Corn: Vegetable or Grain?

You know, almost any time you are on a restricted diet you are told to avoid starchy vegetables, with corn being on the top of the list. Now, this is no problem for me because I am, in general, sick to death of corn.

You may recall corn is one of the two vegetables Mr. Jelly Belly will eat – and only from a can. Every week I have to buy 3 cans of corn and 3 cans of peas (no vegetables on pizza night) and hope that I bought the right configuration to go with whatever meat he is eating. Because specific meats require a specific vegetable. I cannot serve him corn with pork. Pork is a pea entrée. So, yeah. Sick to death of corn and I’ll bet it’s been over a year since I ate a pea.

However, corn on the cob is an entirely different story. Oh, how I love corn on the cob. Boiled, steamed, roasted, or grilled…doesn’t matter. I’ll eat it however it’s prepared. Just pass the butter, salt and dental floss and leave me be. Well, okay, swap out that butter for I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter Spray. That works, too.

But I always feel guilty when I eat corn on the cob because of that whole high starch thing. Then I started to think about it and wondered why the heck it’s considered to be such a bad thing to eat. It’s a natural food, right? It’s a good source of fiber, vitamin C, and vitamins B1 and B5. It’s also got about 177 calories, 5 grams of protein and about 32 net grams of carbs. (Those figures are for one cup of corn; I don’t think a standard ear has much more than that.)

It’s those 32 grams of carbs that scare everyone, I think. Yet whole grains, like brown rice, or whole wheat pasta, are always on the approved list (in moderation, of course) but are almost identical in carb content. And corn meal, or polenta, is considered a whole grain. As is popcorn. So why do we still consider corn itself a vegetable?

I have just moved corn over to the grains category on my eating list. If I’m going to eat corn on the cob, I just won’t have another grain with it. Or potatoes. Although I love a baked potato with corn on the cob. Or fried potatoes, even. Or scalloped. Oh, crap…I’d better get off this potato subject.

So just in time for corn on the cob season, I am tossing the guilt and planning to enjoy eating lots of corn this summer. In place of my brown rice. And I really don’t see a problem with that.

Keeping it clean

Okay, so I go through stages with my internet buying - I'll get totally obsessed because I feel like I NEED everything and buy like crazy for a couple of weeks months - and then, being appalled at how much I've bought, back off and don't buy another thing from a shopping channel for a year. We all know what stage I'm in at the moment (tail end, I swear) but the last time I was actively stalking QVC's beauty programming was about 18 months ago.

At that time, the Clarisonic Facial Cleansing System was THE THING to have. "Are they crazy?" I thought. "There is no freaking way I am spending $200 for something to clean my face." Even though I wanted it, of course, I couldn't justify $200 for something that, frankly, I was afraid I would buy and then never use.

So here we are, 18 months later, and the Clarisonic is STILL the thing to have - but now I own one. I hemmed and hawed about it. I read reviews on QVC and other places on the internet. I watched YouTube video reviews. I tried to find cheaper alternatives. But none of that mattered when, right in the middle of my decision-making process, the Clarisonic popped up on FIVE EASY PAYS. Woot! What this meant to me was that now I only had to put out about $40 to test drive it for a month and, if I didn't like it, (say it with me, now) back it goes.

If you're not familiar, the Clarisonic face brush is based on the Sonic toothbrush technology. The brush spins back and forth in a way that isn’t even visible to the naked eye and deeply cleans your skin. They say it “dislodges facial debris.” I think this means it pulls all the gunk out of your pores. If you don’t get all that crap out of your pores, you get ugly stuff like acne, milia (little white bumps on your skin), and, the bane of my existence, visibly enlarged pores.

You can use any non-abrasive cleanser - you are not tied to a specific brand. The replaceable brushes come in normal, sensitive and delicate and last for 3 to 6 months, depending on whether you use it once or twice per day. I can actually use all three levels without a problem.

Oh and the best part? It's waterproof. You can totally use it in the shower.

It takes about 1 minute to use. They suggest twice a day, but lately I’ve only been using it at night (because I have enough things going on in the shower with all the hair products I’m using these days).

