Book Review: Alpine Weight Loss Secrets

I recently received the book Alpine Weight Loss Secrets by Stefan Aschan to read and review.

I was pretty impressed by this book. I've read quite a number of books on weightloss, diet and nutrition and I'm not always impressed with what I read. I agreed with most of what the author had to say on staying young, healthy and vibrant.

One of the things I most appreciated about this book was that the author wrote about his experiences growing up in the Alps and promotes a return to healthful living, not the latest diet fad or prepackaged food. I don't really agree with "fat-free" this and "sugar-free" that as a way to lose weight and instead embrace the idea that food as close to nature as possible is best. The author refers to this kind of food as Fresh Air Food.

There are suggestions for "belly flattening" juice fasting as well as tips for maintaining the effects of the juice fast. From recipes, food lists, and detailed strength training exercises complete with pictures, this book has everything you need for a life and routine makeover to help you move toward healthier eating, exercising, weight loss and life.

I am cautious, however, that as a Christian I don't allow my body to become an idol. It is excellent to take care of my body. But I try not to allow pursuing weightloss and health to be all consuming. I do believe that my habits, especially regarding diet and exercise, need a makeover and I believe this book will be a really great guide and I would recommend it to anyone looking to move towards a healthier lifestyle. I look forward to sharing some of those changes here on my blog soon! How are your New Year's Resolutions going so far?

If you're interested, you can check out Stefan Aschan's blog or follow him on twitter or Facebook.

Friday: Overcoming

http://www.flickr.com/photos/scottfeldstein/ / CC BY 2.0

I have a serious weakness for peanut butter. I always have, which my family likes to remind me of. Just the smell of it can shake my resolution to get back down to my high school weight. Making PB&J sandwiches for my daughter can almost break me!

The other day, I was making one of her sandwiches when I had a moment of weakness. I thought "why not just eat peanut butter, out of the jar, as much as you want! There's always tomorrow to diet!" Blah. I've had enough of those kinds of thoughts to know what they lead to...

I rejoice over my final decision. I took a tiny nibble and then put the lid back on the jar and put it away. Yay! You know what keeps me motivated? I signed up for the online Weight Watchers program and paid for 3 months in advance. I thought "I'd hate to be paying for something and not following it!"

Although I'm paying for something I really wish I didn't have to pay for (a diet service), I think it's frugal in the long run. I'm teaching myself moderation, self control and experiencing victory. I think at $17 a month, I'm getting a real bargain! Paying in advance and keeping myself on track has already proven to be both a finer thing and frugal choice for me!

Oh, and because I'm not about completely depriving myself, on my recent diet shopping trip I got some Chocolate Rice Cakes I plan to spread 1 tsp of peanut butter on for a fantastic 2 point (about 80 calories) treat to keep myself motivated. You can't put a price on guilt-free indulgence that keeps me on track!

Frugal Friday: Frugal Health Food

One secret I've learned recently is how to find excellent quality health food products for a decent price. Amazon's Grocery Store. Simple!

When I needed to buy Vegetable Protein for my current detox diet, I wasn't happy about the prices. So I did some research on quality proteins on a different site and then turned to Amazon's Grocery Store to find the lowest prices. I also noticed some things I've been considering buying, like Raw Organic Cacao Power.

Add in the fact that I've developed quite a nice stash of $5 Amazon.com giftcards from Swagbucks and I can score some great deals on healthy foods! Well, actually, because of Amazon's Grocery Store, you can score A LOT of great food deals! To see other great frugal advice this week, check out Frugal Fridays at Life as Mom!

Are You Satisfied?

I have been dieting. Again. :P I'm now on a "Vegetable Based Protein Detox Diet" and it's been kind of hard. The headaches are starting to subside now (at day 4) but Friday was horrible. I just wanted to crawl under the covers and hide. Hard to do when you're a stay at home mom. :)

Anyway, on the first day of my diet, I opened my bible to where the marker was and started to read. I came across this verse:

Proverbs 27:7 "The full soul loatheth an honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every
bitter thing is sweet."

