That Doesn't Taste Like a Diet Drink

Here is a mouth-watering chocolate milkshake recipe supplied by our friends at South Beach Living. It's low-carb, low-calorie and low-fat. Since I have been making this I have managed to avoid countless calories from the carbs I would have consumed had I not been completely satisfied with this particluar substitution. I used Nature Sweet as my sugar substitute but otherwise followed their recipe. (the secret ingredient here is; a touch of vanilla extract). I have made the same shake using other flavors too: cherry, peppermint, almond and rasberry but I keep coming back to the one with vanilla.

Have this one for desert and savor it like you would a fine brandy or as a snack to ward off the sugar-monster. It's a guilt-free way of satisfying your cravings for sweets and it works for me. I have already lost over 120 pounds while enjoying recipes like this. The key to my weight loss success has been substitution - find a way to replace the bad with the good and if it don't taste good - forget about it!

Here is the actual recipe:

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tablespoons granular sugar substitute

Pinch salt

3 cups cold 1% milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Ice cubes

Instructions:

In a medium bowl, stir together cocoa powder, sugar substitute, and salt. Slowly pour in 1 cup of the milk. Whisk until smooth, and then whisk in remaining 2 cups milk and vanilla.Fill 4 (8-ounce) glasses with ice. Pour Chilly Chocolate over ice and serve.

The bottom line: Per ¾-cup serving: 90 calories, 2.5 g fat (1.5 g sat), 12 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 95 mg sodium

For more mouth-watering recipes like this visit our friends at South Beach Living  

Found this article A Room With A Zoo on MSN and it's a very nice presentation of places you can get up close and personal with animals of all descriptions. These Hotels & Destinations are beyond what you would call "pet friendly" and proud of it! 

After all these years of cheap energy and waste, big brand hotels are now jumping even higher to get on the green band wagon making it possible for anyone to afford saving our planet. No more linen changes daily, forget about leaving your room with the thermostat set at freezing while you are at Wally World all day. Go ahead, leave all the lights on when you go out, those energy efficient bulbs use a lot less electricity. Take that 30 minute shower, etc.

As a former hotelier I feel qualified to offer my opinion. My advice to hotels to go even more green? Simple, stop building them! Don't we have enough brands and types? Do we need more "boutique" hotels, "loft" hotels, "limited service" hotels, "extended stay" hotels, "resort" hotels, "full-service" hotels, "transient" hotels, "conference" hotels, "casino" hotels, ad nauseum. Everyone claims to be an expert in their "niche" market, but just how many niches does it take to change a traveler? Answer: When hotels start paying you to stay there!

But seriously, here in a nutshell here is what the big boys are doing to capture a bigger slice of "green" travelers:

Read the rest of this entry »

Fit And Fat?

Yep, it's a proven fact. All you need to do is look at some of the bigger players on your favorite NFL team to know that while these big guys might appear to be fat they are actually fit as a fiddle! And most of these guys can sit down at the trainers table and test well within normal ranges for blood sugar, cholesterol and blood pressure! By the way, I would never call an NFL player FAT, not if I want to live, I refer to them as BIG and it seems to be ok.

Size Doesn't Matter

At least when it comes to fitness! And, it turns out that those skinny little wide receivers are more prone to heart disease than their blocking buddies! It's enlightening (and encouraging, in a weird way) to discover that almost 25% of thin people are more prone to heart disease than their overweight brethren.

Funny thing about the Marines. As much as you think you hate it when you are in it, you tend to only remember the good times when you are no longer a part of it and woe the person who says a bad word about MY Marine Corps! Then, when you first step that un-booted foot on the civilian shore again your new concept of freedom takes on a life of it's own. Suddenly you can eat what you want, stay in the rack as long as you want, grow your hair down to your butt if that's what makes you happy and all sorts of un-marine things.

Naturally, this sort of attitude has great potential for disaster - and brother did I ask for it! All of a sudden I turn around and I am a FAT 55 year old capable of being weighed accurately only by a truck scale out on the interstate! Seriously, at 5'-9" tall and close to 400 lbs. that is nothing short of blobsville.

Long story short, self-esteem goes down the tubes, depression leads to eating, eating leads to depression, a cycle you can ride straight to hell if you aren't careful - and on this hog a helmet won't help! At the point where I thought I had reached bottom I discovered the book, Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution and saw light at the end of the tunnel. If I had learned anything at all about my yo-yo battle with weight over the years since leaving the Corps I had forgotten it and then it hit me; everything I had put in my mouth up to that point had done absolutely nothing for me but make me unhappy, why not try something new?!

And when I went through my Mother's losing battle with cancer my stress relief was eating. I am paying for that now but believe me, it's never too late to change, no matter what your age or condition. I have already lost a 120 pounds but a guy as big as me can lose that in no time.

Chocolate really is addictive! Well, maybe not like alcohol or heroin is but there are definately some similarities. The same parts of the brain affected by chocolate are the same parts activated in drug addicts!

Blame it on dopamine, the hormone in us that is linked to the pleasure and motivation centers of the brain. If you have a problem with weight gain you may have fewer dopamine receptors and need more food to get that food "high."

I finally figured out how to describe, what's commonly known as the "angel and the devil on your shoulder" syndrome as it pertains to diet and weight loss. You know the one; you're trying to lose those extra pounds and inches when a temptation comes along, up pops the angel, advising you what you should do, and you know in order to reach your goal this is what you must do. But want overcomes right and you start listening to the dark side, "have some of that candy, darlin, you been so good you deserve it." "It's just that one piece," "just eat this donut now, you can make up the calories later" (with some exercise that never happens), etc, etc.

I heard somewhere that conscience is "internal dialog" and I immediately recognized it as the number one factor in my inability to lose weight, I would commit to dieting then almost immediately start telling myself it was ok to eat this and ok to eat that. No devil required, I was doing fine all by myself, thank you. Even though my internal dialog kept reminding me of past failures, falling off the diet wagon so many times even though successful at losing weight with plans like; Weight Watchers, Nutrisystems, Low-Carb, Low-Fat, Cabbage soup, Grapefruit Diet, I still didn't get it.

It wasn't until I could truthfully acknowlege the righteous voice in my head, a voice that allowed me to see the error of my ways and pointed me to the light of self-discipline and accountability that I was able to succeed in acheiving my weight loss goals.

Weight Loss Secrets Revealed!

#1 Watch Your Carbs

#2 Watch Your Fat

#3 Watch Your Portions

#4 Exercise

Simple, huh? What?, were you wanting a magic pill maybe? Tsk Tsk! 

Here is the last and final secret to weight loss success - obey the first four!

I am sorta proud of this picture I took of another batch of tourists winging their way into Phoenix for some good times; spring breakers, baseball followers, horse people, golfers, and a whole bunch more.

I was on my way back home to Payson, AZ when I stopped to take some video of the wildflowers and giant Saguaros on the side of a hill about 30 miles north of Fountain Hills on Hwy 87 N. The Beeline, they call it here.

You Can Change Your Metabolism

That's the good news. The bad news is you may be one of those people who have to excercise to do it. If you are a skinny person and can eat anything you want without gaining an ounce, you have been blessed with a fat-burning metabolism. Those who are pre-disposed to gaining weight (like me) have to exercise regularly in some way to keep the fat under control.

Check with your doctor before starting any kind of exercise program, walking works best for me, and it doesn't cost anything!