It's simple to use. Just load up your damp face with the cleanser, wet the brush and turn it on. Then, starting at your forehead, you use light circular movements until the thing beeps - that means it’s time to move down the center of your face (nose, mouth area) until it beeps again. Then your right cheek (beep) then your left cheek. When that's done, it automatically shuts off. Rinse your face and the brush. All done. The time can be adjusted for longer or shorter periods of time and for faster or slower spinning but, I'll be honest, I haven't bothered to play with that. If I feel I need more (like for my neck and chest) I just turn it on again until I feel done. A single charge holds for at least 3 weeks.

The results? Super-clean skin, for sure, but also better all over color and evenness of skin tone. And reduced pore size! Yay! I don't have problems with acne, so I can't personally speak to how it works for that, but the reviews are good. The deep cleaning leaves your skin in a better position to receive whatever treatment or moisturizing products you use, making them work better. It's not an exfoliator, but I think you do get just a tiny bit of that effect.

At first I thought I was going to have to send it back. I didn't think I liked it. But the more I used it, the more I loved it. I'm glad I gave it the full 30 days because it literally got better every day. Is it worth $200? Eh. I guess so. It IS really a nice, quality product. There's nothing cheap about the way it is made at all. And from what I hear, if you have any problem at all, their customer service is outstanding.

You can find the Clarisonic for less on eBay and Amazon, among other places, but you want to look at what’s included for the money. QVC’s package includes 3 brush heads (which is a big deal since they sell for $25 each, or 2 for $40) and several different cleansers, including one from the hoity-toity Kate Somerville line. Having extra brushes is handy if you want to share it with someone else in your family. Yes, even with a man. But if you buy the pink one (portion of profits to breast cancer research), he probably won’t use it. As I’m writing this (Thursday night), it’s available for 3 easy pays of $65 each.

Practically minutes after I bought mine, Clarisonic came out with the new and improved model, which includes a brush head for the body, for $225. That didn’t really hurt my feelings too badly. Like I said, I spend too much time in the shower already – I don’t need to be in there flipping brush heads around.

To sum it up, I highly recommend this product if you can swing the price. I don’t regret it at all and I actually look forward to using it every day.

After buying the Clarisonic and reading all the product reviews, I noticed that most people mentioned using Philosophy’s Purity Made Simple as their cleanser of choice. So I bought it. And since they had it available in a combo with their Microdelivery Exfoliating Wash, I decided I needed that, too. Sigh. And guess what? Practically overnight I became a freaking “Philosophy Girl”. I always thought of Philosophy as just some overpriced shower gels, so I pretty much ignored them. Oh boy, am I ever sorry I did that. The things I’ve missed out on!

The Purity Made Simple is, hands down, the best cleanser I’ve ever used. I can actually wash off my eye makeup and open my eyes. With the cleanser on them! No stinging, no burning and the makeup is OFF. Oh, and it leaves your skin nice and soft, without a hint of dryness. Great product.

But even better? The Microdelivery Exfoliating Wash. It’s a cleanser that has super-tiny exfoliating beads in it and it’s gentle enough to use every day – even over the eye area. And you all know how important exfoliation is, right? I don’t even know how to describe how great this product is. As a person obsessed with exfoliation, it’s a dream come true for me.

As with all things Philosophy, it’s a little pricey. I got the 16-ounce set for $55 – not a bad deal, really, since the 8-ounce Purity is $20 and the 8-ounce Microdelivery Wash is $25. I’ve been using them both daily for about a month and, since you don’t have to use much, I’ve barely made a dent in them. At this rate, I expect they will last for 4-6 months. I use the Purity Made Simple in the evening with the Clarisonic and the Microdelivery Exfoliating Wash in the morning in the shower. I will definitely order them both again; I wouldn’t want to run out.

Over at the Philosophy website, they are having a Friends and Family Sale – everything is 20% off from now through Sunday, June 28th. The discount code is sharethelove. You can also buy Philosophy products at Sephora, if you are so inclined.

