January wrap-up and looking ahead

I was reading Caroline's blog this morning and cracking up about your "Christmas will be back soon" - mood. January come too tight and well, here come February.

Check in with my goals find myself every week this year so far. I at the beginning of the year goals, and the new objectives to develop later this year. I use Sundays as my objective gathering and planning day and find that it helps me in check for the following week.

As I look back over the months I see a list of things on my calendar, I do and not do. The first few weeks of the year did not I much exercise, in particular, because I got all my time with additional projects timpani. I am each of those days I had on my to do list "do insanity workout" and finally the last two weeks of the month. I did every day (with Sundays off) madness. I write this, along with all my posts as a reminder for me, I who am not give up.

What happens if let I those first two weeks, which set the tone for the year? What if I was determined to perfect to be a new person on January 1st? Complete would think I abandoned that eventually I would get into it. And I did.

I have said this before but when I think about why I blog. Why I my struggles to share why after 4.5 years to this place come parts where I am even if it's sometimes painful and something embarrassing... it's because of my potential. It's because deep inside I am confident that every time I try something new, I am getting closer. Sticking to this one thing, even if sometimes I was really not here or here to fight-I knew it was somehow some key growing going on even if you don't always feel like.

With, I'm said in just two weeks. It's not over, it's not even close over. And I have to realize that. I need have had those more weeks I add above each other. There is no breakpoint. This is my life now, if I choose to accept. My life as someone who has put who has to check, what you eat. This is a temporary blip, a chapter of my life which ends when I see a fair number on the scale does not. I do this my life now.

I have to to get to the point where I honestly say that the desire to be healthy is much stronger than the desire, over eating or exercise. I'm not saying I am healed or perfect, or will not even return overeating, but I never felt that before. I wanted to have always the easy way. I wanted to still eat everything I wanted, I don't want that to sacrifice my time. I wanted me to push. Certainly I came here, and log exercise and points or calories. I did, but I have it in the mentality of "this is temporary, this is not my life forever".

I accepted that this is who I am. Someone who has to watch what you eat and difficult to push someone who has, during the exercise. This is my life now. I can be harder than I thought push. I can exercise reasonably everyday, without getting burned out. I can take to prepare meals. This is not punishment, investments.

As I move forward, I look more solid weeks of exercise until February see. More calorie counting. It looks fun and promising. I want to eat delicious and whole foods. I will cook as much as possible. I'll try new recipes. I go to bed without exercising. I will take on Sundays, to rest.

TFG: Cooking together: Bosnian PITA with spinach filling

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FYI: This is a lengthy post, you will find this weeks Cook Along challenge at the bottom.

This is what I know for sure: cooking is important. I believe in food, I believe in cooking, I believe in working for delicious, healthful and satisfying food. Cooking at home is cheaper than eating out and you will always know exactly what you're eating.

And so the Cook Along (or cookalong) was born out of this belief. The belief that getting in the kitchen will somehow make me a better person. I know this to be true. There is a satisfaction that I cannot explain in words that comes to me when I've prepared a meal. Some strange force that makes me feel human and whole when I shop locally. Cooking makes me feel like I have the power to change my life and the world around me.

Our first recipe is called a Bosnian Pita (phyllo) with Spinach Filling. I first heard about this recipe from a readers travels to Bosnia. I fell in love with her pictures of this traditional dish. You can read more about it here (thanks Wikipedia!). Frankly, it looked delicious and I wanted to know how to make it.

Recipe is here: Bosnian Pita with Spinach Filling

My challenge for this recipe was to use at least one local or organic ingredient. I encouraged everyone who joined in to make this recipe to their taste.

While the steps may seem long it took me about 20 minutes to prepare and another 45 minutes to bake.

I began by sprinkling salt on local/organic spinach and set aside for 10 minutes. Once the 10 minutes it up, take fists of spinach and begin squeezing out the water. There will be a lot of water! This step prevents the filling from being bitter. I found that microwaving the fresh spinach for 45 seconds helps in the wilting process.

In another bowl I mixed one local egg, 1/4 C sour cream, 1/2 lb. feta cheese, and one cup cheddar cheese. Mix spinach in.

I then rolled out one package of thawed phyllo dough and covered with a damp cloth to keep from drying out.

