Losing Weight and Feeling Great

You know the salmonella outbreak that started in April?  It involved red plum, round red and Roma red tomatoes, eaten raw.

Well, don’t think about making fresh salsa anytime soon, because now the CDC has added cilantro and jalepeno and serrano peppers to the list of suspected foods.

Now keep in mind that the suggestion is that you don’t eat any of these raw (unless of course they come from your own garden).  Adding these ingredients while cooking shouldn’t be a problem.  Just remember that the foods need to be cooked to a high temperature (at least 170 degrees) to kill the salmonella, if it’s present

I haven’t read anything on if there is a specific source for these foods — like tomatoes/peppers/cilantro from "x" state or country.  But I’d have a hard time believing that all of this produce is tainted; I mean, it can’t happen all over, all at once.  But I guess that unless you know for sure your source is safe, you may want to avoid these foods raw for now.

At any rate, if you’d like to read the article, you can find it at HealthDay.

Keeping this blog and website certainly helps motivate me to not stray too far off my diet.  Still, there are days where it’s not enough.  There are days where I need a little extra help to keep on eating healthy.

Sometimes I get frustrated because my sciatica keeps me from doing any kind of cardio.  On a bad day, I can’t walk at all without pain.  On a good day I can walk a mile…if I do it slowly and carefully, and on a level ground.  Most days are somewhere between the two.  Because of this, my weight loss is pretty well slowed down.

Anyway, the point of all this is that a friend of mine, Lynn, told me about a website that is motivational, and helps you track your weight loss and fitness goals.  It’s for you if you just want to maintain your weight…and if you want to lose 100 or more pounds.

I’ve already been inspired by a lady named Annie, who has lost almost 400 pounds!  I’ll be doing an interview with her soon, and will let you know when it’s ready.

So what’s this place?  Called SparkPeople, it’s free.  If you want to take a look, here’s my profile page as an example.

If you decide to join, let me know so I can add you to my friends list!

The "No S" Diet is something that’s come out that is rather interesting; I’m not sure I totally agree with it, but it does have some merits, so here goes.

The "No S" Diet really has three simple rules to follow:

• No sweets.
• No seconds.
• No snacks

There are exceptions made; i.e. on days that begin with an S (Saturday/Sunday) you can break these rules a little.  Not go overboard, mind you, but a little easing of the rules on the weekends, so that you can hold to the diet during the week.

While I heartily agree with the "no sugar" part, I take a slightly different stance on the seconds and snacks.  The reason being it depends on what your seconds and/or snacks are.

While I can’t condone a candy bar for a snack (it’s sugar anyway), how about a piece of string cheese and some raw veggies?  That helps stave off cravings while evening out your blood sugar.  I don’t think that unilaterally banning all snacks is necessary.

So that brings me to the "seconds" part.  What are your seconds?  If it’s another piece of lasagna or another hamburger, I’d agree — it’s not necessary.  But what if your seconds are steamed veggies without butter?  Or a leafy green salad with some low-calorie dressing?  I’m not sure I’d ban that kind of second.

I guess I could go along with the no sweets and no seconds (they make sense) but I have to disagree with the no snacks — at least the right kind.  Keeping your blood sugar stable is one of the things you very much need to do, to successfully diet for weight loss.

But what about you — would the "No S" diet help you keep to your weight loss plans?  Or would they drive you to distraction and make you fall into bad habits again?  What do you think?