Your Green Club

Multiple new post notifications

2009-05-22T23:07:00.003-04:00

Ok, something's going on, and I deeply apologize. Hopefully me **actually** posting a new post will stop the many annoying "new post" notifications being sent to people subscribed to my blog. All notifications are controlled by Blogspot/Google, I don't have access to unsubscribe you, so please click the link at the bottom of the email if it's annoying enough to unsubscribe. I'm looking for a place to turn notifications off and that's not available to me, my next recourse is to try to find a way to complain to Google. If you're getting annoying notifications, please forward me one with an approximate count of how many you have received.

Again, I have no ability to unsubscribe you. I don't even know how many people are "watching" the blog. If I DO happen to find the feature, I'll try to do something about it. If you know where it's located, please comment.

Thanks!!!!

Criss
Your Green Club

{Update} Still tracking this down, turns out it's not Google/Blogger that's the problem. It's my other email software, and I've sent them a support ticket. I hope it's already stopped, only 3 people so far have had a problem!

Update on my waist loss

2009-03-02T10:50:00.002-05:00

A woman named Patricia emailed me and asked:
How's the weight loss going?
Please up-date us!!

I didn't know I had a fan club!

So I wrote back to Patricia. Here's my confession :) [Complete with editorial notes....]

Hi, Patricia,

Thanks for asking.

I reached my goal jean size of 12 but not my goal weight of 135 -- I thought I'd have to be 135 lbs to be in a size 12 jean! So I've been regrouping and using the plan as maintenance rather than weight loss for a number of months. If I'm generally mindful of what I'm eating, the maintenance plan works. When my partner is baking cheesecake every week... well, that's a little harder. :)

[On my failure to resist cheesecake.....see blog post Jan 25, 2008, 1st day of diet.... "Am I in Denial?"

Note to self - -must convince my partner to make apple pies!! :) he's on a kick of trying to make the perfect cheesecake.... thankfully he's using Neufatchel and he used low fat sour cream this last time -- still.... ]

When I reached size 12 I balked. I run my own business (business coaching & web design [note gratuitous plug! :) ]), business was really doing very poorly at the time, and I didn't have the cash to purchase a whole new wardrobe -- the same problem I had with becoming a size 20! So I went on the maintenance plan and switched to basically 1 shake a day and still taking the [waist loss plan vitamin]. A few people gave me hand-me down business jackets & coats, I got a few items to tide me over from the Salvation Army, but basically I'm happily hovering at a size 14 right now.

I want to start the strict Cinch plan again soon, and take off more weight. Instead of starting at 197 I'll be starting around 150lbs [reality check with a scale: 160lbs]. Taking off that 40+ lbs [37lbs] has made a huge difference with my asthma, and my self-image. Keeping my muscle is why I fit into a size 12 (down from a size 20!) even though I didn't "lose as much weight" -- I lost more FAT. 40 lbs of fat is enormous [so is 37! heh]. I lost 24" last time I measured -- a few inches here, a few inches there.

Did you see my blog? http://yourgreenclub.blogspot.com/ December I was wearing a size 12 petite suit. :) My son took my profile photo in November, I think -- and you can see my cheekbones :) I thought I'd lost them forever.

So basically, I made it through the holidays without any major disaster just on the maintenance plan. Anything I've put on is my fault for succumbing to weekly cheesecake and pasta (and it's not much -- some people put weight back on quickly -- I'm still taking a shake a day, sometimes two, and overall I watch what I'm eating). We've just gotten a snow storm again here in NY, but I want to get on my bike in the spring and that will be SO MUCH EASIER without that extra 40 lbs and exacerbated asthma!

One thing I noticed: I went to the Shaklee conference in New Orleans and I walked a lot. I was there 5 extra days and put on several miles -- up to 7 -- a day of walking. My Cinch Coach (diet software) was tuned for me to be basically immobile, because I work at my desk all the time, and I wasn't getting exercise. When I got back I was much hungrier and I was [almost] down to a size 12 -- I think I put on muscle mass and the new muscles were hungry! Part of why I would start the Cinch Coach all over again is because my metabolism hasn't been the same since then, and I may be changing my base activity level. I think I need 100-300 more calories a day (over the 1500 calorie plan I was satisfied with before going to New Orleans) at my current metabolic level.

I hope this helps! :)

Criss Ittermann

Your Green Club, LLC
http://YourGreenClub.com

(Required) DISCLAIMER: These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. If I've mentioned anything about a diet plan's weight loss, "*results not typical".

Regardless of any scientific evidence, case studies, or scientific journal articles, we're actually BANNED from making health claims of any type for any nutrition, vitamin, plant, animal, or other product, and we must include the ridiculous (required) disclaimers. The FDA only allows pharmaceuticals to make those health claims because the FDA is heavily funded, lobbied, begged, bartered, bribed and even staffed by the pharmaceuticals.

High-Fructose Corn Syrup - More bad news

2009-01-29T09:00:00.003-05:00

I've known there was something wrong with High-Fructose Corn Syrup for a long time, and now here's more bad news:

A study has found that there is mercury in many food-derived product additives including High-Fructose Corn Syrup. Here is a human-readable document with the information about the study.

The press release begins, "Mercury was found in nearly 50 percent of tested samples of commercial high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), according to a new article published today in the scientific journal, Environmental Health. A separate study by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) detected mercury in nearly one-third of 55 popular brand name food and beverage products where HFCS is the first or second highest labeled ingredient-including products by Quaker, Hershey's, Kraft and Smucker's."

If you are not reading product labels for additives, start doing it. This stuff is pervasive! It's in everything, and sometimes it's the first ingredient (i.e. 2nd ingredient in most soda aside from carbonated water....) Dangerous (for more than just this reason....). We absolutely need to go back to basics -- or as close to basics as humanly possible.

And this mercury discovery is on top of all sorts of other implications for HFCS -- obesity, complications for our sugar metabolism, empty calories, etc. My nutrition teacher said there were two huge nutritionally devastating trends to keep an eye on: HFCS and Partially Hydrogenated oils -- keep them both out of your diet and you'll be much better off for it, he warned.

Size 12 Power Suit

2008-12-05T11:03:00.008-05:00

Ok, maybe not a power suit, because I needed the pants leg hem dropped... LOL

BUT I fit into a size 12 petite suit last Thursday. A gorgeous grey pin-striped number. I ran a workshop at the Orange County (NY) Chamber of Commerce. I'm waiting to see if there's going to be a photo in the online papers -- the Times Herald-Record was there. Someone at the chamber also had a camera. I want to see if there's a photo to send my mom....Oh boy, I hope that the paper has a better photo! :) LOL

I was running a business brainstorming workshop -- more about it here!

Thinner....

2008-11-10T16:50:00.002-05:00

Update: Mom is down 52lbs now.

I just bought new clothes today so I can stop stalling my weight loss and get back into gear. I was afraid if I lost more weight, I wouldn't have any clothes that fit me for the winter! It's easier in the summer in 1-size dresses, but I'd be too cold in the winter. I deliberately "cheated" on my diet for a couple weeks, just maintaining my weight. Now, armed with several new slacks, a nice warm wool/cashmire blend sports jacket, and new blouses, I'm ready to take on the next 20lbs.

So here I am at 155lbs or so. I'll be heading firmly into size 12 territory, and once I do, I'll have to abandon the size 16s I've been "getting away with". The size 14 clothes I still have will see me through the transition up to the brink of size 10, but there wasn't enough clothing for the whole cold season in New York.

Onward, and downward! :)

Comment from Mom

2008-09-30T18:46:00.004-04:00

This is from my mom!

Congratulations on 24" less of you ... That's a wonderful number and so is
43 lbs down...

I'm happy I'm seeing less of you all the time.. keep sending pictures ...

I'm down 46lbs and I don't know how many inches, haven't measured myself
yet.. I know I'm smaller since all my old clothes are falling off of me and the
smaller things I've saved for yrs fit now...and some are almost too big.

This Cinch stuff is Great..

