What really causes heart disease

My mother died of heart disease... and HER mother died of heart disease.

A family member shared this recent article from a heart surgeon about what really causes heart disease... and what is amazing is this information is ALSO in Dr. Anderson's Habits of Health - which is the foundation of the program Take Shape For Life.  He is also a surgeon who has been speaking out on THESE SAMES THINGS!

This is what I want to BREAK THE TREND in my family and stop heart disease from taking us way too soon.  My mom was only 56 and that is TOO YOUNG!

Just wanted to share that article - it's not too long and well worth reading.  :)
~Margene

Heaven from Down Under!

This week we had a friend visit us from Australia!  It was his first time in America and we were thrilled to show him around.  He also brought gifts:  Cadbury chocolate and other chocolate treats from the land Down Under!!

I looked at Brent and we decided that we'd try a little of this rare treat.  And I have to tell you that I thought I'd died and gone to heaven!!  The choice to eat a bite or two (or three or four) was a conscious decision yet there ARE times when it's overwhelmingly tempting to eat some high calorie unhealthy food placed in front of me without thinking about it.

Here is what I found from my "Habits of Health" that I've adopted.  

It's the STOP, CHALLENGE, and CHOOSE method.

STOP - and think about your goal

CHALLENGE - yourself as to what is more important

CHOOSE - the choice that supports your goal.

This is what I do when I attach a mental picture of myself to every food choice.  One picture is of the morbidly obese me, the other is of the me at my goal weight.  I choose the food that supports that "goal" of my mental picture.  Makes it an easy choice.  (It's hard to rationalize when it's a blatant choice like that)

Dr. Anderson also has these steps to follow:

1. Identify the foods, situations, and feelings that trigger your bad habits.  Write them down.
2. Decide that you are going to learn to control them. Only work on one trigger at a time.
3. Stop, Challenge, Choose

Be conscious that there are always moments of temptation and then the decision will be made. And the decision maker is you.  The choice is yours to make.  It is a great feeling to be in charge of your self and your choices.

This week I made Broiled Tilapia Parmesan and it was pretty good.  I substituted olive oil for the butter and used less and my family enjoyed it.  

Then with our Australian guest, we made taco salad.  I used 93% fat free ground beef mixed with ground turkey for the taco meat.  While our kids used whole grain tortilla shells - we used iceburg lettuce to wrap our taco's in.  Another time we just put it on our bed of lettuce and added some salsa.  Delicious!

Week 51 - We had BREADSTICKS!!

Okay, I did not lose or gain this last week... the scale did not budge for me but stayed right on 148.  At least I don't have to bother changing my ticker up there on the left!  BUT the hubs jumped up again to 203... a 4 pound gain.  Ahhhh... so discouraging for him.  He stayed mostly on plan with just a little snitching of the pb and lots of soda.  I really think the stress is sabotaging him because it also brings on lack of sleep.  And getting enough SLEEP is a big component of weight loss and health!  Nevertheless, it's onward we go sticking to plan!

Last night I made cauliflower bread sticks that I found here on Sandy's Kitchen blog and they were SO FLIPPIN' GOOD!  Thank you SO much Sandy for that idea!!  I made the breadsticks and marinara sauce exactly from her recipe and it was divine.  The hubs was in heaven.  It makes a complete lean and green too, with the egg beaters and cheese counting as the lean, and the cauliflower and tomato counting as the green.

They filled me up too, too and totally satisfied me as my meal. 

I am also excited about making some cauliflower crusts and freezing them like Sandy shows on her blog.  So yesterday, I cut up 5 cauliflower heads and put them through my food processor and today I will be baking them into crusts and freezing them.  I'm excited to have that as another quick meal to make that gives me and Brent more variety.  It's just making that crust for the cauliflower pizza that takes more time, so if I have crusts ready in my freezer, I'm sure I will make them more often!

I have been reading Dr. A's Habits of Health book and thought all week about sharing tid bits of what I'm learning on here.  I will do that this next week.  Such great information.

I am also excited about joining a contest on the Facebook Medifast page here.  It's the "Happy After" contest for those who have reached their goal and submit their success story into Medifast.  10 winners will be flown out for a professional makeover, shopping session with personal stylist, a photo shoot and a chance to appear in Medifast's national advertising.  I would LOVE for Brent and me to reach our goal and enter this contest!!  Wouldn't it be cool if we BOTH won?  I am most excited about the professional make over and shopping as I have never had that... and I've been so large for so long, it would be SO amazing.  I would never even imagine myself in such a position a year ago.  It's like a dream.  So there is another motivation to reach our goal soon.   I am praying for my man!!

Have a great weekend, my friends.  Enjoy life because it is GOOD!  xoxoXO~Margene

Week 49 - Met Dr. Anderson! New pant size!

Brent and I had a wonderful Weekend at a “Take Shape For Life” event where Dr. Anderson himself came out here to Portland!!  How cool is that?  He is the co-founder of this program and the author of “Habits of Health”.  And WOW is he so intelligent, informative and amazing.  I was taking notes like crazy and got 13 pages filled.  I feel so excited and motivated and inspired!

I have been devouring his book “Habits of Health”.  I KNOW this is what is going to help us not only lose all our weight but maintain the weight loss and increase our health to where we have premium health.  Because it’s not just about losing weight and not being sick, it’s about reaching optimal health and living a life to it’s potential!  I am so ON that!

Afterwards, I was able to have him sign my book.  I told him about how much weight the hubs and I have lost and I even gave him a little picture of us.  He was so happy for us and shook both our hands.  Brent snapped this picture for me.

I also got our pics taken with two people that have been a huge inspiration to me in this weight loss journey.  This is Lisa and Jaime Castro who between themselves and their family have lost 330 lbs and maintained that.  They have gone on to help hundreds of others lose weight and get healthier and they are the most positive and motivating people to be around!  Lisa is a real example to me and I feel motivated to be more like her.  I love how lean and healthy she is and what an active and fun lifestyle she has now.  Not that long ago, I would have thought that was impossible for me!

Brent, Margene, Lisa & Jaime Castro

So it is week 49.  We have been on this program almost a year now.  And what an amazing journey so far!  This last week I lost 3 pounds!  I am now 149 lbs.... I am in the 140’s!  Can you believe it?  It’s amazing to me.  Not only that... but I fit into this size 10 pants!!  I think I would have fainted a year ago at the thought that I would fit into size 10!  I was size 28/30 just a year ago!  Woo Hoo!  Do you know how liberating that feels?

Me in size 10 pants!

But on the not-so-exciting note, Brent gained 3 pounds this week.  :(  He has been dancing around the 198 to 203 now for a few months.  Bummer!  He has been struggling with stress, lack of sleep and anxiety and it is affecting his weight loss.  We are putting a lot of prayer and effort into figuring out a solution to ease his struggles.  This is another reason why the changes that will be happening this year will be for the better, hopefully.  His weight loss is still so amazing and I still LOVE to stare at him and think he’s the hottest thing ever!  I just want him to FEEL better and to get relief from his stress somehow.

Last week, I made this awesome new Lean and Green meal:  Spinach Frittatta.  I found this recipe here on “New Beautiful Me” blog of Cody Jo’s who is also doing the Take Shape For Life program.  She has some wonderful recipes on her blog that I will be trying.  So glad I found her blog!!  :)

This is so much food and it all counts as your lean and green!  I changed it just a little bit from Cody Jo’s recipe by not using the olives, but cut up some light laughing cow cheese wedges instead (counts as the healthy fat).  I baked mine for about 18 minutes at the 425 degrees.  It was delish!  I couldn’t even eat all of it... so I ate the rest of it a little later.

Here is a lean and green I made Brent last week with just his 3 Morning Star sausages, and some cut up tomatoes, red and yellow peppers on a bed of spinach with some Walden Farms ranch dressing to dip in.  He loved it.  I also made Rachel Ray's recipe of sauteed red cabbage again because I love it.  I had it with some Costco salmon.  Another delicious lean and green!  We eat so good!  It just kicks butt on our old gross fast-food and high-calorie-restaurant eating days!

Well, my friends... thank you for reading my blog and for all the wonderful comments and support you give us both.  I truly wish I could meet and hug every one of you who reads this!  I hope you have a fabulous week!  Be gentle with yourself, keep it one good choice at a time, and remember that LIFE IS GOOD!  xoxOXO ~Margene

Week 27 - My Happy Man!

Last Week I lost 2 pounds and my hubs lost 5 pounds!!! He has pushed through his hurdle of getting past that 220 range. I took his pic this morning... as he was dancing and flexing around in his glee... what a comparison. I have my happy man back!

Feb. 2010: 300 lbs / Today Aug. 2010: 210 lbs

90 pounds GONE, BABY!!!

I am learning SO much. I’ve been reading Dr. A’s Habits of Health book (the path to permanent weight control and optimal health) along with the companion guide. This is like the mental side to the losing weight which I NEED. It’s helping me learn to change my bad habits to healthy ones so that I can be and live with OPTIMAL health the rest of my life. There is SO much in this book... I wish I read it years ago. I HIGHLY recommend these books!

I’ve also learned, that on the Take Shape For Life Program (using Medifast food), I can’t rationalize my portions and sneak this and that into the plan, or I WILL drop out of “fat burning” mode. It’s calculated so specifically, with the nutrition, calories, carbs, and fat... that adding a snippet in here and there puts it off balance. The last thing I want to do is put my body in “starvation mode” where it will hold on to my fat instead of burning it. If my carbs go higher, my hunger and cravings increase and if the calories go higher, I no longer am using my fat stores to burn.

So both my man and I are RECOMMITTING to stay TRUE to this plan. Because, it WORKS!! And it’s NOT HARD to do. The Medifast food takes all the guess work out of it and they taste great. I just had let myself “eyeball” my portions (for my lean & greens) instead of measuring, and add a bite of this or that... you know how it goes. I even had some beef jerky as part of my lean the other day, even though that is not on plan at this stage. I Need to and Want to stay ON PLAN exactly... and not drag out getting this weight off. So stating this on my blog here, will help me remember and stay committed. :) And we both are very DETERMINED.

I sold a ton of my “favorite” big clothes this last week... the ones I was saving and still wearing but they are huge on me. And I am letting them go. I would give them away but right now money is tight. You should see my bare closet right now! One of the ladies I sold a ton of them to, came to my house from the bus in a motorized wheel chair. She was very big and I wanted to share this program with her and let her know her life could be better, but I sensed she wasn’t ready or interested. She left with a garbage bag filled to the brim with my clothes, holding them on her lap and by the feet of that wheel chair. But she was happy with the good deal I gave her. It was a reminder to me where I was headed, though. I remember using the wheel chair at Walmart a few times when I was too tired to walk around and in too much pain. It is hard work to be obese!! (and I still am, technically).

I had tuna for the first time on this plan. This is 2 cans (total 6 oz.) of sodium free tuna from Trader Joes with a little fat free mayo, Mrs. Dash, and some celery - along with my salad. It would taste good in a lettuce wrap, too, I think. :) Happy Weekend... How is YOUR plan going this week?