News

I've invited my daughter Christina Makly to write some articles for us. She and my granddaughter have recently become vegetarians. She found some things on the PETA web site about cruelty to animals that concerned her, so they stopped eating meat. I know several vegetarians and vegans who won't even wear leather shoes or buy leather purses and that is based on the consciences. So we all make different choices for different reasons. I'm eating more vegetables and less cooked things to get healthy. So we are exploring many options on this site and I plan to talk about more of them soon. So far I have lost 6 pounds 11 ounces in 3 weeks and I plan to post more of what I've been eating soon. I do that so that I can admit where I've gone off the path, and to open up your minds to other options. And to show that even though I'm eating a lot of the right fats, I'm still losing weight. I've been a normal American carnivore/omnivore all my life and am still eating some meat but finding it less appealing. I'm not going to try and push tofu on anybody. I've had it 100 different ways, don't like it and won't try anymore. There are too many other ways for me to get protein.

Chocolate Mint Cookies

11/2 cups raw almonds
1 cup dates or chopped dates
3 tbs. raw chocolate powder – set 1 tbs. aside
5 springs of mint leaves stems removed
3 tbs. Ionized water
Process until it sticks together and rolls into a big a big ball in the food processor. Takes about 2-3 minutes.
Pinch off small pieces and roll into small balls, roll in reserved raw chocolate powder, press flat. Eat or refrigerate. Makes 26 cookies
By Nedalee Ruiz
Nedalee is the author of The Desperate Parents Handbook http://www.desperateparent.com/
Nedalee recommends http://HealingWaterMachines.blogspot.com for more articles on health and healing.
And http://HealingDiets.BlogSpot.com for articles on diet and nutrition. Copyright © 2008 By Nedalee Ruiz Permission granted to reproduce in entirety only including links and author credits

Monday Gladness

1.21.07
Weigh in: 159.1 down from 160.9 last week. When I subtract the two I’m shocked to see that I lost a pound and a half! I expected it to be more like a few ounces. Whew…as she wipes the sweat from her forehead from the dreaded weigh in. Actually, I cheated quite a bit last week, so I am surprised. I found One Day at a Time's Valerie Bertinelli blog online. Bertinelli's online journal chronicles her quest to lose forty pounds, Jenny-Craig-style. Readers will appreciate Bertinelli's candid approach and can-do attitude in facing a problem with which many Americans struggle, all though I’m not sharing this in support of the Jenny Craig diet, I think you may find some of her insights interesting.
http://www.jennycraig.com/valerie/

food journal

1.16.08
Rebounder 15 minutes

I woke up with more energy again today and feel that it was from the living salad last night.

Breakfast---Blueberry smoothie. My smoothie wasn’t smooth today. I tried to modify to make they recipe for one day instead of three and I got it too thick and was gaging on it. Had to put it back in the blender and add water and ice.

Lunch---Salad

Dinner Neat balls and Black pepper cheeze. The Raw Food Gourmet: Going Raw for Total Well-Being spread with Black Pepper cheese page 161 of Ani's Raw Food Kitchen: Easy, Delectable Living Foods Recipes. And some home made lavender berry sorbet that I will publish the recipe soon.

1.18.08
Breakfast –Protein bar because I forgot to eat. Watch out for these many brands are very high in sugar.

Lunch—Enchilada with a little rice, cheese, sour cream and some beans.

Dinner—I ate such a late lunch that I wasn’t hungry for dinner eat. This is not good for dieting because you will not lose fat that way.

4 16 oz. Glasses of Ionized water.

1.19.08
Breakfast—2 neat balls with sun dried tomato cream cheese and two tiny sweet corn tamales.

Lunch--- 2 Taco supremes from taco bell and a lavender soda. The sugar in the soda seriously zapped my energy f or several hours.

Dinner—2 Taco supermes and one cheesy beefy burrito from taco bell, plus some Doritos chips

1.20.08

I woke up feeling like I had a bladder infection today. So rather than most of my meals, I added about 2 oz of pure unsweetened cranberry juice to my ionized water and drank several glasses of that through out the day.

Breakfast---1/2 protein bar

Lunch---Salad and ½ roast beef sandwich from Claim Jumper.

Dinner ---none.

3 days info

1.14.08
Exercise 100 Crunches
Breakfast---Blueberry smoothie
Lunch---warm cornbeef w/ provolone on raw carrot dill bread, page 72 Living in the Raw Gourmetand vegan mayo.
Snack 1 chocolate covered cherry cookie

I visited the new Whole Foods Market in Tustin yesterday. It is MASSIVE. Their produce department is like nothing I've ever seen. Prices seemd pretty high though. One raw cookie costs $3. I'm glad I can make my own!

Dinner—Chinese food including sautéed green beans and 5 crabmeat cream cheese wontons.
6 16-oz. Glasses of Alkaline ionized water.

