We recently promised that we would give the now famous green drink a trial run.  We completed the challenge a few days ago, and have not been back for more since.  It was not as horrifying as we feared, but not nearly as satisfying as we had hoped.  

Our first problem was making the various ingredients into something resembling a smoothie. We made the rookie mistake of putting in a whole bunch of spinach first, only to realize that all these fluffy leaves would keep the blades from reaching the apple slices.  This required the removal of many of the leaves before the apples would blend.  After that we decided to be smart and put in the strawberries, banana and orange before adding in more of the leaves.  

Unfortunately, the finished product was not very cold, despite the fact that we used frozen strawberries and everything else had been refrigerated.  The drink was indeed green, but had disturbing red flecks in it.  Although these were clearly from the strawberries they foreshadowed the inevitable graininess and generally unpleasant texture.  We solved the cold problem by putting it in the fridge for a few minutes.  Sadly, no amount of blending made this concoction smooth enough to be enjoyable. 

The biggest problem, however, was not merely that it was an unpleasant culinary experience.  As adults we can all agree agree that sometimes the benefits outweigh the unpleasantness and you just remember it's good for you and eat it anyway.  The problem here was that there weren't any immediate benefits.  It was not satisfying, did not keep us full for more than an hour, and didn't increase our energy.  There was simply nothing to motivate us to go through the ordeal of making this drink a second time.  

We subsequently tried amended recipes in an attempt to understand why so many people seem to be so enamoured.  There were some improvements, but overall it is not making the cut for our daily lineup. 

Some diet theories claim that the only thing you need to do to lose weight is to increase your intake of vitamins and minerals. The increased intake will leave you less hungry because your nutritional needs are being satisfied. Hence, you won't be as tempted to eat all those processed foods, treats, and candies that usually tempt you. 

This green drink is showing up everywhere lately so I thought I'd give it a try. For the next few days, my daughter and I are going to try this drink and see if it causes us to lose weight. 

If we hate it, we'll let you know because we firmly believe you don't want to do gross stuff to lose weight. We once considered trying the military diet but the food you have to eat is gross - and carcinogenic at times. So thank you, no. If the green drink doesn't really work, we'll let you know because we believe a diet should let you get noticeable results instead of waiting week after week for a 3 oz. change. This is why we continue to love the Satan Diet. However, we believe there are many roads to Mecca so we continue to seek out comfortable, healthy ways to lose weight that can easily be incorporated into your lifestyle. 

To make this dubious looking drink, you put:
two handfuls of baby spinach
1 sliced apple
1 banana
1 cup of yogurt (plain or vanilla)
5 strawberries and 
1/2 orange in an osterizer and blend well. I kind of like my blended drinks to have the consistency of a Jamba Juice so we add about 8 ice cubes to the mix. Blend well and enjoy!  Well, we'll let you know if "enjoy" is really what you do when you drink this drink in the next day or two. 

When you use the Satan Diet or the Cupcake Time Diet, the pounds come off. There is no doubt about that. But why?  How are you losing weight when you're eating quite a bit of food (albeit food in specific categories).  One reason is that you are initially eating fruits and vegetables; foods that are primarily composed of water. There is another important reason, however, that most people aren't recognizing. It can be summed up in one simple word; chelation.

Chelation is the process your body uses to remove metal-based contaminants (such as lead, aluminum, cadmium, and mercury) via the bloodstream; then the metals are excreted in your urine.  The levels of pollution in the air you breathe and the food you eat are astounding.  Many people claim these toxins are killing us via increased illness, cancers, and neurological damage.  And if the toxins build up in your body – it is very likely you will experience some ill effects at one point or another in your life. However, those toxins don't build up if your body is properly performing chelation.  It sounds very complex but, in reality, is made simple because many of the foods you eat (or should be eating) will perform the task for you without your even thinking about it.

This is the largest case against junk food.  Processed foods can fill you up and the refined sugars can make you feel good and temporarily energize you, but these foods don't have what it takes to encourage chelation in your body.  The more you fill up on tasty junk food, the more overburdened your body will be with the buildup of toxins. Naturalnews.com recently wrote an article identifying foods that will bring about chelation; it included many of the fresh fruits and vegetables you are already eating.

Pectin occurs naturally in lots of fruits and vegetables and has been found to chelate heavy metals and other toxins from your body.  Good sources of natural pectin include apples, grapes, beets, carrots, bananas, cabbage, and the pith (that icky white part) of citrus fruits.

