Divas - here are the top 10 ways to help you eat healthy.

1. Gear up Invest in a set of cookware that has a nonstick finish. This will enable you to prepare foods with little or no added fat. In addition, you'll want to pick up some cooking spray, so you can coat your cookware with it for even less sticking potential.

2. Cook it right Prepare meat, poultry and fish using low-fat cooking methods such as broiling, grilling and stir-frying. And remember that both fresh and frozen vegetables taste great either steamed or cooked in a microwave oven.

3. Soak in flavor Marinate meat, poultry, and fish in low-fat marinades such as salsa, teriyaki sauce, orange juice or Dijon mustard. Marinades add lots of flavor without the addition of fat.

4. Spice it up, Fresh or dried herbs are excellent substitutes for butter or oil; their addition only adds flavor to your recipes. Try adding dill to steamed carrots, saffron to brown rice, cilantro to baked fish and ginger to stir-fried chicken.

5. Skin it, Remove the skin from chicken, turkey and Cornish hens before you eat it. This is a great way to ensure your choice of meat is lean and healthy.

6. Skim it Skim and discard fat from hot soups, stews, or chilies. Or chill the soup, stew or chili, and skim off the solid fat that forms at the top.

7. Trim it For most recipes, you can trim the amount of fat called for by 25 to 50 percent without affecting taste or quality. For example, substituting fat-free milk for whole milk in mashed potatoes still makes for creamy comfort food. You'll be surprised how delicious soups can be without cream, or how good your vegetable casserole tastes made with fat-free cheese.

8. Make it sweeter Add a pinch of cinnamon or nutmeg instead of sugar to fruit cups or beverages to help increase the sweetness.

9. Switch out the meat, Replace one-quarter to one-half of the ground meat or poultry in a casserole with cooked brown rice, or cooked and chopped dried beans. You'll cut back on fat and boost fiber.

10. Just ad spuds Instead of flour, cornstarch or cream, try thickening sauces, gravy and stews with pureed potatoes.

It's amazing how little steps will actually set you up for success.

This Week

This has been such a stressful week. I am so glad it's almost over.
You know, I hate wishing a week away but sometimes you feel the need to.
Nothing more then the average stresses in work, home and general life has happen but sometimes it all piles up and you need something to look forward to.
For me I am looking forward to being with my family this weekend.

So, I think I need to thank god for my blessings.....and I am truly blessed with a wonderful family and friends, an exciting business and lots of fun toys such as my new trailer down the Jersey shore.

I have to focus on the fact that times with family and friends is what life is all about. The rest is just gravy on the top.

So,I shall breath deep and focus on the true gifts that god has given me.

Day 9: Thou Shall Not Carry Small Bills
What Dr. Oz says:
"The reason, vending machines. Vending machines love small bills, and human beings like putting small bills in vending machines. With this temptation it's too easy to get 100 or 200 extra calories of food. Most people buy more because they're not going to pocket the extra change. The result is you feed there over and over again. I want you to leave the house without small bills in your pocket. You won't want to break a $20 bill in order to buy junk foods in a vending machine."

Day 10: Thou Shall Not Eat Standing Up or in a Car
What Dr. Oz says:
"Eat a preplanned meal while you're stationary, and eat it while you're sitting down. You will actually know what you're doing. You are aware, you're not distracted and you're not rushing; most important, you are not overeating."

Day 5: Thou Shall Not Eat After 7:30 PM
What Dr. Oz says:
"The average American goes to bed around 10:00 p.m. You need to have two hours of time between when you eat your dinner and when you go to bed. When you eat late at night, a couple of things happen. First of all, you're more likely to be eating in front of the TV, which means you're distracted and likely to eat more. You also tend to get high-calorie snacks in the late night hours. Try to move your meals up a tiny little bit whatever way you can to make 7:30 p.m. your ideal cut off time."

Day 6: Thou Shall Not Pile On Food On a Plate More Than One Inch High or Two Inches to the Edge of the Plate
What Dr. Oz says:
Day 7: Thou Shall Not Chew Less Than 20 Bites
What Dr. Oz says:
"When you're chewing, your body is beginning to process the reality that you're putting food in it. It takes awhile for those hormones to circle back. The perception of fullness depends completely on back and forth chemistry between your stomach and your brain. As you chew, you give yourself several minutes for that processing to occur. So you're helping your biology of blubber take you to a weight that you could be happy at."