I then placed one phyllo sheet in a 9x13 pan and brushed with olive oil. Crumble the spinach/cheese mixture on top. I found that it didn't spread well so I used my hands for this step.

Top with another sheet of phyllo. Brush with olive oil and repeat, layering with spinach and then phyllo dough, like lasagna, until you run out of filling. Make sure you finish with phyllo dough. I used about 3 more sheets of brushed dough to complete the dish.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

I skipped the last step of mixing milk and sour cream and pouring over top and baking for another 15 minutes.

Slice and eat! I have to say that I will most likely make this recipe again, but more for a special treat. I could see this making a nice appetizer. It's delicious and impressive looking. Next time I would add less salt to the spinach as I found the filling to be a little too salty. I would also use 3-4 sheets of phyllo on the bottom before adding the filling. I loved the feta in this dish! It is also nice reheated.

I also thought the prep was minimal, it really only took a few minutes to put together before it was in the oven.

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My friend Ashley also participated via email, she made spinach pockets!

As soon as I saw Lorrie's post on making spinach pie, I was in.

When we were young and living in Huntington, a town sadly devoid of any Greek restaurants, we would look forward to the city's annual Greek festival every September.  Spanakopita and baklava sundaes were my weakness.  I never tried making it at home, though, because it seemed to be a multi-step process, not worth the time and effort in the end, because I'm not a huge spinach fan.  But somehow, spinach in spanakopita is okay.

But Lorrie is one of my best friends, and because of the miles separating us, I always try to do things that she dreams up to keep us connected.

So on Sunday, I made some spinach pie.

I ended up buying puff pastry sheets instead of phyllo dough, mainly because I didn't want to go to an actual grocery store on a Sunday.  I bought some nice frozen organic spinach, sheep's milk feta, a couple of organic lemons and some puff pastry sheets from Trader Joe's.  Then I headed home to make some pocket pies.

(Sidenote on the pocket pies: It's known among my friends and boyfriend that I enjoy pretty much any type of food item in a pocket.  Even Hot Pockets, embarrassingly enough.  But burritos, empanadas, spring rolls, dumplings, etc - all of these things are more than welcome in my mouth.  And I was planning for the spinach pie to serve as lunch while I was at work this week, so I wanted something easy to transport as well as easy to eat.  And thus, pockets it is.)

I started by first thawing the spinach, then squeezing out the water handful by handful - this took awhile.  Did you know spinach water is a nice shade of green?  To this, I added a bit of light sour cream, crumbled feta, some part-skim mozzarella (not a lot of that), an egg, some salt and pepper, minced garlic and a zested and squeezed lemon.  I thought the lemon might brighten up some of the flavors and add more of a Grecian taste to it.  I rolled a sheet of puff pastry out just a little and cut into nine squares.  A bit of filling, then I folded them over lengthwise and sealed with an egg wash.  Baked at 400 degrees Farenheit for 20-25 minutes, or until the pastry was golden brown.

As I said up above, I'm not a huge spinach fan.  And honestly, I wasn't the biggest fan of my pockets, mainly because I could reallllly taste the spinach.  I should have used more feta - I barely used 2 ounces.  But the lemon did add a nice tang.  And they really transport well - I have a couple of nice, easy-to-transport lunches for the week, and that was my ultimate goal.  Looking forward to Lorrie's next cook-along!

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And a special thanks for all of you who joined in!

Krissie: Growl in my Tummy

Stacy: Race to Fit

Rachel: Treadmill Truth

LeAnn: Losing the Chunk

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January 27th Challenge!

Post Date: February 3rd 2011

Details: We will have one week to complete the recipe and then post (with photos) our results on the same day.

To make the recipe a little more fun I will post a challenge for the recipe such as: you must use an artichoke in your recipe, or use one local ingredient, or it must be made bento-box style. I encourage us all to make the recipe your own and find ways to make it work individually. For example: making it vegan, gluten-free, made with whole wheat pasta, make it miniature, deconstructed, change the filling, make it low calorie etc.

All you have to do is leave a comment in this post letting me know you're in and I will link to your blog on reveal day!

Our  assignment begins Thursday January 27th, making the following Thursday (the 3rd) is reveal day! You can make the recipe at any time during the week, just make sure you schedule your post for Thursday.

