I have been interested in the theory behind The Belly Fat Cure. I've come to the conclusion that I agree with Jorge Cruise. I don't like it but the fact is. We eat too much sugar. And I'm not just talking about refined sugar, but sugar in general. We simply eat too much. End of story.

The idea behind this program is to limit your sugar intake(all sugars, not just refined) to below 15g per day and your healthy carbohydrates(breads/grains/potatoes) to 6 servings. I was just talking to a friend whose sugars were high this morning. She had a very sensible breakfast, most would think, including her doctor. Oatmeal with splenda and milk, an orange, cup of tea. Sounds reasonable right? Very sensible.

However, the orange itself has 9 g of sugar and if there was milk in the oatmeal, even more sugar. And they are learning that sweeteners cause a spike in insulin even without the calories so right there, we have more than half the recommended daily consumption of sugar.

I had a different breakfast. I ate 3 eggs with a tiny bit of milk, salt and pepper. I fried it in some extra virgin olive oil with a large handful of veggies(broccoli, mushrooms, green onion, peppers, etc.all dry, all prepared before hand) and I sprinkled it generously with grated Romano cheese. This was very filling, less than 1g of sugar(from the milk) and super healthy and easy.

Lunch for me will be a salad with lettuce(already torn), another handful of the same veggies, some more shredded cheese(maybe a different kind)a oily dressing(no sugar) and I'll drink two cups of green tea.

Dinner will be a vegetarian Shepherd's pie made with veggies(carrots, onions, cabbage, lentils, etc.) covered with mashed potatoes and baked. I'll have this served on top of the same salad. Still 0 sugar, carbohydrate in the potatoes and lentils.

Snacks will be cheese and whole wheat crackers/microwave popcorn/handful of nuts..still no sugar.

At some point I'll have a small glass of red wine and some dark 85% chocolate. (2g sugar)

I've eaten this way for 5 days now. Those who know me know I don't weigh myself so I can't report weight loss. I can report looser pants, zero sugar cravings and increased energy.

This is MY plan. I am vegetarian..make your own shepherds pie recipe..as long as it's low in sugars. Meat has no sugar.

So I think I'm on the same page with this guy. I'm still debating whether it's a diet or not. It has some of the qualities that identify it as a diet but he calls the meal plans a guide. He says they can be personalize and he doesn't do the no-carb preaching that drives me insane. Good carbs in moderation are necessary for health and he agrees.


I agree with Jorge Cruise on one thing. I believe sugar is the problem. I believe that we crave the food we crave because we are fat, that we are not fat because we craved them. The more fat you have on your body the more difficult it is to give up the food we crave because our fat cells crave it.

He doesn't call this a diet. He calls it a cure. I won't disagree with his right to do so. He recommends not using the traditional sugar substitutes as they spike insulin levels just as sugar does thus leading to the cravings yet again. He recommends xyletol and stevia instead. I'm not sure where I stand on this. I wary about anything new so I'll investigate that further.

So here I am, kinda following the program, yet not really. I'm test the theory however I won't be doing anything beyond limiting sugar intake and carbohydrate intake. I will not follow the three meals a day, 2 snacks etc. but rather following my body's instinct as to what I will eat and when I will eat it.

I also won't be purchasing a lot of the products he recommends beyond what I already use.

I am now on day 4 and the cravings have stopped because the first three days are very difficult on a sugar purge. The reason I'm following it my way is because my goal is health rather than weight loss so I am unconcerned about the results at the scale.

I am concerned about how I feel so my diet has returned to one rich in natural whole foods, sugar lower than 15g per day and whole rich carbohydrates.

Anyone who decides to follow along is welcome to. I'm hoping to update daily, post my recipes etc.


If you need more structure the book does lay out some pretty set guidelines and I won't recommend against its purchase simply because it has enough redeeming qualities to make up for the "meal plans." I believe the science is strong and I'm willing to give it the benefit of the doubt. This is the closest I've come to recommending a "weight loss program" in a while.

But, remember, nothing works unless you've worked on your mind. You can change the way you eat but if your stubborn mind brings you back to the cakes and cookies because your eating is disordered then you will revolt against the change required for your health.

Keep the hypnosis, EFT and whatever support you need for your mind. And when you are ready check out the belly fat cure. See if it works for you. And please, check out the link below.

And keep exercising. Weight loss can be achieved without it but optimal health cannot.

Here is a video that might motivate you to give this a try.

Video


My Writing Blog

Today I welcome Nancy Telfer as a guest blogger. Nancy lives in the same area of Ontario that I live in and I've been following her work for a while. Please feel free to use the comment section to ask any questions and I will make sure Nancy has the opportunity to provide the answers for you. Welcome Nancy. We conducted this as an interview so I'll just post it in that format for clarity.