Helen... Criss' Mom

She started her diet at the same time as I did, but she started off just watching what she ate and joined me on the Cinch plan after watching the pounds coming off me and hearing about my progress. Now my mom, who has struggled with diets for MANY years is convinced that Cinch is really THE inch-loss plan.

The importance of 24 inches

2008-09-23T07:55:00.003-04:00

I've lost 24 inches. That's absolutely amazing. 2 feet.

Of course, I lost it a little here & a little there. But we're not here to overanalyze that number. We're here to celebrate it.

We can celebrate dress sizes, pants sizes, we can watch the scale and look for the numbers to drop.

I could celebrate 43 pounds less. I will celebrate 24 inches less.

We all need feedback and motivation, and every "Criss! You look terrific!" in our lives. If that means counting every inch you lost and posting that number in BIG BOLD TEXT -- so be it!!

24 Inches Lost & Counting!

When I started my live-it (who needs a die-it?) I announced it in business circles, to my networking partners & friends. At monthly meetings I would say "I look forward to you seeing less of me next month." And now it's a whole 24 inches less.

Of course it's more than that wonderful 24 inches. It's breathing better. It's being able to take the stairs two at a time without my back & legs screaming in agony, and without hyperventilating. It's being able to sidle between the chairs in a restaurant without asking someone if they could scoot in. It's feeling more like a woman even with less love-handles. It's caring what I look like.

I look forward to continuing the drop in weight and everyone seeing less of me. Maybe even another 24 inches less! I would love to share your story too! Please post comments about there being less of you, or let me know if you need help.

Size 14 and shrinking

2008-09-22T07:04:00.004-04:00

I went on a trip to New Orleans for 10 days and walked around so much I had blisters, putting a few miles of walking on per day. I basically stuck to my diet plan, with two shakes a day, my "boost" pills, and occasionally a snack bar. When I came back, I only weighed maybe a pound or two less than when I left because I was eating somewhat over what I would normally eat and I didn't try to resist chocolate and creme brulee. But when I came back, I was squarely on the small side of 16 or a 14 stretch.

Now I'm a size 14 and shrinking. I've had to dig out old clothes I thought I would never wear again. I've been shopping at the thrift stores looking for suits and clothes that will fit. My metabolism changed to match my increase in muscle mass from so much walking, so I keep thinking I'm cheating on my diet -- I have a feeling it's just that I downright require more calories to stay out of starvation mode now. Pounds are still coming off, but since I'm so close to my target clothing size, I'm not being militant about watching what I eat.

I currently weigh 154 lbs as of this morning. I took photos on September 7th, around 157lbs (40 lbs lost!), so here's an updated photo. I'm wearing pants that are too large on me, and that shows under the tight shirt. I'll try taking more photos, my mom keeps asking me to show off :)

I had set my target weight at 135, but more importantly my target pants size at 12. I just bought 1 classic grey pinstriped pantsuit size 12P, and one dress size 12 -- thrift store purchases. I'm down from 1x and 2x tops to large, and I'm starting to look at mediums. I'm afraid to lose weight too quickly at this moment because I'm not ready to buy a whole new wardrobe. :) That's a terrific reason to both keep to my diet, and to relax a little on how quickly I lose weight. I'm also thinking that size 10 is quite possible if I'm going down to 135. If I add a little more exercise into my routine and that means I need at least two more wardrobes. Thank goodness I'm not buying suits at $100 a pop!

For now I'm collecting my larger clothes and considering either freecycling them or donating them back to the thrift stores.

Changes at Your Green Club

2008-08-31T13:09:00.003-04:00

There have been some changes at Your Green Club -- maybe you got here through the coupon offer for a free sample, or because of the increase in PageRank that has given Your Green Club -- I didn't dream of such a response, and I'm working on contacting every person individually to validate your information and ship a sample out to you. I also have my newest downline distributor helping me out with that, so you might get a call from him instead. The first batch of samples is going out on Tuesday.

You need to sign up on my mailing list so you can look at the Presentations area of my website. Do that right away! Either send me an email through my contact form or directly join the mailing list to get access to the Presentations area. I've added new audio, video and downloadable content and more will come in the future. It's the only area of my website where I can talk without constraints.

The anti-aging presentation is an absolute must-see -- everyone should try to stop their biological clock from aging. We can't stop the number of birthdays we have from increasing, but what if we could stop our bodies from aging?

I also highly recommend that people take a look at either the Toxic Household Quiz or the Membership page on my website for important information on how to get a $500 value in products (~ $330) & benefits for only $299.

I'll be making calls and sending out verification emails all week, then I'm hosting a presentation on September 9th in Middletown, NY. If you're anywhere nearby and want a presentation closer to home, let me know!!!

Talk very soon! I want to do another photo so you can see how I look :)

Anti-Aging conference call

2008-08-15T08:53:00.001-04:00

Tuesday, August 26th 7pm-8pm EST

Do you want to feel younger and live longer?

I'd like to open up a FREE conference call to discuss the latest findings in Anti-Aging science and inform people of a revolutionary anti-aging supplement that's now available on the market. I will explain the biology of aging, and some of the findings from a collection of over 2000 clinical studies on how to prevent age-related diseases (cancer, diabetes, heart disease and more...), cellular wear-n-tear, and the low energy that is associated with aging.

There is a limit of 99 people on the call. If there's sufficient interest, I will book additional conference call dates.

Please RSVP for the call-in number, provide your name & your email address so you can be updated on any changes in the schedule. Please indicate whether you would like to be notified on other topics related to health and wellness, otherwise I will assume that you do not wish to be contacted about other topics.

Due to the nature of this topic, I personally think it's akin to a sin to hold back from telling as many people as I can about it. These new findings, this new natural product, may prevent deadly and crippling diseases, and may alleviate suffering for people with certain diseases or disorders, so I hope you don't mind my contacting you about it. I've been trying to consider how to politely inform as many people as possible and open up the opportunity to start living a much healthier life RIGHT NOW to as many people as possible.

Please invite your friends or family to attend the call!

Since some cancers or diseases may only be prevented, not cured, it is important that adults start using this product as soon as they feel comfortable doing so.

Criss Ittermann
Herbalist & Reiki healer

The Science of preventing aging

2008-08-07T13:42:00.007-04:00

[information from Dr. David Sinclair's live presentation at the Shaklee conference in New Orleans, LA]

Aging happens on the cellular level, and 4 things happen at the cellular level that contribute to the malfunction and death of the cell.

1) our DNA (or cellular blueprint) is under constant attack, and the DNA either can be damaged or can repair itself from there. Antioxidants protect our DNA from damage.

2) There are portions of our DNA blueprint related to the longevity of the cell, these genes can be triggered to increase the longevity of the cell. Resveratrol works to activate these protective genes.

3) Mitochondria are cells that live inside our cells, and they process sugar into an exceptional amount of readily-available cellular energy. As we age, mitochondria die off or misbehave, which lead to lower energy levels and eventual cellular death. Encouraging mitochondria to continue reproducing and remain healthy is vital to physical and mental energy levels.

4) As we age proteins and sugars link and become like sludge in our cells, interfering with cellular processes. Prevention of these cell-level "plaques" is vital to cell health.

Resveratol was found to help take care of #2. Antioxidants take care of #1. What if a single all-natural product would take care of all 4?

I can only discuss the product by name under a password protected website. Please join my mailing list so I can send you a password and reveal more details about this amazing product.

This product has been proven to work in clinical studies. It helps you feel younger, it will slow cellular aging processes, and you can live longer. It protects from health issues such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and more. For example, fish lived 33-58% longer. Mice lived longer without diseases associated with aging. Works best with a healthy diet & lifestyle, but can even help mitigate poorer health and lifestyle.

I'm not a scientist, and I'll have even more technical information on this exciting product later, including a new page on my website to outline this amazing breakthrough in natural nutritional medicine.

No preservatives, no artificial anything. The main ingredient for this amazing product is a blend of super grapes grown in the SouthEastern US.

Make sure to sign up on my mailing list! http://yourgreenclub.com/Main/MailList and I'll let you know when it's available for distribution. [ed- it's available now at http://www.shaklee.net/yourgreenclub/vivix ]

Amazing Anti-Aging Product

2008-08-07T13:30:00.003-04:00

We've found the fountain of youth, and it's north of Florida!

