Down down down & out

Would love to tell you peeps that I have lost shit loads this month. Haven't. But have lost!

YAAY

Last Saturday I had a little teeny weeny fill with Jane. Just 0.2mls but bugger me, what a difference! I have puked quite a bit, so I need to go careful until i work it out. I haven't, however, had one of those god awful 'can't swallow my own spit' episodes. I think i would definitely have had one if I had had 0.25!! Isn't it funny how very very VERY little fluid makes a difference when things are going right!

It's impressed me to be honest.

I am currently waiting on my Roast Beef dinner to go down... small amount of vomit where I didn't completely chew a bit of broccoli to death... and then I can have my pudding. I might give it about 2 hours until I try!

All I can say girls is HOOOO FUCKING RAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got on the scale this morning, and it wasn't earth shattering (maybe that is a good thing too!! HAHA) but it was lower. 114.9kgs. A whole new number to play around with and plug into the Gym Machines!!

I have only lost 7kgs since October, but I feel so much better for it. This time last year I was only a few pounds lower than I am now. That gives me a lot of hope as I got a whole HEAP heavier. It's slow, but the trend is down down down!!!

Tomorrow I have ambitiously decided to stage a Hen Night for my friend.

We start with tapas... mixed olives, cheeses and quail eggs then a starter of Mozzarella wrapped with Prosciutto and dressed with a Chilli Spiked Pesto, followed for Main of a Mixed Fondue - Beef, Scallops, Prawns, Corn, Okra, Broccoli and Cauliflower with different dips and a tempura batter to fry it in and the finishing with Rhubarb and Lemongrass Fool, with rhubarb lemonade (made with the juice from the rhubarb, desert wine and lemon juice!! YUM)

should be good, but with the stress, having to wear a bra and the general quantity I am feeling less than optimistic about how much I will eat. At least I am at home and can puke at will!! LOL

Anyway, much love ladies, must go and watch my fave show... Home and Away!!! LOVE IT!

night all

Lemon Chicken

(makes 4 servings)

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, trimmed of excess fat
  
  


• 2 tbsp chopped fresh or 2 tsp dried basil leaves
  
  


• 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
  
  


• 2 tbsp lemon juice
  
  


• 2 tsp olive oil, canola oil or vegetable oil
  
  


• ½ tsp salt
  
  


• 1 clove garlic, minced
  
  


• Non-fat cooking spray
  
  

Preparation:

• Make lemon sauce: In a medium bowl Beat remaining ingredients with a fork.
  
  


• Spray a 10” skillet with cooking spray and cook chicken over medium-high heat until juices are no longer pink when thickest part of chicken is cut (about15 minutes).
  
  


• Pour some lemon sauce over chicken, turn chicken over and cook for an additional 15-20 seconds.
  
  


• Serve chicken topped with remainder of sauce.
  
  

Make 4 Servings:

Weight loss recipes Amount Per Serving(1 chicken breast (114 g)): 188 Calories, 31 g Protein, 1 g carbohydrates, 0 g Dietary Fiber, 6 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 84 mg cholesterol, 597 mg sodium

Cauliflower and Leek Quiche

(makes 2 pies or 12 servings)

Ingredients:

• 2 (9”) un-baked pie shells, at room temperature.
  
  


• 1 leek, chopped
  
  


• 1 cup cauliflower, chopped
  
  


• 1 tbsp butter
  
  


• 8 eggs, lightly beaten
  
  


• 2 cups shredded cheese, (half mozzarella, half cheddar)
  
  


• 1½ cups low fat milk
  
  

Preparation:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
  
  


• Toast pie crusts in oven for about 10 minutes.
  
  


• Sauté cauliflower and leeks in butter until soft.
  
  


• Blend eggs, milk and cheese together until blended.
  
  


• Sprinkle a thin layer of sautéed cauliflower and leeks onto bottom of toasted pie crusts.
  
  


• Pour eggs and cheese mixture over cauliflower and leeks.
  
  


• Bake in oven until knife inserted near center comes out clean (about 30 to 35 minutes).
  
