What’s your eating style? What does your eating ’style’ say about you? Perhaps it’s time to take a look at our methodology and make some adjustments!!!

Our Lady of Weight Loss’s Top 11 Eating Styles – yes, I did say that there are 10, but here, today, Our Lady of Weight Loss, the patron saint of permanent fat removal is suggesting an 11th!

1. The Unconscious Eater: If you find yourself covered in cookie crumbs, and do not have any memory of eating cookies, you are an UNCONSCIOUS EATER. WAKE UP! Be in the here and now.

2. Gulp n’ Go: Are you always on the run, doing the ole’ GULP n’ GO? Sit down and take a moment. Please.

3. Food Architect: You are a FOOD ARCHITECT if you sculpt mountains of mashed potatoes, arrange broccoli in and around them like trees, and layer slices of meat until you’ve created a high-rise apartment building. While I admire your creativity, play with Legos instead!

4. Assembly-Line Eater: You are an ASSEMBLY-LINE EATER if you load-up another fork full while still chewing. Put the fork down in between bites.

5. Never Say, “No, Thank You.”: Do you have a NEVER SAY, “NO, THANK YOU” policy in place? Afraid you might offend someone? Time for a re-write.

6. If It’s FREE, It’s for ME: Do you exclaim, “IF IT’S FREE, IT’S FOR ME!” when you see free food tastings and samplings at the supermarket? Eat before food shopping and recommit to your goals before you head out.

7. Closet Eater: You are a CLOSET EATER if you keep a mini-fridge in your coat closet and visit it nightly. Come on out of the closet and join the rest of us. It’s safe out here.

8. Speed Eater: If your friends suggest that you challenge the Japanese world speed-eating champion who swallowed a total of 53 1/2 hot dogs, and their accompanying buns, in just 12 minutes, then you are a SPEED EATER. I’m gagging just thinking about it.

9. Beige-Eater: If potatoes, pasta and mac and cheese are your main stay, then you are a BEIGE-eater. Add red peppers, strawberries, green beans, and bright blueberries to your palate . . . NOW.

10. Fried: You are FRIED if you think ‘fried’ is a food group. Now you know better!

And now, on behalf of Our Lady of Weight Loss, I would like to introduce an 11th Style of Eating, coming to you at the 11th hour, so to speak.

11. Healthy, Plain n’ Simple: Just for a moment try on ‘Healthy’ as your eating style! How does it fit? Most people do not ingest enough vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals on a daily basis. Because our nutrient needs are not met, we lose control and cravings kick in.

Healthy isn’t complicated. In fact, it’s simple. All you need to do is eat more – more fruits and vegetables – more colorful plants. Not only will you lose weight; your health will also dramatically improve.

Here’s some food for thought!

2/3 of Americans are overweight
1/3 of Americans are classified as morbidly obese
50 percent of Americans die of heart attacks and strokes
28 million Americans suffer from the crippling pain of osteoarthritis
35 million Americans suffer from chronic headaches (source: Joel Fuhrman, M.D., author of Eat for Health)
Take one step toward health. Try on ‘healthy’. Eat more! Fruits and vegetables.
Slim down while you live it up!

Spread the healthy word … NOT the icing!
Janice

Acknowledging what was, the progress that you have made, and the changes that have occurred is an integral part of permanent weight removal (a.k.a. weight loss).

It’s important to slow down and say goodbye to those ounces – one ounce at a time – that have melted away (yes, this is an ounce by ounce happening). In so doing, we create a moment to pause and reflect. We create a space for us to notice the nuances of change; a moment to fully take in our success, which we so often dismiss. “Oh, I only lost one pound this week.”

Saying goodbye ounce by ounce with ‘right thought’ allows us to not only leave the ounces behind but also the negative talk. Yes, as you let go of one ounce, you can along with it let go of one negative thought or belief.

With each ounce that you let go of, take a moment to say, “I thank you for  traveling with me thus far, and now I’d like to say good-bye.” You might put your hand on your stomach, your hips or any other part of you that has been holding on to excess weight, as you say this, allowing yourself to get ‘in touch’ with your changing body.