Here is this weeks recipe:

Greek Gyro!!

I'm sure we've all had these at one point or another. They are usually pita bread filled with lamb, beef or chicken and vegetables and topped with tzatziki sauce.

Challenge: You much make at least one component from scratch. This means, that you can make the meat filling, the pita bread or the tzatziki sauce yourself. Or you can go crazy and make them all! I did find beef gyro meat at a nearby ethnic food store, so it's out there.

Here are some recipes: (you can use your own)

Traditional Gyro Meat

Gyro Meet with Tzatziki sauce- Alton Brown

Pita Flat Bread Recipe

Time to fire up those ovens!

Zenergy winner + exercise thoughts

It's 10 am, but I picked a name for the Zenergy power ball! I scrolled through the comments with my eyes closed and showed my fingers to Jessica from http://shortystylee.wordpress.com/. Just send me an email to Tokenfatgirl (at) gmail.com and I send out that you have! Thank you for your oatmeal topping comments, I forgot about adding cinnamon!

I just finished day 12 in a row (except for Sundays), exercise (madness), and I have to make a few comments in list form.

(1) I feel much better physically. I have no idea what I cradle, but I feel good me. My body is better, I feel just good move.

(2) It's not easier.Only since (almost) two weeks of consistent exercise and I am still sweating and pushed me as I was so hard on the first day. The exercises are always slightly easier, my lines are a little deeper and I better moves.

(3) I will still not to exercise. Is it so shocking, isn't it? I will not exercise. At all. That makes me laugh, because I think my whole life I was waiting to turn into someone who wanted to. The truth of the matter is that you does not exist. I don't want. I wanted to die tonight. I wanted to yesterday or the day before. I craved runs before, maybe twice, but I think the argument with the fact that there be no tag if the clouds part and I want to exercise. So know that-I just have to do it anyway.

4 I exercise, even if the conditions not ideal. Some days I am really sore on other days I exercise until 10 pm, and occasionally I'm eating dinner or getting ready for the day to exercise. We have a large living room, but we move the couch out of the way and to push coffee table aside. I am writing this as a reminder to me: I can exercise even if conditions are perfect. You will never be. I need no more living, the right program to put a gym membership or the right shoes. I never did.

(5) I'm still fat. Guess Hey self, what? You're still fat! And you thought all you had to do was a few weeks hard exercise and you would be done? Nope. I am still the same clothing as I last month. And I agree with all this fine. At least I'm writing it as a hint, that it is okay. I am trust my process. I am trust, I do what I must do to a healthier person.

I'm okay with who I today, as long as do everything in my power, I take care of me. A healthy person today to be tomorrow. That's all I can hope that. It's okay that I still fat. This is done in two weeks or two months.

And fun stuff. I'm sure we all life and interests outside have our try healthier itself to be and I want to here what you in recently. What books you read or shows you watch or your closet organization.

Here it what I'm into lately:

Grey's Anatomy - I just finished season two and I'm shamefully addicted. It seemed just like my kind of show, and now I find late at night or early in the morning you myself. Getting my fix Meredith, Izzie and George.

Finishing up my Valentine's line early next week come to jewelry!

Research: HIV unaware of many of the scams vaanimassa, Bisexual Men Gay

1 in 5 Sexually active gay and bisexual men in America, is HIV-positive but that 44% of them do not know it, Show the most recent information. A fifth of all sexually active gay men in the U.s. are HIV-positive, to combat and prevent disease (CDC), and a staggering 44 percent of centers have been unaware of it.

CDC researchers concluded that 21 American cities of more than 8000 is gay and bisexual men, after testing.

Racial differences

White gay and bisexual men between the ages of 30 and 39, was found to be the absolute most infections, even though the amount of per capita (16%) was lower than that of a black and a gay and bisexual men in Latin. The number of Black HIV infections had the highest per capita, 28%. Gay and bisexual young Hispanic men and the number of infections was 18%.

Nearly half of HIV-positive men (44%) did not know they were infected. Young gay and bisexual men of color were the least likely to be aware of their infection.

Socio-economic factors

Researchers found the socio-economic situation and the link between HIV and gay bisexual males. Higher levels of education and income were less likely to be infected and they were more likely to know their status.

