Get ready to Reset !...

Hello,
It is my pleasure to welcome you to this new Reset program. We are starting a new challenge involving a Canadian Team composed of people from Western, Central and Eastern Canada, as well as people from New Zealand. We are all striving to achieve significant weight loss, but moreover a true health. We will be guiding you, motivating you to improve your life and how you are feeling in your own body!)

Please feel free to drop a few comments on your own experience on this blog, enriching the experience for all of us. Sharing is a great way to grow in this challenge!

Ready, set and GO!!!!!

Well Done! )

I would like to take a moment to congratulate all participants on the Slimmer this Summer Reset program. Team Canada has done absolutely great into completing this challenge with an average of a little over 10 pounds lost per person over a three month period. The good news is that more than a month later, this ten pound loss is still very well maintained, so the lost is for the long term! GREAT JOB! Now, some of the participants from the original summer 2009 edition are helping others getting through the reset, which is fantastic!....
I wish you all lots of health and wellness! )
Love and light,
Marie-Maxime

Stress helper...

We are almost reaching to the end of the reset. The end of an adventure is also always the beginning of a new one. In those times when we need to have our adaptation capacity to their best, we could use a little help from some plants and extracts. When I am in a stressful situation and feel drained of energy, my mother always recommends to get a few drops of Siberian Ginseng tincture drops.

This plant has been used for hundreds of years in Russia and China to help the body restore its energy, its vitality and deal with stress. It has adaptogen properties so it helps your body regain its balance. It does wonders to strengthen your immune system, and get get your energy back.

For more information, consult this very interesting article: http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/siberian-ginseng-000250.htm

Just a few more hours before the end!

Striving for the end!

Hi Team,
I hope you are hanging in there with the discipline of the weight loss. Making changes in your life is quite challenging, and the one you are working on right now is a great lasting one. I would really like if you could give it a final sprint into those last few days and give me your weight by Thursday morning so we can compile our results and cheer for the winning team, and the winning member in each team as well.

Success is continuing your efforts until you reach your goals. Whether you reach your final goal right now or in a few months, it is just a matter of being consistent with your efforts and persist until you get there.

It would be a great idea that in the next few days, you do a recap of your own Reset, how it has been working for you, what you have learned and how can you apply the learning forward. You can also take a printout of all the menus, select the one you really like and put them in a binder, close to your kitchen. It is also a great idea to do creative cooking. Starting with a basic recipe and adding the ingredients you really like, keeping it low GI as much as possible.

Go team go!
MM

Tempeh

Another great source of lean vegetarian protein to add in your diet is Tempeh. It is made with fermented soya beans and a culture of rhizopus oligosporus,which is a good bacteria filled with vitamin b12. It is rare to find vitamin B12 outside of meat products but you can find it in Tempeh. It has more taste than tofu and it is great to grill on the barbecue. It has black spots on it but it is normal and still very good, the fermentation process does that.

The advantage of eating tempeh over tofu is that the culture bacteria, has already predigested the soy bean for us so they are much easier to digest. It takes 3 to 5 minutes to heat and then it is ready (in the pan, on the barbecue or on the steamer. I love to put it on lettuce. You can also stir fry it with brown and wild rice, red and orange pepers, mushrooms, soy sauce,and a dash of balsamic vinegar and sesame oil. ou can top with with grilled asparagus and fresh tomatoes, it is amazing.

If you are in Gillam and want to try it, you can order it on eatit.ca from Winnipeg and have them ship on the bus or pick it up you next time in the city.

Enjoy!

Avoiding plateau

When you are working hard on your diet, watching every thing that comes in and out, there are a few things you can do to avoid a weight loss plateau. The very first thing you should do is make sure not to skip a meal. If you are not very hungry, eat something smaller but try to be as consistent for you meals as you can. The other thing to be careful is never go below your basic metabolic rate about 1200 calories for women. If you want to lose more exercise more.

However, something that may not be obvious but that is important is that about one day a week, you do break a few rules and eat more than usual. Without exaggeration, it is important to let your body know that it is not in starvation mode, and it is going to help you avoid those plateau, when although you try very hard, not much is happening.

Enjoy some of your favorite foods once in a while! )
MM

Your perfect body

Where ever you are in your reset - diet process, your body is perfect. It has always been and will always be. It is indeed a perfect reflection of what you have been feeding it, how much you have been exercising, the reaction to the environment in which you live, and a true reflection of your thoughts and actions combined with your genetic background.

Your internal organs may not be working in harmony at all times, and you may have some weaknesses and extra pounds, but it happens to all of us. The important thing to keep in mind is that our body works along simple chemical, physics and universal rules. Once you understand the power of those rules, you are able to really bring to life the changes you so desire.

However, if you look at your body as a simple machine, independent of mind and thoughts, you may not be getting the results you are looking for. Losing weight to get healthier is more of a mental and disciplined mind exercise than any other challenge. Although it involves physical activity and self-control, it all starts between your ears, in your brain, and in your heart.

Change your outlook on your efforts, and target whole body and mind harmony instead of a plastic body picture of what you would like to get. The changes you are creating in your life will be more lasting, and affecting your whole being including, mood, emotions and personality. Each time you reach a goal, whether a small tiny goal or a giant long term goal, you are stepping forward, and growing. By reaching one goal per day, you will build your self-confidence to build towards your dreams, and make them come true.

Just a little more!

Hi team,
Just an update on our weight goals, this week has been still for most of us, not gaining or losing much. In just a little over a week, it will be over for our challenge so it is time to bring it up a notch to end that with a beautiful sprint just like when we started.

I must say that your personal efforts have paid-off well and that you are on the way to make these changes lasting! If you want to bring out your breathing exercises like the breath of fire (kapalabhati)- if you remember is it rapid forceful exhalation contracting your abs and releasing quickly- it would be great! Alternate nostril breathing (Anuloma viloma) is also great to get you refilled as well. It will help control better your appetite, oxygenating your blood and leaving you feeling more energized!

We are very close to New-Zeland team results so a little more and we may still be able to win!...Countdown has started!

Tips to reduce calories intake

Your efforts for losing weight are going to give you wonderful long term results. People who eat fewer calories on a daily basis compared to people to eat too many, are living longer and healthier throughout their lives.

Just compare your body to a truck. If everyday, you are putting a ton of stuff (tens of pounds of fat for your body) in your truck, not only will it get wear and tear faster(arthritis, muscle and back problems), but it will need maintenance more frequently (heart, circulatory problems, massage and exercise).

You want to make sure that you never go below your basic metabolic rate level of daily calories intake(between 1200-1600 per day).

-Make sure your breakfast is a good size meal for you with at least 15 grams of proteins

-Don't go more than 4-5 hours without eating anything (want to avoid blood sugar lows and highs)

-Eat your real foods meal for breakfast and lunch, and have your shakes for dinner

-Never go to bed feeling hungry

-Finish exercising or yoga 20-30 minutes before your meal, you may tend to eat less

-Do breathing exercises when you feel low energy and then drink water.

-Do not forget to drink 2 liters of pure water daily, and any other drinks on top of that if you are still thirsty

-Always make sure you have a small portion of fat and or protein with your snack to have the satiety effect last longer

-Enjoy your favorite foods once in a while even though it is not low GI in small servings.

AND HAVE FUN! )

Self massage

Being in touch with your body is very important in your efforts to be healthier in your own body. One way to take care of your body is to get a massage every few days. However, the professional resources or financial resources for getting a massage every week is not necessarily accessible. The best alternative is to rely on yourself to stimulate the circulation of lymph, blood an energy. Stimulating points on your abdomen and under your own feet are very efficient ways to help your body function better and get slimmer.

A simple abdomen self massage is to take your right hand, put in on your belly button palm facing your belly. Slide your hand slightly down and to the right inside your hip crest. In a circular motion, move your hand up, just below your ribs and then across to the left side under your ribs and down towards the inside of your left hip crest. The continue across to the right side and circle for many times. You can make the circles smaller around your belly button and larger. Keep the same direction because it follows the direction of your large intestine. It is great if you feel some constipation, to help release. You can also sit crossed legs and massage the sole of your foot and every toe. When you feel a sensitive point, create a dispersion circular motion until it becomes less sore.

Enjoy and relax!
MM

Help your digestion

Some people are having troubles not only digesting foods but mostly absorbing and assimilating the nutrients in foods. In order to be able to do this and help you intestinal flora, you can consume Acidophilus and bifidus. This is especially a good idea to do after fasting or after you have taken anti-biotics, which may have damaged your good intestinal micro-organism. It is therefore a good idea to take these for a few weeks. Some people actually see their weight come down faster because their digestive system is becoming more efficient. Make sure you take great care to keep those pro-biotics in the refrigerator at all times so that they are still healhy living organisms. You can take a capsule about 30 minutes after your meals with some water. A 5 billion active cells capsules is good to get back on tracks.

Gravlax

Those who eat fish, like fresh salmon, loaded with omega three, will love this recipe. This is a traditional Scandinavian way of eating fresh salmon, not cooked with heat but with lemon juice. The best gravlax salmon I ever had was two years ago, when I was in Finland. I can still feel my mouth watering just thinking about the melting sensation of this wonderfully prepared fish. It resembles smoked salmon in texture and taste. The recipe is slightly modified from the original, but it makes for great fish. However, make sure you make it with fresh salmon, there is some at the coop sometimes so lookout for it.

Take a 500 grams of salmon fillet with the skin. put it in a plate which you will be able to press with another plate on top. Pour coarse salt on the skin almost to cover it. Put a bunch of dill on the fish and bathe in fresh lemon juice with a drop of maple syrup. Cover with plastic and put another plate on it to press and put heavy weight on it. Let it soak for 24 hours and flip it around. Let it soak for another 24 hours. Rinse the salt off before serving and slice very thin and serve on salad, pasta or any other vegetable (do not cook, it is like smoked salmon).

