Wrapped Beautifully

Low Carb Diet Plan That's Simple and Satisfying and Works Great!

 
Warm weather is approaching.  Are we getting ready for looking our best during the spring and summer months?

I know from years of trying different diets or eating plans to maintain a good weight, if it's not straight forward, forget it!  I have too many other complications in my life to want or to be able to add another one.  The good news is,  it is possible to have a plan that is simple and satisfying and successful in terms of meeting your weight goals. 

For many of us, low carbs or lower carbs needs to be a way of life once we hit 25 or 30.   But, you do not have to feel you are making huge sacrafices and are going without something that you'd really like.   Did you know this?  It's true!  If you don't have a course of action set up for this year yet, you should consider this approach.   There is just one main requirement (I also refer to this as "the trick"!)  for this simple low carb diet plan.  But it's very reasonable.  See for yourself!

 

Infrared Sauna - Do You Know What You Are Missing?

Infrared saunas warm the body the same way as natural sunlight does.

Far-infrared radiant (FIR) heat therapy penetrates, refracts, radiates and reflects.  When it penetrates through the skin, the thermal effect causes blood vessels and capillaries to dilate.  This promotes better blood circulation and elimination of  toxins via sweating.  

FIR heat therapy aids in weight loss by speeding up the metabolic process of endocrine glands and vital organs. 

Other information, including the specific benefits I experienced is provided here: Infrared Sauna - Benefits Are Unique and Real

Healthy Diet Snack That's Delectable

Is the combination of there being healthy and delectable qualities in one food item  even possible?  Yes!  I am constantly trying different combinations of wholesome ingredients to get not just palatable, but fantastic replacements for traditional bakery items.  You've got to try this!: Maple Walnut Chocolate Chip Cookie Crumble

 

Low Carb Diet Plan- This Is a Perfect Snack For Cooler Weather

There's something special about that cool crisp air and the changing leaves against a deep blue sky.   Picking apples for pie and pumpkins for  Halloween jack o lanterns and Thanksgiving pie are some of my favorite activities.  Wanting comfort food this time of year like mashed potatoes and squash is only natural.  It warms you up and sustains you.   If you are careful, it doesn't have to wreck your weight.  This recipe is a great example of how you can have your cake and eat it too!  Sweet Potato Rounds 

An interesting variation on this would be to use maple syrup instead of honey and perhaps even a walnut half on each round.   This makes it just a little bit fancier.  And although both versions are scrumptious, this variation is especially nice for the holidays.

Weight Loss In Steps

I could drop weight fairly easily in my 20s.  Calorie reduction, fiber, water and a little more exercise was all I had to focus on.  In my 30s, it got a little harder.   So, I learned about lowering fat and carbohydrate intake.  That worked well for about 10 years.

Then,  around the age of 45 or so, Peri-menopause was in full swing and my metabolism had retired!  I'd have 900 to 1200 calories of protein and complex carbs, with just 5 - 10 grams of fat a day for weeks on end and NOT lose one pound.   Exercise would keep me toned up, but it would not help me lose weight.

The Weight Loss In Steps  program shares with you what I'm learning to be able to be finally losing weight. This plan is very simple and flexible, yet highly effective. You decide which steps to take when (there are ten), and what dials to turn up or down (there are five).

Weight loss can be acheived in simple, palatable steps, EVEN as we women get older!

Check out my new Weight Loss In Steps e-book just published on Amazon! Weight Loss In Steps E-book.

A Better Remedy For Jock Itch and Athlete's Foot

When I was vacationing in St. Barts, I ran out of my anti-fungal cream.  I had a slight case of athletes foot.  But, I knew that if I didn't get any medication for it while I was in the hot, humid weather of the Caribbean, the condition could become worse very fast.

There was a pharmacy on the island which was very close to the airport.  So, I ran in there.   I quickly realized it was more of a natural product pharmacy than a standard pharmacy like CVS or Walgreens.   I started to panic.  The manager calmed me down and said that he had a product which was better than what people use in the United States.  That product is Nutribioitic Natural Body & Foot Powder.  The active ingredients are Grapefruit Seed Extract (GSE) and tea tree oil.

It works amazingly well.  In fact, it appears to work better than the CVS maximum strength anti-fungal cream that I relied heavily on until that point.   And, it ends up being a lot cheaper.

Needless to say, I am never without this wonderful powder.  It's also fantastic for minimizing chafing, and helping diaper rash to heal.   

Frozen Banana Chips Can Take The Place of Ice Cream

I know what you are thinking.  You just have to humor me!  This is so easy to do, there is not excuse not to try it. 

When you have too many bananas.  Or, they are starting to get a little over ripe, peel them and put them in a freezer bag and store in the freezer.

When you are hot and want to cool down and/or are craving ice cream, grab one of the bananas from the freezer, slice thinly as shown here and pop in your mouth.  Enjoy!   

You need to eat them immediately (as in the first minute) to experience the creamy ice cream texture.  It tastes like banana ice cream, honest!   You can optionally add flavorings. Semi sweet baking chocolate powder  with stevia sprinkled on top or, squeezed lemon with stevia are two of my favorites. 

