Roasted Turnips - A Lower Calorie Alternative To Potatoes

An easy and delicious way to prepare turnips!

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Turnips
Here's a simple way to prepare turnips if you are avoiding French fries and watching your weight.

I bought turnips this week to make soup. I've been a bit under the weather with allergies so I've been living on soup. But since the rain cleared the pollen out of the air and I needed something different to eat, I thought I'd try doing something else with the turnips. So I fixed them like I would a roasted potato and was delighted at how absolutely delicious they were. The best news is that they are lower calories and more nutritionally dense than potatoes. 

Ounce per ounce, turnips are 1/3 the calories of potatoes yet they have 4 times the omega-3 and 2 1/2 times the calcium. But they are higher in natural sugars which is why they caramelize so nicely when roasted.

Turnips are virtually fat free and are a good source of vitamin B6, folate, potassium, calcium and copper and an excellent source of dietary fiber, vitamin C and manganese. 

A medium turnip has 34 calories
0.1 g total fat, 0 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol
7.8 g carbohydrates, 4.6 g sugar
2.2 g dietary fiber
1.1 g protein
43 % DV vitamin C
5% DV vitamin B6 and folate
8% DV manganese
7% DB potassium
5% DV copper
4% DV calcium

Here's a quick and easy way to prepare them.

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Roasted Turnips
Vegan, Gluten and Dairy Free
[makes 4 servings]

Ingredients
6 medium turnips
1 to 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary 

Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees

Peel the turnips and cut each one vertically into 8 to 10 slices.

Place them in a bowl with enough of the olive oil to coat. Add the rest of the ingredients and toss until well combined.

Place the coated turnip slices on a cookie sheet lined with a silicon mat or a parchment sheet. Spread them out on the sheet.

Roast for 30 to 40 minutes until they are cooked and brown on the edges. Remove from the oven and serve.

Instant Pot Garlicky Mashed Cauliflower Vegan And Paleo FriendlySuper Low Calorie!

Use mashed cauliflower as a tasty side or a bed for a stew.

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Mashed Potato Substitute
I adore mashed potatoes but nutritionally they can't compare to cauliflower. When you properly prepare and mash cauliflower, you really can't tell the difference. And with cauliflower, you get a lower calorie and carb substitute with the cancer-fighting benefits of a cruciferous vegetable. Cauliflower is also super rich in antioxidants, and a great source of dietary fiber, vitamin C, K, B6, folate, pantothenic acid, potassium, and manganese. 

Today's recipe also replaces the typical butter and cream in mashed potatoes with the heart-healthy, mono-saturated fat of an avocado. OK, it turns the mash a tiny bit green, but it makes them super creamy, and adds more dietary fiber, vitamin K and folate. For an added burst of goodness, this recipe flavors the mash with fresh garlic!

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Garlicky Mashed Cauliflower
Vegan, Paleo, Dairy and Gluten Free
[makes 4 to 6 servings]

Requirements
Instant Pot 
Food Processor 

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large head cauliflower, cut into florets
1/2 cup water 
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon pepper, or to taste
1/3 avocado, room temperature

Directions
Heat the oil in the Instant Pot using the SAUTE function. Add the garlic and cook until slightly brown. 

Press the OFF button and immediately add the cauliflower florets, then the water, salt, and pepper. 

Secure the lid, press the MANUAL button and set for 4 minutes. When done, press the OFF button and quickly release the pressure. Carefully remove the lid.

Drain and reserve any remaining liquid from the pot. 

Place the drained cauliflower into the food processor. Add the avocado and process until smooth. If it is too dry, add a tiny bit of the reserved liquid at a time. Do not add too much liquid or it will be too soft. 

Serve as a side vegetable or as a bed for stew, peas, tomato sauce, etc..

Serve as a side dish

Or serve as a bed for stews and sauces.

Nutrition
Per serving (4): 104 calories, 5 g total fat, 1 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 116 mg omega-3 and 548 mg omega-6 fatty acids, 4 g protein, 13 g carbohydrates, 6 g dietary fiber, and 355 mg sodium.

Per serving (6): 69 calories, 4 g total fat, 0.5 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 78 mg omega-3 and 365 mg omega-6 fatty acids, 3 g protein, 8 g carbohydrates, 4 g dietary fiber, and 237 mg sodium.

10 Tips To Reduce Your Sugar Intake

Americans eat 76 times the sugar than their ancestors did!

