This is from AOL’s Outrageous Fast Food:

Quiznos’ Tuna Melt, regular
Calories: 1420 calories
Fat: 118 g
Sodium:1535 mg

Wendy’s Baconator
Calories: 1680
Fat: 103 g
Sodium: 1800 mg

Burger King’s Enormous Omelette Sandwich
Calories: 730
Fat: 45 g
Sodium: 1940 mg

McDonald’s Chocolate Triple Thick Shake, (32 fl oz)
Calories: 1160
Fat: 27 g
Sodium: 510 mg

KFC’s Chicken and Biscuit Bowl
Calories:870
Fat: 44 g
Sodium: 2420 mg

White Castle’s Fish Nibblers Calories:
Calories: 1050

Fat: 25 g
Sodium: 2980 mg

This are just a few foods, but they clearly show how unhealthy a lot of fast foods are for people!

Well, I lost 1/2 pound this past week which is better than the week before. I’m half way to my goal which means I’ll need to add on another couple of weeks time-wise, depending on how I do this week. I had problems with my foot and couldn’t walk as much last week. I think walking is a big factor for me.

I bought new running shoes last Friday, so that has alleviated my foot problem. I’m supposed to buy new running shoes every six months (doctor recommendation). I found the receipt for my old shoes, and it had been way over a year since I bought them…Woops! No wonder I was having so many problems with my foot and ankle!

I didn’t lose a pound this week, and I think maybe it’s because I didn’t walk all week until yesterday. Also, I only ate one grapefruit instead of two or three. Hmm…I really don’t know for sure why I didn’t lose a pound, but I’m just glad I didn’t gain one.

These are some of the reasons I’m wanting to lose weight:

• Extra fat stores estrogen, and I’m already higher in estrogen than progesterone.
  
• Hormone imbalance affects so many different things including my fibromyalgia and even seasonal allergies. So I really want to get rid of extra fat!
• My clothes don’t fit as well. Just losing 5 pounds makes a difference in the way they fit.
• I want to have enough self-control to balance what I eat in a healthy way. I feel better when I eat healthy which means eating more fresh, raw veggies & fruits, lean protein, and greatly limiting my sugar and processed carbs intake (that’s the hard part)!

I CAN’T BELIEVE IT! I lost a pound this week, and I thought for sure I would’ve gained a pound. I made Oatmeal Double Chocolate Chip Cookies to send to an event….and the event was cancelled!

Right after I baked them, I ate my three cookies that I allow myself when I make cookies. That was fine. But with the cancellation, we ended up having three dozen cookies at our house, so I had four cookies the next day and three more the following day making a total of ten cookies.

This is why I think I still lost my pound anyway:

• I did eat protein after each round of cookies, either nuts or Whey Protein Isolate Powder mixed in water.
• I only drank water or tea sweetened with Kal brand of Stevia (a natural, not artificial, 0-calorie sweetener) all week. I drank three or four glasses of tea a day.
• I walked several times during the week and stretched every day.
• I didn’t “diet,” but ate smaller, healthy meals. (low unhealthy fat, low processed carbs)
• I wasn’t on a fat free diet, but had healthy fat every day (nuts every day, avocados, olive oil)

So, I think all of those things together helped. Plus, my doctor increased my natural, pharmacy-compounded progesterone a couple of weeks ago. My hormone ratio was off again, and that tends to make women gain weight when they have estrogen dominance. Now that my hormones are getting more in balance, it’s easier to lose weight.

Yeah!!! I lost one pound this past week, so that’s a start to losing “5 Pounds in 5 Weeks.” This is what I did:

• ate smaller portions and didn’t get second helpings
• drank lots of tea (regular and green tea) sweetened with Stevia (natural herb with 0 calories) and lots of water
• ate low-fat although we did eat at Chick Fil-A one day. Woops!
• ate three smaller meals and two healthy snacks with protein every day which works best for me (I ate nuts every day - good protein snack)
• chose healthy carbs and tried to limit processed foods, which are usually high in empty carbs, to a bare minimum. I must admit I did make cookies, but I limited myself to three cookies out of the whole batch instead of the usual half a cookie sheet’s worth. (I love cookies fresh out of the oven!)
  
• limited my candy to one small piece of chocolate on two different days (sigh!)
  
