Remember in the last post that I said there is a lot of info out there–some good, some bad?  We need to put this whole issue into perspective by at least reviewing the information that is out there and then discuss how it does or does not apply to us:

Your cycle is a barometer by telling you:

Whether your hormones are balanced or not.

Find yourself crying because they made your coffee wrong that morning?  You may be a bit unbalanced.  Also, ladies, if you find yourself with a 5 o’clock shadow and it’s only noon time, you may have a problem there.  Shaving your beard on the way to work in the car is not cute, no matter how discreet you are.  If your chest hurts for weeks at a time (and you are not menopausal), you have extreme exhaustion from 2 to 5 pm, up all night long staring at the ceiling, some days you are Hercules—other days you are Pee Wee Herman or lastly, you have night sweats.   Any of these scream hormonal imbalance.

Whether your metabolism is fully functioning.

Gaining weight just watching fast food commercials?  Time to see if the thyroid is up to snuff.  Ate a piece of bread and it was as if someone opened an umbrella in your tummy five minutes later?  Could be issues with your gut which in turn mess with your metabolism.  Have a gall bladder issue and you aren’t your typical candidate for it?  Sounds like a possible thyroid problem there.  All of these things say, off kilter.

Whether your moods are in alignment.

Punched your husband in the face because he ate the last of something and then said, “so what?” about it?  Your free testosterone might be a bit too free, eh?  Feel like you need to have a baby yesterday and you are happily single and under 35 years old?  Get a hold of yourself, girl!  What’s wrong with you?  Sorry…that was my own personal interjection.  What I meant to say was, “You may be a bit estrogen heavy there.”  Gave somebody the finger in traffic and then realized it was your boss?  That progesterone may be getting the best of you.

If your cycle was off before you began clean eating it may be because of:

• Menopause/perimenopause
• Stress/Exercise
• Significant change in weight—up or down
• Medications
• PCOS/estrogen dominance/hormonal imbalance
• Nutrition
• And at least 5 other things that aren’t worth mentioning in this post

Most doctors help their patients manage these issues by:

• Focus on nutrition
• Limit stress
• Vitamin supplementation
• Prescribe the pill

This gives you an idea of what every woman faces whether they have chosen to lean out or not.  All of these are real issues and well documented in the medical community.  The question then becomes, “How is this different for you?”

Hormonal Imbalance

This is a given for us the first time we diet down to anything.  It doesn’t matter if we went from 200 pounds down to 180 pounds; dieting throws your body into a tail spin.  Some of us make it through unscathed, the rest of us are still picking up the pieces years later.  It’s different for everyone.  How it shows up, though, after dieting is anxiety, bingeing, mood swings (very high highs or very low lows), metabolic disturbances and our cycles.

If your cycle was off after you began clean eating it may be because of:

• Too little fat in your diet
• Too much exercise for way too long
• Too low of cals for way too long
• Too much exercise with too few cals for way too long
• Anxiety/depression medication
• Adrenal fatigue
• Insulin resistance
• Metabolic syndrome

What your doctor will suggest you do to help:

Eat right and exercise.

I know.  Don’t hit them.  Seriously.  But they will tell you that you need to eat healthy foods and make sure you do some cardio.  This is after you bring them 6 months worth of food journals and a plate loaded iso-lateral chest press machine for their waiting room.  You’ll be amazed at how many of them think that you are not doing enough even though you did the whole appointment with them on your own personal treadmill that you carried into the office all by yourself. Crazy.

Limit the stress.

This is about as effective as using chapstick as a gluestick.  Do they know who you are?  You’re Mrs. Type A.  You’ve already worked out, did 8 hours worth of work and made all your meals for the week and it’s only 9 am.  Getting you to relax is as laborious as 10^th grade summer reading list.  Totally no fun and getting it done takes forever!

Supplementation.

Not a bad thing to add in here but most likely, you’re already taking what they will suggest.  But it’s a good start.

Take the Pill.

WHOA NELLY!  This is the next post!  Sit tight!

There’s more to come and on Friday, I will have an audio post for you to listen to.  If you have never heard my voice or my crazy antics, now you will have your chance.  Can’t wait!  Woop woop!

