Will New Batteries Help?

My sister left for the Biggest Loser's Utah ranch/resort today.  She wanted to lose ten pounds before she left--which she said she did.  She wants to lose a minimum of twenty pounds the month she is there (just her and her weight loss plan--no kids, husband, etc.).  She hopes to lose another ten before school starts.  In total, she would like to realistically lose 75 pounds.

To show camaraderie with her, I have been eating better (and logging my food) and exercising.  For every ten pounds she loses, I hope to lose one (or two).  So in the past three weeks, I have gained 1.5 pounds (up three pounds from my lowest weigh-in).  I think our cheap, 10-year-old scale is askew, so I have moved it to a thousand different locations in our bathroom--same results.  So I asked my daughter to weigh her tiny self.  According to the scale, she's gained five pounds in a week (not possible).  My husband shouted out the "muscle weighs more than fat" crap to me--I shot him a dirty look.

I changed the battery in the scale; I gained one pound (vs. two) for the week.  My daughter's weight seemed more in line from previous weeks.  My husband then shouted, "What is this?  Change the battery until you get the weight you like?"  I off to buy new batteries--ha! ha!

Pizza = Vegetable?!?!?

I am not a nutrition nut.  I've never counted a calorie in my life.  However, I am conscious of well-balanced meals and the importance of nutrition--particularly in children's growing bodies.  My children eat fruits and veggies (often from the organic produced delivered to our home each week by a local CSA farmer).  They snack on yogurt vs. more sugary snacks or fat/salt-laden chips.  I am alarmed at what society now thinks is acceptable food choices.  A recent news story alludes to the idea that pizza is now considered a vegetable (Pizza = Vegetable).  This is a little bit of an embellishment--but the average person hears enough to think that because pizza has tomato sauce, school cafeterias consider pizza a vegetable.  If it is good enough for the dietitians at the cafeteria, it should work at home, too.  Right?!?!

Well--I've had this similar disagreement with parents when I worked in preschool.  We state that we prefer healthy snacks for our growing children.  Children will eat healthy if it is provided and their friends are eating it (a positive peer pressure).  The average pre-K is approximately 100 days.  Twenty plus of those days are sugar-laden birthday snacks.  Let's not forget another five or so days for party cupcakes.  Did we mention the three children who brought in sugary snacks for the birth of a brother or sister.  Grandma visited and made cupcakes--sure bring them in.  If we were lucky, only 20% of snacks were cupcakes & cookies. 

But then there were the infamous fruit snacks--my greatest pet-peeve.  ATTENTION--FRUIT SNACKS ARE NOT CONSIDERED A FRUIT.  However, if pizza is a vegetable, then I must be wrong.  My morning coffee comes from beans--is that a veggie?  What about cocoa beans and chocolate?  Maybe I was the one wrong all of the time.

50 Little Things #29--Good Health

I got to spend some time at a scout meeting with a friend who had a double mascectomy less than two months ago.  I am so thankful that her health continues to increase.  I pray that another friend (who was recently diagnosed with double breast cancer) will have the same success.