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Make This Year the Healthiest Ever!
With the holidays are behind us, and like we do most Januaries, we want to get healthy, shed some pounds, feel better, and commit to doing something good for ourselves. Perhaps lowering our sugar intake would be an excellent start.

Lowering our Sugar Consumption is a Great Way to Start the New Year!
Today, the average American consumes an average of 152 pounds of sugar per year. That’s 6 cups of sugar a week or 14 tablespoons per day! At 48 calories per tablespoon, 14 tablespoons chews up 672 calories. These are calories that are displacing those that would contribute minerals, vitamins, and other important nutrients that would benefit, not detract, from your health. Or, they would be added calories that would lead to obesity, overall inflammation, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer, and more. It would take you more than two hours of brisk walking to burn up 14 tablespoons of sugar. Not many of us have the time or commitment to do that.

To put this in prospective, two hundred years ago the average American only ate 2 pounds of sugar per year. When we wonder why diseases like cancer, heart attacks, Alzheimer’s, autism, various autoimmune conditions, and other degenerative disorders have skyrocketed over the past hundred or so years, it may very well be attributed, at least in part, to our drastic increase in sugar consumption. How did all that sugar end up in our diets and what can we do about it?  

Where is this Sugar Coming From?
Sugar finds its way into our food supply in many forms and with many names. It’s in jams and jellies, cakes, cookies, crackers, soft drinks, energy drinks, fruit drinks, specialty coffee drinks like lattes, specialty tea drinks, like chai, candy, breakfast cereals, ice cream, fruit yogurts, canned vegetables, prepared foods like canned soups, condiments, and more. 

It also has many names such as glucose, dextrose, fructose, maltose, sucrose, lactose, honey, sorghum syrup, corn syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, brown rice syrup, fruit juice concentrate, brown sugar, corn sweetener, sorbitol, evaporated cane juice, sucanat, barley malt, agave nectar, beet sugar, date sugar, molasses and more. 

Tips to Reduce our Sugar Consumption
Here are some easy and painless tips on how to reduce our sugar consumption:
#1: Read labels
Look for all the different names for sugar on the labels. New labels will now have “added sugars” in grams. Dietary guidelines suggest that no more than 10% of your daily calories come from added sugar. I personally think that’s too much as it’s still over 4 tablespoons of sugar per day given a 2,000 calorie diet.  
(Note: 1 tablespoon sugar = 12.5 grams = 48 calories.)

The new label has "added sugar"

#2: Eat PB&F instead of PB&J
Instead of smearing sugary jelly or jam on your peanut or almond butter sandwich, place slices of fresh fruit or berries on your sandwich. Sliced strawberries, apples, pears, persimmons, and bananas are some of my favorite additions to my nut butter sandwiches. One tablespoon of jelly contains 56 calories, almost no fiber, and 11 g of sugar (almost a tablespoon of sugar).  A third of a cup of sliced strawberries, on the other hand, would only have 18 calories, less than 3 grams of sugar, provide over a gram of dietary fiber, and important vitamins and minerals such as folate and manganese. 

Almond butter sandwich with fresh strawberries 

#3: Replace Soda
Instead of drinking soda, energy or other sugary drinks, have a cold glass of bubbly water with a splash of juice. My favorite is a glass of Pellegrino with a splash of unsweetened cranberry juice and a twist of lime. Or just add a slice of cucumber or strawberry to a cold glass of water. A 12-ounce cola beverage has 136 calories and contains 33 grams of sugar (over 2 ½ tablespoons of sugar), zero fiber and no significant nutrients. Just giving up one soda a day would be avoiding 60 cups of sugar per year and allow you to lose 14 pounds! Although drinking diet soda may avoid added sugar, the sugar substitute aspartame, used in most diet sodas, has been associated with a number of reported complaints such as headaches, dizziness, eye issues, mood changes, digestive issues, and more. 

#4: Reduce Sugar in Recipes
I find that I can easily reduce sugar in recipes without adversely affecting its taste. For example, in baking I replace a cup of sugar with ¼ to ½ cup of sugar plus some stevia to make up for the loss of sweetness. No one has ever noticed!

