OCT 15th A Short Word of Caution

Hi Journal & Friends,

I haven't eaten aspartame in over 20 years. Brand names include NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, and Equal-Measure. I don't bug others about it... but I do care. So, even if ONE person reads the article below and is helped, it would be worth it. I especially cringe when growing children are being fed aspartame.

I'm not a purist, and yes, still enjoy sweet stuff. My main sweeteners these days are stevia, xylitol, Z Sweet, erythritol, and Splenda. And I'm gradually reducing my Splenda intake (hard to give up those sugar free daVinci syrups, dontcha know!). It takes practice to get good results with some of the natural sweeteners, but it's worth it.

Below is an article by Dr Mercola that I PLEAD with you to read if you still eat aspartame. It's in diet soda, sugar-free jello, and tons of other stuff. Please please at least read this, and then you can make up your own mind. If it's not for you, then okay... at least you made in informed choice. 

I've met so many wonderful people in Bloggyland, and I share this info not out of judgement, but from a place of caring.  I'm not the Food Police. I'm just sharing the info, not looking over your shoulder to see what's in your basket (I've actually had that happen to me!).

(not!)

Here's a teaser about the article:

Story at-a-glance

The artificial sweetener aspartame (Nutrasweet) 

was found to induce cancer in both mice and rats

Past studies have also concluded aspartame is carcinogenic, 

and its toxic effects increase if exposure begins in the womb

There are over 900 published studies 

on the health hazards of aspartame

LINK TO DR MERCOLA'S ARTICLE 

CONTAINING THE RESULTS OF NEW RESEARCH

If you read this and decide you want to drop aspartame from your menu and need hints about using other sweeteners, I'll be glad to share some tips and links with you. I'm no expert, that's a for sure! But, I've been dinking around with stevia for 20 years, and have been asked many times for info. I finally put it all together on one page. See PAGES at the upper right of my blog, in the sidebar, and click on All About Stevia for some suggestions. This is important enough that I am willing to invest the time for your health's sake. :-)

From Dr Phil's book: "Your food plan sustains your commitment in the absence of emotional energy."

My verse for today: "Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord."

My quote for today: "Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint on it you can." --Danny Kaye

Enjoy the Journey,

Loretta

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DAY 790

DAY 320 Dentists, Deciding & Cookies

Hello Journal & Friends,

Yesterday I went to the dentist. Oh joy. But I hadn't been there in about 7 months, and it WAS fun when she told me that she noticed right away that I was losing weight. :-D

Naturally, she asked what I was doing... and I just said that basically I stopped eating sugar and flour, and left it at that. 

I mean really... how do you make a sound-bite answer that would include the fact that it's not a diet, that you must change your whole way of thinking? That this is a spiritual, mental, emotional AND physical journey?? My dentist is a tiny thing, so I didn't bother.

But then I found it funny that after I said that I stopped eating sugar and flour, she look horrified, and with big round eyes asked "but how do you do THAT??" I laughed, and answered... "You decide."

And the more I thought of my simplistic answer, the more I realized that, while I was just being flippant in the moment, it really IS true. For whatever method each of us chooses, that really IS the key. There is no magic fairy dust... no secret formula. 

We must each reach that point where what we WANT to be means more to us than what we have been settling for... and DECIDE to change.

She went on to ask how on earth you can live without eating stuff like bread and cookies and such. I didn't go much into the answer, other than to say there are all kinds of things to use as substitutes.

Some people do just fine eating any and everything in moderation. For others there are reasons, sometimes medical, that they are healthier without eating certain things. For me, it's sugar/flour stuff.

So today, for Friday Favorites, I decided to share my MOST EXCELLENT recipe for sugar-free, flour-free Peanut Butter Cookies.

 I didn't invent it... just adapted it from one floating around the interwebs. Feel free to change out ingredients if you don't have one, or just want a different taste.

Rettakat's Most Excellent PB Cookie

1 cup peanut butter (I use Adams natural pb, the kind with no sugar)

2/3 cup sweetener of your choice (I use 1/3 cup splenda, 1/3 cup xylitol, and 1/16 teaspoon white stevia powder)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg

Optional:

1 tablespoon Chia seeds  (they are so good for you, and I look for ways to use them)

10 drops Peanut Butter flavored Capella Flavor Drops (I like my cookies super peanuty flavored)

Mix all ingredients together. Make ping pong ball sized balls of dough (this is easy when you use a little cookie scooper, the kind that looks like a small ice cream scooper).

Place on cookie sheet (I use a silpat) and flatten with a fork, making that cute criss cross design.

Optional: I sprinkle a little xylitol on top of each cookie before baking; it gives that crystalized sugar topping effect)

Bake in 350 degree oven for about 12 minutes. Take out and let cool on a rack. They are delicate at first, but will firm up as they cool. To me, they taste best after they have been refrigerated, and they freeze great! 

I make them up, then keep them in the freezer, and only take one out at a time.

Enjoy!

(my latest batch of PB cookies; I just noticed 

I got the criss, but forgot the cross, ha ha ha)

From Dr Phil's book: "You have within you everything you will ever need to be, do, and have, anything and everything you will ever want and need."

My verse for today: "Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits."

My quote for today: 'Peanut butter is the pate' of childhood." --Florence Fabricant

Enjoy the Journey,

Loretta

=^..^=

DAY 3 Cling To Hope & Never Quit!

Hello Journal,

Went to the dentist today for my 6 month cleaning.

Result: she said there was a "huge difference", and there was hardly any calculus to scrape off. Yay!!

I told her I had not had any sugar or flour for the last 4 months, and mainly used stevia and xylitol now. She confirmed that xylitol is great for the teeth.

Today I was thinking about HOPE...how it's powerful. Sometimes when it gets hard and I'm tempted to quit, hope is the only reason I continue.

I don't know where it came from, but I made a CHOICE when I first started this journey at 460 lbs, to NEVER QUIT...no matter what. Maybe it was all "positive talk" in the beginnging, but somewhere along the line, early on, it took root. I planted the seed of the idea, watered it every day by repetition, and somehow it grew!

Been tempted to quit many times...deaths, illnesses, heartaches, frustrations, disappointments, all the stuff of life......but I never quit.....almost, sure.....but not quite.

I think it's because I clung to HOPE...

Hope that I would someday get my health back...

Hope that THIS would be the time it would work...

Hope it was not too late for me...

Hope that God had not given up on me, so I would not give up either...

And that hope has finally grown into BELIEF...I WILL make it this time.

The moral of the story is: NEVER QUIT

Never, ever.

Be stubborn about it...be determined...be feisty...let NO ONE take it from you...do not accept NO for an answer. Cry, scream, holler, beg or shout if you have to.....but never quit!

**NEVER* QUIT**

From Dr Phil's book :..."Get up each morning, look at yourself in the mirror, and see yourself...as the someone you will become, a person with a greater level of dignity and worth who, for probably the first time ever, is finally going to succeed--for a lifetime."

My verse for today: "...struggling with all His energy, which so powerfully works in me."

My quote for today: "We all have a choice. Every day, in every thing." --Cindy Broaddus

Enjoy the Journey...see the little victories along the way.

Loretta

=^..^=