This will curb your desire for ice cream because it is surprisingly  satisfying.   Try it yourself and see what you think! 

Do You Know What's In Your Smoothie?

Have you noticed that a number of fast food restaurants including both  McDonalds and Burger King have decided to sell smoothies?  I was a bit surprised by it knowing the origins of this kind of drink and the fact those two fast food joints, as currently defined,  are not going to make you anything that resembles a traditional smoothie.  First of all, traditional smoothies are not what I would call  inexpensive for the restaurants to provide (at least when you compare them to the other beverages for sale at these establishments).   Secondly, they take a bit longer to make than the time it takes to simply dispense a a non solid such as soda and soft  ice cream.  While I am sure there would be a way to scale the process of making them, I don't see it happening in the near term.

If you are curious about traditional smoothies, I recommend you look at recipes that are online.  There are a lot. I've been working on and perfecting a smoothie that is both very nutricious and delicious.  Here's more info and the recipe.  See what you think!

Nutritional Breakdown

Cals- 335, Carbs 52.8 g,  Protein 16.97 g,  Sodium 60.1 g, Fat 6.04* g, Fiber 11.44 g

 * 4.62 grams of this fat is giving you 2640 mg Omega 3 (alpha-linolenic acid (ALA)), 660 mg Omega 6 (linoleic acid (LA)), and 990 mg Omega 9 (oleic acid (OA)).

Note: A lot of markets don't carry liquid stevia yet.  Here's a good brand you can buy online.

If would like to know more about the Weight Loss In Steps program, you can purchase the e-book from Amazon and join our Facebook community!

 

A Better Bran Muffin

Wheat bran has a lot of fiber.  And that is why I have always eaten Kelloggs All Bran and would make bran muffins.  Recently I have noticed that although I can eat food with gluten,  I do a lot better if I avoid wheat.      So, I have been experimenting with spelt and oat bran.  And I'm finding my body is a lot is a lot happier.  In a nutshell,  I don't bloat after eating spelt bread or oat bran cereal. Here's some fascinating details on the problems of wheat.   There are apparently many! 

So, earlier this week, I thought I'd see if I could make a decent oat bran muffin which has both oat bran and spelt flour. 

They came out great!  They actually have a consistency of a scone (especially during the couple hours after baking).  They even taste like scones!

These are not overly sweet.  You could add some stevia (I really like the Truvia brand packets) if you'd like to address that.   Alternatively,  you could slice them in half,  toast them and spread some nice raspberry or blueberry  jam on them. 

I will warn you some of the ingredients, about 4 in all,  are a little different- oat bran, whole grain spelt flour, Celtic Salt, and Black Mission Figs.   But, all of them, you can get at a Whole Foods market.  And, once you have these ingredients in the house, it will be much easier to make these  the next time.

1 1/2 cups whole grain spelt flour

1 1/2 cups oat bran

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 to 1/2 tsp Celtic Salt

3 tablespoons real maple syrup

12 to 14 (dryed) Black Mission Figs  cut up into small pieces

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 egg

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

Preheat oven to 400 degress.

Mix all dry ingredients together in one bowl until well blended.  Mix all wet ingredients together in another bowl until well blended.  Pour wet mixture into dry mixture.  Stir as little as possible, just enough to have wet mixture absorbed by dry mixture. 

Spray 12 muffin tin cups with non-stick cooking spray. Put slightly rounded 1/4 cup of batter into each muffin tin cup.

Bake for 15 minutes.

Enjoy!

 

 

 

Fantastic Flourless and Fast Quiche

There is nothing like a beautifully made quiche.  The problem is, that flour crust.  Yes, it does make the quiche taste better, if it was made well.  That's a big if.  So often, the crust is anything but light and flakey. To be honest, 80 to 90% of the delicious flavor is coming from the other ingredients.

So, after a little bit of experimenting, I've been able to come up with a crustless and therefore flourless quiche.  This is actually also low cal, low carb, low fat and low sodium!

I like this for breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner.   I may have it a half a dozen times in one week.  So, there is one thing I make ahead of time so that when I make the quiche, it takes about 3 minutes total. 

Ahead of time:

Microwave one 10  oz frozen package of chopped spinach* for 5 minutes. Drain.

Microwave one large chopped onion in water for  3 minutes. Drain.

Mix spinach and onion.  Refridgerate until needed for quiche.

* you can alternatively steam fresh chopped spinach

Quiche (this is for one serving):

1 egg

1/3 cup of cooked chopped spinach and onion mixture

1 tsp. parmesan cheese

 Olivio Buttery Spray

Using a microwavable cereal bowl, mix egg (whip) with a fork until blended (approx 15  seconds)

Put chopped spinach and onion mixture in with egg, mix.

Sprink parmasan cheese on top. 

Cook on microwave high for 1 minute.  Check. 

 

Turn over and optionally move to small microwavable plate.  Cook on high for up to 1 more minute.

Spray with Olivio Buttery Spary (5 times).  Enjoy!

 

 

Essential Attributes of A Zen Fairy Garden

 

Have you ever noticed that some gardens seem to just pull you in and  cause you to escape into a state of peace and contentment, even if it's just for a few moments?