Cilantro (and the coriander seed it produces) not only perform normal chelation functions but are said to cross the blood-brain barrier and remove metals from the brain. This could be very important to potential Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s sufferers as experts continue to research the link between increased metals in the brain and these two diseases.  Right now experts only state there is some type of protein-metal interaction that takes place to keep us free of these diseases and the jury is still out regarding what is genetic and what is environmental. There is no proof that eating cilantro or avoiding d soda pop packaged in aluminum containers will stave off either disease – but isn’t it better to be safe than sorry?

Cruciferous Vegetables contain antioxidants that increase the production of detoxifying enzymes in your body. These vegetables include staples such as cabbage, kale, and broccoli.

Sulfer Rich Foods such as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, onion, garlic, and brussels sprouts work to also remove heavy metals from your body.

Amino Acids are also natural chelating agents.  Your body makes 10 of the 20 needed essential amino acids naturally but you must use combinations of food to obtain the other 10. Proteins not only catalyze all (or most) of the reactions in living cells, they control virtually all cellular processes.  And, again, it is the interaction of proteins and metals in the brain that are the focus of research on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. Amino acids can be obtained by eating meats, dairy products, and/or a rich variety of plants.  Unfortunately our food supply has been inundated with toxins as the food producers work to meet the demands of a burgeoning population.  Farm Bred and Atlantic salmon are laden with toxins including mercury and it was recently announced that chicken contains inorganic levels of arsenic because of a drug farmers use “for weight gain, feed efficiency and improved pigmentation” as well as controlling disease in chickens and possibly other poultry. Use of the drug, 3-Nitro, is in the process of being phased out but, still, what are we feeding our families?

With this new knowledge, you can see how the Satan Diet is bringing you benefit while helping you lose weight.  It eliminates all of the processed foods your body is used to enjoying without getting the benefits of chelation in return. It provides you food choices that will encourage your body to use chelation to get rid of excess heavy metals your body has accumulated. And it ensures you obtain enough nutrients to provide you with those important amino acids. In short, the Satan Diet combines weight loss with a natural detox program so you feel better, look better, aren’t hungry, and can lose weight.

If you want to boost the benefits of your diet, you can purchase  organically grown food during your diet week. This helps because you are actually aiding the chelation process by not adding any extra metals via the pesticides, gases, and growth chemicals used on our food supplies. 

I want to grow up to be as fat as a Sumo wrestler…..said no one ever.  Sumo wrestlers are amazingly large. Have you ever wondered how they gain all of that weight? They go on a special diet. Yes, it’s a high calorie diet. But the trick to getting really corpulent and Sumo-like is to skip morning meals and eat all of the calories just before you sleep so your body converts that food to fat.  Honest! That is the trick to the Sumo  wrestler's weight gain diet.

If you're struggling with weight loss, think about when you eat the highest calorie foods. If you’re eating most of your calories at night, you’re actually encouraging your body to gain weight. How can it be? Everyone keeps saying a calorie is a calorie. That may well be true but current research shows that your body metabolizes calories differently  at different times of the day. It’s tied to your circadian rhythms and makes sense (if you consider how we evolved to our post-industrialized selves). Hunter/gatherers didn’t eat a lot in the mornings because they needed to get up and get moving and they hit the sack sometime around sundown. Thanks to them, we have very small appetites in the mornings but crave high calorie foods at night as our bodies prepare for the long fast.  Electricity, college, two parent working families, and fun have changed our lifestyles but our bodies are still plodding along to an ancient drum. Thanks to electricity, we stay up late almost every night and we eat a lot of tasty snacks during that time. In the mornings, we’re pretty busy and tend to skip breakfast because our bodies aren't really hungry.  However our circadian rhythms keep us metabolizing food at a faster rate during the day while we’re expending energy and slowing down at sunset because it thinks we should be headed to bed and storing energy.

Here are a few tips to help you lose weight more quickly:

• Make eating a job.  You go to work for eight hours a day and then you’re done. Do the same with eating. Don’t change what you’re eating; but only eat within an eight hour period of time. Check the clock each morning as you put the first morsel of the day into your mouth and stop eating exactly eight hours later. This will take some planning but it will help you regulate your night time eating.  For example, if you have breakfast at 8 a.m. you must be finished eating by 4 p.m.  It’s actually pretty reasonable and you’ll lose weight even if you don’t change your diet!
  

