…the msn.com article “10 Secrets of the Effortlessly Thin”
I get asked at work by all of the females around me on how I stay so skinny . And then I look at my colleague who just gave birth 6 months ago who is even skinnier than me and wonder how she is so skinny. Honestly, I think it is genetics of metabolism. Other factors come into play, too. So I’d like to respond to each so-called secret that MSN came up with.
Secret#1 They don’t diet.
True. I do not diet. There was that one time I was dieting with the mister but only to support him. Other than that, I never think about dieting. I never had to calorie count – except for my nutrition assignment in college. However, I used to ban all red meat not because I needed to lose a few pounds. I just didn’t like eating red meat anymore. Red meat disgusted me. To the mister’s benefit, I have returned to eating red meat (in moderation). I do eat more fruits and vegetables because they taste good and it makes me feel better after eating them. A lot of what I conscientiously eat is for health reasons not for diet reasons. I’ll admit, I do have a sweet tooth and always give in to my sweet cravings. Luckily my sweet cravings don’t occur all the time.
Secret #2 They keep track of their weight.
True, but in the opposite sense. As I am underweight, I keep track of my weight to see if I have not lost any more weight.
Secret #3 They exercise regularly.
Hell no. I don’t have enough time in the day to eat, let alone exercise. When I am busy I do not exercise. Enough calories are burnt because I am on my feet all day at work anyway. I am too tired to exercise. But I do exercise sporadically when I don’t have work. It’s not consistent, though, but it should be. I do have a couple Pilates DVDs for the purpose of stretching and toning. When the mister and I have free weekends together, we try to do some type of outdoor activity, be it just walking around the block, hiking, kayaking, or biking. But really, I don’t regularly exercise. And I’m sure this will come back to bite me in the butt.
Secret #4 They don’t solve problems with food.
True. Food has never been my shoulder to cry on. When I have a bad day, my tendency is to sleep it away. I don’t get hungry either. My appetite is gone when I am sad or depressed or stressed out. I drown my sorrows in my pillow, not a pint of ice cream.
Secret #5 They stop eating when they’re full.
Definitely true. When I am full, I am done. Actually, when I am full, it disgusts me to see food. But I don’t like to waste food, so I will keep save it and eat it for tomorrow’s lunch or dinner. I also don’t like being forced to finish food on my plate. Why keep eating all the food on my plate when I can finish it later? I’d like to add that my meal portions are small. For example, I big juicy steak will be cut in half (or a third) on my plate and the rest will be eaten at another meal.
Secret #6 They don’t surround themselves with temptation.
Half true. I have bags of chips, the mister has bags of cookies, the cupboards stores lots of ingredients for me to make cupcakes…I just don’t eat them. I only eat snacks when my body is craving it. Otherwise I don’t eat it. The mister on the other hand, has cravings all the time, which I don’t understand. Doesn’t he get sick of eating chocolate all the time? I do.
Secret #7 They allow themselves treats.
Hell yeah! The mister always gets upset when I snack on things right before dinner. Whatever. If I want to eat ice cream before dinner, ima gonna eats it. Nuf said. No one can tell me what to eat and what not to eat. If my body wants something, it’s going to get it.
Secret #8 They eat breakfast.
True. I don’t like skipping breakfast. It throws my routine off into a tailspin. Then I get hungrier early and get very irritated easily. My brain just doesn’t function very well if I don’t have anything in my system.
Secret #9 They move, stand, and fidget more.
True. When I sit, I am shaking my leg – right, now for example, my leg is shaking like crazy as I am sitting here typing this up. Moving and standing is purely due to work. I hardly sit for hours at a time. Maybe that’s just the nature of people’s work environment.
Secret #10 They don’t skip meals.
True. This is very similar to #8. Skipping meals just throws my body off kilter and I don’t like the feeling. I’ll also snack throughout the day if I am craving something or my stomach starts conversing with me.
