Last week, while getting my hair ‘done,’ a lovely young woman whose hair was dyed black with a few blue highlights (absolutely fabulous, didn’t have the nerve to do it myself) made me a cup of green tea! The tea was soothing, delicious and while drinking it, I remembered that green tea has been reported to help one lose weight. So, when I got home, I did a bit of digging and reading and here’s what I learned!

Green tea, used for thousands of years in Asia, as both beverage and herbal medicine is now the subject of numerous scientific studies in the U.S. and abroad.

Research shows that green tea helps to prevent cancer and heart disease. Green tea slows the aging process and may even reduce harmful blood cholesterol and blood sugar levels. It has been known to prevent and reduce the pain of rheumatoid arthritis.

Miraculous health benefits, indeed! Scientists in the United States and Switzerland published a study in the December 1999 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showing that green tea extract contained a substance that may help burn fat.

The Linus Pauling Institute explains that the weight loss is “apparently due to increased fat oxidation and thermogenesis.”

Put that in your teapot and drink it! (Green Tea contains caffeine).

A recap or recup, if you will! 
Green Tea …

1. helps to prevent certain types of cancer
2. helps to prevent heart disease
3. slows the aging process
4. reduces harmful blood cholesterol and blood sugar levels
5. prevents and reduces the pain of rheumatoid arthritis
6. helps burn fat

More of your favorite fat-burning links!
How do you stop yourself?
Eat Carbs. Lose Weight.
8 Ways to Burn 100 Calories

Spread the word … not the icing!
Janice

It’s National Popcorn Day and rather than celebrating it by hitting the streets in search of a super-sized bucket or two of buttered caramel popcorn, this Weight Loss Artist ™® thought it the perfect opportunity to make a piece of Weight Loss Art™® !

A Weight Loss Artist™® is someone who makes art about food instead of eating it and, in the process, loses weight. I permanently removed over 50 pounds. (For the full skinny on how to permanently remove fat, keep your hands covered in glitter and make weight loss fun, be sure to pick up a copy of Our Lady of Weight Loss!!!)

Weight loss art is any form of art and/or craft that keeps your hands and mind busy creating rather than eating and, at the same time, the activity grounds you to your healthy lifestyle goals!

Certainly, a popcorn frame meets the criteria! Are you ready to pop some kernels and glue ‘em, and not eat ‘em?

Straight from the Our Lady of Weight Loss’ Craft Room
Pious Project: Popcorn Frame

Supplies:
popcorn
glitter glue
frame (small is good, with a flat few inches to work on)

Instructions:
pop your popcorn
let it cool.
put glitter glue on the frame
place popcorn on top of glue artistically

Note: I use glitter glue because it’s colorful, fun and pretty. And when a piece of popcorn shifts and there’s a little bit of the frame showing through it – well … glitters!

More fun weight loss tips:
Can Your Anger! Literally! CAN IT!
Make an AFFIRMATION Container and CHANGE Your Life!

Spread the word … NOT the icing!
Janice

21 Tips: The Thanksgiving Survival Guide
The Thanksgiving Calorie Guide
The Thanksgiving Prayer

And today, an extra added bonus!!!!

They bring you The Thanksgiving Survival Kit!
Janice shares, “It is our intent to prepare our fans to get through Thanksgiving, the big food day, the big family day, the big ‘mom’s gonna’ push my buttons’ day,’ fully prepared and armed!”

What will you bring to Thanksgiving that can help you navigate the screaming children? What will you bring that will keep you strong and able to say ‘no thank you’ to the heavily spiked Egg Nog when the slings and arrows of miss-communication are being sent your way? Seriously?!

If you think that I’m kidding, I am NOT! I have spend an entire week on the telephone talking to Weight Loss Coaching clients who are telling it like it is. The TRUTH! Concerned that they will go on a ‘food’ bender or worse! Some are unnerved by their controlling mother-in-laws (not my daughter-in-law – by the way), some by the screaming 4 and 5 year olds; some worried that comments will be made about the way they look – good or bad – IT IS charged! The anxiety is mounting and I say get ‘thy holiday survival kit’ together!

THE THANKSGIVING SURVIVAL KIT!

1. Meditation Music. Should you feel unnerved by anyone or anything, simply slip away, iPod in hand, to the bathroom. Lock yourself in and tune in to some meditation music! Take in a few deep breaths. Return to room when you are fully charged and returned to center!

2. Lights, Action, Camera. Taking photos will not only serve to record the day for future generations, but the camera acts as a butter – oops, Freudian slip … I mean BUFFER!!! It literally puts you in a place of observation. Note all with humor! Snap away happily.

3. Recorder. Last year, my 93 year-old mother, after 3 sips of Manichewitz, revealed some very hot details from her youth. Had I only had a recorder! A golden opportunity missed to record her in all her glory and in her voice!

4. Jigsaw Puzzle. Bring a puzzle and dump it on a table in the corner of the room. You have now created the official ‘drop in’ center. Drop in and play … drop out and return to bigger group.

5. Games n’ Puzzles for the Kids. Needless to say, if you’ve got a puzzle you’re working on, the little ones are going to want to play, too. So bring games n’ puzzles up the gazoo for the kids! Keep ‘em busy and happy.

6. Hand Project. Crochet, knit, needlepoint, pen and pad … whatever! Hand projects not only keep your hands and mind away from food, but they are calming. Best anti-anxiety medicine ever!!!

7. Walking Shoes. Not only is it okay to head out for a spell and take a walk, it’s a good idea. If you need some alone time, be sure to head out alone!!! (I am giving you permission to take care of yourself!) And if you want to take the lead and invite others for a bit of fresh air, do so!

