s note: This post is the first of a regular series that will be appearing on Fridays. The idea is to try new “real food” recipes that can be prepared on the weekend. Of course, each recipe can also be prepared during the week (that’s when I’m trying it), but with the hectic schedules of most, a recipe might be easier to try on the weekend when work is generally less of a factor. If you enjoy this article, please consider subscribing to my feed. Thanks.

As part of the holistic approach to improving my health, I am searching for creative ways to “get into” vegetables. I didn’t grow up eating a lot of fresh greens, so finding vegetables that I like has been a long and continuous road, fraught with danger (or so I feared). However, despite my initial skepticism, I’ve found that the more well-prepared, well-seasoned vegetable dishes that I try, the more I like them, which even I find hard to believe. In my case, the key to this is how they are prepared.

This recipe is based on the principles that a) you can never get enough vegetables in your diet, so eat as much as you can, b) if you cook your vegetables, it should be done with reasonable skill and attention, and c) (and most importantly) eating vegetables should be about the pleasure of doing so because the flavor is out of this world, not simply because it’s “good for you.”

The concept of eating vegetables solely because they’re good is a nice idea, but based on my experience that is not a good enough reason for me to stick to a new dietary habit. I simply won’t eat them regularly if they don’t taste good.

Here’s recipe number 1 - I hope you enjoy it for the flavor first, the experience of cooking second, and the health benefits third. I’ve prepared these dishes side by side numerous times, sometimes in the quantities mentioned here, and other times for larger groups. Both times they turned out well, and were enjoyed by our guests (or at least I’m sure they didn’t have to spit it out ).

(more…)

Tara at Lijit jokes about Lijitos on her blog, I quit for Lijit. So I thought I'd come up with some mojito recipes for those trying to lose weight by watching their Weight Watcher POINTS.

Key Lime Mojito
Here's a take on the traditional rum-based recipe - full of empty calories from the simple syrup and vodka.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 oz Charbay Key Lime Vodka
• 4 mint leaves and 2 lime wedges
• 1 oz simple syrup

Instructions:

1. Put all the ingredients in a tall glass.
2. Fill with crushed ice and top with soda water. Stir to mix.
3. Garnish with mint spring or lime wheel.

Since the vodka has only 2 POINTS, you could substitute a sugar free syrup like Torani Sugar Free Lime Syrup for the simple syrup. And as long as your soda water (try plain or lime flavored seltzer) has no calories, you have a 2 POINTS cocktail.

Or try this reduced calorie version with white rum.

Diet Mojito
From Amitheste via Chowhound's Spirits board
(2 Weight Watcher POINTS)

Ingredients/Instructions:

1. Muddle mint sprigs with lime wedges
2. Add 1 jigger white rum
3. Top off with diet lemon/lime soda
4. Add a sugar free vanilla syrup like Torani Sugar Free Vanilla Syrup

And while your enjoying your Low POINTS Lijitos, enter my Too Lijit to quit - a contest for bloggers and do some drunken blogging - safer than drinking and driving for sure!

I have been procrastinating this post for some time now, but since a few of you have been noticing that I have not posted in awhile, I figured it's time to confess... I fell off the bandwagon big time, and one of the easiest ways to know that I have is when I don't post to my blog at least a few times per week.

I do have to say, even though I live in sunny Austin, I went through a couple weeks of winter blues where I had no desire what-so-ever to exercise. The adrenaline that I got from working out decreased, so I looked to other things to keep going...aka sugar, the worst thing possible for a dieter, or, in my case, a lifestyle changer. I became addicted to sugar again, and last week was not too pretty when I tried to detox from it.

A couple weeks ago, Matt (my trainer) made me promise to go to the gym every day for a week to try and get out of my slump. I had the hardest time telling him of my woes because I knew it would make him upset and sad. He has put a lot of himself in me, not just work-wise either. Anyway, I did work out for a week straight, and was going strong on my second week until yesterday. Sundays have become my "day out of the gym" exercise day for variety. Last Sunday I played sand volleyball for 3.5 hours, and the week before I hiked probably 7 miles or so in the greenbelt. My nutrition is not completely back to normal, but I'm working on it.

Man, this post sounds depressing. What have I learned through all of this? WELL...Matt is right yet again, I'm sometimes way too hard on myself. I need to work on forgiving myself. I can forgive others pretty easily, but for some reason if I screw up myself, I just can't do it. And that's how I spiraled down.

I could blame this on the new guys that are in my life, but that would be just another excuse and I'm tired of excuses. I need to step my game back up, it's just super hard to do so when I have so many exciting things outside the gym occurring.

SO...for accountability...I weighed in this afternoon (usually I do this in the morning before my morning workout, but I haven't had one of those in weeks) at 295, last week I was 293. I may be retaining some water due to my sodium intake last night, but who knows. I have started logging my food again, so that should help.

Thanks to those who noticed my disappearing act...I've been procrastinating my confession for about week now, but now you and the world know it.

Odd title, right?
I mean, who would actually eat candy for 6 hours straight...?

Well... I did. A year ago.

One night my sugar addiction reached its climax... And it was the horrible thing I've ever experienced.