We've just released a fabulous new anti-aging product. It's all-natural, it's proven safe & effective, and no one else can produce it.

Delivers 100mg resveratrol that is 10x more effective than the resveratrol found in red wine, protects your DNA, gives you energy, and will protect you from aging.

And it's made from "super grapes" that grow in the south eastern United States. Yes, it's super grape juice.

A 30 day supply is $100 retail, members and autoship gets a discount (15-25% off). You take 1 teaspoon a day, each bottle is a 10 day supply, and a package is 3 bottles. It's so new it's not even in the online store yet! For more news and availability, make sure to sign up on my mailing list! http://yourgreenclub.com/Main/MailList and I'll let you know when it's available for distribution.

I'll write more technical posts when I have a chance. It's absolutely amazing! I have to run off and have a taste!

[Ed - product now available at http://www.shaklee.net/yourgreenclub/vivix ]

Halfway there....& reward time

2008-06-19T06:08:00.004-04:00

I reached my halfway point on the morning of June 17th (Tuesday) and I'm very happy. My weight loss slowed, not because of the diet plan but because of my neglect in monitoring it closely. I was still probably between 1200-1600 calories daily, but dropping down towards 1200 may have put my body into starvation mode, and my weight loss slowed down a lot.

So I reaffirmed my resolve, started looking at the poster I put up on my wall more often, turned on the coaching software again, pulled out the measuring cups and scale rather than eyeballing it, and found I probably wasn't meeting my calorie requirements all the time. I also have to be more careful about taking the supplement that comes with the plan, I skip it sometimes by accident. I had stalled around 170-172 lbs. I started paying attention and reached my halfway mark.

I'd like to address rewards. I decided to break my reward marks down into 1/4 goal marks. I figured out the total goal of my weight loss: 64lbs. I divided that by 4: 15.5lbs. So I've been rewarding myself every 15.5lbs. For you, it might be every 5 lbs, it might be every 10. You'd have a lot more reward mileposts than I do, and I have to say my posts are spread too far apart. At an average loss of 1.5-2.5lbs per week, it's approximately 2 months between rewards for my goals. It's too easy to slack off due to lower motivation and life distractions. I'd say make smaller and larger mileposts with a variety of rewards.

But what should the rewards be? I think they should entirely avoid food as a reward. If you were raised with food as a reward for good behavior, and many of us were, it's not time to indulge that learned need. Healthy nutritious food is delicious. Cake, candy, pizza, ice cream, etc. are giving us too many calories in exchange for poor nutritional quality, and they're all higher in readily-available energy that we don't need (and will turn into fat). I don't consider it a good reward to indulge myself and set myself back from my goals.

So my reward for my 25% mark was a couple albums on iTunes. One album of music I liked as a child (Godspell Original Broadway Cast Recording -- back to childhood-like rewards there LOL), and one album that is excellent background music while I'm working or relaxing (Steve Roach, Core). Cost, only about $20. But unlike food, this is a reward I can enjoy over and over again and think "I earned this music by reaching my goals".

My halfway mark goal -- I was hovering in weight for weeks, I reached 168.2, I started telling myself "It's close enough, you need the reward...." but I kept up my resolve. As soon as I stepped on the scale at 166 I ran to iTunes and purchased everything waiting in my shopping cart :) That was the soundtrack to Evita (Original Cast Recording, a double album and one of my other childhood favorites), Young Frankenstein (Original Cast Recording -- the movie was a childhood favorite, and the musical tracks are funny), Electric Ladder (more good working music), The Shaman's Heart (meditation/journeying music) and an iPod game (Sims DJ).

Using my music collection and iPod as a reward system can only go so far. When I set my goals, I realized that, so my 75% mark has a reward of "New shoes" -- although I'm going to be desperate for new clothes soon, I recognize that my overall body loss hasn't stopped and buying new clothes now is silly. I'll spend $30-60 at the thrift shop and call it a day until I reach my 100% mark -- then it's time to shop for real, and go on a maintenance plan. I'll stick to a strict maintenance plan throughout the holiday season because that's the toughest time of the year, and that should give me time enough to get used to what I can and can't do to maintain my weight.

So my advice would be to set up rewards every few weeks (2-3) that are NOT food based rewards. When we say "I've been good, I can have that dessert" we're only setting ourselves up for a week of 1.5 vs 2.5lb loss, not doing ourselves a favor. If we can learn to say, "Wow, that's a great looking dessert, but I want to lose 2lbs this week so I can buy myself that new sweater I've been looking at in the Macy's catalog," we will succeed in reaching our goals. I may work on my reward system to have minor rewards built in, because 2 months is too long.

Documentary about Monsanto's food-supply conspiracy

2008-05-02T06:35:00.004-04:00

I try to believe in the inherent good of all people. It keeps me going. I try not to look at anyone as absolute evil. After this video, I'm having a very very hard time picturing these people as anything but evil. It's one thing to be greedy -- it's another thing to hold all of life as we know it in your hands as a control & monetary leveraging tool.

This French documentary/exposé is a full-length feature film intended for theaters, and aired March 11 on French TV. Now it's essentially an underground video, squished from major video feeds and stores.

The World According to Monsanto

The video takes us through the beginnings of the Monsanto conspiracy, following a French investigative reporters' footsteps through the web of lies and government favoritism shown to this chemical-producing mega-giant. She goes to the US, India, Canada, the UK, Paraguay, and Mexico in pursuit of the truth. If you go to the Monsanto website, you will see many lies.

One example of a lie where Monsanto was caught is labeling RoundUp herbicides as "biodegradable" -- but the fines don't matter. After years of advertising the product as biodegradable, everyone already believed it -- the fines for false or misleading advertising don't matter. Once you've sprayed with RoundUp -- an intensive defoliation chemical -- it won't go away any time soon. Combine this with genetically modified crops -- crops modified to resist RoundUp.... I thought they would be modifying crops for better taste or yields, the same reasons we cross breed...this is absolutely insidious.

Don't break out the popcorn yet... corn, canola, cotton, soy and wheat are the compromised crops, with more to come soon.

Personal Note: I am SO glad my diet plan is non-gmo soy. However, I need to throw out my Boca burgers. :(

The moral: Buy organic (until the USDA allows gmos sprayed with RoundUp to be labeled organic -- I'm sure it will happen some day), buy non-gmo, buy local, and try SPIN farming. Meanwhile, we have to figure out something much more powerful to do, but what do you do when a powerful company can turn your food supply off?

You can order a DVD or download a copy using the big red button. I recommend downloading.

Toxic Household Quiz

2008-04-24T06:14:00.003-04:00

If you're interested in the effect of toxins in the home, and what you can do about them, you probably want to try the Toxic Household Quiz to see how much you know about what we're doing to our bodies, our family and our planet.

The fact is that we need to change what we're doing. Toxic cleaning product companies started reaching out to consumers with mass advertising in the 1950s and we bought into it. Now nearly every home has products with chemicals that are not tested for human safety, especially 1-3 generations down the road. Now we're seeing the effects of these chemicals on our children & children's children, and watching the decline of human health in the U.S. and other so-called advanced nations. And with the expansion of modernization programs into third-world countries we are ensuring that those giant chemical companies will bring their toxic products into all countries, to their benefit and the global environment's expense.

If you're already ready to change what you're doing, see: The Price of Clean-- and just answer that one question in the quiz.

Namaste!

Happy EarthDay!

2008-04-22T11:13:00.002-04:00

In celebration of EarthDay I'm giving presentations for Toxic Cleaners vs. Shaklee's GetClean starter kit. For a schedule of events, please see http://yourgreenclub.com/.

In the presentation I discuss how toxic cleaners, and common chemicals in the cleaners that we use in our homes, adversely affect our health. Then I'll discuss how much money, time, and chemical trouble you can save by replacing your cleaners with the Shaklee GetClean starter kit. The conference call is long distance for most people, so I will gladly do one-on-one toll-free presentations (for GetClean, the Cinch diet plan, the Shaklee business opportunity presentation, Vitalizer vitamin presentation, or Non-Profit fundraising opportunities) if anyone is interested -- you just have to contact me.