Most of the time, I’m eating to sustain my body, not to indulge (except for snacks and sweets – those are an indulgence). Frankly, I think eating is a waste of time, especially if you are busy. Someone needs to invent portable tube feeding – seriously. But I do have to say that eating or snacking is dictated by three things: cravings, laziness, and survival. Sometimes I’ll feel like a rice krispies treat, but I’ll be too lazy to make it…unless I’m absolutely craving it or I would die if I don’t get anything into my system.
If I can offer any advice at all, I would suggest cutting down on the red meat and carb intake. Think of your usual sides as the main entree instead and the meat entree as a side dish. In other words, increase the vegetable portion on your plate and decrease the meat portion.
I’ve been behind on this post for more than a week but I’d thought blog about it anyway since I am still able to recall everything. My friend, Dori, is into food festivals. So much so – that’s she’s booked a trip to North Carolina just for THE BBQ Festival that was featured on the foodnetwork channel. I heard about Watsonville having a Strawberry Festival and thought Dori might be interested in going. It was perfect since I was working about 15 minutes away from Watsonville and I could stop by to check out the interesting foods created with strawberry.
A group of us arrived at Main Street where the festival was held. It was smaller than I had expected – about 3 blocks long. Block one was for merchandise. Another block was strictly for food. And the last block were kiddie rides. We went straight down the food block to see what was cooking and happened to see Strawberry Pizza. I know…you’re thinking gross. But it was incredibly good with a layer of cream cheese and slices of strawberry. This was D-licious. I’m definitely going to try this at home and make the mister try it.
Noah showing off the Strawberry Pizza while I-Chen proceeds to take a bite out of the pizza or Noah's finger.
It was advertised that strawberry tamales were going to be here, too, but we didn’t see any. I can only assume it’s similar to the strawberry pizza where it takes more like a dessert. However, we did run into a booth that was selling fried everything – especially fried coke. That’s right – COKE….not to be confused with the coke you snort. It pretty much coke syrup in batter fried in little pieces drizzled with coke syrup and topped off with powdered sugar. It was alright – nothing mind-blowing or spectacular. Just tasted like fried dough with sweet coke syrup on it. We only ate a little and tossed the rest…too greasy for our taste.
What Fried Coke looks like
There were other interesting food items like bacon wrapped hot dog. We had cheesy polenta that tasted like mac n’ cheese. And we ended the festival with strawberry libations- mine was a margarita.
Not a strawberry festival without the strawberry margarita
The day didn’t end there. We actually stopped off at Noah’s father’s farm ranch nearby and got to pick raspberries, blackberries, and peaches. The property was gorgeous. A part of me has always wanted to live on a farm or ranch and do nothing but tend to the animals and grow my own food. Maybe someday.
-
- Poulet
-
- Moutons
-
- Framboises – they taste so much better right off the vine than from the store.
I don’t know if I’ll be going to the Strawberry Festival every year since it’s all the way in Watsonville. But I did take away from it a dessert recipe to try out.
Filed under: Consume
Awesome. I’m putting my Starbucks Gift Card to use for this one.
Starbucks is giving a Free Pastry on the morning of July 21 with purchase of a beverage. You have to print out and bring in this invitation into any participating U.S. Starbucks from opening until 10:30 AM. Other reports say the barista will not accept the invitation shown from a mobile device.
Fine Print:
Free pastries include Muffins, Scones, Bagels, Croissants, Rolls, Breads, Pound Cakes, Morning Bun, Coffee Cakes, Cheese Danish, Apple Fritter, Doughnuts, Tart, Pies, Gluten Free Orange Valencia Cake, and Tropical Paradise Bar.
Must purchase any handcrafter, brewed, or iced beverage.
Limit one per customer.
Offer good from opening (24hr stores – opening @ 4am) until 10:30am or until pastries are gone, whichever comes first. Not valid in Hawaii, airport or travel plazas, or Barnes and Noble cafes.
ENJOY YOUR FREE PASTRY!