1.15.08
Exercise—20 minutes on rebounder
Breakfast---Blueberry Smoothie
Lunch---Neat Balls page 108 The Raw Food Gourmet: Going Raw for Total Well-Being
Snack-- 1 chocolate covered cherry cookie
4 16-oz. glasses of Ionized water

1.16.08
Exercise---15 minutes on rebounder, 50 crunches. I’m laying off the crunches a little because they are causing the muscles in my neck to get so tight I can hardly turn my neck to the left side.

Breakfast---Blueberry Smoothie
Snack—homemade flax crackers and salsa, 1 neat ball, page 108 The Raw Food Gourmet: Going Raw for Total Well-Being spread with Black Pepper cheese page 161 of Ani's Raw Food Kitchen: Easy, Delectable Living Foods Recipes This cheese is made with chashew nuts and is so good that sometimes I scoop it upand eat it with my fingers!

Lunch---1 Tamale 2 lavender sodas. I had not intention of drinking two sodas, but my son opened one, took a sip and handed me the rest. I was raised by my grandparents who grew up in the depression, so I was taught to never waste anything. Unfortunately, with 19 grams of sugar each, that probably went to my waist.

Dinner---A beautiful Kale and red cabbage coleslaw page 94, Ani's Raw Food Kitchen: Easy, Delectable Living Foods Recipes, 1 tiny sweet corn cake tamale and ½ a pumpkin raisin tamale. And some home made lavender berry sorbet that I will publish the recipe soon.
I only had about 4 glasses of Ionized water today.

Because I am cooking or creating food for one, it takes me a little longer to eat up the recipes than it will when Ronnie joins me on the diet. He's getting very tempted by the food.

Get your crunch on

People crave crunchy things. So what can you do to stave of those cravings?
Celery is the old stand by.
Red bell pepper is great.
Raw Almonds
Actually, most raw foods are pretty crunchy in their natural state.
I make crackers by mixing 1 cup fax seed with one cup left over soup or smoothie mixed in a food processor and then dehydrating them in my oven at the lowest setting with the door slightly open for about 24 hours.
My last batch was made with left over raw avocado soup, flax seed and sprinkled with red bell pepper seasoning. Yummy. Great for dipping when you want some hummus or salsa.

Calorie Cutters

AOL offer's these diet tips.
Soup Savvy

Abandon heavy, cream-based soups -- they can saddle you with 240 calories per cup. Stick with broth-based varieties, at roughly 150 calories a cup,and thicken them up by cracking a small egg into the soup while it's heating and swirl it throughout the pot. The egg makes the soup smooth and offers healthy protein while adding only 60 calories. You'll save about 30 calories, and about whopping 15 grams of fat per serving over the creamy soups.
Squash Calories

Spaghetti can cost you 200 calories per cup -- and that's before you top it with sauce. For pasta lovers, spaghetti squash is a vibrant alternative. When cooked, the squash flesh becomes thread-like, resembling spaghetti. At only 75 calories per cup and no fat, it makes for a healthy and tasty stand-in.
Slimmer Cocoa

A store-bought hot cocoa mix made with low-fat milk can add up to 250 calories per cup. Shave off about 115 calories, and some unwanted sugar, with this flavorful hot milk beverage: Heat 8 ounces of low-fat or non-fat milk with a cinnamon stick. Pour it into your mug and stir in one tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder and one teaspoon of vanilla extract.

It's easy to overdo it with mayo in tuna salad. At 103 calories per tablespoon, you could easily add 300-plus calories to your dish. A lighter, tangy alternative to mayo? Toss canned tuna packed in water with lemon juice, onion, and capers and save yourself upwards of 100 calories. For an extra peppery flavor, add chopped watercress.

Put a new spin on the sandwich by doing away with the bread. Even two slices of the most dietetic versions can add 70 calories per slice. Place sandwich ingredients in buttery-soft bibb lettuce or the long leaves of romaine and wrap them up for a crunchier and much lighter meal.
If bread is a must for a sandwich, skip the fatty mayo and use lower-in-calories pickles or relish to moisten it. If it's a sandwich with cheese, use only one slice, then skip the condiment altogether and heat the sandwich in the toaster oven to melt the cheese. It adds the moisture that the condiments would. Both tricks can save up to 40 calories per sandwich, and will spare you the 11 grams of fat per tablespoon of mayo.

Reduce your fat content and boost fiber by swapping cooked, ground lentils for some of the ground beef in a recipe. Ounce for ounce, lentils and ground beef have a similar calorie count. But 3.5 ounces of ground beef racks up 20 grams of fat, while the same amount of lentils carries only 0.8.Muffin Tips

Lighten up dense morning muffins. Trade whole wheat flour for half of the white flour in the recipe, and use unsweetened applesauce or pureed bananas for up to half of the oil. Both swaps can save you as much as 500 calories.

Salad Toppers

Take full advantage of the health benefits of your light salad by avoiding toppings like bacon bits and croutons. Crowning the dish with chopped red onion and herb mixtures like cilantro and mint, or dill and flat-leaf parsley will save you from the 60 calories or more the traditional toppings would normally add.