The Human Body is Mostly Water, and so....

Drink that Water!

Water is a critical component of your body, making up between 55 and 60 percent of your weight. Your body can’t store water (unlike fat), so you need to replenish it often. That’s why it is so important to get at least 64 oz. of water daily.

Water plays a key role in supporting health, particularly during weight loss, when it helps remove toxins and other unhealthy substances stored in your fat cells. Being well hydrated helps all our organs and systems function properly. In fact, every function in your body takes place in water. It’s the solvent that moves nutrients, hormones, antibodies, and oxygen through your bloodstream and lymphatic system, and removes waste. And of course, it’s essential to your kidney’s ability to filter and eliminate metabolic byproducts and toxins. If you don’t drink enough, your body is forced to recycle dirty water, diminishing the efficiency of every metabolic function.

What you may not realize is that we actually lose nearly twelve cups of water every day: two cups through perspiration, six cups through urine, two to four through breathing---and nearly one cup through the soles of your feet! And in high altitudes or dry environments, you lose even more.

During your weight loss phase, there are even more good reasons to make a conscious effort to drink your eight glasses a day. Here are a few:
- It’s calorie free, but helps you feel full and satisfied

- It keeps you from overeating. Studies have shown that when we feel hungry, 30 percent of the time our bodies are actually signaling for water.

- It facilitates the removal of toxins such as pesticides and preservatives from your cells

- It prevents dehydration as your body eliminates excess salt and water from a diet of too much processed food.

- It minimizes or eliminates fatigue, lack of energy, headaches, and unclear thinking.

- It speeds up metabolism. A recent study showed that drinking two 8 ounce glasses of cold water increased metabolic rate by 30 percent for ninety minutes after.

- It helps your liver convert fat to energy.

- It compensates for the loss of glycogen stores as you lose weight.

-----taken from Dr. A’s, Habits of Health



Thai Pork Lettuce Wraps


1 lb. ground pork

1 med. Zucchini, cut into bite size strips

½ cup finely chopped red sweet pepper

¼ cup chopped green onions (2)

1/8 to ¼ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

Lettuce leaves (iceburg, butterhead, or romaine)

Peanut sauce:

In a small sauce pan, whish together 1/3 cup natural peanut butter, 1/3 cup water, 3 T. lite soy sauce, 2 cloves minced, and ¼ tsp. ground ginger. Cook over low heat until heated through, whisking constantly. Stir in 1 T. snipped fresh cilantro.
In a large skillet, cook pork until brown. Drain fat. Stir in vegetables and red pepper flakes if desired. Cook and stir 2 to 3 minutes or until mixture is heated through. Remove from heat and stir in ½ of the peanut sauce.
To assemble, divide pork mixture among lettuce leaves. Drizzle with extra peanut sauce.

Makes 4 servings

Per serving: 297 Calories, 8 g. carbs, 2 g. fiber, 22 g protein.


I decided to no longer bore you with the details of what I eat each day, you get the picture by now.  Yes, I am still in the weight loss phase (minus a few bad days).  I am down 10 pounds from when I first started this blog.  Not bad, considering a bad week in Reno, and a few other days the little beasties got me.  I will continue on until I get to where I feel good and where my body can maintain without considerable struggle.

Nevertheless, I feel great, and I can tell that eating the right things definitely helps me have more energy, more clarity of mind and reinforces the fact that we are what we eat :)

Shout out to.......Dr. White and his 10 pound loss in 10 days!  Off to a great start and a shining example for his patients.

Did you know...."Leisure time sedentariness has resulted from the availability and volitional use of pervasive mechanization.  When the energetic cost of non-work mechanization is estimated experimentally it approximates to 100 to 200 calories a day.  A caloric deficit that potentially could account for the entire obesity epidemic.  -- quote from Levine J A.,  Levine Lab, Mayo Clinic, mayoresearch.mayo.edu/mayo/research/levine_lab