Of course, I felt a pull to stop and meditate on that verse for the day. In my opinion, God is hilarious. His sense of humor is great. To come across this verse on the first day of a very trying diet was meaningful to me. God cares about every little thing. I have a very personal, relational God who cares about me!

I know this verse is really about life, not necessarily food. I had to stop and ask myself, "Am I satisfied? What am I dissatisfied with in my life? How is this hurting me and my walk with God?" It was very eye opening. I struggle with food. That's why this diet is important to me. It's about more than just losing the pregnancy weight I still have. It's really about breaking the hold that food has over me. One thing I've noticed while on this diet is that I'm not that hungry. I just WANT to eat, especially when I'm upset or stressed out. That's what I need to break. I don't want food to be my idol. I want to feast on the bread of life!

There are many other things I'm working on in the satisfied department, but that's for another post on another day. :)

So, how about you? Is your soul satisfied?

Recipe of the Week: Tuna Egg Salad

I LOVE this stuff! My mom used to make it when I was a kid, so I guess it's a comfort food. Luckily, it's also very economical (our mom's were good at that, weren't they?) I've also broken it down into calories (still trying to be good about losing that baby weight!) and it's not too damaging, especially for comfort food!

Tuna Egg Salad-3.5-4 WW Points (5-6 servings)

• 1 5oz. can of light tuna in water (drained-100 calories)
• 6 hard boiled eggs (peeled and diced-420 calories, ouch!)
• 2 tablespoons of mayo (220 calories)
• mustard to taste (0 calories)
• Dill pickles to taste (I even pour some of the juice in-about 5 calories)

Mix all the ingredients together until it's creamy and tastes good! One serving (about 1/5 of the mixture) will cost you about 148 calories! I toasted an Arnold's Multi Grain Sandwich Thin (100 calories) with 1oz of Mozzarella cheese (80 calories) and topped it with 1/5 of the Tuna mixture. So, I had one of my childhood favorites (Tuna Melt!) for lunch today at about 328 calories. Not bad. You could always make substitutions to make it even lighter (like light mayo, only half a Sandwich Thin or no cheese). Eggs and tuna are fairly cheap which makes this an economical, satisfying comfort food!

**Updated 9/10/09:
As per a comment, I tried this recipe out, substituting 4 tablespoons of plain low fat yogurt for the mayo. To my surprise, I could barely tell a difference and I loved it! The yogurt only added 27.5 calories compared to the mayo's 220 calories! Using this substitution makes this awesome salad only 110 calories per serving (1/5 of the recipe) which brings the WW points down to 2.5-3. Wonderful! Thanks for the tip!!

Too see other frugal ideas, check out Life as Mom's Frugal Friday and to see other fine things, check out Amy's Finer Thing's Friday! Check out Tasty Tuesday and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday for other yummy recipes! Also, You’ll find all kinds of new recipes this weekend at Heavenly Homemakers Recipe Parade!!

Works For Me Wednesday: Weight Loss

http://www.flickr.com/photos/plastanka/ / CC BY 2.0

I'm still waging war with my eating habits. I love food. I love to cook. Love to eat. Love to feed other people. LoL. It's no wonder I'm on Weight Watchers!

Whenever I manage to stay on track for my points each day, I'm thrilled. So, I'm always looking for satisfying, low points foods that I actually want to eat. I've come up with the perfect breakfast that uses up my stock, is low in points and keeps me full until lunch!

Weight Watchers Blueberry Oatmeal (2.5 points)

• 1/2 c. quick oats
• 1 c. of water
• 1 packet of truvia
• 1/2 c. frozen blueberries

I mix the water and oatmeal and microwave until hot and the water is mostly absorbed. I then stir in the truvia and blueberries, microwaving again if the blueberries make it too cold.

What a fantastic breakfast! I use up some of the oatmeal I got for $0.50 or less with coupons, the 30 some pounds of blueberries I picked last summer and I can even tolerate the "fake" sugar truvia. I figure that since it's made from stevia (all natural) that it's not so bad for me. I'm sure I'll read otherwise sometime in the future, but until then I'll use it. I stretch eating this oatmeal out all morning and it lasts me and keeps me full until lunchtime.

