BITS-O-WISDOM: "I'm not going to vacuum 'till Sears makes one you can ride on." --Roseanne Barr

January is about more than just "resolutions," especially since we rarely keep them. Get onboard for a new year, new you! Let's make 2008 the year you get it done.

Toddler's Snack Foods: Never Too Early to Fatten Em Up

Studies show it's not mom and dad who make the purchasing decisions, it's the kids. That's why breakfast cereals are multi-colored and sweeter than pie and ice cream. Sure they are touting multi-grain, but really, is that making any difference in the quality of the product? I think not.

Here's a new one: Gerber Graduates, for Toddlers. What is it? It's Cheetos for the wee ones. No lie. They claim, made with whole grain corn (who cares), and 30% less sodium (less than the leading cheese snack, um, Cheetos?). Just what we need, another junk food for our kids, and now they aim at toddlers?

Small wonder our kids are fat and getting fatter and guess what? Their life spans may just be lower than our own, if we keep this up.

Better idea, stave off giving the little ones any crappy food at all -- they won't know the difference and you can train their taste buds to actually like fruit and vegetables instead of salt and powdered saw dust.

Q & A for One More Bite

Dear One More Bite: "Since going on Cymbalta for fibromyalgia, I feel it would be easier to fly than lose any weight. I'm so discouraged. Before getting fibro, any diet would do, now, no diet works. This post menopausal body just won't let go of the fat like it used to." ~Discouraged

Dear Discouraged: That's a perfect example of the self-talk that defeats our best efforts. Since your subconscious mind accepts what you say, telling yourself you can't let go of fat just adds to the likelihood you will have trouble. I agree, it's not just a simple matter of changing what you say; you also have to change what you think, and the easiest way is use EFT on that thought. Here's an example:

"Even though this old body won't let go of the fat, I deeply and completely accept myself."

The thinking is, your body won't let go of the fat the way it used to, so the EFT is done on that precise thought or line of thinking. You'd say it like you really mean it, emphasize the hopelessness of it all (only while you're doing the EFT itself) and you'll find after that 20 second round, you'll feel ... differently about it? Maybe less convinced. Perhaps not quite so completely sure.

That's how you change your thinking. EFT does it's work when you think that precise thought -- not when you're trying to talk yourself out of wanting something.

Do EFT on this, "Even though I love ice cream" Not "Even though I wish I didn't want any ice cream"

The first addresses and interrupts the actual recurring thought pattern you experience whenever the idea of ice cream dances across your mind. The second is wishful thinking, and has nothing to do with the first.

Do EFT on the recurring thought (what you want, but perhaps wish you didn't) and you'll get a better result.

Questions? Get the Daily Bites (links below) or register for the 8-wk Ending Emotional Eating workshop and get clear on how this works. It's simple and effective and fun too!

>> Send me your questions, and I'll post replies in this newsletter.

Old & New Exercise Gadgets

JumpSnap, the Rope-less Jump Rope looks fun. It's an electronic gadget that simulates a jump rope with sounds and all. The last time I tried to jump rope it was a disaster, but this thing works, and you never miss a jump.

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Food Facts Salad Dressings and Condiments

Those condiments aren't all innocently adding flavor, they also add sodium and calories, lots of calories. Think about it, when you get french fries, do you use ketchup (or catsup or my fav "tomato candy")?

You are getting 10 calories in every packet, which is about a tablespoon, maybe. I can easily use about eight of those, maybe more because I love tomato candy, so I'm probably adding 100 calories or more, just in the ketchup.

Then there's mayonnaise, and if you love this stuff, you are hardly alone. It's fat, and about 100 calories a tablespoon, so no wonder your pants are too tight!

Salad dressing is the worst, adding hundreds of calories when you eat that whole tub you're served, or pile it on at home.

One pat of butter (what's a pat, I guess about a tablespoon) is 35 calories and 4 grams of fat. You need probably less than 60 grams of fat a day, but you may eat a couple hundred.

Hidden Valley Ranch dressing, 1 packet = 190 cal, 20 g. fat. Whoa! and who eats just one? So, you think you're smart, eating salad, but you may be adding 500 calories in the salad dressing, and that's not so smart.

