Life is Healthy

May 2010 bring us all peace, joy and inspiration.

2010 begins at midnight tonight. Most folks view the coming year as a fresh start--a time to make resolutions about their lives.

It only happens once in a blue moon. December 31, 2009, will be the second blue moon this year, according the Weather Channel. So while it may not seem so auspicious, it does make for a heck of an ending. So this may be the year to make all those New Year's Resolutions that you never thought you'd actually do. It may be a blue moon before you get to again.

FYI: A blue moon happens when two full moons occur in one month. The second full moon is called a blue moon.

Take a look at yourself and see if you can improve your health in 2010. Over Christmas and New year we all eat and drink too much, it is nice but it has to come to an end.

I know that I have put on weight, and I feel unhealthy. My asthma is worse, as is pain in my stomach, which could indicate my ulcer is returning. I do not smoke which is a good thing. I intend to cut down on alcohol which should also help.

I will start to take Odourless garlic supplements 1000mg. This should help my Ulcer and help with my Asthma. It should also lower my cholesterol level and my blood pressure, which I know has been about 160/100, much too high. It will also lower my resistance to infection such as colds and flu.

So what else can I do?. Exercise is important. I need to do this every day. I will plan to walk about 30 minutes every day. I intend to start doing breathing exercises as explained in an earlier post.

Think positive and think healthy in 2010.

PBS will be airing a documentary titled This Emotional Life beginning January 4, 2010. It's three-part series, and looks like it will be worth watching.

One pound of human fat contains about 3,500 calories. That represents roughly 40 slices of toast. So if you were to eat one extra slice of toast every day, you would gain just under a pound of fat per month. Conversely, if you were to eat one fewer slice per day, you'd lose a pound a month. Right? Not quite.

How is it that most peoples' body fat mass stays relatively stable over long periods of time, when an imbalance of as little as 5% of calories should lead to rapid changes in weight? Is it because we do complicated calculations in our heads every day, factoring in basal metabolic rate and exercise, to make sure our energy intake precisely matches expenditure? Of course not. We're gifted with a sophisticated system of hormones and brain regions that do the calculations for us unconsciously*.

When it's working properly, this system precisely matches energy intake to expenditure, ensuring a stable and healthy fat mass. It does this by controlling food seeking behaviors, feelings of fullness and even energy expenditure by heat production and physical movements. If you eat a little bit more than usual at a meal, a properly functioning system will say "let's eat a little bit less next time, and also burn some of it off." This is why animals in their natural habitat are nearly always at an appropriate weight, barring starvation. The only time wild animals are overweight enough to compromise maximum physical performance is when it serves an important purpose, such as preparing for hibernation.

I recently came across a classic study that illustrates these principles nicely in humans, titled "Metabolic Response to Experimental Overfeeding in Lean and Overweight Healthy Volunteers", by Dr. Erik O. Diaz and colleagues (1). They overfed lean and modestly overweight volunteers 50% more calories than they naturally consume, under controlled conditions where the investigators could be confident of food intake. Macronutrient composition was 12-42-46 % protein-fat-carbohydrate.

After 6 weeks of massive overfeeding, both lean and overweight subjects gained an average of 10 lb (4.6 kg) of fat mass and 6.6 lb (3 kg) of lean mass. Consistent with what one would expect if the body were trying to burn off excess calories and return to baseline fat mass, the metabolic rate and body heat production of the subjects increased.

Following overfeeding, subjects were allowed to eat however much they wanted for 6 weeks. Both lean and overweight volunteers promptly lost 6.2 of the 10 lb they had gained in fat mass (61% of fat gained), and 1.5 of the 6.6 lb they had gained in lean mass (23%). Here is a graph showing changes in fat mass for each individual that completed the study:

We don't know if they would have lost the remaining fat mass in the following weeks because they were only followed for 6 weeks after overfeeding, although it did appear that they were reaching a plateau slightly above their original body weight. Thus, nearly all subjects "defended" their original body fat mass irrespective of their starting point. Underfeeding studies have shown the same phenomenon: whether lean or overweight, people tend to return to their original fat mass after underfeeding is over. Again, this supports the idea that the body has a body fat mass "set point" that it attempts to defend against changes in either direction. It's one of many systems in the body that attempt to maintain homeostasis.

OK, so why do we care?

We care because this has some very important implications for human obesity. With such a powerful system in place to keep body fat mass in a narrow range, a major departure from that range implies that the system isn't functioning correctly. In other words, obesity has to result from a defect in the system that regulates body fat, because a properly functioning system would not have allowed that degree of fat gain in the first place.

So yes, we are gaining weight because we eat too many calories relative to energy expended. But why are we eating too many calories? Because the system that should be defending a low fat mass is now defending a high fat mass. Therefore, the solution is not simply to restrict calories, or burn more calories through exercise, but to try to "reset" the system that decides what fat mass to defend. Restricting calories isn't necessarily a good solution because the body will attempt to defend its setpoint, whether high or low, by increasing hunger and decreasing its metabolic rate. That's why low-calorie diets, and most diets in general, typically fail in the long term. It's miserable to fight hunger every day.

