This Mama Cooks! On a Diet

Find out if you have what it takes to live to be 100 years

Take Another fun blog quiz from Structured Settlement company.

75%

I guess I didn't pick my parents carefully enough. Plus, like all Americans, I could have less stress in my life and work out more.

Take the quiz and tell me what your percentage is below!

The "Smart People Drink Milk" contest

Recently I posted a product review of Horizon Organic's new DHA Omega-3 milk. Docosahexaenoic Acid, or DHA, is a type of Omega-3 fatty acid that has been studied for its role in heart, brain and eye health.

As part of Brain Awareness Week/Month I'm giving away 3 Horizon Organic coupons good for any ONE FREE Horizon's product up to $4.99 (excluding gallon milk and 16 oz. butter) in value.

To Enter:

1. Leave your name, email address, and blog address (if you have one) in the comments below.
2. You must be willing to send me your full name and address so I can mail you the coupon. I will not share your personal info with the public. However, if you do have a blog, I will link back to it when I announce the winners.
3. You have until midnight MT on March 27, 2008 to enter.
4. This contest is limited to the continental U.S.
5. I'm also offering having this contest at My Readable Feast. Feel free to enter there as well. One entry on each of my blogs is allowed.
6. The coupon cannot be used in CO, MA, MO or ND, so don't enter if you live in those states.
7. I will announce the winners on March 28, 2008 and mail out the coupons via USPS by the following week.

5 ways to stay lean and green this St. Patrick's Day

As I travel through the grocery store I realize that another eating holiday - St. Patrick's Day - is upon us. Here are five ways to cope when Irish tummies are growling.

1. Beer - If you must have a beer this St. Patrick's Day, choose wisely. Instead of that nasty green Bud Light, treat yourself to a Guinness, Harp, Beemish or Murphy's. The dark, rich stouts have only 3 Weight Watchers POINTS per 12 oz. bottle. Drink slowly and savor the flavor!

2. Drink your greens. There are so many ways to "tipple the green" besides having an Irish beer. One way to drink your greens is to try Naked Juice's Green Machine juice. (Don't have Naked Juice in your area? Try Ocala Superfood Micronutrient Fruit Juice Drink instead.)

Green Machine has several "superfood" ingredients including spirulina, chlorella, blue green algae, spinach, broccoli, and others. Sounds gross but its apple juice and pineapple juice base gives it a sweet flavor. One cup is 3 POINTS.

I love it and have a glass of it in the morning with my vitamins. Also, I think the superfood goodies have helped keep me healthy this winter, unlike the rest of my family who keep getting sick.

Green tea is another example. According to an article at MSNBC.com,

Green tea contains relatively high amounts of a type of phytochemical called EGCG, proven in laboratory studies to be a powerful antioxidant...studies show EGCG can increase production of enzymes that protect us from cancer-causing substances, decrease levels of a substance key to promoting cancer development, and increase cancer cell self-destruction.

Have trouble getting the kids to fall asleep? Try these sleepy time snacks for the whole family!

Win $50 of Johnson's baby products by entering at my Get your toddler to sleep with a little help from Johnson's contest over at my blog, A Mama's Rant. The contest also contains tips on getting your toddler ready for a good night's sleep, including a warm bath, a massage, and a night time story.  Check it out!

You may want eat some sleep-inducing snacks before starting your night time routine. Here are some ideas.

Sleepy Time Foods

Foods containing tryptophan get the body to make serotonin, which slows nerve activity and encourages drowsiness. Milk, yogurt, soy, figs, almonds, bananas, and turkey are all good sources. Carbohydrates can increase the effect by stimulating insulin production to remove other amino acids, leaving tryptophan to do its work.

Wondertime's Sleeping Potions 

Wondertime magazine recommended these recipes as sleep inducing snacks for kids. I don't see why adults cannot try them out as well. If you're trying to lose weight, I recommend using non or low fat yogurt or cottage cheese and a multi-grain toast. And watch your intake of cookies! Just because you can't sleep doesn't mean you can overindulge in sweets.

Sleepy Sunflowers: Put a spoonful of cottage cheese on a round whole wheat cracker. Sprinkle with sunflower or sesame seeds.

Yogurt Drifts: Spoon a little vanilla or blueberry yogurt into a small paper cup, then sprinkle with wheat germ. Eat, or freeze for 1 to 1 1/2 hours for a frozen-pudding consistency.

Full Moon Cookies: Smoosh a slice or two of banana between 2 small oatmeal raisin cookies, and freeze for at least 1 hour. (Think ice cream sandwich.)