Think outside of the stuffed turkey!
What are you going to put into your Thanksgiving Survival Kit?! Pack NOW!

Spread the word … NOT the icing!
Janice

If YOU Want to WAKE UP THINNER? then go to THE HOLIDAY DIET for details on the e-book, community and more!
________________________________

Does your weight loss chart look like an EKG?
In need of a coach? Write Janice!

Follow Janice on Twitter and/or Facebook!

Visit: www.OurLadyofWeightLoss.com
www.JaniceTaylorLiving.com

Woo Hoo, I am so excited to be alive!!! Well – the truth of the matter is this…

This morning, just as my eyes were fluttering their way to open, in that moment between sleep and wake, I tuned into my thoughts and heard myself say “Crap, it’s time to get up.”

I know from experience (as I’m sure we all do) that when we start the day on a ‘crappy’ note, it makes it that much more difficult to muster up enough energy to make the best choices, food or otherwise!

So … in that moment of hearing myself ‘crap out,’ I turned it around.
I remembered that – for starters – I am alive! Blessed with yet another beautiful fall day in NYC. Happy to write you! I made a mental note of 5 things that I am genuinely grateful for, and my energy began to bubble up happy.

And then … I tuned into the most delightful video: “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life,” from Ren & Stimpy, featuring the best ever Monty Python song.

Joyously, can I now report to you that I am officially a happy idiot! I invite you to join with me!

Three Easy Steps: How to Be a Happy Idiot!
1. Think a happy thought.
2. Look at the bright side of life.
3. Watch this video. Again!

Seriously, it’s relatively easy to change your mind, your point of view, your thoughts, your feelings. The more difficult part is to remember to do so!

How will you remember to wake up happy?
Weigh-in below!

More Happy News:
10 Tips: Happier and Thinner
20 Quick and Simple Weight Loss Tips
Unexplained Phenomenon: YOUR Appetite

Spread the word … NOT the icing!
Janice

If YOU Want to WAKE UP THINNER? then go to THE HOLIDAY DIET for details on the e-book, community and more!

Kelly Osbourne is dancing those pounds away for sure! Still … she recently told E! News that she’s avoiding the scales of injustice. “If I start weighing myself I will start being like, ‘Maybe I shouldn’t eat so I could lose some more,’ I would go to that end. I would get obsessed with that fact that I was losing it and I would keep at it.”

But seriously folks, her weight loss, while perhaps the most visible change along with her stomach muscles, is the least of it. More importantly, Kelly is on the road to transformation and reinvention. She is evolving, not just improving!

Will she make it through to the Dancing With the Stars finale? Will she continue to dance after the show is over and the dancing lights go dark? How will Kelly keep moving forward? AND YOU!!! How will you evolve?

Want to EVOLVE, not just improve?
It’s NOT about YOUR FAT: It IS about YOUR LIFE!
Why are YOU keeping your FAT CLOTHES?
Drop the ANGER!

Spread the word … NOT the icing!
Janice

If YOU Want to WAKE UP THINNER? then go to THE HOLIDAY DIET for details on the e-book, community and more!

Our Lady of Weight Loss is all about having fun. Anything for a laugh! Lightness personified! And to that end, she has discovered the best Halloween decoration ever!

Toilet Tattoos® … toilet lid embellishments that are removable, reusable and wipe-able clean! You can transform your toilet for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas or just for the heck of it. A gazillion toilet lid designs to choose from including but not limited to floral, holiday, whimsical themes, and all you do is peel it off, smooth it on!

I just shipped some to my kids who are having a Halloween party! (Do you think that’s enough of a bribe to get invited?!) Anyway, they are $9.95 each and considering the fact that they are reusable, not a bad deal!

Spread the word … NOT the icing!
Janice

Zeus emerged from the sea to discover a beautiful young mortal woman. She did not seem frightened by him or seem to notice that he was a god. Zeus, naturally, took full advantage of the opportunity and seduced her. Her name was Cynara, and it all ‘went’ so well that he decided to make her a goddess. This would enable her to live near to his home on Mt. Olympus. (Long distance romance was not his thing.)

Cynara agreed. Zeus had a plan. He thought that whenever his wife Hera was away, he’d get together with Cynara. However, Cynara soon became homesick. She missed her mother, so she slipped back to the earth for a short but meaningful visit with the mortals. When she returned, it was quite apparent that she had a new attitude. Zeus wasn’t particularly happy with her un-goddess-like behavior. He threw a fit and tossed her back to earth, and he changed her into the plant that we now call the artichoke.

The Modern Day Artichoke:
The artichoke is a part of the thistle group; a member of the sunflower family. The plant can reach heights of three to four feet, and its diameter can cover a six foot area. The “vegetable” we eat is actually the plant’s flower bud, and if allowed to flower, a gorgeous violet-blue blossom will present itself.

Artichokes are available twelve months a year, but their peak season is spring and fall. Most artichokes are grown in France, Italy, and Spain, but California farms nearly 100 percent of the United States’ crop. Baby artichokes are a smaller version of the larger artichokes. The flowers buds are picked from the lower part of the plant, where they receive less sun, which therefore stunts their growth.

Recent German studies indicate that artichoke extract lowers cholesterol.

Artichoke Salad

Ingredients:
2- 6 ounce cans chunk light tuna in water
1- 16-ounce can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1/2 cup chopped black olives
1/3 cup reduced-fat mayonnaise
1 tablespoon lemon juice, fresh
salt and pepper to taste 

Instructions: Combine all ingredients in bowl. Mix with enthusiasm. Enjoy!

Spread the word … NOT the icing!
Janice