Breeze: Tell me about yourself and your credentials.

Nancy: I have studied & practiced various health 'diets' throughout the years. Food Combining was the first. It involved not eating starch with protein. With that change in my diet, I lost 15 pounds, but it didn't seem to be the perfect 'diet' and I continued to research. I, then, became a vegetarian and ate no more meat. I lost more weight and yet, didn't feel healthy. Then, I discovered the 'Living Food' lifestyle. I have have been a 'rawfoodist' or 'living' for almost 5 years now. I am a Certified Raw Lifestyle Coach/Nutritionist and coach one on one as well as teach about the benefits of Raw & Living foods in a class. I am the manager at Nutrition House, Festival Marketplace Mall in Stratford, where we carry books on Raw & Living foods.
I have also studied energy work. I have studied Reiki, Reconnective Healing, EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) and more recently BodyTalk. I am an EFT Practitioner as well as a BodyTalk Practitioner. It is my passion to help people heal their bodies.


Breeze: What is a raw food diet?

Nancy: A raw food diet is only eating what is living, It is a vegan diet that opens up your taste buds when you discover just how delicious your food can be. It includes sprouts, greens, fruits, veggies and fermented foods.

Breeze: Are you vegan or just raw? For example would you drink raw milk?

Nancy: Vegan. I do not drink any milk raw or otherwise. I don't believe that our bodies need milk except from our mothers.

Breeze: What are the advantages of eating raw foods to your body?

Nancy: You have so much energy, need less sleep (so you can get so much more done in a day); your skin will tighten, your hair will change for the better and you will look younger than what you are. You no longer have digestion problems as your food digests on its own from the foods enzymes. You will have the enzymes in your body that will produce oxygen to heal your body and bring it back to its natural state. Pain & dis-ease free.

Breeze: What does cooking do to foods?

Nancy: It destroys the foods enzymes and minerals making it foreign to your body. It will therefore, be harder to digest and need more energy from your other organs to digest the food.

Breeze: Do you miss hot food? How do you avoid feelings of deprivation?

Nancy: I am currently eating a 90-95% living food diet. When I was 100% I did not miss the hot food at all. For every food that you cook there is a raw alternative. There are amazing dips & pates, lasagnas, pastas, soups, and even desserts. I make amazing chocolates - I call them 'Sensational Chocolates'.

Breeze: Does it take a lot of time to eat raw?

Nancy: You have just as much time to create raw as you do a cooked meal. Most of the dishes are created in very little time. You can make what I call 'gourmet' raw dishes that can take lots of time (but worth it) or you can simply whip something up. That is up to you and how much time you have.

Breeze: Is it hard to buy raw foods beyond produce? Where would you buy raw nuts and chocolate for example

Nancy: Raw foods are not hard to come by, but it is just produce that you need. I do focus on organic foods though. We have Gentle Rain & Pfennings which both have a huge variety of organic foods. Zehrs even carries some organic foods. You can buy crackers and cookies online through a few different websites. It is much easier to buy your own dehydrator and make your own. With a dehydrator, you can make crackers, bread, muffins, cookies and so much more. Raw nuts are available at Gentle Rain, although they are not considered 'raw' to most rawfoodists. The nuts are from California and they passed a bylaw where ALL nuts are now heated to kill bacteria in them. This bylaw was fought but still passed. True raw nuts are available online but is quite costly. I continue to use the 'raw' nuts available at Gentle Rain.
Chocolate?? My favorite. In my 'Living the Rawfood Lifestyle' class, I discuss the amazing benefits to eating raw chocolate, otherwise known as cacao. You can purchase raw cacao powder, nibs & beans at Nutrition House (we currently only have the powder in stock) to make your own chocolate treats. There is also a couple of companies that have a chocolate bars that is 70-80% raw - both delicious (and available at Nutrition House). I am currently discussing with the owner of Nutrition House, putting together a 'chocolate' package. This package will include everything that you need to make your own chocolates, including my 'secret' recipe. Stay tuned for more information on my website.

Breeze: Can you provide us with a recipe of something yummy that is easy to make

Nancy: Here you go!
Italian-Style Zucchini Pasta Pesto
For the pesto:
1 large bunch basil
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup pine nuts
2 garlic cloves
2 tsp sea salt
Another Variation of Pesto:
1 cup walnuts
1/2 cup pine nuts
2 cups basil
1/2 cup olive oil
3 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp sea salt
Blend all ingredients in a food processor until well blended and smooth

Pasta - peel a zucchini; discard the peel; continue to use the vegetable peeler and make 'noodles' . You can also add chopped mushrooms and chopped soaked sun-dried tomatoes to this dish.

