New Tricks — Am I the only one who has discovered this BBC weekly series?
Photo from TV Page.com
Look for it on Monday nights. In my area, PBS airs back to back one-hour episodes starting at 8:00 p.m. (no commercials – hooray!)
TV.com writes a short summary.
New Tricks centres around Sandra Pullman who out of desperation to put her flagging police career back on track recruits three old veterans to lend a helping hand.
The show proves, conclusively, that you can’t teach old dogs new tricks!
Okay, I’ve heard it hundreds of time–On or Off a diet, you need to eat a good breakfast. Personally, I’d rather skip it altogether, but all the studies indicate breakfast is the correct way to start the day.
Do you know what that means? Whole wheat toast, a banana and a cup of coffee–or something equally unappealing– is touted as a healthy breakfast. Like that’s really going to fill me up and get me through the morning?
So, here’s a solution. It works for me. And it’s actually filling.
Take a nice, big, juicy bagel. Slice it in half. (Sorry, you can only have half, but on the bright side, it’s not a slice of wheat toast that tastes like cardboard.)
Toast the bagel, if you like.
Spread on 1 tablespoon of “1/3 less fat cream cheese.” This is Neufchatel Cheese. It is prized in France, so don’t feel sorry for yourself. It’s a real delicacy.
I take my breakfast on the run with a cup of black coffee.
If you happen to be thinking, What? Only one tablespoon of the blasted cheese? Pull yourself together. It’s not the end of the world if you absolutely must slather on 2 tablespoons of the cream cheese.
Just keep in mind, 1 tablespoon of Neufchatel Cheese equals 56 calories–2 tablespoons equals 112. Therefore, you trade up from a 130 calorie breakfast to a 186 calorie breakfast. Still not bad.
Save the other half of the bagel for tomorrow’s breakfast.
Hannah Kearney took the first Gold Medal at the 2010 Olympics for the U.S.
Mogul Gold – Photo from The Olympics Blog
Added Bonus–Shannon Bahrke took the Mogul Bronze Medal.
Chew on a Chiclet–a regular Chiclet–not sugar-free.
[I’m not a fan of any food containing aspartame. For one thing, it does bad, bad things to the inside of my mouth. There’s plenty to read on the web about aspartame, so you can make up your own mind. Aspartame]
But this post is about keeping unnecessary foods out of your mouth. One of the things I suggest–chew on a Chiclet. There are only 4 calories in a single Chiclet. You don’t need to chew on two of them, although at 4 calories, you can go wild!
Normally, one will do me. It keeps my jaws moving for an hour before the darn thing loses its taste. Really! The taste of peppermint Chiclets goes a long way.
One downside. I have trouble finding Chiclets in the stores. The trend is to chew sugar-free gum, so that’s what most stores carry. When I come across a store that carries Chiclets, I load up.
Anyway, this Chiclet trick works. Anything that will get you through an hour without food or thinking about food is worth a shot.
I love my carbohydrates! It’s a fact and I admit it.
My favorite lunch is a sandwich, preferably a hoagie or a sub. What to do? What to do?
I’ve learned it’s best to make my own sandwich, because I can control what goes in it. I don’t use an inch of ham and cheese–no, no. I go easy, but I refuse to give up foods I like. So, the ham and cheese STAYS! (but two slices of each are plenty).
And I use a good amount of lettuce.
Now, here’s the kicker–the one important thing you should be aware of. It’s all about the mayonnaise. Did you know 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise equals 99 calories? What to do? What to do?
I’ll tell you what to do. Switch to low calorie mayonnaise. It tastes exactly the same as regular mayonnaise, BUT 1 tablespoon equals 36 calories. Can you believe that? If you’re using regular mayonnaise, run as fast as you can to the store and change to low cal immediately. The exercise will do you good, too.
Oh, and if mayonnaise isn’t on your “must have” food list, make your sandwich with mustard. 1 teaspoon of mustard equals 3 calories. Woowee!
I’m sorry, but when I’m determined to eat a healthier diet and try to get back in shape, I can’t do it without counting calories. All of these other popular diet plans do nothing for me.
Once I become aware of how many calories I’m putting into my stomach, I begin to adjust and to understand how much I can eat and when I should stop.
A good rule to follow in life is “everything in moderation.” That’s the rule I follow when I decide to take off some pounds. After counting calories for a while, my mind and my body eventually come to a happy understanding and eating right becomes second nature.