So those are my top three new skincare products, cleansing category. But it’s only the tip of the iceberg…

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Review: Slim Shots

I don’t generally care for weight loss products. I feel like they prey on our desperation and never work as advertised. Perhaps you laid down a nice chunk of change on a super-duper mega fat blaster guaranteed to burn the fat while you sleep – only to find out you are expected to follow the “enclosed diet plan” – which was never mentioned in the advertising that sucked you in.

So I was borderline impressed with the presentation for the Slim Shots Appetite Controller (on QVC, natch). The very first thing they said was that it was only to be used in conjunction with a diet and exercise plan. They did not claim you could eat whatever you wanted and still lose weight. They made it very clear that this was a tool and not a miracle.

Well. I had to order it, didn’t I? Looking at those 15 flabby pounds I had to get rid of made this sound very appealing. And, like the Sensa debacle, I figured when it didn’t work, I would send it right back for a full refund.

The first claim they made was that it's an all-natural product. Well, I guess it is if you consider aspartame to be all-natural. Otherwise, it’s just a vanilla-flavored “proprietary blend” of oat and palm oils contained in pre-measured “shots” that look like coffee creamers. There are no stimulants, it's dairy-free and vegan-friendly, and each shot is about 20 calories.

The QVC package ($26.57 + shipping and handling) includes 37 shots, which I guess is 7 more than the usual. The idea is to do two shots a day for the first week (one with breakfast, one with lunch) and then one a day, as needed, thereafter.

Also included is a 14-Day Meal Planner which, I must admit, was based on a pretty reasonable and doable 1500-calorie a day diet (for women – it is suggested men add an additional 500 calories). Also included in the plan is a list of free foods and a (very short) 100-calorie snack list. Helpful.

Many of the reviewers on QVC had a problem with the taste of the shots – sending the product back because it was “so bad”. Poppycock! It wasn’t THAT awful. Is it delightful? No, but I didn’t expect it to be a taste treat. It does have a bit of a plastic flavor, but it wasn’t a deal breaker for me. Drink some water after you do the shot – you’ll get over it. Lord knows, I've put worse things in my mouth. :)

So I’ll bet you want to know if it really controlled my monster appetite, right? Well, surprisingly, yes it did! I took one with breakfast and one with lunch (noon) and would not be hungry again until 8:00 or 9:00 at night – so it did exactly what it said it would do and controlled my appetite for 8 hours.

Here’s the problem with that: I sometimes don’t like to be “bothered” with eating at night. I only have a few hours after work so I was thinking “cool…I don’t have to waste my time eating.” Bad plan. Because by the time 8:00 or 9:00 rolled around, I would be STARVING. Well, yeah, because I hadn’t eaten for 8 hours. Dumb.

When I got the idea that I should eat my dinner even if I wasn’t particularly hungry, things went much better. I was not famished when I got home from work, so I was able to eat a more reasonable dinner. And then I was fine for the rest of the night.

My overall feeling on these is that it’s a great way to get yourself started on a diet program. Many diets fail because it’s just too hard in the beginning dealing with the hunger as you drastically cut your food intake. Having this product to suppress your appetite while your body gets used to a new way of eating is a great idea. I don’t even think anyone who was actively and seriously dieting would need these beyond the first month. You should be “in the groove” by then, with your cravings under control. And I will admit that it worked a lot better in the first week than it did in the second – but it still worked. Maybe I just need two every day.

I’ve mentioned before that my biggest struggle is the afternoon. This really helped me get through that and be satisfied with one small snack. So I don’t think I’ll be getting anymore – but if that afternoon monster rears its ugly head again, I will.

So I think that’s everything. Oh, I believe you can also pick these up at Wal-Mart. Probably even on sale and with a coupon.

Well, my finger is bleeding all over my keyboard (food processor blade), so I guess I’d better go take care of that.

See you Friday with some skincare stuff (hold on to your wallet…this one is going to cost you)!

The line to kick my ass forms on the left...

Eight hundred and seventy two unread items in my Google reader make it clear. I am a bad, bad blogger. Even worse, I am a bad, bad, bloggy friend. I was determined to catch up with all of your posts tonight. But, holy crap, people – 872 unread items is A LOT!