I will be opening up my schedule for other presentations on a regular basis starting in May. If you're interested, please let me know.

Have a clean, green, happy EarthDay!

One Size fits me

2008-04-20T11:34:00.006-04:00

174.6lbs. 36.5"waist, 45.25" hips. [Ed. oops, just noticed the typo -- I don't weigh 74lbs, nor do I ever want to!]

The way my body is built, I'll never have a 20" waist, but I'm going from "rather plump" to "pleasantly curvy" which is a change for the better.

I felt for the first time in a while like I could wear a dress yesterday -- 80 degrees, and I feel less than fat. A dress that would NOT fit me just last fall, now fits well and will only look better and better as I take off weight. I put on a different dress first, but while it fit, it was still too tight in the gut-hip area, where I'm carrying what my mom calls the family belly, so my daughter wore it.

I've been having discussions with my weight-loss partner (my mom) about rewards for a good job done on a diet, about feelings of entitlement when traveling or socializing. It's just not healthy to think that you spent so much money to go someplace you deserve to have a large meal (or dessert, or snacks, or...). The two are unrelated. Our society brainwashes us into thinking that white flour, sugar, potatoes are "rewards" and these messages are hammered into our head from the time we wake up to the time we go to sleep.

If you spent a lot on a trip you should darned well enjoy the trip, enjoy healthy choices, enjoy your food, relax, get extra sleep, get some extra exercise in the pool or workout room, but don't think that you deserve to treat your body badly because you're spending some extra time away from home or with friends.

I spend a lot of money every month on networking events, often those events come with breakfast, lunch or dinner. I also go to committee meetings where the fare of the morning is donuts or bagels (I've come to call them the "donut meeting" and "bagel meeting" respectively when talking about them to my partner, just to really point out how ridiculous this "culture" is.) I can think to myself "Well, I pay my $400/year for membership in this chamber, so I deserve the free breakfast!" And that type of thinking can get me into much more than $400 of health concerns and illness, and new larger clothes purchases to accommodate my brainwashed mentality. Several members of said chamber are in trouble healthwise and taking drastic measures to change their weight, and I find that very very alarming. I drink my shake religiously before going, treat myself to an herbal tea when I get there, and instead of fussing with food, I pay attention to the meeting! I can network better without a mouth full of bagel anyway.

We need to reconsider what we put into our mouths. 500 years ago there WAS no white sugar, or white flour, or white rice. It's not in our genetic or metabolic make-up to properly handle them, much less "high-fructose corn syrup" and "hydrogenated fats". To watch our weight, every calorie that goes into our body has to carry nutrients with it, and any nonsense calories that go into our body aren't holding up to their end of the reasons we ingest food in the first place. High-glycemic foods like potatoes, sugar and white flour cause a bounce-back reaction that leads to cravings, and cravings lead to binge eating and overeating. I watch people put 3-4 spoons of sugar into their drink, eat 3 pieces of white-bread before eating a full dinner, a plate full of french fries, etc. I just have to choose differently than they do, not feel deprived. I think of those things as fat cells going right into their bodies, and they're far less appealing.

I miss those starchy sugary foods just like the next person would, but I know better. Even if it takes a lot of mental willpower, discipline, and self-talks to stay away, I know I can change my own mind about anything, and I'm determined to erase the nutritional brainwashing and damage done by our culture, so I can live a healthy and long life.

Next goal: halfway point: 166.0lbs - squarely size 16 pants, and the original broadway cast recording of Evita (my reward, a 2 album set). Not going out to dinner. Not dessert. Not ice cream.

Eat Local Perishables or Perish

2008-03-19T15:16:00.003-04:00

Check out what's going on with food imports, and buyer beware. Please locate and frequent your local small farms and food sources. What's happened to our spinach, our cat food, our melons, our children's toys, etc. needs to stop. Visit http://www.notinmyfood.org/ to send a letter to your representatives asking that food is traceable to point of manufacture, and labeled with country of origin, and that we start inspections before foods are even sent.

And for people in the area who want good local food & produce that doesn't come from other countries, please check out http://abundantlifefarm.com/ for the Virtual Online Farmstand -- 100mile radius foods delivered to your neighborhood.

Weigh in Week 7

2008-03-16T11:08:00.002-04:00

I've achieved and surpassed the 25% mark for my goal weight! I'm thrilled :)

I weighed in this morning at 180.3lbs, and my 25% mark is 181.5lbs, so I've got less than 75% left to go. :)

I can now wear a size 16 jean :) Ok, only one pair fits: they've got a stretch waist-band, I can't make it into my other 16s, but this is the last 16 I grew out of, and it's the first 16 I'm shrinking back into. I'm almost 17lbs down from where I started. It's not coming off the areas I thought it would, and I'm being naughty by not exercising enough.

But the weather is getting better, and I'm running out of excuses: I'm going to try biking again. I can try to do 1/2 hr after putting my son on the bus at least 3 days a week, and hopefully my daughter can join me when she's around. I'll try to get my partner to get up and go too. So that means today I check my bike and tires, and make sure they're inflated, etc. So that's my next commitment. Biking. 3 days this week. My mountain bike makes that a tough commitment, but with the luciene I don't expect to be too sore the next day.

I'll let you know how that goes. I can only do it on days when I can shower before my other daily commitments.

Miscellaneous Update

2008-03-15T07:33:00.004-04:00

I have been hard-pressed for time lately, as business for my web design company picks up. Here's my latest updates:

I've used the face product kit, and I really like it. It's not perfumed, my flaky skin stopped flaking, I have less pimples and even I could tell that my face tone was more even after. I did definitely look younger. At least to me :) Very nice stuff. I'm not wrinkled enough to notice an 88% reduction in my visible wrinkles, at 38 years old. :)

The fairies are still at work in my dishwasher. Even my roommates appreciate them. We'll leave milk and cookies in the dishwasher for them. I can't eat the cookies anyway.

I love the way my hair looks and feels -- rather than limp and lifeless, it's shiny and has terrific body. Either that or this is the best haircut I've ever had. Naah -- it's the shampoo & conditioner, because it's the actual texture of my hair that's better.

I gave in and cleaned the rest of the range hood :) No one else took me up on the challenge. (I had cleaned a small part of the range hood with the degreaser, hoping someone would get annoyed and clean the rest....I am not the world's best housekeeper, it's not my calling.)

I wrote a serious article about toxic cleaners on my website.

Next I'll write an article about my experiences with asthma. I was diagnosed asthmatic last fall, 2 weeks after an asthma attack almost put me into the hospital -- without health insurance! My resistance to go the hospital could have killed me, but since I lived and managed my asthma attack without transport, I've (financially) saved my family. An emergency room visit would have been a disaster. It's not fun to be uninsured, welcome to the norm for the middle classes, especially self-employed. 2 weeks later, my health coverage finally went through and I could see a doctor and get medication. One really really scary asthma attack is enough for a lifetime.

If I end up losing my health coverage again, I now have a health plan option to check out through Your Green Club. Thank goodness there's an inexpensive alternative. As my income increases, it's inevitable that I'll lose my current coverage.

I apologize for the disjointed email: I wanted to make sure to write something before I bury my nose back into a job proposal again. Thanks for visiting!

Proud Sponsor

2008-03-15T07:27:00.004-04:00

Your Green Club is now Your Green Club, LLC and a proud sponsor of Music for Humanity.

Music for Humanity is a charitable organization that raises money to give scholarships to serious music students in need.

Music helps bring humanity together, it tells the tales of the human spirit, and generally speaking music is about peace and harmony, all concepts that Your Green Club, LLC strongly stands for. Music can help unite our planet, thank you Barry Adelman for founding Music for Humanity and working so hard towards such an honorable goal.

Your Green Club LLC

2008-03-03T06:49:00.003-05:00

I wanted to congratulate myself on forming an LLC for Your Green Club. It's a reminder of how much time and work it takes to form your own business (i.e. I didn't pay a service to form the business for me, I am filing all the NYS paperwork by myself -- it saves a little money). It's not an easy task.

