There were many years I spent eating Fat Free everything, and I mean everything. I would eat it every morsel and multiple portions, but tell myself it didn't matter because it was Fat Free. Later I learned (along with the rest of the world) that low-fat was just as "healthy" and low in calories as fat-free...and it tasted better too. That little bit of fat makes a huge difference in taste. From then I vowed to never eat Fat Free again (unless of course it naturally comes that way).


On April 3rd Elliot went to the doctor for his 9-month Well Exam and the doctor gave us the green-light for giving him dairy (cheese and yogurt). Well with little babes they like them to eat Whole Fat dairy products, so off to the store I went to research and purchase Whole Fat Milk products. We started with the inevitable Yo-Baby yogurt which I was against at first because I always tend to resist products designed for specific "markets" like this, but at the end of the day it is so much easier than buying a big container, portioning it out, etc., etc. Once I settled on the yogurt I moved to the cottage cheese section and picked up some small-curd 4% milk-fat cottage cheese (I wasn't sure 4% mean whole-milk, but I new that 2% was considered to be a "healthy" milk option - remember I am a soy girl so some of this was new to me).


When I got home I sampled the fare that I was about to give my child I was ... well, I cannot explain what I was, but it was the tastiest stuff I have had in a looong time! The yogurt was good, but I think I can go back to the low-fat stuff. But the cottage cheese was AMAZING! That little bit of extra fat was so delightful and creamy. Though I was a tad disappointed when Elliot didn't like the cottage cheese, it didn't take me long to finish it myself.


Treat yourself to some fat today, you won't regret it!


P.S. Thanks for your healthy well-wishes. Our little bear has clear lungs and is gaining some weight back.

Labels: Eating, Flourishing, Thinking

Now til March. From daycare, other parents, his pediatrician, all uttered the same words to us, "Get used to it, from now until March he'll be sick constantly." I know it is odd, but I took comfort in these words. I took comfort know that it was not something with Elliot's immune system, but rather part of what happens to most children when they enter the world. I took comfort knowing that whether he was 6-months or 3 years, his time in enclosed spaces with other children would bring germs and colds galore. Nothing would be gained by holding him back a few years. Well, we are in April now and my poor guy is still sick. In fact, just as he was recovering from what I though would be his last cold (it was winding down the last days of March/first days of April) BAM he got hit with another cold and this time it turned into Pneumonia! All I could think was, "Are you f****** kidding me?!". Our little guy is handling it all like a trooper, especially considering the morning and evening kiddie cocktail he endures - albuterol via a chamber, steroids via a mask and a nebulizer, and liquid antibiotics (I don't take liquid anything, so the fact that he sucks this stuff down is amazing to me!). So we've given up on April and are now hoping for a healthy May.

Labels: Thinking

Chapter Two: The Car Pool Lane

Definition: A carpool lane is a special freeway lane only for buses and/or carpools.You may use a carpool lane or on ramp if your vehicle carries the minimum number of people required for the carpool lane or you drive a low-emission vehicle displaying a special DMV-issued decal. Motorcycle riders may use designated carpool lanes, unless otherwise posted. Please see http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/dl600.pdf for a more detailed definition.

Important Information to remember:

*If during the posted time frame you are driving slower than the cars in the other lanes of traffic - MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!

*If it is not during the posted time frame and you are driving slower than the cars in the other lanes - see chapter on use of Fast Lanes (coming soon - but here is a hint: MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!)


Back to Chapter 1: Turning

Labels: Thinking

**When pregnant with your first child you get excited when you discover perks meant just for pregnant ladies and if you are me you don't question these perks one bit. One said perk is Stork Parking at BabiesRUs, close parking just for expectant mothers. After you have the baby and make your first trip to BabiesRUs for some "necessity" you quickly realize that Stork Parking is ridiculous. Unless you are under some sort of special doctors orders to not walk "long" distances, pregnant women can walk just like anyone else. In fact, pregnant women should walk, exercise, move and groove, it is not a disability. What BabiesRUs should have is New Parent Parking because the infant carrierers, the weight of the baby, not to mention how damn akward it is to carry. New Parents are who deserve to walk a little less!


