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While it’s not the time of year to start a diet, it’s also not the time to go overboard.  During this holiday season, just take a taste of all the great foods that are available to you.  Just a taste!  I know it’s tempting to fill your plate with all the high-fat, high-calories foods.  I mean, some of them only come around once a year. 

But really, just a taste is the best thing you can do for yourself.  Don’t try to fill up on holiday foods.  Before you go to a party, eat a well-balanced meal.  That way, you will only be tempted to eat those things that you really want.  And you won’t be tempted to fill-up on the party foods, you will only taste them.

Thinking it out beforehand is the best way to take care of yourself.  Don’t over indulge.  Just take a taste…

Tags: Add something good, Holiday Dieting, Mind Control, Plan Ahead, Tips and Tricks for Dieting // Add Comment »

I know that Thanksgiving is over, but today is NOT the day to start a diet.  Neither is any time int the next 30 days.  Trying to start a diet in the next month is just setting yourself up for failure.  There are just too many things happening, too many parties, too many holidays during this time to even think about trying to start a diet.  Please!  Do yourself a favor and don’t even think about it till next month.

But you CAN do things that will make it easier for you to get through the season without hurting yourself.  Decide that you will only eat sweets once a day.  That means if you are going to a party this evening, you will not eat sweets all day long.  On days that you are not going out in the evenings, decide that you won’t eat after 7pm.

Try to include fiber in your diet by adding just one spoon of Fibersure (or some other fiber supplement) to your coffee, tea or other drink during the day.  Adding fiber will help you feel satisfied and not hungry all the time.  You really will eat less because you are already partly full.

I know that having so much food around at this time will give you the urge to start a diet.  Strange to say, but true.  But, do yourself a favor and put it off till after the new year.  It will make all the difference between success and failure.

Let me know how things are going for you by leaving a comment!

Tags: Fiber, Holiday Dieting, Mind Control, Plan Ahead // Add Comment »

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and it is NOT the time to be worrying over food.  Just relax and enjoy the holiday.  It only comes around once a year and if you overeat ONE day, it isn’t going to ruin everything for you.

It’s a day to give thanks for your good health.  That you have enough food that you can worry about gaining weight.  That you have family.  And for some people, that they don’t have to worry about family. 

But just for this day, think of all the things in your life that you are thankful for.  And then give Thanks.

Relax.  Enjoy yourself.  Give Thanks.  Be grateful for the food you have, not worried over the food you eat.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! 

Tags: Add something good // Add Comment »

Today I was showing my dad some pickled okra that I had found.  When I was young, he made the best pickled okra that I can remember eating and since he stopped making it, I haven’t found any to enjoy since.

But this new pickled okra I found tasted the closest to his that I had been able to find and I was excited to show it to him.  While he was tasting it, I was also enjoying and savoring the flavor.  I was eating and enjoying my third piece when he yelled at me “Don’t eat the whole jar!”

Words leave me.  That made me so very angry!  As if!  I can’t even discribe how angry that made me.

And it made me just want to eat and eat and eat.

So I made myself stop.  I simple can’t let people like that affect me.  I can’t allow myself to react to that by eating.

I did make the point to him that I had only eaten three pieces.  But of course he was not listening.  As usual.

But that’s his problem and not mine.  And HIS problem is what affects our relationship, but he refuses to see that also.

But I can not let that control my actions and reactions.

What has you eating mad?

Tags: Mind Control, Off Days, The Diet Plan, Tips and Tricks for Dieting // Add Comment »

When it comes to losing weight, you don’t always have to go on a full-out diet.  Sometimes you can change one thing, and it will have massive results.  A friend of mine was a Pepsi addict.  If there was Pepsi in the house, she drank it.  If it wasn’t in the house, then she went out, got some and she drank it.  Every chance she had to have Pepsi, she had it.

But then she took a job that kept her so busy she didn’t have time to drink even a glass of Pepsi.  And she was so tired when she came home in the evenings that she didn’t drink Pepsi after she came home.  So she stopped drinking Pepsi.

And she lost 20 lbs in one month.

Now, your “one thing” may not be as dramatic as my friend’s, but it will make a difference.  It’s amazing how changing just one thing in your life can affect you.

Give it a try and let me know what happens.

Tags: Add something good, Mind Control, Motivation, The Diet Plan, Tips and Tricks for Dieting // Add Comment »

Look, sometimes things just pile up in your life and get to be too much.  You need to think twice before you try to start a diet during that time period.  Sometimes you just have to take a break from the stress.  And dieting will create stress in your life, even if only for a short period of time.

Also, the holidays are very stressful for some people.  And trying to start a diet during that time period, in addition to trying to resist all the holiday foods can be too much to deal with.  C’mon now, think about it!

So if it’s not the right time for you to diet, just relax about it.  Take a break.  Be kind to yourself and don’t beat yourself up just because you aren’t dieting right now.

