What I'm going to do with 10,000 pounds of tomatoes.

Well, not 10,000 pounds exactly, but close.  This is what I have starting at me right now, and I have another box just like these in the house we've been working on that I forgot to include in the following picture.

Did I mention that the vines outside are already ready for a picking too?  Please don't think I'm complaining, I'm not.  I am a little overwhelmed, but I'm not complaining.  Our CA summer was so mild the tomatoes didn't get the heat they needed to ripen, so we are having a late harvest.  (On the plus side, fresh tomatoes for Thanksgiving)

So today, I'm doing what other garden growers do this time of year who lack large freezers and time to can.

I'm getting creative.

List of High Fiber Foods and Fiber Content

Here are typical High Fiber Foods along with the approximate number of grams of fiber they contain.

A list of high fiber foods helps you know which foods to include in daily meal planning. Obtaining adequate fiber is an important part of a healthy lifestyle.

The recommended daily fiber consumption should be about 25-30 grams for an adult. The walls of plant cells are the sources of dietary fiber.

Fiber contents shown below on the list of high fiber foods are for a food quantity of 1/2 cup unless otherwise noted:

• Bananas, 3 grams - medium 8" long
• Beans, 6-10 grams - baked beans, black beans , great northern beans, kidney beans, garbanzos, pinto beans, white beans
• Berries, 4-5 grams - blackberries, raspberries
• Bran Cereals, 5-10 grams - All-Bran, Bran Buds, 100% Bran, Raisin Bran
• Bread, 4-7 grams - 2 slices whole wheat, pumpernickel, seven-grain
• Broccoli, 4-5 grams
• Brussels Sprouts, 2 grams
• Carrots, 3-4 grams
• Dried Figs, 10 grams - 3 figs
• Fruit, 4 grams - medium apple, medium pear
. Green Beans, 2 grams - broad beans, pole beans, snap beans
• Greens, 4-6 grams - beet greens, collards, kale, spinach, turnip greens
• Lentils, 6 grams
• Lima beans - 4-6 grams
• Peas, 7-9 grams - black-eyed peas, green peas
• Potatoes, 4-5 grams - medium baked Idaho or sweet potato
• Sweet Corn, 5 grams

The best fiber supplements are rice bran or psyllium made from ground-up psyllium seeds.

Be sure to have a print out of High Fiber Foods list so you can always have the best choice which healthy fiber foods to include in your daily diet.

Three Red Flag Warnings Leading to Weight Gain After Bariatric Surgery

By Kaye Bailey

Before undergoing bariatric surgery for weight loss it is hard to imagine that we could possibly ever become one of "those people" who gain weight after losing it with the help of surgery. Sadly, at some point most patients who have gastric surgery as their last hope for weight loss eventually regain some weight back. It can happen quickly and without fanfare. Here are three red

Calorie free and tasty snack: Kim Chi Cucumber

We have such a variety of vegetables right now, to prevent burnout, we are creating different meals.  Just last night my hubby made a variation of  lasagna using several veggies from the garden.  I am proud of him, he's still eating zucchini after several months of cooking with it.

At our favorite Japanese restaurant, we enjoy a dish called Tako Kim Chi.  It's cucumber and octopus covered with kim chi sauce.  Such an easy recipe to recreate, but since I'm not proficient in octopus preparation, I will leave that treat for when we eat out.  

What we do instead is chop up cucumbers from the garden and drizzle kim chi sauce over it.  The sauce was hard to find because you typically can't find it at your local grocery store.  I had to go to an Asian market to find it.  

You know what shocked me the most at the market?  It wasn't the embryonic, purple eggs or the numerous bottles of fish parts pickled, fermented, salted, etc.  What shocked me the most was the isle of bagged MSG.  I try to avoid every trace of the stuff in my diet and yet there were bags and bags of it up and down the isle.

  

The only downer with the sauce is that it does have MSG in it, so I use it sparingly and not very often.  What I would like to do is make my own sauce with natural ingredients.  I'm on a quest for a recipe.

Getting Rid of Cellulite: Goodbye Cellulite

How to get rid of cellulite on thighs without exercising:

"Cellulite treatments can indeed make a difference in reducing the appearance of dimply fat"

That's the word from expert dermatologist Jeannette graf, M.D. To get rid of cellulite, she recommends a combo of Endermologie, a massage treatment that thickens connective tissue to give skin a firmer appearance, plus stimulates the lymph system, and VelaShape, which combines radio waves, infrared light, massage and suction to boost lymph drainage and shrink fat cells.

Three hitches: It generally takes four weeks to see real results, cellulite treatments must be continued or dimples will return and each treatment costs about $100.

For a low-tech solution to getting rid of cellulite, take a cue from Brazil's bikini-beautiful women, who rub sand on problem spots as they lounge on the beach. The massage helps stimulate the lymphatic system to release trapped toxins, while the rough sand helps smooth the skin's surface.

Pre-beach season, try a body bar that features sand-like granules such as Buffy Body Butter by LUSH. It contains ground almonds, rice and aduki beans, and you'll say goodbye cellulite just in time for the beach season.

It's not a project, it's called life

Another incredibly long day. I think it's been about 16 hours with maybe a half hour break that I've been staring at this computer. My eyeballs feel like burned out sockets.

I managed to get in a good workout this morning and my eating has been great. Mainly because I don't really have time to think much about food. That gives you a clue as to how busy my work has been. Food is always on my mind!

I've been thinking about what I wrote yesterday, Monday. About how I couldn't handle another project right now, referring to my weight loss. The truth is that I can't look at it as a "project". That's been my problem (or part of it) my entire life. If I couldn't give it 100% of my focus I would fail. When I'm 100% on and it's my entire focal point, I'm good. When things, like life, get in my way, that's when I really have problems.

My goal this time during this work stress is to just to get through it the best I can. Get to the gym, even if it's only thirty minutes, which lately there's been a few days that was all I could squeeze into my day. Today it was an hour and a half, which felt great, but thirty minutes is my minimum, an hour is better, and an hour and a half is optimal. Of course, watch my eating. Maybe I can't journal every bite, but I know what to do and what not to do when it comes to food. I'm not new at this game. :)

One of these days, soon I hope, things will be back to normal. Right now, I just have to make the best of it.

I've finally hit the wall

It's taken several weeks of long hours and little sleep, but I've finally hit the wall. I'm exhausted beyond words. I feel so tired, like I could sleep for weeks.

I got hit up today with a new requirement for what I've been working on. It's not something I can do in an hour, but will probably take a full day of heads down coding. We go to prod in a week, I wanted to yell, "You've got to be kidding!". Hopefully I live through this period of my life.

I've already decided I'm taking a week off as soon as this misery is over. I need some down time to just unwind at home. I can hardly wait. I want my life back!

Not much else to report. My eating is pretty good, but not perfect. No fast food or sugar, just too much of the good stuff. I'm not gaining weight, but holding steady at 173. That doesn't make me happy but right now I just can't deal with another project in my life.

It's a little after 8:30pm and I'm going to bed. My three hours of sleep last night is catching up with me. I miss the old me. I feel like I've lost myself along the way.