Don't Chow... Especially Not Late Night!

This is, honest to God, the best advice I can give anyone who wants to either lose or maintain their weight. I don't care whether it is the healthiest meal in the world... if you polish off 4 plain chicken breasts and 3 heads of broccoli in one sitting, you are probably gonna gain weight. You are expanding your stomach and expanding what your stomach is going to expect everytime you sit down to eat. Seriously, 6 small meals a day. That's the easiest way to do it! This doesn't mean you only eat snack food all day, it just means if you get a salad (or any restaurant meal) or, if you make dinner, take some home with you or save some leftovers, and have the rest for one of your "small meals!" 

I am honestly eating (grazing) ALL DAY (especially when I'm home... bored...) I can't not! But its not like every hour I sit down to a thanksgiving dinner! I'm pretty health-conscious, so I'll have some bites of a salad or some of last night's dinner, or half a whole wheat pita and hummus... One thing I always have with me is nuts! They are really filling, satisfying, and healthy for you! But honestly, even if your gonna go get Taco Bell, have the kiddie size nachos, or one small soft taco. Don't be like my husband and get 5 different items off the menu! (Sorry Matt)

If you really want to chow? Do it for breakfast or lunch if you can manage... At least that way you'll burn off more cals before you go to bed. That leads into my other suggestion... Stop eating & drinking 2 or 3 hours before you go to bed. It's not brain science why that works, but as a side note, think about what you DO crave before you go to bed, odds are its got some sugar in it.This is because the more tired you are, the more you crave carbs. Eating sugary crap and then going to bed is the worst thing you could honestly do. (In my opinion...)  :)

Rewards Network

If you remember my blog about Restaurant.com, this one is kind of similar, but is actually less of a hassle. Its called Rewards Network. Here's the jist:

Go to their site and register your credit card (don't worry, it is free and COMPLETELY safe... I've been doing this for a year and there is nothing to worry about)

THEN, when you go out to eat at any of their participating restaurants (you can even search their restaurants before you register your card), pay for your meal (drinks included) with that card and you will almost automatically receive up to 15% back on your card! 

You can keep track of how much you get back on their site...

The way I saw it, there were a lot of restaurants that Matt and I go to in our area, that were registered w/ Rewards Network, and I would probably use that credit card anyways, so why not save $10-15??? Here's the website, if you want to check it out: http://www.rewardsnetwork.com

Eckhart Tolle

It's not a strange coincidence that Eckhart Tolle's (ET) "A New Earth" is one of my favorite books, AND it was Oprah's Book Club pick... hmm...

Regardless,  after reading 3 of his books, his impact on the way I live my life has been so profound... it has totally altered the way I view my life, my relationships, and my priorities. 

I'll probably bring up ET, in some form or another throughout this blog, but all I can do here is give you a basic premise of his books, and suggest that you read them! (The bonus is that, because Oprah is such a fan, there is an "online course" that you can take from her website, that details and explains each chapter, because these books tend to get a little wordy and confusing at times) Here is a link to her online web class (you can even read one chapter, then watch the class for that chapter) A New Earth Webcast

Here's a brief introduction on one of his points that I can really relate to:

He talks of the present moment. He explains that unfortunately, most of humanity tends to go through life "unconsciously." That is, we spend so much time in our heads and in our thoughts... that we are not experiencing what is NOW.  Think about it...what is in our thoughts? The past and the future. Either we are dwelling on something that happened in the past, or living in the past (if our life seemed better at that point), or wishing things turned out differently... OR... we are worrying about the future, or thinking that "life will be better in the future."  ET tries to show us the power of living in the present moment. I think everyone can relate to that, and agree with him on that. Think about how many precious moments you could be losing, by being so consumed with the chatter in your head about who wronged you that day, or "what's going to happen tomorrow?" A great example is if you have children, because it seems like a day passes... and they are all grown up! Why would you waste a minute of the short amount of time they actually spend with you,  on worrying about something that you have no control over anyways (the future) or dwelling on something that already happened (the past)? One of my favorite lines in ANE is... "this too will pass..." All everything is, is just a moment, and it will pass. Good things AND bad things. Were you really THERE in that moment? Did you experience it? Or were you so caught up in your head that it was wasted? 

