Healthy Halloween Treats

Here's a great article giving a few healthy Halloween treat ideas, http://www.fitness.com/articles/478/healthy_halloween_treats.php.  I especially like giving out mini dark, organic chocolate bars, such as Art Bars and Dagoba bars,  which you can readily purchase at Whole Foods.  When Halloween is over make sure you get rid of all the candy around the house, so everyone will not be tempted to keep filling up with sugary snacks and desserts.

Happy Halloween,

L.

www.LindaLaRue.com

League of Women Voters Recommendations for Us Women...

I wanted to post this link for state and national issues and candidates given to me by my good friend and client, Dot Curtis.  I like the League of Women Voters website, because it gives me lots of great in-depth information by women for women--all in one place.

Crunchless Abs Blog: English Menu on the Counter

Just viewed a comment on the Crunchless Abs Blog, http://crunchlessabs.blogspot.com/2008/10/english-menu-on-counter.html today.  Wanted to let everyone know that I have more than a few frugally green gourmet, low Calorie recipes and fast food fixes that will save you money and time, while have you losing weight beginning from day one.

Today in the LA Times there is an article on the first page of the Business Section which states, "that restaurant meals now cost on average about 3 times what it takes to make a similar meal at home."  If you are trying to cut costs then,  The SOUPer Slim Diet is the perfect budget friendly solution, because it will help you whittle down your monthly expenses and your waistline too!

Have a great weekend!

Avoid Holiday Hangover

Holiday parties and family gatherings are usually food fests that tempt you to overindulge, gain weight, and wreak all your dedicated Crunchless Abs workouts. Here are 3 simple tips to help you avoid getting that “Holiday Hangover” muffin top bulge.

1. Weight yourself once a week on Mondays at the same time, because Mondays come right after the weekend. If you gain more than 2-3 pounds in a week, increase your exercise, especially cardio-core, and decrease your food intake until you get back down to your regular, pre-holiday comfortable weight. Taking an extra long power walk on the weekend holding 2 pound dumb bells in your hand should help you peel the pounds off fast.
   
2. Before going out to a party have a low Calorie, high protein, and high volume snack. This will fill you up so you won’t be as tempted to overeat and over drink. I recommend 2 ounces of lean roasted turkey with a cup of my master vegetable slimming soup or 6 ounces of one of my high protein, low Calorie smoothies from my SOUPer Slim Diet. 
   
3. Use a salad plate instead of a regular plate at the buffet table, and limit yourself to having one serving plate only. Try to stick with veggies, lean meats, and fruits instead of high calorie, high fat cheeses, or sugary, high Calorie desserts. If you do decide to indulge in a dessert then, cut it in half (and only eat half)—don’t take it home for later—throw it away.
   

Alec Baldwin Rocks It Out On Saturday Night Live

I just couldn't resist, and had to post this SNL Backstage Palin skit link, /www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/gov-palin-cold-open/773761/, featuring Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey who are amazing!  

FYI today is the last day you have to register to vote.  If you need help to register, then, Google, How to vote, and include your state.  For example I live in California, here is my link: http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections_vr.htm .

A Spot to Watch About Female Body Image and Self-Worth from My Friend Robyn Goldberg, R.D.

I am posting this link for you to watch that was sent to me from my friend Robyn Goldberg, R.D. Here is the link below:

https://secure.pursuantgroup.net/pursuant4/deltadeltadelta/fall08/dddselect/flashstory.asp

Pass this along to all your female friends.

Enjoy your weekend and take the time to find something you like about yourself today all my lovely and amazing sista's,

Linda

Check Out Turning Life...

I recently received a great eco-friendly recommendation, Turning Life, from a certified yoga instruction named Craig.  Check it out!

Thanks for sharing the great tip Craig.  Would love to experience their yoga mat as mine is falling apart...oy.

Namaste,

L.