This raises two questions:

1. What caused the system to defend a high fat mass?
2. Is it possible to reset the fat mass setpoint, and how would one go about it?
   

We've all been there, haven't we? Lose the weight only to regain it.

Eric Chopin's 1-hr documentry premiere will be airing on Discovery Health Channel on Wednesday, January 6, 2010 at 9:00 pm. The title of the show is "Confessions of a Reality Star Loser." I will be watching. If he can do this again, hell, so can I.

The Discovery Channel is beginning a series called A New Year, A New You. They will tackle everything from weight loss to hoarding. Sounds like a good way to start the New Year.

I see the dumbest things when I watch football on Sundays. Even worse than the mindless beer commercials yesterday was the commercial for Taco Bell touting itself as healthy drive-thru fare. Yikes! They’re even calling their menu the Drive-Thru-Diet. Here’s the disclaimer: “Drive-Thru-Diet® is not a weight-loss program. For a healthier lifestyle, pay attention to total calorie and fat intake and regular exercise. Taco Bell's Fresco Menu can help with calorie reductions of 20 to 100 per item compared to corresponding products on our regular menu. Not a low calorie food. For complete nutritional information please visit TacoBell.com.”

It’s not a weight-loss program, and yet they call it a “diet.” Hmmm… Tell you what, Taco Hell, I’ll just keep staying away from your restaurant as I have for five years. That way I'm guaranteed a “healthier lifestyle.” Besides, I make better refried beans, use real lettuce, and am much more generous with tomatoes when I make tacos and burritos at home. Drive-Thru-Diet my ass…

I’m skipping the “frescolustions” this year and making some real resolutions. As many of you know, my weight loss is the result of a New Year's resolution that stuck. Five years ago, I decided to lose some weight. How much I wasn’t sure. I just remember thinking, I want to be in Onederland again. A year later, I was.

Because a year will pass whether I change anything or not, I’m resolving to make a few tweaks to the old way of life. And I’m going to be succinct about it because it’s more fun that way.

Here’s what I mean: Smithmag.com created the Six-Word Memoirs project in 2006 and have since published two books of six-word memoirs submitted by readers. I first found the site when they held a Six-Word Resolution contest in 2007. Of all the winners, my favorite resolution was, “Kiss Jon Stewart on the mouth” submitted by Martha Garvey. I haven’t talked to Martha for awhile, so I’m not sure if she ever resolved that resolution.

So here are my 2010 six-word resolutions:

In terms of my body: “Make friends with my flabby bits.” And once I’ve done that: “Wear shorts higher than my knees.”
Professionally: “Stop giving it away for kudos.”
Financially: “No pedicures until Mastercard’s paid off.”
Nutritionally: “Go vegan for awhile, maybe longer.” (P.S. I fell in love with a new blog: FatFree Vegan Kitchen. I lost myself for an hour looking through her recipes. What to try first…)

So what are your six-word resolutions for 2010? And if it’s “Try Taco Bell’s Drive-Thru-Diet,” that’s OK, you can tell me. I won’t say anything. Really. I promise.

The world's healthiest foods website (whfoods.org) has a quiz you can take to see how much of the healthiest foods you are eating and based on your answers, it will tell you what vitamins and nutrients you are probably lacking.

Check out the quiz here.

This non-profit website was founded by a guy who became a wealthy mogul by starting a health food company called Health Valley Foods in 1970. Though his principles were sound, the food was mostly packaged, convenience food. He sold the company in 1996 and now operates this non-profit web-site to give back and also possibly to atone for selling too many granola bars over the years.

The healthiest foods are non-packaged, non-processed foods.

This is the best site we've seen on truly healthy foods and it gives the highest quality information about their nutritional values. Check out the 100 healthiest foods.

This was my horoscope for today. Funny I was thinking the same thing. K.

December 25, 2009

Libra (9/23-10/22)

There's no sense in sitting around and thinking about it anymore -- take action, even on Christmas Day! If your life needs a change, get up and do something about the situation; if you need to make amends, do it. Downtime is only a state of activity waiting to happen. After the party tonight, make a list of what needs to be done, then combine activities over the coming days as much as possible. Tonight, a long-postponed conversation clears the air.

Today is Christmas day. Early start, preparing all the food and veg; which we never managed to eat it all in the end. Roast potatoes went a little off, fortunately I had prepared enough so it wasn't a total loss. Turkey was good and gravy was OK; I had to make it from scratch as Spain doesn't have the luxury of Bisto Gravy, ahhhh Bisto!

No Christmas crackers to pull at lunch time - they dont know what they're missing :(
Luckily this year I had some stuffing, as last year that was nightmare. All in all the food was good, company was good too. Of course I managed to burn myself, which made taking things constantly in and out of the oven a challenge. If that wasn't bad enough the dam electrics started playing up and only allowed me on hob ring and oven in at any one time - with 6 pans of veg and potatoes to cook, this of course was not a good thing.

