Some of my faves...

Hershey's Dark Chocholates: 33 calories each

Odawalla products, especially SuperFood and Super Protien Chocolate

If you want to know your past - look into your present conditions. If you want to know your future - look into your present actions. – Chinese Proverb

Facing Goliath...

A middle aged, over weight, man discovers he is losing his remaining eyesight. To help him cope, a natural competitive bodybuilder challenges him to take on a physical transformation and enter the world of competitive bodybuilding. (http://www.sebastianmaclean.com/transformation)

BMI vs W2H Method (waist-to-hip-ratio)

Jillian Michaels says:

"Your body is trying to tell you something, but you're just not listening! To win at the weight-loss game, you've got to make some changes. One of the most important ones is to stop listening to anything but your body to establish a realistic weight for your specific build. Forget about what you see and hear from pop-culture sources.

Another thing not to rely on is the body mass index (BMI), which determines the amount of fat you have on your body according to your weight and height. Here's why you're not going to use it: It fails to distinguish between fat and muscle, so the BMI will ultimately give you an incomplete sense of the shape you're in.

Today, the medical industry has set its weight guidelines according to the waist-to-hip-ratio method, which is a much more accurate way of arriving at an ideal goal weight. Follow these steps to find yours:

Get a tape measure and measure your waist right at the belly-button line.
Standing with feet hip-width apart, measure your hips at their widest point.
Now simply divide your waist measurement by your hip measurement. This is your waist-to-hip ratio. (The ideal waist-to-hip ratios are 0.80 for women and 0.95 for men.)"

Great weight managment tool

http://caloriecount.about.com is a fantastic analysis and tracking site for fitness and nutrition and the moblile apps are awesome.
Calorie Counter by CalorieCount.com on iTunes or other platforms: http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/mobile.php

My Healthy Breakfast Experience...

I was hungry today at Breakfast so the menu is a bit larger and higher in calories than I usually shoot for but as the saying goes: "Eat like a King for Breakfast and Queen at lunch and like a Pauper for dinner" and you will generally maintain a good portion balance.

I must say, the breakfast sandwhich I made was so amazing! I lightly toasted a slice of the Oroweat sandwichthin and put a little butter on it. I cut up a quarter of an avocodo, some onions, a slice of tomato, Jalapenos and toped it with a Morningstar veggie sausage patty. The flavor was so delicious!

As I have weaned myself off of alot of processed food, sugar and other 'sweetners' this last month, i've noticed how the flavor of stuff is popping out. I also recognize how my body 'craves' certain things if I am not eating enough of them...espeicaly healthy fats. So this morning the avocodos and tomato and onions all mixed together to form a chemical rush to my happy spot in my brain! It was actually quite a yummy rush...who would of known that such a healthy meal could provide such pleasure? Eating good doesn't have to be a drag...but it takes awhile to drain off the sludge of pleasure deadening sugars that processed food pumps into everything. We are inundated with salt and sugar and that makes everything with less 'ampage' seem less flavorful...until you wean yourself off the mainlining of it all.

Breakfast:
-Morningstar Veggie Sausage Patty: 80 calories
-Orowheat Sandwich Thins: one half 50 calories
-Half or teaspoon of butter: 25 calories
-Quarter of a avocado: 80 calories
-Onions: 2 calories
-Jalapeno peppers: 2 calories
-Tomato: 2 calories
-Chobani Greek yogurt(Vanilla): 120 calories
-Cliff Bar, Crunch, white chocoalte/ macadamia nut: 190 calories
-Black Coffee: 5 calories

Total: 556

Doughnuts & Ice Cream for Breakfast...?

This last week I have seen a number of children walking to School eating breakfast or part of their meal at least. One girl I saw eating a Ben & Jerrys size tub of ice-cream and the next day she was eating a doughnut. This morning two young girls in Fred Meyer where purchasing their doughnuts too. I regularly see kids downing pop and "energy drinks' on the way to a day of learning and it's no wonder Teachers are stressed out, trying to manage and corral kids who are coming amped up on the sugar and caffeine!

"160 Million Americans now suffer from overweight and obesity...and epidemic that has reached nearly 70% of the entire US population. Statistics are showing that 1 out of every 2 babies born today will develop diabetes in their lifetime if things don't change." -Bill Phillips 'Transformation'

These kind of stats should waken us up to the desperate need to model a healthy lifestyle for our children. They are learning how to 'live' from us and their peers. They are being shaped by something or someone in matters regarding exercise and diet. As a parents this responsibility should motivated us more, we need to be working at providing well balanced examples of living healthy and fit.