Healthy Living Lifestyle Feb 7th - 14th

One more week down the tube. It sounds as tho some of you are doing well with the weight loss. For some of us it is more just maintaining tho we would be very pleased to lose a few more pounds. Like myself. 5# more off would be great. I've done it before but it doesn't seem to stay off for long.

I'm having a serving of stevia sweetened plain yogurt with 1/2 of a graham cracker so I can take my morning pills about 4 hours late. I got up at 6:30 to let some of the dogs out, ate scrambled eggs with onions, tomatoes, & cheddar cheese & a slice of w. grain toast then sat down to watch news & weather. Instead I watched an old episode of Full House & went back to sleep in the chair. I got up and went back to bed figuring I needed the extra rest. Lunch will be beef brisket from the cafe'(I went over there for the evening yesterday), maybe the other 1/2 of the backed potato, & some of the salad. Hopefully I'll feel like going back over tonight. But I certainly don't want to miss church tomorrow because of it which is a strong possibility.

Did I mention the casserole I made the other day? Here is the basic recipe.

Broccoli enough for the number of people to be served. Steam or boil until tender crisp. Meanwhile, saute' some chopped onions, garlic & mushrooms until about 1/2 done. Mix veggies saving some broccoli to top it all & look pretty if you want to. Make a basic cream sauce with 2 Tblsp. butter(I used my ff Parkey) & 2 or 3 Tblsp. flour. Mix together over med heat until they almost brown. Turn off heat, add 1 cup ff, soy, or rice milk & stir in until smooth. Turn heat onto med. or low & cook until thickened. Add 1 Tblsp. of your choice of mustard. I used brown spicey. Pour over veggies. Pour about 1 - 2 cups of dressing mix or seasoned cracker crumbs into a bowl, add 1/2 cup Parmasan cheese & enough melted butter(again I used ff Parkey spray)to make it all stick together. Sprinkle over the veggie part & bake about 30 min until top is golden brown. You need to vary the amounts you use because each family likes different things. The original recipe served 8 & I had to pare it down to enough for just 2 of us. You could almost use this for a main dish. Especially if you added some chopped chicken, ham, etc. I think I will be making this again for sure. If you use real butter(oleo is NOT a healthy choice)it will be quite high in fat calories.

I only have 1 task on my schedule for today. Vaccum the 2 porches. I'll use the Rainbow so there won't be dirt flying out the exhaust like it would be with the ShopVac. I can do some sweeping but there is so much wind that the front porch will be a dust storm. The breezeway is totally inclosed so it can be swept more.

I'm looking thru old magazines for health tips to pass on & found these in one article. It is how to stop the stress hormones from making us fat. I think I remember doing this and had some success. Lately I read something else that renforces this meal planning system. Never eat carbs or fiber without protein. When you have a meal, eat the protein first(my biggest downfall on this plan),fiber second, and carbs last. This plan says to make a palm size portion of protein, fist sized portion of starch, & a hand sized portion of fiber(fruits & veggies lower in starch). Top with 1 Tblsp. of fat like sour cream or salad dressing. For many of us these portions are way too large but they are addressing people who have tried everything else and could not lose so they are use to eating a lot of food at a meal.

Another article I ran across this week talked about the magnesium deficiency in the average diet and how it affects us in so many ways. You can Google for the list of highest magnesium content foods. I also read about taking Vit. C with the magnesium foods or eating foods from both groups at the same time. I think I may have found the articles on the fibromyalgia page of WebMD.com

The youngest DD of the family who owns the cafe' where I worked for 7 years has been diagnosed with systemic Lupus in the past 6 months or so. It certainly helps understand what she has been going thru for so long. I've said for years that she had something wrong if they could just find a doctor who recognized it. She finally developed the butterfly rash & that was the telltale sign. Now she really understands the chronic fatigue of fibro. She has had it off & on for years too only now it is getting really bad. I feel so badly for her. It is like reliving my younger years all over again. So is watching Kyle deal with the fibro. He has had it for probably 15 years or more but until the last 5 or so I didn't recognize it myself. But I think the Lupus is so much worse than Fibro in many ways. Her doctor is determined she has to come off steroids completely & I don't agree. I know someone else with Lupus I need to call & talk to about it. There is so much stress in her life & that makes it so much worse. I think I'll start looking for websites that deal with it. She is like a niece or granddaughter to me. Boy were they glad to see me last night!! We expected a much larger crowd than we had. I really want to be there for them tonight. Maybe if I just do one porch this afternoon. The front one is the largest so I should break it into 2 sessions.

Well I'm ~~~~~ to everyone. Pebbles, Anna, Vic, Sue, Susan, Debbie, Sheri,Ally, Joann(I pray that trip was great), and anyone else I missed, I love you all & pray for you daily. GOD bless and keep each of you.