  

Make 12 Servings:

Weight loss recipes Amount Per Serving(1/6 of recipe (119 g)): 247 Calories, 11 g Protein, 14 g carbohydrates, 1 g Dietary Fiber, 16 g fat, 6 g saturated fat, 145 mg cholesterol, 310 mg sodium

Food Reward: a Dominant Factor in Obesity, Part I

A Curious Finding

It all started with one little sentence buried in a paper about obese rats. I was reading about how rats become obese when they're given chocolate Ensure, the "meal replacement drink", when I came across this:

...neither [obesity-prone] nor [obesity-resistant] rats will overeat on either vanilla- or strawberry-flavored Ensure.

The only meaningful difference between chocolate, vanilla and strawberry Ensure is the flavor, yet rats eating the chocolate variety overate, rapidly gained fat and became metabolically ill, while rats eating the other flavors didn't (1). Furthermore, the study suggested that the food's flavor determined, in part, what amount of fatness the rats' bodies "defended."

As I explained in previous posts, the human (and rodent) brain regulates the amount of fat the body carries, in a manner similar to how the brain regulates blood pressure, body temperature, blood oxygenation and blood pH (2). That fact, in addition to several other lines of evidence, suggests that obesity probably results from a change in this regulatory system. I refer to the amount of body fat that the brain defends as the "body fat setpoint", however it's clear that the setpoint is dependent on diet and lifestyle factors. The implication of this paper that I could not escape is that a food's flavor influences body fatness and probably the body fat setpoint.

An Introduction to Food Reward

The brain contains a sophisticated system that assigns a value judgment to everything we experience, integrating a vast amount of information into a one-dimensional rating system that labels things from awesome to terrible. This is the system that decides whether we should seek out a particular experience, or avoid it. For example, if you burn yourself each time you touch the burner on your stove, your brain will label that action as bad and it will discourage you from touching it again. On the other hand, if you feel good every time you're cold and put on a sweater, your brain will encourage that behavior. In the psychology literature, this phenomenon is called "reward," and it's critical to survival.

The brain assigns reward to, and seeks out, experiences that it perceives as positive, and discourages behaviors that it views as threatening. Drugs of abuse plug directly into reward pathways, bypassing the external routes that would typically trigger reward. Although this system has been studied most in the context of drug addiction, it evolved to deal with natural environmental stimuli, not drugs.

As food is one of the most important elements of survival, the brain's reward system is highly attuned to food's rewarding properties. The brain uses input from smell, taste, touch, social cues, and numerous signals from the digestive tract* to assign a reward value to foods. Experiments in rats and humans have outlined some of the qualities of food that are inherently rewarding:

• Fat
• Starch
• Sugar
• Salt
• Meatiness (glutamate)
• The absence of bitterness
  
• Certain textures (e.g., soft or liquid calories, crunchy foods)
• Certain aromas (e.g., esters found in many fruits)
• Calorie density ("heavy" food)
  

We are generally born liking the qualities listed above, and aromas and flavors that are associated with these qualities become rewarding over time. For example, beer tastes terrible the first time you drink it because it's bitter, but after you drink it a few times and your brain catches wind that there are calories and a drug in there, it often begins tasting good. The same applies to many vegetables. Children are generally not fond of vegetables, but if you serve them spinach smothered in butter enough times, they'll learn to like it by the time they're adults.

The human brain evolved to deal with a certain range of rewarding experiences. It didn't evolve to constructively manage strong drugs of abuse such as heroin and crack cocaine, which overstimulate reward pathways, leading to the pathological drug seeking behaviors that characterize addiction. These drugs are "superstimuli" that exceed our reward system's normal operating parameters. Over the next few posts, I'll try to convince you that in a similar manner, industrially processed food, which has been professionally crafted to maximize its rewarding properties, is a superstimulus that exceeds the brain's normal operating parameters, leading to an increase in body fatness and other negative consequences.


* Nerves measure stomach distension. A number of of gut-derived paracrine and endocrine signals, including CCK, PYY, ghrelin, GLP-1 and many others potentially participate in food reward sensing, some by acting directly on the brain via the circulation, and others by signaling indirectly via the vagus nerve. More on this later.

