Just Lose It with Berta Newsletter                                                                                                                                        Volume 1                                                                                                                                                                        Issue 43   
                                                                                                                                                                                                     10-28-2010    
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              
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 Hello

  

 

Here comes the weekend and week that most of you are dreading, knowing it will begin the eating of candy and chocolate. We tend to break down the minute we buy the stuff, and we continue "sampling" the goods long after the offending day!  Halloween!  Ugh! If you don't have some kind of plan, you will undoubtedly become caught up in the frivolous eating, and before you know it, you will be a few pounds up and an emotional mess from the sugar and, perhaps, a little bit of guilt, as well.  So, try to be diligent, pull yourself together, and understand that you do not have to succumb to the overindulgence that this day typically brings about.  Have a plan! You can go back and read last week's "Tea Time" and pick up a couple of pointers as to how to avoid the woes of Halloween! 

 

Meanwhile in this week's "Tea Time" I decided to speak about what differentiates those who struggle with their weight from others who have been successful in their weight loss endeavor. What do they know that you don't?  And, did you know that you will lose a lot more weight if only you would  avoid skipping meals?  Don't believe me? Well, just scroll down and learn why it is true.

 

And for this week's recipe...Cauliflower and Red Lentil Curry!  This is not one to miss!

 

Have a great week!

 

Berta

   

 

 
 


 
Tea Time with Berta:
                   Berta cup  of tea photo            
 
 

If not now, when?

 
 

  This is a simple question that runs through my thoughts almost perpetually with regard to food and just about every major decision I must make.  I often wonder about the differences between myself and  "others" who are successful in life, "others" who appear to have achieved their goals, "others" who have reached for a dream and grasped a new reality for themselves,  "others" who get it done.  What separates me from them?  What separates you from them?  Why is it that they can and you cannot?  Are they better than us?  Do they know something that we don't know?  Do they just have more conviction, more determination, more support, or better luck?  What makes "others" who appear to have it all-great bodies, faces, clothes, careers-better?

 

The answer really lies in the answer to a simple question, a question I ask myself many times over. Reflecting on the answer always jolts me into a place of clarity;  when I feel confused, overwhelmed, and stuck I ask the question:  "If not Now, when?"

 

Why does this simple query never fail to move me?  Successful people don't ask this question. For them there is only the thought of what they wish and the answer to when they will attain it: Now! Right Now. You see, successful people know that if it isn't Now, then it will surely be never!  They are right, and we need to learn from them that if this moment in time is not your Now, if you cannot say right this minute that you are done with excuses and tomorrows and later ons, then you will continue to wonder why others are successful and you are not. Simple. So, if you are done with the future "whens,"  and you accept that  your only other choice is Now, then you accept that every answer that is not a Now is the same as every lie you have told yourself in the past, especially the "later" lie. You know the one: after the cookies are gone; after the weekend; after the holidays; after my birthday party. Basically, every promise of future change is a lie that many of us persist in telling others to deceive ourselves!

 

Try it, try it this moment while you are reading this e-zine. Put down your old ways, grab a bottle of water, and contemplate your menu for the rest of the day.  Difficult?  Why, I thought you wanted to lose some weight?  No?  You're good, but would like to lose weight after you finish eating something?  Do you hear yourself?  Well, let me help you. Answer this question: "If not now, when?" Okay. Now perhaps you should put down the fork, throw out whatever you should not eat, fill your water bottle, change your head and change your direction.  I don't know how long your journey will be, but I can promise you that it will be way longer if you ignore this very important answer.   If you cannot bring yourself to say yes to Now, then understand that you might never get to your destination. Ultimately, it is your choice, isn't it?

 

How many times have you promised yourself to start losing weight? Were you really thinking you would do it right around the time when pigs fly?  When the cows come home? When the fat lady sings?  Well girls, she's singing Now.  Can you hear her?


 

 



Did you know...



 

that you must eat to lose weight!  I am sure you all know this on one level or another, but sometimes it is important to be reminded of the very basic facts about weight loss. Even I have to remind myself that certain things really work, and other things do not. Starvation does not work.