Midnight Figs: Purée 1 cup dried figs with 1/2 cup water and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract in a food processor. Spread on vanilla wafer cookies.

Twilight Toast Points: Spread blueberry preserves on whole wheat toast, then cut into bite-size pieces.

5 weight loss snippets - freebies, a contest, and a healthier grapefruit and shrimp recipe

I wanted to share with you five cool things I recently found for people trying to lose weight and get healthy:

1. Click here to download the "Healthy Weight Loss Success" report. This FREE report comes to you courtesy of This Mama Cooks! On a Diet and Menu Planning Central, a wonderful online service that offers a complete menu planning solution including healthy menus, family friendly menus, and vegetarian menus.

2. Discovery Health is looking for contestants for their 2009 National Body Challenge TV show. They need people who are motivated to lose weight and want to do it together like mother/daughter, father/son, co-workers, and people who need to lose at least 100 pounds.

Each person or team will be provided with a professional weight loss program, gym membership and personalized one-on-one instruction with physicians, nutritionists and fitness expert. The journey will be documented on camera for “National Body Challenge” on Discovery Health Channel. Click here to apply.

3. Sign up for a chance to receive a Senseo® Coffee Pod System. Just click here to fill out the quick survey and if selected all you pay a $15 shipping and handling fee. (You'll receive a confirmation e-mail within two to six weeks to let you know if you're selected.) The machine retails for over $70, so you're getting a great deal. If you already have a coffee maker at home, you can use the Senseo at the office or your RV. They make great wedding and graduation gifts, too.

For those on Weight Watchers, coffee is a great way to get your serving of milk for the day. Just use a sugar substitute, a sugar free coffee syrup, and low or no fat milk.

An Update, Rethinking the Diet Plan and Some Crab

There's nothing like a little minor surgery and a new job to shake things up at home and throw off your weight loss efforts and blogging schedule.

Surgery

I had the surgery on my right knee on November 29 and spent the following weekend recovering from a pain killer and anesthesia hangover. Morphine isn't as much fun as people think. In fact, it made me puke in the hall of the recovery room, and on the way home in the car.

I was so out of it that I couldn't read anything more challenging that People magazine...not that I had a copy around the house. I should have stocked up on videos, but just watched bad TV instead. After a couple of days, the pain killers were making me hyper, itchy and up all night. Thank goodness for Benadryl.

Post-Op and PT

At my post-op appointment, I found out that I have arthritis which makes the cartilage under my knee look like - this was the phrase used by my surgeon - "shredded crab meat." I also had a meniscus tear, so the doctor removed it, and a small ACL tear he left alone.

A week later I started physical therapy two times per week. I have a great guy, Mike, who makes me bend and stretch my knee on my own at home. And then he bends and pushes it even more when I'm there. No wonder PT stands for pain and torture.

I've improved very quickly. I can even ride the stationary bike. After overdoing it the other day (one hour on the bike, one hour in line to see Santa, and walking all over the mall) Mike told me to do no more than 30 minutes on the bike a day plus my exercises. He says that for rehabilitative purposes, overdoing it is a bad idea.

So much for trying to get back on my exercise plan to lose weight.

Where Does the Time Go?

Right after my surgery I started a job as a community manager at a major women's social networking site. So between those 16 hours online and the four I have at PT (including driving time), there's now 20 hours I don't have to plan my food, exercise, read diet blogs for inspiration, eat healthfully, etc. Needless to say, it's been hard to keep up with the Extreme Fat Smash Diet.

Add in all the holiday hoopla (school concerts, shopping and more shopping, writing holiday newsletters, etc.) and it's been impossible to blog, too. So my apologies.

Still, even when I'm done with the PT and the holiday stuff (and all those parties and goodies that have been adding on the weight...sigh) I will be working four mornings a week, then immediately rushing off to take my daughter to school three of those days. It's almost impossible to keep on the Extreme Fat Smash Diet Plan, take breaks, and eat every few hours. I know it's a great idea and a good strategy for weight loss and healthy eating, it's just hard to fit into my life right now.

The iateapie.net "What's in your fridge?" contest

Tanya at iateapie.net is having a contest and giving away a Magic Bullet Blender and some Sundesa Blender Bottles. What do you need to do? Just post a picture of what's in your refrigerator, and write a description of the contents, especially the healthy foods and food products in it.

