Tricks for Eating to Lose Weight!

In College I took a nutrition class for one of my course requirements. We had a whole section about weight loss and some quick 'tips' that could help people to lose weight. Please note that diet and exercise are still a necessity. These aren't a magical weight loss remedy!
1. Apples and peppermint gum (not together) are an appetite suppressant.
2. Switching from regular to diet soda can drop five pounds off of you in one month!
3. Cutting out soda completely will reduce bloating.
4. Drinking a large glass of water BEFORE every meal helps to make you feel full sooner.
5. Try filling up on a large salad and then eating a small dinner.
6. NEVER eat after 8:00 PM. (water is fine)
*Additional note- the sooner you eat dinner, the more time you have to burn it off before bedtime!
7. Fiber is your friend!
8. Keep a food journal for one week of EVERYTHING you eat. (meals, scraps from the high chair, free samples from the grocery store, etc.) It helps you map out where you might be able to improve.
-These are just tips that have helped me in the past. You can totally disregard them if you want, but hopefully they might help someone out there!

Hungry Girl

Evening ladies! Tara here (crazybridecrazywife) from my new weight loss blog. I wanted to tell you all about a big help to me - www. hungry-girl.com. I get an email from them each day with different tips and pointers. They even sent me out a good shopping list with all of the newest healthy low fat and low calorie items for the New Year.

If you don't want to subscribe but would like to see the list just let me know @ Tara.Rathbun@marriott.com and I'd be happy to email it to you! I'm inputting what I got from them today - and in the next few days I'll have a recipe of my own to post!


TOP ATE Calorie-Saving Cooking Swaps!
1.Nonstick cooking spray instead of oil (for stovetop cooking)

2.Canned pumpkin instead of eggs & oil (for baking)

3.Light vanilla soymilk instead of milk or cream

4.Fat-free liquid egg substitute instead of eggs

5.No-sugar-added applesauce instead of butter

6.Ground-beef-style soy crumbles instead of ground beef

7.Splenda No Calorie Sweetener (granular) instead of sugar

8.Butternut squash instead of potatoes

Kids and Food

I am just starting solid foods with my little boy. I have been giving him rice cereal and Gerber veggies, and am starting fruits. I feel like I don't really know what I'm doing though. I was thinking of getting a Magic Bullet so I could blend my own foods. Do you guys think that makes a very big difference vs. the Gerber food? Also what about proteins? When is that supposed to be okay?

ALSO...I am going to read a book I am really excited about called H0w to Get Your Kid to eat but not too much. It was highly recommended by my new sister in law who is a dietitian and is supposed to be a great book. It deals with feeding children from infants to teenagers. It's about helping children develop a good relationship with food. I think this is a profound topic especially taking into account the high numbers of childhood obesity, eating disorders and overall unhealthy culture that our kids will be facing. We owe it to our children to help them live their best lives and to be healthy. I will let you know more once I read it!

Deceptively Delicious

Have any of you ever bought or read this book? I saw it on Oprah awhile back, but have not purchased it yet. Great way to get your kids eating more veggies a hidden way! I dont think we can ever get enought veggies in our diet! Great if you have a baby starting solids because you have to puree the vegetables for the recipes.

Eat Clean Diet

My most favorite book! It is hard core, and takes alot of discipline, but it is the right way our bodies should be fed. I dont really consider it a diet, just changing your lifestyle and how you eat. It is pretty hard at first, but give it a couple weeks and it gets easy. Remember, it takes about a month to build a habit! The best part for me is, I dont crave sweets while eating like this. You can pull it up online and look through some of the pages.

If you plan on doing this, try to shop at stores that have organic sections (makes shopping alot easier)

-Whole Foods
-Good Earth
-Smiths Market Place

Juice Plus Complete "Protein Shakes"

These are the best protein shakes you will ever drink. For those of you out there that have tried protein shakes, most of them are just plain nasty. You don't get the gross after taste with these or get burned out. I have not had one person that did not like these, and all my clients are hooked. They come in Chocolate and Vanilla. The only bad part is you have to order 4 at a time and they are not the cheapest thing ever ($27 a can). If you are interested in them you can email me at bryndiem2@hotmail.com.

Nutrition Info:

**PROTEIN: 24 grams**
-soy, tofu, rice, chickpea
**FIBER: 14 grams**
-plant-based
**Carbohydrates: 28 grams**
-slow-releasing

Juice Plus+ COMPLETE is a whole-food based beverage offering balanced nutrition. It tastes great, has NO dairy, NO fast-releasing or artificial sugar, and is entirely from plan sources. It contains a proprietary blend of top quality powdered vegetable proteins, carbohydrates, and JUICE PLUS+ fruit and vegetable powders.

A Great Start!!!!

Oh yeah!! I am so excited at the response I have already recieved about this blog! And I am going to send you guys invites to be an Author (those of you who wanted to submit recipes) and then when you have a recipe to send post it into the blog so that all of us can try! Either that or email me the recipe and I will post it for you. Thanks everyone!!! I am so happy to hear that I am not all alone in this.....

First tip: A good friend from my highschool days posted a comment and suggested that we make the effort to get a vegetable in the morning. WHAT A GREAT IDEA!! I would have never thought to do that. She said make your healthy berry smoothie and then make it green with a veggie.... oooo the possibilites. And they to make it easy on us busy moms a different friend of mine said that she makes her smoothies in bulk, stores them in small plastic cups and then freezes them and her and hubby grab one in the morning! Super easy...super fast just what mom's need right?