 

This is a simple, but crucial, reminder about exactly how we have to eat in order to lose weight, and why it is that we are constantly veering off track!  It seems that all of us have the experience of eating in a way that seems to be working until it isn't. Once we think we have a handle on it, low and behold, it stops working. For no apparent reason you hit that place of purgatory: you're going neither up nor down because you've hit the proverbial plateau. If you check out my earlier article on plateaus  you will learn that I really don't believe in the concept.  Usually, it's not that our bodies have hit the plateau, but rather that our minds have brought us there. 

 

One way or another, we unconsciously fall back into some familiar bad habits, and we fail to realize that something we are doing, or failing to do, has put us in the position of treading water and frantically wondering how long we can hold on. The answer, by the way, is not long, at all! Panicked, fearing that we are about to blow some really good weight loss, our assessment of the situation brings us to the logical conclusion that we should just eat less.  Maybe skip an unnecessary meal? Perhaps breakfast? A few cups of coffee and a power bar for lunch could take the edge off, as well?  After the gym, maybe just a salad for dinner?  Sounds like a surefire solution...  It should work, because in theory you are clearly burning more than you are taking in; in addition, you are also working out, so it just stands to reason that this is the ideal weight loss regimen, right?  The answer is sadly not what you would like it to be. I am sure that you have all tried this little plan before, and alas, I am equally sure that it has not worked the way you might have wished, but why?  Simple. It doesn't work because skipping meals does not work, and we should all be happy that it doesn't. If it did, we might all be thinner, but we certainly would not be healthier.  Skipping meals is no way to sustain a healthy life, and it is also no way to lose excess weight.  Allow me to explain.

 

When we talk about our metabolism, we are talking about the process by which our body gets energy from the food we eat. The metabolism refers to the chemical reaction in our body's cells whereby the fuel in food is converted into the energy we need to do everything from moving to thinking, from growing to losing weight!  When I hear people saying that their metabolism has slowed down, or that they just can't lose weight anymore and they don't know what the problem is because they are not eating very much, I know exactly what is happening: they are skipping meals. 

 

You must eat to lose weight!  This does not mean that you must consume tons of food, or fattening food, because that would be ridiculous.  But you have to eat healthy, small portions of low fat, high fiber food, three times every day.  Period! 

 

What happens when you wake up in the morning and decide that you have figured out that you can lose weight, by just skipping breakfast?  Well, your body looks for something to eat first thing in the morning because it needs energy to get moving, and if it does not get some it will-choose one-

A)   start burning off the excess fat that is stored in your body.

B)   begin to shut down, in order to preserve your energy.

C)   send out stronger than normal hunger signals that might cause you to eat double at lunch.

D)   all of the above.

E)   all but A).

 

The answer is E.  You would think it would be A, since that is usually the reason we decide to skip a meal, right?  But what really happens is that the body does not automatically start to burn your stored fat cells.  How could it?  Your ability to hold on to your weight, and your life, would be too precarious if the pounds fell off that easily. First of all, what would happen if you didn't have enough stored fat to burn? Something else would have to go. So, your body will not just start to burn stored fat because you skipped one or two or even three meals; it doesn't work like that.  Don't get me wrong; if you eat barely anything, you will lose weight, and muscle, and energy, and your health, and eventually your life. 

 

I like to think of the body as separate from our minds, doing what it needs to do to survive and protect itself from our efforts to screw it up.  Its job is to maintain the status quo.  It does not know that we have too much fat stored; it just knows that when excess comes in, it must be stored in case of a shortage.  When you wake from a sound sleep, your body needs fuel to get it through the day efficiently. If you decide to skip breakfast, your body will react by trying to do nothing. It will not want to expend energy necessary to burn off your fat. In fact, what it will do is to slow you down physically as much as possible in its effort to conserve your energy. If you skip lunch after that, then your body will really start to slow you down, making you want to take a nap. By the time evening comes, you will eat yourself out of house and home, and your body will just kind of wait to see your next move. And it will do nothing, nothing at all, while it waits to see if it will be fed again. Sound familiar?  The same cycle starts the next day as you awaken still feeling full from the night before, capable of going without food for the next five or six hours.  Ultimately, you are going to start to think that your metabolism is just not working for you, or that your thyroid is not working. In fact, if you keep this cycle going, your metabolism just might stop working for you! 

