Great CBS Report on Sugar

Cynthia Sass posted this video on her facebook page.  Take some time and watch this important report on how sugar effects your health.  Click the link below:

CBS Report

My big takeaways:

-Sugar is hidden in all of our processed foods.  Ok, I learned this from the Cinch Sass Diet.

-We used to get our sugar in small amounts of fruit.  The sugar in fruit is balanced out by the fiber & slows consumption.  Now, with refined sugar, we are overindulging in large amounts of sugar without the fiber.  Not good.

-During the fat free craze companies took out the fat & it tasted like cardboard so they pumped the fat free foods with sugar.  This reminds me of those snackwell cookies I used to love to eat in the early 90′s.  My favorite were the Devil’s Food Cookies.  Look at the nutritional info here.  First ingredient is sugar, third ingredient is high fructose corn syrup and they have 0 fat.  It is like eating a sugary piece of cardboard.

-Diet is so important.  Sugar may be adding to major diseases or even causing some.

-Sugar is addictive.  Again, I learned this from the Cinch Sass Diet.

At the end of the report it says it’s sponsored by Pfizer.  Huh?  Why is a report on the health industry sponsored by a drug company?  That’s odd.  Beyond that complaint this was great information.

Healthy Panini

I took whole grain bread & spread the bottom with a little goat cheese.  I then added chopped peppadew peppers, arugula, little olive oil & red wine vinegar then topped with some baby swiss cheese.  Put a little olive oil on the top & bottom of the bread then press down on the panini press & voila:

I came up with this on Saturday and just used what I had in the fridge.  I spent all day cleaning and was considering going out to grab something but threw this together instead.  I loved the peppery taste of the arugula with the spiciness of the peppadew peppers.  And of course cheese makes everything better.

The first time I had peppadew peppers was in the Mediterranean Veggie Sandwich from Panera Bread.  If you haven’t tried it you should.  I take out the red onions but this sandwich is fantastic.  Check it out here.  They put it on their tomato basil bread and the crust has a touch of sweetness on it.  So Yum.  I had one last week actually.  Love Panera!

A Trader Joe’s Find

Millions of peaches peaches for me-

Run out to your nearest Trader Joe’s and get this!  This is my favorite dried fruit.  Although, the dried mango at Whole Foods is a close second.

A Trader Joe’s Find

Oh, how I love sun-dried tomatoes.  I found these at Trader Joe’s and I buy 2 or 3 packages at a time.  Most sun-dried tomatoes come packed in oil with herbs but these are just dried so no need to worry about extra calories from the oil.

I love to throw these in salads and they taste great with goat cheese or feta cheese.  My obsession with Trader Joe’s will continue.  I’ll post some more favorites soon.  Have any of you discovered any great finds at TJ’s?

My Fave Breakfast

Pineapple with cottage cheese, almonds, vanilla extract & nutmeg.

Of course, you can’t forget the yummy coffee!  I used a whole pineapple so I have lots of leftovers.  I used nonfat cottage cheese.  The almonds are from Trader Joes.  I love am having a love affair with Trader Joes.  They have dry roasted, unsalted almonds that I use so much & love.

SASS yourself thin

So a big development in the Cinch diet.  It’s no longer the Cinch diet.  It’s the Sass diet.  Like all changes in my life it seems so strange but I’m sure I’ll get used to it.  Cynthia announced it on her facebook page last week with the new paperback hitting shelves on March 20th.  Often, she would put disclaimers on her facebook page about how the Cinch diet plan from the Shaklee Corp is not related to her book.  I’m sure that had something to do with it.  Here’s the cover:

I really like the new cover and now I guess we will be sassy instead of cinchy!  Although, now the name of my blog doesn’t make sense.  Guess I’ll have to work on that.

 

8 week 5k Training

Yesterday I finished an 8 week 5K app that I downloaded on my iPhone.  The guy is apparently a huge deal in the marathon running world.  (of which I have no clue)  His name is Jeff Galloway & he teaches running in intervals and taking lots of walking breaks to train injury free.  It works well for me as I have had 2 knee surgeries for my ACL & meniscus.

I really like the app and I had a lot of fun trying to reach the end as a goal.  I took it easy and paced myself at 14 min miles on avg with the walking and running & I had it set at 1 min run/1 min walk intervals.  Tomorrow, I’m going to start from the beginning & try to improve my time with 12 min miles & 2 min run/1 min walk intervals.  He also has an app to train for a 10K but I think that’s too much right now.  I do feel stronger in both mind & body.  I’ve always HATED running but with the intervals it’s helped me to enjoy it.  I really love to walk.

Here’s a screen shot of the app:

What I like about the app:

• Jeff Galloway talks you through the run with tips about your posture & stride.  Also, he gives you positive affirmations like “You are getting stronger”
• There is a lot of information on the screen.  You can see the time & the distance elapsed & remaining.  Also, there’s a visual for the intervals.  I use this on a treadmill so it’s in front of me & easy to track all of the information.
• There is music that is set to your pace.  You can upload your own music to the app.
• It keeps track of your history of each running session.
• Oh, he also has a cute southern accent!