This low points recipe works for me. What weight loss recipes work for you?

Friday: Exercise and Love

I live in north east Ohio. Our last few days (the last week really) have been filled with this:

So of course, what comes after all of that snow? Shoveling!

10 minutes of snow shoveling by hand is worth 1 Weight Watchers Point for activity. Yesterday, I shoveled for 50 minutes and it counted as 3 points! Yay! Today, for 20 minutes I worked off 1 point.


On top of the weight loss benefits, I know my husband would have to come home after 8 hours of work and do it himself. So I went out there during precious nap time and did it for him! Oh and do I have to mention that it's free? A free Valentine's gift of love and service!

Serving the one you love in a way they'll appreciate and working off some calories? I think that's a Finer Thing! To see other frugal ideas, check out Frugal Friday!

Weight Loss Tip: Have a Game Plan

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pozzo/ / CC BY 2.0

My wonderful husband took out this past weekend while my mom watched our two girls. :) Yay! A real date! We first went to see the movie Avatar in 3-D because we'd heard excellent reviews about it. It was definitely very interesting.

After that, we went out to Carrabba's because we had a gift card. Carrabba's is amazing. I love, love, love Italian food. It's definitely a weakness of mine. But I'm also on a diet. I've been trying to follow along with the Weight Watchers program online. I track my points, activity and current weight. I've seen a little progress lately and I definitely didn't want to ruin it because of one night out.

So, before we went out, I did a little research online. Carrabba's website doesn't specifically list the nutrition info for each dish, only the carbs and exchanges. I had to go to Swagbucks and look up the info on my own by searching "Carrabba's calories." Many, many websites came up and I just picked one.

The website I choose to use is called My Fitness Plan. I'm not sure where they came up with their calorie values, but I think it's ok to use as a general idea. It's better than shooting in the dark. I found a dish I wanted to eat (Chicken Bryan) and used the calories, fat and fiber info to calculate the Weight Watchers Points value of that dish (14 points).

I personally like the idea of Weight Watchers and being able to spend my daily points (23) and weekly bonus points (35) any way I want. It gives me more control and encourages me to be wiser in how I "spend" my calories each day. Chicken Bryan was a high points value food, but I decided the splurge was worth it.

Taking the time to look up food nutritional values and calculating the Weight Watchers Points ahead of time Works for Me in my diet plan!

Dark Chocolate Mocha

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brendaannerl/ / CC BY 2.0

I know I've posted this one before, but it's very worth another post! Plus, since I've been working on dieting, I have some new tips to help make this treat even better!

I stumbled across the idea for this fun creation today leading up to nap time. This week has not been a good one and I need to find some better ways of relaxing and coping... coffee has become one of them.

Now, I'm not endorsing caffeine as a coping mechanism or a good habit. I've always avoided letting coffee become a habit and so far (at almost 24 years of age) I'm still not addicted to coffee. I used to witness my mom's addiction to it and always tried not to let that happen to me. I somehow survived 4 years of Civil Engineering classes without it and hope to continue. However, after having my second child, I am now seeing why so many moms need love coffee! I personally hate the taste of coffee and can only drink the "frilly" coffee stuff (think mocha latte super sugar flavored anything). Therefore, I treat coffee drinks as a pampering treat and after a week like this one, I sure need it!

I used stuff I have in my pantry to come up with this little treat, instead of hitting Starbucks or Border's. On top of the savings in cost, I was able to control the ingredients, so I know it's not out of control in the calories department. I've been closely watching calories lately (another fun byproduct of having my second child) and this is an almost guilt-free indulgence.

