Tag Archives: Cooking

Monica Cardone Weight Loss Tips

Cook at home and lose weight

January 27, 2012 – 4:08 PM

If you’re looking for a safe and easy way to loose weight, the answer might already be in your kitchen.Cook your own food and carry it to work! As you know, butter, salt and sauce make food more delicious. Nobody wants to lose customer while cooking healthy food. Frankly speaking, you get more calories when you eat the same foods at restaurant. Cooking your meals at home can really help you control what goes into the food you eat and keep your weight under control, and your cholesterol levels healthy. Plus, with rising prices and a recession in progress, eating at home save you money to boot!

Always keep in mind

1. You control the portion size at home rather than having a chef tell you how much food you need (you don’t have to be tempted with more on the plate staring at you saying “eat me!”)
2.
You control the quality of ingredients at home.
3.
You wash your hands and counters before cooking – lesser chance of you getting food poisoning. ( I know it’s gross)
4.
You can season and cook food exactly the way you like rather than how the restaurant chef dictates
5.
You can establish (or carry on) a family tradition of home-cooked food. Create a special Sunday brunch, Monday morning breakfast, Friday night dinner, or holiday meal that your family and friends look forward to sharing with you.

Tags , , | Permalink | Comment (0)
Featured Articles

From Instinct to Extinct

May 20, 2010 – 1:23 PM

The great, liberating thing about losing weight and getting healthy is the fact that it is 100% done by you.  The worst thing also happens to be that the problem is created 100% by you.  For most of us, the health and physical shapes of our bodies is one of the only things in our entire life that we have 100%, total control over….pretty hard to make excuses when you look at it that way though!

The goal is take FAT from (seemingly) instinctually “wanting to be there” to “wanting to be EXTINCT.

So you know, excess fat only grows where your brain tells it to. Your brain only wants it to be there because it is confused- this can happen for a lot of reasons. Sometimes we learn bad food habits growing up (the standard “I don’t care if you’re full, finish what’s on your plate!” comes to mind). Sometimes the bad habits are cultural – my grandma (who was from Germany) used to tell us about eating “goose-grease sandwiches”. Yep, goose-grease. As in goose fat smeared on bread. Yummy! While other food patterns are picked up who-knows-where. Either way these bad habits only serve to make the situation worse. Sometimes we don’t even realize we have a habit and that’s the hardest one of all. Anyway, these habits progress with time, sometimes fading out, or trading places and other times just getting worse.  Makes you think about your kids, doesn’t it?)

In order to achieve any goal, you have to set one.  This is one of the easiest things to do and doesn’t require a date of December 31st to begin to take effect! So today I am going to set a goal to try to identify all of my food habits, figure out the good from the bad & try to eliminate the bad ones from my life so my daughters won’t be plagued by them when they grow up. Okay, is that one goal or three?

Tags , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink | Comment (1)
Diet Diary

Day 67: Stress = Bad Day

April 26, 2010 – 6:06 PM

I have reached the conclusion that the single hardest barrier to staying on a good diet and resolving to “stay healthy” (not just thin) – regardless of how “easy to follow” your diet and exercise plans are…is STRESS.  Someone told me a long time ago that good (and bad) things always happen in threes. Today was proof positive.

It all started when I opened up a letter from the hospital and nearly had a heart attack over the fact that my insurance company was refusing to pay for the birth of my daughter from November of last year!

Envision opening your mail over your morning tea, subconsciously planning out your semi-relaxing day when your mind is jerked full-throttle to the present after reading a legal threat over “nonpayment of your bill” (emphasis added). This 9:00AM  “wake-up call” demanded that I send the hospital over $7500 in two weeks. Thirty minutes later, one bag of crackers gone, and still on the phone with the so-called “help desk” (anything but), I finally resolved to wait for another claim submission (note to self:  don’t hold your breath).

By noon I had settled down and resolved to have a good day after all, by restricting myself to plain salad for the rest of the day….Remember that kid in grade school who was always chewing on the collar of his tee shirt? Well, by 2:30 my collar was looking pretty tasty! The mere thought of having yet another helping of PLAIN salad (I mean, let’s face it, we all know that the only reason we even EAT salad is so we have one more excuse to eat nuts, bacon bits, cheese and dressing) caused a complete physical revolt.  Well, sad but true, I lost control (again).  This time, I would add about 600 calories of leftover fried chicken (which, by the way, didn’t even taste good).  But the icing on the cake was the ice cream cone I added because I knew that my breast-feeding infant daughter would “want one” (good reason, right?).

The day had all but been ruined and I was just feeling awful, waiting for it to end.  So there I was, waiting, and waiting, and … waiting …

My husband was late coming home – so since the house was clean and a “healthy dinner” was already made…I agreed to let Mia watch her favorite “Veggie Tales” – which we can both recite word for word….so, despite yesterday’s efforts, I slipped back into “boring mode”. Yes. I got bored. I wasn’t really even aware that a stay-at-home mom could BE bored, but it happened anyway.  I didn’t want to read a story  -  I was too tired.  I didn’t want to get out anything that would take effort to put away – I was too tired.  I didn’t want to make a phone call – I was too tired.  How then, I ask myself now, was I “not too tired” to find the “energy” to snack on a couple handfuls of chocolate chips (that I was saving for baking cookies next week!)?  The answer?  I wasn’t really “Tired”, I was merely over-stressed and my healthy coping system had totally shut down for the day. When that happens, without fail it’s “off to the pantry/freezer/fridge/snack bar we go” My only saving grace is that tomorrow is a new day, and I DID make it through this one in one piece (even if the “pieces” are somewhat larger as a result).

Tags , , , , , , , | Permalink | Comments (2)
Diet Diary

Day 59: Are you Enduring or Enjoying?

March 30, 2010 – 8:10 PM

I was just remembering my life before children…To imagine I actually thought I was busy (most of the time).  Trying to balance the no-me-time with the not-spending-enough-time-

playing-with-the-kids problem is challenging, to say the least. I’ve found that most of the time, this balancing act quickly becomes an internal battle with guilt as the heavy artillery.  Funny, when I was single and childless, if I was late somewhere, there was no excuse.  In fact, there really were VERY few “excuses” that were acceptable reasons for me not following through with anything.  But once you become a parent you get automatically enrolled in the “fail-safe excuse” benefit program (simply stated:  the ‘kids’ excuse never expires and works every time – even with weight loss goals…but make no mistake…you do pay a price :) .

Winston Churchill once wrote:  “You make a living with what you get.  You make  a life with what you give.”  So, while giving the gas pedal a workout this morning I ran errands in between the non-stop whining of two little girls and Mia doing her near-perfect flubber imitation. We finally finished our errands and arrived back home for ‘nap time’.  Two hours, ten stories, fifteen chases, and countless times answering the same ‘why’ question – I took one hour of ‘me time’.  And for a minute (okay, a little longer) :) I caught myself wishing I was alone on an island with big, fluffy feather pillows, cool white sheets on the bed and only the sound of the fresh breeze outside my room. No kids, no husband, no phone, no obligations, no responsibility. . . nothing but me and a bed and a cool breeze crossing a blue sky. Then the thought struck me…Am I just enduring my kids, or really enjoying them?

I can barely remember when my three year old was a baby.  Now her and I have actual conversations. Of course most of these involve her asking me why she shouldn’t suck on her little sister’s pacifier – but that’s beside the point. Life is short. As I’m writing this, craving some Sorbet and a peanut butter-chocolate chip sandwich (something I discovered during one of my pregnancies) I am struck with another insight – I am definitely guilty of self-medicating with food. Think about it, how many times do you use food as a way to just get through a stressful day?  Well when you can find a way to put all that stress aside and decide the most important thing is not necessarily ‘enduring’, but ‘enjoying’…everything seems to change :)  ….now that’s food for thought!
Tags , , , , , , , | Permalink | Comment (0)
Diet Diary

Day 41: My jeans almost fit!

February 10, 2010 – 4:22 PM

Wow!  What a difference!  I increased my dose of Liquiboost to 4 pills at night, instead of 3 and I feel amazing.  I am eating low carb vegetables with low sugar content.  I am eating NO Dairy (something I just found out could also be hindering my success) and I am making sure I get a walk in as well as a short work out…every day starting now!  I have about ten days left till my trip and can’t wait!

…I tried on some old jeans that didn’t fit three days ago and I actually zipped them up!  In fact, I was tempted to wear them all day, just as a reminder of my success…if only I could have moved with them on!

Tags , , , , , , , , | Permalink | Comments (18)
Diet Diary

Day 36: A good day gone bad

February 5, 2010 – 4:13 PM

This morning I got on the scale to find I have lost 2 lbs in just 4 days!!!

But this evening I am too afraid to add up my calories from a day of non-stop chowing – including six entire bags of Fried Pork Skins – single handedly wiping out the remaining stock of our local supermarket – apparently, they’re not a huge sales item in my golf-and-yuppie neighborhood. Go figure.

I ate all day.  I ate crap all day. I felt like crap.  How good can this possibly be?

Tags , , , , , , , | Permalink | Comments (10)
Diet Diary

Day 34: Me..Becoming a cave woman

February 3, 2010 – 4:10 PM

This morning I got done with my workout and went straight to the grocery store to stock up on more animal proteins (it is only the second day of this diet and I already feel like a cave woman).  I spent a whopping $90 at the checkout stand and the clerk made the comment, “looks like someone is having a party…”

Needless to say, I just laughed and blamed the cart full of typical meathead picnic treats on my husband’s football party (yes, this was an outright lie).  But how else do you retain your dignity while explaining why one woman would possess a cart full of pepperoni, bacon, salami, lunch meat, chicken, cocktail shrimp, four versions of sausage, and a large pack of hotdogs? Oooga, oooga!

Tags , , , , , , , | Permalink | Comments (9)
Diet Diary

Day 33: Second day on “Atkins”

February 3, 2010 – 4:04 PM

I decided to skip the eggs and go right to having a much more filling chicken breast.  I bought the large bag of frozen skinless, boneless variety and just put it into the microwave with some salt (while frozen) on a plate for about 6 minutes.  You wouldn’t believe how moist and perfect this tastes!  I am considering this is the easiest diet I have ever been on.

Today I ate 8 chicken breasts – only 1300 calories!!!  I also had a large salad of romaine (that was the only ingredient in my “salad” – sad).  I feel great and slept great last night.

My workout went well this morning too and I did 15 push-ups all the way to the floor…yippee!

Tags , , , , , , , | Permalink | Comments (7)
Diet Diary

Day 26: Sleepless

January 26, 2010 – 4:50 PM

Today I have survived my diet by virtually living on sugar free, fat free hot chocolate (a new diet discovery that is only 30 calories and seems to curb my sugar and carb cravings).

I slept horrible last night.

Tags , , , , , , , | Permalink | Comments (10)
Diet Diary

Day 22: Delicious Unhealthy Food

January 23, 2010 – 9:19 PM

Today I was cleaning out my pantry and was about to throw away what was left of our Jiff Peanut Butter, replacing its use by moving our unopened dusty jar of 100% Natural peanut butter into view again (the kind where you can see the oil and peanuts separated and it has basically no taste and is really gritty, but healthy).  My husband stopped me and asked what I was doing?

Odd… being that HE had purchased this “health conscious choice” and had even told me that my version of “good” tasted “horrible” -i.e., having (GASP!) hydrogenated fats, sugar and preservatives. He actually told me to throw away the healthy, oily separated stuff.  When I reminded him that HE was the one who bought this and I was initially criticized (by him) for buying Jiff (I settled on Jiff, but truthfully prefer Peter Pan)… he just replied, “I lied.  (The healthy) stuff is tasteless.”

We both laughed and I realized…it IS true after all – I am not the crazy one!

Why can’t (ALL) people just admit that fattening, sugary, “unhealthy” foods DO taste better?!  I was thinking of all of the “organic friends” that I have (for lack of a better category description) and how many times I have been sitting there thinking, am I crazy?  Do I have different taste buds than these people?  How come I think this dinner is bland and disgusting and yet I am hearing nothing but rave reviews?  Is it me…is it them?  Is there something in their drinks? (okay, I never took it quite that far)

Well, I have to admit; my husband WAS in the group…but now, I know they are basically all either lying or delusional (in this single respect – and I don’t blame them!).  I know that sounds harsh – but let’s face it, we all have the same number and diversity of taste buds (or at least we do until they start dying off from lack of tasty food!).  Maybe they have just re-trained themselves…but there is no way to simply erase what is there.  They must know that they are settling for less taste – right? Of course, by “they,” I am referring to the faceless, nameless mass of people who insist that unseasoned, organic, strictly healthy foods taste oh so yummy!

For me, I made the decision to eat healthy, so I WANT to believe that I am NOT giving something up… so I tell myself that really I am choosing a far superior product(s); overall health, feeling better, sleeping better, and eating good, wholesome food!  Okay, actually that’s a lie too.  I AM giving something up, I’m just trying not to think about it. Right now, to be totally honest, this “lifestyle change” is more about restriction than “going to the greener side of the fence”. Frankly, the grass seems pretty dull and bland over here I prefer the chocolate-flavored, or deep fried and highly salted variety.

Tags , , , , , , , | Permalink | Comments (9)

Next Page »

Next Page »