Enjoy! )
MM

Changes in life

Going through changes in life can feel very uncomfortable and stressful. However, your outlook on things is very important to go through changes successfully. It is when you are in an uncomfortable situation that you learn the most. It may not feel right on the moment, and very overwhelming, but the more you sink into it, the easier it becomes.

However, for so many of us, if we try to fill that unconformable moment with foods, to get a feeling stability, we are losing our objective from sight. Why not accepting that moment of discomfort, without trying to fill it with foods, drinks, movies. As you fall into it, you realize that it is not so scary after all, and all the worries that you were having are dissipating. You realize that you will finally go through this change coming out stronger, more confident, and slimmer!)

Yoga values

In the teachings I am communicating to you, I want to transmit not only knowledge that had to do with the physical aspects but also very important are the teachings related to the mind, which influences even more the physical body.

In yoga philosophy, there are very important values to apply to our daily life, which affects our physical. Abiding by those principals is one of the most important learning I am making. Yogis should not experience any of these feelings to preserve their own integrity and balance and preserve others.

When you are going through difficult times whether in a relationship or in any other situation, one should always avoid violence, in verbal or physical form. Anger is something that is not positive for anyone. And the person feeling anger is destroying him or herself first. Along anger often comes the desire of revenge, which has never, ever been beneficial for anyone. The feeling of jealousy is one that is thriving so many people, but one again, this leads to the loss of happiness. Following the path of yoga is leaving those feelings aside, detaching yourself from a reaction which involves any of those and continuing through life. It is the only way to get through life and find happiness.

By releasing yourself of some of these feelings, you may even free yourself from eating addiction.

Results from New Zealand

Team New Zealand has been doing great in the challenge so far. They are now down to 6 active members. We are now down to four active members. On their team, they have lost on average since the beginning of the program (after a little over two months) an average of 9.5 pounds per person, which is great. For us, Team Canada on vacation, we have been losing 8.25 pounds per person on average. We have done good because we have to consider that we had a lot less than they did to lose to start with, so if we would put our results on a relative scale, we would probably be leading. But we will show them how strong will we have and the results will be great. Two and a half weeks before the end, lets give it our best and pool our efforts together. For training, it is a little harder because people are on vacation so it leaves one or two members in town, but we will manage something out.

Go team Canada GO!!!!
MM

Emotional Stress

In your life emotional stress can come in positive and negative forms, marriage, deaths, separation, divorce, moving, getting a new jobs are all forms of stress. Whether positive or negative, our body is still affected with stress and enters the fight or flight reaction well described by Hans Selye, who was the first one to come up with the definition of stress. Your heart beat is increasing, blood pressure also, you are sweating to cool down and blood is taking away from secondary organs such as the digestive system, and is redirected with the adrenaline to your muscles to be able to run and save your life.

If you are trying to actually eat while you are stressed, this is why you are not digesting properly. It is never a good idea to eat when you are troubled, have negative emotions or feel some kind of stress. Wait that the emotions pass, and then only you can put foods in your body.

Stress does not have to affect you on a daily basis and its your own reaction to events which makes you create the stress response.

Before eating, de-stress!

Psychological milestone

Being on a weight loss program for a few weeks, it is important to reward yourself when you reach an important milestone. For me, the psychological milestones are the ten multiples. So when I am able to go below a 150, 140, 130lbs and so fourth, those are milestones that would be worth a reward. For you, it could be any number that you are trying to reach. It has been for me a few weeks that I attempted breaking this barrier and finally I get there. It is very important that you reward yourself and recognize the result of your efforts. Whether it is buying a new piece of clothing or giving yourself a facial mask or getting a massage but make sure you are making something to recognize your efforts.
Can't wait to receive your results!
Good night,
MM

Pre-digestion

I have talked about chewing in previous posts and how it is incredibly important to your digestion, and to eat the right amount of foods, taking your time. Well, I just want to emphasize how important it is to chew cereals and whole grains. Since we are incorporating a little bit in our diet, it is important to understand their digestion. Whole grains take more time to digest than refined white sugar. But the most important part of that digestion is starting in your mouth. Where if you take sufficient time to chew your small bite properly (20 to 30 times), your saliva has time to mix with the grains. Starches start decomposing very important nutrients in your mouth. Some authors go as far as saying that by chewing correctly cereals and grains, close to 60% of the digestion is underway.

Next time your grab your toast or sandwich on the run, take five extra minutes to actually chew properly and it may reduce your cravings later on an make you feel more satiated because you will have gotten most of the nutrients absorbed!

Enjoy your toasts,
MM

Tomatoes...cooked?

Tomatoes have been used for hundreds of years in different cultures especially Italy, Spain and Mexico. In those countries, tomatoes are an integral part of their culture and they are prepared in different ways. On the health side, licopene, which is a component in the tomato which gives it its red pigment, is better absorbed by the body if cooked with oil. A regular consumption of licopene from cooked tomatoes with oil, is associated with a reduced level of prostate cancer. Therefore, if you want to really absorb the great properties of the tomatoes it is a good idea to cook them. You can add them at the end of a stir fry, and I cut them small but I leave the skin on, it is very tasty!
Enjoy your tomatoes with olive oil (in small quantity)! )
MM

Recharge your vitamin D

The sun is out and this is the best time to get your vitamin D reserves recharged. Your body is actually converting the sun rays UVB into vitamin D. However, most suncreens are UVA and UVB blocks. so if you are taking sun with sunscreen, you are not getting much vitamin D. 10-15 minutes exposure without sunscreen can be beneficial. However in North America, from October to March, we don't get enough strength in sun rays for the body to trigger vitamin D conversion it is therefore very important to use supplementation. In daily foods, you have vitamin D in egg yolks and fatty fish. Cow and soy milks are fortified in vitamin D but even 3 glasses a day is not providing what is recommended for optimal health, by the Canadian Cancer Society, which is 1000IU per day. By spending time outside in the summer without sun screen, you can achieve that but not in fall and winter. Go out, exercise and enjoy the sun!

D - recharge!!!

MM

Enough exercise?

How do you know if you are getting enough exercise to reach your goals? There are different ways to evaluate that but the quality of your sleep should be a good indicator. Did you have problems falling asleep last night or did you wake-up a few times during the night? If so, you may have not exercised enough in terms of time and intensity or you may have exercised at the wrong moment (right before going to sleep).

Another more scientific way of analyzing if you are getting enough or not is to simply make a mathematical calculation. On an advanced scale (if you don't have one, come to my house and use mine), you can know your basic metabolic rate. This is very important because it tells you how many calories you are burning in a day doing absolutely nothing (staying in bed all day). On top of that, someone at a desk job sitting all day may be burning an extra 200 calories maybe. So for example for me, my basic metabolic rate is 1308 cal. Since I do not have a physically active work, I may be burning on average 200 calories more. So if I jog for a half hour at a moderate pace, I may burn another 250 calories. If I eat 1700 calories during the day, I will not loose anything. If I eat 1400 calories during the day, I will lose about 300 calories of accumulated fat and in 12 days, it should be a pound less.

Make the calculation for yourself, and this will illustrate you why you are losing or not. Also, make sure you don't go below your basic metabolic rate in terms of calories consumption because then your body enters starvation mode and will be stocking what comes in.

Go exercise and enjoy!

Rhubarb in your plate

It is time right now in Gillam to taste the rhubarb that grows in the garden. It is very low in calories (one cup of diced rhubarb is 26 calories), has some fibers, potassium and some vitamin C with and lots of water. Here is an easy snack to have in the middle of the morning or afternoon.

Preheat the oven at 350. Put 400 grams of diced rhubarb and 400 grams of chopped strawberries in an pyrex baking ban, mixing the two. Add two tablespoons of agave syrup over and 1/4 cup of almond powder, 1/4 cup of sunflower seeds, 2 tbsp of coconut and 2 tbsp of sesame seeds and a mist of cinnamon. Bake for 30 minutes or until the rhubarb and strawberries are soft.

Enjoy the sweet taste of summer in this relatively low GI snack.

MM

Spices...not only for flavor

You will notice that in most recipe that I give you to do, there are quite a few spices. It is very important to add those spices and herbs to your daily life (other than only salt and pepper) because they contain lots of nutrients and trace elements which are musts for your health. Turmeric is one of the most powerful spice which has strong anti-caner, anti-inflammatory and anti-microbes properties. Ginger and chili also have those three biological activities associated to them. Therefore, don't hesitate to add turmeric, ginger and chili to your meals to give them extra flavor, color and health.

When cooking with these spices, we have to look at thousands of years of culinary art and tradition to use them best. East Indians and Asians knew the benefits of those long before science was able to prove their effects. For instance, turmeric is not water soluble, so it must be cooked with a little amount of oil to be absorbed. Also, when turmeric is combined with black pepper, it is absorbed so much better by the body.

There is so much to learn from different cultures and their long held traditions, which has kept civilizations healthy for a very long time, before western medicine and medication was even born.

Readjusting your goals

When we started this program two months ago, we had a reality that is different than that from today. Events, experiences, life, people and our environment has evolved and we have evolved towards it. Although we had wonderful intentions at the beginning, life happened meanwhile, and may have changed today's reality. Those priorities and plans from last month may have evolved into a different direction, and we must understand and respect that. However, we should not give up but make a review on our situation, learn from our past experiences and evolve into the future.