So, what to do? I guess I just have to start all over. Feeling overcome by guilt isn’t helping me to get anything written OR read. So feel free to swing by and give me the good, swift kick I deserve. Then we can just move along and pretend the last few weeks never happened.

As you may or may not know, ever since I had that freaking root canal, I’ve been a mess. Maybe when the dentist killed the nerve in my tooth, she disconnected something in my brain. I’ll have to talk to her about that - and ask her to please hook it back up. But she seems to charge $1000 for everything, so maybe I can’t afford it.

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been obsessed with three things: My weight, my hair and my skin in general (and my monstrously huge pores in particular). It’s this self-absorbed shallowness that’s kept me to myself lately. I think I’m over it now. Mostly. There are only a few more products left on the market that I can still buy to address these issues. My Q-Card has been given quite a workout lately. Especially last Saturday when everything on QVC was on Five Easy Payments. Those Five Easy Payments will kill you. I only think of the first ones and tend to forget about the final four. Five Easy Pay Day just about topped out my card. Sigh. No more buying for me. I’m going to have to continue this self-improvement kick using only the products (a lot) currently in my stash.

On the plus side, I’ve got lots of really nice products to tell you about, so you may see more posts that have to do with skincare and makeup than dieting and exercise. I may have to temporarily change my tagline to “health, nutrition and personal grooming.”

Okay, so on to the dieting update…You may recall that I decided not to weigh myself for three weeks. I don’t know if that was a good or a bad idea, but I did my first weigh-in yesterday and I am down 5.2 pounds. So, not too bad. One-third of the way there. Of course I probably gained it all back when we went out to dinner tonight for Father’s Day. Chicken-fried steak, anyone? But I will not look at the scale for another three weeks, so I won’t know how much damage that actually did. Ignorance is bliss.

Over the next three weeks I intend to plan every single bite that I will be eating and to get moving with the exercise. All I’m looking for is at least 30 minutes a day on the treadmill. Hopefully, that will be enough to knock off the next 5 pounds.

Overall, I’m feeling pretty good about the weight issue…but eeeek! - my HAIR!!!!

Coming up: A surprising review of a diet product.

A complicated dairy issue

All I wanted to know was if human beings really NEED dairy products. That’s all. Simple question. The U.S. government, via its food pyramid, says we do. Vegans, on the other hand, say we can live quite healthily without it.

The answer to the question itself is pretty simple (no, we don’t really need dairy), but all the components of the answer had me researching more than I really wanted to on calcium and vitamin D and protein and osteoporosis and cancer. I was shocked to find there may be far more reasons to AVOID dairy and excess calcium than there are to consume it.

If you ask the average person on the street if they think we need dairy, they are likely to say, “yes, of course we do – we need the calcium.” And that’s the answer you’ll get just about everywhere if you try to look up WHY we need dairy products. As if dairy products are the only source of calcium. Take calcium out of that equation and nobody can think of a single reason why we should have two to three servings of milk every single day. I mean, seriously, even the freaking COWS don’t drink the stuff beyond infancy.

Studies that have shown a link between weight loss and dairy products actually point to the calcium as the weight loss trigger, not the actual dairy products.

I was reading a “scientific” study on the effects of calcium on weight loss and the ONLY calcium source they used in their studies was dairy. They claimed that women who did not take in enough dairy were overweight A second study showed that the more people reduced their consumption of dairy products over the six-year period examined, the more weight and body fat they gained and the bigger their waistlines grew. Which is all good news for calcium consumption, but it really doesn’t have a thing to do with dairy. They did not study the effects of the calcium from sources other than dairy.

So, getting down to the basics - why do we need calcium? Obviously because it strengthens bones and helps nerves and muscles to function properly. It’s crucial for blood clotting and heartbeat maintenance. But if you don’t get an adequate amount of calcium in your diet, your body will start hitting up your bones for the calcium it needs to function. And that’s not good. If the bone sucking continues too long, the result is osteoporosis.

All of that is pretty straightforward, but when I tried to find out how much calcium and how much vitamin D the average person needed on a daily basis, and how much IS required versus how much SHOULD be required, it all got complicated. And it gave me a headache. Since I don’t want to give YOU a headache, I’m just going to touch on the basics of the calcium controversy.