What new green things did you do this week? I've started carpooling to some networking events. I put 20,000 miles on my car last year!! I've been trying to find a carpooling buddy, a couple people who go to the same events that I do live near me. Less than half my miles are business related: The real culprit is porting children for visitation.

Oh, in case you haven't heard: the FDA approved the sale of cloned meats to the public: the cloned meat does NOT need to be labeled explicitly, and probably won't be! Unless you're buying your meat direct from farmers you know and trust, you don't really know what you're getting. It's a good reminder to try to get meat out of your diet (eating lower on the food chain has a dramatic impact on your carbon footprint), or at least limit it to smaller farmers who probably wouldn't be able to have cloned animals. Does anyone have more information on which lines are carrying cloned meat products? :(

I've been working on tax preparation. Another update soon! I promise!

First month weigh-in

2008-02-22T10:01:00.002-05:00

It's 4 weeks, and I've lost 10 lbs. I'm pretty happy about that. I still need to find more time to squeeze in exercise, and I had a cold for part of those 4 weeks. We keep having ice and snow storms, making outdoor exercise hazardous to perform, and with a cold I didn't want to exercise in the basement last weekend.

I still feel great.

Oh, yeah: I've stopped taking my daily asthma medication! I know I might need it when pollen season comes around, but for now, I think that's terrific news. I haven't needed my emergency inhaler in months, and now I don't need my maintenance medication either.

People are starting to compliment my looks. It's no secret that I'm on a diet: I go to so many business networking events. When there are other established reps there, I just give a testimonial to them. When no one else is there, I represent my Your Green Club business (I have my web design business to promote at other times). Some of these people only see me monthly, so the changes will really show.

Off to exercise and take off my next 10 lbs! Yay me!

How's the shampoo?

2008-02-16T16:21:00.003-05:00

Mom said "If the hand wash is this good, I wonder how good their shampoo is!" or something to that effect, and I had tried samples of the shampoo. Now I own the shampoo, and used the first combo -- the smaller bottles are for occasional use to remove the residue of products from the hair and do a deep-conditioning.

My hair the next day feels great. Soft, healthy and clean. There's a scalp nutrient that comes separately. I didn't bother with the hairspray, I don't use hairspray often enough to warrant owning it.

My scalp had been itching, and I think I may have been developing an allergic reaction to the normal shampoo. Today, after 2 days of using the scalp nutrient, no itches, flaking, etc.

I'm trying out all types of products, having a lot of fun with it. I hope you're having fun too!

Another terrific product line...laundry care!

2008-02-11T10:31:00.000-05:00

Ok, a second load of dishes, with a bowl with oatmeal from the day before glued to it, nested in the middle of other bowls to make double sure the dishwasher detergent is making a difference proves to me that I wasn't dreaming about the tiny hands at work in my dishwasher.

So on to laundry. I can't believe how little it takes to wash the laundry. I'm going to have to try the brightener again, but the liquid HE compatible detergent uses very little to wash a whole lot. Everything comes out smelling fantastic -- not heavily perfumed, just lightly scented. The reason I'm going to have to try the brightener again is that I didn't follow the instructions. :( I tried putting it in with the detergent in the compartment and it just caked on the bottom of the compartment, hardly putting any into my load of whites at all. Next time I'll dissolve it in water like the instructions say to. They certainly know best and I shouldn't second-guess them. I'm hoping that they'll erase my son's bad habit of wiping his hands and face on his shirts.

I also used the dryer sheets which I like because when you're done you're left with recyclable paper rather than some nasty man-made material you're not sure if it belongs in the garbage or in the toxic waste facility.

Clean clothes that smell great -- at 1 ounce of liquid detergent per load. An environmentalist's dream.

On my way to size 16

2008-02-06T10:13:00.000-05:00

I haven't weighed in or measured this week -- my Week 2 weigh-in is tomorrow morning. BUT, I just had to say that I'm fitting into my size 18s better and better all the time. I'm not sure when I'll hit size 16, but it's not far off. My thighs were bursting the 18s, now they're comfortable. I bought 18 stretch because I NEEDED 18 stretch, now I don't need the stretch anymore.

I asked my partner if he'd still love me when there's less of me to love, and we had a good laugh. He's mimicing what I'm eating and taking a different brand of protein products -- he should be on an 1800 calorie diet, so his cheating here and there is probably OK -- and he said he lost a couple pounds too.

Here's a tip I wish I could follow: When you're bored -- exercise! :) Talk to you soon!

The youngest bag lady!

2008-02-02T14:26:00.000-05:00

I asked my partner to come to the grocery store with me, and he eventually gave in (muhahahah!), and on the way out the door he said we'd take his car because it was already clear of ice. Ok, no problem. Then I said "Oh, I have to get the bags out of my car!" He stops and looks at me funny. "Bags?" "Yeah, bags for the groceries."

At this point I'm a little puzzled by his reaction, he's looking a little incredulous, like he's indulging a weirdo at a funny farm. With a little shrug he's off to his car, and I fetch a bag -- full of bags -- and get into his car. I'm puzzling over what's so odd about bringing my own bags to the store.

Mind you I have one of the most eclectic collections of bags. I have many more bags, but here's a sample in a photo of the types of bags we're talking about -- the ones that were in my car on Saturday.

So we fill up a shopping cart with more things than we intended to buy, and at the register, I put 3 bags on the belt and start putting the groceries on the belt. The cashier nonchalantly takes the bags I offered and starts checking out groceries and filling the bags. It's a Redners, and they have a bag policy (2cents off for every bag you bring -- it's not much: it's the environment that matters). At this point, my partner is watching. When the guy is running out of bags, I hand him a few more. He uses one plastic bag for the yogurts (the ones with only a flimsy tin lid now that they've dropped the extra plastic one (yay!)) in case they leak. When he's done he tallies the bags in my cart, and refunds me. Never mind that the bags in my cart hold 2-3 times the number of groceries -- the point is still clear that we're saving something. Money, environment, whatever it takes to motivate people.

We leave with about 6 or 7 of MY bags full of groceries. We're putting them into the car, and finally it's all filtering in and digesting in my partner's brain. When we're unloading the car carrying 6 comfortable bags over our shoulders and in our hands, packed to the brim, instead of 15 flimsy plastic bags with tiny uncomfortable handles, half-filled because the stuff weighs too much for the bags to handle he finally gets it. By now he's muttering, "This is brilliant! I hate even touching the plastic bags. And they gave you a refund for them!" I'm not impressed about the $.12, but I chuckle knowingly.

I always loved to carry a backpack with me in the city. A notebook, a fiction book, pens, pencils, maybe a sweatshirt, and often an extra string bag. It always gave me a pleasurable feeling to tell merchants to skip the bag and toss something into the backpack. I've been doing it for years and years. That's how Europe works -- they don't do the whole massive plastic bag thing like the US. We think it's a major hassle to carry a bag around, but they fold up really small or the string bags easily stuff into a spare compartment of another bag. My bag-of-bags fits easily in my trunk, and is easy to grab the big bag's handle and run into the store.

I have string bags from food coops, a couple paper bags just because they're large and it's a shame to not reuse them a few times -- they also hold their shape really well for bread and other soft foods. I have a huge(!) shopping bag -- certainly a 3-4 bag capacity -- from Prisms Promotions, a local promotional products consultant. I have another smaller bag from the Sullivan (NY) County Chamber of Commerce that specifically talks about going green. A very large plastic bag (in case I purchase pillows or blankets -- craft store purchases, etc. fluffy light huge things or big boxes) from a wholesale liquidation outlet. I don't always remember to take my bags into stores, I'm trying to get better at it. If you add my collection of "gadgety bags" like messenger bags, waist pouches, briefcases, computer bags, etc. I really start to look like a bag lady. I even crocheted my own string bag, and create bags when I do craft projects. Just call me a bag lady!

Dishwasher concentrate powder is like a hundred tiny hands in the machine!

2008-02-01T09:12:00.001-05:00

I'm not a big fan of electric dishwashers. Energy-star-water-conserving or not, if they don't clean the dishes, you have to hand-wash the dishes yourself.