HIV infection among gay and bisexual men, the highest it came to Baltimore, 39%, the researchers found. Atlanta was the lowest, only 6% of the announced. Greater than 25% of the total number of infections found in Baltimore, Dallas, Houston, Miami and New York.

Bisexual men had received the highest speed is likely to become infected with HIV appear to the end user, the number of factors such as sexual partners. Heterosexual men, compared to the number of HIV-infection found 44 times higher.

The relaxed attitude

Because the drugs developed to successfully manage HUMAN IMMUNODEFICIENCY VIRUS (HIV), AIDS, and many persons have survived for decades, the idea has grown that HIV-positive diagnosis does not longer was once thought to be the abolition of the death penalty. However, more employees die as a result of HIV and AIDS each year in the US--irtiotto statistics.

The fact that so many HIV-positive people unaware of their condition underscores aggressive testing programs and continuing education about this disease and the need for a horrible.

Book review the planet wholesomeness of meals

02 Jan 2009, 03: 24 GMT

By Jonny Bowden, PhD (CNS)
Reviewed By Rita Jenkins

Jonny Bowden had me polymeal. Yet so much to offer in this--you want to add enough of the concept of "cookbook," I hardly know where to start. So I just linked to my journey of discovery on healthy meals and we hope that, on its own.

First, it has the look and feel of this volume. I admit that I am not the cover art to pay-it is probably one of my least favorite things Max to learn more about this book. But I like the hefty size and 368 pages durable stock and when I started flipping through them, I was BEWITCHED by Photography. Polymeal lush photographs of each, and almost every recipe is included in the dish, antique Tableware and utensils are fresh marine Pachanga picture. Throughout the two-page spreads are stunning photographic-quality state-of-the-art coffee table, in fact, the livestock grazing on lush: pastures, salmon leaping Icy River drive, a colorful spices sacks, excellent cranberry bog, so rich soil in the status field, you can almost feel the wonderful goodness and dripping with an Pomegranate. Photography theme is clear: simplicity and purity of the reverence and unspoiled land is the bounty it provides only. read the EXCERPT

When drinking, healthy meals, reading began and I must say the Earth is a page turner. It is like sitting on a stool, is your kitchen Bowden, the upper-left corner of the chatting amiably about the wonderful qualities as a meal, you can gather its ingredients. He tells you you fat, Why all the evil, why sugar has been quite a lot (and what happy, you can instead), why the grains are overrated, why fiber is fabulous, omegas, and so on, and is quite wonderful meals-all of which, in turn, these concepts are important in the context of the realities of delicious.

I was already familiar with the idea of a polymeal, but you have seen the first cookbook, which provides them with the set. The idea is to combine the ingredients that boost heart health issues such as fish, garlic, almonds, fruits, vegetables, dark chocolate and red. Bowden still, even though the export, such as anti-cancer properties of foodstuffs, foods that boost the immune system, fight inflammation, food, foods that fight against obesity-and much, much more. His partner, Jeannette Bessinger, CHHC, thank you for these foods are combined with innovative recipes that even moderate skills can enjoy putting cook together.

It was only when read every word of this cookbook that I really began to experiment with the recipes are not stopped. When you are preparing for more than a dozen of these dishes, healthy meals, a planet, I can say is intended to spend much more time than many of my kitchen shelf, other books, including the counter.

My Favorites are real food-brownies-flourless, sugarless, and keep track of the orders you have made in the dates, garbanzo beans, cocoa, agave nectar, eggs, and a few other ingredients. Of holiday gifts and haven't found anyone of these failed delight. Also, in particular, my family, enjoy the tamari-orange salmon, delicious dal, red beans and rice, chili, cashews and brassicas and chicken curry. This book is a good mix of meatless and meat-based recipes, which works very contradictory our herd. (I've tried some meat recipes fit for vegetarians and found them in our fully customizable.)

I like flax pancakes in principle, but the execution is disappointing. They taste just fine, but they are very dry. Still, I intend to keep them and to experiment with (thermophilus) before I get to the right of these cakes.

This Cookbook contains tips, notes, and some useful reference materials (in particular, I like the healthy oils chart), with the pantry-lists each component items, which make shopping easier. Fans can find a lot more Bowden's www.jonnybowden.com Web site.

