What day is it?

Today has been kind of a rough day. Started out good ... great time with God and a yummy breakfast (muffins again), but now I'm fading. Have had a lot of pain for the major part of the day. Headache ... shoulder pain ... leg pain (yet a new pain, folks ... what's up with that?!) ... back pain, always ... anyway ... a prime situation for an emotional eating extravaganza. A week ago you probably would have found me at the bottom of a bag of chips (big bag of chips) about now. But ... nope ... not gonna do it. My body is satisfied. Is it filled with low-fat, complex carbs and my leptin is alive and well.

*A Lesson on Leptin
Leptin is an appetite surpressing hormone. It's name comes from the Greek leptos, which means thin. It is produced in your body by fat cells and released when these cells sense that you have more than enough nourishment coming in. Then, it does two things: it travels to your brain to let it know to reduce your appetite and it boosts your metabolism and encourages the cells of your body to burn calories more quickly. I like leptin ... leptin is good. However, excessive dieting can hinder its effectiveness. So, if you go on an extremely low calorie diet, causing your body to think it's starving, your fat cells will quickly slow down their leptin production. Another behavior that interferes with leptin is eating high fat foods. Researchers believe that a low-fat, plant based diet helps keep leptin levels up while fatty foods suppress leptin. So rice, beans, vegetables, fruits and anything else that is close to fat free will give you a leptin boost ... like most of the foods I have been eating. (*information source, "Breaking the Food Seduction" by Neal Barnard, M.D.)

I knew that reading would come in handy one day ... well ... that's my lesson for the day..

Lunch was rice cakes with bean dip (pictured above) ... another new yummy! I just took a can of fat free vegetarian refried beans and added: 1/4 tsp. garlic, 1/4 tsp. cumin, 1/4 tsp. chili power. Mixed it all up and layered it on with tomtoes, onions and mild green chilis.

Dinner was this luscious looking plate: baked potato topped with creamed corn and green beans on the side. Potatoes are like Mary Poppins ... practically perfect in every way. They contain all the protein and amino acids required to sustain human life and are a food that scores the highest on the satiety index. Just watch what you put on them. I "creamed" the corn by blending half the can with its liquid and then mixing it back with the whole kernals and adding 4 drops of stevia for sweetness. I poured some non fat, non butter substitute on top of both items, sprinkled garlic on the green beans and hello comfort food.