Oops, Caesar dressing is worse (figures since it's delicious), at 210 cal and 23 g. fat in one dinky packet. Man, this is killing me.

Okay, so what to do? First, just realize you're adding tons of useless calories when you dump on the sauce, and start to wean down a bit. I'm not saying you have to quit entirely, but be reasonable, and if you use five packets now, next time use four. See if you can live with that. Then, later, you move to three, until you find the minimum you need for enjoyment, but gooey sauce or dressing drowning the salad greens isn't really the idea behind a salad, now is it?

Once you try a new amount, say, four packets instead of five, stay with that until it's your new "norm." It's not going to help if you try it once and immediately go back to your usual amount, so exercise a wee bit of discipline and you can start to easily shave hundreds of calories a day, and that's when you start the weight coming off without really trying.

How Milk Can be a Diet Killer

There's a ton of different type milks, the highest calorie being Sweetened Condensed with (better be sitting down for this) 980 calories per cup! OMG.

Buttermilk has less calories than 1% or 2%, yes it's true. Just because it has butter in the name, doesn't make it a bad guy, at 99 calories per 8 ounce glass.

Whole Milk has 150 calories per glass while 2% has 121. Small difference but if you have a glass every day, you are shaving about 20 calories with no big sacrifice, then when you switch to Fat Free you go to 86 calories per glass, or save 40 calories per! That's another easy way to shave the calories. McDonalds sells about 17 Big Macs every second in the United States

Jello for Snacks

Read the box and they say it serves four, but hey, it's just 10 calories per cup (the sugar free kind, of course), so live it up. Fun fact, 1 cup of Jello is equal in calories to about three M&Ms or one-third a Hershey's Kiss (actually a Hershey's Kiss is about 25 calories per), so if you can eat about three or four, fine, but if you scarf half a bag, not so fine.

The Slimming Pool, A Weight Loss Blog

Visit The Slimming Pool for my latest posts about how I tackle maintaining my 80 pound we.ight loss. I've enabled comments too, finally, but they still won't work in the archives until I switch to the newfangled format, which shoot, I'm not in the mood to do. Every time I try to change something on my website it takes forever to get it right and meanwhile I get nothing else done!

Drop in and leave a comment so I'll know what you're doing too: The Slimming Pool Weight Loss Blog

Sugar Blues

Researchers say people eat much more food when it is sweetened since sweeteners stimulate the release of endorphins, the body's painkillers, in rats (oh, shoot, rats?), and they suspect (shoot, again, suspect, not know?) that it's the same in humans.

Read research with a bit of skepticism since facts can be skewed to relay just about anything, but also consider common sense. Humans are designed for survival and sweet things ensure we get enough Vit C amongst other things. Sweet foods such as carrots, onions, broccoli also ensure we're eating health giving foods, and bitter oft times means stay away, this plant isn't a good idea (this isn't true across the board but in the plant world, poisonous plants usually taste awful).

It makes sense but when you enter our world of processed, fake food we lose all our senses. Start eating more vegetables, not cooked to death, but just lightly steamed with a bit of spice, or try balsamic vinegar for a great flavor change. You'll start to develop the taste for real food again.

Homemade Chocolates: They Said It Couldn't Be Done

This little girl showed the big chocolatiers a thing or two. She grew her own chocolate beans and turned them into a real chocolate bar. Show this to your kids when they whine about doing schoolwork. You can make projects fun and interesting plus get tons of attention from grownups who said it couldn't be done. Wanna bet this young lady gets offered a scholarship?

Home Exercise

It's been awhile since I've talked about exercise, but that's no excuse to not be on the floor while you watch TV. During commercials, try this move: Get on the floor, and put your calves on the couch or an ottoman. Then just raise your hips, up (not too high) and squeeze, lower, up, squeeze, lower. You get the picture. Start with about 10, then go back to whatever you were doing. In a minute, do another 10. Gradually add more until you're at three sets of 10 and you're done for the day.

Repeat a couple days later, until you work are able to do three times a week, 3 sets of 10 and you've got those glutes getting busy. Exercise doesn't have to be ridiculously difficult to get results.

For your arms, just lift and lower those packages you're already carrying into the house. Maybe you stand in the kitchen an extra minute while you do a second or third set, but hey, it's all good and you're toning up those arms without needing to join a gym.