 

Your body needs fuel to burn. The better the food, the more calories it will burn.  If you want to lose weight, and I am guessing that is why you are all here, then you must eat!  You must eat just enough to give your body energy to get you to the next meal, but not so much that it will have to store it.  You can really get a handle on that amount by listening to your body and being methodical about what and when you eat. Check out Don't over think it! to see exactly how this is done.

 

Meanwhile, if you are still thinking that skipping a meal is a fast way to attain your goal weight, think again.  It is actually the fastest way to get you binging and back to a really good weight-gaining state.  If your metabolism does not seem to be working, then start giving it something to do!  Give it food to eat, food that takes a lot of energy to burn! Keep it busy by eating high fiber foods that jump-start your metabolism in the morning. If it has no new excess fat to store, eventually it will start to let go of some of its precious cargo, that fat it fights to maintain!

 

Remember, that to lose weight properly, you must eat three times a day, with at least four to five hours between meals.  You must eat a small to moderate quantity of very healthy high fiber, low fat foods.  You must drink plenty of water!  And last but not least, you must feel a little bit hungry right before you go off to sleep. This you must do at least four or five days in a row before you will be rewarded with a nice, steady weight loss of about one to three pounds each week. 

 

Eat to lose!  Who knew?

 

 


My Favorite Things to Eat!
 

Cauliflower and Red Lentil Curry!


 

cauliflower and red lentil


 

 

This is for those of you who need that comforting type of food, with the added benefit of not having to feel guilty about eating it. This dish will fill you up and satisfy your taste buds, and it might just surpass some of your old favorites. 

 

Enjoy! 

 


What you need:

 

cup red lentils, rinsed

1 small onion, chopped

2 tsp. curry powder, preferably Madras

              tsp. salt

 tsp. turmeric

2 cups water

4 plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped, (or one 14-oz. can tomatoes, drained and chopped)

4 cups cauliflower florets

              1 jalapeno pepper, halved, seeded and thinly sliced

 1 tbsp. canola oil

 1 tbsp. cumin seeds

 3 cloves garlic, minced

 2 tsp. minced fresh ginger

 � tsp. cayenne pepper

 2 tbsp. lemon juice

 1 tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro

 

What to do:

 

Combine lentils, onions, curry powder, salt, turmeric and water in a large saucepan over low heat; bring to a simmer. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the lentils are soft and the sauce has thickened, about 45 minutes. Add tomatoes, cauliflower and jalapeno peppers and simmer, covered, until the cauliflower is tender, 8 to 10 minutes longer. Remove from heat.

 

Heat oil in a small skillet over medium-high heat. Add cumin seeds and cook for about 10 seconds. Add garlic and ginger; cook, stirring, until the garlic is lightly browned, about 1 minute. Stir in cayenne and immediately add the oil-spice mixture to the cauliflower mixture. Stir in lemon juice, and cilantro. Taste and adjust seasonings with additional salt and cayenne.

 

 


Bon App�tit!

   
 

Where to go and what to do to GET STARTED!

If you can say Yes! I am ready to get started!  this is the link to the blog page that will explain how to go about doing it. You don't have to read it all in one sitting! Please take your time, absorb my words, and when you fully understand where I intend to take you, read on.  The journey we will take together might be a long one, but it promises to be unforgettable. The first step is committing to yourself. From there, you will begin the work of finally identifying why you are where you are, and how you got there. The moment you can honestly own your personal truth, you will have reached your goal. The rest is simply a matter of time. 
Enjoy the ride!  
  
Berta is a respected weight loss counselor who has educated and empowered hundreds of women JUST LIKE YOU to lose the excess weight that prevents them from living their dream and Berta by mantlebecoming the woman they were meant to be.

 

Her gift, and the reason her program is SO SUCCESSFUL, is her ability to break down every detail of your weight loss journey so you can be prepared for the challenges and understand the emotional components behind them. 

 

This on-line program has been designed to bring you the same experience of her methods and common sense explanations that Berta uses in her successful private practice, at a fraction

of the cost.  If you liked today's issue, you'll love her blog and the main site as it is being built, which you can find at JustLoseIt.com.


DON'T LET ANOTHER DAY GO BY!

 

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