BITS OF WISDOM: "I told my doctor I get very tired when I go on a diet, so he gave me pep pills. Know what happened? I ate faster." --Joe E. Lewis

Wake Up and Notice What You're Eating

Slim Down by Paying Attention

Do you even taste your food? Choose a single meal this week and notice the food. Slow down and see what you've never noticed before. Notice the different textures of at apple for instance, the peel and the fruit. One is smooth, one is slick. Mash the fruit and you'll see juice. With so many different varieties it's easy to see why I love apples, so what foods do you love and why?

Dissect a raisin and you'll find they're full of seeds. Sure, you knew that but do you notice it when you're eating them?

Notice with each bite the texture, temperature, and taste (is it salty, sweet, bitter?). Note too whether you really like it. We think so much about what we're going to eat and then we rush through it; why is that? Slow down, enjoy what you're eating and bring back enjoyment to eating.

Find what you like about some of your favorites and see if there are differences or similarities in any of them. Sometimes it is okay to play with your food. You can discover why certain foods appeal to you as well, not to mention that slowing down gives you a chance to notice what's going on.

Mindless eating isn't fun, but purposeful eating can be true joy. Try it and see.

Wendy's Ditches Fresh Fruit Cups

No surprise there. People say they want healthier choices, but reality is they don't order fresh fruit and why would they? You can get that at the grocery store. Why pay a premium?

It proves only that we don't go to restaurants to get things we can easily have at home. Open a can of fruit cocktail and you've got yourself a home version of the Wendy's Fruit Cup. Small wonder those weren't a giant seller.

Learning to Cook: Kitchen Chemistry

One way to encourage kids (maybe even you) to get interested in cooking is through Kitchen Chemistry. Learning how chemicals react in food is fun stuff. Cooking involves science and math so it's excellent for learning too.

Betty Crocker has a good idea for a kids' party that teaches kitchen chemistry at the same time. Invitations are made with disappearing ink, drinks dance and more.

Betty Crocker's Kids Party Ideas

Beginning Weight Training

For strong bones and muscle strength, nothing beats resistance training, but what's exactly is "resistance training" or weight lifting? Think of it this way: if you must push, pull or lift to move an object, that's resistance. That's why carrying groceries counts as exercise and so does picking up your toddler.

The trick is your body will get used to whatever load you demand of it, so if you dig ditches at your job, you may still end up with a pot belly despite burning lots of calories and getting plenty of exercise every day. Adaptation happens by muscle growth to handle the load.

That's why most people who lift weights for fitness change their routine at least every six weeks (some change daily). Constantly challenging yourself to do something different keeps things interesting and encourages more muscle growth and that's a good thing. You want muscle. It's healthy living tissue that requires nourishment (meaning you have to eat to fuel that muscle, hence you can eat a bit more and still maintain your weight).

Good resources with diagrams to start weight lifting or resistance training. Remember, you can use objects around the house--anything that takes some effort and won't slip or shift, so a container filled with sand works, if and only if the sand is filled to the top so it will not shift when you move it. If it shifts when you lift, you're courting injury.

Target Weight Coach PDF: Programs for different sports or jobs such as fire fighters.

Workout Plan: Weekly workouts. If you don't have the equipment or aren't a member of the gym, you can still learn lots from these plans.

Next month I'm going to show off my home gym. I've acquired a Gravitron (I'll explain next newsletter) and a leg press (yippee!). So far my exercise is hauling this equipment home and setting it up, no small feat in itself. My son wanted 100 pound plates but I had to veto that idea--I'd never be able to move them without help.

Get Results with One More Bite

A recent e-mail:

You are so balanced and sensible in your opinions - dare I even say even wise :) I found your 'just commit yourself to the next 24 hours of healthy eating' arrived at the perfect time for me as I had gone through a couple of days of unhealthy eating and felt like it was all too hard for me. I would have given up without your advice but I said to myself 'Of course I can last 24 hours!' and I have - on Wed, Thurs, Fri, Sat, Sun and today. I feel back in control of food now ... --Lynne

Lynn reads The Daily Bites. Maybe there's something there for you too?

Weird Food Cravings

Lots of people have cravings for odd foods but some people are off the charts for weirdness. Check these entries:

Ice Cream with Tabasco Sauce Ice Cream with Black Olives Little Wax Birthday Candles -- yes, someone eats these (not recommended) Popcorn with Balsamic Vinegar and Garlic Frozen Peas Straight from the Bag (my sister likes this)

Got better weird food cravings? Send them to me, I'd love to hear.

Supplements in the News

What's new in supplement news? Hoodia is showing up in everything. Remember, a teensy speck is all that is required to put something on a label so just because everything claims to have the latest supplement, doesn't mean it's in sufficient quantity to do any good. Remember, the best appetite suppressant is good food and learning to wait until you are hungry to eat.

It's all the unnoticed eating that's adding to the size of our pants.

Can you grow your own Hoodia plants? My hoodia plant is not exactly thriving. I'm not sure it'll survive at this point. It didn't appear healthy when it arrived so it's hard to know. If it does survive, chances are I'm not going to want to sacrifice it to reduce my appetite for a meal or two. So much for growing it myself.

Remember, if you try supplements meant to decrease your appetite then decide to eat anyway (I gotta eat something!) you're just being counter-productive. Learning to skip a meal when you're not hungry is a foreign concept to many people, but it's not going to kill you and your appetite will return.

Food Trivia

They say rubbing garlic on the heel of your feet causes it to be absorbed by the pores and eventually show up on your breath. Anyone brave enough to try and see? I'm curious: Who exactly is this "they" and how is it they seem to know everything?

+++ The Daily Bites are mini-lessons in how I use EFT to maintain my 80 pound weight loss. Twice weekly and free +++

Playing With Food: Making Sugar Crystals

This is a treat that's fun to make. Sugar isn't causing rampant obesity; rather the combination of little exercise and tons of snacking. Making treats at home gives back food enjoyment and satisfaction. Plus it takes effort. For sugar crystals you have to wait a week!

When's the last time you made a batch of cookies? So easy to just get a package at the store, but what if you took a Saturday afternoon with your kids and made a batch or two. Then, so what if you eat six cookies with still warm, gooey chocolates chips? It's wonderful to experience food again.

It's not baking cookies and eating half a batch once a year, rather the ease of getting a package at the store and gobbling them down twice a week. If you do this you know who you are. You can cut back, eat half as much next time, just to see what happens. Baby steps. It's okay to take little baby steps in your quest for better health.

Recipes for sugar crystals: This fellow is quite serious about growing crystals. ;-()

You can also grow crystals (not edible though) from Mrs. ___ Bluing (used for bleaching), strange but true. Here's a link to their instructions for growing salt crystals, so grab those kids and have some fun!

+++ ---------- 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?
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Website's I Like

Grub Hub: Restaurant Reviews for select cities. I like when you can see the menus beforehand and reviews are great. Hopefully this will spread to more cities soon.

Food Blogs Texas Burger Guy

For those who are obsessed with all things burger-n-buns check out the Texas Burger Guy. He's got real live pics of the burger that has a Krispy Kreme donut bun.

Learn EFT for Losing the Weight with The Daily Bites

Get The Daily Bites for ideas and suggestions for using EFT in your weight program. This is how I use EFT daily, and if you want more, here's links to learn Advanced EFT

One More Bite's Weight Loss Articles Archives

Now nearly 70 articles! Some of the first articles include Something else and another article

Until next time, yours in good eating, Kathryn Martyn Smith

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