Motivation

Today, in History

What happened on this date in history?

Barack Obama was inaugurated as 44th US President (2009)
Australia beats India 2-0 to win the Wold Cup (1992)
First federal holiday honoring Marting Luther King, Jr (1986)
Pittsburgh Steelers beat Los Angeles Rams, 31-19 in Pasadena and Terry Bradshaw was the MVP (1980)
“Meet the Beatles” album is released in the US (1964) (I have an original copy!)
FDR is sworn in 4th consecutive term as US President (1945)
Hostilities cease in US Revolutionary War (1783)
First English Parliament was sworn in by Earl of Leicester (1285)

And in 2012, I reached my weight loss goal!

And they all lived happily ever after, never regaining an ounce.

Yeah. Right.

Oh, please don’t misunderstand me. I am still wearing my new size in clothing. (Specifically, my shirts went from 3XL w/18″ neck to Medium w/15 1/2″ neck, my waist 48″ to 34″, and my suit from 54 Portly to 42 Regular.) They are not even tight (except for that one shirt–there is NO WAY that neck is actually 15 1/2 inches as labeled!) Over the past 2 years, I lived in my “success range” which is about my goal plus or minus 3 pounds. Actually, for about the first year, I actually slid down another 6 pounds from my goal, and was living at “G minus 6 pounds”. That was fine. But towards the end of 2013, my weight started to climb. To G minus 3…then G…then G plus 3. Still…I was within my success range, so it was all good, right?

Wrong!

I was getting complacent. Not lazy, but relaxed. I haven’t regained too much, but I am at the top of what I consider to be successful. I don’t have any more room to wander up. So, what am I going to do differently?

Nothing. And everything.

I never really stopped measuring and logging my foods…but I also starting overlooking those extra couple hazelnuts or walnuts at the holidays. I love nuts, and seeing a bowl of them was an “attractive nuisance”. And since I only ate one or two nuts (at a time), well, maybe I didn’t bother logging them. Of course, the problem was that I would walk past them several times a day, and the “one or two” became “10-15”.

And I know that having two HUGE bags of candy in the garage was a mistake. We had a bag of “Christmas Crack” was simultaneously terrible and delicious, and I know I didn’t honestly log everything I ate from it. After all, how could a small handful hurt? I mean, it is only Chex mix, with butter, brown sugar, corn syrup and cashews? (Oh, I can almost taste it yet.) I also found it difficult to walk past the Caramel Puffcorn without doing “quality control”. Every day.

Here’s how bad it was: I remember Tammy coming home from work one day, and she asked me about my day. I told her that I felt it was successful, because I spent the whole day at home, and I didn’t eat any of those treats.  Guess what I did that night immediately before brushing my teeth prior to going to sleep? (But it was only small double handful!)

Fortunately at least this year we didn’t make our Hot Buttered Rum mix! (Ice cream, butter, powdered sugar and brown sugar.)

I am back to carefully logging everything. I put the nuts away. (The Christmas munchies are thankfully long gone!) I am staying on budget. Not under budget. Not over budget. But at budget.

It’s deja vu all over again. Measure. Log. Move.

Success is possible. Success is an eternal quest, and it can be fleeting. If you forget, even for a little while, old habits can come crashing back. I’m not telling you this to scare you, or to make you feel as though this challenge is impossible. I am telling you so that I remind myself that this challenge is just that: a challenge. It only becomes impossible when you surrender to it.

Today, I am still within my official success range. And I am going to stay there.

New Year’s Resolutions!

