Archive for the Recommendations

One aspect of weight loss and healthy weight maintenance is finding out what our triggers are so we can take control over them vs allowing them to have their wicked ways with us.

How to do that? Well, I’m not an expert in emotional eating but I’m having a call with someone who is.

My colleague Melissa McCreery PhD has agreed to spend an hour with us discussing emotional eating. (we will also have open Q & A)

Melissa has been working with busy, overwhelmed women since 1989 to get at the root of their frustrations surrounding emotional eating.

We start each day with the best of intentions to eat well and eat just enough to feel satisfied. The pressures of the work day, our money situations, clients—you name it, the every day stresses of life have the power to knock us off course. Add to this the hormonal fluctuations of midlife and and without some awareness of what’s going on we are bound to wake up in the middle of a pig out wondering how we got there at some point.

But why does it happen? If you think it would be powerful to know what drives us to power through a bag of chips or nuts or cookies, giving away our power to do what’s more supportive of our intentions, then sign up for the call. In combination Melissa and I are going to inform and answer questions on the things both emotional and physical that cause us to lose control around food to soothe ourselves.

There is no charge for this call and if you can’t be on the call live but want the information, sign up for the recording. Either way you can ask a question at the sign up page.

I look forward to sharing another hour with you and hope you’ll be with us on the call.

In the midlife muffin top crushing category you wouldn’t expect to find chocolate cake. In the “excess in moderation” category it would feature prominently for some. I’m happy to say that I’ve been introduced to a product that is so darn delicious, easy to bake–it’s a mix–and versatile as a base for other desserts that I had to write about it.

Kelley Herring is a woman I’ve connected with online and whose digital product, Your Plate, Your Fate, I admire and even offer for sale in the products section on Easy Midlife Weight Loss. She’s got a beautiful, healthy food information packed blog, called Healing Gourmet, as well as a product line of no sugar, low glycemic, gluten free cakes.

I’ll admit I’m not a big dessert person–which doesn’t mean I don’t love to make them and taste them, it’s just not a meal component I’m driven to. My overeating runs towards cheese, main courses, and chicken wings. (No, I’m not making that up.)

That said I love to make special desserts. This past weekend we had friends over for dinner and I never think of making something low sugar, low fat, gluten free. So I made white chocolate raspberry tiramisu–full fat, full booze, full sugar. It was worth every bite. Even I had to have a real portion and that’s not bragging as it’s a very easy dessert to make, it’s just a really delicious combination of ingredients.

As long as I was in the kitchen, along with the above creation, I decided to bake the sample Kelley sent of her Chocolate Bliss cake. I wasn’t sure what I’d do with it but I had to try this mix. She said it was great, I trusted her. It was easy to mix–water, eggs, and coconut or other oil. Bake for 18 minutes, voila. Looked and smelled like real chocolate cake. The taste test went like this:

“Hmmm, good texture, nice crumb, moist, smells rich. WOW, this tastes just like a real, sugar laden chocolate cake. How do they do that?” How they do it is by using almond flour, organic cocoa, organic zylitol, and other whole food ingredients. I’m not kidding when I say it is delicious and right away I knew what I’d be doing with it.

I created a low sugar chocolate raspberry tiramisu. The picture below shows a cross section of the cake layered with the cream, berries macerated in port and Grand Marnier. The whole is drizzled with a dark chocolate sauce, cream and dark chocolate, no sugar added. My skeptical, full sugar loving husband was skeptical when I told him about the cake itself being a healthy alternative. Last night he got the piece you see below and had a hard time not wolfing it down. Then asked when we could have that again.

I wholeheartedly endorse this product that Kelley has created. For now you have to order it online at her other site, Wellness Bakeries. You will no doubt find gluten free and sugar free cake mixes in health food stores but I’ve yet to see a mix that combines the two and uses whole foods to create the mixes. This is truly a nutritious dessert option that isn’t just fruit. When you order the cake mix you will receive a recipe for icing that’s healthy and delicious as well. By the way, this is not an affiliate situation where I’m getting a “little something” for recommending this product. It’s just that good and I want you all to know about it.

Chocolate Bliss Cake Raspberry Tiramisu

As a professional chef I have no problem using this mix as a basis for a simple or more involved dessert.