Yesterday we spent the evening at Sandra's parents; I hadn't eaten much but knew they would cook a lot as the whole family were going there.
Sadly for me most everything they cooked was seafood!! REALLY!?!?
But hey, I did managed to eat a block of cheese and pate all to myself.
I think the thing I miss most is the bullshit conversations and jokes you have at family meals, whether at Sandra's parents or at home, I feel like a stranger looking in - yes, I know it's my fault I should have learnt Spanish, but it is very apparent at meals.

Some of the differences in the UK at Christmas are; Xmas music in shopping centres, selection boxes (boxes of chocolate bars), Christmas crackers, cult movies on TV - Indiana Jones, Superman, James Bond, Star Wars etc, and of course crap TV - Eastenders (someone dying/being killed) & the Queen's Speech - it would be nice if she was in touch with the real world like Princess Diana was.
And of course Christmas isn't Christmas without a Christmas pudding.

Pitu managed to open her own presents this year, which consisted mainly of bi-lingual toys and a couple of DVD's - one Snow White and the seven dwarves.
Interesting fact, or not: this was actually the first film I ever saw at the cinema when I was a child. These were the days when cinema's had only one screen and ushers who served ice cream in the interval and you could sing along to the film, without being told Sssshhhhh or mobiles going off! After Snow White had finished we got to see Star Trek 2: the wrath of Khan (may give you an idea I'm over 28), we were there with our next door neighbours kids, who were older than us, so we got to watch Star Trek 2, too (although we were too young).

Sandra got a lady shave and a Nespresso Coffee maker, which she seemed happy with ;)
I received a new shirt and some Wii tennis raquets - not 10 grand for my new studio :'(
Of course here in Spain we also have the 'Three Kings Day' so pitu will have some more stuff then, mainly clothes - she's growing a lot.
Sandra still has her Secret Santa (invisible friend gift to come too).
China had her laptop of course, but I got no contact from her... ...perhaps she's having such a good time, she forgot.

Monies kind of tight as I haven't been informed about work for next year, so I can't afford to splash out too much and having only done 1 week that doesn't go far; especially at this time of year. So next year should be interesting, lets see what happens.

It's strange all the effort and fuss and its all over so quick - story of my life, lol.

I just saw another study that supports my previous post Animal Models of Atherosclerosis: LDL. The hypothesis is that in the absence of excessive added dietary cholesterol, saturated fat does not influence LDL or atherosclerosis in animal models, relative to other fats (although omega-6 polyunsaturated oils do lower LDL in some animal models). This appears to be consistent with what we see in humans.

In this study, they fed four groups of rabbits different diets:

1. Regular low-fat rabbit chow
2. Regular low-fat rabbit chow plus 0.5 g cholesterol per day
3. High-fat diet with 30% calories as coconut oil (saturated) and no added cholesterol
   
4. High-fat diet with 30% calories as sunflower oil (polyunsaturated) and no added cholesterol
   

Tisha and Sunny will each receive a subscription to Nutrition Action Newsletter! NAN is having a special so I could give two subscriptions for the price of one so I drew two winners. If you're interested in subscribing to NAN, click here to get to the website.

Thank you everyone for sharing your nutritional goals. They will make great springboards for blog conversations in the new year.

Look for my interview with Joy Bauer on Wednesday, Jan. 30.

I'll be back with a regular blog this weekend. Those of you in the Midwest, stay safe and warm! I grew up in Minnesota and know how rough those blizzards can be.

Merry Christmas, everyone! Glad you liked the Christmas blog (see "Now For Something Completely Different"). Keep your wits about you as you peruse the food tables!

OK. I changed the blog name back to what it was in the beginning. Don't fool around with what works.

I like to post something once in awhile that has nothing to do with weight loss or maintenance or food. How dull would life be if that’s all we ever talked about! (Quick reminder: You have until about 6 a.m. tomorrow to throw your name into my Nutrition Action Newsletter giveaway! Click here to read how. I’ll announce the winner tomorrow morning.)

‘Twas The Night Before The Night Before Christmas

Tonight’s the night Santa always visited the Haraldson house: the night before the night before Christmas.

We were the only family I knew who opened gifts on Christmas Eve. My parents convinced my brothers and sisters and me that Santa started his trip in Minnesota (at our house specifically) in the early morning hours of the 24th before heading to the International Date Line where it was the next day already. That’s why we put out milk and cookies on the 23rd and our Santa gifts were under our tree on the morning of the 24th. It made total sense to me until I cracked the whole Santa thing when I was 9. More on that in a minute.

On Christmas Eve, Dad would read Luke’s account of the Christmas story before we opened gifts. I always felt sad for Baby Jesus. What was a kid supposed to do with gold, frankincense and myrrh? Sure I got boring things like socks and underwear for Christmas, too, but my parents always got me a few things from my Sears catalog wish list. I just hoped Luke forgot to mention that Baby Jesus got a cool Matchbox car, too.

