[Paula O]

Europa, you got right back on track, good for you! I'll have to remember your salt trick if I don't have somebody to give the food away to to get it out of the house, like at night. Neato that you write recipe books for kids! Thanks for the recipe. Truthfully it would trigger chocolate cravings for me right now and chocolate is out of my system so I don't want it back in but I know my kids would like it so maybe I'll make it for them when I am stronger and can resist better. Carob is always a possibility but right now I am better off without baked sweet treats I think as they can be a slippery slope for me. Do you have any ideas for yummy, totally healthy, low fat substitutes for crunchy snacks like potato, corn, or tortilla chips that are either low or no added sodium? I might experiment with a kale chip recipe done in the dehydrater. I'm looking for the tasty crunch factor. Talking about fruit leather made me hungry for some---I started a batch of strawbery leather in my dehydrater last night.

Atta girl, 'Lizbeth getting back to the gym! You are on your way to better eating, taking off excess pounds, getting into shape, and getting that blood pressure back in a healthy range. You are going to feel so terrific back in your ideal weight zone!

I was wondering if anyone was interested in losing ten pounds "together' with some extra motivation that we would both send each other a little gift in the mail as a reward once that other person loses ten pounds--nothing expensive, but a nice little unknown fun surprise that the other person could look forward to once they've melted away ten excess pounds. This wouldn't be a race or competion--each person does it at their own speed using whatever plan suits them best and they get their prize after their ten pounds is off.I am aware of the merits of slow weight loss but I've got a long ways to go and I'm hoping to take mine off fast while eating very healthy and upping my physical activity. If anyone is interested, please let me know here in this thread--I'd like to do it with the first person who responds. If possible (and please no offense whatsoever intended), my preference would be to link up with someone in the U.S. just to keep postage reasonable. If I find a "10 pound reward partner" and there is more than just me and one other person who wants to do this, speak right up-- if there is additional interest, others could also team up for a mutual reward prize if desired. I've got lots of weight to loose and multiple groups of ten pounds that need to bite the dust off this body. I'm five down and ready to tackle my next ten now and this time I want to do what it takes to make my weight loss to be permanent. If nobody here wants to do this little mutual reward idea with me, I'll think of something else for self-incentive.

Do you guys know about the 212 Degree principle? http://play.simpletruths.com/movie/2...-extra-degree/ It dovetails very nicely with healthy lifestyle goals as well as other areas of life.

Have a great day, everybody!

Paula