Adult Coloring Books... Refocus and Relax

Everyone is stressed about losing weight in the New Year.

Stop worrying... and get to coloring for relaxation. Put life into perspective.

Don't spend all of your time in the kitchen, grazing on snacks or late night gorging... instead, get a hobby or try coloring the pages of a coloring book instead.  There are all kinds of relaxing coloring books for adults on Amazon.



Here's to 2016... a year filled with opportunity for real change.  Happy New Year to everyone!

Refreshing Low-Cal Lemon Pepper Sandwich

Welcome to the most refreshing low-calorie sandwich and one of my new favorites: Cucumber and Tomato Lemon Pepper Sandwich...  It's filling and it's delicious.

My aunt back home in Pennsylvania makes these little treats using the small Pepperidge Farm Jewish Rye Party Bread or Pepperidge Farm Dark Pumpernickel Party Bread.  She makes them as an appetizer before a full meal.  They're refreshing and filling, yet not heavy.

So, I took that recipe and used full-sized bread to make a meal.  Talk about delicious!

I started with two pieces of toasted Ezekial 4:9 100% Whole Grain Sprouted Bread. You could use one piece of bread and make half a sandwich for calorie savings.

Using Best Foods Mayonnaise, I spread the mayo across both sides of the bread.  One serving size of mayonnaise is 1 Tbsp but I didn't come close to using that much mayo.  In fact, in order for this sandwich to taste good, no other mayo will do because it doesn't balance the taste of the cucumber.  Low-cal mayo might work but you would have to sacrifice taste.  I will sacrifice calories, but I won't abandon taste first.

Peeling and slicing a cucumber, I use about 1/4 cup of cucumber slices in the sandwich.  Then, I add slices of tomatoes.

The best part of this sandwich is mandatory: the seasoning.  For seasoning, I sprinkle the entire sandwich with Lemon Pepper.  For 1/4 tsp of Lemon Pepper the calorie count:  zero.

I added a few extra crisp slices of cucumber for decoration.

Cucumber and Tomato Lemon Pepper Sandwich:

160 calories:   2 slices Ezekial 4:9 100% Whole Grain Sprouted Bread
  90 calories:   1 Tbsp Best Foods Mayonnaise
  10 calories:  .5 cup Raw Sliced Cucumber Without Peel sliced
  16 calories:   1 whole small vine ripe tomato sliced
    0 calories:   1/4 tsp Lemon Pepper
276 calories:  TOTAL

I often think about the number of calories I have to spend each day like savings in my wallet. Now, there are a lot of choices you have to spend your 276 calories.  If you cut this sandwich in half and use one slice of bread, you lose 80 calories off the top plus you'd use less mayo.

Be creative, but don't spend your life in the kitchen.  The easier the recipes and the more filling the food, the less time I think about food because I am completely satisfied.

Enjoy your sandwich!

PSL Time: Pumpkin Spice Latte

Birthdays come and go... but it's the thought that counts the most!

My sister knows me.  And she did the nicest thing for me in honor of my recent birthday.  She gave me a gift card to Starbucks!

Today, I used it for the first time for a Pumpkin Spice Latte.

No guilt here.  I calculated it first on My Fitness Pal and then drove to my local Starbucks.

Tall Pumpkin Spice Latte
Non-Fat Milk
Whipped Cream

TOTAL CALORIES:  260

I'm happy to add that into my calories for the day.

The gal behind the counter said she hasn't seen me since the Pumpkin Spice Latte was discontinued at the end of the season.  She's absolutely right.

I had a secret PSL text from Starbucks and I shared that text with the guy behind me so he could get a PSL, too.  He called me "beautiful" because of that kind share.  Giving someone early access to a Pumpkin Spice Latte apparently garners a compliment.  I'll take it!

Officially, the PSL starts on September 7th.  Calculate, add the calories and enjoy!

Thank you, Sue!

McDonald's Egg McMuffins... for Dinner?

Does this picture make you want to eat an Egg McMuffin at midnight?

Next month in October, McDonald's breakfast menu will be available all day long.  That includes their other breakfast items, too.

The Egg McMuffin just happens to be one of the few things I'll eat at McDonald's.  Really, there are only two things I'll eat at Mcee-dee's.

