It's (almost) the holiday season.....

If you're on a weight-loss program, the holiday season can be the equivalent of The Robot screaming, "Danger, Will Robinson!" So what are you going to do to handle it?

One easy thing that you can do is make your recipes healthier. There are plenty of ways to substitute ingredients to cut fats, sugars and other empty calories, or add fiber. If you are a Weight Watchers member with access to eTools, please, please tell me you're using the Recipe Builder, because (seriously) that alone is worth the price of your Monthly Pass or eTools access. If you are not a WW member, fret not -- there are online ways to tweak your favorite recipe and make it healthier.

First, try substituting lower-fat, lower-calorie, lower-sugar ingredients within a recipe. The Mayo Clinic has this great list of ingredient substitution ideas -- both for baked goods and other items as well. The Heart Center of the Rockies offers these heart-healthy substitutions. In fact, the one item where I wouldn't make any major change is butter ..... if the recipe calls for butter and doesn't say "or margarine" then I'd use a light butter in place of regular butter instead. No offense intended to margarine; it's fine on toast but not always a good substitute for butter in a recipe, due to water content.

Okay, so you have your recipe, you've found some substitutions .... but just how much of a difference do these really make? Try an online recipe analyzer. A good one to try is available at SparkRecipes.com (a division of SparkPeople) -- it's free, and also allows you to save recipes in a recipe box. You can share recipes, but with some copyright restrictions. Anyway, you put in your information by ingredients and measurements, then the number of servings, and a little nutrition label pops up. Try doing it with your original recipe, followed by the one with substitutions. You may see big changes -- you may cut calories, fat, sugars, increase fiber, etc. Or the changes may be smaller than you expect -- at which point you may consider changing portion size rather than ingredient list.

Too much trouble to analyze your favorite recipes? Try these sites that offer healthier options:

• Prevention magazine's Cook! section
• Eat Better America -- "healthified" recipes
• Hungry Girl (more than just recipes, lots of good ideas!)
  
• Cooking Light magazine
• FoodFit
• Start Making Choices (ConAgra Foods)

Still not sure you're up to all that? How about these tips:

1. Exercise each day. Instead of watching the NFL, play a game of flag football. On Black Friday, do the shopping shuffle. Park far out at the mall and after every 3rd store you buy in, go take your stuff to the car.
   
2. Control your portions. Do you really need a platter -- or that whole turkey leg, Henry VIII? Enjoy your food; don't inhale.
   
3. WW members -- hit a meeting. Or two or three. However many you need. Friday, Saturday, maybe even Sunday if they have it. Wednesday night before Thanksgiving. Go online and find a meeting near you if you're traveling. Get your support in.
   
4. So you had a bad Turkey Day? Get back on track Friday. No excuses. None of this, "I'll wait till Monday." Each new day is a new opportunity; make the most of them.

But above all, remember the reason for the day -- no, not the Pilgrims, the Natives, the Lions, Packers or Cowboys. Give thanks. Think of every good thing you have going in your life -- yes, it's been a difficult year, but you are above ground and breathing; you have people for whom you care and who care about you; you have choices and freedoms, and that's more than a LOT of people in this world can say. So search your heart and be truly grateful for every gift in your life. A grateful heart is a satisfied one.

A chuckle for your week.....

see more dog and puppy pictures

This just SLAYED me.......

I can never prove it....

but I believe with all my heart that negative emotions really do weigh us down, physically speaking. My first night with Weight Watchers, I was shocked by how much I'd gained in just 8 weeks (from the Doc's office to then). I felt tremendous guilt, shame, despair, anger, sadness, desperation, you name it. I couldn't believe I'd let myself go so long and not cared for myself. I lost 12.2 pounds that first week, and I truly believe that a third of it was getting rid of some of those feelings.

In the same vein, positive emotions don't make us lose physical weight but they surely make us feel lighter ... and maybe we do lighten up (really!). For instance, this week, I've been working on a project that I'm calling a "Gratitude Adjustment" .... when I stepped on the scale tonight for a courtesy weigh-in, it was about a half-pound less than my actual weigh-in last week. And while I might not have physically lost weight simply because of a change in my outlook, my heart and soul surely feel better and maybe I'm a little lighter because of it.