Dark Chocolate Mocha (3 Weight Watchers Points)

• 1 c. of 1% milk (110 calories)
• 1 packet of Nestle Taster's Choice in Original or 1-2 tsp instant coffee (free sample through the mail!) (0 calories)
• 1-2 teaspoons of unsweetened baking chocolate (14 calories)
• 2 teaspoons of white table sugar (30 calories) or Xylitol (20 calories)
  

If you really wanted to cut back, you can make this with 1/2 c. milk and 1/2 c. water and save 1 point and 55 calories, but I think it's worth the extra cost to make it with all milk

You can use a sugar substitute, but I seriously hate the taste of most of those and for 30 calories (and 1 point), I think the real thing was worth it in this case. Beverages allow the flavor to be too obvious.

Heat half the milk in a mug in the microwave until very hot. Stir in coffee, baking chocolate and sugar. Now, the baking chocolate takes some time and effort to get properly mixed in so stir it good! Add the rest of the milk and enjoy!

Doing it this way keeps it from being too hot. I hate coffee you have to wait 20 minutes to drink because it's too hot. If you want it that hot, by all means, heat all of the milk in the microwave. If you want it colder, heat less of the milk. However, to get the stuff to dissolve properly, you need HOT liquid, so if you want it completely cold you'll have to mix it and then refrigerate or freeze it.

To recap:
You now have a low cost, deliciously almost guilt-free way of pampering yourself for only 154 calories (or 3 Weight Watchers Points) without leaving the house. Sounds good to me! Check out other frugal ideas at Life as Mom's Frugal Friday! To see other wonderful things, check out Finer Things Friday. To see other great recipes check out Tasty Tuesday, Tempt Your Tummy Tuesday, and Tuesdays at the Table! You’ll find all kinds of new recipes this weekend at Heavenly Homemakers Recipe Parade!!

Weight Watchers

http://www.flickr.com/photos/alancleaver/ / CC BY 2.0

I have a confession. I stink at weight loss. I have tons and tons of weight loss "don't" tips, but I'm failing miserably at losing the baby weight from my second daughter. I hit another low yesterday (I won't admit how many pumpkin chocolate chip cookies I ate...) and was finally fed up.

With my husband's ok, I signed up for the online Weight Watchers program. I hate spending money on something like weight loss, but I'm at the end of my rope. I'm hoping paying money for the service and keeping better track of things will really help me stay on track.

Right now, Weight Watchers is offering to waive their sign up fee if you commit to the 3 month plan. I signed up for just the online program which includes a personalized points plan, recipe points calculator, tips and more. So far, for one day, I'm pretty pleased with it. I like the concept of having points to "spend" however I choose. I won't be going to meetings though, which I hear is one of the most important parts.

I only signed up for 3 months, so if I don't see any improvement in 3 months, I'll definitely drop it, but I'm really, really hoping I can do it this time. I'll write about some things I've learned and looked at for weight loss here soon. Are any of you trying to lose weight? How's it going for you?

Fitness and Food Tips

I originally read this article at Meals.com and thought I'd share it with those of you who are also working on Weight Loss and Healthy Living goals this year!

How to eat properly for an exercise program depends greatly on your own personal goals. Someone on a weight loss program may have different dietary needs than a person training for a marathon. However, there are general guidelines that can benefit anyone involved in an exercise program.

Steps:

1. Keep hydrated. Drink eight glasses of water per day, and make sure to keep drinking while exercising.
2. Decrease or eliminate junk food. It supplies empty calories, excess fat and sodium, sugar and food additives.
3. Avoid crash dieting or starvation diets if weight loss is part of your fitness goals. Speak with a nutritionist or other health professional about healthy methods of losing weight.
4. Feed your muscles. They need energy to work, and their main energy source is glycogen. Carbohydrates are your best source of glycogen.
5. Eat 5 to 6 grams of carbohydrates per kilogram of body weight to supply adequate glycogen to muscles. Divide your weight by 2.2 to convert pounds to kilograms.
6. Choose healthy sources of carbohydrates. Eat fruits, salads, pasta, cereals and whole-grain breads. They not only provide carbohydrates, but are packed with fiber, vitamins and minerals.
7. Check with a professional trainer or nutritionist to assess whether you need extra protein. If you are training vigorously, extra protein may be worth considering. The added amount is usually small, even for professional athletes.
8. Eat a healthy, well-balanced diet. The USDA's Food Guide Pyramid suggests three to five servings of vegetables and two to four servings of fruit every day.
9. Make sure to get fat in your diet, even if you are on a weight loss program. Polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats are better for you than saturated. The recommended amount is no more than 30 percent of your total intake of calories.