The US RDA for calcium is1000 mg – or 1200 mg if you are over 50.

Dairy is usually the most attractive source of calcium because of its perceived high concentrations (300 mg per 8-ounce glass of whole milk) – but it certainly isn’t the only source. A one-cup serving of a green, leafy vegetable is low in calories and high in calcium - spinach (350 mg), kale (250 mg) and broccoli (80 mg) are all excellent sources. And none of them have one bit of the saturated fat of dairy products.

Complicated points I don’t intend to get into but you should probably know: 1) Calcium needs vitamin D for absorption. Thirty to sixty percent of people do not get enough vitamin D for any calcium they ingest to be beneficial. 2) A high animal-protein diet causes calcium loss. The RDA for calcium is intentionally set higher than we really need to compensate for our animal-protein intake. 3) Calcium is not the only mineral involved in the prevention of osteoporosis. Magnesium, vitamin D, boron, vitamin K, vitamin C, ipriflavone, silicon, and vitamins B6, B12, and folate are all required in the prevention of osteoporosis.

A link has been shown between high consumption of dairy products to ovarian and prostate cancer. But wait – it gets even more interesting: Studies indicate that osteoporosis (which affects 20 million American women), and ovarian cancer are most common in those countries with the highest consumption of dairy food and lowest in those countries with low dairy intake. Benign breast conditions, recurrent vaginitis, acne, menstrual cramps, fibroids, chronic intestinal upset and increased pain from endometriosis have also been associated with dairy consumption.

Although the US recommends 1000 -1200 mg of calcium per day, The World Health Organization only recommends 400 – 500 mg per day. Why? Because most countries do not ingest the amount of animal protein that we do. Vegetarians generally have a lower protein intake and are better able to absorb calcium, so their calcium needs are going to be much lower than someone who eats a diet heavy in protein.

The bottom line is that we can get an adequate amount of calcium and vitamin D from sources other than dairy. Besides green, leafy vegetables, calcium can also be found in nuts, beans and tofu. And getting your calcium from plant-based sources gives you more nutrients all the way around than you can get from dairy products. Fiber, anyone?

So, something to think about the next time you’re choking down a glass of milk just because it’s “good for you”. I will be happy to stop obsessing about getting in enough dairy but, until an adequate substitution is found, I cannot and will not give up cheese.

Cheese is just good food.

Eyebrow stuff

This began as a post about body hair, in general. But once I got started on the eyebrows, it kind of took on a life of its own. I guess I will have to do a second post on the rest of my issues with disappearing body hair. I know you can't wait.

I have an unnatural obsession with eyebrows; it’s something I always notice about a person. I will not notice your shoes or your purse, but I will for sure notice your eyebrows. Especially if they look like this:

Seriously, let me give you $7 for a wax.

Overzealous plucking in my younger years left me looking like this:

Well, maybe not exactly like that. I call this type of eyebrow “slut eyebrows”. Sadly, that’s what mine look like now. And they’re gray blonde, so that kind of makes it worse.

Since my vision sucks lately, and it’s impossible to get those unsightly strays that I can only see in my rearview mirror, I must pay someone to do it for me. Talk about a crapshoot. (And, by the way, Waxing Lady, when I say, “just clean it up, DON’T MAKE THEM ANY THINNER”, that’s what I mean.) One lady took off the entire outer half of my right eyebrow the day before a job interview. Was I happy? No, not really. I think her vision was in worse shape than mine.

Since I darkened my hair, those almost non-existent eyebrows make me look like this chick:

Fully aware that slut eyebrows are inappropriate for a woman of my advanced years, I began the quest for an eyebrow filler-inner.

I’ve tried eyebrow pencils, of course, and have used them off and on over the years; but, while they could darken, they weren’t really doing anything for filling in and shaping. They made the brows darker, yes, but they did nothing for the more pressing slut issue. I think there’s a skill to the eyebrow pencil - and I don’t have it. I was always afraid I would look like this:

The very nice lady who hands me my coffee every morning at McDonald’s has drawn on eyebrows. And, because I’m shallow, it’s all I see when I look at her.

