Back in skinny jeans

Nosh bites: Mojito Guacamole, Fruit kabobs, and How to cook Quinoa & Fresh Fava Beans

Over at Noshtopia for your eating wellness pleasure:

• Here's a recipe twist on traditional Guacamole, Mojito Guacamole served with Cassava Chips. You can eat twice as many Cassava Chips than tortilla chips for the same caloric count.

• Here's something quick and fun to make for those summer barbecues coming up, Zesty Fruit Kabobs. They are also a great addition for food-on-a-stick for your vegetarian, vegan, and raw guests.

• Have you heard of the Donut Peach? They're really cute.

• Ever wanted to know how to make a fluffy Quinoa that doesn't taste bitter? Here's the secret. And while you're at it. Save some of that cooked Quinoa and make this delicious Quinoa pudding with fresh blueberries.

• And speaking of cooking tips, this is how you cook fresh fava beans. There is actually a two-step shucking process. It's work but well worth it.

BISJ Evolves Part 1 of 2: At some point you have to evolve

Sometimes the voice in my head sounds like Jedi master Yoda. A few months ago while trying to figure out the root cause of that wicked insomnia spell I had, this is what the wise one echoed,

“Focus on your body not. Evolve is the time.”

“What the eff Yoda?”...my lower self balked. My higher self knew exactly what he was talking about and it has lifted a burden that has been weighing heavy on my heart for quite some time. I have lots of work to do, but now I can sleep. In fact, my sleep is almost back to normal.

After much deliberation about this, and trust me it’s been very hard, I have decided to change the focus of Back in Skinny Jeans and lessen my time here, and focus more time growing and expanding Noshtopia. Yes, it’s kind of a biggie announcement today, and also poignant as I am this close to 2,000 BISJ posts.

“What!!!”

At the core, it’s very simple. At some point, we as women have to evolve beyond making our body & our looks the priority in our lives. At some point, we have to let go of obsessing and focusing on what we weigh, our dress size, and what other women look like compared to us. We have to let go of the constant fat and body talk, and just love our body. At some point, it becomes time to let go of an old life where we defined our life by our physical body, and move onto a bigger life filled with depth, interestingness, and progress. At some point, we have to stop trying to be an image, and start being who we really are which has absolutely nothing to do with the way we look.

Why can’t you blog and evolve at the same time?

"Two Tiny Changes": 5 gym money saving tips + update

Whether you realize it or not, you can be throwing away a significant amount of money at the gym without really realizing it. The Inner Resistance Monster is lazy you see, so he/she can influence you to not only skip your workouts but to also throw down the drain some of your good hard earned money. Here are some helpful tips to save money related to your gym time:

• Those bottles of water at the gym are usually about $1 more than what you would pay at the grocery store. If you always buy water at the gym, and you go 5 times a week, that comes to $260 a year you're spending on water. That's almost 3 massages at a nice spa. Wouldn't you rather be pampered than chuck money for bottled water at the gym. This week, start buying water at stores where the H20 is cheaper.

• Now, speaking of sport water bottles you buy in bulk like at Costco, that's a whole lot of plastic to recycle. To conserve money and carbon footprints, why not buy a reusable water bottle, and fill it each time you go workout. Make sure you're sport bottle is BPA-free. Workout Mommy has more info on BPA and water bottles.

• Have you always wanted to work with a trainer but weren't sure and don't want to pay just for one session? Most gyms, if you ask nicely, will offer one free training session so you can see what it's like.Be specific in telling them that you want to "try before you buy." It's kind of like getting a bite from that pink taster spoon at Baskin Robbins before committing to a full scoop.

• Do you really need to spend money on fancy fashionable workout and yoga wear? Actually, no you don't because 1. You are there to get sweaty and "work" so basic workout wear will do. However, do care to not wear outfits like Charlotte points out in "What Not to Wear: Gym Edition" and  2. Ladies, this is something a few guy friends told me, when guys see women dolled up on the gym floor it communicates "high-maintenance." The tactic of dolling up to get the guy's attention is not as effective as showing that you can pump some iron, spin like you love it, and kickbox like you mean business. Impress people with your love of being healthy than your love of vanity.

