Monday's Goals

1. Continue sugar fast
2. Eat 4 times a day at three hour intervals
3. Clean out a shelf, cupboard, or drawer before shopping for anything, including groceries

Walked 3.5 miles with Nancy

Breakfast 9 a.m.
Greek yogurt
raisin toast with butter and sugar-free jam

Lunch 12 p.m.
Beef jerky
Hot dog on bun with condiments
Atkins, protein bar

3:30 p.m
shakeology

6:30
in and out burger
6 ritz crackers
1 graham cracker


Clean out bathroom drawer,
Did laundry
Finished editing Dad's book
Lowered price of Highwayman to .99
Scheduled promo with I Love Vampires

Julia Quinn at Yorba Linda Library

A Sad, but True, Story and a Challenge

It’s been almost five years since I started the Losing Penny and Pounds blog. As a family, we’re doing great financially, but I know that’s only to my husband’s credit. As a business, my books are diddling along. If I make the same as I made this  month for the rest of the year, then I'll make about the same as I made last year.

And my weight? Even with all my good intentions, I'm ten pounds heavier this year than last. My weight is up, my income is down. Everything is backward.

This is coinciding with the publishing of my what I'm calling my blog books. Here's the intro to Blog Book One and Two:

Book One

When I was eight-years-old, I wrote in my diary, a paperback book embellished with pink flowers, that I wanted to be a writer. I have never wavered, although I’ve often felt discouraged. There is an adage that goes something like this: a writer is someone who writes. I started writing around age eight, as my early diaries will prove, but I didn’t start writing a blog until much later, 2010 to be exact. What follows is a snap shot of my writing through the past five years. I would love to capture all the years before that, but I lack the patience to wade through my collection of diaries and journals, and I also suspect that no sane person would wish to read them.

I’m dissembling my blog and its posts into a few key areas of my life—family, health, writing. There may be more as time goes on—travel, money, retirement. Just like I couldn’t predict where my life would take me when I was eight years old, I can only imagine and dream of what my future holds. Since I plan to live longer than a century, I’m only smidgen past my halfway point.

This particular book is dedicated to my writing, and the chasing down of my dreams. I suppose for the reader and aspiring writer, it would have been nice if I’d had lumped the posts into chapters of relevance, but since this is more a diary than a how-to book, I’ve left the posts in the order that I wrote them.

I don’t pretend to be an expert on anything. Nor do I pretend to have had rousing successes. Kipling told us that we should meet Triumph and Disaster and treat them just the same. I agree. I’m not suggesting that anyone follow my career path. If you want to make money, sell real estate. If you love to tell stories, write books. It’s as simple and as complicated as that.

Book Two

Like the first book in this series, A Writer’s Story, An Indie’s Memoir, this is a compilation of blog excerpts from 2010 to the end of 2015. I first felt the desire to publish my posts when I realized something dire could happen to Blogger, my website provider, and it would all disappear as I don’t have them saved anywhere else.

I hope my writings will prove helpful, entertaining, and a smidge enlightening to others. As I read through my posts, I enjoy them, but I’m also full of doubt—worried that maybe I take pleasure in them the way a child likes looking at herself in the mirror. I also worry that by writing about my own experiences, I’m exposing my introverted-self to ridicule and scorn in a new way. When a critic leaves a poor review of one of my novels, they’re criticizing my fictional work, but a review of my life experiences will be much more personal and painful.

To write one such book seems egocentric, but to write three seems like excessive narcissism.  But the posts on writing alone were more than 600 pages. Knowing that no one would want to slog through it all, I scaled them back. I found the slow and steady upward climb of my writing career interesting, I hope others will, as well. This book is mostly about life lessons, delivered, I hope, with humor. The third book will be random advice on finances, health, and managing—the sort of guidance I wished someone had told me before I became a grown-up and had to bungle my way through sticky situations.

But here's the thing--I can't publish these books, especially the third one, until I feel I've successfully met my goals. So, I'm giving myself a challenge. 

Before the end of the year, I will:

Double my book income. Last year I made about $7,000. This year, I will make $14,000. (Actually, $15,000 since I like to round up.)

Double my weight loss (I gained ten pounds since last year, so now I must lose twenty.)