Next, I moved to a powder/gel combo made by smashbox (and, yes, the lowercase "s" is intentional).

Love it. Plus, it comes with a nifty brush that makes you feel all professional-like when you’re brushing the powder in and then setting them with the gel. Or, gel first, powder after. Doesn’t matter. Either way, I could get a little “volume” in my brows without them looking like a threw a hunk of powder and gel up there. There’s a definite learning curve on this one, and I can’t tell you how many times I used Way Too Much and had to get out my trusty Maybelline brow/lash brush (the one everyone and their aunt owns) to try to brush some of it out.

Then, because I’m fickle, I got all hot to try the Bare Escentuals eyebrow kit. Same general principle as the smashbox, but instead of the wax, you got a mascara-like tube with gel and the powder was loose (duh, minerals!) instead of pressed. Oh, and another nifty brush!

(Someday I should show you how many makeup brushes I’ve collected over the years; I’m always carefully selecting the right tool for the job…Mr. Jelly Belly thinks I look like I’m about to perform delicate surgery.)

The BE brow kit was even MORE awesome than the smashbox. Goes on nice and smooth, looks natural and doesn’t come off until you wash it off. That’s actually a minus if you’re sometimes heavy-handed…it can be a real fight to get the brows back to where I want them to be. But, other than replacing the gel occasionally, I would expect that tiny pot of eyebrow color to last the rest of my life. I normally just use the dust in the lid – that’s how little you need.

Still, I was not happy. Because I have no arch. Oh, how I admire a beautifully arched eyebrow! What I did next will make you snicker. I bought eyebrow stencils. Hilarious, right? I was in Ulta, armed with a couple of gift cards, when I saw them. I had heard of them before but thought they seemed dumb. But, being desperate, I decided to try them. TWENTY BUCKS, people, for plastic stencils – only one of which will work for you. I do not know why they don’t sell them separately. Oh, wait. Yes I do - because not-too-bright people like me will pay the $20 for the entire set.

Feeling foolish, I tried the “Petite Arch” as soon as I got home. I held the stencil in what I assumed was the correct position, based on the lines printed on it (no real directions included) and started brushing in the BE powder. Yikes! Very scary. Too much! Too much! I had to stop the whole process and go to the bathroom from laughing so hard. Plus, I couldn’t figure out how to get the inside of my eyebrow correct, without having the outside be way too high. So I set them aside, thinking of the other things I could have spent that $20 on.

They sat there on my bathroom counter for a while, stashed behind my bucket o’makeup brushes, taunting me every day. So I tried them again. Apparently, you need to MOVE the stencil after you do the inside of the brow. Huh. Who knew? So you do the upsweep, move the stencil, then do the little tail. But guess what? Perfect arch. Every time. Now I just have to find some people with bigger eyebrows to give the other three to.

(I spotted eyebrow stencils on Smoky Mountain Minerals recently; they come with their eyebrow kit for $9.95 - although I have yet to see them in stock. But it would be a cheaper option if they ever DO become available again.)

So I’ve been alternating between the smashbox and the BE, depending on my mood, and happily using my expensive stencil, until I realized one day that I was missing spots. Damn vision! I should really move my rearview mirror into my bathroom – it shows ALL. (Please do not ever check out your pores in the rearview; you will cry.)

I decided to go buy a pencil to keep with me for fill-ins. And what do you think happened? I found a fantastic CHEAP(er) pencil. The Revlon Brow Fantasy is All That. A pencil, yes, but it has a little tube of gel on the reverse end - making it a gadget, in my opinion.

This is a nice pencil. It does a more than adequate job on the fill-ins – and, in fact, does a really good job, overall. I’m not ready to give up my smashbox and BE, but when I’m in a hurry, I’m finding myself grabbing it more and more often.

So there you have it. No more excuses for bad brows.

If you have brows that look like that? I will obsessively stare at them with full-blown brow envy. And I will secretly hate you. On the other hand, I won’t even be able to make eye contact with you if your eyebrows look like this:

Now get that scary image out of your head and have a great weekend, everyone!

Sleep it off...