Pop quiz: This year, my New Year’s resolution is: ___________
How many of you already have an answer for that question? I’m willing to guess that many of you answered that question by saying one or more of the following:
·         More Exercise
·         Better Calorie Control
·         Eat Healthier Foods
·         More Water
·         Quit Smoking
You may even have resolutions to:
·         Start That Blog
·         Write Your Book
·         Start a Business
·         Start Your Own Cold Shower Therapy Challenge (Okay, probably not that.)
Those are very good goals. I wish power and success for you to help you reach your goals in that you will start in 2014.
Wait. What?
As I write this, it is Tuesday, December 17.  The New Year is 15 days away. Why are you waiting until January 1 to start working on your resolutions, which is really only another word for “goals”?
Are you going to magically have more strength, willpower and decision-making skills in 2014 that you don’t already have? Will it be any easier to buy healthy foods in 15 days than it is now? Is 2014 the “Year of Guaranteed Success” but only for journeys that are started in that year?
Pretty ridiculous ideas, aren’t they?
No, the real reason is that right now, for the next two weeks, you will be bombarded with feasts, parties, events, meals and gifts of foods. The temptation of food will be omnipresent. You will be focused on all those activities for the next 2 weeks. Those temptations will steal time from you and you will be unable to go out and walk in the morning, or up a flight of stairs at work. You won’t have the opportunity to say “No, thank you” to that second (or third, or fourth) cocktail at the office party. You won’t have the budget to drink water instead of your daily  Caramel-Mocha-Mint-Latteccino (venti size, of course.)
Pretty ridiculous excuses, aren’t they?
You will have the same time, energy, budget in 2014 that you have right now. However, in you will be missing one thing that you currently have: 15 more days to work towards your goal, if you start right now! That is two weeks toward reaching your goal, two weeks toward creating a new habit, two weeks closer to success.
Additionally, in 2014, you probably will have an additional 1-3 pounds around your midsection from all the eating that you will do. (Great–more weight to lose!)
But here is what will happen to most people. You are going to wait to start your resolutions. And then, on New Year’s Day, you are going to wake up, and say, “Well, today is a holiday, and all the college bowl games are on, so I’ll start my resolution tomorrow.” The next day is a Thursday, and you all know that the best day to start anything is a Monday, so let’s just wait until…2015?
I am optimistic by nature, but a realist by experience. Most people quit on their goals. Many never even start. And that is too bad, because I believe that anything is achievable, as long as you start and never quit.
By the way, for any goals/resolutions such as weight loss, increased activity, smoking cessation, do you know the absolute best to start working toward that goal? No? The best time was any time before right now, so that you wouldn’t have as far to go before reaching success.
But since I don’t have a time machine, I can’t send you back into the past to let you restart, so the next best day is today. Right now.
If not now, when? If not you, who?

But even I have a resolution, effective today. I will avoid eating the delicious Caramel Cashew Chex Mix that I made last Sunday in preparation for upcoming holiday parties, and now stored in a 2.5 gallon Ziploc bags out in our freezing garage. And, like many people working toward goals, I am going to remind myself of that resolution/goal every day. (Because this morning I was unsuccessful in holding myself to this resolution.)
What is YOUR goal (not a “resolution”)? When are you starting?

Cold Showers: Why DO I Take Them?

Today was Cold Shower, Day 52, and the water temp is down to an even 48F/9C.
At a neighborhood party last Friday, a few neighbors wanted an explanation of my practice, and I tried to give them one. A few were polite and made comments of semi-understanding, but one guy was blunt and said, “No offense, Trev, but that is just stupid.” We all laughed. I wasn’t offended at all. I realize that my cold shower habit is “non-standard”. That’s okay, I can live with that.
But do you know what else is “non-standard”?
Losing 87 pounds and keeping it off for 22+ months in definitely “non-standard.” Statistics (I don’t have the reference in front of me) show that only 5% of people who achieve a weight loss goal maintain their goal weight for more than 12 months. That means those people are truly “non-standard.” Losing weight and then maintaining that loss requires a different mentality. It requires a different type of focus. It needs drive, determination, and the internal motivation to defer short-term immediate pleasure for long term success.
Am I saying that you can’t lose weight and maintain if you don’t take cold showers? Hell no! (THAT would be a stupid statement!) But I am saying that continued success needs a constant and definite focus, and for everyone that will take different forms. One of the LoseIt moderators, Eve, is a marathon runner (she ran in the most recent Boston Marathon.) The ability to run 26.2 miles also requires drive, determination, the willingness to accept discomfort, and internal motivation. (She has also been maintaining a successful weight loss for 11 years.) Diana Nyad swam from Cuba to Florida in 2013. Philippe Croizon swam the English Channel in 2012 as a quadruple amputee. Erik Weihenmayer climbed Mt Everest in 2001. He is blind. Those people and many more, live the “non-standard” life. All chose a task that was truly challenging and something that most people would probably not encourage anyone else to do, let alone try themselves.
I am not comparing my success to climbing Mt Everest, nor saying cold showers are the same as the English Channel. But I am saying that to achieve goals, sometimes one must be willing to accept discomfort, difficulty and the willingness to stand up and say “I am non-standard, because I will accept nothing less than success!” My cold showers, in a small way, are my daily reminder that a little discomfort is a fair price to enjoy for ongoing success.
So, find your own personal “non-standard.” Everyone can succeed. We can change that statistic to a number more than 5%. But you need to go outside the norms to achieve a goal that it not the within the norm. Embrace it. Color outside the lines—in fact, to hell with lines, draw your own picture! Use it to fuel your motivation, to keep your eyes on the goal and to never, ever quit!

