Fab Friday Tips (Produce), Tricks (Lettuce) and Inspiration (Thriving through a Family Reunion)

Well it's Friday and it has been quite a week. More on that later!

The tip of the week is to buy your produce for several days and prep it all at once. For instance, chop bell peppers into both strips and chunks and put them in sandwich bags, about a pepper's worth of strips or chunks per bag. Wash the grapes and divide them up into kid sized bags. You get the idea!

The trick this week is one taught me some time ago by the indomitable Pam Tischler.  It is a sanity saver and makes your lettuce last -- crisp and ready -- up to a full week. Here's how you do it::

Throw the head of lettuce into a clean sink of cold water.  Pull the leaves out and gently spin dry them.  Then lay them out one leaf at a time onto paper toweling. Gently roll the towels back up, replace into your produce bag, close with a tie and throw them in the vegetable drawer. Or use a big zipper bag if you are not as cheap as I. When you are ready for a leaf for a sandwich or several for a salad, unroll and use as many as you need.  Isn't that cool? Trust me on this, it saves twice as much time as it takes and you won't wind up letting half the lettuce spoil because it's ready to use.

My Weight Watcher's buddy truly inspired me this week. She joined just before heading off to a family reunion where she did none of the cooking and had no input into the menu. Yet she managed to stay on program enough to lose weight. Give her a hand, ladies and gentlemen! It is truly amazing. One trick she and her hubby used was to keep a bag of apples in their cabin. As they hiked to each meal, they ate an apple so when they got there, they weren't ravenous. She also saved her calories for the things she really loved (read, "homemade") and passed up the more ordinary fare, like cake from the bakery. We weighed in on Wednesday and Thursday, she was off to the beach for a family vacation. I wish her as much self-control this week!

I, on the other hand, gained 5 pounds! On Tuesday, I wound up back in the hospital and got sprung Wednesday afternoon so that I could check into a different hospital on Thursday for a fairly urgent procedure. While in the first hospital they pushed the fluids through IV and drink because my blood pressure was very low and they were trying to bring it up. As a result, I carried all that liquid to the scale in my veins Wednesday night. I was surprisingly nonchalant about it. I had  forgone the delicious sausage gravy and biscuits the hospital served and taken an small egg-white omelet and fruit for breakfast. I'd had a large salad for lunch and was well within my points range for the week. No point in getting upset about elements beyond my control. I'm home from both hospital stays now and if my recovery goes well, I should have a good showing on the scale this week!