We got a dishwasher when we moved in. My partner hates hand-washing the dishes. I don't like hand-washing dishes, but I like hand-washing them after wasting water and electricity in the dishwasher even more. So after 1-2 years of using the dishwasher it started to leave a film of icky white stuff on the dishes, especially the top of cups, and hardly cleaning the silverware. Nothing I wanted touching my or my children's food. So I end up hand-washing the dishes. Bummer.

My roommate, the anal one who does most of the cleaning and hand dish-washing, is of basically the same opinion I am. If you have to re-wash, pre-wash, soak, spit, rinse and shine by hand, why the heck are you using the electronic dishwasher in the first place?

My partner doggedly insists on using the dishwasher. Me and my roommate wash by hand. It's a neverending battle. He's probably right that the residue and water sitting in the machine does it no good, but running it just for the sake of running it isn't good either.

That experience was with typical bulk-store-bought Members' Mark (Sam's Club) detergent -- your results may vary, mine stank. I bought it figuring that at least if I had to buy evil chemical waste producing dishwashing detergent, I would buy it in bulk and save waste on the garbage end of the cycle. Does anyone want a nearly-full container of conventional powdered dishwashing detergent? I didn't think so.

I may have a complete change of heart about the electronic dish washer. You see, I got the terrific starter kit for the green household cleaning products (and blogged about said green cleaning kit), and it came with automatic dishwasher concentrate powder. My partner had the conventional stuff out ready to use it, but he didn't run the dishwasher last night. I thought to run it this morning, and looked at the detergent sitting on top of the dishwasher. No Way, I thought. I put that box of detergent away, and I ran the load of dishes with the new eco-friendly dishwasher powder. One scoop in each cup -- it's a small scoop -- 2 teaspoon scoop. So 4 teaspoons of concentrate went into the machine.

And nothing's wrong with the dishes. They're mostly dry, we air dry the dishes -- there's a couple drops of CLEAR water on the rim of the bowl.

They don't smell like a dirty swimming pool.

They shine.

There are no spots -- I'm not a spot hawk, so don't quote me on this one, but I don't see the streaks and spots I've been seeing from the conventional detergent.

Everything is clean.

Everything smells safe.

I'm amazed. It's like a hundred tiny fairies were at work in my dishwasher making everything perfect. I had to blog about it immediately and let you know. I'm tempted to wake said partner and roommate and rush them into the kitchen to show them. That's why I have to blog. :) They'd kill me.

I hate having to say it, but your results may vary. Maybe we didn't have oatmeal this week. I don't know, but I know this load of dishes came out exactly the way I want them to!

Delicious Choices

2008-02-01T07:10:00.000-05:00

I received more products, and that means I now have chocolate shake mix and peanut-butter chocolate chunk meal bars to add to the plan. Yay. I brought home a sizable chunk of last night's dinner, so lunch is ready for me when it's time to have it, and I'll probably do the diet products for dinner, since Fridays are "Kid exchange nights" where I'm always dashing out of the house to drive kids back and forth for visitation.

I had the chocolate shake for lunch yesterday. At dinner, one of my clients, who sells exquisite therapeutic magnetic jewelry, was remarking on how great these products taste (She has a photo at her website -- I hope she doesn't mind me giving her a little plug!). :) She doesn't LOOK like she needs a weight loss plan! Maybe I'll look that terrific someday. :)

I really have to say something about the peanut-butter chocolate chunk meal bars now that I'm having one as a meal. WOW! These things are fabulous! I've had a taste-test, but nothing, and I mean nothing, compares to actually sitting down and eating them as a meal in itself. It's great! It was on back-order for a week, arrived yesterday, and finally I'm eating it right now. [I had eaten over half the bar before realizing you might like to actually SEE it. Oops! :) What can I say, I was hungry! :) ]

I'm thinking of calling this "waist watchers" as in watch your waist disappear :)

Have a great weekend! I'll probably be blogging, but I thought I should say that.

Question from mom on my Week 1 Weigh-In post

2008-01-31T07:02:00.000-05:00

My mom wrote me: "You didn't mention how you felt... do you have more energy? are you sleeping OK... I did notice that you wrote your Blog at 3am..."

No, I was sleeping at 3am EST. The silly blog software clock is set wrong -- I fixed it so now the times are correct. I'm sleeping the same as I was before.... no noticeable difference. I get up at about 6am, which is hard right now because the sun isn't really up yet, and I'm more biologically in-tune with the sun's schedule. Sunrise was 7am in the dead of winter where I am, now it's creeping earlier. I'm not getting up with trouble either, I'm just a little slow to wake up in the dark.

Energy level: I'm fine. I don't need the energy tea. I don't "slump" in the afternoons. Note that I'm not a caffeinated person in the first place. If I do notice a slump some days, it would be normal for me, and I'd consider using half the tea powder for a little pick-me-up but I don't want to do it daily or full-dose and become caffeine dependent. The tea is good, though, don't get me wrong -- it's yummy and brings me back to my tea drinking days. I'm just overly cautious about caffeine intake.

Hunger level: I'm still a little hungry if I have only a shake and nothing else for breakfast or lunch. Mixing in a serving or half-serving of fruit (eaten whole, or a smoothie) really makes a difference there. Maybe because it takes longer to drink the shake :) or because my stomach hasn't shrunk yet. I usually have only the snack bar in the afternoons, but the software recommends a heavier snack in the afternoon (like a fruit and spoon of peanut butter with the bar) and a lighter dinner. Since I know there will be days that I eat at restaurants for dinner up to 4+ times in one week, I'm generally "saving" those extra foods for one meal a day. Today is one of those days, I will be at a restaurant for dinner.

Weigh-in - Week 1

2008-01-31T06:25:00.000-05:00

Here are the results of Week 1 of my Waist-loss plan :)

I weighed in this morning: from 197 I went down to 193lbs, My waist went from 40 inches to 38 inches, my hips went from 38 inches to 37. My size, instead of bursting the seams of a size 18, is much more comfortable. My winter coat, while not loose, is no longer bursting.

I'm very happy with the results of Week 1 on the diet! 4lbs and an overall 3" waist-N-hip loss, and I fit in my size 18 which is my first goal/milestone.

I'm required (legally) to say my results are not typical. My results may not be typical. But then there's many people out there with good results. For other disclaimed "results not typical" success stories, visit the waist-loss plan website's success story page.

I'm glad everything is working out OK, now if only I could work out more! I have 3 appointments in my calendar today for work. :/

Shake Styles

2008-01-30T09:06:00.000-05:00

I'll probably have more to say on this as time goes on -- I've been using the vanilla waist-loss protein shake powder as directed and mixing in fruits and having mixed results. Banana -- stellar combo. Blueberries are OK. Raspberries from my garden -- well, if you like a LOT of seeds, try it, but this was positively chewy at the bottom -- I can't blame anyone but me, though, it was all my idea. Another chewy combo: this morning I did 1/2 cup blueberries and about 1/8 cup of oat bran. I feel like a horse chewing on mash. However, 1 frozen banana + 1/2 cup frozen mango -- that was delightful, if very hard to shake, it was too thick.

The program suggested 1/2 apple, but it never specifies whether to put that IN the shake or just eat the apple, so I just ate the apple with the shake. That was a very good combination.

Variety is the spice of life, right? At least I'm not bored of the shakes :) I have more on the way of the vanilla, and my first try of the chocolate shakes are on the way. I'm also expecting a delivery of the meal replacement bars. I am not used to drinking 2/3 meals a day.

I'm not exercising enough, and I'm not drinking enough water :/

Oooh -- I get to weigh in and measure myself tomorrow. Stay tuned!!!

Getting Greener & Cleaner

2008-01-28T19:40:00.000-05:00

My big green cleaning kit finally arrived. I've been waiting on the edge of my seat. I now have a 2nd bottle of the all-purpose concentrated cleaning solution -- and the hand "soap" is on back-order, but I already bought a bottle several months ago. Since these products last for quite some time, I better batten the hatches and go all out for spring cleaning.