What is YOUR “non-standard”? How is it helping you reach your goals? Please share your thoughts here so that others may learn from you.

Here is another article that talks about the benefits of a cold shower.

You Can’t Do That! It’s Impossible! It’s Crazy!

“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.” Paulo Coelho

For those of you keeping track (you know who you are!), today was day 7 of my Cold Shower challenge.

My what????

Joel Runyon, entrepreneur and adventurist, founded a company based on the idea that nothing is impossible and to reach their goals, people need to be willing to endure some discomfort on the way to success. Part of this is a challenge to take a 5 minute cold shower, every day for 30 or more days.

Yes. I know. I am crazy. That has long been established. Now that we have that label applied and out of the way, how do I survive the shower? I fire up my iPhone, get some music pumping, and turn the shower on cold. No hot water at all. (Currently, the water temperature is about 63F/17C.)  That’s the key. Start cold. Don’t start warm and then turn it down. Just get in and confront it. (I would say “Man up” but as a nurse educator, I teach my students to always be gender inclusive.) Climb in. The first 30-60 seconds are terrible. Seriously. It’s cold, but it burns, too. It will take your breath away. If the phrase “WTH am I doing????” doesn’t repeatedly go through your head, then you probably don’t have the water on ice cold.

Then what? Jump around (safely). Pump your arms. Shadow box your ice cold opponent. Maybe let loose a Norse battle cry. (Or whatever.) Do whatever you need to do to get through that first minute. Because at about that time, your mind’s voice gets tired of shouting obscenities at you, and your body starts adapting. It becomes less cold. It will never get warm, but it becomes tolerable. Really. That is not my hypothermic brain talking, you really will begin to get used to it.

Actual water temperature

It is cold. It is not impossible. In fact, it is incredible how you feel when you climb out, NEVER having turned on the warm water. I am energized! I think the reason hot showers are relaxing is that they sap energy away. Cold brings it on!

But it is not about the cold water. The cold shower is the merely vehicle through which you begin to train your mind and body. Enduring the cold is about making a decision to purposely do something that is uncomfortable. We all avoid things that we know are uncomfortable. We postpone writing that paper (or grading one.) We avoid the dentist or doctor. We decide to sleep in instead going to a walk/run.

Every time we make that decision to remain comfortable, regardless of the context, it makes avoiding discomfort easier next time. And sometimes, the discomfort is the price of success. Likewise, the longterm price of immediate comfort can be devastating (increased stress on the job from an ever-increasing workload, poor health, and weight gain.)

I tell my students that you cannot learn by staying within your comfort zone. Learning and growth occurs when we step beyond what we have already mastered and risk failing at something new. I try to “walk the walk” and lead by example.

We purposely eat less than we want and less than we have in the past (which causes some discomfort) and we exercise more (which may be major discomfort). However, because we voluntarily endured discomfort, we lose weight. If you are in sales, making cold calls can be very uncomfortable, but if you don’t do it, you won’t sell anything. No sales means no income and that can be even more uncomfortable! We stay up late into the night when we would prefer to be sleeping so that we can finish an important assignment. We are frequently given choices, and sometimes the temporary discomfort is the price we must pay for longer term happiness.

