An "On The Shrink" Original Recipe: Delicious NO SUGAR Dessert

 A great stand alone breakfast or NO SUGAR dessert  (unless you add ice cream of course--which I usually do for dessert!)

Dump Cook Recipe for healthy NO SUGAR Banana nut muffins

First Mix the wet ingredients:
Whisk 2 eggs
Add 1 over-ripe large Banana (two of the tiny variety) use potato masher to blend  banana with eggs
Add to taste: Agave  or Honey

Then add dry ingredients:
Add Raisins/Dates/Nuts/ (don't over-do)
Sprinkle to taste: Cinnamon and All-Spice 
For moist muffin: Add 1/4 cup whole wheat or nut flour (use baking soda and pinch of salt if not self-rising)

For fluffier muffin (more cake consistency) Add 1/2 cup flour

That's it! No added liguid needed

A Mobile App that Helps control Overeating

Do you eat healthy but still have trouble controlling your weight? The Fooducate mobile app just might change your life...and your weight. I give it two thumbs up. It's a food diary on your phone that does all the math for you. When I first began using Fooducate, I was flabbergasted at how much I was eating.

Yikes! It didn't seem like that much!

Yes, calories do count, and Fooducate is simple to use. Any 10 year-old can show you how.

You simply enter your age, weight, activity level, and weight goal (maintenance or weight loss) and the app tells you how many calories you can eat a day. It will even tell you how long it will take you to reach your goal if you are trying to lose weight...and adding your food in is easy, easy, easy.

I recommend giving it a try. I love it.

4 Tips for Vacation Weight Control

  

A vacation does not need to sabotage your weight control goals. You can successfully stay on the shrink (or maintain) if you do the following four things:

1. Don't let yourself get too hungry. To prevent that, keep a few  protein bars in your purse or beach bag--at ALL times. Don't forget to replenish when you eat them.
2. Watch your portions! If you eat at least five times a day (maybe six), smaller portions will leave you satisfied.
3. If possible, save the cake and ice cream (or whatever your favorite sweet is) for after supper. The sugar spike causes hunger, which can be a problem unless desert follows a satisfying meal.
4. If you are taking a beach vacation, do take advantage of walking in the sand and swimming. The extra activity should cover a few vacation goodies if you don't over-indulge.

Happy summer!

4 foods you should never NEVER eat again

High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)

In addition to the myriads of other health risks, it is found to be associated with obesity

 Hydrogenated Oils

Bad, bad, BAD! Not generally recognized as safe. Bad for cholesterol and increases risk of diabetes--which puts at risk for all sorts of complications and other health problems--some terminal. Diabetes also slows metabolism and contributes to obesity.

Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)

In general, MSG is not all that great for anyone. Also, those who eat more MSG are at risk to be overweight.

Aspartame

Aspartame is associated with health risks and is a staple in diet drinks. Zero calories. So how did it happen, that in a 26-year long study, researchers found that those who drink diet sodas gained more weight over the period than those who drank regular soda?

Myth-conceptions about exercise and weight loss

   A 2018 report sent dieters and exercisers into tailspins of disillusionment with the announcement that exercise was less helpful in weight-loss than previously thought.

   What?! All that exercise for nothing?

   Not! 

   Don't give up that daily walk or gym membership yet.

  The article had a narrow focus on calories consumed -vs- calories burned during exercise. They should have saved their time and effort on publishing that article. For two reasons, we were not impressed. 

1. Yes, exercise does burn calories. And the number of calories burned during each walk or exercise session, multiplied by the number of weekly walks or workouts, will make a difference in over-all health and weight. 
2. Exercising, even with light weights or light settings on machines, increases muscle and bone density, along with endurance. We need strong bones and without muscle our metabolisms grind to a near halt. 

   Muscle burns fat. The more muscle density we have, the more calories we burn, even when we are not moving. 

   So, take heart. Get moving!

The Over 60 fat-fighter plan

Did you expect the full impact of the challenge to control your weight as you entered the sixth decade of life? I didn't. And I was fitness instructor and weight control expert! 

But we must rise to the challenge if we expect to live life to the fullest throughout our golden years. 

So, read on for a few suggestions that have worked for many 

 Move, and limit those yummy sweet/starchy goodies!

Exercise as often as possible (minimum of 3 to 4 times weekly). Any exercise is better than no exercise. A few suggestions for beginners are: walking, running (for the physically fit), bicycling, join a gym, join an aerobics class, etc..

Food

• Limit bread/potato/sweet snacks (at least try not to eat all three on the same day)
• Treat the high calorie snack you just splurged on as a meal (not conventional advice but occasional use is effective in weight control  
• Drink more water (you almost can't get too much), and add a ½ tsp apple cider vinegar to at least one glass or bottle daily (the physician who wrote Vermont Folk Medicine swears the apple cider vinegar regulates metabolism)

Plan the eating and snacking

•  Plan menu’s for at least a week in advance
• Cook ahead when possible and refrigerate or freeze meal sized portions
• Buy snack-size storage containers & fill them with healthy snacks and snack combos

 There you go, a simple plan to stay (or get) in shape, and control weight for life!

Light-Fat-Snack for Hunger Control

Whenever I eliminate all fat from my diet--even if I increase my protein intake to off-set the reduction in fat, I find that I stay hungry too much. So I have come to the conclusion that my body needs fat. I don't believe it is necessarily a bad thing, but fat can be deadly to weight control.

So what do I do?

I figured it out. But before I share one of my solutions, let me share the good news that all fat is not bad for us. Yes, there is such a thing as good fat. For example, avocados are very good for us, yet they contain  fat. Olives are very good for us, yet they contain fat. But they also contain heart healthy anti-oxidant vitamin E, among other things.

The solution to my fat problem? I have created a light-fat-snack that is also high in protein for fat burning by mixing about 1/3 of a cup of Greek yogurt (which has zero fat but is high in protein) with 1/2 avocado (which has some fat and is loaded with vitamin E).

That's it. The snack should come to approximately 90-100 calories. And it curbs hunger!

The avocado and Greek yogurt mixes to a delicious super smooth consistency which I like to eat with a spoon--or use as a spread on whole wheat crackers. This holds me over quite nicely till the next meal or scheduled snack time .

Tip: Avocados are also great in smoothies. When using them in smoothies, include the pit, which is loaded with nutrients.