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****Warning: Language may not be suitable for those in denial. No sugar coating in this article at ALL.****

If you have recently lost a large amount of weight and find yourself with your own built in hammock on your tummy (no, I’m not being funny, I’m being serious here) and are wondering (translate that as ‘panicking while searching for answers’) if there is anything you can do about it there is…wait a while. In time, it will resolve itself. Make sure you are eating right and exercising and it will begin to tighten. However, if you have not recently lost a large amount of weight and have gone through the waiting period and that kangaroo pouch (again, if you have never seen this you need a visual to understand how upsetting this can truly be) is still there and now you are no longer fervently searching the web but instead slowly searching for a real solution because you are tired of the gimmicks…read on.

Excess skin on the tummy is unsightly and frustrating. When you first started out on your journey to being hot you honestly thought the only obstacle you had was being fat (however you want to dress that up, go ahead, and trust me—I can relate). Suddenly, you find yourself at your goal weight but now instead of being hot, you now have your dream body with parts of a shar pei stuck to it. Not fun.

Loose skin is a combination of dieting, muscle loss, genetics and deficiencies. You can do something about 3 of those issues, I’m sorry but I have no cure for who you have as parents, but you also have to realize that you may not be able to achieve all of what you would like so be ready for that.

The most common place for loose skin to appear is on the tummy, in the gluteal fold or on the back of the arms. (For all intents and purposes in this post, we’re going to tackle the skin on the tummy.) Usually I see a woman frantically performing hundreds of crunches in the gym in an effort to change the appearance of loose skin and I am always amazed at where this myth came from. If you want to rid yourself of that skin, doing crunches isn’t going to do anything for you so please stop thickening your waist and wasting your time. Instead focus on your food choices, supplementation, water consumption and attention to detail. The girl who can dot her I’s and cross her T’s is going to cross the finish line faster than anyone else in this race. Let’s pick apart what you need to do and why:

1) Give it more time: What? Girl, if I am reading this then I have qualified myself as one who has “gone through a waiting period” so stop yanking my chain! Well I beg to differ. Have you really been patiently waiting? Have you been on point the entire time and have seen no change? Are you tracking your body fat percentage accurately? Did it take you 3 months to lose 70 pounds and now 2 months later you think you should look amazing? Has it been longer than 6 to 9 months at your current weight with steady changes in body fat levels? Are you dotting your I’s and crossing your T’s? Do you know what you are eating daily and do you track what you do in the gym? No? Ok, take a ticket and step aside. I’m serving #2 right now and your number is 1015. It’ll be a small wait.

Honestly, changing body composition on a level such as this can take upwards of a year of consistent dieting and exercise. Not weight loss dieting, just healthy maintenance eating.

2) Lose more body fat: Are you kidding me? I look like an accordion was fastened to my stomach and you want me to increase that more by losing more fat? Yes. And notice I said body fat and not weight. Big difference and also why I said above that you had to wait some time before you really had exhausted all of your avenues. Losing body fat takes time and the leaner you are, the more resistant your body is to giving up the last little bit. It can take months for your body to re-compose itself and during that time, you will see your skin slowly but surely tightening. You cannot control where your body loses fat so if you want a particular area to have less body fat, then you must lose it overall. Sometimes this is easier said than done. Your best defense: increase your lean body mass. Who wants me to go through this rant again? I didn’t think so. Get to liftin’, girl, and you will see your body comp change magically—but not overnight.;)

3) Something’s fishy about this article: Yeah, it’s printed on salmon colored paper with olive colored ink. You know where I am going here and if you are new to reading my blog (welcome, btw) you will soon find out that I am obsessed with good fats. Why? Because they are the fountain of youth! Our skin is composed of layers and as we age the fat cells in some of the layers begin to thin out causing wrinkles, drooping, loss of elasticity, etc. EFA’s fill in the gaps and help skin to have a smoother, tauter appearance. Want that dewy skin we had when we were kids (some of us had; some of y’alls just didn’t wash regularly therefore lacked a dewy look but we can bring that up another time), then start throwing back flax oil like it was Zarex in black plastic bottle and you’ll be on your way.