Avoiding pain and danger makes sense, but cold water isn’t painful nor is it dangerous. And it gives you the frame of mind that says “What else can I conquer today?”

Has it been a dream of mine to take cold showers? No! (What are you, nuts? I LOVE hot showers.) But I also want to grow beyond my current limits, and I want to help others grow, too. That WILL require me to step outside my comfort zone. I am training myself now so that I am mentally prepared for my future challenges. And we all experience challenges.

  • Why not start learning to face challenges head on, right now?
  • Why not show yourself that discomfort is temporary but conquering it is empowering?
  • What impossible challenge are you going to attempt today?

“The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a man’s determination.” Tommy Lasorda

For more information, go to Joel Runyon’s website:
Here is another article reinforcing why you should try cold showers.
************
By the way, I learned of Joel Runyon and his Cold Shower Challenge on Meron Bareket’s “Inspiring Innovation” podcast #29 http://meronbareket.com/how-to-do-the-impossible/

If you haven’t listened to Meron’s podcast, you should give it a try! He interviews entrepreneurs who we may not have heard about (yet), and reveals their success stories, providing weekly life lessons that we can use to improve our lives and empower us to achieve greatness. (Yeah, I am a fan!)

Change is an Ongoing Process

If you want to change something, there is a defined process or set of steps. Everyone takes all the steps. Sometimes the time lag between steps is brief, and sometimes the duration of one step can be very long. Some people repeat a few steps, but every step is always part of the process. Since I–and many others–are in the “weight change” process, my examples will all refer to that decision.

Step 1: Pre-contemplation
At this point, you don’t even think about a change. Life is happening and you are riding along. You rarely consider your weight, because it is not interfering with anything. Changes only occur when someone decides that an improvement can be made. At this point, you are content.

Step 2: Contemplation
Something has happened. You had an “a-ha!” moment, and it might have been an unpleasant finding. Maybe you were invited to a nice event and when you went to try on your favorite slacks, you found that you needed to coat your legs with bacon grease (why do you have so much bacon grease on hand?) and stand on the dresser while your significant other holds them open so you can jump in. In my case, my blood pressure was up to the point where the Red Cross started deferring me from donating blood. And since I worked in an ER, and knew what happens to overweight guys with very high blood pressure, I suddenly saw the problem and realized the gravity of it. In this phase, you do nothing, but you understand that something needs to happen.

Me, at about 290 pounds, in July 2006

This is a step that many people linger on. It is easy to say “I need to…” but making the decision to do something and acting on it, is much harder. And scary.

Step 3:  Preparation
At this point, you have decided what to do and have started. This can be the most exciting step! You finally are addressing the problem and very often, you quickly see initial results. Maybe you join Weight Watchers. Maybe you join a gym. Maybe you buy a bicycle. But whatever you choose, you decide a course of action and begin. In my case, I found a diet plan (The Sonoma Diet) which was very Mediterranean and looked like I could do it. I started eating the Sonoma/Mediterranean way. And I started to lose weight! In the first eight weeks, I took off 47 pounds. Then….

Step 4: Activation
This is where the action step you chose is in full swing. You are firing on all cylinders. You are making progress, and continuing to follow the plan. You may develop a support system around you, finding strength in numbers. At this point, success becomes a self-supporting machine. It gets easy. Until…you…begin…to falter.

Maybe the action plan becomes boring. The food–the same foods every day–becomes tasteless. The bike ride becomes a chore, and now the seat really starts to hurt. You start finding reasons to skip the gym. The losses slow down, and maybe you stall. These are all the mental obstacles that pop up because you have lost the excitement of the Preparation step and forgotten the “a-ha” event that sparked your Contemplation step. This is where the support system is critical. When you find yourself standing in front of the donut display, and you are thinking “will anyone notice if I lick the display case?” you can send a text message to your supporters and gain the resolve to walk past.

But without that team effort, progress can stop. Regression begins at this point, and again, without a cast of supporting characters in your life, the regression will gain speed.

April 2009, after losing 70 pounds.