Most of us love the idea of creating desserts. With Chocolate Bliss cake mix we’ve been given an easy way to make a healthy sweet and I’ll bet most guests would never know it wasn’t the full on unhealthy, sugar laden cakes we are used to.

When something this wonderful comes along I have to spread the word.

So many of us know women going through some form of treatment for cancer–it might even be you, the reader. A friend passed along this group called Cleaning For A Reason. It’s a not for profit that offers house cleaning (one per month for up to 4 months) for someone with cancer undergoing treatment.

How they do this is by partnering with regional cleaning services who want to give back to their community. Currently they have 661 partners in 50 states and Canada with more coming into the fold all the time.

The application process is all lined out on their website. They do say that as a non-profit the need for cleaning far outweighs the number of appointments available but they are doing what they can.

If you have a cleaning company you might want to contact them to see how to get involved. If you are a patient, why not take a look at their requirements for application. They don’t require much paperwork but the window closes quickly each day at this point to get an application in.

Perhaps someone reading this who knows someone who fits the bill can do the application for them.

After doing some research on a local company here in the Hamptons I learned that Theresa’s Family Cleaning was one of the founding members of Cleaning For A Reason. Her website explains, “Teresa’s Family Cleaning staff cleans for a reason: to improve people’s lives. After Teresa lost her own sister, Virginia, to cancer, she committed her heart and her business to blessing women who are overwhelmed with the pain and stress of cancer treatment.”

Who says the world is a cold, uncaring place? Theresa’s also has a great reputation as a cleaning company for well people too. If you are local to the Hamptons take a look at her website.

And why not spread the word about this? It only takes a second to point someone in their directions. The more success their partners have, the more help cancer patients can have.

I honor all of the women out there making a difference in other women’s lives.

Hormones rule, did you know that? I’m not talking just sex hormones though in teenaged boys and middle aged women they are certainly at the top of the pecking order most days.

Everything we eat has a hormonal consequence, some helpful, some down right harmful over the long term.

Insulin is a hormone and is responsible for getting blood sugar somewhere it can be used or stored. Grehlin and leptin are the push me-pull yous of the hunger and satiety dance. These three food related hormones are in direct communication with our other messengers such as glucagon–the fat-burning hormone. Called into action when food is scarce, glucagon converts stored fat into sugar and uses it for energy. These 4 hormones worked in perfect harmony before the introduction of grains and industrial food production when all hormonal hell broke loss. It’s been a steep slide towards disease and women on the verge ever since.

So what can be done? Keep an eye on this blog cause it’s one of missions to let women know about how to eat for hormonal balance, and grab this book if you want some science and some recipes.

Dr. Michael Aziz is an internist with a practice in Manhattan; Midtown Integrative Medicine. Frustrated early on in his medical career that so many young people were coming in with cancers, diabtetes, and allergies that he couldn’t heal as well as all ages of people who had weight issues, he went in search of some answers. What he found was this connection between key hormones and the foods we eat. The main culprits?

Sugar, grains, processed fake foods like margarine, and the endocrine disruptors found in the chemicals used to increase shelf life, texture, color, etc. One of his findings goes along with mine of late–low fat diets are partially at fault in the rise of diabetes, obesity, and hormonal chaos. “The results of the research is clear, eating fat does not make you fat. Rather it’s the lack of natural fats in your diet that makes you gain weight” writes Aziz. He continues, “Natural fats are essential for your cells to work properly. Fats slow down the absorption of food, stabilize blood sugar levels, decrease, cravings, and make you feel full.”

And blood sugar levels will make or break our health over the long haul. I’ve included a link to a 2.5 minute video of Dr. Aziz live, he explains his philosophy and his book a bit more. His solution is an easy, delicious way of eating, protein, fat and fresh fruits, veggies, beans and legumes pretty much.

It’s becoming harder and harder to hide from the latest message on food as medicine–eat what’s natural, eat foods you can recognize as such, don’t fear the fat, and eat organic (meats and dairy) and grass fed (meats) when you can. In case you don’t remember how delicious a dollop of half and half is in your coffee or whole egg poached or fried–it’s The Yumm Factor to the 10s. You may have to let go of some long held beliefs to take on these new ideas but if you find hormonal heaven vs a daily roller coaster from hell, wouldn’t it be worth it?

Dr. Michael Aziz

Use this link to get to his video.