What have you been doing to increase your fitness and healthy to meet your goals this year?

More Weight Loss Help!

Another gym deal! If you're trying to lose weight this year, this might be worth looking into. Have any of you used Curves before? Do you like it?

Book Review and Giveaway (Closed): The One-Day Way

I am soooo excited for this giveaway!! I recently received the book The One-Day Way by Chantel Hobbs from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group to read and review. I jumped at the chance to review a dieting book so that I can meet one of my goals for this year, to lose 40-45 pounds!

Here's the media summary I received that got me excited to read this book:

The One-Day Way produces lasting results by taking you back to basics. No more complicated weight-loss strategies. No more expensive diet plans that achieve only temporary results. Instead, you will lose weight and get fit with Chantel Hobbs’s simple, high-energy meal plans and her at-home program for cardio exercise and strength training. She will teach you how to change the way you think, which leads to new actions. Before you know it you will be strong, fit, and healthy. All it takes is doing things differently for twenty-four hours—and then repeating it.

The One-Day Way gives you everything you need to lose weight and get fit in body, mind, and spirit:

• Break free from past dieting defeats
• Learn a realistic, life-changing way to measure success
• Change the way you think so you can change your life
• Translate your dreams into goals, and your goals into lasting achievements
• Get strong with thirty-one simple exercises, no fancy equipment required
• Take advantage of ten ways to eat better while you lose weight

By focusing on food, faith, and fitness, Chantel shows you not only how to lose weight, but how to build the new life you were designed to live. You don’t have to wait any longer. The One-Day Way gives you all the tools for success, starting right now.

The author is a Christian and occasionally brings God into the picture, but I wouldn't by any means call this a "Christian Book" and can actually be a little confusing at some points about faith. Anyone could read this, Christian or non Christian, but the author does mention God and drawing on His help to accomplish your goals.

This book is a little on the self-centered side, but I really liked a lot of her suggestions and ideas. I appreciate the idea of only taking things one day at a time. Forget about the past, don't worry about the future, but change you life ONE DAY at a time! I'm still struggling with a lot of these very things, but the author is very encouraging and even includes quite a bit of food and exercise information. If you're looking for a very encouraging book for weight loss and overall life change, I would recommend this book.

Now for the giveaway! I have one copy to give away to my readers! To enter the giveaway you can do any of the following, leaving a separate comment for each:

1. Leave me a comment telling me some of your weight loss goals for this year
   
2. Blog about this giveaway and leave me the link.
3. Become a follower or tell me if you already do!
4. Become a subscriber or tell me if you already do!
5. Follow me on twitter or tell me if you already do!

That's 5 chances to win. The giveaway is open from now until Friday January 15th at 11PM EST when I will randomly pick a winner. I will email the winner (so make sure you leave a way for me to email you!) and the winner will have 48 hours to respond. If they don't, I will pick a new winner. Good luck!!

Finer Things Friday: A Midnight Snowball Fight

Earlier this week, we North East Ohioans got hit with a big snowfall. Oh, how I LOVE snow!! Of course, it came at night. At 11:30 PM, my husband and I along with 3 of our friends went outside and had a good old fashioned adult snowball fight, tried and failed to make a snowman and had a snowball throwing contest. (I didn't win) It was wonderful to feel like a kid again and giggle like crazy while getting great exercise! Who says exercise has to be boring? Praise God for the little things!

(Some of the aftermath!!)

