The New Generation of Sweeteners

A plant by the name of Stevia has been getting a lot of attention recently. It seems promising as a new generation of no-calorie sweetener: Great news for people watching their waistline as well as people with diabetes who limit their intake of sugar. One company, Cargill, manufactures a product made from Stevia under the brand name, Truvia.  Pepsi-Co is working with The Whole Earth Sweetener Company and they call their version PureVia.  Here’s the scoop: Truvia and PureVia both contain Rebiana.  This is a derivative of the leaves of the stevia plant. The companies that manufacture it (Cargill and Coca-Cola) report it “only consists of the best-tasting components of the stevia leaf”. The sweet leaf of the stevia plant is dried, steeped in water, and further purified to provide a calorie-free sweet taste.

Making Your Baked Goods Lower in Fat and Sugar

We all like a treat once in a while, but if you’re watching your weight you might think baked goods are off limits.  Think again!  We can learn to modify even our favorite recipes to make them lower in fat, sugar, and cholesterol.  You can use one of these changes, or all of them at once.

Design Your Own Diet

Trying to figure out what to eat can be so overwhelming. You can make your own weight loss diet plan with the help of the food guide pyramid website. (www.mypyramid.gov)

First, find a great image of a food guide pyramid you can post somewhere convenient (just google food guide pyramid images). It’s an easy way to remind yourself what to eat and how many servings to have.

Believe it or not, your intake will be as low as 1200 calories if you choose the minimum recommended servings from each group (6 servings of grains, breads, and cereals; 2-3 fruits and 3-4 vegetables; 2-3 dairy servings; and 6 oz of lean meat per day) while limiting fats and sweets. That’s a low enough calorie intake for virtually anyone to lose weight.

The Rice and Beans Diet - Inspiried by Dave Ramsey

photo credit: stu_spivack

For the millions of you that are familiar with FPU (Financial Peace University) Dave Ramsey’s rice and beans diet is old news.  With his principles of getting out of debt, this “rice and beans” diet represents exercising self control on several different levels.

Dave Ramsey is a nationally syndicated radio host and author of the best selling book: The Total Money Makeover that has helped millions eliminate debt, and change the financial future for many families.  If you have the book or listened to the radio show, you have heard both callers and Dave talk about living off of beans and rice. Let’s pretend for a moment that Dave literally meant to eat rice and beans at every meal.

Food Addiction - Worse Than Drugs?

I was watching the documentary on the Half Ton Man the other day and it really got me thinking about food addictions in general. The more I thought about it, the more convinced I was that being addicted to food could possibly be worse than being addicted to drugs.

I know this sounds extreme because in reality, they are two very different problems. But just think about this for a minute. A crack addict can detox, get their life together, move on, and possibly never have to face that scary low point in their lives ever again (hypothetically).