If you are severely lacking in EFA’s (and many of you are), you will notice a difference when you eat more than the normal 1 serving per day of omega 3. Some of you will see great results just going up to two servings in a day. Some of you may need to put a piece of salmon in a bong and smoke it like crack because you need so much. Make sure it’s Wild Alaskan when you stuff it in the jar…

4) Supplement for success: Again, you may not know how I feel about calcium (and if you go here and throw in your email addy, you can pick up my free report on it) because you are new, but if not you know in my past life I was married to it. Calcium, fish oil, magnesium, BCAA’s and multi vitamins are your best secret weapons in the fight against stubborn body fat. All of them in some way, shape or form increase your metabolism—some of them on the cellular level way down deep inside. That’s some good stuff right there and when you are talking about losing more body fat, needing your body operating at optimum levels or requiring top conditions for cell production/skin regeneration, you need all the help you can get.

Hold up, though! Do not go to the Vitamin Shoppe, pick up a ton of vitamins and start popping them like candy. No, find out from your doc what’s good for you and what’s not first. From there, do your homework and be responsible.

5) Exfoliate and massage the skin regularly: This is number 5 for a reason. Although worthwhile, it’s not a deal breaker. But exfoliating and massage cause your skin to have to regenerate at a faster rate. If you begin to be incredibly regimented about the amount of water you drink, the fat you consume and the overall healthy diet filled with endless variety while scrubbing and rubbing yourself silly, you will be on the right path to a smoother belly and should truly see some progress within 3 months or so.

The following steps are what you need to be doing for at least 3 to 6 months religiously before you can even say you have done all that you can and throw in the towel. What’s missing in this article? What NOT to eat when you are trying to tighten the tummy and/or any other kind of loose skin and we will get to that soon enough. Woop woop!!:o)

Ok, honestly…that’s about as rhyme-y as you’re ever going to get me!haha  The only thing better than this would have been One Fish, Two fish, Red fish, Blue fish…man I loved that book!  Or Sam I Am, Green Eggs and Ham…or–I think you get my point…

Well it is time for us celebrate some food!  YUM!!!!!!!!!!  I have had the pleasure of meeting a fellow blogger whose blog I have been following and whose tweets I have been following as well but did not make the connection that they were the same person!  We connected the other day and low and behold, she had a recipe for mango salsa!!   WOOHOO!

Now you may not have known that I have been cheating on my husband with some mango salsa.  I did not intend for this illicit affair to happen—who does—but now it’s on!  I have since informed my husband that if he does not develop a zesty, flavorful personality that I would be replacing him by the end of this weekend!  He seemed to be unaffected by that…not looking good on this end.  I’ll keep you informed.;o)  So when I reached out to Joanna after reading her fun blog, I immediately asked her for a recipe for none other than…mango salsa!!  …And she had it!!!!! 

From Joanna:

Here is the mango salsa recipe I was telling you about. I hope you like it as much as I do!

Mango/Avocado Salsa

2   Fresh mangos peeled; seeded and chopped (I’ve used jarred mango with great success!)

2/3 Cup diced red pepper

2  Tbls chopped fresh cilantro

½  Cup minced red onion

2  T Seasoned Rice Wine Vinegar (If you prefer unseasoned, add 1 T to the recipe)

½  tsp salt

1  tsp ground pepper

1  T Olive Oil

1  Avocado

Mix all ingredients, except for avocado, together.  Chill.  Add avocado when ready to serve. 

Enjoy!

Now if you can believe this, I get an email on the same day from a ‘blast from the past’ client (who I miss tremendously btw)—whose name just happens to be Joanne!–who also had a recipe.  Hers is below…

Mango Salsa

From EatingWell:  May/June 2009, Fall 2004, The EatingWell Healthy in a Hurry Cookbook (2006), The EatingWell Diabetes Cookbook (2005)

The tropical flavors of this quick mango salsa complement chicken, pork or mild white fish.

4 servings, about 1/3 cup each | Active Time: 10 minutes | Total Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 ripe mango, diced (1 1/2 cups)
• 1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro

Preparation

1.     Combine mango, onion, lime juice, vinegar and cilantro in a medium bowl. Let stand for 15 minutes; stir before serving.

