A Birthday Gift

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Christina Aguilera Lends Her Voice To Haiti

The Calcium Diet: Phase Two

Now that I am getting used to my slimmer shape and am happily receiving positive reinforcement from my friends..."I've notice how skinny you're getting!"...I have moved on to Phase Two of the diet. AND I've allowed myself (because I feel in control - wow, that's a great feeling let me tell you!) and have treated myself (twice over the past 3 weeks) to Dairy Queen!



Woops! Probably shouldn't have mentioned THAT part, but hey, we're all human in fact, I think I am especially human :)



And the truth of the matter is that the next day I'm right back on track and the occasional slip...or REWARD as I like to call it...actually HELPS me stay on track since I know I can have something once in awhile and still be in control. Neither time have I felt like getting back on the "icecream train" with a gallon of Heavenly Hash and a big spoon.



In Phase Two (back to the alleged topic of this post) a new food gets added back into my diet each week. I will still continue to lose weight though not as quickly but I am pretty much at my goal anyway.



The first addition was to alternate "chicken" with the enormous amounts of fish I'd been eating - yummy! Grilled chicken in my salad!



The second week I added a second serving of fruit - an apple - to my afternoon snack along with my yogurt. It was wonderful to sink my teeth into that crisp, juicy apple, let me tell you! (IF, like me you have sluggish bowels, you can alternate that apple with a 125ml glass of prune juice - it does the trick! P.S. - this is called "personalizing your diet :)!)



I stuck with that for a couple of weeks and just this past weekend cooked up a big pot of White Bean Soup in order to add one daily serving of legumes. I used white "navy" beans (couldn't find cannellini beans) and it also contains shallots and zucchini and seasoned diced tomatoes. It weights in at only around 135 calories and is SOOOOOOOOO delicious! I used canned beans which really speeds up preparation time - the whole thing only took me about 30 minutes to prepare AND cook! The recipe can be found HERE.



Next week I get to add sweet potatoes to my diet - 1/2 a baked sweet potato two to three times a week - mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!



Stayed tuned for that mouth-watering addition!

Westminster Ponds - The Journey Continues

Who knew you could get lost in the middle of a not-very-big city? The natural space and beauty of Westminster Ponds is of considerably greater magnitude than I had originally thought. You CAN get lost wandering about the millions of pathways - I have proof!

But obviously we found our way out again and what's more important we found our way back to where we had parked our car!

None of the wandering however, took away from the beauty that surrounded us on all sides.

Incredible, isn't it?

A bit of human carving adds interest to this tree.

Can you spot Bucky Beaver working away on a tree branch?

Hunger in Niger: Hanging By a Thread

KIVA

I happened to stop by Kiva.org the other day and happily saw that I had a credit of almost $35.00. Someone has been paying me back - in fact - several someones! I immediately turned around and reloaned the money out to the above 45 year old Togo woman named Benina who runs a small store in which she sells generic items. Her stock was running low and she had requested her first loan to enable her to restock.

This is my ninth loan since I began loaning in October. My goal was one per month and I have exceeded that goal by two loans. I can't help myself - I see that credit and I don't want it just sitting there when it could be helping another mother, like Benina - a mother of five - raise and educate her family.

So far three women have repaid me in full and the others range in repayment from 12% to 87%. There have been no defaults or money lost so far. This lending opportunity handled by Kiva and their field agents is totally a win/win adventure. The thrill of lending what is to me a token amount of money (think 4 to 5 Starbucks lattes) to women in the most under-developed nations in the world while I sit with my feet up at said Starbucks drinking water and a decaf coffee and having an effect on their lives is immeasurable.

It really makes me feel such gratitude for what I have.

Revving up Your Metabolism

You may or may not have noticed but I emptied out my closet of all of my "fat" clothes. These are the items I resort to when my "regular-sized" (its all relative isn't it - who am I trying to kid?) clothing gets to be a wee bit or a whoa holy smokes bit too tight.


Thanks to the calcium diet that I've been adhering to (except for this past weekend but that's another story) for the past month and which has helped me to lose just over 12 pounds of gross hideous lard. My weight has gone from an all-time high (except when pregnant) of 139 lbs to a much more reasonable 126 lbs. I would like to hover between 123 and 125 lbs which puts my BMI at 22.3. I can live with that (hopefully for a long time!)


Now that my weight has plateaued for a few days I hit the internet looking for ways to rev up my metabolism in order to maximize the calories lost through exercise and diet. Here's what I learned:

• Drink water COLD (yes, it really does work)


• Spice up your food with cayenne (I add it to my omelettes along with jalepeno peppers and crushed red chillies; cinnamon is another great spice which speeds up your metabolism


• Increase intake of green tea (called the "metabolism potion")
  

• Alternate quick sprints with slower intervals while walking, running, biking


• Lift weights up and down slowly


• Take fish oils daily: 6 gms and it needs to contain at least 300EPA and 200DHA and take 2 hours before working out (it enhances fat oxidation during exercise!)


• Eat your larger meal at noon and your lighter meal at night & eat good sources of protein like fish and chicken


• Reduce alcohol


• Try to get 8 hours of sleep at night


• Have several short 10 minute workouts throughout the day vs. 1 long workout to increase the afterburn (length of time your metabolism is working hard to burn calories/fat)


• Eat raw veggies (negative calorie effect - more about that later)


• Gain more muscle (muscle burns off the calories longer and more efficiently than fat)
  

Time will tell if implementing these TIPS will have the hoped-for effect. I am doing as many as I can - the 8 hours of sleep is next to impossible however. Stay tuned...