For me, this did not happen until I was nine months and 70 pounds into the plan. I just sort of stopped. I thought, “Huh. I guess I’m done now.” I didn’t know about the next step, which is…

Step 5: Preservation
I thought that once I reached my goal, I was done! But in this step, you will continue to learn new habits to lay on top of your bad habits so that you can preserve your success. That takes time. And effort. And you need to keep your focus now, just as when you were beginning your action plan in the Preparation step.

Me? Over the next eight months, I put most of the weight back on. This is not uncommon, and was another “a-ha” moment, which made me re-enter the change process at the Contemplation step and restart from there. Again, this is a common detour that many people make. And like me, many people enter into a repeating loop at this point. I restarted three additional times over the next 13 months, until May 2011 when I found the LoseIt application on my iPod. Once I had my fourth “a-ha” I found a method that has served me well into the Preservation step.

May, 2011, back up to 265. How did THAT happen???

July 2012, about six months at my goal weight, about 185. 
I am still at or under my goal, 15 months after than picture was taken.

Step 6: Termination
This step applies to many changes, but not all. If you are building your home, eventually the builders give you the keys and you move it. Or you find that your retirement fund is large enough that you can stop working, so you turn in your retirement papers and move into the next phase of your life.

Weight loss is a different change, because we keep adapting our thought process. We don’t get a hair cut just once, in the style we like and never get it cut again (unless you are my oldest son), because other changes happen around you, and your hair doesn’t stop growing. We might continue to work, even into retirement, but the definition of “work” may change.

When we reach our goal weight, the Preservation step may need to become permanent. You may need to carefully consider what you eat for the rest of your life. Or, maybe you can stop being so vigilant. We are all different. Personally, I have been at or under goal weight for 19+ months, and I still measure my food and log everything I eat. It is not a burden, so I have no issues continuing. And my LoseIt app is my security blanket. I know that as long as I am able to log my foods, I can keep the weight off. I worked too hard to go backwards. Might that change? Probably. But I am in no hurry to move to the true Termination step.

Where are you? How many times have you looped back? We need to always remember that restarting is not a failure. Failure is when you never loop back and never restart the change process.

Question: What change you working on? Where are you in this process? Give us the answer below so we can all gain more confidence and success.

Also, go to my Make Your Someday Today podcast and stay current with my changes by clicking HERE.

What Do You Do To Improve Your World?

This isn’t a food-related post today, just something that popped up on Sunday’s walk.

One of our neighbors is hosting a “Little Free Library” (thanks go out to Naralyn Deloach Durbin for starting this) and another is about a half mile away near the village fire station. My wife, Tammy, is a Literacy Coach and I have loved reading since I first learned to read. We both appreciate the idea of books freely available to anyone and have an extensive personal library at home.

If you are unfamiliar with the idea, anyone can host a library. The Library can be mounted permanently to a post. Or in this case, it is mounted to a children’s wagon. It is filled with a variety of books, and other people can contribute more books to fill it. It is a simple way of helping improve the neighborhood.

If you don’t want to have a library in your front yard, what else can you do? I regularly donate platelets at the local Red Cross. My son has volunteered for a local food pantry. Tammy helps lead the education committee at our local zoo and works to promote literacy though the annual Literacy Marathon.

We all need to make our neighborhoods, cities, states and countries better. We don’t need to do a lot. We just need to do something.

What do you do to make your neighborhood a better place?

No stress. Nope. None at all!

The television cooking segments are two days away.

I decided to make Seared Tuna BLT, Baked Zucchini Fries and for dessert, the Strawberries with Balsamic Vinegar.

Thanks to Adrianne Ewald, Bushman, Fog and Flare, Andrew Carpenter, Louise Ciarleglio, and Chuck for helping me to set the menu. I appreciate your feedback here on the blog and on my Facebook page.

For those of you who live in the Green Bay area, this will be on WLUK Fox 11, on “Good Day, Wisconsin.” My segments are at 7:50am and 8:50am and will last 3-4 minutes. When the show is done, I will post links here (unless I can embed the video segments here directly. I will look into that.)  Watch for that probably on Sunday evening. As soon as I am done cooking, I need to drive home, pick up my family and go to a family wedding 100 miles away. It will be a bit hectic and I am not sure I will have any time to post anything here on Saturday.