Think about it: feelings of guilt, shame, inadequacy, etc. draw us inward, emotionally and physically. My former leader often talks of meeting me that first night and how I was all shelled up (so to speak), and how I've come out of that shell. Well, I don't know if it's so much me coming out of a shell than it was just getting rid of those feelings. Success bred success..... and with it, more confidence, more good feelings, etc. I know when I feel bad about myself or about "what I have done and what I have failed to do," I feel heavier and withdrawn. When I'm feeling good about myself, and proud of my accomplishments and attempts, then I stand up straighter, I breathe easier, and I could skip & hop wherever I go.....

In the book of Proverbs, it is said that a cheerful heart is like medicine ..... I think there really is something to that. A good outlook, a winning attitude breeds success, which feeds more positive emotion, which fosters more success........ a wonderful winning cycle!!!! This week, find the positive. Live in it. Enjoy your success, and strive to be happy.

Apple Butter Recipe -- ENJOY!

Apple Butter Recipe (Crock Pot)

This is the recipe that I mentioned briefly here, and on my "regular" blog (Snort! Regular.....), Meanderings and Musings.

I am not joking: this is the easiest recipe ever -- the only change I would make is that you don't need that much sugar unless you're using an extremely tart apple. For slightly tart ones (like I used), I used 1 to 1-1/2 cups of Brown Sugar Splenda. For really sweet ones, like Honeycrisps, you could omit the sugar/Splenda altogether.

Great, easy, etc. If you have really juicy apples, you may also want to extend the cooking time. In my last batch, I used Arkansas Blacks (again), and ended up letting liquid cook out for around 20 hours. I like apple butter with substance, you know! And this group of AB's were very juicy!! Some of the variables (time, sugar, etc.) can change depending on your specific tastes.

Bon appetit!

The November verdict.......

Another month free! I am up a bit (1.4 pounds over goal), and that's partly due to the incredibly good potluck last week at work, and all the leftover Halloween candy. What's important is that I'm still within range for the month. And so, now my task is to work hard to get back down to a more reasonable margin. I'm also retaining water a bit, so I'm going to have to watch my sodium a little more closely, and keep up with water intake. I've done good but I did have a couple of days where it took some doing to get in 2 liters.

***

At last night's meeting, we talked about how to control what you can during the holidays. One member mentioned accurate measuring and portion control. Generally, I have no problem with this: except at potlucks. It's still hard for me to really visualize portions of casseroles and such. Pieces of meat? I have the palm guide and the deck of cards (or checkbook for fish). Veggies & fruits? Yeah, I can visualize a computer mouse (half-cup) or a tennis ball (full cup). Casseroles? (That pop you hear was my brain exploding).

At these types of events, my chief problem in portion guessing is that I overestimate what's on the plate. Yes, I realize that this is highly unusual; most people tend to underestimate, and I have myself on occasion. But overestimating can be just as bad. For example, I might write that I had a quarter-cup of something -- but later realize that it was really 2 tablespoons and not the whole quarter-cup. Now that doesn't sound like a problem, right? I actually consumed fewer calories/points than expected. Well, yeah, it's a problem. On those days, I tend to exercise more or eat much lighter at other meals to compensate. It's simple math: I'm expending even more, consuming even less than I thought -- and yes, Virginia, you can eat too little calories and slow down your metabolism. Rut-roh, Raggy, we all know what that means: a messed-up scale reading, because the body is hanging on thinking, "Oh no, it's famine time!"

During one of my very first meetings after joining, my regular leader was absent, and the substitute leader spoke of how she took a quarter-cup measuring cup with her to all family reunions, etc. She told people, "Sorry, this may take a moment...." and she'd measure out her quarter-cup portion of food for her plate. I got the underlying message -- take a small piece of what you want and savor it -- but I may have to start actually using her trick.