#5: Don’t buy Fruit Yogurt
Fruit yogurt sounds healthy but it’s loaded with sugar. For example, a container of Kite Hill Peach dairy-free yogurt has 180 calories and 15 grams of sugar, much of which comes from cane sugar. That same container of the plain, unsweetened yogurt has 140 calories with zero sugar. So it’s always best to find unsweetened yogurt and add your own chopped fresh fruit. 

Select unsweetened yogurt and add your own fresh fruit

#6: Ditch the Donuts
An Original Glazed Krispy Kreme donut has 190 calories and 10 grams of sugar. Or if you are opting for a Dunkin Frosted Sugar Cookie Donut, you are signing up for 420 calories and a whopping 30 grams of sugar. Although bagels contain far less sugar (zero to 6 grams), they can be high in calories, especially if they are covered with full fat cream cheese. In any case, swapping out one or two donuts with a single bagel, smeared with slices of avocado, would be a better choice.

Eat an avocado bagel with seeds instead of a donut

#7: Sugary Cereals, Oh My!
There is so much sugar in some breakfast cereals, that they should be carried in the candy isle. Kellogg’s Honey Smacks are 56% sugar, weighing in at 15 grams per serving. Kellogg’s Froot Loops, Marshmallow are 48% sugar and also contain 15 grams of sugar per serving. No need to go on – there are far too many examples of bad cereals that are heavily marketed to young children.  

Always read the labels on boxes of cereal

There are, however, some better choices, like Ezekiel 4:9 Almond Sprouted Whole Grain Cereal that has nutrient-rich ingredients and less than a single gram of sugar. 

A much better choice of cereal

But my favorite cereal alternative is homemade oatmeal sprinkled with omega-3 walnuts and a dollop of dairy-free, unsweetened yogurt.

#8: Reduce Sugar in Coffee and Tea
Coffee and tea are healthy beverages. But somehow Starbucks has turned them into high calorie, high fat, and high sugar drinks. A grande Coffee Frappuccion has 240 calories and 50 grams (4 tablespoons) of sugar. And a grande Green Tea Crème Frappuccino has 430 calories with 65 grams (5 tablespoons) of sugar. So stick to your regular coffee or tea with a touch of stevia and enjoy the many benefits of these drinks. 

If you want to enjoy a fancy latte, get a frother and make a green tea latte with unsweetened non-dairy milk and a bit of stevia. 

Homemade latte with no sugar

#9: Afternoon Pick-Me-Up
When I was a CEO, I had a continual battle with the vending machine company trying to get them to offer healthy snacks to my employees. Other than a few offerings of nuts and trail mixes, the rest consisted of sugar-filled candy bars or salty chips. When you work in an office and start to get hungry around 4:00, your food choices may not be great. One Snickers bar has 30 grams of sugar, a bag of Skittles has 47 grams, a Hershey’s milk chocolate bar has 31 grams, a York Peppermint Pattie has 25 grams, and a Milky Way has 35 grams. So make sure you bring a piece of fruit to work or keep a little fruit bowl on your desk with tangerines, apples, and bananas. And take an ounce of raw nuts along with you too, like almonds, walnuts, pistachios, and pecans. 

Fresh fruit is a great pick-me-up

#10: Canned Vegetables
Canned vegetables often contain added sugar. You will find sugar listed in the ingredients of many popular brands of canned vegetables. Whether they do this for preservation or just to cater to the American palate, is a mystery. So if you are not able to buy fresh vegetables, always buy them frozen as they generally do not contain added sugar. 

Ingredients: Peas, Water, Sugar, Salt

Ingredients: Garden Peas

If you make these simple changes to reduce the sugar in your diet, you can significantly improve your health. You may miss sugar at first as our taste buds get attuned to too much fat, salt, and sugar - manufacturers count on this. But as we transition to a healthier lifestyle by reducing these ingredients in our diet, we lose our cravings for them and once again appreciate the natural delicious flavors of undoctored foods. 

Instant Pot Cauliflower SoupVegan And Gluten Free

This low calorie soup is excellent for weight loss.

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Weight Loss Between the Holidays
I'm probably not alone at wanting to shed the Thanksgiving pounds before the next wave of holidays. I've always been a proponent of healthy soups for making this happen. Here's a easy and delicious soup that is less than 150 calories per hearty serving and also has 6 grams of dietary fiber.

Cauliflower is a cruciferous vegetable which contains the phytochemical sulforaphane. This compound has potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties which contribute to its ability to prevent and treat several types of cancer. Inflammation also contributes to many long-term chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, arthritis, and more.