Then you need to email Tanya at tptphd@gmail.com and send her the link of your blog post. Or if you upload pictures to Flickr and use their notes feature, email her that link also. (You can learn about the contest here. You have until November 25, 2007 to enter.)

My picture

Top shelf

On the top shelf (from left to right) there's a sugar free Rockstar energy drink, two bowls of tomatoes that are left over from our garden, some no fat plain yogurt, then homemade tomato sauce on top of a container of pineapple (a bowl of my son, Nathan's, leftover spaghetti and noodles is in front of that). On top of the organic, free range eggs are leftover homemade pizza with wheat crust.

Blog Action Day: Get the Lead Out!

Today is Blog Action Day where bloggers are uniting to post about the environment. Our aim is to get everyone talking towards a better future. What better place to start than in the home?

Do you use grandma's old dishware during the holidays? Or are you like me and have a vintage set (mine are from the '50s) that you use every day? Or maybe you have handpainted pottery imported from Mexico, China, Italy, Spain, India, Korea, Macao, Pakistan, or Thailand. Even new dishware from China is suspect. You may want to test them all for lead.

Seems that anything produced in North America before the lead glazing regulations were passed in 1971 is risky. It's acidic foods - citrus fruits, juices, wine, coffee and tea - that leach the lead from glazes. (Stop storing wine in that lead crystal decanter, too!)

Since few doctors recognize symptoms of lead poisoning - stomach pain, constipation, diarrhea, aggressiveness, anxiousness, hyperactivity, muscle pain, weakness, weight loss and learning disabilities - no one realizes that their dishware may be making them sick. And since lead builds up in the body, children are at the highest risk.

Lose weight and get healthy with these links and giveaways

Do you have any links to helpful articles or websites? Share by commenting below or send me an email!

Woman's Day Magazine
I wanted to give you a heads up on some health and diet related items that Women's Day magazine is giving away. Starting July 10, go to womansday.com/giveaways to win:

- A large Delcious Party fruit bouquet from Edible Arrangements
- A year's supply of antioxidant rich teas from Salada Tea, a steel Adagio tea kettle and a tea chest for storage
- A week's worth of Zone Diet meals from Chef's Diet
- A Puma gym bag, a $300 gift certificate to ParagonSports.com, Oral-B Pulsar toothbrushes, Pro-Health toothpaste, a Tanita digital jump rope, and a lavendar scented eye pillow from YogaAccessories.com
- and more...

If you don't subscribed to Woman's Day, check both their print and online versions. Among all the women's magazines, I think it offers the best dieting and health tips. Their healthy recipes (and their regular ones) are tasty and practical, and they seem hip on trends like eating organic and local food, and practicing yoga and meditation. Give it a try by signing up for their Live Well newsletter at womansday.com/newsletter.

The Denver Post
The Denver Post has a great fitness section that is updated every Monday. If it wasn't for the Denver Post, I wouldn't have learned more about Dr. Ian Smith, his books, and his 50 Million Pound Challenge to get 5 million African-Americans to drop 10 pounds over two years.

The AOL Body website
I will be joining AOL Coach Jillan Michaels at a Blogher luncheon to see what the site is about and learn how she helped contestants on The Biggest Loser. Should be an interesting luncheon not only from a fitness/diet angle, but to see how AOL is trying to market to women online.

Other great tips

• 80 Awesome Weight Loss Tips at Zen Habits (see their archive of health tips)

Image from iStockPhoto

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed.

An eggless chocolate cake

When my friend Suzanne heard that my daughter is allergic to eggs, she sent along this recipe for an eggless chocolate cake. It's named after the mother of an old friend of hers who used to make it.

Since my daughter is also allergic to peanut butter, I'd make a traditional frosting or maybe a sugar glaze instead.

Shirley's Chocolate Cake - The best in the world!

Cake ingredients:

• 3 cups of flour
• 2 cups of sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 9 tablespoons cocoa
• 2 cups of cold water
• 2 tablespoons vinegar
• 3/4 cup oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Icing ingredients:

1. 3 cups confectioners sugar
2. 1/4 cup milk (approximately)
3. 3/4 cup peanut butter

Cake directions:

1. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl using an electric mixer.
2. Pour into a greased 9 x 13 baking pan.
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 - 40 minutes.

Icing directions:

1. Mix confectioners sugar and milk - it will be thin.
2. Stir in peanut Butter, which will thicken the icing.
3. Ice your delicious cake.

Photo credit goes to Diana's Desserts who offers her own version of an Eggless Chocolate Cake.

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed.