xoSandrella is Now Live!

It has been a very long time since I have been a blogger. With said, from inspiration and encouragement from a couple friends - one who challenged herself to blog in celebration of her 75th birthday, and another who likes to read what I write coupled with the words of Oliver Wendall Holmes”…never return to its original…” xoSandrella was born.

xoSandrella will be my creative vehicle to introduce and share my thoughts, my experiences, and all the people, places and things from the world that I love.

If you are interested in seeing my new blog and new posts, please visit xosandrella.com. It is there that you will find me again.

xo

Sandrella

M.I.A.

Missing in action, not! It may seem like it has been a while since I have posted. In reality, I have just completed a class at Stanford Continuing Studies - Writing 2.0, Blogging and Beyond taught by Allison Carruth. During the course of the class, I not only changed my blog look and feel, I changed the platform too. If you are interested in seeing my new blog and new posts, please visit dontwastecalories.wordpress.com. It is there that you will find me again.

Whey To Go!

Little Miss Muffet

Sat on a Tuffet,

Eating her curds and whey,
Along came a spider,
Who sat down beside her
And frightened Miss Muffet away

There are several people in my life that would welcome a visit from a spider any day instead of eating whey. Years ago, I too would have agreed because at that time I had no understanding of what whey was.

My first introduction to whey protein was in 2004 when I learned about Ann Louise Gitttleman and The Fat Flush Plan from a work colleague. We were at an Electronic Design Automation trade show and he explained to me that his wife had be following this program with immediate success. Upon my return home, I not only purchased the book for myself but also for my girlfriend Daryl. We read the book, jumped on the Gittleman bandwagon and followed The Fat Flush Plan. 


One of the suggested recipes included in the book was a fruit smoothie made with protein powder. Daryl suggested using whey powder because during this time, her mother was battling breast cancer. Daryl had been researching foods to help her mother and she found that whey protein had many attributes that she would benefit from; "Whey protein is an excellent protein choice for cancer patients as it is very easy to digest and very gentle to the system. Whey protein may be added to a wide variety of foods and beverages to increase the protein content without affecting taste." 

Portion Distortion

Is bigger really better? When I was growing up, before I was consciously aware, I always gravitated towards the largest Christmas gift, or the biggest slice of pizza or the piece of Grandmother Stafford's fruit cake that contained the most candied fruit and nuts. Sometimes, I would sneak into the 5 gallon pail of vanilla ice cream and eat several scoops directly from the melting pail, thinking of course that I was not really consuming that much when in reality I was consuming more!

When it comes to food and drink in regards to loosing weight, knowing the appropriate serving size in relationship to the calories associated is a good habit to make a part of your diet regime because most of us have portion distortion issues.


For example, if you ordered a glass of red wine and received the larger glass featured on the left side in the picture above, you would probably think, WOW this is a REALLY large pour and drink the glass. If you gave it a second thought, you would most likely think that calories for this glass of wine would be higher than the approximate 100 calories per 5 ounce glass that you already know but hopefully not much more. After finishing the glass perhaps you might order a second and happily leave thinking that you probably consumed only 300 calories? NOT!  The larger glass in the picture holds an entire bottle of wine, which is about 27 ounces. The smaller glass is my 3.75 ounce wine glass that I referenced in my That's Amore post from April. I realize that this example might be extreme, but this is what happens when there is no awareness regarding what an appropriate serving size is and the calories associated with it.

"I get by with a little help from my friends...I'm gonna try with a little help from my friends"

Real friendship is shown in times of trouble; prosperity is full of friends. 

                                                                                                                                                    Euripides

My mother always told me "if one has only a few true friends in one's lifetime, one is lucky."  At the time, I did not quite understand what she was trying to explain. Now that I am older and wiser, the meaning is loud and clear!

"My People" have seen me through "thick and thin," literally. They have been there through every conflict and crisis, diet - fad or legitimate, death of loved ones - human or four legged, depression and sadness, layoff and promotion, and celebration and marriage. They are privi to my deepest darkest secrets, my wishes and my wildest dreams; I can be my true, raw, naked self with them and they are still by my side. I think that Ralph Waldo Emerson sums it up nicely "A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him I may think aloud." "It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them."

Celebrate good times, come on!

There's a party goin' on right here

A celebration to last throughout the years

So bring your good times, and your laughter too

We gonna celebrate your party with you

Come on now

Celebration
Let's all celebrate and have a good time
Celebration
We gonna celebrate and have a good time

It's time to come together
It's up to you, what's your pleasure

Everyone around the world

Come on!

The Magical Fruit

Beans, beans the musical fruit

The more you eat, 

the more you toot

The more  you toot, 

the better you feel

So eat beans for every meal

Most everyone should know this silly little tune and most everyone probably finds the subject of flatulence humorous, even if you do not laugh out loud. Growing up, this  topic usually came up during dinner and resulted in tear filled laughter.

Up until recently, I have hardly paid attention nor have I eaten legumes of any sort. However, my thoughts began to change on January 12, 2011, when I watched Stephanie O'Dea do a crock pot cooking demonstration on Good Morning America: Stephanie made Chicken Enchilada Chili that included beans.

Immediately, I set out to make the recipe. Surprisingly, I had everything on hand to prepare this dish except for the beans, or so I thought. Then I remembered that I received a gourmet gift box for Christmas from the Women's Bean Project.