When I was a young and arrogantly thin girl of about 15, I went on a family vacation with a friend. We ate and ate and ate some more, with nary a concern for calories or fat content.

My friend’s grandmother looked at us one day while we were scarfing down even more vacation food and said, “I don’t know how you girls stay so thin…must be those late nights and lack of sleep.”

Wow. You should be really careful about what you say to impressionable girls. I mean, seriously, Grandma’s mouth to God’s ear. I took this as the True Secret of Weight Loss. Don’t sleep. Because one doesn’t question the wisdom of the Ancient or ask for scientific proof of her claim, I didn’t know she was talking straight out of her ass.

Of course, looking back, my guess is that the reason we stayed so thin while consuming vast amounts of food was because we spent the hours between meals walking, walking, walking…scouting out secure locations in the woods to smoke our cigarettes and drink our pilfered liquor. And then we would walk some more, looking for boys. (That didn’t change much over the years: Add liquor, look for boys.) Our 15-year-old metabolisms probably helped, too.

I am almost ashamed to admit how long I kept that little weight-loss pearl in my head. Every time I thought I need to drop five pounds, I would sleep about 3 hours a night. It seemed to work. Probably because I was such a zombie I didn’t have the energy to lift a fork.

As it turns out, people who sleep the least are often the most overweight. Why is that? According to research, hormones play a big role in sleep and appetite. There are two hormones specifically linked to appetite - ghrelin, which is produced in the gastrointestinal tract and stimulates the appetite, and leptin, produced in fat cells, which sends a signal to the brain when you are full.

In these studies, when sleep was severely restricted, leptin levels went down and ghrelin levels went up. The study participants’ experienced increased appetites and their desire for high carbohydrate, calorie-dense foods increased by 45%. They also had a higher level of body fat than those who slept eight hours per night.

Pretty interesting – for a science thing. Of course, an argument could be made for my non-scientific feeling that, if you’re sleeping, you’re not eating. If I am staying up late, I am probably going to get hungry around 11:00 pm. Four or five hours after a “reasonable” dinner? Yeah. I’m going to need something. And I am probably going to need something quick, convenient, and loaded with carbs. If there is cake around the house, that’s what I’m hitting. But if I go to bed at 9:30 or 10:00? I’m avoiding several hundred calories. And lots of sugar.

When I was diligently counting points on Weight Watchers, I always went to bed when my points ran out. Less chance of getting hungry again and not being able to do anything about it. Sometimes that put me in bed at 7:30 but, whatever – it worked.

Eight hours of sleep during the week sometimes seems impossible – but if you shoot for at least six, you should get the same benefit. And make it up on the weekends. Not much in life better than an afternoon nap, is there?

The main ingredient in Baked Armpit

When Mr. Jelly Belly made his hilarious (to him) comment about my dinner smelling like baked armpit, I wasn’t offended. That vegetable-hating carnivore has no idea what he’s missing. Not only in taste (of which he has none) but in some awesome cancer-fighting nutrients.

The mystery ingredient? Cabbage! It’s my obsession of the moment. I was reading about someone loving a dish of fried (in coconut oil) cabbage and onions, so I thought I’d try it. Eh. It wasn’t so thrilling. Not nearly as good as my fried red cabbage with apples, a little Splenda brown sugar and a splash of apple cider vinegar. Now THAT’S delicious. Especially with pork.

But, anyway, this prompted me to try baking the chopped cabbage and onions, topped with a can of diced chili-flavored tomatoes. I think the tomatoes were where the armpit smell came in. Cumin, probably. I piled it in an 8 x 8 baking dish, covered it, and baked it for about 45 minutes or so and it was So Good. Especially when I threw a blob of fat-free sour cream on top. That quarter of a head of cabbage, half of an onion and one can of tomatoes made two really cheap and filling meals for me. I will probably further experiment with adding some chicken or beans, but I’m in no rush.

I’ve always loved sauerkraut and coleslaw (Calorie-reducing tip: Drain your deli-bought coleslaw in a colander; it removes a lot of the calories, but the flavor is already marinated into the cabbage, so it still tastes delicious), but plain, old cabbage? Not usually. Unless it was rolled around some beef and rice and topped with tomato sauce.