Filed under: Consume
Let me first start off by saying I am not a leading authority on the Weight Watcher system. I know nothing about WW. I am abashedly underweight and might even have hyperthyroidism. But I can’t help but be intrigued by the Weight Watchers points system.
My curiosity started with my Lean Cuisine frozen meals that I bought for future lunchtime meals. I usually try to stay away from frozen meals but working 6 to 7 days a week doesn’t really give you much time to make anything. At $2.50 per box, the Lean Cuisine meals were a steal especially when regular food bought at cafes or eateries cost at least $5.
Today during lunch, I had tried the Chicken Enchilada meal. The meal itself seems on the smallish side but that’s the amount I usually eat at dinnertime for myself so I was quite satiated. While eating, I read on the side of the box that this frozen meal was worth 5 Weight Watchers points. What do these points mean? They are not exactly the Betty Crocker points seen atop cereal boxes – does anyone really collect those?
These points are similar to the Nutrition assignment I had back in undergrad. It is very similar to counting calories. Each food item is assigned a point value through a special weight watcher point calculator and you are only allowed a certain amount of points per day. They also take into account your lifestyle. So as I was sitting there eating my Lean Cuisine and reading about this, I wondered what my point goal was supposed to be. (more…)
Filed under: Consume
Sur La Table is having a FREE Sliders and Shakes Demo this Saturday, June 6 @ 11AM.
Aaargh. I’m missing their demos AGAIN! Last month, I missed both of their other demos on brownie and ice cream making. Not that I need a good recipe for one but because I love to eat sweets. I’m not even sure if they give samples of what they make. If someone actually goes to one of these, let me know if they handout samples. While you’ll be possibly enjoying a free demo, I’ll be working. Sometimes I really hate working on Saturdays. Aaargh, again!
Filed under: Consume
While I was working like a slave through Memorial weekend, one of the staff members wanted to get me hooked on energy drinks. I knew this office was big on energy drinks because there were cans and cans of empty Monster Energy drinks in the break room. I only tried a Red Bull once before during finals week. But that’s it. I wasn’t too keen on the taste and wasn’t too keen on trying it again. Not because of the taste but because I know how my body reacts to caffeine. I can’t take in any caffeine after 1pm, otherwise, I am wide awake jumping off of walls and my heart is beating out of my chest. I start feeling really anxious for no reason. Caffeine and me = not a good combination. So I told this staff member not to bother trying.
The next day, I found a Red Bull on my desk. That was nice of her. I wasn’t going to refuse her gift so I popped the cap and started drinking Red Bull earlier. Eleven in the morning is when I started drinking the Red Bull. By 2pm, I finished the can. And from then on, I sounded like I was on speed. I was talking so fast I amazed even myself. I was feeling pretty good about how fast I was working. No jittery hands, no heart jumping out of my chest, no anxiousness. It was great…until 2 AM rolled around and I was WIDE awake. Oh man, I had work the next day. I really needed to get some shut eye or else I would be cranky in the morning. I finally fell asleep around 3AM.
Next day, I felt like the wind was taken out of me. I didn’t have any stamina. That’s where the energy drink gets you. You get a big crash the next day that you need another pick me up and the cycle keeps going and going. I was determined not to get on the wheel. But what happened the day after? Another staff member decided to put another can Red Bull on my desk. Oh, no! I thanked him but didn’t drink any.
The mister suggested making mixed drinks with Red Bull. I’ve read concerns with mixing a depressants with stimulants: cardiovascular risk, impaired judgement, short of breath, dizziness, disorientation, and a rapid heart beat (esp. bad for those with heart conditions). What seems to concern some people is that when combining alcohol and stimulants is that those who are drunk don’t perceive themselves as being drunk and feel okay to drive after becoming inebriated. Hmmm…interesting. I’ll have to try that combination at home under careful supervision. Or maybe I’ll save the Red Bull for a rainy day when I need to pull an all nighter.
FYI: Red Bull is banned in Denmark, France, and Norway.