I have a few minor quibbles healthy meals on Earth. Surprisingly it does not contain the standard information for each recipe's nutritional. This is something I'm really a health oriented Cookbook.

In the event of a conflict between the olive oil for one bothers me. The oils in the direction of the chart contains useful, "do not use extra virgin [oil] cooking; heat to create free radicals. " Yet after a recipe, recipe calls for Heating extra virgin olive oil. I assume is a matter of degree-to keep the oil from reaching its state-of-the-art, non-smoking section-but the chart is not to say that.

The following is a Word, the opinions of the users of the system, this cookbook recipe, featuring: skip each prep times. If you do not with Iron Chef kitchen stadium at your disposal, you can do much better to assessed their own planning these sometimes wildly Optimistic guidelines. If a mere 10 minutes you can assemble the dozen ingredients; Our finely Onion; Peel and grate finely 3 T ginger; Our finely Garlic Clove on 4-5; sort, rinse and drain a cup of lentils; wash, stem and Our 3/4 c. Cilantro; seed and dice 3 plum tomatoes, then more power to you.

Again, I am so into healthy meals on earth that I picked up two other Bowden because of books--150 BBC planet--and that the most effective natural Cures on Earth with equal enthusiasm recommends that, as the case may be.

I look forward to a satisfactory cooking and cuisine as used in this book. I'm going to try to roasted Swede chips to the next. Yum.

Book review Conquer the Fat-Loss code

I'll begin with a caveat: I'm late to the "fat-loss code" game. My radar isn't fine-tuned to the next new thing in the diet world. I have read quite a few books on diet and nutrition over the years -- perhaps that's why I've become somewhat suspicious of them. Having never seen her first one, I decided to explore Wendy Chant's second diet book, Conquer the Fat-Loss Code, because I happened to stumble upon it, and it really did strike me as different from typical books in the category. When it comes to books on losing weight, that alone makes it stand out.

When I say it seemed different, I don't mean just at first glance. Every diet plan attempts to differentiate itself -- why else would anyone pick it up? However, most diet books follow a fairly straightforward formula: Promise an innovative new approach; persuade the reader that this time it's going work; present the plan.

What's Wrong With This Picture

The new approach section is usually the most interesting in any diet book. That's where you get the rational explanation for why everything before has failed, but this time, you're holding the key to success in your hands.

The persuasive section gives you an injection of emotional confidence to layer on top of all that good information. Depending on the skill of the author, you either become drawn in or feel the whiff of a used-car salesman. This is usually the make-it-or-break-it part of a diet book.

Then comes the actual plan. For chronic dieters, this section tends to be a big, fat disappointment. Most plans are the same. Boiled down to their essential elements, most are calorie-restriction diets accompanied by tired advice about exercise. Sometimes there are some diagrams of really fit cartoon people doing squats and such.

Duh.

These plans work, as any dieter will tell you -- up to a point. Typically, there's a lot of water loss in the initial days of the diet. Then there's some actual weight loss. Then the dieter hits a plateau, and the weight-loss grinds to a halt. The dieter becomes frustrated and gives up. The weight piles back on. It keeps piling on. The dieter's body has gone through a famine, and it's determined to protect itself for the next one that comes along. It layers on the fat, and the unhappy dieter ends up heavier than before.

Some Causes for Skepticism

I turned to Wendy Chant's diet plan before reading the book, because I didn't want to waste my time. What I saw there was something that really did seem different. Weird, but not in a goofy way. More like in a good weird-science way.

Since I'm not a nutritionist, I can't actually vouch for the science underlying Chant's plan, but what struck me was that it addresses the body's tendency to adapt, and it does so in several different ways. All of them have to do with tricking your metabolism so that it doesn't go into starvation mode/fat storage cycling.

Chant's plan seemed ridiculously complicated to me at first glance, and I've got to say, there are foods in it I normally would not consume or recommend (e.g., artificially flavored and sweetened products).

It can be very repetitive. I would never want to eat turkey three times in one day. I don't understand why Chant considers that a good idea, but whatever.

Some of the recipes strike me as gross: to wit, "egg poppers," which are basically cold, hard-boiled egg whites. Yuck. Way too many egg whites in this program, period, if you ask me. Double yuck.

