Exotic Functionals is looking like a key beverage category in the years ahead. I am especially interested in the cocktails…anyone tried one (or several)? Were they good? Did they work? I’d really like to know!

Well folks, the Chubby Chicks to Skinny Sticks section of the supply blog is shutting down. Did we lose weight? A few lbs but not anywhere near our goals (speaking for myself that is). It just goes to show how hard losing weight really is, even with an audience. In the future weight/diet issues will appear under our weight management section. I’m finding new news on the topic all the time and I will share what I find interesting. I may even experiment again. Please share your finds as well. I know that Penny and I are always looking for the answer!

Sorry Penny, I’ve become a slacker. I don’t know what happened but I seem to have gone off the deep end. One day I forgot my bars and I decided that I needed to start over again on Monday which meant I didn’t eat them for five days and suddenly all the weight I lost came right back on. (Eating whatever I wanted and not working out had nothing to do with it….) I am SO mad at myself. It’s absolutely amazing how bad a mood stepping on the scale can put you in. So I need a new resolve. Back to the plan. Something, anything. One thing I am going to try this time is keeping a food journal. Anyone have other suggestions? THIS IS HARD!!

Yesterday I started what I am calling the Truvida phase of my diet. These fantastic bars and cookies have Luralean in them and are quite filling. Hitham Hiyahneh, Founder of Truvida suggested the following diet:

STEP 1: For breakfast, eat 2 Granola SunShine Squares™. Don’t worry if you can’t eat the second one, you can always save it for a midmorning snack, but… don’t forget to drink 8oz. of water or green tea with each square.

STEP 2: For lunch, eat something healthy; soup and a sandwich, a salad, or a sub. Pick lean ingredients, and cut back on sugars and fats.

STEP 3: For a mid-afternoon snack, eat 2 delicious KokoLean™ Organic Dark Chocolate Almond Cherry™ cookies, and a big glass of water.

STEP 4: For supper, eat a balanced meal, with acombination of lean protein and green vegetables.

STEP 5: Exercise at least 4 times every week, for 30 minutes each, but consult a physician before you start any exercise program.

No two people are the same, and no two people are going to enjoy the same exact diet. We understand that, and that’s why we didn’t give you detailed instructions. Make your own healthy choices, and you will find this program easier to live with. The more you put in, the more you’ll get out.

I have decided to be a bit more aggressive and have the granola bars for breakfast, the amazing dark chocolate, almond, cherry bars for lunch and then a dinner with protein, veggies and fruit. The reason I’m doing this is because we only have a three week supply and I am determined to make my goal. Day two and I am finding that I am absolutely satisfied and pleasantly full. Someone just offered to go get me frozen yogurt and I not only said no, I really didn’t feel like it. I want you to know that is a first!!!

One of the hard parts of writing about, and researching weight management issues is the fact that you ‘re always finding something new, a new theory, the most recent study, eat this not that etc. I tend to jump like a crazy person from one diet to the next. I buy; hook, line and sinker, the theory of diet #1 only to read something new and more convincing and I’m off on diet #2. This time though, I’ve been a little more patient. While I’ve tweaked a little here and there, added a little extra exercise, tried to eliminate processed foods, I really haven’t done anything hugely different from my normal routine and today, six weeks from the start, I’ve lost a total of…….6 pounds. Not earth shattering but slow and steady and, as my research shows, that’s the best way to go for long term success. Because my goal was 12 pounds I’ve decided to stay with LuraLean for at least three more weeks, this time using the product in it’s baked form. (see Penny’s post for more details).

Follow her column in the new York Times every Tuesday at http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/b/jane_e_brody/index.html

Healthy Aging will be a two-day track at the Nutracon Conference March 10 & 11, 2010. One of the most anticipated topics within this track is cognitive health and we will cover it in depth. According to the New York Times, “For all that scientists have studied it, the brain remains the most complex and mysterious human organ - and now the focus of billions of dollars’ worth of research to penetrate its secrets.” Check out their series of articles called, “Brain Power” at www.nytimes/brainpower.

