The good news is you can start reducing waste at home, too. I’ve got three Brita faucet mounts and three reusable Filter For Good bottles that I’m giving away (I’ll be shipping them after Christmas). I’ll randomly pick three of the commenters on this post to receive them.

In the meantime, you can go to the Filter For Good website and take a pledge to reduce bottled water waste. And if you don’t win an FFG bottle in my giveaway, you can buy one and the proceeds will go to the Blue Planet Run Foundation, a nonprofit organization working to provide 200 million people with a lifetime’s worth of drinking water by 2027.

So leave a comment at the bottom between now and December 27th. It doesn’t matter what you say, but please no duplicate comments, or they will be ignored.

Good luck!

Claire

(Image from Filter For Good)

Post from: Blisstree

The Biggest Loser Bans Bottled Water & Giveaway

I’ve had these bars many times and they truly are delicious. They’re sweetened with erythritol, which is an all natural low-GI sweetener that won’t cause any stomach upset (like maltitol and some others). They taste just like a great bar of chocolate would.

Last week Jimmy emailed me to tell me he was sending me some samples of his own Livin’ La Vida Low Carb dark chocolate raspberry bars, made by ChocoPerfection. Well, they arrived in the mail yesterday and I got to try one. The best thing about these bars is the high-quality ingredients, like coconut and raspberry oils. They really taste more like a truffle bar than a regular chocolate bar.

Best of all, each bar has only 2 net carbs and 12 grams of fiber (that’s almost half of what you need in a day). I give these bars two thumbs up!

For more information and where to buy, visit Jimmy’s website.

Claire

(image from Livin’ La Vida Low Carb)

Post from: Blisstree

ChocoPerfection Bars Have A New Flavor

First, we got to see a quick snippet of the journeys of the folks who didn’t make it to the final four. There were fourteen of them in all. I thought it was funny how they showed clips of them grunting and screaming and all around making funny noises as they worked out. Then, they all weighed in. Jerry lost a remarkable amount of weight – so did Kae and many others. However, it was Jim who took the $100,000 prize.

When it got time to weigh the final four, Bill got to pick who went in what order. He decided to go from youngest to oldest – so Isabeau weighed first, then Hollie, then Julie, then himself. (Personally, I think it had a little more to do with him going last so he could make the biggest impact). Each lost more than the last, and Julie’s weight loss was astonishing – over 44 percent of her total body weight was lost. However Bill took it all home in the end after losing nearly half his body weight.

It was not a surprise that the twins won. After Jim won first I knew Bill would win since they were both basically the same size – and had started out at close to the same weight.

I was, however, surprised to see that some of the contestants were still heavy – one woman weighing 200 pounds (Amber, I think?)

What did you think of the finale? Let me know in the comments!

Claire

(Image from BuddyTV)

Post from: Blisstree

Biggest Loser Season Four Finale – Recap

Regular potatoes – swap for sweet potatoes. Not necessarily Grandma’s sweet potato casserole (which is loaded with sugar) but cooked sweet potatoes with a little butter are a good alternative. They won’t spike your insulin as much, they’re less caloric, and they contain more fiber.

Cranberry sauce – swap for sugar-free Jello with fruit. We always have a Jello dish during the holidays, which I eat instead of the cranberry sauce (chock full of sugar and extra calories). My favorite is the raspberry flavor with real raspberries inside. You can put the fruit in before you put it in the fridge to set.

Eggnog – swap for hot chocolate made with Splenda. All the alcohol, sugar and fat in eggnog won’t be kind to your waistline. If you make the hot chocolate with skim milk, it’ll be around 90 calories per cup.

Got any more swap ideas? Post them in the comments!

Claire

Post from: Blisstree

Healthy Swaps For Favorite Christmas Treats

The 24-in-24 campaign (24 ounces of milk in 24 hours) has been alive and well for quite some time. However, in the past year or so, the assertions that calcium causes weight loss have been questioned. For one thing, studies where the participants took a calcium supplement showed no weight loss.

Maybe it was something in the milk…

A new Tokyo study showed that it was actually the lactose in the milk (milk sugar) that caused weight loss (or prevented weight gain). Rats that were fed high-fat diets and also lactose gained less weight and less fat than the control group.

While this is promising research, just keep in mind that the overall composition of your diet (protein vs carbs vs fats) as well as calories determine weight gain or loss.

Claire

Post from: Blisstree

Dairy For Weight Loss – Fact Or Fiction?