But also don’t go overboard and make your situation worse.  Just because you aren’t dieting doesn’t mean that you need to eat everything.  Or have 2nds, 3rds or worse.  Just relax.  Take a break.  Taste, but don’t over do it.  Don’t push your body to have to deal with a processing a lot of food.  Relax and enjoy the holidays.

Let me know if this helps by leaving a comment.

Tags: Add something good, Holiday Dieting, Mind Control, Off Days, Plan Ahead, The Diet Plan, Tips and Tricks for Dieting // Add Comment »

… of salad or homemade vegetable soup.  :-)  You know, sometimes you just want to eat.  And eat.  And EAT.

Just in case you were wondering, that’s all about your emotions.  You’re chewing on something internally, but you don’t really deal with it, so you chew externally.  The problem with all that chewing is that it really goes internal and shows up on your external. 

So eat salad or homemade vegetable soup.  Just be careful what you put on it.  In my diet world, veggies are free foods because I’m encouraging myself to eat healthier.  But there are few veggies that will pack on the weight.  And in their raw form, as in a salad, they will really give you something to chew on.  And in the soup form, it’s very comforting, nourishing and nutritious.

So chow down - on veggies.

Let me know if this works for you.

Tags: Add something good, Fiber, Low-Carb, Mind Control // Add Comment »

I told your previously how I started blood pressure medicine because of a persistent doctor.  Well, that same doctor decided to run a series of blood test to see how I was doing over all.  One of the blood test was to check my thyroid levels.

Can you believe it?  They came back low!

Now, I told this doctor that I had been saying for years that my thyroid was low and doctors would run blood test and tell me yes it was low, but not low enough to treat.  (what does that mean, anyway?)

This doctor told me that what was considered “normal” had changed recently and now my “not-low-enough-to-treat” levels, were actually low enough to treat now!  Amazing!

So I started on thyroid medication a little over a month ago.  The doctor was kind enough to make sure the prescription was written for the medication that you can get for $4 per month at Walmart.

Anyway, you would not believe how much better I feel!  I actually feel like doing things!  I have energy!  So much energy that most of the time I can’t sit all day long, as I had been doing in the past.  What an amazing feeling!  It feels so good to just feel like getting up and going!

So I encourage you.  Do yourself a favor.  If you have not had your thyroid levels checked in a while, go ahead and spring for a simple blood test.  It could make all the difference, as it has done with me!

And if you are interested in what the $4 medicine at Walmart is, go by the pharmacy and pick up a list of the drugs BEFORE you go to your doctor.  From what my doctor told me, you can’t go from one thyroid medication to another.  Once you start on one, you have to stay with that one.

And let me know what happens!

Tags: Add something good, Measure it!, Motivation // Add Comment »

Wow.  It’s been a long six months since my dad became so very ill.  But he is back on his feet now, with his heart problems under control - or they seem to be - and he is currently taking physical therapy because this crisis took so much out of him.  He was starting to look really frail and is having a hard time to just stepping up the front step.  He just started the PT, but he is doing well and feeling better already.

So what’s going on with me?  Well, I’ve gained a few pounds.  But I’m thankful that it’s just a few pounds and not lots of pounds.  This has been very stressful for me and apparently the way I handle stress is to eat.  And eat carbohydrates.

Okay, so it’s get back on the horse time.  I can do this.  I know I can.  And I want to.  So there.  I want to and I can.  That’s all I need.  :-)  And to help me, I’m going to be writing in this blog again.  I appreciate my readers patience with me during the past months.

Here we go, again!! 

Tags: Add something good, Mind Control, Motivation, Off Days // Add Comment »

My dad is scheduled to undergo two medical procedures so that he can be ready for a valve replacement.   This has become more important than the afib because his congestive heart failure is acting up because of the valve problem.

Meanwhile, I have just had to go on blood pressure meds for the first time in my life (because of the stress of the hurrican (Gustov) and my dad’s problems) for the first time in my life.  After three days on being on the med’s, I can actually say that I didn’t realize how sick I was.  For some reason I was able to ignore every sign that I should have been paying attention to and focus on my father and the after effects of the hurricane that rattled this area down to it’s bones.

All while ignoring my own health.

Thankfully, there is a local team of health professionals that are, not only doing their jobs, but also extending their care and concern to me.

They were able to convince ME that I was someone that needed care also and made such an argument that I actually listened to them.  The result being that I have actually seen my ankle bones for the first time in a while and am able to breath while lying down.  I thought it was just my weight that was causing me to feel like I was suffocating while I was lying down.  Turns out it was the amount of fluid my body was carrying in addition to the high blood pressure.

What actually turned me around to accept medical help instead of just brushing it off?  As the nurse said, “Why put yourself in the position of having to deal with a stroke or heartattack after-effects, when you can PREVENT all that with just A PILL?” 

How do you argue with that?   Of course, she was RIGHT!

So I went on the pill, and after just three days am wondering why I was being so stubborn.

Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you!  To the equally stubborn medical professionals!  Thank you again!

Tags: Add something good, Motivation, Off Days // Add Comment »