Egg McMuffin:  300 calories
Cost about $3.50 with tax

Ice Cream Cone:  170 calories
Cost about $1.09 with tax

It's smart marketing to attempt a wider roll out of the all-day breakfast menu.

Of course, you could make one of these little egg treats at home for fewer calories by skipping the cheese.  No extra butter.  No extra oil.  No extra grease.  No unknowns.

120 calories - one English Muffin Thomas Original
  72 calories - one poached whole large egg
  20 calories - one slice Trader Joe's Canadian Bacon

212 calories - TOTAL

Just sayin'... there are always alternatives and options to save calories when you're cooking at home, day or night!

Today is National Eat a Peach Day

There's nothing like a fresh peach.

Today, August 22nd, is National Eat a Peach Day.

You didn't know it was a holiday?

Apparently there are a ton of holidays... every day is a different food or drink holiday.

Look at this Food Calendar.

Tomorrow is Sponge Cake Day.

The fact is that anyone can create a holiday out of thin air.

Establish it, post it online and see it take off.

What would you name for a holiday?

Weight Loss Sabotage

People are thoughtful.  I realize that.

No matter what I do, people like to give me sugar.  When I do something nice for them, they give me little treats in return.  They're mostly cookies, cakes, and processed food items.

How can I say, "No?  Please don't sabotage my weight loss."  I don't want to be rude or hurtful, but enough already.  It's a slippery slope for me. I have a short attention span for willpower.

Waste not, want not.

I received these little treats as a gift and I'm stumped.  I'm sitting here staring at these containers and wondering... what now?

Each cookie is a mini-sized treat.  But that doesn't make them any better.

Before I completely fall off the edge of reason and go on a snacking binge, I need to stop and think about whether I'm going to eat these treats in one sitting or not.

That's the truth.

I'd love to say, "I'll only eat one bite a day for 30 days in a row."  But that's not realistic.  That's not reality.  Sugar feeds sugar.  If you eat sugar, you want more.  That's why I can't have these in my house on a regular basis.

So, I start my research.

Famous Amos:  4 cookies = 150 calories.  There are 2.5 servings in each container.

Golden Oreos:  9 cookies = 140 calories.  There are 3.5 servings in each container.

Sigh...  This is the reason people are overweight and obese.  They're ONLY 140 or 150 calories, right?  What's the problem?

Well, the problem is that they're housed in small containers that make them seem like one serving, not three or four servings.  And honestly, who can eat only a couple of these little suckers?

Wouldn't it be nice to receive a tomato or fresh apple instead?

Maybe I'll give these treats to the homeless people living on the streets in LA instead.

Please, no more sweet treats.

I'd be happy with two words:  Thank you.

In return, I'd simply say:  You're welcome.

Try it.  Doesn't it feel satisfying?  And the cost of calories to say thank you:  zero.

Kind deeds should just be kind deeds.  Accept and move on...

Airlines Become Weight Watchers With Weigh-Ins?

Uzbekistan Airways has a special weighing machine for passengers who want to fly on their airplanes now.

Don't believe me:  UZ Airways Preflight Procedures

Now, they do promise:  "the full confidentiality of results is guaranteed."  So, no one will know what you weigh except the airline.

Taking it one step further, Samoa Airlines is weighing passengers and charging by the pound.  Look at the front page of their website.  "A world first: The Samoa Air System of pay by weight ' Pay only for what you weigh'!"

I don't care if they charge me by the pound and I don't care if they announce my weight over the loudspeaker, but this feels like a serious invasion of privacy.  No other airlines weigh in passengers...yet.  Most likely, this approach will spread from airline to airline.

As the obesity crisis grows worldwide, is this a safety decision or a financial decision to weigh passengers?  Weigh in with your opinion...

Butter Study by Butter Industry Says Butter is Bad?

This is brilliant.

The butter industry contracted for a study about butter.  The butter industry thought it would result in positive news about butter.  But that's not what happened.  Instead, the study showed that butter raises blood cholesterol levels.

How ironic, right?

That article led me to the original source:  Food Politics.

Marion Nestle exposes similar studies that are funded by certain sponsors.

This news puts every food study in the headlines into question.

When reading any food study, you have to see who funded the study first.

Results will vary... depending on who is footing the bill for the study.

It wasn't too long ago that studies were telling us that butter was good for us... now, I'm going back to olive oil.