• Eat your higher calorie meals in the afternoon. I know; easy to say, hard to do if you have a family that shares an evening meal with you.  But honestly, if you eat your main meal earlier in the day you will be healthier and have less of a struggle losing weight. Your body is receiving calories during its peak performance, so calories are expended as energy instead of stored as fat. You can help your family adjust to a lower calorie evening by shifting treats like pumpkin bread or oatmeal cookies with chocolate chips and raisins to the afternoon instead of just before bedtime.  
  

• After 7:30 p.m. any food eaten must be a fruit or a vegetable.  This will cut down on calories consumed and will encourage healthy choices.  To be honest, it also cuts down on calories consumed at night since most of us aren’t willing to forage the fridge for a carrot.
  

• Exercise at night.  Moving your exercise to  the evenings will keep you busy (instead of eating), will keep your body metabolizing at a higher rate for a longer period of time, and feels great!  Pairing exercise with dieting activities is always a wise move. 
  

How do we describe this diet plan to you? It’s a diet that allows you to eat what you want, when you want it. The catch is; you only get so much per day. If you eat three regular sized Snickers bars while on a binge – you have consumed all but 5 of the 26 points you are allowed for the day. If you eat balanced, well thought out meals and snacks, you don’t go hungry.

The Weight Watchers Points Plus plan can be tailored to you. It typically allows you around 26 points worth of food per day. It sound like a nightmare – trying to calculate the point value of each food per day – but it’s fairly easy thanks to the internet. You can Google almost any food (including candy and restaurant dishes) and come up with point values.

Another simple way to get point values is to actually join Weight Watchers. When you join, they give you a cool little book with point values in it so you can get started right away. They will also sell you a point calculator (for $10, I think) that is very easy to use or you can use their free on-line calculator.  Weight Watchers is a pretty cool program – it seems to do a lot of things right.  They make you attend a weekly meeting – the meetings are educational, motivational, and provide you a chance to make diet buddies – but their offices aren’t open all the time so it can be very inconvenient to actually get to the meetings.  They also weigh you each week.  This sounds intimidating but it isn’t. They’re very discreet and are nice to you even when you gained weight that week.  

  **If you're ready to switch things up a bit and jump start your weight loss, check out the Cupcake Time Diet. If you use it first and then move into this diet plan, you'll watch the weight come off even faster!*** 

Doing it on your own can work. Be sure you have a diet buddy – it really can help. 

Here are the general rules for the Points Plus program:

• You can eat 26 points per day. In fact, you need to be careful to eat exactly the amount of prescribed points per day – don’t fall short. A lot of people think WW got it a bit wrong and that you should only eat 24 points per day. Pick one and stick with it.
• All vegetables = 0 points. If you dip them in something or cook them with butter they are no longer free.
• All whole fresh fruits = 0 points. This does not include juices.
• You get an additional 49 "floating" points each week. Use them as you please. 
• It is imperative to record every food item you put in your mouth regardless of its point value. This is very, very important.  You can get an app for this or simply write it down. If it’s easier for you to have a sheet of paper to track it, here, we made a food tracker for you.  I'd suggest copying it a Word document and putting a few trackers on each page. 
• Weigh yourself once a week. Preferably at the same time of day. Record you weight somewhere so you can track your progress.
• If you exercise, you can earn extra points for the day.

That’s it! 

Don’t let the name of this diet frighten you. We aren’t sure why it’s called the Satan Diet but we’re sure the devil is in the details. This appears to be one of those fad diets that combine foods in interesting ways to ensure you maximize the calories you burn while you eat a limited variety of foods over the period of a week. The foods are all pretty run-of-the-mill and you can eat as much as you want. We would suggest eating until you feel full, yadda yadda yadda.  Drink water, tea, and coffee only during this diet. 

**Honestly, you should check out the Cupcake Time Diet. It is based on the Satan Diet but takes it one step further. And who can resist a cupcake?** 

Everyone who has mentioned this diet to us has insisted it works. Average claimed weight loss is 5 pounds in one week. But you only do it for one week. The theory is you lose the weight using the diet and then you spend the next few weeks working to maintain your newfound weight loss. And then you do it again.

We’re game. How hard can it be?