• And most importantly, go to the gym. Go! How many of you have memberships that you pay for and yet you never go. Even if you only go once a week, that is better than going zero times. You may justify that it's only $30 (or whatever) a month. But over a year, that $30/mo adds up to $360. For many, that's a car payment, a credit card payment, or food or gas for a month. If you have a membership and don't go, either cancel your membership or start going. Again, even going just once a week is a move forward. You'll probably start enjoying how you feel better after working out.

Things I did last week:

• I met with a bunch of old college buddies, and we went out for pizza and beer. I ordered my first ever vegan pizza which I shared with a couple others at the table who turn out to be vegetarian or trying to cut down on fat. It was a large so we actually did half vegetarian and half vegan. The pizza was delicious. It had a thin wheat crust with a pesto sauce, potatoes, carmelized onions, and sweet peppers. The other half just had feta cheese sprinkled on top. Here's the pizza taken from a fancy-smancy iPhone. Yum!

• I tried a seaweed side dish at a Korean restaurant because seaweed is actually very beneficial and helps thyroid function, and provides iodine and selenium, things vegetarians/vegans tend to be short of. I just have avoided it in the past because, well, it tastes like the sea. This seaweed dish was really tasty, and I was happy about that ;)

What would you look like with some "Lift Magic"

This is what I look like Before and After if I got 75% enhancements done to my face via an online cosmetic surgery visualization tool. The After actually looks more like one of those tacky "Glamour" studio pictures from the mall, but let's play along shall we.

Mizfit has this uncanny way of finding some of the most far out stuff. Last week, she pointed out this site called "Lift Magic" which they claim is "The world's most advanced facelift visualization studio."

For "entertainment purposes only", of course, you can simulate what your face would look like with some nip tuck. Now, what I found interesting is that I played with quite a few % numbers, and I didn't see anything of significant change until I got to the 75% range.

I take that that as either, their visualization tool isn't so nifty, or my face is just fine as it is and that it would take at least a 75% change to make me look "lifted." And even then, I look at that "After" picture and think, "Eh! Why bother?"

Getting 75% worth of change just sounds really painful and, really, pointless. Why change something that is already good as it is? So, I left Lift Magic highly entertained and feeling even better about the natural face my folks gave me, and that time has seasoned. Kinda ironic that something designed to make you want to get work done, actually made me love more what I have un-touched.

If you end up playing with the visualization tool, please share what you thought!

Quote on yoga

Battle of the celeb sixpack books, Mario vs. LL Cool J

So, hello manjoyment! I was at the bookstore this weekend and on display was Mario Lopez's new book "Mario Lopez's Knockout Fitness" side by side to LL Cool J's sixpastic, "LL Cool J's Platinum Workout" Here we have the battle of 'Knockout" versus "Mama Said Knock You Out."

Some dude named Jeff O'Connell is involved in both books. He's an executive writer for Men's Health magazine. He's also obviously becoming the scribe of ab-sensation.

I had to stop and drool gawk for "research purposes." (See the things I do for you people.) Honestly, I was in a bit of a manlicious euphoric haze looking at all those glistening pecs and packs because...well, look... wouldn't you be too?

Hey, I was just innocently walking over to find some Food Network celeb cookbooks, then, Booyah! I stop pedin my tracks. But no mind, I'd rather look at these two than that Skinny Biatch.

It goes to show that we women are not the only ones subjected to idealized "perfect" figures. While women are starving to get skinnier faster, the guys are juicing up to bulk faster. Both Mario and LL claim they got pumped up physiques through good old fashioned food and exercise, and that we can too if we work hard, but do you believe that? I don't think they were roiding like Jose Canseco, but I would believe there was some borderline muscle enhancement "supplementation" action? My cynicism is showing I know.