So while I’m surprised to be so in love with cabbage, I was even more surprised to find out how good it is for you. It’s one of those cruciferous vegetables that we talked about in an earlier post (broccoli, brussel sprouts, kale, cauliflower, radishes, bok choy etc.) that contain phytonutrients shown to significantly reduce the risk of some cancers, including breast, prostate, ovarian and bladder. Cabbage, specifically, was linked to a lowered risk of cancers of the stomach, colon and lungs.

Cabbage is an excellent source of vitamin C. It is also a very good source of fiber, manganese, folate, vitamin B6, potassium, and omega-3 fatty acids.

Interestingly, red cabbage is actually better for you than white and may be helpful in the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease. And, not surprisingly, organically grown cabbage has a higher level of phytonutrients than those that are conventionally grown.

But here’s the bad news: To get the most benefit from all cruciferous vegetables, they should be steamed lightly and not overcooked. So much for my Baked Armpit. It can, however, be lightly sautéed for 10-15 minutes (and sauerkraut is considered to be “lightly cooked”).

The other bad news is that RAW cruciferous vegetables contain goitrogens, naturally occurring substances that may or may not mess with your thyroid function – if you already have a thyroid disorder. The research is not clear as to whether or not cooking the vegetables decreases the risk, or exactly how big the risk really is. If you have a known thyroid condition, you might want to research that a little further. Or cook the bejeezus out of your cabbage. I guess for us thyroid people, we need to decide whether to go for the proven cancer benefit or the possible thyroid benefit.

But the good news is you only need 3 to 5 servings per week (less than one serving per day) of cruciferous vegetables to lower your risk of cancer.

And I don’t think that sounds all too difficult.

Awww, what a sweet award...

Well, I’ve been blessed in the last few weeks with several blog awards and, since I really didn’t quite know what to do with them, I’ve been sitting on them. For too long. But I discovered while I’ve got these undone things hanging over my head, I feel too guilty to move on. So I’m going to work backwards and try to make sure I get them all done.

Blog awards are Hard Work. They all seem to want me to do or list seven things. Is seven a magic number in blog award land? What if I can only think of five? Do I have to return the award? I don’t know. I’ve never done this before. If I pass the award on to you, and you can only think of 3 of the 7 things, it’s okay. You may keep my award anyway.

Okay. The Evil One over at Twenty One Days Later bestowed this shitty award upon me:



And do you want to know what makes this award extra shitty? I cannot accept it unless I can come up SEVEN things I like about Camevil. Seven! See what I mean about hard work? Well, let’s get down to it and see if I can come up with all seven. Hold on a sec, I have to pop some pills first….Okay, I’m ready….

1. She takes her weight loss seriously, but doesn’t OBSESS over it. She knows you can lose weight and get in shape while still having fun in life.

2. She’s smart and hip but never makes me feel bad about being strictly squaresville or not so bright. And when I mention oral sex in her comments, she doesn’t Freak Out.

3. She never says mean things about her husband. Even when he deserves it. And they come up with off-the-beaten-path things to do on Valentine’s Day.

4. She does interesting and unusual stuff, like Zombie Walks, on the weekend. In full makeup. And not the kind you get at the Clinique counter.

5. She always posts thoughtful comments, even though I’m sure sometimes she’s got something appropriately snarky rolling around in her brain.

Is that seven yet? No? Okay….

6. Her biceps are rockin’.

7. She’s a hooker with a heart of gold. Oh, wait. She’s not a hooker; she’s an attorney. Eh. Same thing.

And now I get to pass this shit on to two other deserving weight loss bloggers. Are you holding your breath, hoping it’s not you? Well, it IS you, Patty, because you’re so smart and cool and know what you’re talking about. And don’t run away so fast BetteJo; it’s you, too – because even though you might hate it, you’re DOING IT! I love that.

So go forth and sing my praises. Even if you have to make shit up. I won’t mind.

Well, I was going to do more than one today, but that took more out of me than I expected. I’ll pop the rest of them in randomly. When I’m in a nicer mood.

Thank you for this wonderful award, Cam. I shall treasure it always.