The Reason We Don't Keep Our New Years Resolutions

Girl Scout Cookies.

The problem is they make a flavor for everyone. I love Samoas. You're probably a Thin Mint person. This is the problem I have: how do you eat healthy when we socialize over meals? This seems to be the way we make connections. Where do you go to get a healthy meal out? Cheaply? So it seems we need a shift in our social routines. From now on, I will drink gross tea when I meet friends for coffee, I will order salads if I absolutely have to eat out. I won't eat out. I won't order Girl Scout Cookies. Here are some suggestions of what you can do with your friends instead of meeting some where to eat:

- Invite them to your place
- Invite yourself to their place
- Invite them to grocery shop with you
- Play cards
- Play games
- Knit (it can be a group activity)

To buy or not to buy, the organic question

I have recently been exploring more healthy options while on my path to a lighter me. It started with just the organic milk (which typically has an expiration date twice as late as non-organic) and has slowly progressed to whatever has an organic version conveniently next to the non-organic choice. This article on Oprah.com has a list that ranks the amount of pesticides in different produce. Another rule of thumb that has been passed on to me, is if you eat the skin or the skin is thin, you should probably consider organic. What I am still trying to find is the best healthy sugar substitute. This article at Time.com makes me consider a strategy that an Africa-bound friend of mine employed, black coffee. I just don't think I could do it. Perhaps I'll just go the organic route and use too much raw sugar, and just be confident that the calories are at least pesticide-free.

But to go along with the organic question, I have been searching for less Southern cuisine and for more healthier dinner options and tasty-guiltless snacks. With these goals in mind I have turned to Weight Watcher cookbooks (specifically the 5-ingredient ones that are next to the magazines in the checkout line), MarthaStewart.com which has an awesome option that lets you save, label, and categorize recipes you like. This has helped me select several healthy recipes and then my picky husband can scroll down the list and pick out something that he will actually eat. As I'm sure you know, with the years that Martha has behind her empire there is a lot to choose from, and the label feature has made her website my favorite for a recipe source out of comparable websites. My other favorite source (which spurred this blog) is my iPhone app for EatingWell.com. I'm able to select my favorite recipes and has full pictures with categories for poultry, meat, seafood, or veggies, or divided into type of meal (appetizer, lunch, dinner, etc.), or into time divisions (15, 30, 45 minutes). Also each recipe comes with nutritional facts! and labels like: high fiber, heart healthy, low carbs, etc. Planning dinner away from home is so much easier at the spur of the moment. Tonight was: "Cucumber & Black-Eyed Pea Salad" so good!

I'm off to eat my awesome salad and have some Starbucks Via coffee with Kroger granulated definitely not organic sugar! Please be sure to share any of your healthy eating habits!

House Guests

Now that my husband and I have moved into our rental home for the next year (maybe more), my southern hospitality gene has kicked in. Now that we have the space to host people in our home, that means we should, right? My husband is South African, but not Southern, so he doesn't quite get it. Why are you pretending that you cook a gourmet meal breakfast, lunch, and dinner? Don't get me wrong, he loves that all of the laundry gets done, the house is vacuumed, and my clutter is finally dealt with, but why do we need guests to motivate this behavior? Again, my Southern DNA is responsible. Tips I have found to achieve this false interior: "If you have time to clean only one room, it should be the bathroom. The one place people have time to reflect on the cleanliness of your home." "Vanilla cuts the smell of dog" (from my mother an owner of two indoor/outdoor dogs) "Hide things in your oven and dryer, no one opens those""To cover the smell of cleaning, bake cookies/cake/pie". All of these things can create an image of a beautiful, welcoming, clean home.
I do not pretend to be to modern in my roles, I enjoying being complimented on the state of my home, the taste of a meal, or exclamations over a beautiful room. My husband knows that this makes me happy and will often over look expensive grocery bills to buy expensive spices, for meals I will likely only cook once, for these guests that will probably only stay once in the year we are in our home. God bless him. I recently found out that the International Farmers Market in Dekalb, Georgia (a neighborhood in Atlanta) sells spices by the cups for next to nothing (I mean less than $1!). I've recently gone on a health kick, so what better way to control what I'm eating, than cooking. Some of my favorite sources for healthy recipes are MarthaStewart.com and EatingWell.com. So far? I have lost 20 pounds! That's since July mind you, but still, twenty! My secret? The scale. If I see the reward (or consequence) of the previous day it helps. Now I haven't really denied myself anything. I, of course, will be eating Thanksgiving meals, but not eating after 7pm has really helped and when I want a dessert, I get one piece of chocolate (like one truffle). PS if you join Godiva's rewards/customer thing (for free) the give you a free piece of chocolate once a month in exchange for sending you emails. I am such a fan! When you want dessert (or really anything) check the serving size, you will be surprised, and only eat that much. Your Ben & Jerry's will last so much longer! Ok I know I'm bringing down the pilgrim spirit, but just remember, every year an American packs on one extra pound over the holidays they never lose...