Now my cleaning contingent is complete (see photo) with laundry products on the far left, general cleaning product wipes, then dish products in the center and the general cleaning solution, with all the bottles to fill on the right. In the forefront on the right is the heaviest duty oven cleaning non-toxic stuff, and microfiber towels with measuring instruments in the forefront.

I'm eager to run around my house, do laundry, a load of dishes, fill all the bottles, and generally make a menace of myself cleaning stuff. I spot-cleaned only a part of the oven so I could go "See, it works!" when my partner gets home. I have to do my car windows with the window-strength (2 drops in 16oz water) of the general cleaner. Oh, yeah, the degreaser.... on (part of) the range hood. Yep, that works. One pane of the 2-pane bathroom mirror.... oh yeah, I didn't really want to see myself that clearly yet. Shoot.

I better stop cleaning and go back to work. This way my partner and roommate will get tired of all the half-clean stuff and maybe they'll finish it off -- mu-ha-ha-ha!

Infernal TortureTrack

2008-01-27T11:48:00.001-05:00

[forgive my basement!]

Ok, who invented this device? It looks like something out of an inquisition's nether chambers. But it's a NordicTrack, skithing. I'm not a skier, much less cross-country (or is that cross-county?) skier. I have this thing thanks to Freecycle. I got on it for 20 minutes yesterday. I attribute my lack of tremendous backaches to the leucine. I have a minor ache reminding me to warm up before exercising.

I like that the machine is very very low-tech. I don't have to turn on the heart monitor, which runs on 2 AAs (and I have rechargables anyway). I know I'm a computer geek -- see all the computers in the basement? -- but it's nice to know that I don't have to use any electricity to get my workout.

My iPod will be my sanity savior. I did 20 minutes without my iPod yesterday. Dumb. But at least I got some time in getting used to the motions to make on this thing, and I'm not sure if I was more sweaty and tired when I was "done" or just plain bored. To ease the boredom, I became a member of the Manager Tools website which is terrific for entrepreneurs, business people, and geeks who are wannabe managers to learn business etiquette and good practices. I usually listen to them while driving. Episodes are a 1/2 hr long or longer, which is perfect as a distraction from the fact that time is passing that I could be doing something else for my business while I exercise. I'll be actually doing something for my own professional development while exercising. Guilt-free exercise. Yay.

If you're not a business person, check out the choices of podcasts out there, whether through iTunes or other podcast directories (podcast alley, etc.) because there is tons of interesting programming out there -- probably even podcasting about weight loss -- that you can listen to while exercising (or driving, but I'm not sanctioning any activity that causes anyone to sit on their rump one minute more than necessary! If I spend a few extra minutes exercising for a show that goes overtime, it's ok....). If you don't have an iPod or other "Mp3 player" you can still make audio CDs from them, or maybe you exercise near your computer, then you can just play them over the computer speakers. I like an in-my-ear experience, so my iPod is great.

My other exercise-of-choice (and this one DOES use electricity) for the winter is DDR (Dance-Dance-Revolution, on the Playstation 2) which is fun, but I can't really listen to podcasts while doing DDR, I'm too busy listening for music queues for dance steps. However, that has it's own advantages, so I'll blog about that once I'm back on the dance mat....

Say cheese!

2008-01-27T11:33:00.000-05:00

It's almost a struggle to figure out what I can have for my "real meal" that fits my suggested protein/carb/fat ratios. Thank goodness for cheese. When I'm stuck needing some extra protein and fat, cheese to the rescue!

I calculated my entire intake using the application that comes with my diet program. I had 8 lean chicken meatballs with mozzarella (2 servings), green beans, brown rice -- and even had butter on the beans & rice! But I darned well needed more fat and protein, so I was able to have 4 1" cubes of cheese last night. That's a lot of cheese. This is a mixture of local farmer's cheddar and horseradish cheddar. Mmmm.

If I'm struggling to lose weight, I'll adjust my carb intake down, but I'm trying out about 1500 carbs a day.

Do I weigh too much? The camera lies....

2008-01-25T17:07:00.000-05:00

Just kidding about the lying. It's true. I weigh too much. Egads. Hard to look at. I hope I look fatter on camera than I do in real life -- eternal optimist, I guess. I'm glad I'm on a diet. I have to keep this blog around as a reminder. Whew.

I hate taking photos, but at least my partner and I can laugh together. That makes it far more tolerable. I stood in front of his pies, laughing about playing Vanna to them, then I did it....here I am showing off the pies. They're the Pièce de résistance! I'm going to resist. Nya.

So I weighed-in at 197lbs at 5'3" -- and I'm on a diet. I told you about the pies, and took a photo yesterday evening -- well, now there's about 1.125 pies left -- that's to say about 1 pie and one whopping slice or two petite slices. And it really wasn't me. I had a shake this afternoon with a frozen banana blended in. It was awesome. I got to choose a free item from the unmentionable company today, and I chose the 28 day supply of the supplements (metabolism regulation) you're supposed to take on this plan, because they're one of the more expensive single items, and I want to make sure I stay on the plan.

Anyway, time to run to see a potential client. I hope Ecto is working to post on my blog.

Am I in denial?

2008-01-25T07:56:00.000-05:00

Is this denial of pleasure?

I have Ghirardelli chocolate chips in the cabinet. Pita chips. Sun chips. Blue corn chips. Surrounded by what might be temptation.

My partner, who purchased a different brand of fake-sugar protein products to help control his own weight also just baked 2 apple pies.

Me, I bought a food scale.

I don't think of this as "denial" -- I think of this as discipline. I'm drinking the 3rd shake, having gotten through yesterday A-OK. This thing is really good. No "getting used to" needed. Ok, maybe I have to get used to drinking my breakfast until my meal replacement bars come (they're backordered). But I don't feel like I'm missing out on something sweet, because this shake really is sweet. Maybe too sweet, because I don't usually run around having very sweet things.

Still, I'm glad he baked apple pies and didn't make another cheesecake. Once the inches start coming off and I'm seeing real results, I can probably resist cheesecake. That's a tough one.

I'm actually an all-around cheese freak, so I'll have to make sure I can get in doses of cheese, too. I'll check the meal tracker to make sure they're allowable, and figure out how to add cheese to this diet plan -- even if it's lowfat, I'm just cheese-dependent :)

[By the way, said pie was baked the night before, and wasn't touched until the morning. Half a pie was eaten by my roommate and my partner. This photo is before my son tried a small slice in the evening. I can resist apple pie, it's not my favorite. I'm glad my pie-website client didn't offer barter as a form of compensation, though. :) ]

My first (real) diet plan

2008-01-24T13:06:00.000-05:00

Ok, today my weight loss plan starter kit arrived and I'm ready to take a plunge. [Product name and company logo smudged out on purpose.]

It was like opening a box for an Apple laptop -- an experience in design. I dutifully put the battery into the pedometer, used the enclosed measuring tape to measure my waist & hip size -- wonder if I should measure bust, thighs, or arms, too....I can't enter my weight in the charts or the software because I don't have a scale, so I guess I should give in and buy one, just for curiosity's sake.

Then it was time to have a shake. I washed the shake cup. I measured a cup of (organic) milk (I have only 1% -- need to get skim!) into the cup ("Is that ALL?") and went to add some protein shake powder into the cup. Opening the canister could have been easier, but I managed that.

Then it was time for the scoop. Scoop? "2 scoops of powder." Yeah, that implies a scoop. So I tapped the powder around, with inevitable small dust clouds and breath-holding (I'm not supposed to BREATHE the protein powder!) and then I had to make the plunge. I stuck a finger in and pushed around, located the scoop, and managed to dig it out with minimal mess and a powdery finger.

2 scoops of powder into the cup, screwed on the cap, put on the two safety belts (there are closures for the drinking hole and the airhole), and shake shake shake.....hrm, a little powder on the sides, shake shake shake....hrm, it's a tiny bit but I can't get it into the liquid ....shake shake shake aw fergettit. Must have gotten powder on the freshly washed side of the cup.