The high fiber content of cauliflower not only helps keep you full, contributing to weight loss, but also helps lower cholesterol, control blood sugar, helps feed your gut bacteria, reduces the risk of colorectal cancer, and keeps you regular. 

Instead of using cream, this soup gets its creamy texture from potatoes allowing it to be dairy and cholesterol free.


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Instant Pot Cauliflower Soup
Vegan, Dairy and Gluten Free
[makes 6 servings]

Requirements
Hand Held Immersion Blender 
Instant Pot

Ingredients
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 large head cauliflower, leaves removed, cut into florets
1 1/2 pounds Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and diced
4 cups vegetable broth*
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, or to taste
Pinch cayenne pepper
2 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
*5 cups for stovetop recipe

Directions
Heat the oil in the Instant Pot by pressing the “Sauté” button. Add the onion and celery and cook until they soften, stirring frequently, about 3 to 4 minutes. Press the “Off” button.

Add the cauliflower, potatoes, 4 cups of broth, bay leaf, salt, black and cayenne pepper to the Instant Pot. Secure the lid, press the “Manual” button, and set for 4 minutes at high pressure. When done, quickly release the pressure and remove the lid carefully with the steam pointed towards the back. 

(To cook on the stovetop, heat the oil in a soup pot and sauté the onion and celery for several minutes. Add the cauliflower and potatoes, 5 cups of broth, the bay leaf, salt, black and cayenne pepper. Cook on a low boil, partially covered, until the vegetables are tender, about 15 to 20 minutes. Continue with the recipe.)

Remove a cup or more of the cooked vegetables, roughly chop and set aside. 

Remove the bay leaf and add the lemon juice. Using an immersion blender, blend the remaining soup until smooth. You can also do this in a blender but take care not to over process.

For a chunky soup, remove some of the cooked vegetables before you blend the soup and put them back in after blending. Skip this step for a completely blended soup.

An immersion blender makes blending a lot easier.

Stir in the chopped vegetables, adjust seasoning if needed,  and serve. 

Nutritional Information:
Per serving (6): 149 calories, 2 g total fat, 0 g saturated fat, 60 mg omega-3 and 219 g omega-6 fatty acids, 0 mg cholesterol, 6 g protein, 30 g carbohydrates, 6 g dietary fiber, and 438 mg sodium.

Instant Pot Butternut Squash And Split Pea Soup

Butternut Squash Soup with extra protein and fiber.

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What to do with all my Butternut Squash
You may have seen last week's post where I shared our magic dirt formula that contributed to us getting 60 butternut squash from a single seed! The obvious next thing to think about is what am I going to do with all this butternut squash?

Part of my harvest.

Today's recipe is a very simple soup that I make in my Instant Pot. Most of the time, I make a very light and brothy butternut squash soup - the kind you sip from a mug. But for a heartier meal, I like to thicken the soup with split peas. The split peas not only make the soup thicker, but they add a significant amount of protein and fiber. While the soup is fat free and very low in calories (less than 200 calories per bowl), it provides a healthy 10 grams of protein and 11 grams of fiber. 

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Butternut Squash and Split Pea Soup
Vegan, Dairy and Gluten Free
[makes 6 servings]

Requirements
Instant Pot Pressure Cooker
Potato Masher

Ingredients
1 cup split peas
1 small butternut squash (~1 1/2 pounds)
1 small onion, diced
1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic
4 cups vegetable broth
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, or to taste
1 bay leaf
1 sprig of fresh thyme plus some for garnish
2 tablespoons fresh lemon or lime juice

Directions
Pick through the split peas and remove any rocks or clumps of dirt. Rinse well and drain. Place in the Instant Pot.

Peel, cut, remove the seeds, and dice the butternut squash. Read my post on an easy way to cut a butternut squash. Place the diced squash, onion, garlic, broth, salt, pepper, bay leaf, and thyme in the Instant Pot.

Press the MANUAL button and set for 12 minutes under high pressure. Make sure the quick release switch in the closed position. When done, press the OFF button and let the pressure release naturally. When complete, open the cover and tilt so that the steam comes out the back and away from your face. 

Add the lemon juice and gently mash the soup with a potato masher to break up the large chunks of squash. But don't be too aggressive since you still want small chunks of squash in the soup.

Mash but leave chunks of squash.