Still, I thought there was something intriguing about the plan, and the book made sense to me in a way that didn't make me feel I was being verbally assaulted by a diet huckster -- so I decided to suggest it to my sister, who was in the market for something new and different in the way of a diet plan.

A New Hope

After years of yo-yo dieting, my sister had given up on dieting altogether -- but not on wanting to lose weight. Wendy Chant's program seemed less like a diet and more like a strategy to me, so I called my sister, and we brainstormed about it.

After reading the book herself, she was game to try it -- or at least, a version of it. Her version broke a lot of Chant's rules -- but considering that they're more or less offered as guidelines, not rules, we both thought that seemed OK.

Number one, she gave herself a real cheat day once a week, as opposed to what I would consider the program's weekly "indulgent" day. For my sister, Saturday wasn't about splurging on a dessert or a glass of wine -- she decided to eat whatever she pleased, all day long, and wash it down with an entire bottle of wine if the spirit moved her. She reported that her first cheat day was a gorge-fest, but after seeing what that did to her progress on the scales, she found she could self-regulate and be more or less measured on her subsequent cheat days. She says it's her own personal learning curve.

Number two, she quickly gave up on the exercise plan, and I fully supported that decision. Not that I'm opposed to exercise -- far from it. I just don't think anyone should have to follow a specific diet plan AND a specific exercise plan at the same time. I say, step up your activity with things you enjoy, or put off the exercise part until later -- after you've lost a few pounds and you understand how the diet works, and you're ready to crank things up to the next level.

Number three, she substituted like crazy. She made sure she was substituting a food of similar value -- e.g., chicken or fish for turkey, green beans for asparagus, etc. She just didn't want to go into obsession mode, thinking she had to run out to the supermarket if she didn't have exactly what the plan called for on hand.

Number four, she didn't eat everything. Said she just couldn't. I think eating more frequently is something worth shooting for, but five or six times a day is tough to fit into any schedule, so I sympathize. I don't think I would be in the mood for a Crystal Light protein powder "shake" or a handful of egg whites before bedtime either.

My sister says she stuck to the spirit of Chant's plan, if not the letter, and the reason I'm enthusiastic enough to highly recommend this book -- yes, indeed, I do HIGHLY RECOMMEND it -- is that her experience has so far borne out my expectations.

Qualified Success, Unqualified Optimism

You'll have to look at the plan yourself to really understand what I'm getting at -- I still think it's terrifically complicated, but I now believe it has to be. It seems that alternating the types of food you eat according to this program can trick your body into metabolizing food more efficiently. It's not just about calories in and calories burned, folks. It really isn't.

My sister's results? A steady loss of 2 1/2 lbs. per week for five weeks, which I consider a healthy and sustainable weight loss. She has three more weeks to go on her version of Wendy Chant's eight-week plan, and says if she drops another 7 1/2 lbs., she'll be delighted.

Then you can keep watching this space for updates to see if my sister succeeds at adapting the program further so that it can become a lifestyle that lets her keep the weight off. As everyone who's ever dieted before knows -- that's really the trick.

One more thing: Although I was unimpressed by many of the recipes in this book, I tried several, and some of them are quite good. You really should try the fake French toast. Strange, but tasty.

Token fat girl Cook along

I've been wanting to do some sort of a Cook together for a very long time and just never knew how to go about doing it. Basically, I think cooking is fun and hope you do too (at least a little!) and I'd love in the kitchen with you a few times a month.

Here is my idea: I will bring a recipe to start (down the road I like suggestions take!) as an association. We have a week complete the recipe and post our results (with photos) on the same day.

Make the recipe a little more fun, I like a challenge for the recipe: you need an Artichoke in your recipe, use a local element or Bento box style must be made. I encourage all their own for the recipe and find ways around it works individually. For example: makes it vegan, gluten-free, made with whole wheat pasta, make it deconstructs, change the fill miniature, make it etc. to low calories.

Everything you have to do is leave a comment in this post, let me know, and I'll link to your blog to reveal day!

Our first task begins January 20th Thursday, making following Thursday (27) reveal day! Sure the recipe at all times to make during the week, only that you plan your entry for Thursday.

Here is our first recipe:

Bosnian PITA with spinach filling

Challenge: You have source or organic ingredient in the recipe at least one locally.

Time to these furnaces fire!

Which