It is time to make an assessment of where we really are physically, energetically and emotionally in this process. We have to be grateful for the wonderful leanings we have done, habits we have changed, and look forward to evolve further. Maybe losing steadily 4 pounds a week was not realistic for you in the actual context, and it is OK. You may have lost a lot quickly at the beginning, but not having integrated those habits completely into your lifestyle. But the most important thing now is to set realistic goals for you for the next 4 weeks and get that motivation back on.

You know that you have a lot more chances of maintaining your weight loss if you lose slowly than faster, and that those changes be lifelong. You and I know that it is possible and now is time to do it. We have a teammate who has reached her goal already, she was steadily losing more or less a pound per week, some weeks more than others but still keeping up with the efforts. You too can do it!

Take Care and go!!!
MM

Final month!

I hope everyone still have their motivation up, because we have a terrific final month to come with the final sprint. I suggest you write down your goal for this coming week. If you are not seeing the kind of results you want to see, make changes. Look at the intensity of your workouts or even increasing the length by 5 or 10 minutes can make a good difference at the end of the month.

Do not forget to do your visualizations, they are so important!). I am also suggesting that you increase by a one glass of water your daily consumption, with the extra exercise, the heat finally here in Gillam, we lose more water through perspiration.

I really hope you enjoy this final month because after, you will be doing more cooking in morning and lunch.

We have one member who had reached her goal, congratulations! )

Lets go team Canada, we can do it!
MM

Use your fingers and eat less!

When trying to reduce your servings, there are many strategies you can use. You probably have tried using smaller plates, or even china with lots of colors and patterns. You are probably doing the extensive chewing at least 20-30 times a bite. So that way, you eat more slowly and have more chances or realizing you are feeling full before you have overeaten.

However, what I am suggesting you is to let your forks and spoons in the drawer and use your own fingers. Make sure you wash your hands before. Form a spoon with your index, middle and ring fingers, and your thumb as a lever. You will find that every bite is much smaller than with a fork but yet feels fuller. I personally like the contact of my fingers in my mouth. It is almost as if eating becomes a more complete sensory experience and when eating whole foods, your skin is actually absorbing the vitamins!

Try it and see, you may even have fun! )
MM

Chocolate treat?

On a weight loss, it is very hard to let go of our favorites. For many of us, chocolate is one of the first thing to take out of our diet if we want to lose weight because of its high content in fat and in sugar. However, chocolate in its pure form (bean) has 50 to 50% of fat, most of it being saturated. However, about 35% of the lipids (fats) comes in the form of oleic acid, which is also found in olive oil, which has benefits for cardio-vascular system. Chocolate has also a good amount of polyphenols, which are great to prevent cardio-vascular disease and cancer. However, when chocolate is mixed with milk and sugar, it loses most of its properties. According to Dr. Béliveau, who is a scientists specilized in anti-cancer research on foods, 40gr of chocolate (70% cocoa) per day is a good source of polyphenols and has a relatively low GI value.

Go for some sweets but one square would be good! )

Best hummus in town...

On a low GI diet, snacking is a very important part of the daily routine because it ensures you maintain your sugar level stable. It is very important to remember that when you take a snack, you are not just snacking on a fruit or on a vegetable. Because if you do, you have a good source of sugars but no macro nutrient to slow down the absorption of the sugars like a source of protein or fat. Therefore, if you are snacking on vegetables, a yogurt dip or a beans or lentils dip can help greatly to make that snack filling effect, feeling much longer. Here is a great hummus recipe you can have with celery sticks, carrots, crakers, pita or rice cakes!

-1 1/2 cup of cooked, rinsed and drained chick peas
-juice of one lemon
-3 tbsp of tahini (sesame butter made by crushing sesame seeds)
-1 tsp of sesame oil
-1 tbsp of garlic powder or two garlic cloves crushed
-2/3 cup of water (more or less according to blender and desired consistency)
-Pepper and salt
-If desired spices or flavor of your choice (Italian, cumin, basil,olives or sun dried tomatoes)

Put all ingredients in a strong blender and blend until you get a smooth consistency.
Serve cold or room temperature with a dash of optomega oil.

Comparism?...

In your life, no matter what happens, comparison is your worst enemy. I have mentioned already a few times that self-judgment is something to avoid. Very important in your efforts is to stay focused on your objective in weight loss, is avoiding condescending comments on yourself. The other important thing to do to keep your morale up and running is to avoid comparing yourself with someone else. Comparison is so destructive, you should avoid it at any cost. It is OK to look at others for motivation and inspiration, but we should not compare ourselves to anyone. In society, we have been raised in the school system to compare our grades, our abilities in sports, our revenue, the size of our house, our garage, our car.... This is a very destructive system.

There is always someone smaller, bigger, healthier, nicer, richer, poorer than us. There are going to be people who are going to reach their goal faster and others who will never reach them. We never have the full picture on a person, a situation, and our evaluation of our own body or of someone else is always based on perceptions of reality.

Please be contented with you own body and mind, which ever state it is in right now. Be grateful for what you have and who you are. Do not compare yourself with anyone. So many genetic, environmental, relational, psychological and physical factors are part of the sum of who you are. Even you, are not fully and consciously aware of all of the factors which interplay in your own progress and development. By doing your best everyday, avoiding judgment, avoiding prejudice and assumptions you are on the way to success. Be inspired by people who reach their goals, but do not compare yourself, period.

By being a non-judging observer, you can do so much more towards your goal to get where you want by respecting your integrity.

Find your inner strength and strive towards your goal, where ever you are today!
MM

Lose or gain what?

When looking at your weekly results, it is not always easy to really understand what is happening within your body. Take out your calculator and a piece of paper, it is going to be easier for you to calculate your own values.

With an advanced scale, that many on the team have, which give you fat% and muscle %, it becomes easier to understand what is shifting in your body, as you are losing or gaining weight.

An ideal BMI (body mass index) for a women is between 18,5 and 25, according to bone structure and other factors. It is simply calculated: your weight in kilograms divided by your height in meters squared.

However, a more precise the weight movement is whether you are loosing fat or you are building muscle. You may have heard that for the same volume, fat is lighter in weight than lean muscle. This is why, certain scales give you a good indication of your % of body fat and your % of lean muscle mass. However, your scale is giving you a percentage, which you should convert into actual kilos or pounds to see where you really stand. In terms of fat%, the manufacturers of the scale are giving between 21 and 35.9% of fat (depending on the age) for a women is normal. For a men, normal levels are between 8 and 24.9% according to age.

Let me give you an example. Last week, my weight was 131.4 lbs with 27.2 % of fat and 31.9% of lean muscle. I need to convert those to actual weight values. So last week, I had 35.75lbs of fat (lbs of fat = total weight *fat %) and 41.92 lbs of muscle. This week, although my weight is 132.8 lbs, my body fat went down to 25.7% and muscle mass to 32.9%. In absolute values it means that this week, I have 34.13 lbs of fat and 43.69 lbs of muscle.

The result of this analysis is that although my weight went up by a little over a pound, I actually lost 1.6 pounds of fat and created 1.77 pounds of lean muscle mass, therefore my basic metabolic rate increased by 14 calories. This means that this extra pound of muscle is burning for me everyday 14 more calories, not doing anything. I hope this makes sense for you. My engineer partner said it cannot be, it does not add up. There are other factors, in our body we have water, foods in the process of being digested, urine, bones and many other types of tissues, and there is movement in all of these aspects, therefore, not all fat is automatically converted into muscle and vice-versa.

I suggest that if you have such a scale, you start recording the actual values and calculate the weight of fat and muscle in your body every week so you know where you are, and you can see a progression.

Go! )
MM

Stretching on the road

When taking care of your body to feel better, stretching is very important. When you are on the road on your summer vacations for long hours, it becomes a priority to help you system function well to take time to stretch.

This week-end, I have spend over 18 hours on the train. My body needed to stretch very much. Here are a few stretch that you should be doing when you are sitting for long:

-Forward bend stretch, standing. Standing up feet hip-width apart, take a deep breath in, and as you exhale, you stretch forward and down with your upper body to reach the floor with your hands. Staying in this position for at least 30 seconds, try to bring your chest towards your knees, your tailbone up. Release slowly unrolling up.

-Standing triangle. Stand-up and spread your feet apart. With your right arm, reach up, bringing your right arm on your right ear and bend on the left side, keeping your body aligned as if you were squeezed in between two walls. Keep for 30 seconds and do the same on the other side.

-Stretch up, bring your arms up and above your head, bring your hips forward (you can also put your hands in your lower back for support.

-With your arms, do the eagle posture. Put your hands-up like if you are under arrest. Bring two elbows close together and cross one over the other, bring your hand in to lock the position. Hold for 30 seconds and do the other side.

-Tall long stretch. Feet together, stretch up, arms above the head and reach for the ceiling, come on the tip of your toes and stretch up, and release.

There are plenty of other stretches you can do but make sure you take time to do it, your body will thank you so much at the end of the road, it will make you feel good even after being in a sitting position for hours! )

Enjoy,
MM

Hunger Cruncher

Some days you just feel you need a little more! If you are eating at least 1200 cal per day, which you must be at least, then you may have that feeling of emptyness. Make sure you are having at least those 1200 cal because if not, it may be much harder to loose weight because your body thinks you are in a starvation mode, so stock everything that comes in.

If you are careful, eating enough calories to be functioning well without jeopardizing your health and still feel that emptiness, go for celery. Celery is a vegetable that is rich in water, dietary fibers, vitamin C and vitamin K. It is one of the few vegetables which require actually more energy to digests that what it yields, which is what we need when wanting to lose weight. You can go for a snack with a branch of celery and a dip made with a little bit of peanut butter and soft tofu so it brings you proteins!