When you do anything involving resistance, and that just means it takes a bit of effort to push or pull something, then do it slowly and with purpose. Don't swing your arms up and down, instead slowly lift, and lower, thinking about the muscles themselves while you do it. Tense, release, that's how they gain strength and why do you want to gain strength?

You want to gain strength because the more muscle you have the more calories you burn just sitting around. Turn yourself in a calorie burning machine and you get to eat more, but stay lean.

Got Stairs? I do, and I go up and down them several times a day, so if you dread your stairs, think of them as a built-in Stairmaster and just use them.

Cyber Dance: Ballet on the Net

Over 3,500 links to classical ballet and modern dance resources on the Internet:

+++ ---------- Ending Emotional Eating ---------------- +++

You've gone to seminars, read books, bought gadgets, and tried
everything to lose the weight, but still nothing works. Could
it be you're an emotional eater?

If now is the right time to end your struggle losing all the
weight you want, get started on this self-paced, home study
program today. (Includes follow-up, so you still get personal
attention).

8-Week Course Outline & Details
Register for One More Bite's Workshops & Classes
+++ --------------------------------------------------- +++

OMB WL Article: Cake for Breakfast Helps with Weight Loss: How I Broke my Nighttime Eating Habit

Read this short article on how using my "Cake for Breakfast" trick helped me lose weight and break my nighttime eating habit.

Announcing One More Bite's 2-Day Private Retreat March 2008, Hidden Lake Retreat

Our Oct 2008 retreat was a huge success. This hands-on retreat will take you to a new level with limited participants so we can focus on your individual issues. Every participant will have a 1-hr private session (or two shorter depending on timing) during the weekend with Kathryn. We'll cover Part's Therapy, craving reduction, fear of diet failure and that popular bugaboo, what happens after I've lost the weight?

The 2-day weekend is just the beginning. As soon as you get home you'll be starting the 8-week Ending Emotional Eating workshop, and you'll know what you're doing and why you're doing it. You'll get results like never before because you'll know how to use the tools.

We will meet thereafter once a month for six months (or choose an entire year of follow-up and support). You'll also have my private phone number to call when you need help, or e-mail at any time. Follow-up and a weekly check-in is critical. Studies prove that having a support system makes all the difference in weight .loss.

If you are truly motivated to lose the weight and keep it off, and if you are willing to commit to a six month or one-year program, then now is the time.

You want weight to come off fast, yes, but you also want to learn to make it permanent. The 8-Week Online Workshop, Ending Emotional Eating is designed to cover everything that might come up during your journey but many want the added dimension that being in-person can give.

Get all the details for the EFT in a Weekend, Ending Emotional Eating Workshop, March 2008

More Recent Kitchen Disasters

No 4. Watch the cutlery.I dropped a knife and it ended up point stuck in the floor. Good thing I moved my foot.

No. 5. Be Alert. Yesterday's recipe called for 1 1/2 Tablespoon of salt, which I thought was a ton, but hey, it's a tested recipe, so in it goes. Oops, then I added another teaspoon to the sauce, and finally figured out the first amount was for the whole recipe. Shoot, dang. Who's up for some rather salty macaroni and cheese?

No. 6. Get glasses. I'm also starting to mistake the measurements on my measuring cups, so I've managed to add 1/3 cup when it asked for 1/2, or vice versa, luckily it didn't matter when I added too little sugar to the cinnamon rolls, since they already have way too much anyway. But it could matter if you're baking a cake, so don't be too proud to admit your eyes are crap!

No. 7. Take a list. How many times I've gone to the store for one missing ingredient and come back home with a bag of stuff but still no missing ingredient? Write it down, and go get just what you need, not a bunch more stuff turning that missing ingredient into a 30 dollar bag of more junk.

Tell me about your kitchen goof ups to me, and I'll put them here next month.

Just for Laughs

"Better Than Homemade, Amazing Foods That Change the Way We Eat, by Carolyn Wyman includes gems such as, "Pringles Potato Chips, a new use for tennis ball cans," and provides that Wonder Bread in 1930 introduced "Ready Sliced Wonder Bread." Within three years, 80% of all U.S. bread was sold that way.