My parents were awesome gift givers actually. In 1969, I was 6 years old, and on Christmas Eve, my parents gave me a gift that was too big to wrap. They told me to stand by the fireplace and shut my eyes. I was so excited and my imagination went into overdrive. What was it? A pony? A princess dress? My thoughts were dashed when my stupid little brother insisted that he stand there with me and I started yelling at him to go away, that this was my present. Mom gave me the finger snap and “the look” and told me to knock it off and shut my eyes. So I shut my eyes.

It felt like forever before she yelled “Open them!” There stood my dad and older brother holding a two-story wood-frame dollhouse with glass windows, and carpet in the living room and linoleum in the kitchen. Way better than a pony or a princess dress! The best part was that my dad made it. Forty years later, that well-loved dollhouse is in my basement, and will be Claire’s when she turns 3in October.

On Christmas Eve 1973, I had to shut my eyes again for a gift that was too big to wrap. Again my imagination went wild, but thankfully this time my brother stayed out of my glory. When Mom and Dad yelled “Open them!” there in the middle of the living room was a cage and a beautiful little parakeet inside. I’d like to deny that I cried, but as usual my mother caught the moment with her camera and there’s a permanent record of me smiling, tears streaming down my face, talking to my new pet, Pari the Parakeet.

I loved that bird. For seven years Pari heard all my stories and kept all my secrets. He got sick once and lost a foot, but adapted well to having only one. He died one morning when I was 17 and we buried him in the garden.

The week before Christmas 1980, I came home after working the dinner shift at Country Kitchen and found a large tin can on our front stoop. On top was written “To Lynn From Santa.” I brought it inside and asked if anyone knew who left it. Dad said it wasn’t there when he came home from work earlier and no one had heard a car pull up in the drive.

The can was about 12 inches tall and decorated with a holiday scene. Whatever was inside had been sealed like a can of peas and it could only be opened with a can opener. When I went to the kitchen to find one, my mother said, “You can’t open that until Christmas!”

“But why?” I asked. “We don’t even know who it’s from!”

That didn’t matter. Haraldson Christmas Rule No. 1: No gift shall be opened until Christmas Eve. No exceptions. So I spent a few hours analyzing the handwriting on the lid, the same way I did when I cracked the mystery of Santa.

Santa always left a note of thanks for the cookies and milk, and when I got old enough to notice, I realized he used the notepaper my mom kept in the cupboard. It disturbed me to think of some old guy wandering around our house looking for paper and a pen. It was bad enough that we didn’t have a fireplace and had to leave the front door unlocked so Santa could get in, but imagining him turning on lights and sifting through our personal stuff made me a little uncomfortable. I was quite relieved the year I realized Santa had the same handwriting as my dad, only I had to keep it under wraps because my little brother was still too young to figure it out. I felt superior with this knowledge and was quite smug the following year when he learned who Santa was and I told him I’d known “for a long time.” “Well la-di-da” I think was his exact retort as he stuck his tongue out at me.

This time, the handwriting wasn’t so obvious. Was it a boy’s writing? A girl’s? I couldn’t tell. There were a few strange regulars at the restaurant I worked at who’d probably want to leave me gifts outside my house, but that creeped me out too much to think about and so I just let the can sit under the tree for seven tortuous days.

I sat on the couch with a can opener in my hand while Dad read the Christmas story and my little sister and little brother opened their first gifts. (Haraldson Christmas Rule No. 2: Gifts are opened in order according to age.) When it was finally my turn, I cranked open that can as fast as I could. Inside was a little teddy bear and a note: “Merry Christmas. Love, Dad.”

Told you my parents were awesome gift givers.

Wishing you all a very merry night before night before Christmas!

Insulin is an important hormone. Its canonical function is to signal cells to absorb glucose from the bloodstream, but it has many other effects. Chronically elevated insulin is a marker of metabolic dysfunction, and typically accompanies high fat mass, poor glucose tolerance (prediabetes) and blood lipid abnormalities. Measuring insulin first thing in the morning, before eating a meal, reflects fasting insulin. High fasting insulin prevents the escape of fat from fat tissue and causes a number of other metabolic disturbances.

Elevated fasting insulin is a hallmark of the metabolic syndrome, the quintessential modern metabolic disorder that affects 24% of Americans (NHANES III). Dr. Lamarche and colleagues found that having an insulin level of 13 uIU/mL in Canada correlated with an 8-fold higher heart attack risk than a level of 9.3 uIU/mL (1; thanks to NephroPal for the reference). So right away, we can put our upper limit at 9.3 uIU/mL. The average insulin level in the U.S., according to the NHANES III survey, is 8.8 uIU/mL for men and 8.4 for women (2). Given the degree of metabolic dysfunction in this country, I think it's safe to say that the ideal level of fasting insulin is probably below 8.4 uIU/mL as well.

