How to break the sugar habit

When I was reading the newspaper from Las Vegas I came across this article and thought it would be a great article to post on my blog. I hope it will help with breaking the sugar addiction, I know I sure have it.


Break Your Sugar Addiction

Las Vegas Review-Journal
Q: Help! Quitting smoking was nothing compared with quitting sugar! I am addicted and can’t stop eating it. I want to eat a healthy diet, but seem to be unable to because of the sugar. What can I do to combat this? — Anonymous
A: Keep trying! You’re right that it’s tough: Recent research on rats found that they get the same neurochemical kick from sugar as from morphine, cocaine and nicotine. We think that this surge of pleasure is behind sugar addiction in humans, too. The good part: The principles we teach smokers to help them quit will help you kick your sugar habit. Here are six ways to set yourself up for success:

1. Make a pact with yourself to cut sugar out of your life. Studies show that making a serious commitment to doing whatever it takes to break an addiction is one of the most important steps toward beating it.
2. Set a quit date at least a month from today. Give yourself time to mentally prepare for the quitting journey and clear your pantry, car, desk and gym locker of sugar in all its forms, including food and drinks containing honey or rice syrup and high fructose corn syrup (that includes most ketchups, many sports drinks and even coffee creamer).
3. Start walking 30 minutes a day. Exercise, like sugar, releases mood-enhancing hormones. Later, when sugar abstinence causes a dip in feel-good hormones, you can add a tension-relieving five-minute walk to this regimen.
4. Gradually cut back. Begin by reducing the sugar you add to tea and coffee. Then substitute something healthy for two or three of the sweet foods you usually have.
5. Visualize a slimmer, healthier you going for a walk, sipping on water or practicing deep breathing when you’re stressed. A little role-playing helps you practice alternatives to eating under pressure.
6. Think of the three biggest reasons why you want to live a sugar-free life, write them on a card and read them several times a day.
In time, your brain chemistry will readjust and those cravings will stop.
Q: Will crunches get rid of my belly fat? — Theodros, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
A: Not by themselves. Combine ab work with other resistance exercises, aerobic exercise and calorie restriction, though, and you’ll lose the bulge and maybe even have a six-pack to show off. Traditional crunches strengthen and tone the muscles that connect your rib cage to your pelvis . But to lose the roll, you’ve got to empty those fat storage depots that sit on top of the muscles, and that’s what diet, muscle-building and aerobic exercise do. Raising your heart rate helps reduce the unhealthy, deep fat that lies beneath your abs — another storage depot that crunches don’t touch.

The 5 min chocolate cake

Dangerous Cake Recipe

5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE

4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips, optional
small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well.
Add the egg and mix thoroughly.
Pour in the milk and oil and mix well.
Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again.
Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts (high).
The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed!

Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.

EAT! (This can serve 2 if you want to feel slightly more virtuous).

And why is this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world?

Because now we are all only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake at any time - day or night!

pay it forward

The Rules}

1. Be one of the first THREE bloggers to leave a comment on this post, which then entitles you to a handmade item from me - something crafty or yummy, who knows?!

2. Winners must post this challenge on your blog, meaning that you will Pay It Forward, creating a handmade gift -anything!- for the first THREE bloggers who leave a comment on YOUR post about this giveaway!

3. The gift that you send to your 3 Friends can be from any price range and you have 365 days to make/ship your item. This means you should be willing to maintain your blog at least until you receive your gift and have shipped your gifts. And, remember: It’s the Spirit and the Thought That Count!

4. When you receive your gift, please feel free to blog about it, sharing appropriate Linky Love! If you are not one of the Top Three Commenters on this post, you can still play along. Go ahead and start your own Pay It Forward chain, and encourage your blogging friends to do the same! SO, REMEMBER...Pay it forward!

50th Anniversary

This is an amazing year for our 50th Anniversary, we got to celebrate it twice. Once in Carson City with one half of our girls and once in Wasilla with the other half of our girls. Can you imagine 50 years? NO, well it is 50 years and we are still each others best friend, soul mate for life and forever after. I can say this, he still makes my heart flutter and gives me butterflys in my stomach. We still hold hands, we still hug and we can tell each other everything so there are no secrets with us. I remember when we were first married and living our first real apartment on Camp Pendleton and we were sitting at the dining room table and we were dreaming of our family where they would be sitting and what we would say to them and then we were laughing and planning on our 5th anniversary then we were thinking about 10 years and laughing we said we wondered what we would be doing at 25 years and then the unthinkable 50 years wow, and here we are planning on our 75th. It really does not feel like 50 years have passed and we have so many memories and we still have our dreams. Now here we are 4 children,17 beautiful grandchildren and 7 great grandchildren in our lives and we have been blessed with so much goodness and we have so much to be thankful for.