As of today, almost three weeks into the plan, I’m down three pounds. I was hoping for more like six, but really, all I was doing was hoping. That is to say that for some reason I’ve gone off the reservation on exercise. Where once I happily hiking and “ohm-ing” three or four times a week, now I’m lucky if I make it once or twice. So seriously, I need to start taking exercise, well, seriously. I’ve made a plan. I’ve come up with a schedule and it is going into effect on Monday. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday yoga at 6 p.m. Wednesday evenings I play on the New Hope Naturals Softball Team which means a little running around and a lot of beer, so that’s a wash. Friday, Saturday and Sunday are for long hikes or bike rides with one day in there for rest. I like it. As for fullness, the LuraLean has worked better and better. What I have to concentrate on is that I’M FULL (I’m still guilty of the “I have to finish everything on my plate” syndrome). I’m trying to slow down and pay attention. It would probably also help if I started taking smaller portions. Yeah. I have a friend who, when we go out to dinner, immediately scrapes half her dinner onto another plate so that she has to consciously reach for the other plate if she wants to eat more. I’m thinking of adopting that practice. Any other suggestions out there?

In other news I was talking to Dr. Jim Joseph, author of The Color Code and featured speaker at Nutracon 2010 who is one of the most knowledgeable people in the world on healthy eating and weight management and he was telling me all kinds of great things about what to eat and how to get the most out of your daily caloric intake. Things like wild fish (NOT farm raised) lots of red things as in peppers, strawberries, raspberries and tomatoes, walnuts, blueberries, purple grape juice, blackberries, kale and dark chocolate. Now you might think that dark chocolate would be something that I would celebrate, “Yeah, dark chocolate, Hallelujah, something I really like is on the list” but no, not really. I actually don’t like dark chocolate at all. I think it takes like tobacco. But I went to the store anyway and bought a bag of organic dark chocolate chips and some fresh organic blueberries and raspberries. At home I got out some small cupcake tins, filled them halfway, some with blueberries, some with raspberries and then melted down the chips. I poured the melted chocolate into the tins then chilled them in the fridge for about an hour or two. I figure they are somewhere between 100 and 150 calories a pop and filled with antioxidents……… Yum. You heard me right, Yum.

As our Standards Director Steve reminded me this morning, “Any good marketer (and blogger) will emphasize the product is only part of a reduced-calorie, increased-exercise program for real weight loss.” So, I thought I would mention what I had been eating and doing for exercise. I won’t bore you with a detailed menu but I have been trying to eat nutrient dense/calorie light foods (I know, I know, not the cake). For instance today I had mixed berries and fat free plain yogurt for breakfast, a falafel salad for lunch and I plan on having grilled chicken and lots of veggies for dinner. I always, always have wine with dinner. I will cut back on my food intake, but I will never, ever give up my wine. As far as exercise I’m pretty much a three to four times a week girl either yoga or a hike during the week and skiing or a long bike ride on the weekend.

Oh, and I did get on the scale this morning…..down two pounds, cake and all!

I’m reaching the end of day three and I have a few safety tips to share. First, note to self: DON’T IGNORE YOUR FEELING OF FULLNESS because you really are full. After lunch today I was very satisfied, even three hours after eating, so when the news went around the office that there was a birthday cake to share I thought I would go, but not eat. Wrong. I love birthday cake (you’ve seen the pictures) especially the kind with the sickeningly sweet frosting. I couldn’t resist and ate a piece even though I was wasn’t hungry and now I feel STUFFED. Second, don’t eat right after you’ve taken Luralean. The instructions tell you to wait a half hour and that is good advice. Last night I was starving and couldn’t wait the half hour so I ate a regular sized dinner. Yikes. A regular sized dinner feels like an entire pizza in your stomach after the Luralean expands. Not a good feeling, don’t do it. Third, and this is from Penny, do not take Luralean and then exercise. Enough said.

This stuff really seems to work and the interesting thing is, as Penny found too, it seems to work better with each passing day.

I’m getting on the scale tomorrow morning…….