Hey Sarah Palin: You Tube Spoof

Hey All-Being a health expert, www.LindaLaRue.com and www.CrunchlessAbs.com, I am want to give any opinions or advice, other than info enhancing your health, diet, and exercise routines/plans.  However, one of my amazing female writer friends, Carolyn Howard-Johnson, www.HowToDoItFrugally.com just sent me this You Tube post, which I think is spot-on.

For all you aspiring writers who are thinking or may already have a book, I recommend going to Carolyn's Site and buying her best-selling book, The Frugal Book Promoter.

Here's the link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DIc8jdra0o

(FYI seems like they are blocking this spot right now, so you may have to type in the above URL link).

Namaste,

L.

The Frugal Green Gourmet Diet

Today the stock market continues to extend it's losses with the Dow fluctuating wildly.  In fact it opened down nearly 700 points!  Holy shit Batman!  I believe some Wall Street pundits are calling today Black Friday.  Here's my favorite Frugal Diet tip for today:

I recommend Healthy Choice frozen dinners because they taste great, are nutritious, and inexpensive.  I like to buy several when they are on sale 2 for $5.00, then, stock them in my freezer.  I pair the Healthy Choice dinner with one of my low Calorie individually frozen soups I make and freeze.  Just 3 minutes to microwave the soup and 6 minutes for the Healthy Choice dinner, and I have a Frugal Diet Dinner under $3.00 per meal.  Plus, I feel full, satisfied, and comforted, which is a good thing during these trying economic times...

Enjoy your weekend,

L.

P.S. My favorite Healthy Choice frozen dinners are the Lemon Pepper Chicken and The Roasted Chicken.

Late Harvest High Protein Pumpkin Smoothie

Try this Late Harvest High Protein Pumpkin Smoothie, (which you can find with my other high protein smoothies in SOUPer Slim),  as a yummy, high protein alternative to pumpkin pie and all the other fall/winter sugary, high Calorie desserts that will expand your waistline between now and the New Year. Orange colored squash varieties are chock full of powerful phytochemicals (or plant chemicals), such as antioxidants, vitamin C, and betacarotine, which is helps improve your vision.

Ingredients:

1 cup canned pumpkin
¼ cup nonfat vanilla yogurt (or reduced fat, firm tofu if you are vegan)
2 cups unsweetened apple juice
1 T honey of agave
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1. Place the canned pumpkin, honey, pumpkin pie spice, and yogurt or reduced fat tofu in blender.
2. Pour in juice and process until blended well. Serve immediately. May store in refrigerator for up to 3-4 days.
Yields: 4 Servings. Serving size: 6 ounces. Nutritional Content: 140 Calories, 0.4g fat, 2g protein, 34g carbohydrates, 20mg sodium.
*May top with 1 T of nonfat, whipped real dairy topping (a free food portion) and a dusting of pumpkin pie spice mix.

For more delicious, healthful, and quick holiday recipes that will get you through the Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years Eve without packing on the pounds, visit www.LindaLaRue.com/club.html.

Green Money $aving Workout $olutions

We all agree that we need to do a better job conserving our planet’s limited resources. Where do you begin? Here are 3 simple solutions that will help you get green into your workout routine without much effort at all. These eco-friendly changes are easy switches that will save you time and lots of money! How easy is that?  In these challenging economic times these simple switches will keep your hard-earned money in your pocket.  And remember, Soup Makes Cents!

1. Use organic cotton and/or bamboo towels. Lots of discount retailers are now selling eco-friendly towels, such as organic cotton, bamboo, or organic cotton-bamboo blend. For example Bed, Bath, and Beyond, a nationwide retail store, sells them for reasonable prices. They routinely offer 20% coupon specials, which make the towels even more affordable. And, bamboo towels are extremely soft, luxuriant, and absorbent.
2. Buy biodegradable body wash and shampoo in bulk, which will save you money and decrease bottle use. Then, fill them into smaller, personal-use size reusable bottles. (Most major discount retailers sell biodegradable body wash and shampoo in bulk and oftentimes run brand-name specials.)
3. Buy a recyclable water bottle instead of plastic one-use water bottles. Recyclable water bottles will save you big bucks in the long run, as most designer waters are very expensive. Many individual 16-ounce designer waters that include minerals and vitamins are now over $2.00 a bottle. These outrageously overpriced waters are unnecessary, as you can obtain all your vitamins and minerals by eating a sensible diet along with taking a daily multivitamin. 

Did you know that according to the Container Recycling Institute only 23% of plastic bottles are recycled in the US? 38 billion plastic bottles go into landfills in the US each year. Plastic bottles take up to 1000 years to biodegrade. I recommend these two recyclable water bottle companies: www.mysigg.com and www.kleankanteen.com. Do the math. A one-time purchase of a Sigg or Klean Kanteen bottle versus expensively overpriced designer water in a one-use plastic bottle? I’m sure you’ll become a convert like me, and switch to using a recyclable water bottle because every little bit helps.

Back by Popular Demand: Five Fixes to Flatten Your Belly Fast!

Hey Everyone-Due to an overwhelming positive response to my Five Fixes to Flatten Your Belly Fast, I am posting this article again.  As I said I am a big believer in taking probiotics daily.  It's one of my lifesaver remedies.

Here goes...Belly-bloat will wreck all your dedicated, “crunchless” abdominal training for achieving flat, sculpted, sexy abs. Here are five, quick fixes that will help banish belly bloat, which will keep your mid-section flat and “poochless”.

1. Eat yogurt with live cultures and take a probiotic that includes acidophilus and bifidus every day to boost the good bacteria that lives healthfully in your digestive tract. These good bacteria keep you regular and prevent gas and bloating which causes your gut to extend and feel uncomfortable. My favorite probiotic that I take every day and highly recommend is Da Vinci’s Chewable Mega Probiotic’s Plus. Since I began taking Da Vinci’s Chewable Mega Probiotic Plus, my gut has never felt better. I no longer suffer from uncomfortable belly-bloat and stomach pains. 
2. Avoid carbonated drinks. Carbon dioxide found in carbonated beverages stays in your stomach, causing bloating.
3. Drink peppermint teas and peppermint-flavored waters. Peppermint is a homeopathic remedy that sooths and relaxes your stomach and digestive tract muscles, naturally relieving abdominal bloating.
4. Skip salty foods. Foods that contain excessive sodium make your body retain water. Water retention makes you look bigger and puffier, especially your lower abs.
5. Do not chew gum. Chewing gum also causes you to swallow air. Sugarless gum contains sorbitol, a sugar substitute, which your intestinal bacteria turns into gas giving you that awful, lower belly pouch and bloated lower abs.
   

*You can purchase Da Vinci’s Chewable Mega Probiotic Plus on my shopping cart at www.LindaLaRue.com. Note it customarily takes 3 or so weeks for your intestinal tract (and abs) to “deflate” along with decreased cramping. Keep the faith and make sure you are saying well hydrated with water, not carbonated drinks such are soda.  For weaving a tight, now abdominal girdle try my Crunchless Abs videos, www.LindaLaRue.com.

Core/Abdominal Training and Musings...

My dear client, friend, and fellow "Foodie" Dr. Susan Berman, (Susan is the amazing woman who's on the CrunchlessAbs spot) and I are creating another seasonal winter soup, Winter Roasted Acorn Squash with Roasted Leeks.  We're discussing whether or not to include a pear in the soup to use as a sweetener, and because it is also an easily obtainable winter fruit.

More to come as Susan and I work on our lower belly pouch, train our abs flat, and create newsoupdietrecipes...

The Frugal Green Gourmet: Soup Makes Cents...

An article in the LA Times Business Section today, stated food-price inflation may run as high as 6% this year, the highest since 1980, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.  The average cost of typical weekly food consumer purchases rose 11% in the three months ending September, 2008 said Jim Sartwelle, an economist for The Farm Bureau Federation.  

The Bottom line:  Soupmakescents.  Making one big pot of my Master SOUPer Slimming Vegetable Soup each week will save you money, because my soup is just pennies per cup.  You'll save money, lose weight, and shed that layer of fat covering your beautiful, tight new, sexyabs.