There are reasons for this.    And it has to do with the kind of  thought that went into the garden design.  When it comes to fairy gardens that have been made to date, I've noticed  there is a wide range of quality that has gone into their design.  This can be fine.  Many of these, for instance,  are part of children's play areas which may be in a constant state of change.  And, part of the fun can be to just participate in creating a garden that may or may not touch upon a particular theme.  

If, however, you'd like for the fairy garden to be something more, perhaps magical and alluring, it would be wise to step back and consider what attributes might work better than others. 

I've identified  some design rules which aren't really complicated or overwhelming. And,  collectively, they make an enormous difference in the quality of the result.  Here they are:

(1) Carefully utilize elements, both well and not so well known, from fairy lore. 

(2) Approach the design of the  elements with the essence of Zen (promoting a meditative state) in mind.

Some specific guidelines that could come out these design rules are:

(1) There is aesthetic use of geometric angles, lines and curves.

(2) Proportions are very consistent across objects.  This allows the garden to be believable.

(3) Less is more.  You'd be surprised at how easy it is to over do it and have a cluttered and therefore unattractive  effect.

I also think it's important that you figure out what you love to see in a garden, if you haven't already. With me, for example, I love plants with dark, glossy green leaves and delicate white flowers.  I also like rocky terrain. 

Next time you see a garden you love, ask yourself what are 3 things about it that you feel really make a difference.  After you do this for a while (this could take a few seasons!) you have a real chance of getting very good at designing a garden for yourself.

If you'd like specific information on how to create a  beautiful miniature  zen fairy garden, I have just published a new book, How To Create A Zen Fairy Garden, which is available at Amazon. 

Making a zen fairy garden  in miniature has a number of advantages including:

(1) It helps you make it through the winter in a cold climate or living in a city where you don't have access to a roof top or balcony garden.

(2) It takes hardly any time to start and complete.   And you get a surprising amount of enjoyment creating it a gazing at it.

(3) If you think you are going to want to build a full scale zen fairy garden, creating a miniature one first will help you to develop the design more fully.

One last point.  This makes a wonderful gift for folks that are hard to buy for, especially garden lovers!

 Update after one month (3/20/13).  The garden is doing great and is starting to fill out!  This second article has pictures I just took. Garden Ideas For First Day of Spring

Also, I put a youtube video that was recorded while I was making the zen fairy garden on my youtube channel!   How To Make A Miniature Zen Fairy Garden

 

Garden Ideas For First Day of Spring

Yahoo!  It's the first day of spring!  We made it through another New England winter!   For those of you who like to garden, time to pull out the tools and the wheelbarrow, right?  I wish.  Look out the window in the above picture.  We just got 10 inches of snow from a snow storm yesterday.   Drat! 

Now look at the foreground of the same picture.  What is that?  It's a miniature zen fairy garden! Here is my first article I wrote on the subject.  Essential Attributes of a Zen Fairy Garden

What is so nice about this kind of garden is that if your climate or weather  is not cooperating, you can still have one and work with it any day of the year.  If you have no yard outside you can have one of these.   If you are injured, handicapped or elderly, depending on what you can or can't actually do at this point, you may be able to have and tend to one of these.   If you have limited time or a limited budget, you should be able to have this kind of garden!

I stayed clear of of this sort of thing for a long time because I didn't like what I saw.  I am very fussy about textures, colors and forms. And at the same time, I want a garden to be captivating and beautiful.   But, then recently, I thought of and defined a hybrid garden, one that takes principles from both a fairy garden and a zen garden.  And, that, I fell in love with.

Now,  a month after creating it, my miniature zen fairy garden is very healthy, and is actually starting to fill out in places.  Most of all, it looks beautiful from all directions (this is one of the requirements I have for this kind of garden). 

Here is what the garden looks from the north side.

Notice the attractive textures and shapes that are being used.  You'll see the same kind of thing on the south side.

The main goal of this hybrid garden is to create something that is very pleasing to the eye which  can actually calm you down and let you escape for a moment or two.  One other crucial requirement which makes this possible is to get object proportions correct.

 

Notice the size of the birdhouse relative to the ground cover and the garden bench.  Look at how the type of vegetation that is both above the rock and below it make the rock seem like a boulder or a mountain ledge.  The net effect of good proproptions is the garden looks very believable and therefore interesting.

If you'd like to get more details including how to make a miniature zen fairy garden, I have a new little book on it which is available from Amazon! How To Make A Zen Fairy Garden

 

 

 

 

When Nutrisystem Won't Work For You

 

I had no trouble losing weight in my teens and twenties.  I basically had to drink more water, reduce calories, introduce regular exercise like running.  It got harder to lose weight as I got older.  Even with learning about fat gram and carb reduction, in my mid thirties, I could no longer lose weight on my own.  So I looked for help and successfully found it with  Nutrisystem.  When I needed to lose weight in my 40's, I tried Nutrisystem again. This time, it didn't work.  My ezinearticles.com article tells you what Nutrisystem and Jenny Craig leave out.