Let's dig deeper. What we really need is a healthy, non-industrial "negative control" group. Fortunately, Dr. Staffan Lindeberg and his team made detailed measurements of fasting insulin while they were visiting the isolated Melanesian island of Kitava (3). He compared his measurements to age-matched Swedish volunteers. In male and female Swedes, the average fasting insulin ranges from 4-11 uIU/mL, and increases with age. From age 60-74, the average insulin level is 7.3 uIU/mL.

In contrast, the range on Kitava is 3-6 uIU/mL, which does not increase with age. In the 60-74 age group, in both men and women, the average fasting insulin on Kitava is 3.5 uIU/mL. That's less than half the average level in Sweden and the U.S. Keep in mind that the Kitavans are lean and have an undetectable rate of heart attack and stroke.

Another example from the literature are the Shuar hunter-gatherers of the Amazon rainforest. Women in this group have an average fasting insulin concentration of 5.1 uIU/mL (4; no data was given for men).

I found a couple of studies from the early 1970s as well, indicating that African pygmies and San bushmen have rather high fasting insulin. Glucose tolerance was excellent in the pygmies and poor in the bushmen (5, 6, free full text). This may reflect differences in carbohydrate intake. San bushmen consume very little carbohydrate during certain seasons, and thus would likely have glucose intolerance during that period. There are three facts that make me doubt the insulin measurements in these older studies:

1. It's hard to be sure that they didn't eat anything prior to the blood draw.
2. From what I understand, insulin assays were variable and not standardized back then.
   
3. In the San study, their fasting insulin was 1/3 lower than the Caucasian control group (10 vs. 15 uIU/mL). I doubt these active Caucasian researchers really had an average fasting insulin level of 15 uIU/mL. Both sets of measurements are probably too high.
   

I don't have to take this quiz to know that I'm addicted to food. I think I answered yes to every question. But hey. It's not all bad. They say when you can admit that you have a problem, you can do something about it. Right? Right?

Today I wrote Why Do People Lie? I was looking through the local paper, and there was a story in it about why people lie. Prior to reading that article and my writing this one, I thought I must be a helluva mark because people lie to me everyday. I guess I'm not so special. People lie to each other everyday about almost anything. But did you know that people lie to themselves as much as they lie to other people? One of my favorite things to lie to myself about is how much I ate. Another: the dryer shrunk my pants.

I get a few health-related publications, but none are as well researched and radical as the Nutrition Action Newsletter, a publication of the Center for Science in the Public Interest. CSPI is quite political, and while I don’t always like the biased and sometimes snarky tone of their articles, they are tops in the field and fight the good fight for the underdog: legislation for and access to good, solid nutrition.

CSPI attacks junk food ads (particularly those that target children), fights to improve school lunch programs, and exposes restaurants and food companies for their exaggerated health claims: “May lower cholesterol!” “May boost immunity!” “A good source of whole grains!” What? Count Chocula? I doubt it.

CSPI also lobbies for better food labeling and food safety. Nothing food related is off their radar. In the December issue, they had an extensive article on movie theater popcorn and compared the nutritional information for all sizes of popcorn at three national theater chains. It’s scary what passes for a “healthy” snack.

I’m pretty wimpy when it comes to controversy or creating controversy, so in the field of my nutritional interests, I let CSPI do it for me (and writers like Michael Pollan and films like “Food, Inc.” and “Supersize Me.” I prefer to work behind the scenes.

And part of working behind the scenes is giving one of you a one-year subscription to Nutrition Action Newsletter. (Disclaimer: This is paid for by me with no recognition or benefit from CSPI.) Because I’ve gained so much insight from this publication AND from you, my readers, I thought as a holiday gift, I’d unite one with the other. I wish I could give all of you a subscription, but alas, I work for peanuts and can only afford one.

For your name to be in the pool of potential winners (one name will be drawn randomly), all you have to do is answer one question: What positive nutritional changes or adjustments did you make this year and/or what are you resolving to change nutritionally in 2010 to be a more healthy consumer?

Leave a comment here or send me an email at lynnbering@verizon.net. I will announce a winner on Thursday!

... To the literally half-dozens of you who are still reading my increasingly intermittent posts. Thank you for sticking around - your comments really do inspire me to continue, and I will try to do more in the New Year. I've just paid to upgrade Haloscan to Echo, and I am nothing if not tight-fisted, so I will be determined to get my £6.33-worth in the next 12 months. That is over 50p a month, so I am hoping for some cracking pedantry battles being fought out in the comments boxes to make it worth it. In fact, I can foresee a graph of cost-per-comment coming up...

My recent lack of posting is down to the usual busy-ness of work (two nice new commissions and a couple of things of my own in development) and small child (he is two! How did that happen?!), however these are both good things and not to be complained about. Not too much, anyway.

We did have some new windows installed recently. Unfortunately the company were professional and punctual which is great for the weatherproofness of our flat, but not so good as a source of comic inspiration. However, next year there is the possibility of a house move, with all the attendant minor disasters to blog about, plus the subsequent need to do loads of DIY which is always good for those "I Have Broken My House/Cut Off My Hand" posts.

