Dear Unwanted Pounds

An Open Letter to My Unwanted Pounds ... 

Dear Unwanted Pounds: 

I have a bone to pick with you. You are my dark clouds that, en masse, have been growing inside of me, haunting me. Terrorizing me, really. 

The fat cells that encompass you are like pigeons who hang around garbage dumpsters, waiting for half-eaten burritos. You are scavengers who lie in wait scooping up pancake molecules that swish past you in the current, feeding on them like starving savages. You are evil and you are not wanted here. I’m in the process of having you 'exorcised'. Let's consider my gym a priest, a personal exorcist, if you will. 

First he will come a calling and clean out all signs of the gastronomic devil: crackers, diet coke, bacon, oh I could go on. And that’s the problem. 

This lean-muscled priest will 'exorcise' you, making me scream in pain as I repeatedly and incessantly flap about, without much grace. He'll yell at me. Or you. It’s hard to tell, frankly. 

“Get out!” he will yell. “Get out of this body!” Oh, he’ll be talking to you, then. 

“If it hurts, that means it’s working.” The personal exorcist’s lips will curl with a simplistic smile. I imagine he will not like you. 

When the exorcism is done, he will mutter something about what a fine job I have done. 

“This body needs work, but now there is less poison.” 

He'll say the only reason you hang around, the reason you “possess” me is because I keep feeding you, enabling you. If I quit throwing fried chicken and cheese nips into my dumpster, you will leave me and look for sustenance elsewhere. 

But I don’t know if I can. You tempt me so. I fear I’ve already sold my soul to you and it may be too late for redemption. 

The priest will strongly suggest that the only path to salvation is to attend his church regularly, like three to four times a week! 

“A pound for a pound.” 

But I know this church and it’s full of devoted folks. Far more diligent than me. These people hit it religiously. I want such passion and determination. 

Those dedicated souls, well they do have fewer fat cells. And they do look happy. 

So, it's farewell to you - my unwanted pounds. Prepare yourselves to be EXERCISED ! :) 

Sincerely, Your Master 

We're Expecting!

Hey everybody, I have some AMAZING news, We are EXPECTING! 12 weeks!! I know I'm in denial too! I can't believe it. I wasn't going to put it on online, but wanted to go ahead and make everyone aware. I mean who would have guessed that we're expecting!? 

Yes, we are expecting Santa in just 12 weeks!

Now go make champion choices, 
Debra

Any Little Step!

Do you know that sometimes the only thing that it takes to make a change is desire. Once you desire change you open yourself to the possibility of change. Some call this "thought, word, and deed". 

This is my take on that phrase. For change to happen first it has to be thought of, you have to realize you want to change. Then you start talking about it in your head, to your friends, out loud to whomever will listen. Finally, you take action. It may be a small action, but the very act of doing something different creates change. 

You want 'more and better'? Well, then start making more and better constructive use of what you already have - rather than waiting on what you think you still need. Your only path to having a better environment is by making 'more and better' constructive use of your current environment. Start there. Your answers are almost always, right beneath your own feet - not out there somewhere in the cosmos waiting to land on you.

So, if you know you need to make a change, stop feeling so overwhelmed. Stop and allow yourself to not look at the big picture, but at the little steps you can take today. What little step are you going to take today?

As always, make champion choices,
Debra

A Dog's Life

As most of you know, I have a teenage daughter who is 15 years old ... but we also are hosting a foreign exchange student from Taiwan.  Her name is Celine and she is 16.   The girls are getting along really well - and my 3 boys just love her ... so she is fitting into our family quite well.  What is really cool, is that she also loves our dogs.   We always enjoy hosting foreign exchange students; as we have done it many times, but we especially love it when the slide into our hectic family as if they've been here forever :)

So today Celine and my daughter, Victoria, washed the dogs.  It was kind of endearing to see.  It also made me a little jealous - man I wish somebody would pamper ME like that! :)   As a matter of fact, a dog doesn't really have to think about choices or habits at all ... we humans decide their food, when we walk them, where they can sleep, when they can bathe, etc.  These dogs, are indeed, at our mercy, but all they do is offer us unconditional love.  Wouldn't it be great if someone else made all of our choices for us and all we had to do was follow along, wag our tail, lick some faces and sleep a lot! Heck, somebody else even cleans up their poop! :)

Okay - maybe I'm being silly ... but since I suspect that anyone reading this is, in fact, a human - - and not a dog - - you do actually have to take responsibility for your choices and habits.   It's not a dog's life, after all ... but it sure is fun to have their world collide with ours, isn't it?

 

As always, make champion choices,

Debra

October Unprocessed

So tell me - honestly - DO you think you are able to go an entire month without eating anything (any food) that is processed.  Basically, does it come in a box, can or package?   Eat only foods that would pass the 'kitchen test' - - meaning that a normal person with average skills and typical resources could re-create the food in their kitchen.  

I still have things in my diet that I know I should eliminate.  I also have a bit of a problem with the fast food drive-thru scene.   I'm working on it.  Wondering, though - - if I should try a whole month cold turkey - - go completely UNPROCESSED.

If you want to do this with me - sign up at the website above.  I am not sponsoring this in any way shape or form, and it does not benefit me at all if you sign up ... just passing along the information because I found it very interesting, and I definitely plan to participate myself.  I would love to have some cheerleaders along the way.

So now people - go check out this link: http://www.eatingrules.com/october-unprocessed-2012/ - and after you look at it and/or sign up - come back here!

As always, make champion choices,
Debra

A SAD Diet

"I know people who have lost weight and reversed disease on raw, vegan, paleo, primal, low carb, low fat, DASH, 80/10/10, Mediterranean, etc, ad nauseum. The common denominator in ALL the diets I've seen people have success with: switching from SAD* to whole foods." 

*SAD = Standard American Diet 

That's why we don't advocate a specific diet, and why many of us poke at any dogmatic philosophy that claims it is the ONE True Ideal Human Diet. On the other hand, any diet that emphasizes real whole foods gets MY stamp of approval! Now if someone wants to follow said particular diets above, including all of the ones I listed there, I'm okay with it... especially if it works for you and you're successful. I'm not ANTI-anything, other than dogma of course. 

Rule of thumb: "If it comes from a plant, it's good for you. If it's made 'in' a plant, it's not." 

 

As always, make champion choices,

Debra

Daughter Dear

You know what I love about my daughter dear?  Well, there are lots of things, but one thing in particular is that she is a fabulous cook.  I hate cooking.  Truly, I do.  I keep having this idea that I am going to magically turn into some amazing chef and prepare mouth watering meals for my family that makes others swoon.  Yeah, that's not happening.  I can follow a recipe, I can follow instructions, but I do not invent or create any kind of masterpiece in the kitchen.   Daughter dear, however, is excellent at this - and I love that about her.  She is a healthy minded teenager and enjoys cooking.  I really love it when she grills salmon for me, or simple things like scrambling eggs.

Now if only I could get the child interested in CLEANING up the mess after she cooks - we'd be set.

As always, make champion choices,

Debra