Oddly enough, I can see me at potlucks with a quarter-cup in one hand and a 1 Tbsp measuring spoon in the other. I have a feeling my coworkers would be patient enough to allow me my quirk (because they know my quirks seem to work for me). My extended family is pretty happy that I've gotten the weight off ... they might snicker, but hey, let 'em.

Whatever it takes..... whatever it takes. Try every trick, every suggestion, every mind game that you need to meet your holiday goal -- whether it's "I'm going to lose weight by January 2" or "I just want to maintain" or even "As long as I don't gain 10 pounds over the holidays, I will be thrilled." (We found out last night that one study shows that the average American will gain 17 pounds between Halloween and mid-January. GASP!!!!)

My own goal is to maintain (yeah, I know, that's my goal every month) .... but really, my goal is to be at or below goal on January 2. OOH RAH!

The Great Falafel Experiment

This week, I missed my meeting. I *hate* missing meetings more than you know. Even after all this time, I still love the weekly meeting. I have missed maybe 7 or 8 in nearly 3-1/2 years, two this month alone (one to illness, and this one).

Yesterday at work, we had not only Dress-Up Costume Day but Ethnic Luncheon Day. We were to bring a food that's either from our heritage, our specialty, or otherwise connected to us. For instance, two folks brought things from their spouse's heritage. Really, my heritage is "Southern" -- we've been over here for so long, there's no special dish that's been passed down over and over except for those delectable (read: fattening! tasty! bad for me! fantastic!) Southern casseroles and desserts. But I do love good Mediterranean food, so I thought I would bring that.

As luck would have it, I discovered a homemade falafel recipe in a magazine. VOILA! Inspiration struck me, and so I signed up to bring falafel, tabouleh, and hummus. I knew I'd bring the last two from a mix. I'm not dumb, but I figured I could at least do the homemade falafel. This was a recipe for baked falafel -- way healthier than fried!

What I learned:
1. Use a falafel mix.

Really. The recipe is fine if you make it as faux-burger patties. Or if you ball it up and deep-fry it. But otherwise, no. Not really good. And honestly, I just didn't have enough time to make umpteen falafel patties. And the recipe also had WAY too much turmeric; a half-teaspoon? No. A quarter-teaspoon, or even an 1/8-teaspoon would be plenty. This made the whole dish a nasty baby-poop-yellow. And worse, it wasn't even tasty. This one is getting tossed. Or revamped at least. Sorry to the author, but yeah, it was yuck. In good news, the tabouleh and hummus were GREAT. I still have a ton of it. I love hummus, but WOW do I still have a lot.

The other bad news is that I went on a slight eating binge yesterday. One of the coworkers brought lumpia (her MIL's specialty) and something I fell in love with over the summer when my friend Kathi made some for us on a trip. OMG, it's so good. Another coworker brought his wife's Croatian turkey roll-up dish, which appeared to be fairly healthy. And I can certainly vouch that it was very tasty! Another coworker brought noodle kugel .... tasty but OY VEY for the waistline. But so tasty......

Thankfully, this is stuff that only happens on rare occasions. I have tried to be better today.

******

Other news: I have been to Fitness 365 three times this week -- Tuesday at 7 (fairly quiet), Thursday at 5:30 AM (definitely quiet) and Friday night at 7:30 (DEAD). And by D-E-A-D, I mean I was the ONLY member there for the entire hour I spent there. I had every machine to myself.

I did the recumbent bike and 20 minutes was enough to send my legs into "no mas" mode. I did a circuit on the machines and then attempted to do 10 on the Precor elliptical. 2 minutes and I was definitely screaming "no mas!!" Holy cannoli........

I'm definitely going to enjoy my membership there!

One of the newest members of.....

Yep! I joined Fitness 365 here in town this week while they are still having their "no joining fee" special. And last night, I worked out there for the first time. I am very pleased. It's a fairly quiet facility -- for 7:00 PM, there weren't a whole lot of people. Of course it was also raining, so that may be why it was so quiet.

It's a nice facility and I'm really looking forward to working out there. In fact, I'll be heading there early tomorrow morning for a pre-work workout! I wonder how busy it will be at 5:00 tomorrow morning........