I was looking through a cupboard last week and found something I'd made as a child, which would have made a brilliant series of festive posts, but that will have to wait until next Christmas now. So watch this space, and in the meantime have a good one.

Its Christmas time once again and as usual I will be having my favourite vegetable with my dinner, the brussel sprout. As a nutrient the brussel sprout contain an excellent source of vitamin c, b1 and beta carotene.

Vitamin B1 (Thiamine) is essential for energy. As an antioxidant it can help to prevent arthritis and atherosclerosis caused by free radical damage. Together with vitamin c it can help to protect from the damage caused by smoking, and drinking alcohol. Vitamin B1 also promotes a feeling of optimism, helps to overcome stress, depression, anxiety, and poor memory.

Other souses of vitamin B1 are from whole grains, brewers yeast, rice bran and peanuts.

So this Christmas add a few brussel sprouts to your Christmas dinner. Happy Christmas to all.

I'm going to write an article about food addiction for Suite101.com. I'll have it finished before the first of the year. I intend to continue to work on my food addiction. I figure the more I learn, the more I can figure out why I eat to soothe myself. So be looking for that.

OK. After some thought, I'd like to ask a list of questions, and luckily get two or three responses, about being addicted to food.

Many people fall under the spell of food. They use it to cope with life's challenges, and likely find it difficult to satisfy their cravings. Most of these people know that they should choose nutritious food. But when a binges comes on, the only thing that will satisfy is the stuff they know will make sick--literally, emotionally, and physically.

David Kessler, M.D., said in his book, "The End of Overeating," that foods high in sugar and fat may actually make them "hyperpalatable," meaning that they taste really, really good. The doctor claims that this response is measurable under scientific conditions.

1. What do you think of Dr. Kessler's Findings?
2. Have you ever found yourself in a binge because the food tasted so good you couldn't stop, or was that just a bonus and the binge would've happened anyway? (I know I personally have eaten things I didn't particularly like--it was just what was available.)
3. What food sets you off on a binge?
4. What life events make it more likely that you will binge?

I think that's a start. I'd like to include your responses in my article. Names can be withheld to protect your identity. Any takers? Please.

More tomorrow.

Whilst at Vaughan Town there are some question which always get asked.
So in an attempt to address these questions (and to save repetition), see below:

Q: What do you do?
A: Good question. I’m basically a self employed entertainer / motivator / coach / teacher
and more besides.
Me: magic is my thing, but I also like telling bad jokes, performing and variety –
a ‘jack of all trades’, so to speak. Musically I’m awful!
Rob: is a musically gifted bloke from ‘up North’ in England, many many talents –
but music is his passion
Greg: theatre is in his blood. An American who will teach you all you need to know to get
you performing on stage. Woody Allen fan and personality

Each Master of Ceremonies (MC) has his own style and approach to the job.
My take on the job is to get the best from the participants.
I choose who will do well in what capacity and I try to build a program specific to the needs of the group and individuals.
I do not feel this is a ‘one size fits all’ kind of program and I have worked very hard putting together and creating scripts, theatre pieces, jokes and all kinds of ice breakers / energizers and activities, which means I have something for everyone, and each program is different; that’s my aim anyway.

Q: How long have you been an MC?
A: Around 3 years now

Q: Do you always work with the same Program Director?
A: No. Like the MC’s the PD’s have their own way of doing things and also have their own personalities: which adds to the mix as well, variety is the spice of life.
Carmen is a sweet genuine person with a heart of gold; who will help you with anything except LOVE and MONEY.
Marisa looks Spanish but do not be fooled she is an Aussie with fabulous eyes and even more (bad) jokes than me, she’s also a great dancer and teacher.

Q: Do you like your job?
A: Of course. I get to meet wonderful, extraordinary people almost weekly.
I get to see the fruits of my labour grow before my eyes as the participants grow and learn together and leave feeling closer to each other and much more confident
(which is really the secret).

Q: Which venue do you prefer and why?
A: San Ziolo: Nice venue, steeped in history, part of the Camino De Santiago, rumoured to be haunted, staff nice, bad desserts!
Montfrague: Great staff, sadly venue not really 4* quality, issues with water,
VERY isolated location, food OK
Zamora: OK, the staff OK, the location OK, the venue OK – just OK
Burgos: In my opinion too big for our needs. I didn’t feel participants were catered for
properly. Not the best venue for parties, food poor. Nice city though.
Salamanca: Very nice venue and staff. City can be distracting; lots of bars etc.
Plenty to see and do. Fantastic desserts.
Good for Master students, or students who have been to Gredos
Gredos: Very nice venue/location, staff OK (few issues, although the manager is working hard to sort this), isolated location, amenities need to be paid for,
perfect for low levels or first timers. Not a lot to see and do especially in winter.

Q: Which is better, the city or an isolated location?
A: For me both have pros and cons.
For participants with low levels then the isolation is what you really need to focus without
distractions.
For participants with higher levels you need to be able to deal with distractions, as this is
what the real world will present.
For the Anglos the city offers them a chance to see part of Spain’s culture and history, so
it’s nice for them.