Pour into individual bowls, top with some fresh thyme and serve. 

Nutrition
Per serving: 185 calories, 0 g total and saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 58 mg omega-3 and 157 mg omega-6 fatty acids, 10 g protein, 35 g carbohydrates, 11 g dietary fiber, and 398 mg sodium.

4 Easy Tips For Healthy Weight Loss

How to lose weight sensibly.

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Download my eBook, Health Begins in the Kitchen

Happy New Year!
I hope you all had a great holiday. We certainly did, as we surrounded ourselves with good friends and good food. 

As I do every January, I set my goals for the year. Of course we never know what Mother Nature has in store for us, but a goal to stay healthy is always on my list. One way for all of us to stay healthy is to achieve and maintain a healthy weight. For some, this involves losing a few pounds and for others, it may involve losing more. Whatever your weight loss goals are, here are 4 easy tips to accomplish them.

Weight Loss Tip #1 - Set Reasonable Short Term Goals
You may have a long term goal of losing, let's say, 25 pounds. That may seem overwhelming. But if you take it one step at a time, it will seem much more doable.

The short term goal to achieve your 25 pound weight loss in a year is only 1/2 pound a week or 2 pounds a month! It's best to focus on that. 

Have more to lose? The short term goal to achieve a 50 pound weight loss in a year is only 1 pound a week or 4 pounds a month. 

Have less to lose? If you have a smaller weight loss goal, say 10 or 15 pounds or less, you may plan to achieve that in only 5 or 6 months instead of a year. The short term goal to lose 10 pounds in 5 months is only 1/2 pound a week or 2 pounds a month. 

Slower weight loss is better and more sustainable so don't try to lose too much too soon.

Weight Loss Tip #2 - Develop a Plan
Let's say you've set your goal to lose a half pound a week or two pounds a month. Let's do the math. You can lose one half pound by: 
* Eating 1,750 less calories, or
* By burning 1,750 extra calories, or 
* A combination of calorie reduction and exercise. In this case, eating 875 less calories and burning an additional 875 calories. I encourage a plan that includes both. 

Let's say we've selected the combination plan of eating less and exercising more. Now, how are we going to do that?

To eat 875 less calories a week means reducing your daily calorie intake by only 125 calories. That's not so bad. You can do that by eliminating the non-nutritious food in your diet: Here are some examples:

* One 5-ounce glass of wine (125 calories)
* One 12-ounce can cola (136 calories)
* An ounce of plain corn tortilla chips (138 calories)
* A 12 oz Starbucks soy latte (162 calories)
* One small glazed doughnut (124 calories)
* One small side order of McDonald's French Fries (209 calories)
*  One half chocolate Power Bar (124 calories)
* 20-ounce Gatorade (150 calories)
* One half cup vanilla ice cream (137 calories)
* One McDonald's chocolate chip cookie (160 calories)
* One half slice of Pizza Hut pizza

If everything you eat is already nutritious, then you will need to cut down on your portion sizes.

To burn an extra 875 more calories a week, you just need to burn an extra 125 calories per day. Calories burned will vary with your weight, but let's use a 155 pound person as an example: According to the Calorie Control Council Get Moving Calculator, a 155 pound person can burn 125 calories by:

* 18 minutes of aerobic exercise
* 22 minutes on a stationary bike
* 13 minutes of outdoor bicycling at 12-14 mph
* 27 minutes of brisk walking
* 35 minutes of weight lifting
* 13 minutes of singles tennis
* 15 minutes of jogging
* 21 minutes of intense dancing
* 21 minutes on an elliptical machine

You don't have to do any of these exercises all at once. For example, you can walk 15 minutes in the morning and another 12 to 15 minutes in the evening.

Weight Loss Tip #3 - Journal, Journal, Journal
Journaling can sometimes be a pain, however, it is the most effective way to achieve your weight loss goals! Sign up for MyFitnesspal.com or any of the other journaling programs or aps. 

Journaling makes you mindful of what you eat. Knowing you will be recording your every bite you take will make you think twice about popping a piece of candy in your mouth. Most importantly, it will educate you on the nutritional value of the foods you eat. Through time, you will learn what is in your food and will allow you to naturally make better selections. 

Recording your exercise will motivate you to exercise more, especially knowing that you will reach your weight loss goals more quickly. 

Your achievements are nicely graphed which can really be exciting when you see the graph pointing to your ultimate goal!

