Fab Friday Tips, Tricks and Inspiration

Friday.  This one came around fast. I have been reading a lot of interesting news lately but I will try to restrain my reporting to my usual Friday themes.

Trying to change up your whole grain world?  Here's a tip, try red rice. If you don't know about red rice, this Fooducate article will enlighten you to this underutilized super food. But I have my own reasons: It's pretty.  I used both red and black rice with brown this week for our 6 Color Rice and it is so pretty. Best practice though? Cook the red rice separately, then add in if you are doing multi-colored rice; it bled a bit into my brown rice and darkened the whole delicious dish. (I haven't typed up the 6 Color Rice recipe yet, but my starting point was this 7 Color Inarizushi recipe.)

It turns out an apple a day not only keeps the doctor away, but also the hunger at bay. My friend Gina has a trick for eating less at meals, especially potlucks and parties. She eats an apple on her way to the table.  It also bears repeating that numerous studies have shown that diners who have soup as a first course eat significantly fewer calories in the meal than those who do not.

At work today, I checked someone's drivers license and could not help commenting that she must have lost a great deal of weight. She had, indeed; 168 pounds were "lost" and she was not trying to find them! The photo itself, though hugely, inspiring, was not the most inspirational part of this interaction. She mentioned that before losing the weight, she was a diabetic with high cholesterol and sky high triglycerides. All are under control now and she takes no medicine for any of it. Her enthusiasm for life and joy at what she'd done made my day.

That's it for me, folks. It's late and mama's tired. Have a fantastic and fit weekend!

An Apple a Day - Friday Tips, Tricks and Inspiration

I have neglected this blog lately; the reason is simple -- I had a big "no" in my head to the whole weight loss process.  I am still losing weight-- down 17 pounds in the last few months -- but occasionally I have a little tantrum about it.  You see, my belief is that I should lose 2 or 3 pounds a week and I don't like it when it's a half a pound a week.  Isn't that ridiculous?  It's so sneaky though -- I don't even notice I'm thinking it right away.  Now I've awakened and it is what it is; I'm staying the course until I get there!

Now for the news.  Some years ago, a study discovered an apple a day really is good for your health, especially your heart.  Now it looks like 2 apples is even better, especially if you're a woman.  My kids eat an apple a day; I guess I will start following their excellent example!  Your Friday tip is to make sure you are getting those 5 or more servings of fruit and veggies every day because I'm betting similar research on another fruit or vegetable would yield similar results!


Your trick of the day is to clean up your environment to protect your weight loss efforts.  FYI, that now might extend to avoiding food ads both in print and on TV.  If you look at photos of food it actually make does make you hungry.  Ghrelin is the hunger stimulating hormone.  A recent study confirms what we already guessed:  Ghrelin levels increase simply by seeing the foods and then you can no longer rely on your body signals!  Will power is the worst way to control weight, so definitely we can benefit by controlling our environment!


Now for your inspiration, I bring you London 2012!  Whenever I start thinking I'm not up to my little 300 calorie burn for the day, I just spend a few minutes watching the athletes who train 8 hours (or more) each and every day in order to be the world's best for a little while.  The dedication and discipline of this group of athletes is truly inspiring.

Have a wonderful weekend!