Q: Is this the best group ever!?
A: Every week almost without fail someone asks that very question.
Each week is different, a different dynamic, different personalities, different outcomes
and I like that it makes them unique, as your experience should be.

Q: What would you do if someone spoke Spanish?
A: This is THE cardinal sin!!! Whether you are English or Spanish, do NOT speak
Spanish. It defeats the purpose of you being here. If you speak Spanish and we hear you, you will be reminded of the rules, if caught again you will be removed without question.
Please don’t, it’s not worth it ;)

Q: Have you ever had to remove someone from the program?
A: Sadly yes, but only for good reasons.
Speaking Spanish, drunk and disorderly, inappropriate behaviour, not wanting to
participate (I’m on holiday attitude).
Any of the above reasons and others besides will be enough to have you removed from
the program and people have gone for these very reasons.

Q: Does the program really work?
A: Yes, I wouldn't work for something I didn't believe in. Having said that like everything
else in life, you get out of it what you put in. You will not speak fluently in 5 days.
However you will feel more confident in your ability to speak English, have less fear about making mistakes and leave knowing that you CAN actually speak English
(at least on some level).

OK. I changed the name of my blog again. So don't be startled. It is me. I'm still here.

So that's it another year over... ...for Vaughan programs that is.
I first met Carmen (the P.D.) 3 years ago this very week, when I did the program as an Anglo (I was 'THE MAGICIAN' on that program) and Greg was the MC. So it has been a while since we did a Xmas program together; now of course I'm the MC with some 70 odd programs under my belt. It was a fantastic program and great sharing the Xmas period with you once again.

I was surprised to see such a large group as typically this time of year tends to be smaller groups, but we had 18 Spaniards and 19 Anglos.
The tapas not great again competing with football, poor tapas and 5 missing Anglos at tapas.

Sadly as I think I have mentioned this before, pickpocketing is on the increase and 2 participants had the pockets picked when they arrived in Madrid.
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE don't fall victim to this.
The latest con seems to be: someone approaches you from the front, tugs on the bottom of your trousers as if adjusting them, when you lean over to look down at what they are doing their friend dips into your pocket!!!
Keep your eyes open - do NOT leave bags out of sight/reach (or even strapped to your back) - move your wallets out of your back pockets.

The hotel in Gredos has had some improvements made; which was good to see.
The major one being that the hotels logo/name was redesigned. Previously on the windows and doors of the hotel was the companies name IZAN, which was ok, but from inside of the hotel looking out it read NAZI which was not so good. Someone has had the intelligence to now call it IZANHOTELES with their logo built in and its simply read from inside looking out, much better.
We now have some nice LG Flatscreen TVs in all the rooms - which Carmen noticed actually picks up Vaughan Radio!!!
Now if they could just improve the WIFI signal and maybe put in a communal computer; hint hint ;)

It threatened to snow all week, but it didn't fortunately. I did see on the TV however that Salamanca was covered in snow this week.
On Wednesday I awoke to a path covered in black ice - of course not noticing it - I fell, not once but twice then struggling to stand up, I jumped for my life to the grass (ok, slight exaggeration, but only slight). My wrist took the brunt of the fall; which really hurt.
Sadly I was not alone, several of the participants also fell.
As typical the path was only salted after the accidents; really people, proactive is the way!

The entertainment was enjoyable and quite a few of the returning vets got involved with some nice additions to the program. About half the group we had this week were repeat Anglos, as we had so many vets it also meant a lot of changes to scripts and ideas and games.

The meeting room was out of action for most of the week due to being filled with the old TVs and later it was just too cold. We finally managed to use it on Thursday (just in time for the party).
For a novelty I decided that we would have a secret Santa (invisible friend in Spain).
The catch was you couldn't spend any money, so creativity was important, and boy did they rise to the challenge; very impressive folks!

The party was strange, kind of a slow starter, then almost everyone disappeared for about 30 mins, then as usual when I was just about to call it an early night everyone shown up?!
The hotel would be wise to use the upstairs room as a mini bar, easier for them and participants and they would make more money. We had Mulled wine instead of Sangria; more festive.

Tough week for me as I have several issues to resolve privately and I need to know where I'm heading next year, but also this is the anniversary of my brothers passing (anniversary is so not the right word), so that was heavy in my heart.

Still no official news on the venue or dates for next year!?

The photos (and there are many!) can be accessed below

Vaughan Town - Gredos - Program 196

According to my jeans, I weigh less than I did when I bought them four pounds ago. Four pounds less ago, to be specific.

My favorite jeans are a pair of Guess skinny jeans I bought in March 2008. They are a European size 29, one inch smaller than the 7 (the brand name) jeans I wore on Oprah. I weighed 128 when I bought the Guess jeans and 132 when I wore the 7s. Today, I’m 132 and the Guess jeans fit great while the 7s are baggy.