Dieting Tip

I have a dieting update tip I thought I'd share with you. Unfortunately, it's a what not to do...... and I might be sitting here doing it right now. :)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/scottfeldstein/ / CC BY 2.0

Don't eat peanut butter out of the jar! That stuff is 200 calories for 2 tablespoons! Ouch. But sitting and indulging while my kiddos are napping, that's a Finer Thing! :) (A guilty finer thing, but a finer thing nevertheless)

Works for Me Wednesday

Soo... I was on track today for weight loss. After all the fun events surrounding my birthday (Olive with the in-laws, home cooking from my mom, cake, etc) I decided I needed to get back on the weight loss bandwagon. I denied myself at the 3 PM sugar crash (besides my snack I accounted for) and managed to make it all the way to the kids' bedtime without a night time snack. Then, sure enough, as soon as they're both snug in their beds, my husband asks if I want to eat some pizza rolls as we watch the movie rental I got for free for my birthday. Is that a serious question? Of course I want them, but should I eat them?

I won't tell you what I actually did, but the works for me tip I'm going to share is: Say no to your husband! I actually heard a study that said women gain weight when they get married because they start to eat like their husbands, but still have the metabolism of a woman. Yep, I have that problem. So if you're on a weight loss journey (and much stronger willed than I), just say NO!

Wordless and Works for Me Wednesday

Have you ever actually measured out how much a true serving of cereal is? Most of them are 1/2 or 3/4 cup. That bowl is a serving of Blueberry Pomegranate Total that I received as a sample in the mail..... That's depressing. Makes you take a closer look at the amount you're eating! Whenever I take the time to measure and weigh out serving sizes, I'm always surprised at how small a serving size really is. But when I do it, I start to see a difference in my weight loss efforts. Every so often I have to go back to accurately measuring stuff out. Funny how when I stop, my "eye balling it" portions slowly get bigger... :) My tip: take the time every so often for a serving size reality check!

Check out other pictures at Wordless Wednesday and other great tips at Works for me Wednesday!

Frugal Friday Weight Loss Edition

http://www.flickr.com/photos/94693506@N00/ / CC BY 2.0

I've been sharing my thoughts about weight loss lately because, now that my adorable new baby is here, I have the oh so fun job of trying to get rid of the baby weight. :) I dropped the initial "baby pounds" already (about half of what I gained) and now the scale's not budging, which tells me the rest is up to me.

Unfortunately, one of my downfalls to weight loss is that I hate exercise. I hate planned exercise, anyway. I don't mind gardening, walking or playing with Lizzy, but I have to be serious with myself and admit that I need more than that. But I don't want to pay a bundle for a gym membership I'll never use or buy a bunch of tapes I'll never watch (I already have one I rarely use). So what's a frustrated momma to do?

1. The library is awesome. I just found a DVD for "Dance it Off" that's been sitting on my entertainment stand for a week.... at least I didn't pay for it! When I actually look (which is rarely) my local libraries have a whole assortment of work out tapes and DVD's. One blogger says most aren't modest. I guess I never thought about it, since I always do it alone (if I actually do it) when the girls are sleeping and I do want to look sexier... for my husband. I even thought about trying those belly dancing ones... that could make for some interesting husband/wife times! But she has some good thoughts on this subject and suggests a few tapes she has found that are modest and up to date.

2. Gardening. When I actually find the time (and it's not raining) this really is the best weightloss workout I have tried. I was losing weight last summer while doing it and not even realizing it!

3. Find online inspiration. There's a very funny, off the wall blog over here that's all about one woman's honest writings about dieting, exercising and weightloss. She's lost 55 pounds so far. Way to go!

4. Carry your baby. Have you had to cart around a newborn and all their "stuff" lately? Makes me lose weight just thinking about it. I normally get my husband to do it, but maybe I should start carrying her around more. Today, I spent most of the day with a fussy baby hanging over my forearm as I made food and did chores. 10 pounds gets heavy after a while, you should give it a try! If you don't have a newborn, give some you know who does have one a break for an afternoon! :)

5. Amazon.com is my go to website for just about everything. Because I can get gift cards through Swagbucks and Amazon.com often has "used" products for sale, I often find DVD's and books I want for cheap. If I have enough Swagbucks to cash in for gift cards, I can even get them for free! You should check it out!

Well, that's all I've got so far... hence the 40 more pounds to go.... :) Got any ideas for me? I'd love to hear them in the comments! Check out Life as Mom for other great money saving ideas!