Moreover, if you are the type of person with excess fluid retention, celery seeds have been used as a diuretic for a very long time, its high levels of potassium and sodium help balance fluids.

The psychology of eating...

Eating has always been amongst the most important things one must do to survive. Through different generations and civilizations, foods has gone through transformation and through different phases of abundance and shortages.

The Greeks have understood very well the relationship between the body and foods, a long time ago. Greek philosophers have also warned us that the abundance of foods was a threat to our survival just like shortage.

In North American culture is in the process of demonstrating that fact, as more and more people are dying younger from diseases related to the abundance of foods they eat. More and more research is coming on studies showing that people who under eat slightly every day, live much longer and healthier than people who overeat.

However, it is very hard to determine when enough is enough. We have been raised in a society where more, bigger, larger is better. In terms of foods, the opposite is actually true. In such a society, when you are bombarded with messages everywhere to consume more and more, it is hard to say no, and to really make your stomach believe that enough is enough. Keeping in mind that you will be eating again in a few hours, more than enough foods, may help you go easy. Some people, me included, sometimes eat just as if it would be their last meal for days, but lets face it: for most of us it is not.

In East Indian yogic philosophy, one should eat in a meal what fits in their hands cupped together, no more, and that your stomach should be half full of foods, a third of liquids and the rest is required for digestion.

So on your next meal, ask yourself, am I eating too much? Put your hands together and measure!) Wait 20 minutes before getting more, if you feel like more.

Good sleep please!

When you are losing weight, one of the important factors to watch for is to have enough quality sleep, and feel rested after your sleep. If your nights are shorter than 5 hours or longer than 9 hours, you are not putting all the chances on your side to lose weight. You want to be fully rested to make sure that you are not reaching for foods to stay awake or get extra energy.

You should be sleeping a good 7-8 hours of restful sleep, not waking up, turning and being half asleep all night. You must enter the deep sleep mode many times during a whole night of sleep (3-5 times). It is in this state that your body rebuilds and regenerate itself, and this deep sleep is more important at the beginning of the night, and becomes shorter as the night comes to an end.

In order to fall asleep better:
-Go to bed at the same time every night
-Keep your room cool and feet and hands warm
-Do not watch action or violent movies before going to bed
-Ensure your last meal was at least three hours prior
-Make sure you don't go to bed hungry.

Sleep well!
MM

Pesto from your garden

When people ask me how to cook vegetables, tofu, beans or grains, so they are tasty, I answer invariably that there are two things you can do to make these soooo good: cook right (not overcooked) and aromathise it. Grains, and tofu most invariably take the taste of what it is cooked with. The best way to really enjoy them, is to add natural aroma and flavor through herbs and spices.

A good way to bring out the taste of what you are cooking is to add garlic, onions, ginger and herbs. If you want to take advantage of what grows around you and use it for a few weeks or months, you can create your own pesto, and use it as a marinade, as cooking sauce for stir fry, rice and pasta. You can use it to marinate your fish, chicken or tofu in or simply to spread it on a piece of whole grain bread or pizza.

Here is the recipe from my garden:
Cilantro and chive - dairy free pesto
-1 1/2 cup of cilantro (fresh) or basil
-1 1/2 cup of chives
-3 cloves of garlic
-2 table spoons of pine nuts
-1/2 cup of olive oil
Salt to taste

Put all ingredients in a food processor or blender, except for the oil. Pour the oil in gradually. If you want your pesto to preserve for longer, add more oil.

Persistence = success

There is a golden rule in life, which is so simple yet so difficult to apply in daily life. This rule states that the only way not to succeed or to fail is to give up. This is so true for weight loss efforts. You have set out an objective for you at the beginning of the reset program. It has already been half of the three months period for which you have set out your goal. It is time to take a look at the results achieved throughout.

Although it has not been a perfectly constant weight loss over the weeks, we have been able to see significant changes. Whether it is in your weight, your body measurements, your lean muscle mass, changes have been happening. For some people, it has been changes in attitude, in habits and changes in energy levels. Wherever you are in your own program, there has been some changes, which is great. The weight result may not be exactly where you want it to be by now, but we still have over a month to get there. Look back at all the recipes you have tried, the types of workouts that have worked best for you and repeat what works. Looking back at your week by week results, look at those weeks where you have seen significant results and repeat.

As long as you persist, you will succeed. Every quarter of a pound is an improvement and represents lots of effort, so be grateful towards yourself, and keep going! )

Go team go!
MM

Visualization

Visualization is a very powerful tool when trying to lose weight. Just like for anything, what the mind can conceive, it can achieve. It is very important to spend a few minutes everyday, in the skin that we would like to have, at the weight we would like to be. Here is a very simple exercise.

Every morning or every night, take a few minutes (minimum 3 minutes maximum 15 minutes) where you are in a quiet place, where you can lay down on a mat and close your eyes. Take a few deep breaths and start relaxing your body from toes to head. Then visualize your body exactly how you would like it to be, visualize your toes, your feet, your legs, your stomach, your hips, your abdomen, your waist, your chest, your arms, your shoulders, your face and every other important part for you. As you visualize every part of your body, feel every part slimmer, lighter, firmer. As you feel, try to reproduce that feeling into emotions, how are you feeling as you reach your goal? Probably full of confidence, and pride, you may also feel joy and relief. You probably feel more energy. Make this your reality, now.

Finish each session by being grateful for the marvelous body that you have today and be grateful for all the tools at your disposition to reach your goal. Take a few deep breaths, and take a deep long stretch before getting up.

Setting your mind onto your goal everyday will make a great difference in your actual behavior during the day, and you will find results come easier and faster, try it! )
MM

Role of vitamins in weight loss

Many people ask me why a lot of people start gaining weight when they stop taking their vitamin supplement. This is a very simple principle, which has many consequences.

Your body is a very powerful machine, very fine tuned. It knows exactly what it needs to be able to best accomplish is maintenance, and repair jobs, and support to ensure each organs works best with each other, and is in harmony. Your body needs have a central processing system in your brain, and as long as your body does not have all of what it needs to accomplish its basic activities, it sends signal to continue to eat, in case in the next piece of foods, it is going to get what it really needs. Therefore people are stuck in a wheel where although they continue to eat, the satiety signal never comes, because the body does not get what it really needs, so it continues to send the hungry signal to your brain.

Essential vitamins, minerals and trace elements are such things that your body cannot produce itself. Therefore it needs to find it in the food you eat. Eating in a optimal way every single day, every single meal, is not easy. Although lots of efforts are made to eat better, it is almost impossible to get all of the essential vitamins and minerals in optimal amounts in North American diet. Also, it is not because you you eat foods that is rich in a nutrient that your body will absorb it either. If you take tea, coffee or another foods with it or in a meal close to it, it is very possible that although you are eating it, your body does not absorb it and sends the hungry signal again.

This is why to get the best weight loss results, reduce your cravings and keep your cravings off, it is so important to rely on a very high quality, well-balanced and highly absorbable supplement.

If you want to know more on that topic, don't hesitate to e-mail me directly at mariemaxime@gmail.com.

Light and low fat is not always equal to healthy

I would like to give you tools to be able to make wise choices in terms of foods substitution to reach your healthy weight goals. If you go on different diet sites, especially American sites, you will see many suggestions to replace process foods with similar version of processed foods, which are lighter or lower fat.

I do not suggest you use the processed foods to reduce calories. In those low fat products, manufacturers must add fillers to make you see and taste very little difference compared to the regular product. Those products are added with either sugar, starches, water, artificial sweeteners, as well as many other chemicals that your body cannot process properly. Although, you may be controlling the number of calories you intake, you may jeopardize your blood sugar levels and insulin response, and you may be putting your health on the line.

The is a very simple equation to understand: low fat and lighter products are not necessarily equal to healthier. When it comes to your body, you only, can make the choice: quick and lighter version of processed foods, which may give you some weight loss results in the short run, but impair your health in the long run. On the other hand, healthy choices with slower weight-loss results in the short run, but overall health in the long run.

Here are the often suggested diet items, which I do not recommend for your long term health, the healthy recommendation is in brackets : Jello and light jello (fruits and agar-agar), non fat whip cream (egg whites or soy milk), turkey deli (tempeh), ham deli (eggs), turkey bacon (tofu), light salad dressings (lemon juice, herbs, spices a little cold press olive oil), very low fat hard cheese (tofu crumble), low fat but very sweet soy milk or dairy products (unsweetened version better), cold boxed breakfast cereals (cooked or soaked whole grains) , light crackers such as soda or other crackers which has oil and flour in its ingredients (buckwheat crepe, papadum), margarine (flaxseed oil fresh), pretzels (whole grain, home made crakers), light puddings (soft soy and fruit of vanilla, maple or melted dark chocolate 85%). There are natural alternatives, which can be much healthier. In the short term, it may be more time consuming to learn to cook and make those alternatives, but in the long run it will pay off.

Why do you overeat?

When you sit down to think why do end up in a situation where you have to loose weight, you should think to yourself, why do you overeat?

Some like me overeat because the satiety feeling does not come, or I can not be felt. It is particularly true, when you are in an inflammation situation. The inflammation process is playing on the feeling full message send to your brain, so when you feel arthritis pain or any type of pain, pay particular attention to your servings, because the satiety message transmission is jeopardized.

You may also seek some feeling good and satisfaction from food because you are not feeling any fulfillment from your job, family or personal life. In that case, the only feeling good you will get is from the food you will be eating. In this case, the best idea is to create motivation and action outside of your kitchen in activities you find fulfilling.

Eating is often a compensation from emotions we are feeling. If this is the case, it is a good idea to take a particular attention to treating the emotion side of the issue with counseling instead than with foods.

