Week 2 on the 1-2-3 Slim-Fast Diet - 4 Pounds Lost

Last week, I started a healthy challenge with my six members of my family.  We are using Facebook to check in and encourage one another.  My oldest and I have been using the Slim-Fast line of products to accomplish our goals.  Since last Monday, I have lost four pounds.  I'm still waiting for her weigh in but was very pleased to see the loss.  My other family members are losing too and with this mornings check in for three of us, combined, we have lost 12 pounds in a week.  We are not starving and we are eating.  For myself, the 1-2-3 Slim-Fast new shakes are now available with lids so it makes it easy to take with you.  They are very, very good ..did I say VERY good?  That is just one part of the diet as it's a complete meal plan.

The online Slim-Fast site allows you to enter your profile, how much you weight and how much you want to lose.  It provides a guide in getting to your goal in a safe manner.  Here is a summary of what your average day is like:

• A meal bar or shake for breakfast and lunch (approximately 190 calories)
• Three 100 calorie snacks throughout the day with helpful suggestions on smart choices like almonds or apples or convenient snacks such as their snack bars which are really good.
• One 500 calories sensible meal which they provide great tasting recipes to help you make the journey easier.

The shakes are my favorite.  They are rich and you cannot tell they are a diet type product since they don't have that old fiber taste of other brands and they don't leave a horrible after taste.  They are amazingly good.  With the new lids, it makes it easier to take on the go too.  The 500 calorie meals for the 3-2-1 plan include filling your plate 1/2 full of vegetables, 1/4 starch and 1/4 lean protein.  This is a sensible approach in losing and maintaining weight.  The plan allows you to track your progress and encourages water intake and exercise.  It's a smart plan to use in losing weight in a better way as it's slow and it helps to incorporate a lifestyle or behavioral change.

Updated:  I forgot to mention that I have been exercising nearly every day for almost an hour on my recumbent bike.  My daughter has lost two pounds!

So this past week, I lost four pounds.  Stay tuned as I share mine and my family's journey in getting healthy!

To read my first post, please click on the Slim-Fast post here.


*Disclaimer:  I did receive complimentary product but the posts are my opinions and I was not obligated to post.

Good Foods for the Skin

Different websites are touting the benefits of eating right on your skin to prevent wrinkles and retain that youthful glow. I have a friend who at 50, looked AMAZING and actually looked like she was 40. She credited this youthful, wrinkless, glowing complexion to eating right, drinking plenty of water and taking many supplements. Either her genes were very good and/or the lifestyle was working because she looked incredible.

Lycopene from processed tomatoes provides a great source of an anti-oxidant and also helps to ward off cancerous cell formations. Lycopene, in high doses, flush out free radicals. Since lycopene is not made in the body, we require products such as tomatoes to acquire it.

“Researchers introduced Lycopene into pre-existing cancer cell cultures and the Lycopene prevented the continued growth of these cultures. This is pretty powerful evidence that the health benefits of eating a tomato are really quite phenomenal. It takes as little as 540 milliliters of liquid tomato product to get the full benefits of Lycopene. This means that a daily glass of tomato juice has the potential to keep a person healthy for life.”

Oysters provides zinc which provides that nice little feature of repairing and renewing our skin called collagen. As we age, we lose that ability.

Blueberries prevent cell damage by also being a source of an anti-oxidant. In 2004, a team led by a USDA chemist found that this natural anti-oxidant may lower blood levels of LDL which is the “bad” cholesterol and triglycerides. The pterostilbene in blueberries is similar to the chemical Resveratrol found in grapes. Another claim for blueberries as an antioxidant is the benefit towards slowing down visual loss due to the extract from blueberries. It’s called anthocyanosides and has been found in clinical studies to slow down visual loss.

”A recent study was done in a Boston laboratory by putting one group of young rats on a blueberry-rich diet and another on regular chow. Then the scientist exposed both groups to 48 hours of concentrated oxygen, stirring up in two days the amount of free radical damage that normally takes 20 rat months, or 75 humans to accumulate. Brain cells in the chow group became less responsive to neurotransmitters associated with short-term memory. The brains of the blueberry stuffed rats did not change. He also found that the fruit prevented the kind of short-term memory loss that comes with aging. Blueberries actually stave off declines in brain cell’s ability to send messages to one another.”

Dark chocolate has many benefits to include providing yet another anti-oxidant source. It increases blood flow to the skin which rehydrates the skin and provides additional sun protection.

Walnuts provides omega-3 and vitamin E which is a natural way to ward off psoriasis and eczema. Omega-3 fatty acids also provide benefits ranging from better mental functioning to cardiovascular protection to an anti-inflammatory benefits in asthma.