Recipes Wanted: Holiday Cookbook

Link to download your easy How-To GuideI know if you are like me things got nutty crazy over the holidays and I didn't get nearly everything I wanted entered into our great new cookbook. So to help me --- and encourage YOU --- We have extended the deadline to February 15, 2008. Now do not get feeling all comfy thinking -- ahh, 6 more weeks. Get entering now so that Celadon, the First Lady of the

30 Pounds to Go

Meredith has 30 pounds left to go. She is halfway to her goal weight. Last year her goal was to lose sixty pounds and she succeeded in losing thirty. She did this by cutting out a lot of sugar and exercising regularly. She went from a size 16 to a size 12 (she is 5'10") and was feeling pretty proud and comfortable with her weight as she had not fit into a size 12 since she was a kid.

But over Christmas her father spent a long time in the emergency room in the hospital due to his Type II diabetes. She says;

There are few things that I fear more than developing Type II diabetes. I've seen how it can maim and cripple both mind and body when left unchecked, or when lifelong habits prove insurmountable. Having full and proper use of my limbs, appendages and brain is a better motivator than being able to tug on size-8 jeans, though you'd think otherwise if you read my food journals from the past few years.

Now she is determined to lose thirty more pounds. See her story; 30 Pounds to Go.

Yes we are back in Blighty...

But only for 72 hours.

We are off to our hilariously dubbed 'chateau' in France on Wednesday morning. Here is a view of said 'chateau' from inside one July morning...



Yeah, chateau it ain't! But its GREAT! We love it and it sleeps 6 so cant be bad.

So... Moscow was interesting. I enjoyed it greatly. Its amazing to see the things on the telly in real life. To be honest, its like they didn't really exist... they were unreal... and now they're not.

Red Square, The Kremlin, Itzmaelovsky Market, Bolshoi, Lenin's Mausoleum and The Russian State Museum that conveniently covers history just up to 1900 and therefore not bothering with the Tsar, Tsarina and the Russian Royal family that they killed.

It was a pretty chilling place. A definite "Wow" factor but kind of not in a good way. I dunno... I cant really describe it. I am glad I went.

I haven't uploaded my photos to the PC yet, but when I do I will show you some stunners.

My weight? Who knows. I am not going to bother even looking because I know it will be terrible. I am usually sick every day, but after I am sick I can always eat some more. I guess its just a case of fine tuning it all. I feel rubbish about it and have consumed a HELL of a lot of wine over the Russian break. I am likely to do another couple of gallons whilst in France, but then I am on the wagon. Its not good to swill down half a days calories in an evening, let alone what its doing to my guts!

So I am just kind of waiting to meet the Fill Doctor. I want him to actually give a damn.

Right now I am writing this whilst semi choking on some chicken.
Today I have eaten a half plate of garden salad and a handful of cooked pasta with garlic, herbs and olive oil on. I have had a pint of water with lemon and ginger slices, 3 cups of coffee and 4 mouthfuls of curry and rice. I sicked up the first 2 mouthfuls, and then ate a little more when it had settled down (and the meal was cold) and on the second chunk of chicken I had to stop. We are talking 100g of food. No more.

So, I am off to throw this up and grab a yogurt.

See ya all January 7th.

Quotes About New Year's Resolutions

I made no resolutions for the New Year. The habit of making plans, of criticizing, sanctioning and molding my life, is too much of a daily event for me. ~Anaïs Nin


I think in terms of the day's resolutions, not the year's. ~Henry Moore


One resolution I have made, and try always to keep, is this: To rise above the little things. ~John Burroughs


I do think New Year's resolutions can't technically be expected to begin on New Year's Day, don't you? Since, because it's an extension of New Year's Eve, smokers are already on a smoking roll and cannot be expected to stop abruptly on the stroke of midnight with so much nicotine in the system. Also dieting on New Year's Day isn't a good idea as you can't eat rationally but really need to be free to consume whatever is necessary, moment by moment, in order to ease your hangover. I think it would be much more sensible if resolutions began generally on January the second. ~Helen Fielding, Bridget Jones's Diary

Poll Results: How Much Weight Do You Want to Lose?

Thanks to the 804 people who answered the first poll. The question was - How Many Pounds Do You Want to Lose?



The results were surprising as I had thought a larger percentage of people would have wanted to lose more than fifty pounds. But it turns out that 65% of the readers here want to lose less than 50 pounds.

I haven't focused too much on weight loss success stories which involve losing less than fifty pounds. So as a result of these poll results, expect to see more of these stories here soon, though I realize everyone (like me) is inspired by the really big weight loss stories and these are also easier to find and write about. But for anyone who has succeeded in their goal to lose 10 to 50 pounds, please let me know about it if you'd like your story featured here.

Thanks again for voting.

Happy Holidays!

Wishing everyone very happy holidays ahead.

I'll be back to posting in a few days. Thinking of New Years resolutions yet anyone?

The poster here is Santa Skiing.

Alli -is it among the best weight loss pills ever!!

Alli is the next big weight loss pill taking the markets by storm. It has a compound called orlistat (also marketed under the trade name Xenical by Roche or as an OTC as alli by GlaxoSmithKline). As you may guessed this is a drug designed to treat obesity. It is marketed in among weight loss pills and some even claim it to be the best weight loss pills ever.

Its primary function is preventing the absorption of fats from the human diet, thereby reducing intake of calories. It is intended for use in conjunction with a physician-supervised reduced-calorie diet. As had been described in one of my earlier posts that it does this by inhibiting an enzyme in the gut and therefore prevents fat from breaking down and eventually getting absorbed. This results in decreased fat absorption and eventually decreased caloric intake. If one is able to exploit this situation to his benefit by increasing caloric output one can easily lose some extra pounds. This is very realistic and it is for this reason why Alli is being considered to be on of the best weight loss pills ever.

Another thing to consider in this regards is that it is one of the few “best fat burning pills” out there which is FDA regulated. Clinical trials have clearly indicated that between 35.5% and 54.8% of subjects on Orlistat achieved a 5% or greater decrease in body mass (not all of this mass was necessarily fat); Between 16.4% and 24.8% achieved at least a 10% decrease in body mass; 37% had a reduction in the incidence of type II diabetes. The problem arose after orlistat was stopped- a number of subjects regained upto 35% of the weight they had lost. Subjects who had lost 5% of their initial body weight in the first three months, lost 16.4% of their weight at the end of the year.

One should be aware although this is one of the best weight loss pills (best fat burning pills) out there it does have some sideeffects and only 50% of these last over a week. These include:

Steatorrhea

Flatulence

Frequent bowel movements

Poor absorption of fat soluble vitamins (A,D,E,K and beta carotene)- it may be a wide idea to supplement these vitamins.

It may interact with some other drugs like cyclosporine.

Before you do commence this drug it is important to consult your doctor to see if you do not have any contraindications to the use of olistat (alli). Experience with this drug has been extensive and for this reason it is being considered as one of the best weight loss pills (best fat burning pills) ever. It should be used like other products to get you out of the woods rather than to be dependent on this for ever.