Here are the details of the diet:

• Day 1:  Eat all the fruit you want with the exception of bananas. Do not eat any bananas.  Eating melons will help you lose the most weight since they are mostly water.
• Day 2:  Eat vegetables all day long.  Avoid peas, corn, and beans. You can have one baked potato today. The vegetables can be raw, cooked, frozen – whatever you desire.  
• Day 3:  Eat a combination of the same fruits and vegetables you have eaten during the past two days – minus the baked potato. 
• Day 4: Eat up to 8 bananas and 8 servings of low fat milk or yogurt. Yes, the yogurt can be flavored. No, the milk cannot be chocolate. 
• Day 5: Eat all the chicken and turkey you want today.  You can have the chicken roasted, boiled, or fried; just remember the better choices you make will result in more weight loss for the week. You also must eat 6 medium sized tomatoes. Drink a full glass of water with each tomato to rid your body of uric acid. Eating a tomato with meat is a great idea. 
• Day 6:  Eat chicken, turkey, and vegetables all day long to your heart’s content. Avoid potatoes but feel free to eat any other vegetable. 
• Day 7: Eat Ultimate Soup all day long. Nothing else. This might be hard but after today you’re finished! 
  

The original diet suggested we eat cabbage soup. But we won’t and we are convinced that our Ultimate Soup will give you far more nutrients and much better flavor.  Good luck!

Have you ever dreamt of being a professional dancer in New York City? Here is a chance of a lifetime! The Rockettes are holding an open audition for women who will be 18 years old by April 20, 2013; are between 5’6” and 5’10½” tall; and legal residents of the continental United States Including D. C.).  Limit one (1) entry per person. Intrigued? Here are the details on the Rockette's Jump the Line auditions.

A lot of people have expressed dissatisfaction with the new Weight Watcher’s Points Plus system and requested information about their original plan. They say they lost tons of weight using the old plan and just can’t seem to lose weight using Points Plus. So, by popular demand, we present to you a revised Original Weight Watcher's Diet Plan. It’s revised because it's been passed through several hands but it is basically true to form and should be very effective in helping you shed pounds quickly. Most people who successfully lose weight say dieting is most effective if you have a support system (even if it’s just one person) and that it’s imperative that you carefully record the food you eat. We can help you with the support system: follow along and comment at will on some of our personal endeavors to shed a few pounds.  Also, we've found a really great,printable Food Tracker for you so you can get started without having to dig one up for yourself.  If you're ready to switch things up a bit and jump start your weight loss, check out the Cupcake Time Diet. If you use it first and then move into this diet plan, you'll watch the weight come off even faster!

Menu
Breakfast: 1 egg or 1 ounce hard cheese or 2 ounces fish or 1/4 cup cottage or pot cheese
                  1 slice bread, No rolls, bagels, biscuits muffins, crackers, cereals, or special breads were allowed.

Lunch:       4 oz. fish or lean meat or poultry, or 2/3 c cottage cheese or 2 oz hard cheese or 2 eggs.
                  All you want of unlimited vegetables (any not listed on the restricted list below)
                  1 slice bread

Dinner:      6 ounces lean meat or fish or poultry
                  1 portion restricted vegetables (see list below)
                  All you want of unlimited vegetables

Required Snacks: A total of three fruits, one of them an orange or grapefruit
2 cups skim milk

Still Hungry?  Eat unlimited amounts of bullion broth, vegetables not on list, calorie-free bevereges.

Permitted Fruits
1 apple
1/2 cantaloupe
1/2 grapefruit
2" wedge of honeydew
1 orange
1/4 medium-sized pineapple
(One kind reader provided additional information regarding fruits, the following is a list of fruits you may also use. Thanks, Carol!)
1 cup of strawberries
1/2 cup raspberries or blueberries
1 peach or nectarine
2 apricots
1 plum

Forbidden Fruits
Bananas
Cherries
Watermelon
Grapes
Dried Fruits

Restricted Vegetables
Artichokes
Bamboo shoots
Beets
Brussels sprouts
Carrots
Eggplant
Green beans
Okra
Onions
Parsnips
Peas
Pumpkin
Scallions
Squash (yellow)
Tomato
Tomato juice
Turnips

Fish was to be eaten at least five times per week, liver at least once a week, and beef, lamb, and dark meat turkey no more than three times per week.

In a Nutshell, the Diet consisted of:

Protein 4 (70 calories each)
Milk 2(90 cal. each)
Bread 4(80 cal each)
Fat 2(40 cal each)
Veggies 3 (unlimited if non starchy)
Fruit 2 (60 cal each)

You also had the option of choosing 7 floaters (weekly) from any of the food groups as well as 750 optional calories.

One of my readers (thank you, Kristina Hall) was kind enough to share a Food List from the 1990s. If you'd like a copy of it, complete the form below and receive it instantly!