And I will capture it all on this blog.

More on My Sugar Fast

At the end of day 5 I got a message from a friend whose husband has a medical condition. She wanted to know more about my sugar fast. So, here's more info:

I try to eat food in it's most natural forms. If it's something prepackaged, I check the nutrition label to make sure it has less than 5 grams of sugar. I can eat all the fruits (which has lots of sugars) and vegetables I want. If I want something sweet, I eat protein bars (many have 1 gram of sugar), sugar free pudding, and you can buy sugar free chocolate chips at Walmart. 

I try to avoid white flour, white rice and white potatoes. Also, I don't drink: alcohol, soda, tea or coffee. I'll take a pain killer about once or twice a year. 

If this seems really overwhelming, try taking it in baby steps--find one small change and focus on it for a week or two. Don't be surprised if you get headaches in the beginning, but I promise that by the end of the first week, you'll feel so much better. 

I know this is supposed to be about your husband, but I also know husbands can be really frustratingly hard to change. From my experience, it's better to change myself and hope he jumps on my bandwagon. Sometimes he does. Here's a picture of me with my husband. I think my expression says a lot. Despite my scowl, I really do love him.

I'm throwing this picture in because I think it's funny.

Sugar Fasting

Day three of my sugar fast. Already, I'm sleeping through the night. (Hooray!) And I've lost a pound. I have friends that have been wildly successful with their sugar fasts.

Nancy: age 53. Lost 15 pounds
Claudia: age 75. Lost 20 pounds
Janet: age 52. Lost 50 pounds
Skeet: age 57. Lost 120 pounds

But weight loss shouldn't be the motivating factor. Each of my friends gave up sugar as a way to combat different health issues. I think it's interesting that three different health concerns were all addressed by this one (simple/ not so simple) remedy.

 Last year I went without sugar from my birthday in January until Valentine's Day, and I learned some things.

1. Going without sugar is actually easy if you can survive the first horrendous, no-good week. Why is the first week so hard? By about day three I went through withdrawal and had a massive headache, but if you can power through until about the fifth or fourth day, you should lose your craving for sugar.

Counter Attack: Plan a reward. On day 5 I'm going to buy a gizmo that will count how many calories I burn when I walk/run.

2. When I don't eat sugar, I sleep through the night. I can't tell you why I sleep better without sugar in my diet, all I know is that I do. It might be because I don't have that afternoon sugar crash around 2 or 3 p.m. where all I want to do is nap. Maybe because I don't need to nap, I sleep better at night. And I can't even begin to tell you how much better I feel after a good nights sleep.

Action Plan: Keep a journal of your sleep patterns and see if it works for you.

3. Without sugar, fruits and vegetables taste better and sweeter, and refined sweets lose their draw.

So, why did I quit my sugar fast last February? Because it was hard. Everyday something delicious comes my way. I'm confronted with birthday cakes, morning donuts, and treats at every writers' group meeting, every church social, and every get-together.

Counter Attack: I'm going to take a picture of the treat with my phone and use it as a symbol of the temptation I was able overcome--a trophy, if you will.

Is it reasonable to give up all treats, always? Probably not. But a warm peach sprinkled with cinnamon can satisfy even a raging sweet tooth.

The Diet Destiny Decision(s)

Each time you look in the mirror, see your body as your temple. That truth—refreshed gratefully each day—can positively influence your decisions about how you will care for your body and how you will use it. And those decisions will determine your destiny.

A pivotal spiritual attribute is that of self-mastery—the strength to place reason over appetite. Self-mastery builds a strong conscience.

When we master our appetites within the bounds of God’s laws, we can enjoy longer life, greater love, and consummate joy.

Each day is a day of decision, and our decisions determine our destiny. Choose wisely each day’s decisions for eternity.

Russel M. Nelson

Decisions for Eternity http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/10/decisions-for-eternity?lang=eng

Typically, I don’t see my diet decisions as symbolic of my spiritual/physical strength. Usually, I’m not considering the eternal implications when I make the decision to eat of forego the cookie. Almost always, the decision is about this cookie at this moment. I’m not thinking about the next time I step on the scale, let alone eternity. I’m just thinking that I want a cookie. I’m sure if I looked at each cookie decision as a representation of my strength or weakness I would eat less cookies.

