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SCOTMAMA's Recent Blog Entries
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Friday, June 10, 2011
How much Healthy Choice ice cream can I eat before it's no longer a healthy choice?
Thursday, June 02, 2011
  I'm not advocating that you should move through life with a drink in your hand -- but you have to admit the lady in that picture is nice and slim versus the fat blob in the other picture!
You know we all get out of life what we put into it. It's a matter of effort. Back in High School you found if you took the time to study instead of spending the majority of your time playing, you ended up with good marks. And in your job the more time and effort you put into it, the more you got out of it, and that probably went for promotions and pay raises also. It holds true for nearly everything we do in our lives. Big things, small things, it really doesn't matter.
If you were washing dishes and you decided to just let them 'drain dry' rather than taking a dish towel and drying them to a nice gleam -- which would look the best? Or, let's say your yard is full of weeds. You can spray them with weed killer and in a couple of days you'll have dried up weeds. The weed will still be there, and it will be better than a 2-foot tall healthy green weed, but imagine if you had put more effort into it, and PULLED the weed. It would have looked so much nicer.
It's not easy when you make the decision to live a healthy lifestyle to give up, or cut down on, many of the foods you love. OK, you know the pizza isn't the best choice, but it's so GOOD! Hey! 5 years ago I could eat anything I wanted and never gained an ounce. Well, good for you but look at you now! Where did that extra 40 pounds come from? Things change, the amount of exercise changes, our responsibilities change.
In the long run, as you begin to give up some of the rich, fat-filled food that you love, you will find that you no longer yearn for them. It's happened to me, so I know this is true. There have been times when I've allowed myself a treat that used to be a mainstay of my diet -- only to find that it no longer tasted all that good. You learn to enjoy different things.
The same goes for exercise. When you are 30, 50, 100 pounds overweight do you truly think you will ENJOY going on brisk walks, jogging, riding a bike or hundreds of other things that make you get out there, move around, and get all sweaty? Probably not. But also realize that as that same weight begins to drop off, the enjoyment increases. When you are healthy and fit, exercise becomes something you look forward to. I'm not saying you will suddenly enjoy jogging -- each person has their own favorite type of exercise; but somewhere, something will be something you look forward to during your spare time. Something you will begin to MAKE THE TIME TO DO!
Remember, the more effort you put into your decision to live a healthy lifestyle, the better results you will see!
Have a sparkin' day! 
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
You may decide to go SLOW and take a long time, moving at your own pace, to ease into a healthy lifestyle = 
or . . . you may have specific reasons for wanting to get to your goal NOW, and in that case you may be motivated to go for the FAST, much harder choice of reaching your goal in the matter of a few weeks, or months = 
There are advantages and disadvantages to both plans! If you choose to lose and get healthy by a specific date, which is usually a matter of just a few months away, you need to know in your own mind if you are capable of keeping the pace demanded of you to reach your goal. It will mean being consistent with your exercise plan, no excuses because you "just don't feel like it today." You will need to TRACK YOUR FOOD rather than relying on the hit and miss plan of thinking "I did pretty good today. Yes, I did eat a candy bar during my break, but I only had a salad for dinner" type of thing -- all those extra calories add up, even when you don't remember them.
If you have the stamina and willpower to make the choice to GO FOR IT and DO IT FAST, I say more power to you. We've all read lots of success stories, so we know it can be done -- but is it the right choice for you? Only YOU can determine that.
The SLOW way is much easier, and the good thing about going slow is that it has been proven that people who take their time losing weight are more liking to maintain their new slim bodies and not gain it back. We don't really want to "lose" 30 pounds only to have it find it's way back to us in a few months, perhaps bringing a few friends along with it. We want to ELIMINATE those pounds, poof! disappear and never return!
On the slow way we can gradually break away from old habits. We can begin to order a side salad instead of the French fries, we can slowly cut down on the soda's and switch to water. A trick I use in restaurants is to order water with lemon. Then I squeeze the lemon really hard, add a packet of Sweet n'Low and viola! I have a watered down version of lemonade, and it's free (both from calories and from $$). Works for me!
So are you a  or a  -- choose one, or better yet, choose a season of the year that is easiest for you to maintain good habits (for me that would be summertime) and during that time be the HARE, and during the other season slow down a bit and be the TORTOISE. That's why God gave us a MIND - so we can CHANGE IT!
Sunday, May 29, 2011
 The Community Garden in our little town of Yarnell is no competition for the photo that I put in my blog -- it is there as a teaser, and in case you recognize it, it's Butchard Gardens in Canada. Most beautiful place I've ever seen!
No, our Community Garden is small potatoes compared to that.... but it's a worthwhile endeavor, and it will give me a chance to serve the community in a small way. I joined in for their weekly Sunday Night Meeting and said I would join, and to show I meant business I have volunteered to do the watering on Friday morning.
Of course that will be in addition to taking care of my own garden -- but everyone has some responsibilities, so I'm not the only one. Perhaps this will give me better insight into the trials and tribulations of gardening in the state of Arizona. It's certainly not going to be anything like I remember as a kid in Minnesota.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
 I sat here yesterday and realized that when I feel a little down I cook. Sometimes it may be something not that good for our healthy lifestyle, like cookies; but at other times I'll cook up a big pot of vegetable soup.
We have scads of onions growing in a flower bed we put in. We probably won't put in onion sets again because while the tops of the onions look impressive, the bottom didn't really develop into what we expected. It's not the nice big white ones or even the yellow onions that you could store in a cool place and use as the need came along. So we threw out some of them.
But as I was in that "mood" again that meant cooking, I thawed out a couple of small pieces of sirloin steak, took 3 of the largest onions and got started. In a few minutes the steak was nicely browned in small bite-sized pieces, the onions were carmalized and tasty. I sprinkled in various spices (can't give away ALL my secrets!) and began cutting up carrots and celery. I wanted to add barley, but found to my dismay it is at "the other house." I've learned to be philosophical when that happens. During each stay at one house or the other, it's going to happen probably more than once -- so improvise ! Just think to yourself how lucky you are to have TWO homes!
My DH looked a little dismayed when I told him what I was cooking. He said, "I thought we were having Baby Back Ribs for dinner." We are, I told him -- this soup isn't for dinner, it's just to have on hand.
So now my soup is perking away on the stove, the kitchen smells heavenly, and my depressed mood is gone! Next best thing to taking a long walk -- which I had already done earlier today!
 and  = Life at it's best!
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Member Comments About This Blog Post:
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Ice Cream I want Ice Cream
Great blog!!
Blog
and been trying to lose weight all my life so for me slow is good that means I am still trying.
. I guess the optimist in me says 'Be like the Hare." But the Realist says 'Be like a Tortise with overdrive."
Very nice!!!