I am really excited about this opportunity, and can’t wait for you to see it, too. Besides, you’ve seen pictures of me, but you haven’t seen me live or even heard my voice (except for a few here who know me.)

Who Is Your Greatest Fan?

Do you ride a motorcycle?

I don’t. To be totally honest, they scare me a bit. But I like the way they look. There are many brands and models. Dirt bikes, scooters, crotch rockets, three-wheelers, and big cruising bikes.

Quick! Think of one brand.

It was “Harley Davidson”, right? It is the iconic motorcycle, originating in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and you will see those bikes anywhere people ride. They have a distinctive look. They have a distinctive sound. They are not inexpensive, but if you love Harley’s, you don’t care. You won’t buy anything else.

Name another company–anywhere–that has fans who not only buy logo gear and clothing (everyone does that!) but has the logo tattooed on their body?

You think there are many Golden Arches tattooed on someone’s butt? (It would be appropriate, though.) I can’t imagine many tattoo artists have put the Coke or Pepsi logo on people. And seriously, you are either a Coke person, or a Pepsi person, right? (Me? Coke, when I have one, which is rare.) But even if you are a die-hard Pepsi drinker, I doubt that you would get that inked.

But Harley-Davidson? Lots of people get that logo inked. They don’t like H-D. They don’t love H-D. They live it. I doubt that anyone who has owned a Harley Fatboy Apehanger or Softtail has ever sold their bike and bought a Honda Goldwing. I just can’t see that happening. They are the biggest and most loyal of fans, they are the greatest fans.

Where am I going with this?

Who is your greatest fan? Who would be willing to get your logo or image tattooed on their body? Spouse? Maybe. Child? Less likely, but possible. The next door neighbor? Okay, that might be creepy.

However, I hope your greatest fan is yourself. I hope that you believe in yourself, and believe that you can succeed. You are worthy of success. If you don’t believe that, and if you aren’t your greatest fan, who is?

I want to see everyone here, all my readers now and the readers yet to come, become more confident in their abilities because self-confidence will bring success and increased self-worth. You will find out that you are your greatest fan, your greatest asset. (Because we all know the converse is true. Frequently you are your own worst enemy. Self-doubt and lack of confidence will prevent successes from even being possible.)

So, don your leathers and get on your figurative Harley, and ride to success. Ride along side with me as we find our successes.

Today’s question: Do you ride a motorcycle? What do you ride right now, and why?

Oh, Just To Make It Official…

Hi!

I have had a few people ask me via email if it is okay to post my recipes ot Google+ or pin them to Pinterest, or otherwise share them.  My answer:

Sure!

In fact, if you like my foods, I hope you share them! (To paraphrase the voting philosophy that used to apply to Chicago, “Share early and share often.”)

My entire goal with my blog is to help all of you enjoy life, reach your goals and eat great food. If you pass these recipes on, either by pinning them to Pinterest, copying them to Facebook or Google+, tweeting them, or linking them on your blog, you will only help me reach more people and potentially help more people. (And I think I’ve made that easier by adding the appropriate buttons at the end of each post.)

It may sound idealistic, but I truly believe that if you help enough people, the benefits will be greater than the sum of the individual parts.

I am going to leave you with a simple question, but I hope you take the time to write an answer:

What is your favorite comfort food?

Thanks! I can’t wait to see what everyone prefers.

Top 8 Blogs That Have Influenced Me And Keep Me Going

This is a minor change in theme for a day. I want to acknowledge some people and groups that have helped shape me into the person I am. For now, I am not going to talk about apps and devices (let’s save that for a future blog post) but about people who are also blogging.

I am not the only blog out there! (I know, surprise?) Many of my recipes began as ideas coming from other places. I have found ideas in cookbooks and magazines, from friends and relatives, dining in restaurants and my wife has found some on Pinterest. I generally don’t make any recipe exactly as I find it (unless I am trying to duplicate Julia Childs). I usually look at the recipe, consider it’s appearance and ingredients and then make my own, in the spirit of the original recipe.