Overeating is for me quite often in a social setting, in a dinner with friends and family. When the food is on the table, I eat and talk, and talk without even realizing that I have finished my plate and go for another one and another one until I see the bottom of each dish. Unfortunately, when this happens, I realize only when I start feeling a stomach ache that I had too much foods. Therefore, I should always get one plate and one only in a social dinner, this will help me avoid overeating without realizing it, and asking questions, so others do the talking.

There are other reasons why you would overeat, but paying attention and realizing the source is already a first step to modify this situation!

We are doing great!

Congratulation
Especially to the active participants on our team Canada, we have lost one to three pounds each on the last week for those who have given me their results, which is great! Your discipline and efforts are paying off, and it is a great momentum to continue into the loosing stream.

It is absolutely normal that we go through waves in a program like this, nobody is perfect and it is hard to control life events. However, what you can control is your own reaction facing those events. According to your own reactions, it will translate in either heighten stress levels or learning and getting through the situation positively. As you are climbing the mountain towards reaching your goal, there are going to be flat stretches, plateau, and even small descents, but you always have the choice to take the trail going up, straight or down, you are the master of your own reality.
Keep going towards reaching your goal, and all the learning which comes with it!
When I get New Zeland's results, I will post it but Clare their leader is away in New-Caledonia this week on vacation with her family, so she will update me when she will have a chance.
Go team Go!
MM

Enhancing digestion

When we are losing weight, it is even more important to make sure that our digestive system works well. We can be taking the best foods in, but if we are unable to assimilate and digest properly, we will have a harder time losing those extra pounds. We have to make sure we understand that the digestion process starts even without you put the first piece of foods in your mouth. Just by thinking about a specific food, visualizing it or smelling it cook, we can trigger our digestive system. It is therefore very important to control our thought to help our body.

So many things can be made to enhance digestion such as making sure you drink fluids between meals and that you wait 20-30 minutes, after you have drank a large amount and the time you start to eat. This will help keeping the digestive fluids concentrated so the digestion works great. You may sip a room temperature water while eating, but not a lot. Avoid taking a large glass of water right after your meal.

Ginger is a spice that is helping digestion, so integrate it fresh in salads, stir fry and dressings. If works great with lemon in hot water.

A position which stimulate digestion is when you are sitting back straight on your heals.

Avoid talking a lot during a meal will help digestion, you may be chewing more your foods which is a very important factor to digest best.

So prepare mentally before a meal, sit comfortably silently, chew well your dish with ginger and avoid drinking lots of water while you eat or after. Drinking room temperature half an hour before is great! )

Incroporating cereals and grains

Grains in a low GI diet are very important, because they give you energy and make you feel full quick. They provide for fibers both soluble and insoluble fibers, which make the intestinal transit move faster.

You have to be careful because empty, white grains, pasta and bread makes your glycemic index go up very quickly, and creates an insulin response in your body. White starches are almost as efficient to increase your glycemic level as sugar.

Therefore, when you want to control your blood sugar level, it becomes a good idea to include a small quantity of whole grains in your diet. You want to make sure the grains still have the germ and the bran around it, that is where all the important vitamins are. A small quantity is a quarter to half a cup of whole grains cooked. By integrating grains such as Quinoa, Buckwheat, and Millet, high in amino-acids (proteins), it becomes even more filling and satisfying. Incorporating grains early on in your meals is much better (morning or lunch).

Enjoy a little bit and you will feel good!

Self-image

In life our body is changing through different period and different experiences. No matter what is happening with our body, our mind continues to grow. However, the growth of our thoughts are not always aligned with that of our physical body. Although, we would love our body to be a certain way, at a certain weight or a specific fat percentage, it is not it. With so many efforts we put in, it never quite gets there. But your own body is a perfect reflexion of a combination of your thoughts, your genes, your environment, what you feed it and how you move it. Period. Start to love your body exactly as it is today because you are partly responsible for it. Start thanking your body for all it does, and all it allows your mind to do and evolve. Start loving your body and every part you would like to be different. Feeding your body the right foods, making the right kind of exercise in the right amount takes time and effort. Your body will reward you for it. Meanwhile start rewarding your body with love and positive thoughts of gratitude, it will make the journey to get there so much better.

Fruity Treat

Some of you have been asking me what do I get as a treat on the low GI diet. It varies, from a piece of dark 85% chocolate to a piece of muffin with tahini. Here is a fresh recipe great for those hot summer days, which we don't have much here in Gillam. Today, it is 16 C outside!

I have used some strawberries and rhubarb, one of the few vegetable things that is growing healthy here. I picked a few pieces outside yesterday and I created this recipe:

-3 cups of fresh rhubarb stalks cut in small pieces in 1/2 cup of water
-3 cups of fresh strawberries
-3 tbsp of Agave syrup
-1 1/2 cup soy milk
- 1tsp vanilla
-2 tsp of agar-agar (or a pack of gelatin)

Cook the rhubarb cut in small pieces in the 1/2 cup of water (5 min in microwave work). Add a cup of strawberries sliced and heat another two minutes until the rhubarb and the strawberries become a uniform texture. Heat soy milk and the agar-agar to dissolve it completely. Add to the fruits with vanilla and agave syrup. Cut the remaining strawberries, and put around the container close to the edges, and in the mixture.

Put in the fridge for a few hours and turn over to make a nice jelly cake.

Enjoy! )

Eating a balanced meal

When you are composing your own low GI meal, is there a rule of thumb to respect? Yes, a very easy one. In order to eat well a good filling serving, you should really take any plate and split it in 4. I suggest you take a small to medium plate to have a good idea of the servings. Half of your plate is vegetables, one quarter is a protein source and one quarter is a grain or cereal. In order to respect low GI, your grain or cereal source should be about 1/4 to maximum 1/2 a cup of cooked whole grains. Another quarter of your plate should be a lean source of protein: tofu, beans, chicken, fish, shellfish, egg, etc.

At least a quarter of your plate should be raw vegetables with which you start your meal to make your whole meal digestion better. The other quarter should be a dark green color vegetable (raw or slightly steamed or sauté). Broccoli, kale, spinach, brussel sprouts, bok choy, green beans, snow peas, sprouts are all good sources of green vegetables.

Cutting and boiling your vegetables in water is the best way to drain out most vitamins from your veggies, you are not really getting much from eating boiled and over cooked vegetables. The boiling water will get some vitamins, but it usually ends-up in the sink.

As long as half of your plate is vegetables (not including potatoes), you are on the right track to eating a balanced meal.

Enjoy!)

Skin maintenance for weight loss

When we are trying to achieve sustainable weight loss, we have to make changes in not only our eating, drinking and exercising habits, but we must also make substantial changes in our hygiene habits as well. When making a change to be healthier, we go through a detoxification process. The main ways our body uses to get rid of those toxins are through your urine, stools, breathing (exhaling) and through your skin. It is therefore normal for your skin to go through phases where a few pimples appear throughout the process, but eventually, they will go away.

Since the skin is a very important protection and breathing organ of your body, if you want to achieve the best weight loss results, you have to take care of it. One of the very efficient way to take care of your skin is to get rid of the dead skin cells on the surface of the skin daily, to allow your skin to breath and evacuate toxins.

Here is my suggestion: use a dry brush, made out of cactus hair (or another natural fiber) that you can spray with a mix of distilled water and tea tree oil before using. Then you take no more than two minutes and you brush your body from the feet up towards the heat in long strokes. You brush the thighs, buttocks and abdomen, all those places where the circulation does not flow well. Then, brush your arms, specially under the arm close to your arm pits. You brush your back as far as you can go. But do not brush your neck or face because the hair of the brush is too harsh for the skin. If you do this daily, you will see a difference in the softness and texture of your skin. Your body will be able to release toxins more easily through the skin.

Happy Canada Day!

I want to use this posting to wish to the Slimmer this Summer Canada -Gillam team the best Canada Day. Weather was with us to let us know that although the breeze is cold, it is still the best time to go play outdoors! Sebastien and I participated in a triathlon today in town which was very nice. It brings me to the subject of what to eat before and after a very strenuous training.

There are two critical meals before an intense or long activity or race, the one that you have the day before because that meal will have time to completely digest and store very needed glycogen for your muscles. Therefore the meal the day before should be high in complex carbohydrates, which will give you the energy you need on the day of the race: whole grains cooked in recipies with beans or lentils is a great match. You also want to make sure that on the day of the race you have a meal with carbs at least two to three hours before the start to have time to digest. You may keep an energy bars for during the race if it is a long one, but juices high in sugars absord much more quiclky during a race, and those filled with electolytes are also a good choice to make sure you don't dehydrate your body. After the race, you want to replenish you energy, vitamins and minerals, and eat sugars (fruits) and proteins to rebuild.

On that note, I really hope to see all of you participate next year! )

Take Care,
MM

Embracing a new habit per week!

Losing weight is not an easy task, and the hardest is to change old habits which are responsible for the weight gain, and replacing them by new healthier habits. There are so many we have to change to really see a long term difference but trying to change them all at the same time is not the best strategy. Lets tackle one habit per week until we replace those with healthier ones.

In the past few weeks, I was able to re-integrate muscle strengthening and running in my routine, and have kept those new habits. On the foods side, I have been in the past eating too many dried fruits, nut butter and nuts. These are good foods but in very limited quantity. For an adult, no more than a quarter of a cup of dried fruits and a quarter of a cup of nuts is recommended on a daily basis. Dried fruits should not be consumed daily because they are too high in sugar.