Tiny inspiring signs: You already know what to do

Continuing on the theme from last weeks "Yes, You Can" signs about going for the things you want in life, I thought it would be beneficial to add on some motivation related to the action we must take to move into a bigger life.

As I have gotten older, I have learned that no matter the situation, deep down I already know what I have to do in order to move towards my goals and dreams. I believe our gut knows right away the next steps, but our fears and our good old Inner Resistance Monster step in to keep us immobilized in doubt and confusion, so we procrastinate, make up excuses, or simply do nothing.

Honestly though, that doubt we feel or the procrastination we linger in is really about buying time until we figure out alternative tactics that will cause us the least amount of pain, embarrassment, loss of control, you name it. Your gut always knows the right and best thing to do, you just don't want to do it. We'd prefer to take a path of least resistance. But remember, the path to becoming a more seasoned, wiser, and evolved human being is filled with life lessons which includes dealing with our inner fears.

Print, and put these business card size signs anywhere you need some motivation to move into your bigger life.

Angelina is stunning preggers with twins

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt were at the Cannes Film Festival for Angie's new movie King Fu Panda. Just look at her. She looks so stunningly blissful and radiant pregnant with her twins.

Angie even knows how to make pregnancy look hot.

You can tell in the other photos of Brangelina in Cannes that she loves being pregnant. I'm really happy for those two. It's fantastic to see happy thriving celebs who do good things for the world and for their family as well as for their careers. Makes me like this couple more and more.

Pasta Queen is "Half-Assed" after dropping 200lbs

On Tuesday, we showed a clip of Jennette Fulda aka blogger PastaQueen.com author of "Half-Assed" on the TODAY show. Continuing on her blog tour to promote the book, we have the pleasure of Jennette's company via podcast. I sit down with Jennette and we chat about:

• Her thoughts on a blogger become a book author.

• Her "A-Ha!" moment, when she knew it was time to do something about her 372lb weight.

• What she basically did to shed the 200lbs. Did she go on any weight loss programs?

• How she started blogging about her weight loss journey and her advice to those thinking about blogging their own weight loss story including whether to use your real name or a pseudo-name.

• Jennette talks about how she has less fear in her life now that she's 200lbs lighter including the "pounds of protection" and how the weight loss has affected her career.

• How she trained to run her first half marathon two weeks ago. Will she run a full marathon?

• Finally, her thoughts on achieving your goals.

We're so proud of Jennette, and we wish her much success in the future! If you're going to BlogHer 08 in San Francisco in July be sure to stop by Jennette's panel on turning a blog into a book deal.

Play Podcast: Interview with Jennette Fulda (15 min.)

TODAY: Does a personalized weight loss program work the best?

In the final segment of the TODAY show's series, "TODAY Investigates Diet Programs", Matt Lauer show us the 3-month journey of Jennifer, 27, who has Type I Diabetes and has a weight loss goal of 24lbs. Jennifer is doing a personalized program with the help of nutritionist Heidi, and Dr. Lam.

On Jennifer's plan, she meets with Heidi and Dr. Lam weekly. Jennifer is eating 1900 calories per day with food planning help from Heidi, and she exercises for a minimum of 30 minutes 5 days a week.

In the video, Jennifer reveals how much she actually lost during the 3-months. A major roadblock she had to deal with was a plateau during the 2nd month. Heidi and Dr. Lam join in as well and explain to Matt what really are the important things to consider when trying to lose weight for long term success. I loved Dr. Lam's point of view at the end.

The only thing I felt missing from Heidi and Dr. Lam's advice was incorporating a support system and having help with emotional eating. Many of us overeat and become overweight because we use food to deal with emotional issues. We also over eat because we're lonely. I can say first hand, that having a therapist or healer, is highly beneficial in working on breaking the un-healthy emotional eating habits.

So, in conclusion, each of the three programs TODAY looked at, Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, and a Personalized Plan, have their strengths and weaknesses, and which one will work best for you depends on your needs. Personally, the personalized programs have worked most effectively for me.