Day 8: Thou Shall Not Covet Thy Neighbors Plate
What Dr. Oz says:
"These snacks, these little bites from someone else's sandwich, these little sweets, whatever it is, it adds up. It adds up, on average, to over 1,000 calories a day. That's why grazers, believe it or not, are getting into trouble. These calories count with all the other calories you already eat."


I have a hard time with #5. I love eating late at night. I think this is my biggest food problem. It's very hard to curb my late night eating. I have gotten a lot better then I was in the past.

Day 3: Thou Shall Not Eat Meat That Walks on Four Legs More Than One Time A Week
What Dr. Oz says:
"The reason is that there's less saturated fat in animals that walk on two legs like chickens, or don't have any legs like fish. Additionally, women who eat large amounts of red meat more than once a week actually have 50 percent higher chance of dying of heart disease. They also have higher cancer rates, so there are double benefits from the third commandment."

Day 4: Thou Shall Not Graze or Browse in Search of Prey
What Dr. Oz says:
"You need to plan your meals before you go to the fridge. Too many times we're wandering like reptiles foraging for food. We make food decisions. You want to create the plate that you're going to eat using your brain rather than impulses that lead you to naturally overeat, which is what happens when you're hungry and going in there five to seven times a day."

Day 2: Thou Shall Not Keep "Fat Clothes" in Your Closet
What Dr. Oz says:
"I don't want anybody out there who's losing their weight thinking, 'it's okay if I overeat a little bit, it's not a problem because I can still wear these clothes.'"


Well I am guilty of this one.

The Ten Commandments of Weight Loss

First, before I post this I want to say that I am not a big fan of Dr. Oz (He wrote an article on this) but I think these Commandments are worthy of posting. I think they are worth a try. Some of them I do already (I know some of you divas do also) and some I am going to try.


Day 1: Thou Shall Not Wear Pants That Stretch
What Dr. Oz says:
"When you wear stretchy clothes, it's difficult to tell if you are gaining weight because you gain weight without realizing it. When you wear clothes that fit with a set size you let clothes be your gauge. They alert your body if something is getting a little tight so you can correct the course early on."


I guess that's why we like our sweat pants instead of our skinny jeans (not sure I ever owned skinny jeans).....Ha Ha

I went to the opening day "Reading Phillies" game last night. So many people....the atmosphere was so exciting. Baseball season has begun.

The game itself wasn't such an exciting game but sometimes that really doesn't matter. The setting is what gets me: the smell of Berks hot dogs cooking, fresh roasted peanuts, and a cold beer. Nothing like it. Even the sound of the crowd is thrilling. Sitting behind me were three older gentlemen, they knew every stat of every player. You could tell by the sound of their voice they were excited it was opening day. They talked as if they had not a care in the world, after all baseball season has begon.
As I stood in line waiting for my hot dog, I took a deep breath and took it all in..... I love it.......bring on the fun times of the 2010 season.

A Challenging Day!

Today, I have a few challenges before me. One I rather not deal with but, I must.
The other of course has to do with me and how much I have to deal with, from eating one too many Cadbury Easter eggs.

The first challenge I will deal with it head on and hopefully things will work out. If not, it wasn't meant to be. God may want another path to be followed. I do hope it works out personally.

The second one.....well, I am removing the foods that I have a difficulty with from the house. I hate that I have to remove these foods but I am addicted to them. Chocolate is my downfall. I can't eat a little. I always O.D. on chocolate. So, out of the house with it and all the other trigger foods.

Next...I started walking during my lunch break.....it always helps me with stress. So, I am walking away the stress as well as the chocolate.

I am ready to face my challenges head on!

Happy Easter!

This is a special day and I know I am going to enjoy this Easter more then ever because this is my granddaughters first Easter.
What a blessing to have this new little Diva in my life. I love her more then she knows and wish her and all my divas girls the happiest of all Easters.

The Lord promised he would rise and he did. Let us praise him through the love we have for each other.
May our hearts be full of Easter joy.
God Bless!

Eating Lighter Today!

I am trying to eat light today. The reason for this is because I will probably have a hard time resisiting the tempting foods of an Easter dinner.(I can smell the Ham cooking now.) I try to cook light foods most of the time, but I choose not to scrimp on a Holiday meal. There is nothing like the taste of real cream butter when you cook and bake. So, for me......the "I can't believe it's not butter spray" can wait till Monday to be used. I am going to take a few walks and a ride on my bike to balance things out.

I must confess that I ate a chocolate bunny yesterday, so today, I will just eat the bunny's carrots. Ha! To all my Diva friends, enjoy your Easter Weekend!