One of the most admired business men of our times, Steve Jobs, will be missed by many. But at the same time, we can all learn from his thinking and out of the box solutions. He was never one to follow. He was always one to lead.

If you changed your thinking to how he did, how would your life be different? What decisions would you make differently? How would that affect your life?

I know I am going to get my hands on that book as soon as I can. They are taking pre-orders, and you can reserve yours here:

Learn Life Lessons From Steve

I can’t wait to get this delivered to me. I, too, like to think outside the box. I want the best for me and my husband. So we can have successful, satisfying lives filled with great experiences.  And if anyone questions us, or thinks we are “out of the loop”…..I’ll just say:  I’m thinking like Steve these days.

Since Broccoli is on sale this week I thought I would share my best recipe for broccoli salad that I take to many, many family functions. I get requests for it all the time. Such as: make sure you bring that broccoli salad to the father’s day picnic. Or, I get asked for the recipe for broccoli salad from people attending the function. So, I can heartily recommend it and pleased to share it with you.

Gretchen’s Broccoli Salad

1 pound bacon, fried crisp & drained

3 bunches broccoli, chopped fine

1/2 cup raisins or crasins

1/2 cup sunflower seeds, ( or can use pumpkin seeds, or sesame seeds)

1 medium red onion

1/2 cup Hellman’s Mayo

1/4 cup raw sugar

1/4 cup Bragg’s Apple Cider Vinegar

Mix your mayo, sugar and vinegar and set aside. Let blend together for 20 – 30 minutes.

Mix your broccoli, raisins, sunflower seeds and onion together. Then pour above mixture over it and then top off with the fried bacon.

Toss all together and refrigerate overnight. Can actually make it the same day as long as you have at least 5 hours to marinate flavors together. This is not a low calorie, or low cholesterol dish. But it is very filling and satisfying. It will keep you away from the dessert table because you will be so satisfied.

If you want, you could substitute agave nectar for the 1/4 cup raw sugar. Or you could use a powder sugar substitute such as splenda or stevia. I use the rule of thumb: 3 packets and then taste…to see where I like it. Otherwise, you can over do the sweet taste with an artificial substitution. Some people feel it changes the recipe and they swear they can tell the difference, but I can’t. But maybe I am just use to it also.

Another way to reduce the calories on this recipe is to use turkey bacon instead of real bacon. It has about half the calories. But I honestly don’t care for the flavor of it. You just have to pick and choose your battles, so to speak. I would rather cut the amount of bacon in half, to half a pound ( 8 ounces) of regular bacon and get the real flavor.

You could also use Hellman’s light Mayo rather than the regular mayo. Again, it cuts the calories in half. You will have to watch out for a watery consistency if you do choose to do that. So, be careful and toss frequently if using a light version of mayo.

Enjoy.

Isn’t that the answer everyone wants? The easy way to lose 5 pounds. And it doesn’t matter how much weight you need to lose either. Because whether you need to lose 5 pounds or 55 pounds, you can only lose it one pound at a time.

That is what people mess up on. They should just concentrate on the day in front of them..and not worry about next week. And once they are successful getting through the day, they will feel empowered to do it again…

The easy way to lose 5 pounds? Cut out all beverages with any calories, caffeine or chemicals. Yes, you read that right. That means cutting out the regular and diet soda’s, vitamin waters, coffee, tea’s, smoothies, energy drinks, gatorade’s and any like it.

What does that leave you with? Water. Plain and simple. Nothing but plain old wonderful water. Do this for a week….and see how happy you will be with the results.

I will forwarn you: if you hae been a heavy coffee or tea drinker, you may experience some withdrawal symptoms. Bear with it. The results are worth it…and so are you!!!!

Carrot – Horseradish Dip

1/2 cup low fat sour cream
8 oz. low fat cream cheese
1/4 cup mayo
2 tsp Bragg’s Liquid Amino’s
1.5 tsp hot horseradish
salt & pepper to taste

combine all together

and

then add:

1 1/2 cup shredded carrots
1/4 cup chopped green onions

You can serve this with your favorite chip melba toast, large chunks of a coarse bread, or even stuff it in celery! Anyway its a winner.

If you have the mindset that you can’t eat healthy when you only have the typical fast foods places available to you, then think again!

I am voluntarily doing a 30 day sugar challenge where I am seeking to eat only foods that have less than 4 grams of sugar in them. So that is what I am searching for.