Cute Little Gift Idea

Here's a cute little gift idea... If you drink wine, save a cork, clean it up, then drill a hole in the top. Find a cute drawer handle and screw it into the top of the cork. (If you want, stick some glue in the hole before you screw it in) You then have a fancy little wine stopper to keep for yourself or give as a little gift! Here's a pic of one that I made:

Coupons

Never underestimate the power of cutting and saving coupons. Get a cheap subscription to the Sunday paper, and spend ten minutes flipping through the coupons. I GUARANTEE that in every paper, you will find a MINIMUM of 5-10 coupons for things you buy on a regular basis. A great example is that I have coupons for 1-5 dollars off of any drugstore item I would regularly buy. Revlon will give coupons for $2 off any one of their products. I use Loreal face wash and never buy it w/o going when its on sale and taking a dollar off. I use Oil of Olay lotion and I always use a $3 coupon for that, and I love the Oil of Olay body wash and I just bought it on sale, and with an addition $1.50 off coupon. This is not to mention, you can always find a coupon for an extra dollar off your Tide, or your paper towels/toilet paper…I mean, these are coupons that come on a regular basis, every Sunday. I promise you will see a huge savings by taking a couple min a week to go through.

Also, if you want to get a little more serious about it, I’d recommend getting a coupon organizer that you can carry in your purse. That way, you can organize and store the coupons if you A. don’t need the product at the current moment, but will in like, a month, or B. If you want always carry it with you and, if you have the flexibility to do so, you can wait till its on sale and then you’ll have your coupon handy.

I have divided my coupon book down into certain categories so I can access them when I’m shopping to see what I have (ie: baking goods, frozen products, skin care, health, etc…)

Great website for coupon-users is www.couponmom.com. They actually allow you to look up all the coupons that came out for your area, and they’ll break down what stores will be having those items on sale! (They also have the click through to the  restaurant.com site) One more bonus of coupon mom is that , if you’re willing to download the coupon-printer (doesn’t affect/spam your computer at all) you can get a whole new slew of coupons to print off.

Google & Coupons

Cool little trick before you shop online or in stores...

Go to google, and type in the name of the store, then "coupons." For example, 

I like to order from Victoria's Secret (for clothes... Mom) SO rather than save all the catalogs they send with all the discounts and stuff, I'd just go to google, and type in "Victoria's Secret Coupons" and it'll come back with a ton of sites that tell you every "coupon code" if you order online OR it'll give you links to coupons you can print and use in the store. You can do this with a ton of different stores... I'd honestly google to see if you can get a coupon code or printable coupon everytime before you shop! A great site to go to just to see if there are any good printable coupons is called Wow coupons (again, no spam) Here is the link: http://www.wow-coupons.com/all-printable-retail-coupons.php

Happy shopping!!!

OPRAH

Ok.. I can't believe that I've had this blog for 3 days and have not put anything down about Oprah! I've been a huge fan of hers for a really long time... and thanks to my amazing little sis, I actually got to go see her this year! (It was the one with Montel Williams...really good!!) 

Anyways, I love her show, so Tivo it if you don't already... you will learn SO much :)  I also think she has a great website! When I was working, and in my car alot, I would actually download and listen to her Soul Series, which are a series of spirtual based interviews that she does for her radio station. (Radio gets old, and I can only call so many people!) Anyways, they are really interesting, so in case you're interested, here is the link: Soul Series Webcast

Great Quotes (books/plays)

I love a great quote... I'll definitely be posting some of my faves on the site every now and then.

Here are a few quotes from some great books/plays:

• "For there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so." 
  — William Shakespeare, Hamlet
  
• "There are years that ask questions and years that answer."                                                                                                          — Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God
• "Whatever you fight, you strengthen, and what you resist, persists." 
  — Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth
  
• "Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light."                       - JK Rowling, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
• "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?"                                                                                                       — Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love

Dryel

I love Dryel! I was spending so much money on dry cleaning and I realized that I could use Dryel instead for stuff like sweaters, dresses, dry-clean only shirts, even my dress pants! (I wouldn't recommend for shirts that need to be pressed/starched... I also don't use for Matt's dress pants cuz he likes them w/ creases and so I'd have to do extra ironing ;) ) Anyways, its great and really easy, you just spot treat (if you need to) and then throw like 4 items in this bag with the dry cleaning sheet and stick it in the dryer for 30 min! SO much more affordable, you don't have to drive anywhere or wait for clothes to be done and it really works! Here is their website, you can go there and enter your email for a coupon for $2 off. (They don't spam you and I'd also print off a few copies) :) www.dryel.com