**When you are pregnant you may from time to time happen into shops that sell maternity clothes and these nice shops will almost always also offer a place for women to nurse/feed their babies (remember, I said maternity store...a place where pregnant, generally non-nursing people go). After you have a baby you may from time to time happen into shops that sell baby clothes and these nice shops almost never have even a restroom with a changing table let alone a place to nurse/feed a baby (remember, I said baby store...a place where moms (and dads) of babies and young children go).

Labels: Thinking

Labels: Kid-ing

There aren't many diets I haven't tried, Nutra System, Jenny Craig, Weightwatchers, Southbeach, and I even got caught in the Susan Powder craze (ok, maybe craze is a little strong). I never tried DealAMeal, but I was found Sweatin' to the Oldies once or twice. This list doesn't even count the hundreds of "DIY" efforts where I followed (or tried to follow) "best practices" of the day (no-fat, low-carb, low-fat, no-carb - geez). Though I am not a proponent of those that want you to eat pre-packed "food", I do recognize that even those programs will work and have some value. Today I thought I would share my thoughts as an unofficial diet critic:


*Nutra System and Jenny Craig are all about convenience. If you don't like to cook or don't have time to cook, and are not overly particular about taste (not meant as a critisism no matter how it sounds), then these programs are meant for you. You select all your meals in advance and everything comes pre-packaged (ingredient control) & pre-measured in individual servings (portion control). It does tend to limit your ability to eat out, which is not always a bad thing. I have met a restaurant or two willing to nuke the food and bring it to you on a plate so you can enjoy yourself and not look like a fool eating out of a carton.


*Southbeach is the ultimate in learning about sugar addiction! The program is broken into Phases - Phase 1 you are essentially prohibited from eating ANY sugar (bread, fruit, etc.). Phase 2 you begin adding in complex sugars (i.e. high-fiber, low sugar foods) and by Phase 3 you are essentially just following a low-fat, portion controlled diet. There is really nothing Southbeach about where you end up, just where you begin. Phase 3 is just about living a healthy lifestyle, eating heart healthy foods, and so on. I think it is a great learning experience and everyone should try this once in their adult lives!


*WeightWatchers has had many iterations (as have the others I guess), some of which used to require that you eat Liver - ick! But the new generation of WeightWatchers is a fancy smancy way of counting calories...based primarily on the age old concept ...


If your daily caloric intake <> your daily calories burned ... Weight Gain


The upside to WW is that you can eat whatever you want, you just have to manage your daily points. You can use more than 1/2 your daily points on pizza or (if you are like me and it is all about volume) then you can make the most of EVERY point and enjoy many 1-point tasty treats like VitaTops! Points are centered around fiber, generally the more fiber the fewer the points. Fiber also makes a nice proxy because foods higer in fiber generally tend to just simply be more nutrituous. You need the Total Calories, Total Fat and Total Fiber to calculate the points value, so eating out can sometimes be tricky (if faster food is your thing, there are a lot of resources for obtaining those values). WW does offer some tricks to help you estimate - palm of your hand is about 4 ounces of meat, your thumb is about an ounce of cheese, and your fist is about a cup of rice/cereal or whatever. I do think this is the most flexible plan out there.


*Richard Simmons, Susan Powder and countless others are all about motivation. They are essetially selling very simmlar concepts to WW in that lowering your caloric intake and increasing your physical activity can result in weight loss.


What each of these plans (and countless others) are really selling are different tools and strategies (built around fewer calroies, no matter how it is worded) to achieve your desired weight loss goal. At the end of the day you just need to determine which strategy is a fit for you. There really is no cure, there is no easy answer....fewer calories, more exercise - that's it (you can skip the exercise, though I don't recomend it for overall health reasons and you'll have to eat even fewer calories)! I will be tempted to try out the next miracle diet and I will be sure to give you my 2-cents!

Labels: Eating, Flourishing, Thinking