• stretched daily and went for a long walk on three days

I want to lose five pounds, but I want to do it slowly so that I can develop more healthy habits and also so that I don’t upset my fibromyalgia. One pound a week is good for me. I plan to try to reduce sugar (Easter candy didn’t help any…and we still have some left!), eat healthy meals with more raw fresh foods and fiber, drink more tea, eat protein with every meal or snack, and walk more. Some people like to use pills such as eca stack, but each person has to figure out what works best for them.

Orovo is a diet pill that contains natural ingredients and is a supplement of super healthy ingredients such as wheatgrass and green tea that not only help with weight loss but are also good for the skin and energizing the mind. They use high quality ingredients which is a big factor with me. I have not tried these pills, but I am impressed with these ingredients:

• Acai
• Alfalfa Sprout
• Alpha Lipoic Acid
• Barley
• Buckwheat
• Cayenne Pepper
• DMAE
• Flaxseed
• Garlic
• Green Tea
• Lactobacillus Acidophilus
• Soy
• Wheatgrass

Orovo’s website states that their ingredients, a blend of the “Top 10 SuperFoods” and anti-oxidants, have been clinically proven.

(Please read the comment below!  ~  Charla)

According to Prevention, here are the top ten belly flattening foods:

1. Almonds - contain fiber, protein, vitamin E, & help cut cholesterol
2. Avocados - contain MUFA (Monounsaturated Fatty Acid), help cut cholesterol
3. Dark Chocolate - contains as much antioxidant capacity as red wine
4. Flaxseed Oil - the best plant source of omega-3 fatty acid
5. Macadamia Nuts - contain fiber & selenium
6. Natural Peanut Butter - contains vitamin E, magnesium, potassium, & vitamin B6
7. Olive Oil - contains mostly MUFA & antioxidants (extra-virgin is the best & the greener, the better)
8. Pistachios - contain lutein and zeaxanthin
9. Sunflower Seeds - loaded with B vitamins & vitamin E, help to curb hunger
10. Walnuts - contain omega-3 fatty acids

The great thing about all of these foods is that they’re super healthy for us. I eat raw almonds and pistachios, take flaxseed oil, and use extra-virgin olive oil all on a daily basis. I eat dark chocolate (oh yes!) several times a week and try to eat avocados two or three times a week. Sometimes I have sunflower seeds. The peanut butter we buy is not natural, so I wonder…does that count as 1/2? I need to start buying raw walnuts and pistachios again. So I guess we have a score of 7 1/2.

Of course, these foods need to be eaten in moderation. In other words, I can’t eat a whole box of dark chocolate in one day!! lol

(Some days…I wish I could!)

Sleep is crucial for our health, yet how many times do we stay up too late and then when the alarm goes off in the morning, it’s like, “Oh, no! It can’t be time to get up already. I don’t want to wake up.” If we don’t wake up refreshed, then our body is not getting enough sleep or maybe enough “quality” sleep. Here are some facts about deep sleep:

1. Eight hours of sleep a night is a good rule of thumb for most people. But quality is just as important as quantity. During the time of deep, quality sleep is when our body goes to work, refreshes itself, and has a restorative function.
   
2. Getting enough quality sleep is important for memory and other brain functions as well.
   
3. Poor sleep is connected with changes in appetite and metabolism which means that it’s easier to gain weight if we’re not getting the sleep that we need.
   
4. U.S. researchers have said that deep sleep may be important for keeping type 2 diabetes at bay.

If someone is having trouble sleeping, then there are several suggestions to aid in going to sleep and/or remaining asleep. Click here for more information.

I know personally, having fibromyalgia, that I don’t function well if I start getting behind on sleep. I can definitely tell a difference in the way I feel after a good night’s sleep. I think that’s pretty much universal, though. I know that Baby J is in such a good mood when he wakes up after a good night’s sleep!

When our daughter was growing up, she was in Girl Scouts. One snack she learned to make was called “Ants on a Log,” not too appetizing of a name. But in actuality, it was and still is a very tasty snack, one that we have continued making through the years. I remember when she’d be home from college during the summer, I’d make a big plate full of these for both of us to snack on, and they’d be gone within ten minutes or so. The neat thing about this snack is that all the ingredients are healthy, and it’s satisfying because of the fiber and protein in it:

• prepare celery in varying lengths, 2-4 inches long
• spread with reduced fat peanut butter
• top with “ants” (raisins - considered to be a “super food”)

This is also a great snack when trying to lose weight.  It’s a healthy snack for kids and everybody, and in case your kids don’t like ants, you can call it something different.