Addictions rob our freedom. Everyone knows that. But so do restrictive diets. Then again, the diets are actually easier. By turning over the reins of our diet to someone else, we give away our decisions. We don’t have to make decisions. Someone else, some diet program, has already decided for us. And it’s great. And it’s easy.

Until it’s not.

Very few of us can afford to stay “on program” for a lifetime…and eating is a lifetime activity. Every day we are all faced with the decisions of what and when to eat. Dieting/living isn’t about a program or a plan—it’s about daily, small decisions. When we give away those decisions to a counselor, coach, or personal trainer , are we really saying I’m too weak and incapable of making these decisions for myself? What does this do to our own sense of strength?

Maybe by looking at each decision as a way to not only feed our bodies, but also as a way to feed our strength (as opposed to feeding our weakness) we can reach not only optimal physical health, but also optimal emotional health and confidence in our ability to decide.

The Anti-Spread Spread Sheet

Date	Eat Breakfast	No Soda	3 cups of vegetables	1 Treat (or less)	1 slice of pizza (or less)	Drink 70 of water	30 min. exercise	100 push-ups	100 ab workout

This diet plan was designed by son, who is as handsome and as sleek as a rock star. Always health conscious, he wants to rocket his body to some new runners' high. I tweaked his plan just slightly. I replaced his no burgers rule with 3 cups of vegetables, because I eat burgers about once a month...if that. If you want to modify something, do so. For example, no sodas is easy for me since carbination makes me sick. I should change that to something more challenging, but since I'm sort of weanie, I'm letting it stay. We're very loosy goosey so feel free to join our challenge on your own, or if you'd like to participate with our group, e-mail me at kristyswords@yahoo.com

A Taste of Summer

I was introduced to the protein, carb and fat rule. I like how it’s working so far. The goal is to eat every three hours, keeping hunger at bay by following this simple rule. At every mini-meal eat:

A carb the size of your fist

A protein the size of your palm

A fat the size of your thumb

It’s just that simple and yet not. Technically, a vegetable is a carb, but not all carb-vegetables are created equal. Be wise.

This rule translates really well into most of my favorite meals.

 A sandwich

Bread= carb

Chicken breast= protein

Mayo or avocado= fat

Yogurt parfait

Yogurt=protein and fat

Granola=carb

Chili

Beans and tomatoes=carb

Ground turkey=protein

Dollop of sour cream= fat

Breakfast Burrito

Eggs= protein

Tortilla and salsa= carb

Cheese= fat

I’m very excited about how easily that simple formula can be applied to everyday meal choices. Except for brownies. It doesn’t work for brownies…or pies. But that’s okay. I have a weekly two dessert allotment. Because brownies can’t be ignored.

For more helpful and healthly tips, be sure and check out my book romantic suspense novel, Losing Penny, featuring Penny Lee a cooking show diva who loses 50 pounds and gains a stalker. A delicious novel with all the right spices! http://www.amazon.com/Losing-Penny-Rose-Arbor-ebook/dp/B00B8BRPFI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1371329879&sr=8-1&keywords=losing+penny

Here’s my new favorite food, stuffed peppers.

Peppers cut in half

Half a pound of ground beef, browned, rinsed and drained (rinse to wash away fat)

Add to meat:

1 can of corn

1 can of black beans

Half cup of cooked brown rice

1 can of stewed tomatoes

Half cup of medium salsa

Simmer meat mixture for about 20 minutes

Fill peppers and top with:

Sprinkled parmesan and cheddar cheese

Bake until the cheese is golden.

Serve with avocado and sour cream.

The Wedding Cake and the Visitor

The Wedding Cake and the Visitor

I belong to a group blog—thirteen amazing romance writers sharing their stuff three times a week. For the month of June, we’re all sending a few of our favorite characters to a wedding. (Meaning we each write a story snippet involving a character or two from one of our books and send them to a wedding on Main Street.) I decided to ask Penny, from my novel Losing Penny, to bake the cake. To read my blogger friends’ posts click here http://authorsofmainstreet.wordpress.com/. To read my post, which will go live tomorrow on the same site, just read on.

