We drank a lot of hot chocolate during the holidays, mainly for two reasons:  it was very cold plus I was getting over a respiratory infection and hot drinks helped my congestion a lot.  I found out there are a lot of calories in some hot chocolate mixes which I’m sure helped me to gain weight, although I don’t need weight loss pills.  My husband bought some hot chocolate and I bought some, too, and so I decided to compare the “Nutritional Facts.”  This is what I found:

• Nestle Rich Chocolate – 80 calories, 3 grams fat, 15 g carbs, 12 g sugar
• Swiss Miss Milk Chocolate – 120 calories, 2 g fat, 23 g carbs, 16 g sugar
• Swiss Miss Dark Cholcolate – 150 calories, 3.5 g fat, 26 g carbs, 20 g sugar

It’s easy to see which brand of hot chocolate I’m drinking now that I’m trying to lose the weight I gained during the holidays:  Nestle Rich Chocolate!  (There are sugar-free mixes out there, but my doctor told me to stay away from sugar substitutes as much as possible.)

I wonder what type of first aid kit most people have in their homes.   We have a standard kit plus some larger bandages, rubbing alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, Neosporin, etc.  We don’t have an AED, although I’m sure some people with medical conditions do have them.  It’s always good to have medical supplies at home to take care of medical needs when needed or in case of an emergency.

A lot of people have had the flu during the past two or three months.  I read one thing that is very important to keep from getting the flu is to wash hands often and use hand sanitizers.  Some businesses even give promotional hand sanitizers away.  Another thing that helps is to gargle daily either with mouthwash or warm salt water.  Even drinking hot drinks such as tea or coffee help because they move the virus germs out of the throat where they take hold.  Taking Ester-C and zinc plus other vitamins including D3, eating healthy meals, and getting plenty of rest is important, too.

We have traveled different places the past 15 years.  We don’t travel much now but did when both of our children lived at home.  When traveling, I don’t think about a medical assistance program, but I can see how people with medical conditions would need to consider something like that.   There are some vacation areas that are more remote than others, and some people might need to access medical care quickly.  It’s good to know that quick medical assistance is available.

Holiday dinners are so typically loaded with fat, sugar, and lots of cholesterol.  I tried to reduce those for our Thanksgiving meal, and this is what I came up with.  I’m sure I’ll be changing and tweeking this even more as time goes on.  I would love to hear your ideas and what you do.  For now, here’s our menu and here’s what I did:

• Turkey – avoid turkey fat
  
• Stuffing – reduce the amount of butter by half  (we didn’t miss it)
• Gravy – Make gravy from the turkey broth, but refrigerate it first and then skim the fat off the top before making gravy.  Or use Heinz Home Style Roasted Turkey Gravy which has low fat and very low cholesterol.
• Holiday Sweet Potatoes – leave out the eggs to reduce cholesterol, use less butter and sugar.  Use part Kal Powdered Stevia in place of 1/2 cup of sugar – we can’t tell the difference, they’e still yummy!
  
• Green Bean Casserole – use Healthy Request Mushroom Soup.  Use less of the French Fried Onion, maybe use only 1/2 to 3/4 of a small can instead of the whole can (a small can has nearly 500 calories & over 40 grams of fat).  Skip adding the onion rings in the beans and only use them on top of the casserole which is the most important part anyway. My husband likes to add extra virgin olive oil to counter some of the negative effects of all the saturated fat in the French Fried Onions, so  I would say to add 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil.
• Mashed Potatoes –  Use low-fat milk, a little butter, salt and pepper in the potatoes themselves.  Then put small pats of butter on top of the hot potatoes before serving.  I use half the butter from the regular recipe, but with butter being melted on top, it isn’t noticeable.  I think the main thing is to use flavorful potatoes.  Some are more flavorful than others.
  
• Rolls – use multi-grain rolls with fiber and no cholesterol.  (Rhodes makes frozen multi-grain roll dough that has to rise first before baking.)
  
• Dessert – well, this is a very hard category.  Considering all the fat in a holiday meal, it’s good to choose a dessert that isn’t loaded with fat or cholesterol.  Substituting half of the sugar with a good brand of Stevia works well for us.  (Some Stevia brands leave a strong aftertaste.  Kal Stevia doesn’t.)
  

Whatever it is, I think it’s always best to read up on all the symptoms and treatments, whether it’s adhd symptoms, diabetes symptoms, etc.   Then a person can have some background knowledge when they go to the doctor.

I’ve had a hard time trying to get well recently, with the flu week before last, then bronchitis setting in and also pink eye (where in the world did that come from – I think maybe from a quick trip to the grocery store) last week.  Now I have this lingering cough.  I read up on all the symptoms for each of the above, and I’m doing everything I can to get over this ASAP.  I’ve finished my prescription antibiotics, and I’m taking vitamins and supplements, drinking lots of fluids, using a steam vaporizer at night (helps so much), taking hot showers, and using a lot of cough drops with menthol.   I’m so thankful I’m a lot better now!