I have been able to get rid of the dried fruits consumption habit, but I know I still have some work to do on nuts. Even though nuts are healthy for you, in large quantities they are not! Therefore, knowing that the maximum I should consume in a day is max 1/4 cup of whole nuts or 2 table spoons of nuts butter per day, I have to make changes. Since I am cooking with nuts butter quite often (muffins, dressing, recipies), I have to restrict my self to 1/8 cup of nuts on a daily basis. The new strategy I am trying is to soak the night before, the nuts I will be eating the next day. Soaking nuts and seeds in water is making them easier to digest. I leave them on the counter in the 1/8 cup container, and this is as much nuts as I will eat for the whole day!

This is a new strategy, and I will let you know how it goes.

Remember that if you are able to do a new behavior or habit for 21 days in a row, your chances of keeping this habit are much much higher!

Good luck!
MM

3 types of exercise: essential

In any weight loss program, you are told to exercise, but what type of exercise is better?... Some types of exercises yield more results than other so let me summarize for you the most important factors to take into consideration when exercising.

In order to be healthy and in great shape, you must work on three types of exercises on a weekly basis: cardio-vascular exercises, strengthening exercises, and flexibility exercises. There is no secret, in order to to be in shape and healthy, one must master and continuously practice these three types.

Cardio exercises will make your hart beat faster, and that on a continuous basis, involving major muscle groups for at least 20 minutes. Walking, running, lap swimming, biking are all good cardio exercises. You should practice them at a pace where you can't maintain a conversation, you get out of breath quickly. This type of exercise makes you burn calories faster, get rid of excess fats.

Strenghtening exercises allows you to overload muscles, to make them rebuild stronger. Therefore, anytime you are doing a strenghtening exercise and you are not feeling a burn, you are not overloading your muscle so you won't see significant results. If this is the case for you, then choose heavier weights or more repetitions or a different exercise.

Then you have your often forgotten stretching exercises. They are good to do mild ones before exercising but more importantly after your run, soccer game or muscle strenghtning session. You have to hold the stretch for at least 10-15 seconds without bouncing, this is your strict minimum. If you really want to see your flexibility increase and get rid of very tensed muscles, keep the stretch for 30 -90 seconds. You will feel progressive release.

Now you have the formula to get ready to really sink in the exercise routine!

Enjoy and make sure that you never feel pain (burning, and stretch is OK but not PAIN).

MM
P.S. As soon as I get everyone's results I will post the updated results for this week.

Complements

You have probably started experimenting with beans and lentils by now, they are so low GI and keep you fuller so much longer. Just to make your understanding better, soy is the only protein that is complete from the plants world. For other proteins, completing their weaknesses with another plant strengths will make it complete. It is why so often lentils and beans are combined with grains, cereals, seeds or dairy products, so then combined it becomes a complete protein just like meat.

Beans, lentils and dairy products are rich sources of lysine. Cereals, grains and nuts are poor in lysine, but rich in methionine.


Here are the great equations: legumes with cereals or legumes with seeds and nuts or cereals with dairy products to eat complete proteins.

Don't be afraid to mix nuts with lentils or beans, it tastes so good.



Try a few mixes of your own, you will see, it tastes so good, and you feel fuller, longer!

Proteins...how much?

In our North American diet, we have in general too many proteins on a daily basis. If you start to count the number of proteins you should eat, it corresponds roughly to 0.8 times your weight (ideal weight) in kilograms. So if I weight 60KG, then I should eat in total on a daily basis 48 grams of proteins. If you are still on shakes and bars for two meals a day, you have 15 grams of proteins per shake and 10 grams of proteins per bar, you are already up to 40 grams of proteins. So your extra meal can have about 8-10 grams and you are all set for your day. Just so that you know, a glass of soy milk has 7 grams of proteins. Therefore, you are most probably eating eating a lot more proteins than what you need on a daily basis. Start to look at your menu and how you can make it so it meets your body requirements!

Take Care,
MM

On the go...

Today I was out with Sebastien to Thompson. When you are on the road and try to eat low GI, gluten free, meat free, it is a good challenge. Here is a perspective of my menu to help you plan yours.

When you go out, breakfast is soooooo important. I had two egg whites with cabbage, onion, sprouts and turmeric and spices, it was delicious! For snack, I had baked beans and nuts muffins so I had one on the road, with celery sticks. Lunch in fastfoods restaurants is not great, so a stop at the Safeway made it easier. A cucumber, celery stick covered with hummus, and a piece of cooked smoked salmon and there was my lunch, quite filling and all under $15 for two. Got to soak on vitamin D by having our lunch in a park nearby. I also bought an apple for the late afternoon snack and the road back. In the afternoon, with lots of water before, I had the apple, and two hours later, I had the reminder of the hummus, with celery and cucumbers, and a muffins for dessert! ) A glass of soy milk as I got back and I respected the best I could a low GI meal day.

I hope this gives you good ideas to eat out on the road, grocery stores are your best bet! )

Take Care,
MM

12 sun salutations

Hi team,
I am suggesting a power plan for the week to come to get those pounds off and be able to beat New Zealand. I have done that for a few days and it works great for me. Every morning, as you get up, you do 12 rounds of Sun Salutation, start with the traditional version. Then do 4 postures which you will hold for at least 1 minute each including a shoulder stand and fish, choose two other that you feel like that morning. I integrate a serie of kabalabhati in each, great for abs! It will take you 25 minutes but you will feel so much better.

Let me know how it works for you,
MM

Beans...a little bit at a time!

Any change you want to incorporate in your diet, it is a good idea to go gradually. If you want to integrate more legumes: beans and lentils in your diet, you have to get ready at different levels.

First, you need to learn about them, how to cook them, and which ones are easier to digest. Lentils, split peas and mung beans are the easier to digest and when you sprout them, they are even easier for your digestive system.

Once you found a recipe that you like, make sure you eat a small quantity to start with not to overload your system with a new substance. A few tablespoons (2 or 3) should be enough to get your body used to it in a meal.

You want to integrate these into meals a few times per week at first, it will give you and your family a chance to adapt to new taste and textures.

You want to make sure whenever you have beans, you are not eating with fruit or any thing sweet because it will make it much harder to digest. However, having beans with grains, nuts and seeds make for a perfect match, combining strengths!

Taking small steps here and there, you will find great cooking and tasting experiences!

Enjoy! )

Not perfect but not finished! )

Hello,
I am still patiently waiting on your weight update for this week. I can't wait to see the progress.

We are all humans, no one is perfect and it is normal to sidetrack a little bit our new food choices and it is OK. Any change that you are going to make, has a lot more chances of persisting if you go gradually and you give yourself and your family a chance to adapt. Therefore if one day or another you are not eating only low GI foods, it is OK, don't feel guilty or bad about it. Instead, detach yourself and look at it as if you were only an observer of the situation. Habits are very hard to change and you may try different possibilities and strategies before you find one that best fits you. I still have a hard time not eating when I am cooking and trying different methods such as making a note on the fridge when I do to make me become conscious of something I do almost unconsciously.

Find a strategy for yourself for those ares that are harder for you! Good luck,
MM

Up Up Up ...

With the wonderful blue sky and the summer finally here, it is the perfect time to get out and move your body. Only a half hour of daily cardio-activity can make a huge difference in your weight loss efforts. But it is now time to bring our exercise one level up. If you have been doing quick walking for the past three weeks, then you should try running for maybe 5 to 10 minutes in your 30 minutes walk. If you have been running for 20-30 minutes, it is time to include some sprints in your training, to bring your heart beat up.

The key is increase intensity gradually, while respecting your body. But it is been proven over and over again that the best way to increase your cardio-vascular condition, is to do interval training, where you raise your heart beat to 80% or more of your maximum capacity for a short period, and do many repetitions. However, don't put too much strain on your joints. If you still have a weight surcharge of over 20 pounds, don't run too much yet, unless your joints are in great condition. You may try a light jogging but no sprinting yet. Take charge of your own health and your weight will follow your efforts! )
Keep going with lots of energy!
MM

What is your goal?

I hope that your weight loss efforts are still continuing, after the first week's great results, we have to keep the motivation up to get to our initial goal. Have you been maintaining your two shakes and one bar per day, and one low GI meal plus a low GI snack?

If you want to give a little boost to your motivation, keep your goal clear in mind. Remind yourself every day, and make sure you set yourself a reward when reaching your goal, that will reinforce the maintenance of your goal. We are almost three weeks in our weight loss and should be getting closer to that goal.

I will be going away in August, so I want to have reached my goal by then. My own reward will be a shopping gift certificate at my favorite clothing store. However, I do not allow myself to do this shopping, order online any of these clothes before I reach my goal. I will keep both the picture of myself at my ideal weight as well as a picture of the styles I want to order. This will give me motivation and visualization tools.

Whatever is your own goal, set yourself a tangible reward and remind yourself of it everyday.

Enjoy your reward setting exercise and the beautiful sun outside! )
MM

Drinks?...

When you are on low GI diet, what is the best thing to drink:
Water. Some people say they do not like water. Water should be tasteless, if it tastes something like plastic, please don't drink it, it has been staying for too long in the bottle. If your tap water does not taste good, filter it with carbon or reverse osmosis filter. If you want variety, you can put three frozen blueberries in your water, a frozen strawberry, a piece of lemon or lime.

Please avoid those crystal clear and any type of processed powder which will add artificial color and flavor and sweetness to your drink. It is not because some drinks are low in calories or in sugar that they are healthy. Stick to natural flavoring of your water with putting a piece of fruit for a mild taste or you can also make green tea, and put it in the refrigerator and drink in cool.