Well, here I am about to take a sip.... I better gulp to get it over with faster. Oh -- that's pretty good. It's heavy (probably should be), and a little powdery but what do you want from something so full of protein? (16g) But it actually tastes good. Like real vanilla. Almost -- dare I say it -- like the flavor (not the temperature) of ice cream. I'll enjoy blending it with frozen mango or banana in the summer. Mmmm. Ok, that was good. I was really hungry. I still feel a tiny bit empty but since there's actually some protein powder and drink stuck to the container, I'm going to wash the pill I'm supposed to have with it down with a water rinse of the container.

...addendum: This was about 1pm. About 5-10 minutes later, I felt full. At about 3:30 I was hungry again, and I had the chocolate snack bar because lately I've been grazing on chocolate chips. So I figured this early in the plan, I better make sure I get a chocolate fix. The chocolate bar is sufficiently large -- not large, just sufficiently large :) and the taste is fine. It's not like a terrific brownie, but it is much better than a brownie (a la mode) I had at an ice cream parlor at one point. That brownie was not worthy of the name. So I can certainly live with this chocolate snack bar in place of that brownie.

Now off to see about a scale. More later...

40-inch-waist, 48-inch-hips -- and counting. [ed - got the scale: 197lbs, size 18 (almost 20). Goals: size 12 or 135lbs. Whatever looks and feels the best.]

It's not REALLY clean if it makes your family sick

2008-01-23T22:09:00.000-05:00

I guess I can say it until I'm blue in the face, but I'll say it again. We're intimately connected to our environment. Everything we put into our body, we are putting into our environment. Everything we put into our environment, we're putting into our body.

There's no way to escape this basic fact of nature.

It's true of toxic chemicals, from chemotherapy and household cleaning products (link to Household Products Database by the US National Institutes of Health) to the jet fuel used to get an airplane from one place to another. No matter how far away something is, it's in your environment -- indoor or outdoor -- and it will find you.

The flip side of this is that it doesn't matter who puts it into the environment. If industry does it, it still ends up in our bodies and homes. Neighbors. Friends, parents, children, government, someone on the other side of the planet. We are directly and indirectly responsible for each other's health and well-being.

So, let's start with an easy example. You use toxic household cleaners, and you clean your house. You wash some tile and bathroom cleaner down the sink, toilet, tub drain. It ends up in your cesspool, septic tank, etc. It leaches into the ground, even though it goes through a filtration process and could theoretically biodegrade. These toxic cleansers are not biodegradable, so they leech into the ground, and into the groundwater.

Many of us drink from this groundwater. Or at the very least, we wash our bodies with it. Our skin is our largest organ, and it DOES absorb chemicals. We think of it as a barrier, but it's a barrier that will allow things in. The same chemicals from cleaners with huge warnings on their labels are now in our bathwater. Maybe we drink that water. Maybe we cook with it. It probably isn't the chemicals I put into the water that I wash with. It's probably the neighbor's chemicals. Or someone across town. Or someone in the mountains. The basic point is that it's now in my water supply.

If we can convince our neighbors to change to natural biodegradable cleaning fluids, this wouldn't happen, or, assuming we can't convert everyone, at the very least it would be possible to lessen the impact of these chemicals on our bodies.

But what if we're cleaning with those chemicals. We may be poisoning our neighbors' groundwater, and we're certainly poisoning ourselves (link to a page by the National Organization for Women Foundation - stay at home moms & dads, and babies, beware!). Every spray, sprits, stream or the use of any product with fumes adds to the air pollutants in our homes. We breathe that air. Opening windows only helps a little, the fumes are there, we breathe them in, and it causes us to become sick -- either quickly, or a little at a time over a span of years.

What if we could change it? And still be clean and sanitary? Please join me in changing this. Once you've made the switch, tell your neighbors -- the life you may be saving could be your own. By purchasing environmentally-friendly, biodegradable, so safe you can let your baby and pets crawl on the floor, cleaning products you'll be making a change that makes sense (and cents, but I'll talk about packaging another time).

Does one light bulb really make a difference?

2008-01-23T09:45:00.000-05:00

I've already swapped out nearly every light bulb in my house for a compact florescent, but of course there's that "nearly". I figured I could go on a miniscule crusade to find just ONE MORE BULB to swap out. I found one.

This crucial little beauty is tucked behind a glass shield by the bathroom mirror. My roommate spends the most time in front of that bulb, and has a tendency to wander in and out of the bathroom in a ice-coffee-induced trance back to her computer for Just One More IM before she finishes her hair or brushing her teeth (or whatever other mystifying act she's performing). Of course, wandering in and out of the room does not require turning off said light. Even if aforementioned IM conversation becomes engrossing and takes up a half hour.

I swapped in a 26w in the place of a 60w bulb. If it's too bright, I can change it to a lower wattage bulb. That's a savings so far of 34w. If she uses the light for 2 hours a day (1 hour in the morning, 1 hour at night) for a whopping total of 72watt-hours a day that becomes 25KWH per year of savings. That's just savings from my roommate hogging the bathroom for 2 hours a day, not the entire family's use of that light.

On that savings alone, at the prices on my last (Orange & Rockland -- Orange county New York) bill: In a year I will save $1.39/year on the cost of the electricity and $2.01/year on the delivery of said electricity. A whopping $3.40/year savings on that one bulb, without counting any government surcharges. It doesn't seem like a lot, but since I've changed out about 18 bulbs in the house, if they're all only used 2 hours a day (most are used more, and some are lower wattage bulbs or were 100w bulbs swapped out to 26w bulbs - which saves 73w per bulb!) then I'm saving well over $61.20/year. That's definitely worth the cost of replacement, because some of those lights are on much more than 2 hours a day especially in the winter when the house is dark longer.

So, I can say for certain that YES, one light bulb does really make a difference. Please swap out your light bulbs today.

What's all the fuss about?

2008-01-22T10:30:00.000-05:00

Our planet is in trouble. I'm trying desperately to get this point across, without sounding like someone shouting about doomsday on a soapbox. I'll be heading out to Abundant Life Farm later in the month for the 2% Solution, but this is not the type of thing I wait to do. I just get up (or in my case, sit on my fat duff) and do something about it. Whether it's something to help the planet, or something to change my own life.

Picture this: Lex Luthor (symbolic of all the multinational conglomerates and large industry -- and nations -- run by greedy barbarians disguised as men-about-town in their 3-piece suits) has our planet by the horns, and is driving humanity into extinction. But what if there's no Superman to fly backwards and reverse time for us? Oh, yeah, there isn't! So what do we do? Like proverbial lemmings we increase the rat race, head straight for a cliff and into our doom? Well, yeah, as a species that's exactly what we do. Am I the only person who finds that frustrating?

But as individuals we can each make a difference. Change your shampoo. Change your deodorant. Bring shopping bags when you buy groceries. Change a lightbulb. That's all a good start. Keep it up. It's not just doing one thing each, try one thing a month -- then one thing a week. Before you know it, you'll be doing one new GREEN thing a day. Blog about it. Shout about it. Call your mom and have her join you on your mini crusade. Feel good about it. Celebrate it. Wear it on your sleeve. Brag about it. Make being GREEN the next big IN thing (it is anyway, so get a head start before the runway models and supermarket rags realize it!).

Let's make being green a no-brainer. Make it so easy to be green, it gets to be CHEAP to be green. Yeah, it would take a few months, maybe a year, but take it to the point where NOT being green is like smoking in New York State. People look at you like you've got 3 heads. Where you used to stand outside puffing with the "In" crowd, now you're outside in the cold alone with your stained fingers and bad breath wondering when you missed the new health wave.

I want you to join me in Your Green Club. It's about all of us.

So, I want to be a guinea pig for a bit. I've been doing things different for a while, now I'm going to do thing differently and loudly. I have the right lightbulbs, but maybe they're not in every socket in the house. I have a box of ecologically friendly cleaning products on their way -- maybe I'll clean and blog and clean and blog and videotape and blog and you can see what I'm up to. I'm going on an eco-friendly weight loss program. I'll blog about it to you. I'll let you know how it feels. My next post will be a benchmark for my house. Later, I'll benchmark about my weight. Right now, I want to benchmark my state of mind. More later. Ciao, bella!