Leave the Grain, Take the Cannoli.

Today's Recipe is brought to you by the fine folks over at Paleo Diet Lifestyle and it's definitely an easy one that I've added into my permanent rotation.

I've always been a sucker for Italian Food. In my youth, I'd eat leftover Spaghetti straight from the fridge out of a ziploc bag. I could polish a medium any size pizza off in one sitting. If it had a tomato based sauce and a heaping portion of carbs, it would fit in my belly.

So when I saw a recipe for an gluten/grain free Eggplant Cannoli, it had to go down. And by down I mean down my throat. And I mean STAT. Click continue to see the picture and check it out!

Baconana Pancakes

Pop quiz hot shot! You've got one banana, two pieces of bacon, an egg and some almond butter. You're hankering for some food. What do you do?

ENTER THE BACONANA PANCAKE.

Stop Doubting Yourself. Be Bold.

I saw this video and wanted to share this with you guys in case you needed a boost this morning. This video is from the TV Show Master Chef by Gordon Ramsay in which he encourages a contestant who is struggling with self doubt and second guessing. Check it out:

Great Site to Check out if Before and Afters Motivate You

I wanted to post a quick recommendation to go visit a site that recently featured my weight loss story.

The site is up at www.howilost100.com and features some great success stories with before and afters. If you're motivated or excited by hearing stories about how real people lost real weight, head over there today.

The direct link to my story is right here if you want to skip to my profile.

 

Braking for Inspiration

I heard a podcast recently about a not so famous inventor by the name of Elisha Otis. Mr. Otis was the child of a farming family who didn't have a personal desire or knack for farming, who after his wife died, moved to the big city for a fresh start. After having some success inventing a robot that produced bedsteads 12 times faster than manual labor and with his own personal business, and ended up working for a factory. He was cleaning the factory out to change the business and wanted to create a way to safely haul debris from the third floor. Back then, factories and other two story buildings were starting to frequently use elevators. Unfortunately, as is the case with much new technology, accidents and mishaps were frequent when the ropes they would use with pulley systems would fray and fail.

As such, they rarely used elevators for traveling more than one story up. Fall one story down and you'd break a leg, fall two stories and you could break your back or neck or worse.

Elisha saw an opportunity.

The Truth

“You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

John 8:32 (NIV)

Don't worry secular readers! This is not going to be a religious post. But today I want to tell you the truth about my journey to health. And the truth may surprise you about the challenges the prospective skinny person faces and will continue to face even after maintenance begins.

Do Diets Work? Maintenance and You

Sunday is the one day off a week I get the opportunity to sleep in. But of course, 5:30 hit, my eyes open and thoughts start running through my mind. This week, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about Maintenance once you hit your goal weight. I’ve stayed at the same body fat composition now for the past 12 months or so, so I thought I’d share some thoughts on avoiding what people see as the “inevitable” yo yo affect after significant weight loss. 

Learning to Learn: Becoming a 4-Hour Chef.

“Love is a dangerous thing. It makes you do irrational things like kill people or get married. But it allows you to be delusional. We think: I have a special skill that no one knows about but I have it and if you knew me well enough you'd know that my secret skill is amazing. And then you meet someone who says, you have a secret special skill and you go, I know, so do you. And they go I know.”

-Mike Birbiglia

Ok, so this quote is equal parts giggle worthy and cynical, which makes it right up my alley.

Have you ever heard the parable of the talents in the bible? In it, there is this master who is going out of town for a while, and he gives three of his workers some talents (which are in fact gold pieces). He gives different amounts to the workers according to their ability because he was a big Ayn Rand loving capitalist. One gets 5, One two and the last one one. When the master returns, he goes to the workers to find out how they did with his money. The first two doubled their talents, turning the 5 into 10 and the 2 into 4. He is naturally pleased and rewards them, calling them good and faithful servants. The last one on the other hand, scared of losing the talent and upsetting his boss, takes it and buries it in the ground for safekeeping. However when he returns with just the one talent, the master takes it away from and chides him for being weak and slothful.

Lest we anger our bosses, today we're going to talk about what you're doing with what you're working with.

New Year’s Resolutionaries: What to Know and How Not to Fail.

As many of you know, I started my journey to weight loss in November. I joined a big box gym, one that was recently opened and still all shiny with that special new gym smell that everyone loves. It was a huge facility with more equipment than I knew the names of and about 5 machines to every person inside.

It turns out that for the nervous morbidly obese man, going to the gym when it’s completely easy lowered the barrier for entry. Two months passed and I was totally comfortable. Then something funny happened.

It became January.

Recipe: Slow Cooker Lamb with Garlic and Bacon

I’m not going to lie. I know Mary would be offended, but I love the taste of lamb. It’s got this earthiness to it that I find infinitely appealing. If you’re into savory foods and haven’t experienced the joy that is a properly cooked lamb, I’ve got a great recipe for you today that is an easy way to make it for your first time. Plus there’s garlic and bacon, so there’s that.

Credit Fast Paleo for the recipe and check out the post to see some pictures and instructions.