Please avoid all sodas, even the diet ones, avoid all fruit juices. The Glycemic index measures how fast the sugar is absorbed into your blood stream. When we are talking about liquids like juices and drinks, sugar is absorbed very quickly directly into your blood. Therefore you want to avoid all fruit juices and softdrinks. Take coffee and tea in moderation (max 3 per day) and replace those by ginger lemon infusion, and green or white tea. However, these teas should be consumed over your 2 liters of water per day.

Alcohol is something that I have covered before but I want to emphasize one thing: in one gram of fat (butter, oil, animal fat) you have 9 calories. In one gram of alcohol, you have 7 calories. Alcohol and fat have similar caloric values, but alcohol is absobed very quickly, whereas fat is slowing down the absobtion.

Would you have a glass of oil, or just melted butter and drink a full glass (I can ear you say....ouash, yak...). So next time you have a glass of alcohol, picture a glass of melted butter or oil, it may help you modify your order.

Go with your water! ) Drink and sweat into success!...
MM

Green tea for pick me up!

Hello,
I have tried today getting some tea (white or green) back into my daily habits. It has some caffeine but also lots of anti-oxidants, and polyphenols so in small quantities during the day, it can be great and help with our weight loss efforts. Instead for going for a high sugar item when we have this down in energy but we are not hungry, lets go for a cup of green tea. Infuse for 10 minutes and drink. If you make your tea in the morning and drink it more than one hour later, you will have lost most of the anti-cancer and anti-oxidant properties.

Go and enjoy your cup of green tea but avoid it before going to sleep.

Let me know how it works for you!
MM

Remove the word Cheating !

Good day!
I really hope that all of you will have a chance to do their exercise outside today, with the beautiful sun, it really feels we are finally heading for summer! )

I wanted to clear up a word with you, please remove the word cheating from your vocabulary. When you are on this low GI diet, you are not in prison. You are making choices that you fully assume. Therefore if you decide to have a piece of chocolate, chips or fires, you are not cheating anyone. You are making the choice of having those. I have come up with a list of foods to avoid, but they are not banned for life. However, if you want to see improvements in your health and weight, you have to make an habit of not consuming these on a regular basis. The longer you will go without, the less you are craving them, and at one point, they are not even attractive anymore. However, you have to make that effort of avoiding them for a period of time to give your body a chance to get over them.

I was very happy to ear from a few of you that some of the foods you were cravings before, do not seem as attractive and have lost their persuasive power on you. This is a great improvement! ) Congratulations.

Our weight loss efforts are not a sprint to starvation to lose as quickly as possible, but they are efforts learning to integrate new healthier eating habits. The outcome of those new efforts on a sustained and continuous basis will translate into weight loss and energy.

Lets keep it up and remove the word cheating from our vocabulary!

Keep it up! ) and Enjoy summer! )

Marie-Maxime

Good job - lets fight back

Hello team,
With the vacations underway, it is harder to get everyone's results in but for the past week, we have more or less been able to maitain that huge kick start of the first week, but so far with partial results, we have not been able to loose over 1 lbs per person this week, which has been New-Zealand's performance. But the game is not over, and we are just ready to get back even harder! )

It is also important to set our goal realistic. In the first week, we have been loosing a lot of the excess water and fluids we were carrying, that is why we have seen big results, the rest is mostly good old fat that we need to burn in excess of what we are taking in. Remember that one pound of fat lost is 3500 Kcal burned in excess of what we have. Therefore, a reasonable goal can be one to three pounds per week now. It is still two shakes a day until you reach that goal that you have set for yourself, then it is back to one shake a day.

I have started running again and it feels great! ) If you want to see those pounds shred faster, you have to increase your time and intensity of exercise.

Take Care and when you are all back in town, lets have the beans and lentils workshop!

Go team Canada Go!

Week 2 - Almost finished

WOw,
It is already two weeks that we have started the program, it is fantastic! ) The first week with meals has not been easy for al,l but we have much enjoyed the pleasure of eating real foods. It is time to look back at our last two week and look what is it that we can improve. If I look at my results, I find that at the beginning of the week, I tend to write everything down and by the end, I don't write it as much of what I eat, I don't drink as much water either. Therefore, I must readjust, and it is OK to improve and it is probably similar with you. I am suggesting that you are taking three things specific to work on this week to improve, for me will be my water consumption (more regular), my weights training (three times this week instead of two) and limit my fruit consumption of one serving per day and have more vegetables instead.

So make your own plan, 3 specific goals for this week and keep it up! )

It is weighting again tomorrow!

Take Care,
Marie-Maxime

Waist measurements...how important?

Good morning,
Our efforts of losing weight are in perfect timing for Summer that is arriving slowly here! ) Sometimes our weight loss efforts are not always showing up on the scale, but we are feeling them in our body. When our body is getting toned, and we are building more muscle mass to replace fat, it does weight more, but it feels so much better! Another indicator that is more significant is how much abdominal fat you have, and this is far more important that any other fat accumulation on your body. Abdominal visceral fat is linked with increase of diabeties and other diseases. Therefore, if your waist measurement is getting slimmer, we are on the right tracks! ) Take out your measurement tape and see!
Take Care,
MM

Surprise - Dessert!

It is time to enjoy summer, and have a great low GI dessert or snack. A small piece can fill you up for a long time! ) For that long walk or bike ride you want to take to fully enjoy the sun! )
Here is my surprise : My vegan, gluten-free strawberry cheese cake...

Strawberry Cake:

• 1/4 cup Almond powder
• 1/4 cup Cashews in powder
• 1/4 cup Sunflower seeds grounded
• 3/4 cup Cooked brown rice
• 1/4 cup Dates
• 1/4 cup Soy milk
• 1 tsp Cinnamon
• 454 grams Tofu soft silken (red pack)
  
• 1 cup Strawberries
• 1 Apple in puree
• 1/4 cup brown rice syrup or Honey
• 1/2 stick Agar-agar (or gelatin sachet)
  
• 3/4 cup Soy milk
• 1 tsp Vanilla

Instructions :
Mix the almond, cashews, and sunflower seeds, and cinnamon together. Put the soy
milk and and dates together and heat. Make a puree with the dates. Mix the dates puree and the seeds mix together with the brown rice. Put in a baking pan, a thin layer on a parchment paper and bake in the oven for 10 minutes at 350F.
Meanwhile, prepare the filling. Put tofu, strawberries, apple, vanilla and honey in the blender.
Heat the soy milk and dissolve the agar-agar. Mix all in the blender and heat until the mix thickens.
Pour the mix on the crust, and cook for 20 minutes at 350F.
Serve, warm, cold or half frozen.

Serves / Time :
Serves 15 Prep Time 30 min
Serving Size Square Cooking Time 45 min
Yields Total Time 75 min

Per Serving :
172.17 Calories
19.000 grams Carbohydrates
9.1826 grams Total Fat
1.0488 grams Saturated Fat
2.8581 grams Dietary Fiber
9.6664 grams Sugars
6.1736 grams Protein
0 mg Cholesterol

Low GI on the road!

Good morning,
Our team members are active people with a busy social schedule, and that is great! However, eating out, on the road or with friends, how to make our best to stay low GI and avoid blood sugar peak.

The first thing to watch for is alcohol. Remember that 1 gram of protein equals 4 calories, one gram of carbs equals 4 calories, but one gram of alcohol equals 7 calories, almost as much as one gram of fat which equals 9 calories. Therefore if you are to have a drink, avoid soft drinks, and fruit juices. Instead, opt for vegetables juice, or for water (mineral or not) with a piece of lemon or lime or any herbal tea.

When eating out, avoid breads, and order salad with lemon or olive oil and balsamic vinegar. You may also order any type of steamed vegetable with a piece of grilled fish or chicken. Stay away from potatoes, dips, pasta with white sauce, red meat, pork and anything fried.

Before going out, have a one of our low GI bars (10 grams of protein), you will be less likely to be starving and putting anything in your mouth. and drink lots of water at the restaurant!

Enjoy!

PS Team members please check your inbox soon, you will have this coming week menu with recipes according the the Coop specials! I will also be sending an invitation for the lentils and beans workshop! )

Pudding or shake for breakfast?

If you want variety while you are on the weight loss with the shakes, you can create your pudding or new shake, here is what you need:

Shake:

• 1/8 cup (scoop) of Usana Soya max
• 1/8 cup (scoop) of Usana Fibergy
• 1 cup of natural soy milk unsweetened
• 1 tsp of optomega (flaxseed oil)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Put all ingredients in the blender and enjoy!


Blueberry Pudding:

• 1 block of soft silken tofu (320gr)
• 3/4 cup soy milk
  
• 1/4 cup (2 scoops) of Usana Soya max
• 1/4 cup (2 scoops) of Usana Fibergy
• 1 /4 cup blueberries
  
• 1 tsp of optomega (flaxseed oil)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Put all ingredients in blender until you get a smooth consistency. Makes three full portions, high in proteins, low in sugars!

Low GI Bars - New recipe ! )

Good morning,
In order to help you achieve the best results and actually enjoy what you are eating, I came up with a great recipe to help you get the best out of protein bars. Tastes are so different, some people like the oatmeal raisin bar the best, other like the peanut butter one, and other prefer other bars. To cater to the most people, I have created a recipe that is gluten free, dairy free and even lower sugars, lower GI that the bars you are taking right now.
Here is the recipe:

• 3/4 cup of Usana Soya Max (soy isolates)
• 4 tblspoons of LSA (mix of 2mflaxseeds, 1m sunflower seeds, 1/2 m almonds, all in powder)
• 2 tbsp peanut butter (natural)
• 1 tbsp of tahini (or use peanut butter if you don't have)
• 1 cup of plain soy milk (unsweetened)
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp vanilla

Mix the soya max (soy isolates), the LSA and cocoa powder together. In another bowl, mix the peanut butter, tahini, soy milk, honey and vanilla until all is well disolved. Pour both mixtures together and mix until you get a smooth consistency. Put this dough in between two layers or parchemin paper and with a rolling pin, make a large rectangle of 20 cm by 30 cm, about 0.5 cm thick. Put this dough in the oven and bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Take out and cut into 10 bars.

