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WALKING

So Rachel just sent me this article about walking. OK, well, it is mostly for people who have arthritis (which I think may be the case in my left knee), but I'm thinking it's good advice for everyone.

Unfortunately, they don't say anything about doping yourself up on painkillers before walking, but one lady mentioned that soaking her knee(s) in Epsom salts was beneficial (see comments at end of article).

Hope you find the information of some use. Some of you (Sarah) already walk a gajillion miles every day, so you could probably skip the article. :)

Thanks again, Rachel!

STILL with the struggling!?

Hello, all.

I would really like to return to my earlier zest for this quest of an un-stuck fatsuit zipper. You know the old, "spirit willing, flesh - not so much"? Yeah. I mean, I am thinking about what I'm eating, and buying healthy groceries, but I have definitely not mastered the craving for absolute crap. I know I should be OK with eating bad stuff some of the time; it's more realistic than denying myself any pleasures, etc., but until I can put the brakes on the slippery slope of serious food addiction, I need to be realllly strict with myself, and that's just not happening lately.

Indulging in a little introspection, I'm wondering if my eating troubles are reflective of my job/life concerns, and if so -- why?? How does abusing myself with bad food choices help my work and/or personal life AT ALL?? Maybe it's as simple as the old 'comfort food' thing... turning to food to ease worry or stress; still not sure I understand that, either. If anyone has any insight, I would love to hear (read) it!

Right now I'm going to go make some more of that VietNamese Bun, before I lose interest and eat popcorn for supper.

Hope you all are doing well with your own struggles, whatever they may be. Feel free to vent here, any time!

Sugar Bites

So, do any of you all have major issues with sugar? Like you can't stop eating it? I love to bake, to eat what I bake and to eat everything in the pastry case at Starbucks. I KNOW how bad the stuff is, I know white sugar is especially bad for you, but I just can't seem to keep myself away. I do notice that the more veggies/fruits I eat and the more water I drink, the less craving I seem to have. The problem is, when I already crave sugar, the last thing I feel like eating is a carrot. You know? Anyway, I am trying to get up the resolve to cut sugar in some form out of my life, whether it is by type or amount, or frequency I haven't decided. Any ideas?

RECIPE: Spicy Peanut Sauce, Marnie's First Post

Hey everybody, I wanted to share two things I bought/made recently that are awesome. The first is a tasty sweet treat that is loaded with deliciousness instead of calories. I don't know if you all can find this brand, but they are these puff pastry twists that come in a variety of flavors, my favorite is the 'traditional'. Here's a few pictures so you can see the nutrition info/etc. (Arg, can't make the pictures straight, sorry!)



The second is that I had some shrimp, green peppers and pineapple hangin out in my fridge the other day so I grilled them and served them the first day in lettuce wraps with peanut sauce.The second day tossed them with chinese noodles and the peanut sauce thinned with light coconut milk and low sodium chicken broth, and the last day I stirred it into some homemade 'fried' rice - YUMMILICIOUS and versatile! (And these can easily be made vegetarian, by substituting tofu or extra veggies).

Spicy Peanut sauce recipe I used came out of "The Cook's Illustrated Guide to Grilling and Barbecue":

1/2 c. Peanut butter (recipe said creamy, I wanted crunchy, worked great)
1/4 c. hot water
2 T lime juice (~ 2 sm. limes) I only had lemons, they worked fine too
2 T Asian chili sauce (you could use the rooster sauce that is common in the Asian section of most grocery stores or any chili-garlic sauce you like)
1 T dark soy
1 T dark brown sugar (I only had white sugar - I KNOW - but it worked fine too)
1 T chopped fresh cilantro leaves
1 medium garlic clove, minced or pressed
2 scallions, thinly sliced.

Whisk the PB and hot water together in a medium bowl. Stir in all other ingredients and serve.

For the shrimp/pineapple/peppers/onions. I just tossed them with a little oil and salt and lemon or lime juice I can't remember let them sit in the fridge for awhile (I think the pineapple juice helped to tenderize the shrimp too). I grilled them on a hot cast iron skillet and served them in the lettuce wraps with the sauce on the side. As I mentioned above, when I used the leftovers, I used lite coconut milk and Low Sodium chicken broth to thin the PB sauce and tossed it with the veggies and pasta.

I used the very last bit of the peanut sauce in this 'fried' rice dish I made last week. The rice is purple because it's a mix of Korean wild rice (which is has black rice) and white rice. I just sauteed some carrots and snow peas with garlic and a green onion, in just a tiny bit of olive oil, added s+p, stirred in leftover cold rice, heated that through then cracked an egg in the center and scrambled it in the rice. I stirred in the last couple teaspoons of the Peanut sauce and voila - delicious and healthy in about 10 minutes.