Good Housekeeping - Eat Well, Lose Weight

So here you are a couple of months into yet a new year. When this one started you probably had the some idea of some of the things that you wanted to change. Let's face it, one of the biggest New Year resolutions is "I'm going to lose weight this year". How's that going for you? If you're anything like me, you've probably put it off just a little bit longer because of some event coming up in your life that you were going to have to eat at. Whether it be someone's birthday or a family dinner, you knew that there would be a cornucopia of fantastic food ahead of you and you didn't want to deprive yourself whilst everyone else had a mouthful of baked ziti.

Don't fret. Fortunately, it's very rarely "too late", unless of course there's a size 4 little black dress that you have to get into by Friday and you're a size 10. At that point I would suggest picking up a new "little black dress" and saving that one for when you are a bit closer to that goal weight.

On T.V. and on the internet, heck, anywhere you look nowadays there's some ad somewhere for either some miracle diet or miracle pill that's going to make you lose weight faster than you put it on. Chances are these "miracles" as they are called are either really expensive or a scam and in some cases both! Honestly, from what I've found out there, the biggest "secret" is really cutting your calories and exercising. Okay, wait, before you roll your eyes and click on your Google search bar, I do have a point. Keep reading, I promise it's a good one.

It's hard to find foods that taste good and are good for you. Sure, a salad or a carrot can be great for you, but honestly they get boring. If they didn't everyone would be skinny, heck all those miracle diet companies would be out of business. There are a slew of diet cookbooks out there. Here's one that I've found which is pretty good in serving up some decent dishes: Good Housekeeping: Eat Well, Lose Weight.

Why is it good?
- For starters all of your calorie and nutrition information is right there on the page with the recipe. It also includes the serving size so you know you can't eat the whole meal. Well, you can, but that may be a bit self defeating.
- Next, there is a whole section for those of you who "don't have time to cook healthy". (I personally love this section because I'm one of those.) In this section is a selection of meals that are done in a half an hour or less, start to finish.
- There is a section on restaurant favorites, including a spinach lasagna.
- Everybody is represented here, from the meatlovers right down to the vegetarians and everyone in between.
- Some of the meals are just one dish. In the cases of those that are not, there is a section on side dishes including a variation on seasoned potato wedges, sans frying.
- For those of you who are into crockpot type recipes, there are a few in there. I haven't tried them yet, but they look mighty inviting.
- Lastly there is a section on desserts. Really, why should you deprive yourself completely? Especially if you don't have to.

Now I don't want to give you the impression that these lower fat, lower calorie dishes are as good as the real thing. Let's face it, fat makes everything taste better. If it didn't then we probably wouldn't need this cookbook. The only issue that I've found is that some of the seasoning amounts have to be tweaked a bit to compensate. Don't go too crazy with the salt, as you don't want to shoot your blood pressure through the roof. That may be a little self defeating, but some of the other seasonings can be added to taste. Play around with them a little bit. It makes it a little more exciting if you can make the dish your own. Just beware if you make substitutions, you don't want to kill the nutritional value of these meals. Otherwise, why bother making them?

Furnishings for Your Home How to Choose Your Bathroom Accessories

Breastfeeding and Weight Loss Vs Bottle Feeding and Weight Loss

The debate has raged for years. Breastfeeding vs Bottle feeding. Which is better? - Well, I guess it's only raged for the last 50 or 60 years, since they invented baby formula. There are lots of arguments for both side, dealing with nutrition for baby, health for mom, bonding, and a ton of other things... but here's one thing that's not talked about as often as it should be: breastfeeding and weight loss.

No, not for the baby. Breastfed babies are generally larger than their bottle fed brethren. But that's not the point  - this is weight loss for the mom! Every mom wonders if that extra baby weight from the pregnancy will ever go away (so they can fit into their old jeans again). So let's compare bottle feeding with breastfeeding and weight loss.

Let's start with bottle feeding and it's affect on the mother. This one is pretty simple... the mom holds up the bottle for the baby for the first few months, which does burn some calories, but not much. I guess you could count the frequent waking in the middle of the night and walking down the stairs to mix up the bottle as exercise - but that's probably affecting sleep more than anything. Then you have to take into account that in most family who bottle feed, there is at least a second person who does the job half of the time (the Dad), thus removing any calorie burning effects that might have been gained by the mother.

Now let's talk about breastfeeding and weight loss. It has been shown that breastfeeding can burn up to 600 calories per day! That's the equivalent of two hours of intense aerobic workouts a day. That's pretty awesome.

There are also reports that Mothers who breastfeed more frequently lose weight faster than mothers who nurse less often, and mothers who nurse for shorter periods of time tend to lose weight more slowly than mothers who nurse longer. So it's entirely possible that if you breastfeed you'll be able to eat more than you ever could before and still lose weight!

Why is that? Because breastfeeding and weight loss go hand in hand! Really though, it's because you are feeding two people and you're body has to work pretty hard to make the milk and make enough of it to support an entirely separate human being - that's growing like a freakin' weed.

So if you want to lose weight and keep it off after pregnancy - stick with breastfeeding.

How to Choose Your Bathroom Accessories Furnishings for Your Home