The Best Smoothie Ever

I am not a smoothie fan. But I might be converted by the following recipe for the best smoothie ever.

Fill your blender with Lifeway low-fat, plain Kefir. Kefir is a yogurt drink found next to the milk in your local grocery store. I had never tried Kefir before the other day. Why did I wait so long?

Throw in two packets of Splenda, or sugar if you are a purist. Add more or less to taste.

Throw in a handful of Dole “Wildly Nutritious” Frozen Mixed Berries. Blend and enjoy.

It is so good, so good for you, and low-calorie too. Kefir makes the best smoothie ever!

More is Not Better

Have you seen the television ad with the little girl saying, “Well, we just want More. Not less. We want MORE. We’re not getting enough so MORE is better and we just want MORE.” I think it’s an AT&T ad. And the quote is not verbatim, but the idea is the same. Not to argue with AT&T, but more is not better.

This “more is better” attitude is what has gotten us where we are…..the fattest nation in the world. You’ve heard that fifty years ago food portions were much less than they are now and people weighed considerably less. An 8- ounce Coke was standard. What’s standard now? At least 12 ounces. Back then, a meal at McDonald’s did not have a super- size anything. The Big Mac was huge by standards of the day.

Our standards have changed and more is what we want. More of this, more of that, more of everything. The thing to remember as you struggle to make do with less is that “more” is the problem. More is not your friend. We don’t need more. Someone once told me that one bite of something is tasting. Two to six bites is eating. Anything MORE is stuffing your face.

More is not what we need, unless it is more willpower, more determination, more inspiration, and more self-esteem. Those “mores” will get us where we need to be. Enjoy and slowly savor the normal portions of your food and leave the more for someone else. If you can keep the image of that whiny little girl in your head while you eat, so much the better. You can do this…..Win When You Lose can help.

There is No Good Time to Start Losing Weight

Many times people will tell me that “This just isn’t a good time to start my weight loss. I have a (fill in the blank with some special occasion) coming up.” It might be a shock, but there is no good time to start losing weight.

Think of it by the calendar. You start off with New Year’s Eve and then jump into a manic effort to get your eating under control. For me, my birthday comes next (I would like to change it to sometime in July), then an anniversary, and then Valentine’s Day. This triple-whammy is closely followed by St. Patrick’s Day and Easter. Memorial Day is right around the corner, with graduations and weddings thrown in for good measure before the 4th of July beckons with all of that good American celebration food. Summer cookouts and vacations blend into Labor Day. Soon is it Halloween and then, Thanksgiving and Christmas. There’s an excuse to put off your weight loss attempt at every turn of the calendar page.

The thing to remember is that you will have to learn how to navigate these occasions and excuses for indulgence in the future. There are just too many special dates and they all seem to revolve around food.  There is no good time to start losing weight. You may as well start and do it now. Start! Just start right now. Today, with your very next meal. You can do it and I can help. I’ll give you tips to avoid overeating on those holidays in a future post. Or you can buy the Win When You Lose book at http://www.amazon.com/author/susanmcdaniel and get a jump-start on becoming the best you you can be. Keep the calendar view in your mind when you try to postpone your weight loss efforts. It will hopefully snap you back to reality.

You Cannot Eat What You Do Not Buy

This post continues with the theme, “what are you feeding yourself?”  Can you tell me:  What is the unasked question when you watch reality television segments about people so huge that they cannot get out of bed or leave their house?

Obviously, the question no one wants to verbalize is “Who is feeding this person?” Many times you see empty soda bottles, candy wrappers, and chip bags strewn about the room where these folks are held prisoner. So how did that junk food get in there if the person cannot move?

Someone is enabling (or disabling,  depending on how you look at it) these people. So who is enabling, or disabling, you? No doubt it is yourself. Who brings the junk food and the trigger foods that cause your overeating into your house? Nine times out of ten it is you. So why do you do this? Why do you sabotage yourself? Why do you test yourself?

Many times I hear the excuse, “Well I need to buy that stuff for the rest of the family. Why should they have to suffer because I have a weight problem?” That whole argument is bogus. No one “needs” empty calories and junk food. You are doing yourself and your family a favor by limiting the trash food your family has around them. If they “need” to eat that stuff they can do it away from your environment.

You cannot eat what you do not buy. DO NOT buy anything that tests your self control. Save the money and put it in a fund for yourself. Use the money for new clothes, a massage, any kind of non-food reward that pleases you. And remember the obese house-bound folks as you make your rounds in the grocery store. If you would not supply them with unhealthy food, then why would you feed it to yourself?