How to Explode Your Self Confidence

by | Dec 15, 2004 | Weight Loss Tips

If you want to explode your self confidence bestow yourself with super powers. You can then tap your magic wand upon the shoulder of anyone you meet and grant them wishes, powers, and riches beyond their wildest belief. The trick is, other people don’t know you have this magical ability and they never will, so it is how they treat you that determines whether they are rewarded.

So, now that you have this magnificent power, you can look at people with pity that are so short-sighted they don’t look beyond your exterior shell. It’s what’s inside that determines true beauty. Yes, it’s nice to have an exterior other find pleasing, but we’ll all grow old and frankly, I want to be a beautiful old lady too. Wrinkled, and bent, but beautiful with sparkling eyes and a mischevious smile.

Overweight Obesity Researcher Develops Northwoods Diet

by | Dec 11, 2004 | Diet Plans

What Does it Take to Develop a New Diet?

Allen Levine, director of the Minnesota Obesity Center and head of the University of Minnesota’s Department of Food Science and Nutrition thinks people need to police themselves because, “You can’t have sex at your desk and you can’t drink booze at your desk and you can’t inject drugs at your desk, but you can eat a donut. Nobody’s going to stop you.”

Wow! That’s a little harsh. Somehow I don’t think eating a donut at my desk really is equal to the other choices (sex, drugs, drink — hey, he forgot rock-and-roll!).

Levine’s colleague University of Minnesota professor David Bernlohr and obesity researcher realized he’d gotten fat. Yes, that’s right. Just because you research obesity does not mean you are immune. Oh, no. The rotund Bernlohr decided to create his own diet and dubbed it the “Northwoods Diet,” in a vain attempt at poking fun at the fad diet industry and the popular South Beach diet.

His diet is pretty tame: Three meals a day with smaller portions and no food after 7:30 p.m. That’s it. Probably he’ll write a 200 page book about it soon.

Bernlohr explained his diet, “is just common sense to people who study nutrition or metabolism.” What he didn’t explain was he didn’t bother to follow his own “common sense” and keep his weight under control in the first place.

Atkins + Digital Chocolate = Atkins 2Go

by | Dec 10, 2004 | Diet Plans

No, this has nothing to do with chocolate at all, it’s just the name of a company.

Too bad! Atkins partnered with the San Mateo, California-based mobile games company called Digital Chocolate Inc. to develop the “Atkins 2Go” service for mobile phones.
Digital Chocolate President Mark Jacobstein said he’s not concerned about the evident decline in consumer interest in low-carb diets, and said he thinks all major cell phone carriers will be interested in the product. Pretty darn market savvy I’d say. Doesn’t care that his customer base is dwindling. I don’t think I’ll buy any stock in this company.

Atkins International is feeling the pinch of less people on low carb diets, plus most folks following low carb plans are learning to make better food choices, rather than buying low carb bread and pancake mix. So, in an effort to not go broke, they are teaming with Digital Chocolate to bring something amazing to cell phone users — the ability to figure out how many carbs in the food you are eating!

Wow. I’ll just go nuts calling up to find that out, instead of simply looking it up online which takes about a split second and is free. Unfortunately my cell phone minutes are not free.

I don’t need Atkins to figure out the carb count anyway because I don’t count carbs. If anything I eat a high carb diet. My husband was on the all carb diet and lost 40 pounds, so much for Atkins for him.

It doesn’t really matter what weight loss program you try, it all comes down to making sensible choices in the foods you eat on a regular basis. If you try to avoid carbs, you’re probably not eating enough fruits and vegetables, and most certainly are not eating whole grains and beans.

Carbs are not the enemy, processed foods are. I wish the Atkins company all the best success but frankly, I don’t see their products staying on shelves much longer. A few will survive but the majority will go the way of the Dodo Bird.

Groundbreaking news! Exercise, Diet Keep Weight Off!

by | Nov 28, 2004 | Weight Loss Tips

Holy smokes, who’d a thought? Sheesh. I’ve mentioned before I’m a member of the National Weight Control Registry, a group of about 5,000 people who’ve lost on average 73 pounds and kept off more than 30 pounds for six years. The actual criteria to join the registry is having lost at least 30 pounds and kept it off for one year. I lost 80 pounds over 17 years ago now, so I’m qualified. 😉

Recent findings suggest that it doesn’t matter what method you use to lose the weight, but keeping it off tends to be a combination of low fat and exercise. Suzanne Phelan, a Brown University Medical School psychologist who led the research stated that, “Only a minority of successful weight losers consume low-carbohydrate diets.”

Registry participants who reported being on low carb diets also reported eating more fat, which prompted Colette Heimowitz a spokeswoman for the Atkins diet organization to say, “the carbs aren’t low enough for them to be successful,” and that they should have replaced carbs with more protein rather than more fat.

Meanwhile the battle rages on. Use what works for you. If you love carbs, then low carb is likely not the best choice. Instead try high complex carbs such as whole grains and brown rice with plenty of steamed and raw vegetables and fruits for snacks. On the other hand if nothing makes you happier than a juice piece of steak, perhaps low carb is a good way for you to go. Each of us must find the right balance that works best for ourselves, rather than listening to the diet gurus “diet-o-the-week.”

Make Your Own Splenda Baking Mix and Save Money

by | Nov 28, 2004 | Food News

What is Splenda Baking Mix?

It’s half sugar half Splenda. That’s it.  Wow! New product, huh? Do they think we are so stupid we can’t just mix our own two ingredients together? Did you buy this new Splenda Baking mix? If you did, next time buy a bag of Splenda, and a bag of sugar, and pour them together in equal measure into a container and you’ve just saved a lot of money.

Pound for pound you’re getting ripped off by paying Splenda prices for ordinary sugar. Think about it when you see some “new product.” Can you make it yourself and save money? Is the labeling created to trick you into thinking your having less food than you really are having? We have to more diligent than ever because food manufacturers are getting a little nervous when they think we wouldn’t notice how stupid Splenda Bakig mix really is.

Of course, I’ve always just added by own raisins to bran cereal while most buy Post Raisin Bran at it’s inflated price, so go figure. Watch what you pay extra for. We need to stretch our food dollars now more than ever.