Content per bar : 100Kcal ; 10.4 gr protein; 4,7 gr fat; 7,3 gr carbs

Enjoy! )

Its time to share recipes...

Good Morning,
Hope all is great for you and you are feeling amazing and full of life this morning. We have received priviledge information from our competing team, I took a look at the recipes and they look great!

Click on the link and it will bring you Down Under, at the other end of the world:

• Chicken Stuffed with Spinach and Cheese
• Barbecued Lamb with Lentil Salad and Lemon Yogurt Dressing
• Herbed Fish Parcels with Sweet Potatoe wedges and Coleslaw
• Tuna Poached in Tomato and Fennel with Chilli Chickpea Mash
• Barbecued Fish Tikka (Recipe by Carol Selva Rajah, Gourmet Asian Cuisine)
• Chicken Tagine with Sweet Potato, Carrots and Prunes
• Pork with Honey Glazed Apples

Enjoy! )
And recipes from Canada are still cooking but coming very very soon!)

We are Leading! )

Team Canada,
Incredible work, you are each surprising me, one after the other! From 8.5 pounds to 2.5 pounds loss for the first week in the race. Reset really worked on our bodies! )

Our efforts have brought us to the lead position. As a group average, we have lost 2.5227kg per person in the fist week or 5.5 pounds, which is slightly higher than the 2.3875 kg per person average for Team New Zealand. The competition will be fierce!

Keep on the great work ! We have in one week only reached 23.36% of our final team target!

Go team Canada!
MM

Metabolism reset - after one week

Monday Morning,
Wow, it is already one week that we started adopting new habits, and that our body has started to transform. The whole idea of the reset is to maintain our blood sugar levels and get our metabolism back to what it should be.

Understanding how it works, makes it easier for us to maintain our efforts. The two effective ways to get our metabolism active, it is to have many meals per day, including a filling breakfast. It is when we have only one meal a day that our metabolism shuts down. So by continuing our work, by making sure we are having our shake for breakfast (balanced proteins, around 15 grams ) and bar in the morning, it keeps our metabolism going. However, the very most effective way to boost your metabolism is to exercise and build more lean muscle mass. These muscle are going to burn a lot more calories for you when they are at rest.

It is time team to continue more than ever with our walks, which I turned into a jogging this weekend and mostly to get that Reset DVD out and start doing muscle strengthening exercises.

Lets pump up your muscles!!! And Enjoy! )

PS: I am still waiting for the last results to be e-mailed to me by team members before I can update our score!!!

Marie-Maxime

Habits: not easy to change!

Yesterday,
It was my real first day in the kitchen after our reset, where I could actually cook for me! What a pleasure to get back to my pots and pans, and steamer! It was so great that I soon took over my BAD habits of eating here and there what I was cooking, without even realizing it!...I was just gone in my creative bubble, creating more recipes! What a pleasure, but a little too many indulgence pleasures this morning on the scale....It is OK, today is another day, where I will make more conscious efforts to keep from putting something in my mouth that is not in my plate first, and that I must be in a sitting position, before I eat anything. I kind of realized I might have been slacking the water too. I have also put a transparent sheet on the fridge to write every food and water I put in my body today, will let you know tomorrow how it went!
Enjoy your Sunday and don't forget to send me your weight tomorrow morning!
MM

Congratulations - Reset over!

Congratulations,
The 5-day reset is already over. You have achieve great success to get closer to your goal. You are anywhere from 10% to 50% of achieving your final goal! It is great momentum and motivation to keep going! You continue with at least 30 minutes of speed walking a day, your morning water-lemon water and your new meal and snack! Until you reach your final goal...
I am very pleased with the results of our team, and as soon as I get the numbers from New-Zealand for their reset, I will post it!
Great job,
MM

New member in our Team Canada Gillam

Great news!
We have another dynamic team member to join our Team on the Canada side. It brings our target to 111lbs as a group! Be careful team New-Zealand, we have very strong players and maybe an individual record breaking in our challenge...I can't wait to post the results! Ladies it is a pleasure to warmly welcome our new teammate that you will have a chance to meet at our next meetings.
Enjoy your night,
Cheers! )
MM

A few hours left into reset!

Hello,
It is so nice to see everyone's progress, I am very proud of all of us. We also have a top performer in our group, who before the reset is over has lost 9 pounds in 4 days! ) All of you are amazing and I know what kind of focus and determination is required to finish the reset!

Excellent work for all and tomorrow is our first real food meal in 5 days. Here are a few tips:
-Try to have it at lunch instead of dinner
-Start with a glass of water 15 minutes prior
-Start to eat your cold vegetables salad before your have your cooked foods
-If you have a fruit as a snack, include nuts, yogurt or protein source (6-12gr) to keep that snack filling you for longer!

Actually, it is a good idea to get your weight after the reset (before Monday morning) to know how much you did on reset only.


Enjoy and give me feedback.

Thanks,
MM

Changes taking form

Good morning,
I wish you are all doing well. I do not know if you start seeing results but I can tell you that with 4.5 pounds lost in three days, I can really see a difference on my tummy, and in my whole body.

Remember that this five-day reset is designed to detox your system and give you a new start. I know that for my part, in the last few weeks, I was eating larger servings of food. The stomach is just like stretchy bag. If you are over feeding it consistently, it becomes more stretched, so more foods is needed to feel fuller. That is what I had been doing over the last few weeks. However, by reseting my system during those five days, I am giving it less calories, less volume of foods, but maintaining the required amount of proteins, fats, carbs, and vitamins as well as minerals. Therefore, when I start eating again a real meal on Saturday, I want to make sure I watch my servings and that I still have that optimal amount of proteins and good fats. I am also suggesting that you make your 'real meal' at lunch time instead of dinner.

When I was in India in my yoga teacher program, they said that the optimal amount of foods to have at a meal is what fits in both of your hands cupped together. Keep that in mind on Saturday when you start eating again. If you are eating whole foods dense in nutrients, this quantity should be good, if not, you will need a lot more foods to feel full.

Observe changes in your body, you are on the way to settle into a healthy, comfortable weight that you will be able to maintain.

We are more than half way through the reset!
Great work,
MM

Resources for low GI food lists

You can find great and reliable Low GI food information on this blog, from the University of Sydney (http://www.glycemicindex.com/blog/2008/nov2008/givalues757.gif), who have been doing a lot of the research on the topic. A more extensive list is available on this site, where GL information is available (http://www.mendosa.com/gilists.htm) It is important to be aware that depending on the page and resource on the internet, the glycemic index for the same food may be different. If you get glycemic load values instead of glycemic index values it is even better!


Look for:
-fresh fruits (or frozen berries)
-fresh vegetables (avoid potatoes if trying to lose weight, integrate in small quantities later with skin)
-whole grains cooked (brown or basmati rice, buckwheat, quinoa, oats, barley)
-lentils, beans, pulse
-tofu and soybean
-egg whites
-lean dairy products in small quantities
-fish and seafood
-chicken without the skin
-nuts (without salt or oil) in small quantities
-hummus

Avoid:
-white refined flour
-too much wheat
-white rice
-white pasta and bread
-anything that contains sugar
-fruit juices
-pops and candies
-fried foods
-red meat or pork
-chips and pretzels
-breakfast cereals (loaded with sugars, Rice Krispies, Corn Flakes, etc...)
-low fat products (filled with sugar)
-dried fruits such as raisins and dates
-jams and jellies
-prepared foods
-ketchup


The suggested menus will reflect those choices.

We are doing great!

Teammates,
I hope in this sunny morning, the motivation continues to be there for all! After two full days, I am seeing amazing results! ) Three of us have lost 12 lbs together in two days! ) Wow, that is beyond my expectations!

Here is an inspiring comment I have heard recently about disciple: KEEP DOING SOMETHING UNTIL YOU GET THE DESIRED RESULTS! I love this definition that describes discipline, it puts everything back in perspective. Our results is the sum of all of our actions, but if for some reason for one day, our actions are not as it should be but don't get discouraged and continue on the next day, as long as we don't give up until we reach our goal, we have discipline! )

Enjoy the sun! )

Marie-Maxime

The goal to beat!!!

Hello,
The second day is underway and despite the colds in our team, we are doing great. I have gotten the numbers from New Zealand team and they are pretty ambitious: 269 lbs in total for their team of 8 people so on average 37 lbs or 16.8 kg each. Team Canada is already leaner, we are looking for a 95 lbs or 43 kg as a group and an average of 19 lbs per person or 8.6 kg each!

We can do it, we are highly motivated, active and disciplined team! )

Keep up and drinks lots and lots (I find that I need almost double of two liters of water in a day!)

Enjoy every part of it!

MM

First day almost up!

Hi team Canada,
I hope you are doing just great today! I was surprisingly full of energy all day, I though I would have been hungry, but I was fine. A few minutes ago, I thought I was a little hungry but I took a very large glass of water (I am almost up to 3 liters today) and it did the trick!

If you are hungry, don't hesitate to eat an extra fruit or bar a few minutes after you had a large glass of water, it is important you don't starve on this diet.

I hope everything is going great for all of you, it is for me! We have 95 lbs to lose all together and we can do it!

Usually, the hardest part of any changes is the beginning, it can only get better!

Keep going, you are doing great! )

MM