As you do this, you will be freeing yourself to embrace all the changes that come with healthy eating.  In this way, we honor who we are in our totality. We cleanse our mind, spirit and body. We clear a space for more healthy change.

Evolve. Don’t just improve.
Janice

Our Lady of Weight Loss Tarot – The Magician

As in a magic trick, Our Lady of Weight Loss’s Magician waves her magic fork and presto, you are filled with a new svelte, vision of yourself, new ideas, new resolve and a new direction.

How will you take this renewed energy and use it to focus on your healthy living goals? What will you do with your new found power?

As you click through your Sunday ‘Get Jiggy JigSaw Our Lady of Weight Loss Tarot Puzzle,’ chew on your new resolve! And get ready for a magical week!

Spread the magical word … NOT the icing,
Janice

Even though I know that you know, even thought you’ve heard it before, I feel compelled to revisit ‘breakfast,’ because …

After forty years (yes 40!) of breakfast related studies that show without a doubt that kick-starting your day with breakfast is the healthy thing to do – for children and adults alike – people still say . . .

“Oh, I just don’t have the time for breakfast!”
Really? How much time does it take to down a bowl of cereal or a container of yogurt with a bit of fresh fruit? Or a hard-boiled egg, for that matter?

“I’m not hungry in the morning.”
What time do you eat dinner? 10 p.m.? Midnight?

“Skipping breakfast is a part of my diet plan.”
Studies show that eating breakfast will actually help you to reach and maintain your healthy weight.

“I don’t like breakfast.”
There’s no rule about what ‘breakfast food’ is or is not! You could eat lunch for breakfast or dinner for lunch or breakfast for dinner. Get creative.

Here’s why YOU should eat breakfast!
After eight to twelve hours of NOT eating (fasting!), your body is ready to and needs to refuel its glucose levels (a.k.a. blood sugar). Glucose is the main energy source for your brain, and it helps fuel your muscles that move you through your day. Those who skip breakfast often find themselves feeling tired, restless, irritable and scattered.

Whether in the process of removing those excess pounds or maintaining your healthy weight, breakfast is very important! It helps to curb your hunger and breakfast can help to prevent binge eating later in the day. At the end of the day, those who eat breakfast consume less calories, are thinner and tend to be healthier than those who do not eat breakfast.

And for you moms out there … kids who eat breakfast do better in school, are more alert and can concentrate better than the kids who skip the most important meal of the day!

Breakfast Ideas!

A breakfast that ranges between 250-350 calories can keep you sated for hours!

• Ready-to-eat whole grain cereal topped with fruit and yogurt.
• Whole-grain waffles topped with one tablespoon of peanut butter, fruit and or ricotta cheese.
• Whole-wheat pita stuffed with sliced hard-boiled eggs, lettuce and tomato.
Sardines (in mustard sauce, my fav) on whole-wheat crackers (or stuff that pita again!).
• Steel Cut Oatmeal topped with fresh fruit.
• Breakfast smooth (whirl up a milk, fruit and bran combo in your blender)
• Omelet (egg-white or otherwise) with copious amount of veggies, an orange on the side with a slice of whole wheat toast.

Your Health Matters!

Spread the word … NOT the icing,
Janice

Sometime last winter, my strategically placed Feng Shui water fountain went on the fritz.

Instead of the sound and motion of gurgling water activating positive chi energy, bringing in prosperity and good luck, the fountain furiously spurted and spit water on my desktop.

Every once in awhile, I plugged it in and played with the wire, pulling it to the left and then the right, hoping for less sputtering. But, no. Spatter it did, and so, there it sat, stagnating in the corner of my office, until this morning, when my husband wandered in and casually inquired. “Why isn’t your fountain plugged in?”

He then lifted the top, took the tiny engine in his hand and simply moved the setting from high to low. Fixed! A miracle! Water flowing, soothing sounds, happy and energized chi filled the room.

And now I wonder. How many other ‘things’ in my life could be adjusted by simply moving a switch from high to low, or low to high, or on or off. How many simple adjustments could be made that would add flow and balance to my life?

Sometimes all we need to do to move from stuck to unstuck is change our setting.