Weight Loss Tip #4 - Avoid Fad Diets
You are probably getting bombarded with ideas for fad diets this time of year. But you should really avoid them. Eating pre-packaged meals or shakes doesn't teach you how to eat in the long term. As soon as you stop their programs, weight will undoubtedly return. 

Learning to cook healthy food is the best way to guarantee long-term weight loss and ensure good health and longevity for you and your family. It will also set a good example for your kids. I watched my family cook healthy, Mediterranean meals when I was young and when I had a family of my own, they watched me cook too. They grew up and now cook like that for themselves and for their families. But if your kids are watching you pick up take out for dinner, they will probably do the same thing in the future. That's why I created the tagline:

“Health, excellent or ill, is passed to our children not just 

through our genes but primarily through our recipes.”

For a start, you can try the recipes in my eBook, Health Begins in the Kitchen.

Once again, I wish you very happy and healthy 2017. I will do my best to keep posting healthy recipes and nutritional articles to help you and your family stay healthy and fit!

Bounce Away The Holiday Pounds Your Lymphatic System Will Thank You

Bouncing burns calories and supports lymphatic circulation.

For delicious recipes to support weigh loss, download my eBook, Health Begins in the Kitchen

Post Holiday Pounds
I had a great Thanksgiving as Doug, Linda and I ate and drank our way through the wonderful restaurant scene in Minneapolis. Don't believe me? Just look at my scale!

I can't blame all the added pounds on Thanksgiving. They've been inching up for a few months now. I got lazy with logging my calories on MyFitnessPal and I haven't been exercising as much as I usually do. (Turns out all that farming I did this summer didn't burn as many calories as I had hoped). I feel a need to take action now before the Christmas holiday does more damage!

The Lymphatic System
You might be asking why on earth this leads us to a discussion of the lymphatic system. Well, here's the story. 

I found a lump right above my collarbone a few months ago. Lumps are never a good thing so I ran straight to my naturopath who examined it and subsequently made me take a million tests. Turns out it was just a swollen lymph gland reacting to a sinus flareup and it subsided a few weeks later. But perhaps my lymph nodes weren't draining well enough because I haven't been active enough. It's just a theory, but if it motivates me to get off my butt, I'm sticking to it. 

The lymphatic system is a critical part of the body's immune system. In ways, it is similar to our circulatory system as it has vessels throughout our body and interfaces with various organs. But instead of having veins, arteries, and capillaries, it consists of lymphatic vessels. These vessels are connected to lymph nodes whose job is to filter the lymphatic fluids and rid them of toxins, cellular waste, bacteria, viruses, and other unwanted materials. At the same time, it delivers white blood cells throughout the body to fight infections. But unlike the circulatory system whose heart pumps blood throughout your body, whether you are laying on the couch or running a marathon, the lymphatic system depends on physical movement, the contraction of our muscles and gravity. 

Since there is twice as much lymph as blood, it's critical that we help it circulate throughout our bodies. A congested lymphatic system can lead to swollen lymph nodes, recurrent sore throats, a weakened immune system, muscle aches and pains, arthritis, and other disorders. 

Things that Help Lymphatic Congestion
The first thing my naturopath recommended was to start bouncing! Well that sounded like a lot of fun so I immediately ordered a mini trampoline. They come in various sizes. I picked a 38-inch Intone Plus Rebounder because it doesn't take up much space yet it's big enough that I feel safe. It also has two resistance tubes for upper body strength training. I actually use them to make sure I don't drift of the rebounder while bouncing and watching TV. This model also has a counter which tells you how long you work out and how many times you bounce.

Stamina 38-inch Intone Plus Rebounder

Depending on how vigorously you jump or jog in place, and how many pounds you weigh, you will burn anywhere from 120 to 170 calories in 30 minutes. Like any exercise, you will have to work yourself up to 30 minutes. But even bouncing for a mere 10 minutes a day can do a lot of good.

Other Things your Lymphatic System will Enjoy
Besides bouncing, here are some other things you can do:
* Stretching
* Any aerobic exercise
* Your lymphatic system will enjoy yoga, as its many twists and turns help facilitate drainage. 
* Skin brushing will also stimulate your lymphatic system.
* Drink lots of water.
* A gentle massage, especially a lymph drainage massage, can get stagnant lymph back into circulation.