Nutrition

Per serving : 46 Calories; 12 g Carbohydrates; 1 g Fiber; 2 mg Sodium; 121 mg Potassium

1 Carbohydrate Serving

Exchanges: 1 fruit

Tips & Notes

• Tip: To cut a mango:
• 1. Slice both ends off the mango, revealing the long, slender seed inside. Set the fruit upright on a work surface and remove the skin with a sharp knife.
• 2. With the seed perpendicular to you, slice the fruit from both sides of the seed, yielding two large pieces.
• 3. Turn the seed parallel to you and slice the two smaller pieces of fruit from each side.
• 4. Cut the fruit into the desired shape.

Holy moly it’s like I hit the jackpot!!  Now I can be double fisted here with two separate recipes!  Ummm…yum!!  This is absolutely fabulous with salmon!!  (Wait, is that a good fat? WOOP WOOP!)

Grilled Orange and Bourbon Salmon

Yield

4 servings

Ingredients

• 1/4  cup  bourbon
• 1/4  cup  fresh orange juice
• 1/4  cup  low-sodium soy sauce
• 1/4  cup  packed brown sugar
• 1/4  cup  chopped green onions
• 3  tablespoons  chopped fresh chives
• 2  tablespoons  fresh lemon juice
• 2  garlic cloves, chopped
• 4  (6-ounce) salmon fillets (about 1 inch thick)
• Cooking spray

Preparation

Combine first 8 ingredients in a large zip-top plastic bag, and add salmon to bag. Seal and marinate in refrigerator 1 1/2 hours, turning bag occasionally.

Prepare grill or broiler.

Remove salmon from bag, reserving marinade. Place salmon on a grill rack or broiler pan coated with cooking spray. Cook 6 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork, basting frequently with reserved marinade.

Nutritional Information

Calories:

365 (35% from fat)

Fat:

14.1g (sat 2.5g,mono 6.8g,poly 3.1g)

Protein:

36g

Carbohydrate:

18g

Cooking Light, JUNE 1999

Does that say bourbon?  Darn tootin’ it does!  Shut up and live life will ya! Haha!  Actually, you will cook off most of the alcohol and sugar when you grill this and you will be left with a very yummy entrée.

So what can we wash that down with?  How about a mango coconut shake?  I know I promised to post this because so many people hit me up asking for it, so here it is:

Mango Coconut Shake:

Must have….

1.5 scoops of Designer Whey Mango Whey Protein

1T of Coconut Oil (warmed in MW)

Then you can add any of the following:

½ cup pineapple juice

1 cup water

½ c mango

OR

½ cup coconut milk

1 cup water

¼ c mango

¼ c papaya

OR

If you are living on the edge and it’s just going down that day:

½  cup vanilla yogurt

½  cup unsweetened pineapple juice

¼  banana, sliced

½ c mango – peeled, seeded and chopped

¼ cup nonfat milk

2 tablespoons cream of coconutßyou mean business with this!;)

Ok, so if we don’t put the mango, coconut, pineapple industry in business this weekend, I’m not sure what can!  Enjoy these yummy treats and work them into your life however you may be able to!  If you got the Menu Planning blog blasts this week you know how to do this.  There is one more left so look out for it either today or tomorrow! 

In the mean time, enjoy life and live it to the fullest or you may miss out on the precious things of life:

My 3 year old has a little cold right now and when he has a cold he must be nebulized to keep his lungs open.  Well, of course, we run out of medicine for the nebulizer so we must go to the pharmacy to fill the prescription and a little certain somebody is too impatient to wait (Wonder where he gets that from? Whistling right now while looking at my feet.):

My son:  “I want to get my medicine.”

Me:  “It’s not ready yet, baby.  We have to wait.”

My son:  “Yes it is!  Eleven people are there and they’re real busy!” (holding up 3 fingers the whole time!)

How do you argue with that?  Bwahahaha!!  Have a good one today!!:o)

Today was an interesting day for me.  I went “home” (it’s 17 min. by highway from where I live—not much for travel this weekend, lol) to a family fun field day at my old neighborhood’s park.  It was great to see so many people that I grew up with at this event and to see their children.  It brought back lots of great memories and it was just a feel good time for everyone. 

For me, that lasted about 30 min.  Then I started taking stock in the joint.  Who was truly taking care of themselves and who was not.  I want to make sure I point out that when I do this, I am not looking at monetary status items or etc.  I am looking at teeth, hair, nails, skin and etc.  This is my job!  Gotta stay on it!