The Wedding Cake and the Visitor

Temptation lurks around every corner and sometimes attacks in your very own kitchen—Penny knew this, had written it as gospel in her heart, but even after months of relentless calorie counting and hundreds of hours logged on the elliptical, one little whiff sugary goodness could turn her knees to butter.

Tess, who pretended to be her friend but kept company with the enemy, held out a spoon weighted down with frosting.  “You have to taste this.”

 Penny gripped her spatula and her willpower. “Just a spoonful of sugar makes the boobies hang down.”

“Boobies will hang anyway. It’s what they do.” Tess laughed and wiggled the frosting under Penny’s nose. “You’ve already lost so much weight, how much damage can a smidge do?”

Penny sniffed at the offending spoon and returned to creating spun sugar roses. “That smidge is a whopping 150 calories.”

“How can you decorate an entire wedding cake without even taking a lick?” Tess asked.

“How can you profess to love me and still tempt me?”

“How can you be such an amazing cook and stay so thin?”

Penny sighed and put down her spatula. “All I have to do is close my eyes and picture myself at my brother’s wedding, wearing the beige dress that makes me look like a giant pralines and cream ice cone.”

“Ah, the dress from hell—or Dairy Queen.”

“Same thing,” Penny muttered.

“It can’t be that bad,” Tess said. “Rosalynn loves you, right?”

“I thought she did until I saw the dress.”

Tess licked her spoon and settled down on a stool in front of the three foot high, nearly completed wedding cake. “I’m glad my brother isn’t getting married. This wedding is enough stress. Thanks again for helping out.”

Penny smiled at her creation. If she couldn’t eat, she could do the next best thing—bake.  “Anything for Samantha and Greg.”

“Unless calories are involved.” Tess popped another spoonful in her mouth. She licked her lips, closed her eyes and murmured, “Yum.”

“Yum is right.” Penny bumped her hip against Tess and pointed her spatula at a tall, blond and blue eyed man standing in the courtyard. He looked lost and Penny fought the temptation to rip off her apron, bolt through the door and ask him if she could show him the way to where ever. “Who is that?”

Tess peered through the window and Penny elbowed her. “Don’t look!”

“How can I know who he is if I can’t look?” Tess asked.

“Okay look, but be fast and remember I tapped-tapped him first.”

Tess casually stood, went to the window and tweaked the curtain. “He’s visiting the new guy in 2B.” She resumed her spot on the stool, her back to the window.

Penny tried to focus on the cake, but for once sugar loaded calories had lost their appeal. The visitor of 2B glanced her way and their eyes met briefly. Embarrassed, Penny filled her pastry bag and drew a series of repeating hearts around the base of the bottom tier. When she looked up he was gone. Penny sighed, put down the pastry bag and returned to the sugar spun roses, promising herself that one day she would attend a wedding in a dress she loved.

And she would bake the cake and eat it, too.

Penny and Tess are introduced in Losing Penny, a novel that sizzles with romance, suspense and lip smacking recipes. 

The Food Mood Connection Experiment

For one month I’m going to keep a journal of everything I eat and how it makes me feel.

We’re all familiar with the term emotional eating: (Health.com) -- Anyone who's sought solace in pizza or a pint of ice cream knows that food can be comforting. But experts still don't know exactly why we gravitate toward fatty or sugary foods when we're feeling down, or how those foods affect our emotions.

So for one month I will be both the scientist and the lab rat. Without censor or fudging, I will track my own personal food and mood connection. Maybe I won’t find a correlation. Maybe I will.

Love this article: Food and Mood: 6 Ways Your Diet Affects How You Feel

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/diet-fitness/diet/articles/2011/08/31/food-and-mood-6-ways-your-diet-affects-how-you-feel

And this one: Feeling Sad? Seven Instant Mood Boosters

http://health.usnews.com/usnews/health/articles/070711/11sadnesstip_2.htm

And: What to Eat to Feel Happier

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/blogs/on-women/2010/02/03/what-to-eat-to-feel-happier

If anyone wants to join me in my food mood connection experiment, please chime in. The more lab rats the better. No one likes to eat alone.

Food Mood Journal

Day:

Goal:

Food/Time	Mood

Thoughts: