Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! Best wishes for health and happiness, joy and peace. I’m just back from two weeks of vacation, partly family Christmas celebrations and then a week in Jamaica. I got home on Saturday Jan 2nd in the evening and what a surprise for me to come home to -15 WHAT??? I just left 30+ degree weather, lush green everywhere, flowers and turquoise water, everything was Irie, No Problem and Ya Mon. Now I’m sitting in my home office working on my blog watching the snow fall 


I made some observations over my Christmas break and I would like to share them with you… plus it is a great place for me to vent about some of my findings. My first stop on this tour was to Sault Ste. Marie to visit Rob’s family…we ended up going for lunch at a family restaurant called Sandro’s. I decided to split my lunch with Rob’s mom, Oma This is my usual practice when I go out for dinner (which is not often by the way)…I also always start with a salad, this fills me up so I eat less of the other food. Remember the salad is half water and a bunch of fibre and antioxidants. Always order your salad with dark leafy greens, DO NOT let them put Head Lettuce, or better known as Iceberg lettuce in your salad, you might as well eat a plastic plant…no nutritional value.

In great horror across from me was a mother allowing her child to have for lunch WHITE penne pasta noodles, BUTTER as the topping, WHITE bread and of course a coke. The young child was already overweight…I could see her future and the burden she will become on our healthcare system in the future. The sad part this is not her fault, she has only her mother to guide her along and it was not important to that mother that child have something nutritious for lunch. To me this is a form of child abuse…this is preventable! It is interesting to look at most families and see the pattern they all follow. If mom is overweight generally dad is, the kids are and of course the dog. In front of me was another young girl maybe 9, pigtales in her hair. She chose the buffet for her lunch and I watched her go up three times, so she ingested plate after plate of bacon, eggs and homefries and pancakes. One other guy had 9 plates removed from his table! Interesting the look on his face once he finished eating, he seemed sad that he had done it. I know I drive Rob crazy with my constant analysis of what people eat and what they put in their shopping cart….I can’t help but be obsessed with this after it all it is your HEALTH.

Over the days spent at Oma’s house in the Sault we made various trips to the grocery store. Oma likes to have lots of food stored in the house: 1. She is 84 and if bad weather hits she can’t go out. 2. She was in World War II and had to escape from the Germans and really knows what “starving” means. I guess that stays with you!! On one of our outings I was stunned with amazement all the desserts there were staring at me. It was actually ridiculous that all these temptations that are surrounding us. It literally was everywhere I turned. I have a sweet tooth and my girl Oma loves to have sweets as well. We are not a good influence on each other, that’s for sure! Did I mention that I had 5 French fries smothered in gravy and ketchup at Sandro’s? I never eat that so when I have my cheat I cannot tell you how good those fries were.

I got to Jamaica on Dec 26th in the morning. ..weighing in at 130 pounds. I did really well with maintaining my weight through Christmas….let’s see how I do in Jamaica. We were starving upon arrival so once we settled into our room Rob and I made our way to the lunch buffet at our resort. We were excited to see what they had after all we were impressed with Sandals – Veradaro, Cuba. Much to my disappointment of the buffet…it was no way near as nice as Cuba…I was worried about the rest of the meals for the week. I did manage throughout the week but overall was disappointed in the food especially as a vegetarian….this week I had to be a FLEXITARIAN. I had forgot to bring my Fibre One with me and worried how my body would feel about the reduction of fibre…I forced myself to eat prunes with my Oatmeal in the morning…I felt like I was on an episode of Fear Factor…I do not like them at all!!! I basically would take a bite and swallow if whole with a swig of water. I had the time of my life in Jamaica and survived on mediocre food….I’m sure my clients would raise an eyebrow at all the desserts I ate while away but I’m human too. So I got home and went on the scale last night after dinner 137.5 or 138 depending which way I leaned on the scale…HOLY CRAP! Good thing I came home! Got on the scale this morning 134…so it looks like I gained 4 pounds….well worth every single one of them….and now the fun part to lose them.

I did get up this morning and actually hugged my Fibre One and Kashi Go Lean cereal boxes…kissed my Rice Milk. Went and got groceries, picked up the dogs from the kennel and got back to my regular program. Made my lunch and cut up all my veggies for Monday’s lunch and Monday’s dinner. Always a day ahead of my eating…this keeps me on track with eating properly…always plan, plan, plan. This will bring you great success with your quest for weight loss and a healthy body. Rob and I shop for groceries almost everyday…when you eat a lot of fruits and veggies you need to go the grocery store often.

Did you make any resolutions for the new year? I did, my resolution is to do Yoga 3 times a week. This is the most difficult exercise I have ever done in my life. You use your own body weight as your weights…too bad I gained those 4 extra pounds …this is going to hurt LOL