But I also read these blogs and they have helped me grow personally and as a blogger. I thought that I needed to give them full credit for their assistance and suggest that you might want to take a look at them, too. (But please don’t stop visiting me! We are almost getting to be like family!)  Please note that these are not listed in any specific order, neither alphabetical nor preferential.

  1. Danica’s Daily:  Danica Pike loves food–good food–and following the Weight Watchers plan has lost over 55 pounds. She focuses on living healthy by eating well. She has a very professional blog, and has been blogging since 2009. She offers life tips, recipes, food reviews and menus. She also writes about her travels, and was published in CharBroils “America Grills” cookbook. The pictures of her foods are wonderful, and I aspire to someday be as skilled. 
  2. Snack Girl: Lisa Cain has a Ph.D. in Evolutionary Biology, who over time became obsessed with the effects of food on health. She, and her husband Matt, believe in fresh food. and real food is the basis of good health and good living. Lisa also uses the Weight Watcher plan, and has her recipes categorized by both description of the food and the PointsPlus that each has, making searching very efficient. She also provide weight loss tips and suggestions on snacks that are healthy, even if they are packaged. If Lisa suggests it, I am convinced that it is a good choice.  
  3. In the Kitchen With Kath: Kath Dedon is a wonderful blogger and has been blogging since December 2009. Like me, she is her own photographer. Unlike me her photos are absolutely mouth-watering. (My photos are good, hers are great.) Her recipes are easy to follow and step by step (you wonder where I learned that from?) The subtitle to her blog really says it all:  “Old favorites…New discoveries. Fresh and easy!” 
  4. Greatist: In contrast to the first three, Greatist is not a single person, but a collection (I like to throw around big words, so here is one–it is an aggregator) of information from all around us. The staff and contributors are experts in their fields and therefore this one site can provide expert information in many areas. Their banner states “Fitness, Health, Happiness” and those are wonderful goals. Of course, I use the site mostly for food (well, what else?) and was the original inspiration for my Kimchi. As a nurse, one specific fact that really makes me trust this site is that if they state that XYZ is a fact, they have a PubMed reference and the fact is verified and expert vetted. They don’t throw “garbage science” out as the gospel truth.
  5. Spunkisuzi: Suzi hails from Canada and started blogging in June 2008, as a way to maintain motivation and increase her own accountability in her weight loss plan (sound at all familiar?) She talks about life in general, and posts pictures of her healthy and delicious-looking meals. She also wears a Fitbit, is a Weight Watcher, and from what I can tell, lives a pretty darn nice life.
  6. Lifehacker: This source is another non-single-person blog, and another aggregator of general knowledge. Lifehacker covers everything from personal finance, to apps and technology to (of course) foods, recipes and cooking ideas. The extent of information at Lifehacker defies description, and this short paragraph does not do it justice. Go take a look for yourself.
  7. We Beat Fat: This is a husband and wife (Angela and Willie) team who document the course of their weight loss journey. While they are still working on their ultimate goals, from January 2011 2013 February 2013,Willie lost 300 pounds and Angela lost 200. In the process, they have reinvented themselves. They are now runners and live a healthy life. They did not do anything extreme. They learned how to change their life and live on the correct amount of food, and they learned to move more. (Have you heard that before?) The blog continues to show their progress, shares favorites recipes and gives good weight loss tips.
  8. Grill Talk: Fabienne opened her own custom mixed perfume company in 2006. To do that, you need a sensitive sense of smell. If you know anatomy and physiology, that means you will also have a sensitive palate of tastes. When you enjoy the aroma and taste of food–well, I think we all know where that leads, and in 2011 Fabienne realized it was time to lose some weight. She focuses on eating the correct amounts of healthy foods and loves to grill because the heat of grilling brings out and intensifies flavors (remember, she has a palate with a Ph.D. in taste!) She also writes about non-food life observations and has a very well-rounded blog. The subtitle to her blog is “Healthy, Fast, Succulent”. Who wouldn’t want to eat that?
I appreciate everyone who reads my words, but I also appreciate those who write the words that I read. If you have a minute, check out one or more of these blogs and websites. And if there is a blog that you know about and you think I need to read, leave me a comment here with a link. I will look at everything! I have lived long enough to know that I can learn from anyone, and I should listen to everyone.