Grilled Tuna Steaks

(makes 4 servings)

Ingredients:

• 4 tuna steaks (4 oz. each)
  
  


• 2 tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce
  
  


• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
  
  


• 1 tsp sugar
  
  


• 1 tsp whole-grain mustard
  
  


• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
  
  


• parsley for garnish, chopped (optional)
  
  


• lemon wedges (optional)
  
  

Preparation:

• Place tuna in a shallow dish in a single layer.
  
  


• Whisk together the soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, sugar, mustard, and vegetable oil in a small-sized bowl until combined.
  
  


• Pour marinde over tuna and gently turn steaks until well-coated on each side. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes up to 2 hours.
  
  


• Prepare grill.
  
  


• Remove tuna and reserve marinade for basting. Grill tuna for about 10 to 15 minutes, turning once and basting often with reserved marinade.
  
  


• Serve steaks with lemon wedges and garnished with parsley.
  
  

Make 4 Servings:

Weight loss recipes Amount Per Serving(¼ of recipe (131 g)): 162 Calories, 27 g Protein, 2 g carbohydrates, 0 g Dietary Fiber, 5 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 51 mg cholesterol, 417 mg sodium

Life is precious

I have a friend whose diet was impeccable and taught yoga.  She was as beautiful on the inside as she was on the outside, always fashionable with a bright smile.  Her lifestyle was the epitome of health and someone I looked up to as an example.  You can imagine my surprise when she unexpectedly passed away this week at  age 49 from cancer.  She was by far, the healthiest woman I know and now she's gone.

A question that crossed my mind was, "Why put forth all the efforts to be healthy if you could die early anyway?"   I mean, if you are going to get a life threatening illness young, why spend all that time checking labels, chopping produce and searching for tasty and healthy recipes so you can live longer? I felt a little guilty when I entertained that thought for a few moments longer than I should, but after talking to others, I found that it was a pretty common thought.

So what is the answer? It's simple. If I was currently diagnosed with a life threatening illness, I would beat myself up. "Why didn't I eat better? Why didn't I workout harder? Why didn't I just DO better? I do pretty good, but I admit I could do a whole lot better! As for my friend, I really doubt if she berated herself with such questions. What peace that would be, knowing I did everything on my end, in the face of such heart breaking news.

I know everything in life happens for a reason, I honestly do.  I also know that there are consequences for every action taken.  More often than not, our lifestyles determine the quality of life we live and if we do our best in our health efforts, we will be rewarded.  Even with heart breaking news, if a life is lived to the best of our ability, we can still have peace.

Grilled Pork Chops with Grape and Fig Chutney

(makes 4 servings)

Ingredients:

• ½ cup onion, chopped
  
  


• ½ cup dried figs, chopped
  
  


• ½ cup red wine vinegar
  
  


• ¼ cup dry red wine
  
  


• 1 tbsp sugar
  
  


• 2 tsp paprika
  
  


• 1 tsp peeled and grated fresh ginger
  
  


• 1 3 inches cinnamon stick
  
  


• 1½ cups seedless red grapes, halved
  
  


• 4 medium sized pork chops
  
  


• 2 tsp olive oil
  
  


• Salt and pepper, to taste
  
  

Preparation:

• Prepare grill.
  
  


• Combine onion, dried figs, red wine vinegar, dry red wine, sugar, paprika, ginger and cinnamon stick in a medium saucepan and heat to medium-high heat. Bring to a boil and cook, uncovered for about 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in grapes and reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes then remove and discard cinnamon stick.
  
  


• Brush pork chops with olive oil then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill on both sides until done.
  
  


• Serve chops with grape and fig chutney.
  
  

Make 4 Servings:

Weight loss recipes Amount Per Serving(¼ of recipe (253 g)): 297 Calories, 23 g Protein, 34 g carbohydrates, 4 g Dietary Fiber, 8 g fat, 2 g saturated fat, 62 mg cholesterol, 71 mg sodium