Breeze: Where can we learn more about this lifestyle and if we are considering it where would we start?

Nancy: I have a practice where I help coach people to get started with this amazing lifestyle. I also hold classes that will give lots of information to get you started. Information is handed out at Nutrition House and posters are posted at Gentle Rain. Information on up & coming classes are also on my website www.rawsomenutrition.com

Breeze: Do you have to be 100% raw or is it advantageous to be even 80% or 90% raw?

Nancy: Your body will tell you what is best for it, you just have to learn to listen to it. Right now, I am doing very well at 90-95% raw. There was a time that I needed to be 100%. Either one is about choice. You choose what works best for you. You will even reap the benefits of adding more living foods to your existing diet.


Breeze: Thank you Nancy for your informative post! We look forward to your next installment on EFT!



My Writing Blog

photo credit: Hypnotransformations

It is time to put things to the test. I've written in the past about how it's our subconscious thoughts that keep us from doing the things we have to do, from having a healthy relationship with food, that causes us to have our compulsions to eat more than we actually need.

We were raised by parents who were either raised in or directly influenced by a generation affected by the great depression. Finish your plate meant this might be your last meal. The suffering and deprivation of that time placed a scar on the psyche of that generation that has manifested into this generation of plenty in the form of excess and obesity.

The trick is to reprogram the subconscious and in all my research into this part of the understanding, two things stand out. They are EFT and Hypnosis.

A few months back I purchased a download from Hypnotransformations and started using it. I felt as though I was having some success however a computer crash caused me to lose the download. The computer was restored and a new account created however I couldn't find it in the iTunes library. A few days ago though, while cleaning out some old files...I found it!

So here starts a new chapter in this blog. The journey using hypnosis to fix my relationship with food. I will record all of my observations on here as time goes on excluding my weight. Through a lot of work I've not weighed myself in over a year. But I have a whole closet of too-tight clothes that will be the test.

So last night I listened to the hypnosis download for the first time. Today? I feel good. Let's see how this goes. I will be inviting the creator of the hypnosis Mp3 that I'm using, Kim at Hypnotransformations to guest post here at some time. Please follow along as I work through her program.





My Writing Blog

So far it's been a good day! I've stayed close to home as my little one is just getting over a stomach virus and I cancelled the playgroup we had planned. I made the Honey Baked Lentils again but this time I had no turnip so I added carrots and some sliced cabbage...I tasted it earlier and yumminy yum yum. I'm trying to figure out the nutritional value for my Journal.

So what I'm going to do is each day post about each of the acronyms starting with Journaling tomorrow. I'm trying to look at this from a different angle and trying to focus on why we don't do what we know we should be doing while at the same time helping those who don't know what to do come up with some tools to help them. So it might seem a bit haphazard to start.

I'd like to approach this not so much from a you should do this and that but from a perspective of why we aren't doing this or that and what is the thing in our mind that prevents us from taking care of our bodies without feeling we have to deprive ourselves to do so.

You might notice in my menu that I haven't given up my treats. I'm having a glass of wine and I'm having dark chocolate, both of which I think have benefical qualities. I'm also trying to get in a place of not judging what I do, that there is not wrong way to do this. If I slip up and take some steps backwards then not only is it ok but perfectly human and exactly right.

If you have any suggestions to help me along I'd love to hear them.

Please comment below with ideas and things that are working for you.

So Todays Menu

Breakfast: Shredded Wheat and 1% milk & coffee
Lunch: 3 servings of left over eggplant manicotti with a slice of bread,no butter and a cup of camomile tea.
Dinner: Honey baked Lentils and a salad
Snacks:Hot chocolate, popcorn, dark chocolate, red wine

Journal: See above
Accountability: posting here
Motivation: Spent some time on another bloggers site
Exercise: Walked dog for 45 minutes
Service: Again, something I keep private, mostly lending an ear to a friend with a problem and caring for my baby who still has a little ickiness going on.

I've decided to post my daily menu here both as a deterrant to overeating and also as an excuse to share some fantastic recipes I've come across over the years. I'm vegetarian but not vegan. I think even if you do not want to commit to being a vegetarian adopting some non-animal source meals into your diet can be beneficial to your health.

Breakfast

A bowl of spoon size shredded wheat
sliced banana
1% milk
coffee

Lunch

cup of black bean soup
garden salad with a tbsp of salad dressing
camimomile tea

Dinner

Caesar Salad
Eggplant Manicotti
Steamed Carrots

Snacks

Popcorn
small delicious piece of dark chocolate
2 oz red wine

The day is over...overall not too bad..the chocolate was my reward for doing Yoga which isn't a hardship and is actually a reward on to itself.