What the…? Where the heck did those four pounds go?

My guess is there are three things happening:

1. I’m 46 and things (a polite way of saying body fat) have shifted.
2. I’ve lowered the cardio and upped the strength training time and intensity, therefore increasing muscle mass.
3. I’m retaining water.

I wrote a few months ago how I was backing off the carbs and taking that once-a-day chocolate fix out of my diet. This seems to have worked well for my overall health, but it’s done nothing in terms of the scale. I weigh the same now as I did when I cut 100-150 calories from my daily intake. But I feel different, in a good way, particularly around my midsection.

Mid summer, my Guess jeans were snug around the middle so I didn’t wear them. I dug them out last Sunday “just to see” and they fit like a glove with a little wiggle room!

Maybe my scale needs a new battery. My friend Barbara wrote to me a few weeks ago about how her scale was weighing her higher every week and she couldn’t figure out why. She bought a new battery and bingo! Four pounds were gone. I’m not, however, holding out hope that that is the solution.

I plan to talk to my doctor in January about this water retention issue, which makes me a little physically uncomfortable, and she might decide to put me on a water pill. But like the battery, I’m not counting on it to change the scale.

So again, I come to another fork in the “weight road.” I can either accept 132 and enjoy the fact that my favorite jeans fit again, despite having not lost weight or I can get pissed and fight to get back to 128. That would mean cutting even more calories from my daily intake and upping the exercise. To be honest, I just don’t have it in me. I like how much I eat. I am comfortable with how much I work out. Five hours a week (or less some weeks) is all I can give right now.

So I’ll give up bragging rights to the 120s for awhile or perhaps forever. No biggie. I can still rock a pair of size 29 jeans and a size 4 skirt. Where those four pounds went, I can only guess. All I know is they’re definitely not in my boobs!
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NOTE: I know blog reading goes down a little the closer we get to Christmas, but in my next blog which I’ll post by Monday, I’ll be giving away a holiday gift to one of you as my way of saying thanks for being the most awesome readers a girl could ever ask for. The gift? A one-year subscription to my favorite nutrition publication, Nutrition Action Newsletter. I’ll tell you how to put your name in the pool, so to speak, in my next blog.

Also, in my last blog I said I’d be posting a Q&A with “Today Show” nutrition expert Joy Bauer next week. I am soooo screwed up on my dates. I meant the week between Christmas and New Year’s. If you’d like to ask Joy a question about nutrition or dieting, send me an email at lynnbering@verizon.net or post a comment.

Joy’s book, “Joy’s LIFE Diet” (you’ll recognize the woman on page 240!) is coming out in paperback later this month under the title “Your Inner Skinny: Four Steps To Thin Forever.”

I’ll be giving away a signed copy of the hardcover edition, so look for the Q&A in two weeks for info on how to win!
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One more thing. To those of you who write a blog, have you noticed an upsurge in spam comments posted to your blog lately? It’s all I can do to keep up with erasing the damn things every day. Just wondering if it’s just me or if the spammers are out in force all over the Internet. Thanks for your input!

Lucy could give lessons in how to relax.

If you have an iPhone or iTouch and are a male who wants to lose weight, check out this Virtual Weight Loss Avatar for men. It's fun to get visual milestones for each few pounds you lose.

As with the similar app for women (Virtual Weight Loss for Women), this app is based on BMI calculations so it will look different for men who weigh the same but are different heights.

Earlier this year we simplified the process for monetizing your blog by adding a “Monetize” tab in the Blogger app. We started with AdSense, which allows you to add contextual advertising to your pages; more recently we added AdSense for Feeds to help you generate revenue from the distribution of your blog via RSS and Atom. Today we launched a third option: direct integration with Amazon Associates to search Amazon’s product catalog and add links to products that earn you commissions when your readers buy products you recommend.

With this feature, you can search Amazon directly from the Blogger editor and add pictures and links to Amazon products right into your posts. Your readers will earn you commissions whenever they buy the products you recommend, and if you don’t already have an Amazon Associates account, you can sign up for one for free without leaving Blogger.

If you’ve ever written a blog post about a book, recommended a gadget, or reviewed a toy you bought for your kids, you’ve likely gone through the process of drafting the post, opening up a separate window to go to find a site that sells the product, then going back to Blogger to paste the link to the product into the post editor.

Starting today, you can search the Amazon product catalog without leaving the Blogger interface and insert links to the products you find into your posts. Not only is the process of linking to products more efficient, but Amazon makes it easy for you to earn money whenever your readers actually buy the products you write about. This is known as an “affiliate program”, and it’s designed to let you recommend products you like to your audience — if they buy the product, you’ll earn a commission on that purchase. (For more on affiliate programs in general, here is a good overview at ProBlogger from this summer, and Darren’s “11 Lessons Learned” post about Amazon Associates is a good review of how to get the most out of the program.)

To get started, click on the Monetize tab for your blog and click “Amazon Associates”. Walk through the setup wizard, and add the Product Finder once you’re done.