Garbage Soup!

Brrrrr...!

Holy crap it's FREEZING here in LA! Who knew it even got this cold here?! I moved from New York to warmer climates to avoid this! But, most of us live in climates that have cold snaps and entire seasons. What happens when it gets cold? Everyone piles the hot, starchy carbs on their plates as well as the stews and the bread to sop up the gravy. C'mon, we're all guilty of that. Also, the cold turns off our thirst mechanism, so we don't drink as much fluid as we need.

The result from all this? Weight gain, feeling bloated (and a little constipated...sorry, it's true!) The holidays alone are calorie-laden. Add the cold for 3 months and you have a recipe for unwanted weight gain.

How do we avoid this? Well, here are a fewthings I recommend to my clients that I do myself. 1-Eat soup whenever possible. I just had lunch with my friend, Pati, at the Newsroom Cafe in Beverly Hills. It's a great place for healthy items, but I really can't eat salad when it's 45 degrees outside. I ordered their Chinese Chicken Soup and it fit the bill perfectly. Lots of chicken, fresh herbs and vegetables with low-carb tofu noodles in a chicken broth. i added some red pepper flakes for a little spicy-heat and I was golden! It was filling, had a ton of fibrous carbs and protein and the broth was very tasty...although more salt than I would have made at home. But this kind of lunch or dinner is only about 350-400 calories total and will keep you full for hours. For dinner, I'm making a spicy tomato soup and adding little turkey meatballs to it. (stay tuned...I'll be posting the soup recipe in a few days...)

2-Give yourself a timeout for mid-afternoon tea. A hot mug of tea is a welcome relief when it's cold out. Especially if it's made with green tea or another herbal mixture. It keeps you full, has virtually no calories and replaces lost fluid your body needs. It also allows you to take a breath from your busy day to re-group.

3-Be aware of how much and when you're eating. You can actually lose a little weight in this weather if you do it right. The body will vibrate more to keep itself warm (hence-shivering!) and will burn up an extra 150-200 calories a day. If you don't overcompensate on the mashed potatoes and gravy, you can drop a couple of holiday pounds in no time!

Alright. Time to start cookin'. Talk to you Later!

Rona

What the HECK is an Orthorexic?!

So, I get this article in the mail from my Mom. She's famous for cutting out stuff like this for EVERYBODY! She sends a bunch at a time, cut out from various magazines, local newspapers and flyers. Then she writes a little note on each one telling my WHY she's sending it. I think it's a "Mom" thing, don't you?

Anyway, this one article is about "Orthorexics." This is a term coined by a Dr. Steven Bratman sometime in the 90's. Basically, an orthorexic is a person overly concerned about what and how healthy they eat. Which, according to him, is different than an ANOrexic because, well...they don't eat at all!

I think it's a crock. Here's why. There's so much crap out there I think it's important to be careful about what you put in your body! We're such a technologically oriented society, more and more consumables are make artificially and we really have no idea of the long term affects of things like partially hydrogenated oils, Splenda and butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT). These last two keep fats and oils from going rancid. See? I bet you didn't even know what those were.

Now, do people like me become a bit neurotic when it comes to eating? Yeah, we try to have organic, natural ingredients, without too many preservatives or chemicals I can't pronounce or spell. Because it's so hard to come by, we have to pay more attention to it! But, most of us indulge every so often if we're in a nice restaurant or at a friend's house for an evening.

This guy feels if one is "overly focused" on what we eat, then there's something wrong. What?! Better we ignore it? HELLO, doc, have you LOOKED around? EVERYONE is ignoring it! That's why most of the country is overweight!

The article says we used to be called Health Nuts. Evidently, it's not a strong enough term.

All I can say is we need people to be a little orthorexic-like.

If you read this, and weigh less than 100 pounds and are over 5 feet tall, you are the exception. YOU'RE anorexic. Go eat an organic sandwich and get some help. You're not healthy. Seriously.

Talk to you soon.