Until Tomorrow

So I've come up with what I think is a reasonable and likely effective plan to shed the excess weight.
I'll list the steps here for the benefit of anyone who wants to give it ago.

Journaling: I'm going to keep track of my daily intake on my Spark People account. One of the things that all people who had lost weight and kept it off more than five years had in common was a journal. A notebook is equally efficient but anyone reading this likely has regular computer access and Spark people is free, easy to use and full of tools and tracking and motivation. I like it.

Accountability: A daily post here, weekly updates regarding success. Monday will be my update day. Daily menus and exercise accomplishements posted here. You are welcome to post yours in my comments.

Exercise: I'm aiming for a weekly total of 210 minutes of activity per week. I'm counting walking, running, yoga..anything and everything. It works out to 30 minutes a day.

Motivation: I'm hoping for some followers of this blog and some success stories as well. I'm going to feature some success stories occasionally. Spark People has a great number of success stories on its website. I'll link to them sometimes as well.

Service: I'm going to try to post daily with an eye to providing information, recipes and ideas that will help others along the path to emotionally healthy attitudes towards food and diet. My goal is that I never spend another cent supporting the diet industry. I just want optimum health and to be free of the feeling of deprivation so many diets provide.

That's the plan. You are welcome to join me along the way.

I have promised someone this recipe a couple of times now so I thought if I shared it here I could redirect her to the post so my promise is fulfulled and my blog is updated at the same time.

This recipe is courtesy of the PCRM: Physicians Committee for Responsible medicine

Serving Size: 12

1 large eggplant(or 12 1/4 inch slices)
1 medium onion, chopped
10 oz pkg frozen chopped spinach--thawed/squeeze dry
1 tsp basil
1/4 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder(I substitute fresh garlic, 1 clove)
1/8 tsp nutmeg
2tbsp whole wheat flour(I use 1tbsp ww flour and 1tbsp nutritional yeast here for a cheesy flavour)
2 cups marinara sauce

Slice eggplant lengthwise into 1/4 inch thick slices..one per serving

Spray a frying pan with cooking spray and brown eggplant on each side until tender and lightly browned. It needs to be tender like a pasta consistancy. I find putting a lid on the pan helps in cook through better. Set eggplant aside.

Heat 1/4 cup of water in the frying pan and cook onion over medium high heat until all the liquid has evaporated. Add 2 tbsp of water and let it evaporate again. Add spinach and all the seasonings. Stir in the flour and cook 3 minutes longer. Set aside to cool

Preheat oven to 350F. Place a spoonful of the spinach mixture across the center of each slice of eggplant; Then, beginning with the narrow end roll the eggplant aournd the filling. Arrange in a baking dish seam side down. Top with the marinara sauce. Cover and bake 20 minutes.

Per Manicotti with marinara:42 calories(YES you read that right!) 1g protein;9g car;0g fat;40mg sodium.


I like this with a nice big garden salad and Italian dressing with a little red wine.

You could also cheese it up with some parmagiano or other cheese. I don't normally though.

The very first step in a healthy diet is identifying what are healthy foods. Someone told me the other day that how she identifies them to her kids are by referring to them first as living or dead. Living foods are fruits, vegetables, beans, etc. Anything that is right now alive or able to be alive. She says that most of our diet should be living foods. She and her family eat salad twice a day with lunch and dinner.

Then there the dead foods. Which doesn't mean they are bad,just not alive. Everything else, that is not alive is in this category. Meat, eggs, milk fall into this category.

I think that there is a third category. This one I call processed foods. These are foods that you buy that are already prepared. These are not terrible foods and there are some processed foods that I happily eat(pasta is an example)and there are some that should be only eaten in limited quantities, highly processed to the point of being unrecognisable to its original form. I think Pringles, there's so little potato in those chips there is a debate as to whether they should be labelled potato chips at all.

And of course there is the 4th category. Foods we consume which are not food at all, serve little to no nutritional value and provide nothing but calories. Commonly called "junk" food, I prefer "fun" food. Soda pop, and candy fall into this category.

Of course the problem with weightloss is not that we don't know what to eat. It's that we choose not to eat it. However we want to categorise the food, the food is not the problem. The problem is the inability we have to stay away from it.

I'm a night time eater. So I think that's where I have to focus my energy. I am a night owl, I have tons of energy and ambition to work at night however with two little girls in bed I don't get to expend it there and that leads to the boredom that leads to the overeating.

I know this about myself and now the next goal is to work on ways to avoid the trap I fall into every evening.

This is a beginning. Just a beginning so bear with me as I figure out ways that work for me. I welcome you to share what works for you as well.