Tis the Season

The visiting teachers crossed me off the list early this month, and I officially received my first batch of Christmas Goodies. I know it's foreshadowing a deluge of sugar and fat coming my way. If sweets are your threat to eating healthy, I'm trying to come up with some options rather than snarfing them down:

• Re-package sweets and give them to another friend not on the same block, at work, etc.
• Toss them in the trash immediately without any guilt
• Give everyone in the house one goodie off the plate, then freeze the rest until you can come to your senses
• Throw in the towel and give yourself a reason to make a lifestyle change on January 1

As training for what is to come, try to watch all five minutes of this video without getting up salivating and/or eating some kind of junk. Good luck!

Cupcake Pops & Bites: Part 2 from bakerella on Vimeo.

Mom, Can I Have a Cookie?

A few years ago, I lived next door to the Super-Mormons. With two kids in close age with my daughter, they would rotate between "our house" and "their house". Dad was Elders Quorum President finishing school with three kids under 5, homeschooled by mom. The first time they came over to play, they stopped dead in their tracks when they saw we had a television, and then flatly proclaimed that they don't have T.V. because it invites the devil.

I couldn't help stating with a big smile and wild eyebrows "Well, the prophet is on T.V. every General Conference, so you can choose some good stuff too!" *wink*. It was kindof cute and innocent and disturbing all at the same time.

Apart from being deprived the inane joys of television, these kids also lacked the joys of sugar. On one particularly intense play-session, I invited the kids to refuel with some milk and graham crackers. It was the day I forever changed their lives, or their taste buds.

From that day on, they couldn't step foot in my house without seeking me out to politely ask me if they could have a brown cracker. The little darlings didn't even have a name for them.

"I'll get you kids a snack after playing for a while, alright?" and then I would send them off to play with my daughter. Ten minutes later, my daughter would appear alone and ask for a graham cracker.

"I'll get you all some later, just go play right now alright?" and she would run off, unphased.

Ten minutes later: "Mom, just give us a cracker". She was more annoyed at being interrupted with her pretend sessions. Although she didn't have the words for it yet, I could tell what she was feeling at the constant interruptions from her sugar-deprived buddies: Get over the brown crackers already!

And so I'm left wondering, as a mom, a Fat Mormon Mom, what is the best sugar policy for my kids?

For myself, I grew up in a house that always had chocolate chip cookies. I'm sure I snarfed them down at some point, but I remember that eventually I stopped eating them. They were available, so what? I had better things to do.

My husband was the oldest of seven kids. Their mom locked powdered sugar up in a cabinet, because her kids would literally spoon powdered sugar, brown sugar, or table sugar straight into their mouths if she didn't.

Consequently, he would constantly appear hungry-eyed whenever he played with his next door neighbor, the one who always had popsicles in the freezer. He couldn't say hi without asking for a popsicle. He would check out the new toys, play around, but in the back of his head he knew there was an entire bag of popsicles for the taking, and he couldn't leave without getting one.

Now I'm not saying that either of these policies work for everyone. My mom always made cookies, and I was busy running, jumping, skipping, and twirling to notice. But now I'm the mom, and if I make cookies for my kids, I usually end up behaving like the jittery sugar-starved neighbors I used to laugh at. Okay, yes I have things to do, laundry to fold, but that cookie keeps smiling at me.

So what's your policy?

In overhauling our nutrition to be more healthy, should we fear the cravings of our kids?

Will the constant deprivation of sweets make them food freaks when they finally leave the house and go to college?

What do you think?

Our Old Friend, The Late Night Binge

There is nothing quite like watching reruns of your favorite TV show while inhaling a big bowl of ice cream. It’s relaxing and satisfying. You can forget all your stresses for that short period and just “veg”.

I suppose there is just one problem with all that. The “veg” part. Ironic that we have coined the term “veg out” for someone who needs to relax and do nothing. It should probably be “fat out” or “chubbify” – something more descriptive of the actual results of that action.

A few weeks ago it hit me that this period of the day was when I consumed half of my daily calories. Well...nearly half. It was so easy to have dinner and then snack all the rest of the night. I realized that putting a stop to this may just be one of the most effective solutions to weight loss.

It has been 2 weeks now. I can’t eat anything after 7:30pm. I can drink water or juice, but nothing else. I’ve lost 6 lbs in the last 2 weeks. I’ve also been exercising several times a week, but I’ve been doing that for a few months. This new epiphany just may be the final element to forge my magic bullet.