In this blog post I'm writing about my experience of eating candy / chocolate / donuts / cake / cookies / chips / candy floss every 5-10 minutes for 6 hours during a day which resulted in temporarily hearing loss, loss in balance, throwing up and a visit to the hospital.

Here's my experience with having an episode of Meniere's Disease:

Once a year this city nearby sets up a carnival with carousels, games, candy floss etc. I usually attend this carnival just because they sell this unusual candy that is hard to find elsewhere. And I was planning to do that last year as well. The only difference from 2007 compared to the previous years is that I was in a no-candy-bet which meant I hadn't eaten candy or anything unhealthy for months prior to the carnival. It was decided to have this carnival day as an exception which made me happy, of course, as I could buy my favorite candies!

Arriving at the carnival at 2 pm
So I got to the carnival at around 2 pm and started buying candies of all kinds. I started eating immediately.
Thinking back I'm not even sure I had a proper lunch that day. Bad!
Some hours went by and I visited my mum's place and she had cake and cookies served. I ate.
I continued to the carnival and bought some donuts. Then some chips. And a little more candy.
And of course, the mandatory candy floss.

7 pm
It's 7 pm and I'm back at my place. I rented a movie to watch and planned to go to bed early because I was tired and it had been a long day.

8 pm
I'm still eating candy at this hour and I have more to eat in front of me. Suddenly I get a feeling of unease. I stop the movie and I feel it inside that I've gone too far with the unhealthy things. I immediately go to the bathroom and brush my teeth to get rid of the sugar taste I have in my mouth.
I continue watching the movie but after some minutes the hearing on my left ear starts to go down. During a period of 5-10 minutes my hearing capability in my left ear must have been only 60%.
This freaked me out a little and I went online to talk to a friend about it. I told him what I had done the whole day (eating candy!) and he calmed me down and said that it was probably due to the sugar and that it would probably be fine the day after.

It's around 8.30 pm and I decide to stop the movie and just go to bed. In the mean time my hearing on my right ear starts to go down 20%, while my left hear is down to 40% now.

I fall asleep pretty quickly.

6 am the next day - All hell breaks loose
I wake up with the feeling of unease.
I feel strange.
I open my eyes and turn my head to my left.
As I do this everything starts spinning in front of me.
I turn my head to the right - nothing happens.
I turn my head to the left again - the whole room is spinning.
I freak out.

I get up to get water in the kitchen. After walking a metre I realize I can't walk straight. I am almost tripping.

When I walk and tilt my head to the left the whole world starts to spin and I almost lose balance - almost fall.

I quickly grab my cellphone and calls my mum to pick me up and drive me to the hospital. While I wait I start to throw up... Fortunately I only drank water...

My mum arrives and I continue to throw up in the car all the way to the hospital.

I feel horrible.
I know it's the candy's fault.
No, it's my fault.

While I arrive at the hospital my loss of hearing and loss of balance are wearing off. I start to get well again. Phew!
I get to see a doctor which examines me a bit and asks a bunch of questions. He comes to the conclusion that I might suffer from Meniere's Disease. The throwing up was only results of the balance organ that was off. He wants to run more tests so I get an appointment scheduled.
I'm fine for now.

Meniere's Disease (or idiopathicendolymphatic hydrops) is a disorder of the inner ear that usually affect hearing and the balance.
Symptoms can be different from person to person but the main ones are:
- Episodes of dizziness (rotary vertigo)
- Hearing loss
- Experiencing tinnitus
- A feeling of pressure in one or both ears.

People with Meniere's Disease can get episodes/attacks like the one I experienced anytime anywhere. It usually happens twice a year, but in extreme cases it happens once a month.
Luckily I was ruled out having Meniere's Disease and I am thankful for that everyday.
I was being extremely stupid that day when I ate candy for six hours straight...

I wrote this post for a couple of different reasons.
First one is for me to "write it off" my chest. This event is nothing I tell everyone I know. Just a few knows, and I'm fine with that.
Second one is to warn other people that (obviously) eating candy for 6 hours straight is nothing good - but not only candy - this applies to anything. Like I wrote in the comment section of Health Tip #28; "I had a teacher who told this story about a friend that loved paprika and had several of those one evening - he ended up in hospital!".

I can't imagine anyone else do what I did, but if you do and if you experience these symptoms it doesn't mean you are "just experiencing the symptoms" and don't have Meniere's Disease. Always consult with a doctor and never self-diagnose.

Afterwards - lessons I've learnt
The following three months after this incident candy and all sorts of unhealthy food didn't seem attractive in my eyes anymore. All I could think of when I saw candy was this incident and I swore to myself to never eat candy again.
However, it seems like with time you "forget".
I did start to eat candy again - but never as much as I did that particular day, and with much more precaution.
As I've stated a few times on this blog - I don't believe in depriving yourself from certain foods in order to get slim or to live a healthy life.
I believe moderation is a key factor regarding health - something I learnt the hard way.

Feel free to share similar experiences in the comment section.

It’s a fact; everyone needs some form of fat in their diet. Research shows that canola oil is by far the best choice to use, in cooking and baking. It has a higher heat tolerance, a neutral taste and a smooth texture. Canola oil was first manufactured in Canada, in the 70’s. The name [...]