Common Sense Living

I just put a post up at Rebel With a Fork about how we can make a difference this Lent.

Please click here to read it -

http://rebelwithafork.com/blog/we-can-make-a-big-difference-this-lent

It will give you something to talk about at church today.

Please spread the word!

Every day I get emails about some NEW way to lose weight. The newest ones claim that you don’t have to give up the foods you love.

Now, if you happen to love Hamburger Helper, McDonalds Fries, Doritos, and pop (did I cover the biggest unhealthy favorites?) to say that you can eat these every other day is just ridiculous, don’t you think? But that’s the kinds of deceptions these ads feed you.

Now I agree that once in a while you can indulge and eat anything you want. I don’t think expecting someone to eat carrot sticks on Super bowl Sunday is realistic or humane. As a matter of fact, Rebel  With a Fork members will be getting great appetizer recipes, and the Ultimate Chicken Wings recipe collection to help make their parties a smashing success, no matter who wins

I also agree that you’re not going to last very long on any diet that requires you to eat food you don’t like. Even if you have the will power of a saint, you’re eventaully going to die of boredom!

But what if your diet was 90% healthy all of the time?

What if you could learn to make 90% choices that you actually like to eat?

Wouldn’t that make losing weight pretty easy? Wouldn’t you solve a great many of your health problems?

That’s why I’m a rebel. I don’t believe in diets, or cutting out any natural food groups, or any of the other nonsense hype. You don’t need a diet. You need a healthy living lifestyle that you will actually enjoy sticking with.

Is there anything you really need to cut out?

Sure – packaged and fast foods, and pop.

People seem to have this big fear of cooking thier own food. It’s not hard. It tastes better. It’s better for you.

I share my best secrets at Rebel With a Fork. You don’t even have to pay to check it out. You can explore for 10 days and try some of the recipes. Find foods that you and your family already like to eat. There’s a whole new world of food out there for you to experience.

And to make it even easier, the site is now mobile friendly. You can access the site and the recipes from your phone (if you have internet service) while you’re in the store.

You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make them drink. Right? The rest is up to you…

Healthy Eating make easy >>> Rebel With a Fork

Image by churl via Flickr

We planned a sort of laid back weekend this weekend. We really needed a break! So when I was going to the store Friday, I asked my daughter what she wanted to eat this weekend. She said “Good Food!”

Well, that narrows it down, doesn’t it?

She definitely wanted the Pecan Crusted Chicken. Her boyfriend likes green beans, so we had to have those, and we topped it off with cooked apples for a side dish.

For Sunday they picked Teriyaki Chicken with buttered noodles, and a big tossed salad.

And we made potato chip cookies.

It was a weekend of great company, relaxing, and great food.

And the kids made the mistake of telling me about the new oldies station…

Everything is cleaned up, and I’m ready to settle in and watch a movie. Oddly enough, as much as everyone else likes them, potato chip cookies are not my favorite – but there is some chocolate mousse and some raspberries left that have my name on it.

Oh, you thought they were going to pick pizza and burgers, didn’t you? Not often around here. My daughter spent about an hour on Rebel With a Fork. She was reading the recipe for the Pecan Crusted Chicken, and she said, “hey that’s pretty easy – even I could make that!”

Yep, that’s the idea!

Fast, easy, healthy. Oh sure, it’s not what the health gurus are trying to sell you – but it’s a lot more enjoyable way to get thin and healthy. Join the Rebels! >>>

Image via Wikipedia

I grew up in a solidly middle class area. We weren’t starving, but we weren’t well off either.

My mother could have been a pretty decent cook if you could pry the salt shaker out of her hand. She didn’t like vegetables. Her idea of vegetables were canned green beans, or corn, or that mixed vegetable stuff. Occasionally we had peas or lima beans. She was the only one who liked the lima beans. ICK.

My grandmother was not the greatest cook. We ate a lot of overly tenderized overcooked round steak, dry pork chops, shake ‘n bake chicken, canned green beans or corn. I have to say, we did have a salad almost every night at my grandparent’s house.

There were a few things my grandmother made well. Her homemade vegetable soup, navy beans with homemade corn bread, biscuits and gravy, fried apples, virginia ham, sweet potato casserole, potato salad, and her lemon meringue pie were to die for. I loved the homemade foods. They always tasted so much better, and somehow I just felt that there was more love put into it. I still feel that way to this day.

My grandfather was a fisherman. We always had trout and bass in the freezer, but it seemed it was only once in a blue moon that we actually ate it.

My parents were divorced. And wouldn’t you know it, my father didn’t like vegetables either.

So, you can see that I wasn’t raised to eat a healthy diet.

When I would go to friend’s houses, the mom was always making something. Grandmothers baked homemade goodies. It was a Jewish area. You know how Jewish Moms are! Just the fact that they cared so much about their family. And they didn’t eat poor food like we did. Food came to symbolize everything that I didn’t have.

To me, if you really don’t care, you open a can of green beans. If you care, you get fresh green beans. They take about 10 minutes longer. Whoopee.

Hamburger Helper? Ragu? Canned ham? To me those are totally insulting. You won’t find them in my house.

I would gauge how well a date like me by where he took me to eat. I swear! But it didn’t have to be expensive. The food had to be good.

One time a date took me to a Chinese restaurant. The decor was Formica tables, and the place was filled with Chinese people. I was horrified. No Americans in the place. What were we going to be eating that no Americans wanted to eat there? He said, “calm down, you’re going to love it.” And I did! The food was delicious. That was back in the 70s, and they are still in business – except the restaurant is much bigger and nicer – and they do a rockin business!

As a matter of fact, if you’re ever in Northern Illinois and you want some good food, Poochies (hot dogs, and the char-cheddar burger), Riggios (Italian), The Prime Minister (steaks, prime rib), and China Chef are still thriving.

And pop? That was something kids drank.

Yes, I liked good food, and food symbolized love. And you might even say that I have a bit of a mental problem when it comes to food, wouldn’t you?

But as it turns out – all the foods that I won’t eat are the same foods that are causing all this disease and obesity. So maybe my sickness is one you want to catch!

Would you like for a sick person like me to show you how to eat great food and get a thin healthy body?

Visit Rebel With a Fork and discover the easiest and most fun way to lose weight and get healthy.

Image by Photos8.com via Flickr

It’s not often that someone has the courage to tell the truth about the food and pharma industries. It’s not popular. People don’t want to know the truth because that would mean that they would have to change. They seem to be in love with the current diet, and they turn a deaf ear to the facts.

But it appears that is about to change. An article appeared in the NY Times today. It seems that the costs of keeping people fat and sick are starting to far outweigh the economic benefits.

You can read it here - it will open in a new window so you can pop back here and comment.

Will bad food become illegal? Proabably not anytime soon. There’s a lot of money being made here. But it has become glaringly obvious that our system cannot handle the tremendous increase in sick people, especially since they don’t have as much money, or health coverage.

Now that people can  no longer afford the health care costs that come with the crummy diet – it’s a whole different story.

The sad part is, they will package it to look like they are concerned about your health. The truth is – it’s always been about the money. But if that what it takes to start getting people healthy again, I’m for it.

If you want a head start >>>