Additional Money Making Ideas

1. Sell your stuff:

I'm SURE you have some extra stuff laying around your house that would be of value to someone else. Whether it be old clothes, jewelry, furniture, etc.. You don't realize how much money you could earn just by finding some way to sell it. Here are some good ideas:

Resale shops: Most resale shops will take your clothes and then give you a percentage of those sales, but some will give you cash up front! A little research on your area will tell you. If you live in the Metro Detroit area, try "Regeneration" (http://www.myspace.com/shop_regeneration)

Etsy: (www.etsy.com) If you consider yourself at all crafty or you make something really cool, like jewelry, pottery, etc... you can go to this site and sell it!

Online Selling: I personally love Craigslist as its so easy to post (and free) but there is also Amazon and ebay. Another thing you could do is find items that people are giving away for free or cheap (at garage sales, or even curbside) take them home, fix them up if needed and resell online at a higher rate!

2. Sell your expertise:

Good at something? Go online and promote it! 

Childcare: www.sittercity.com

Elder Care: www.seniorhelpers.com, www.homeinstead.com

Pet Sitting: www.fetchpetcare.com

Technical: www.guru.com, www.elance.com, www.odesk.com

Advice: www.liveperson.com

Writing: www.associatedcontent.com, www.helium.com

3. Direct Sell

Find something you have an interest in and sell it to your friends and their friends!

My mom sells Lia Sophia jewelry and she loves it! Takes very little time per week and great for extra cash, OR if you want to get serious about it, you could make it your own business!

If you have interest in Lia Sophia ( or in Jewelry) feel free to contact my mom at her website:

http://www.liasophia.com/sites/mariannesmith?reload=true

Here are some other good ones I've heard of:

Avon (www.avon.com) or Mark, which is Avons younger crowd (www.meetmark.com)

Pampered Chef (http://www.pamperedchef.com/)

Body Shop @ Home: (http://www2.thebodyshopathome.com/)

Diva Girl Purse Party: (http://divagirlpurseparty.com/)

Simply Fun: (www.simplyfun.com)

If you know of any other good ones, let me know! Hope something on here works for you!

Stevia

In my prior post, I mentioned the importance of regulating your body's Ph level. One change that I've permanently made is to try to avoid eating sugary foods or using artificial sweeteners (which to someone like me, who tries to avoid eating too much bad sugar, is hard to do) So I discovered that there is one "sweetener" that is actually good for your body in an alkaline sense (because it is an actual herb) and its called Stevia. It is like 100 times sweeter than sugar, so you don't need that much, and it actually doesn't leave behind a bad aftertaste like other artificial sweeteners. You can find it at pretty much any mainstream grocery store, and I'd highly recommend... Here's more info in case you were curious: http://www.stevia.com/

Maintaining a healthy Ph Balance

Remember when you were in high school science class, you probably at one time or another learned about the Ph scale? The scale goes from 0-14... Anything under 7 is acidic, and over 7 is alkaline? Well, now I'm learning how important it is to try and balance your body's Ph level. Supposedly the more acidic your body is (acidosis), the more it creates an environment that breeds mold, bacteria, and fungus.  This is a main cause of many diseases/illnesses, digestive problems, etc... My personal experience? For a good few months, I made a very concerted effort to eat a LOT of alkaline foods, because it is supposed to both help with fertility (and even more, research suggests that the more alkaline your body, the better the odds of having a boy) So I bought some Ph testing strips to see how well I was doing, and I was still at like a 6! (Ideal ratio is 7.3-7.4) So, you can imagine where most of us are normally at!

There is a lot of research on this topic all over the web so I'd encourage you to check it out.

Here is a site that I think describes Ph pretty well: http://www.phionbalance.com/Discover.aspx, and here is a site with a fairly extensive list of what foods leave an acidic vs. alkaline "ash" behind in your body: http://www.rense.com/1.mpicons/acidalka.htm.