Join me on Chat at Weight Loss Buddy.com

Join me on Jan 15, 5 PM Pacific, 8 PM Eastern for a live chat. Anyone can attend, just register first at Weight Loss Buddy

Topic will be the "Calendar of Excuses" my list of over 297 days a year where there's built-in excuses to overeat. Birthdays, holidays, picnics, Friday nights, it's all there. Suddenly it becomes clear why we have trouble sticking to our plan to eat better.

The good news? You don't have to miss out on the fun! Learn to indulge responsibly (TM) and you too can indulge but not suffer for it.

Here's a report from a previous chat at Weight Loss Buddy

Hello Kathryn just wanted to tell you that a member tried using the techniques that we discussed in chat and it worked for her, this is what she posted:

"this morning, I woke to a bag of dorito's on my counter (I LOVE THEM) I thought first thing NO>>>>NO>>>NO. but it was hard, i couldn't get them off my mind, to the point of being frustrated. so i stood at the sink, took my meds and drank a glass of water. I thought hey, maybe Kat was right. so I stopped and said to myself....self, its ok to have a few, not the whole bag...but just enough to satisfy.

so I dipped in and got 5... yes 5. I ate them slowly savoring every morsel. but I was amazed to find, that was enough...I was satisfied, I spent most of the day walking by that BIG bag and didn't even give it a second glance. it is still there. but I am satisfied with what I did have. and wasn't struggling all day with... your gonna not cheat, your gonna not binge, I hate you, why you do this to yourself ...bla bla bla. etc.

I feel so good about myself right now, and different. relaxed, not worrying why i fight every day to not over eat. or be so strict on myself. I found I was satisfied at my meals. and snacks with out thinking man something sweet would be good right now, and end up with a struggle within wanting that sweet what ever. i was shocked. this may be a new beginning for me."

Thanks a million Kathryn!

Join me at the WeightLossBuddy.com chat, January 15, 2008. Great group of people, and lots of fun.

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Health Law Blog

Frequently updated commentary on what's happening in the health law field

InfoPlease Obesity Stats (this gets pretty depressing)

Tracking Habits

Yes, it's that time again. It's a good idea to first track what you eat regularly, so you know what is your starting point. Without doubt you are eating far more calories than you realize, so that first step helps make it more clear why weight piles on.

There are lots of ways to track your eating, from a piece of paper to software programs. I like both. I like the Food & Exercise Diary which you'll find in the Tools section.

I also like Nutrition Data's online program. It takes a bit more effort at first, but the information it provides is worth it. The best part is being able to create nutrition labels for favorite recipes. Last summer I input all the ingredients for a dessert I called Trifling Trifle. It's a layered thing with cake, mascarpone cheese, berries, lemon glaze, and whatnot. Ridiculously good. I made it three times. The original recipe said it serves eight, so I did an analysis and came up with 2854 calories in that serving! That's one dessert boys and girls.

Imagine, on top of what you already ate today, add that and whoops, no small wonder your pants need to be taken out, is it? But all is not lost. I made and consumed that dessert and felt no ill effects because it was one or two days one week, then a few weeks later. It wasn't every day, every meal.

The idea with indulgence is to enjoy it occasionally. If you feel you must indulge yourself constantly, try EFT, "Even though I feel deprived, I can't stand not to have dessert, I'll die if I don't eat this pie... I deeply and completely accept myself anyway."

The key with EFT is to get results you simply state the obviously, what you are thinking, doing, or going to do. If you want to gorge yourself, you'd say, "Even though I'm totally going to stuff myself silly and love it, and I still deeply and completely love and accept myself."

Sounds weird, I know, but your mental pathway (neural connections) travel one specific way when you have a thought -- adding the tapping (in other words, tossing something new in the mix) simply confuses the mind into not knowing which path to follow, however briefly. The next time you have that thought, the new interrupt pattern is still present! It's that simple, really.

Don't try to over analyze EFT or refuse to say something for fear it'll get stuck. You're already stuck, right? Give EFT a try, be persistent and within a week, sometimes just a day, you'll notice a difference.

If you want it all, take the 8-week Ending Emotional Eating course and really learn to fully use EFT and NLP. You deserve to be free from emotion driven eating

Yours in good eating,
Kathryn Martyn, M.NLP