Travel Tip Tuesday: Come to Zion

Before I start giving guilt trips about all the warm beaches I can't go to because I'm fat and pale, I wanted to highlight a perfect traveling opportunity. First, winter travel is fabulous. There are less tourists, and you can wear sweaters and layers and not look suspicious. Second, since SLC equals Zion act now to get this hot airline offer from Southwest, book by TODAY to or from the great city of Salt Lake and get 50% off.

The dirty details:

• Travel between December 3 and February 9 of next year
• BLACKOUT dates December 18-January 4
• promo code is FLYSLC

Here's the link

You Can't Tell Me What to Do

Having a tough day as I realize exactly what a job I have ahead of me. Some days my mind wanders to the darkness and I think: "I could be HALF my weight and just be slightly under normal". Or "What have you done to yourself, you are such a cow!". Perhaps my perspective is all wrong. Perhaps I'm just painfully honest. Whatever it is, it's bringing me down.

Whenever this happens, it helps to try to serve others. Hosted my dear friend with a newborn, her 5th, and going through the exciting turmoil of hormone fluctuations, needy kids, and not fitting into her old pants yet. It felt good to have her in my home and fix a healthy meal, hang out and talk about how motherhood is hard but good, and how we are still beautiful, smart, and funny even though we're shopping in the plus size section.

Since I think I'm basically talking to myself (does ANYBODY even know about this blog?), I wonder if I needed the support I thought the blog would give or if, like I feared, I'm in this completely by myself.

Desk Job Junkie just posted about his eating plan, and because I know that diets don't work, only a permanent lifestyle change works, then I sit in a moment of repose...eating cookies, and wondering about what permanent lifestyle changes I should make...and if it will hurt.

My memory has been preaching to me of past phases of my life and my relationship with God and food. I have an eating plan, I think, that will help my body and mind clear. I even tracked the miles Curves for Women is from my home. It's 2.5 miles. I could ride my bike, do that old ladies workout (that I actually kindof like), and ride home. Moving is key to all of this right?

I also reconnected with a dear old friend this week. She is so smart, here is something that she said:

Every time we start something new, especially changing old ingrained habits, there's an uphill battle before it gets easier. Each of the 3 times in my life that I've been successful at losing weight, it was really hard for about 2 weeks before it seemed doable. C.S. Lewis said that sinners think people who haven't sinned don't understand it as well as they do. But he said that those who haven't given in to sin understand it best because they rode it out until the temptation was gone-- those who give in never know how tough it would have gotten if they hadn't given in. Hard things don't generally stay hard. That's one of the greatest things about our God-in-embryo natures.

Which brings me to the beginning of a lifestyle change. The last few times I tried to overhaul my diet, around day 3 I started to feel really picked on. I felt like "they" were trying to boss me around and take away my freedom to choose. You can't tell me what to do!! I would eventually say while eating my second helping of ice cream. Sometimes I am my own worst enemy. But the tidbit above (thanks S.W.S.) helps put that in perspective.

So just re-grouping here. Started building up the pantry for my healthier menus rolling around my head. Slowly we're getting this out in words, where they will stick, and not be forgotten.

Dude, you're insane

So -- after a semi-normal weekend of eating junk, and feeling the ill-effects that junk food causes to your mind and energy levels, my wife and I decided to cut sugar out of our diets completely. No foods with sugar as one of the primary ingredients (ranked 7th or higher in the list of ingredients) and no artificial sugars, which we all know is far more unhealthy for us than natural sugar. The exceptions to this new crazy idea were that we could have a few natural sugars, such as lactose in milk, and fructose, in natural fruits, and finally - honey. Yes, that would be our saving grace when in desperation.

The next question was how long we'd try the diet. We wanted this to be a change in lifestyle, not just a 30-day challenge. We decided on one year. This is where the title of this post comes in. When family and friends heard this news, they said something to that effect.

It has been over 3 months now. Our post-meal cravings for sugar were very strong for a few weeks, but have gotten less and less noticeable. We both feel a significant physical and mental change. Now the challenge is enduring another 9 months! We did make Thanksgiving and Christmas Day our only free days -- I haven't been this excited for Christmas since I was 7!

What happens when you mix a fatso and a teaser?

This is a true story about an employer who teased his overweight employee to the point of....

Well, I can't tell you what happened next, just watch and find out for yourself.