While it has been a really really BIG challenge in the grocery stores, today I found 2 great choices at the RaceTrack gas station chain, which I believe is nation wide….it certainly is on the east coast anyway.

1. Turkey wrap on a red pepper tortilla for only 3 grams of sugar and 510 calories. OK OK I know it is a little on the high side calorie wise for some of us. But if you have some carrot chips and a 0 calorie beverage with it…you will be satisfied.

2. Ceasar Chicken Sandwich, for only 4 grams of sugar and 460 calories. Pair as above.

I am going to make it my mission this coming week or two to find more choices for us……so watch for future posts.

Happy Dining Out!

I don’t know about you, but the holidays can sure play havoc with my healthy habits and waistline.

Things we normally don’t have during the year: Bailey’s Irish Cream  is the biggest offender for me this year.  It just tastes like liquid candy.  who can resist that?   So easy to say, why not?  It’s just for the holidays?

Problem is the “holiday” stays with the hips in to the new year.

Decide how you are going to handle it…….For me….I was already on the mini trampoline this morning for 15 minutes.  Going to keep my metabolism revved for the day.

Good Luck  Good Health  Good Future to you all.

Have a Merry Holiday Season

I want to share with you one of the best weight loss tips that has been proven to work time and time again…for many years.  By myself and many other of my weight loss friends and clients.

What is it?

Something complicated?      Inconvenient?      Not realistic?      Takes too much time?

NO, none of those.

All it takes, is starting your day off right!

By starting your day with a healthy breakfast…such as an egg white omelet with a cup of veggies thrown in, and a a piece of fruit with it on the side.  Will get your metabolism jump started, keep you fueled for a longer period of time, and will not make you crave more sweets, ( like you indulged in last night).

It is a WINNER…..and so easy to do.

If you are not a “breakfast” eater when you first get up……then pre make a breakfast and take it with you to the office and microwave it when you are ready.  OR, you can make a batch of “healthy” muffins or a breakfast cookie…and have them stocked for the holiday season…one filled with oatmeal, nuts, fruit, and flax.  It will fill you up…and feel  as if you are “special”……

It really makes you feel happy and rewarded when you step on the scale and there is NO GAIN registering.  How cool is that?

I have been going through my recipe book looking for meals that will warm me up, fill me up, and help me to lose weight.  I  forgot  about one of my old favorites:

Oatmeal Bake

It is so satisfying, filling  and economical…just what we need to help out with the Holiday extra expenses.

2 cups Oatmeal

1/5 tsp baking powder

1 cup 1% milk

1/4 cup egg substitute

1/2 cup apple sauce

1/4 c brown sugar

1/4 cup raisins

1/4 tps cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla extract

Mix 1st  2 ingredients……then add remaining…pour into sprayed 9″pie plate.   Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.

OR

you can put into 12 count muffin tin bake around same amount of time….but start watching them after 30 minutes …and poke with toothpick…when comes out clean…they are done.  Do not over bake…makes them too chewy and dry.  They freeze nicely.

Dina’s  weight loss story is a little different.  Her lack of confidence kept her from following her dreams and she would use food to smooth her feelings.   And the more she would eat, the more her confidence went down the drain.

Of course, she was in denial that she was over weight. She just figured she was “big-boned” !

She also thought she was a healthy eater.  She had thought that eating a plate of pasta and have a 2nd helping of bread was the healthiest thing for her.  What a wake up call she had when a nutritionist gave her a food plan to follow.

After successfully losing 22 pounds, Dina now has enough self esteem to tackle any challenge that comes her way. She knows that if she persists, she will get to her goal.

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Fran had done some serious yo you dieting all her teen years.  And she was getting sick and tired of it.  She decide to lose the words: good and bad….in relation to her food or her food behavior. She wanted to treat her body well and have health for life…not just for a special event.

She limited her calorie intake to 1500 per day, and made thte best food choices each day that she could.  She really upped her exercise with a lot of cardio intensive workouts.    Variety was the key: running, spinning, swimming, step classes, & biking.

Successful in losing 35  pounds, Fran says by focusing on successes..that had nothing to do with the scale…it was an easier journey.  She says that even if you have a tough week – it doesn’t mean you are a “bad” person…it just means it was a tough week.  By keeping that in perspective…she was able to go the distance.

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