Our outside of Alaska adventure

We decided that this year we would try to be snow birds and flee from the frozen north, but alas, we found out that we do not make good snow birds. We had a great time visiting with our family for the holidays. We arrived in Reno Nevada on a sunny summer type of weather, at least what we call summer, it was in the 50's, oooooh how nice that felt to have the sunshine on us. We flew all night and this time we took our dog, Pixie, with us and she did just fine, she got to fly inside the plane under the seat. We were worried that she would have a hard time adjusting to everyone's house but that turned out to be a needless worry, she did just fine.

The weather soon turned to cold and some snow, so it seemed that we could not escape it. We had Christmas day at Maura's house with all the family coming, it was a house full and so much fun, we had family from Washington and Idaho and of course all the family from the Carson/Dayton area.

While in Carson City Kevin came by and that was a great surprise, it was so good to see him and to know that he is doing so well. Alexander and Keith had their final in their Music class and we got to see that and then Marina Jr, had her choir for Xmas at the Community Center. On the 27th we had a tamale making party over at Marina's house. It was a really great holiday for us.

On the 30th we went to Las Vegas and stayed with Emmet and Et and brought in the New Years checking out the slits in our eyelids. We were there for a week then we headed off to San Diego. I will post more in another blog, now I have to try and figure out how to move my pictures around to place them where I really want them. Wish me luck. I guess you figured out that I did not figure out to insert the pictures oh well....at least you can look at them anyway.

A story of a dogs love

A DOG STORY



Anyone who has pets will really like this. You'll like it even if you don't and you may even decide you need one!

Mary and her husband Jim had a dog named 'Lucky.' Lucky was a real character. Whenever Mary and Jim had company come for a weekend visit they would warn their friends to not leave their luggage open because Lucky would help himself to whatever struck his fancy. Inevitably, someone would forget and something would come up missing.

Mary or Jim would go to Lucky's toy box in the basement and there the treasure would be, amid all of Lucky's other favorite toys. Lucky always stashed his finds in his toy box and he was very particular that his toys stay in the box.
It happened that Mary found out she had breast cancer. Something told her she was going to die of this disease....in fact ,she was just sure it was fatal.
She scheduled the double mastectomy, fear riding her shoulders. The night before she was to go to the hospital she cuddled with Lucky. A thought struck her...what would happen to Lucky? Although the three-year-old dog liked Jim, he was Mary's dog through and through. If I die, Lucky will be abandoned, Mary thought. He won't understand that I didn't want to leave him. The thought made her sadder than thinking of her own death.
The double mastectomy was harder on Mary than her doctors had anticipated and Mary was hospitalized for over two weeks. Jim took Lucky for his evening walk faithfully, but the little dog just drooped, whining and miserable.
Finally the day came for Mary to leave the hospital. When she arrived home, Mary was so exhausted she couldn't even make it up the steps to her bedroom. Jim made his wife comfortable on the couch and left her to nap. Lucky stood watching Mary but he didn't come to her when she called. It made Mary sad but sleep soon overcame her and she dozed.
When Mary woke for a second she couldn't understand what was wrong. She couldn't move her head and her body felt heavy and hot. But panic soon gave way to laughter when Mary realized the problem. She was covered, literally blanketed, with every treasure Lucky owned! While she had slept, the sorrowing dog had made trip after trip to the basement bringing his beloved mistress all his favorite things in life. He had covered her with his love.
Mary forgot about dying. Instead she and Lucky began living again, walking further and further together every day. It's been 12 years now and Mary is still cancer-free. Lucky?
He still steals treasures and stashes them in his toy box but Mary remains his greatest treasure.
Remember....live every day to the fullest. Each minute is a blessing from God. And never forget....the people who make a difference in our lives are not the ones with the most credentials, the most money, or the most awards. They are the ones that care for us.
If you see someone without a smile today give them one of yours! Live simply. Love seriously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Leave the rest to God .
A small request: All you are asked to do is keep this circulating.

Dear God, I pray for the cure of cancer. Amen

thoughts a pondering

today is a day that allows you to sit inside and watch the snow flakes just drift to the ground and just ponder over all that you know, dream and what the future might hold for us. I have always been a west coast type of gal born in San Francisco, raised in San Diego CA, married a Marine almost 50 years ago, and never in my dreams, thoughts or desire ever thought I would be living in Alaska. The first time we ever saw Alaska is because of our 3rd and fourth daughters, and I fell in love with Alaska then, that was in 1990, so much has crossed our path and we have felt love, sadness, contempment, but never regrets. We have raised a family of beautiful children, and in turn they have raised a family of even more beautiful children and now those children are starting to raise families. It is amazing of how life goes on.

I am going to post some pictures of Alaska as I have seen it and I hope you can see the beauty of this state. I miss my children in Nevada so much but I am glad that I have had this opportunity to see this country and now can call it my home.

I guess today is a day for pondering and dreaming and saying thanks to the Higher Being up above for allowing me all of my good fortune, no not material things, but for the love of a family, good health, a good soul mate for life, and happiness for a life time.

Thank you