Tonight is the big night of the finale. Tune in at 9 PM Eastern on NBC to check out how much weight Julie, Isabeau, Bill and Hollie have lost. The 2-hour show will follow everyone during their time at home as they exercise, eat healthy and try to beat out everyone else – without knowing how anyone else is progressing, of course. Must make it nerve wracking!

Then we will see the four players as they weigh in (I assume – usually they just pick two, but we’ll have to see how it goes). In years past, they’ve also done hydrostatic weighing (to measure body fat) as a way of determining the winner.

I’ll be sure to update you all tomorrow after I watch with the winner and highlights. I’m hoping a woman will win – as long as it isn’t Julie. She’s definitely my least favorite this year.

Are you watching? Let me know in the comments!

Claire

Post from: Blisstree

Biggest Loser Finale Tonight at 9PM Eastern

I got a tip by email alerting me to this Newsweek article. Apparently too many poor people in rural areas are having to buy high-carb, high-fat foods because that is simply what is available in those towns. Often fruits and vegetables just aren’t available in plentiful supply – and we know how expensive some of those have gotten to be.

I really enjoy fresh cherries, for instance, and those are currently $8 a pound where I live. Most fresh fruits and vegetables are getting more expensive – besides, say, potatoes and corn (and corn is actually a grain, not a vegetable).

Whether healthy food is too expensive is a constant debate on health and fitness blogs among the commenters. Some say it can be done – you just have to shop the sales and look in grocery circulars every week to see what is cheap. Others admit that their grocery bill has gotten much heftier since they started to “eat healthy.”

I’m in the camp that says it can be done, but you have to be careful what you buy. Most boxed and packaged “organic” food is extremely expensive. If you stick to the perimeters of the grocery store, buying only meat, fruits and veggies that are on sale (better yet, frozen or canned), dairy, bread, etc, you should be fine. Also, beans are an inexpensive way to get your protein – sometimes cheaper than 50 cents a can.

Finally, most grocery stores offer free value cards. You can find additional savings on many products around the store with your card (We have one for both grocery stores we go to, and the savings really do add up).

Claire

Post from: Blisstree

Is Healthy Food Too Expensive?

Not so fast. For one thing, just because something is fat-free doesn’t mean it’s low in calories. One thing that food manufacturers do is try to compensate for the lack of fat by adding salt and sugar. When you buy something fat-free, it’s automatically higher in sugar. This may seem innocent, but here’s a quick look at what extra sugar does in your body:

Contrary to popular belief, your body doesn’t store fat as fat. It stores sugar and carbs as fat. When you eat extra sugar and/ or carbs, it stimlates the production of insulin in your body. The insulin signals your body to store fat.

This will give you an idea of how type 2 diabetes is developed and why many have success cutting back on their carbs as well as simple sugars. Remember – fat-free doesn’t equal weight loss.

Claire

Post from: Blisstree

Fat-Free = Weight Loss?

Well, last night was the finale. The top three girls, Jenah, Chantal, and Saleisha battled it out for the number one spot. Jenah was the first to go – her sarcastic attitude wasn’t winning her points with the judges. It came down to Saleisha and Chantal, and they had a runway walk-off in China that involved elaborate geisha costumes and Chinese men on stilts. Saleisha ended up taking the title of America’s Next Top Model after Chantal tripped one of the men on stilts.

This means that previous ANTM winner, Jaslene, will not be around anymore. Thank goodness, because I happen to think she’s a terrible role model. Here she is pictured below -

Rumor has it she only weighs 89 pounds. I’m not sure if this is true, or just something folks are saying, but I can believe it.

Did you watch the finale last night? What were your thoughts? Let me know in the comments!

Claire

(Images from Backseat Cuddler and The Skinny Website)

Post from: Blisstree

America’s Next Top Model Finale

Exercise-wise, I’ve been slacking. I only went to yoga once this past week, and didn’t make it to the gym, although my job keeps me on my feet. (I used this as an excuse to “just come home and rest”). I’ll try to do better this week and see what happens.

Food-wise, I’ve been pretty good although I did have half a piece of pie yesterday! I also had brown rice California rolls, but the two apparently cancelled each other out

I’ve been put on a stimulant for weight loss before, to try to boost my sluggish metabolism. I’ve considered going back on one, but I think I want to get my thyroid checked first. I’ll let you all know what I decide.

Stay tuned for next week’s update,

Claire

Post from: Blisstree

South Beach Check-In: Week 5