But hands down, bouncing is the most fun. And along with a healthy diet and journaling, I'm hoping I can drop my Thanksgiving pounds and more!

5 Reasons Why Food Journals Can Double Your Weight Loss

With today's programs, journaling is easier than ever!

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Journaling
In 1971, when I was pregnant with my son, I started a food journal. In retrospect I should have patented and marketed it! I wrote down every morsel that went into my mouth. I was only 22 years old and was obsessed with staying slim. Besides, I stood out enough being the only woman in my electrical engineering classes.

Nine months later I gave birth to a healthy, 6 1/2 pound baby boy. I brought my pre-pregnancy jeans with me to the hospital and wore them home.

Since that time, I always turn to journaling my food and exercise when I need to lose weight. Or if I'm on a cruise or vacation and I want to make sure I don't gain weight. Now is one of those times. I had foot surgery in February which actually made my neuroma pain worse so my usual exercise regimen has gone down the drain. Unfortunately I've been enjoying life at the same pre-surgery rate so I've gained about 5 pounds.  

I signed up to one of the popular fitness websites and started journaling a few days ago (more about that later.) But I will assure you that journaling works. In fact studies show that you will double your weight loss when you do this. I think it does more than that. I've seen it work for people who have not been able to lose significant weight despite many different diets and many tries. Here's why:

#1 - Journaling makes you mindful of what you eat. How many times have you passed the refrigerator, opened it, and popped something in your mouth without even thinking about it. Or at work, how can we resist that bowl of candy or pile of doughnuts sitting in the break room? When we do that, we are eating out of habit or boredom, certainly not because we are always that hungry. Writing down what you eat makes you stop and think, "I have to record this, maybe I don't need to eat it!" 

#2 - Education is another important aspect of food tracking. When you enter a food in a good food program, it will tell you how many calories, grams of fat, type of fat, grams of protein, grams of dietary fiber, grams of carbohydrates, etc. that you are consuming. Some app's allow you to customize the micronutrient you are interested in monitoring. You will quickly figure out that to meet (and not exceed) your daily calorie allotment, it is better to select an apple than a bag of chips. Or to get enough daily fiber, a cup of beans is far superior than a burger. With enough variety, through time you will learn what is in your food and will begin to naturally make better selections. 

#3 - Weight loss is basically calories in and calories out. When you track calories in, calories burned by exercising, and the actual weight loss accomplished, you experience and confirm that you can indeed control your weight. You are not heavy because "it runs in the family" or because "your metabolism magically slowed down." Weight gain is caused when a person eats more than he or she burns.

#4 - These programs also allow you to graph the results so you can see the outcome of good food choices and exercises. This feedback gives you a feeling of accomplishment that encourages you to continue your fitness and weight-loss journey. The act of setting daily, weekly and monthly goals and achieving them promotes success.

#5 - These programs also demonstrate the association of various exercises and calories burned. If you walk 30 minutes you get to eat a bit more that day or lose weight even faster. Believe me, it gets you moving! Even though I can't walk too far or run until my foot recovers, the program motivates me to get on my stationary bike, go swimming or do some strength training.

Find a Food and Exercise Tracker that Suits You
There are a number of good food trackers out there to work with. The one I started working with is MyFitnessPal. It's got a very large data base, which is key for ease of use. Many of the programs I've tried in the past do not. It even allows you to enter foods that don't appear on their database and share the new info with the community, if you wish. And once you've selected a food on one day, you can bring it up on other days. Since most of us repeat a lot of the foods we eat, that is a big plus. 

I was very disappointed at first to see that the program just tracked calories, protein, fat, carbs, etc. and not fiber. But happily I found out that you can actually pick the micronutrients that you want to track so I immediately added dietary fiber to the list. As many of you know, I think eating a high fiber diet is critical to healthy and successful weight loss. You can also set the program with respect to the percentages of each nutrient you want to track. For example, instead of 30% fat, 30% protein and 40% carbs which was the program's default settings, I set my goal for 20% fat, 20% protein, and 60% carbohydrates which more accurately reflects a more plant-centric diet.

To provide further motivation, MyFitnessPal allows you participate together with friends. Whether you do better when you are competing with someone or you just need some words of encouragement, having fitness buddies increases your odds of sticking to the program.

It's best to just sign up for one of these programs (the basic MyFitnessPal program is free) and play around with it. The most important thing is to just get started. You have nothing to lose except weight!