In the beginning, though, to get myself on track, I go to my favorite site for help counting calories.
http://www.prevention.com/health/
The site has helpful diet hints, but best of all, if you put in your current weight and plug in the amount of pounds you want to lose in a specified time, it calculates the number of calories you can eat in one day in order to reach your goal. Is that somethin’, or what?
Then you list the foods you eat during the day in the Health Tracker. It’s a snap. Sometimes, I even plan my meals for the following day.
Now I’m going in the kitchen to cook some pasta. Pasta? Yep. Because according to my Health Tracker, I’ve only eaten 861 calories today and it’s time for dinner.
I’m not in a huge hurry to lose my weight and I have a lot to lose. However, I’m not a person who is going to starve myself. I’ve given myself two years to lose 80 pounds.
There’s a method to my madness, because in order to do that, I can eat a whopping 1800 calories a day and still take all that weight off. Plus I can easily continue to eat that many calories after the weight melts slowly away. I don’t intend to gain it back!
Just for the record, 1 cup of cooked pasta equals 176 calories. And according to the site’s calculation, I can eat 2 cups without walking away with a busted-up conscience.
Need more laid-back inspiration? Success or Failure?
Got to go and get that water boiling.
One of my unforgettable events – a whale watch off the coast of Cape Cod. When you board a whale watching boat, the crew is quick to tell you that you don’t always get to see a whale. They just do their best to locate one.
Not all that reassuring, so I wasn’t expecting much.
What I got was almost unbelievable–even for the crew!
I’ve had a few unforgettable events in my life–mental pictures that I cherish. This is one I recall often. I’ll never forget it.
Do you have any?
What was Julia Roberts thinking when she wore a jersey dress to the Golden Globe Awards Ceremony?
I don’t know about you, but I watch the award shows to see the fashions. Julia certainly disappointed this year. Maybe she thought she was a big enough star to forgo the trouble of dressing up.
Perhaps she didn’t get the memo that the Globes are all about glitz, glamour and stardom. If you’re a star–you come looking like a star. It’s part of “the job.”
The viewer tunes in to see “who is wearing what,” at least that’s why I watch. The awards are nice, but they’re secondary. Globe night is all about gowns and jewelry and the mystique of Hollywood.
Julia failed miserably. So did Kristin Bell for that matter, but Julia should know better. Perhaps she just didn’t care.
Julia Roberts – The Find didn’t think much of the dress, either.
You have to hand it to Julia Roberts to showing up to the Globes in what is essentially a black jersey day dress (albeit an Yves Saint Laurent one). Then again, this is a woman who let her unshaven armpit hair dangle from a sleeveless top at a movie premiere several years back. The woman does not. Give. A. Fuck. That said, her hair looked great, her legs looked even better, and she seemed totally at ease. I’ll have what she’s having.
Diary of a Mad Fashionista found Julia’s outfit–well, read for yourself.
Julia Roberts was a stand-out for all the wrong reasons. She made many Worst Dressed lists by seeming as if she had just run out of the house without changing her clothes.
Sorry, Julia, you’ll have to step up your game.
1 lb. ground beef, lean
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 or 2 cans of your favorite vegetable (or leftover veggies)
Instant Mashed Potatoes, you choose the amount of servings
OPTIONALS: Shredded Cheddar Cheese
1 can Creamed Corn
Cook beef and onions in skillet until the meat is browned. Spoon into a baking casserole dish.
Prepare instant mashed potatoes. Add Shredded Cheddar, if you like. ** Place the prepared potatoes around the edges of the casserole dish on top of the beef.
Fill the center with vegetables (If using canned veggies, remember to drain beforehand.)
Bake in 425 oven for 15 minutes. Serves 3 or 4 people.
**FOR A CHANGE OF PACE – Pour the can of creamed corn, straight from the can, over the beef, BEFORE adding the potatoes and veggies. Great!
Did you ever hear of Stieg Larsson? He wrote The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. The title intrigued me, so there you are. I picked the book up. That’s how happy mistakes are made.
The intrigue doesn’t stop with the title. Main characters don’t come more fascinating than Lisbeth Salander. Her personality: mysterious, hidden, socially inept, computer savvy (genius hacker), sometimes deadly, cautious, captivating, hold-your-breath nerve wracking.
I wanted to know a little bit more about the author. Larsson lived in Sweden. He died in 2004. But before he died, he delivered three manuscripts, which were published and later translated into English. Lucky for us.
I just finished reading his second book, The Girl Who Played with Fire. Again the troubled, complicated heroine is Salander.
I found this second book to be slightly slower than the first, but only slightly. Both are good reads.