But I began to notice a trend.  The ones that really looked good and were healthy all had some common traits about them.  I will call them the “Beautiful People” and the following is a list of their traits that help their cause.  First, so you know how I came about this list, I surveyed those that I could as to what they were up to nowadays.  Second, I remembered much about them from when we were younger.  Lastly, I have added my experience from working with other BP.  What I ended up with is a top 5 list of things they are doing that you may not be for you to review:

1.        Eating Fat

Honestly if you are not eating a source of good fat everyday you might as well just cut right to the chase by heading to your nearest vacuum cleaner and just manually suck the years off of your life now.  Why wait until your 45-50 years old?  Put a new vacuum cleaner bag on right now and just remove those precious years from your metabolic cup.  Sllllllpppppppppp!  Better yet, go buy a good face paint set from Silly Farms and draw the wrinkles in now.  Put 2 very deep creases on either side of your mouth, crows feet by the eyes and add at least 1 inch of extra skin on the belly that just hangs there.  Pretty huh?

2.       Sleeping

Here’s a hot one for you.  Now I am truly the pot calling the kettle black on this one because Lord help me if I sleep more than 5 hours a night, but I have made this a priority and I have gotten better at it as I am averaging about 7 hrs/night right now.  But if you really want to lose weight, maintain a great body or stay on the young side of life you will get in the bed now.  In fact, you’ll sleep at your desk at work too.  And when your mate breaks into a long winded story, you’ll check out for a few minutes there too.  Just don’t nap while driving because I will drive you right off the road and think nothing of it!  And stay out of rotaries…ugh!

3.       Dotting Their I’s

These people just do that little extra.  They measure their food, they seek out the best moisturizers, they plan ahead, they find the best places to shop, they get the best deals, they are always 2 steps ahead of you.  They are just connected!  Now…again, I am not casting stones here.  I am not this person.  Getting my underwear on without both legs in the same hole is an accomplishment for me.  It’s funny, I am a makeup junky who will have a perfect face for the day and will leave the house with a big ole’ stain on my shirt from oatmeal that morning.  Clearly I am not one of the Beautiful People.  When you find one, study him/her.  It will amaze you.  BTW, this is my husband.  Can someone just tell him to get over himself?  GRRRRRRRRR.;o)

4.       Optimizing

This is sort of an add on to #3.  Beautiful people are not impatient.  They do not become frustrated over little things.  If they do not like how an outfit looks, they will take it back and get another.  If they cannot find the right hairdo for an event, they try different things every night til they get it.  They take the time to lose weight, they take the time to pick out accessories, they seem to have a silent resolve that just puts a hush in the room.  They know what they want and they are not going to stop until they get it. So they are always improving and optimizing.  They understand that they are not going to get it right the first time around–even if they look like they do.

5.       Restoring

Not the same as sleeping, this one is almost baffling to me because I don’t understand why I do not do this as much as I should.  Beautiful People restore themselves.  They rejuvenate.  If you ever try to clutter up their day with a bunch of things to do, they won’t do it.  They’ll shut you right down before you get to task #3.  They do not over exercise, under eat, worry incessantly over details (because they took care of them already), miss their facials or manicures.  No, these folks understand that their maintenance is priority and you essentially are not.  Do not mess with their schedule, it has been set since last Sunday!

Standing there made me realize that those that were gorgeous when we were younger just “got it”.  They knew what was up.  And the rest of us are now just getting the memo.  Standing their talking to some of them go through their days and how they schedule and manage things made my head spin.  All I could think to myself is, ‘No wonder you are stunning.  I would be too if I could do half of these things.’  Ugh.

If you can get at least 3 out of 5 of these onto your schedule, you will be in good standing with the Beautiful People.  Anything more than that and you are living the life!  Let me know if you think I missed any!  In the mean time, I’m going to get some ketchup off of my pant leg.  *Sigh*

I want to just sum up the teleseminar I just did tonight on metabolism and nutrition:

FUN!

There will obviously be more of that coming so please stay tuned!!  A whole series is coming out this summer.

In the mean time, stay healthy and stay beautiful!!  EAT SOME GOOD FAT!

WOOP WOOP!!:o)