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2009 is lookin' fine!

Remember those geektacular little slogans we had for our graduating years of high school?
We're so good. We're so great! We're the class of '88!

I think we like to apply that lingoliciousness to our mantras for the new year when we're sure we're going to kick the hiney and take the names. It's a way of motivating through that spoken tradition humans carried through the ages on the tongues of warriors and wise ones, word wranglers and wiseguys.

Mantras are a way to connect with our inner chanters, wordy white noise, much like the army cadences that keep combat boots moving forward in unison.

I don't know but I been told
The mess hall food looks mighty old

People love those short rhyming pairings, snowballing through time since pre-dawn to the modern age, when motivational yells, calls, bumper stickers and beliefs (If it is to be, it is up to me) bring a level of excitement to even the most mundane of tasks.

Still, there is something more gutteral and primal about the shorter yells, chants and cheers. Whether they are muttered as thighs burn, abs twitch or a hand puts the danish back into the box, one thing stands clear: We're suckers for a good rhyme.

So, on to 2009, when a bevy of mantras folly forth from the tongues and qwerties of men and women looking for a new lease on life:

We're looking fine in 2009! (That's the rah rah of the '80's you know and love)

I'll wine and dine in 2009. (All right, Rico Suave)

I'll make moonshine in 2-oh-09. (anyone seen Elliot Ness?)

I won't stop tryin' in two-oh-niyin. (It's that noncommittal attitude you have to love)

I make it mine in two-oh-nine. (Ride it like you stole it)

I draw the line in 2009. (Who died, put you in boots and made you Colonel Travis?)

I walk the line in 2009. (You don't happen to know a Boy Named Sue, Do You?)

Frankenstein in 2009! (I suppose if he was running for President, or if 2009 was an election year. But really. Bolts in your neck and you scare children. Come on. That makes you like Marilyn Manson.)

8-6-7-5-3-0h-9 (What? You saw that one coming a mile away.)

What is your mantra as we move forward from making smoochyface with orange cheeto lips of iniquity and turn into the rightwous fist pumping pundits of the coming year?

Whatever it is, may you be safe and sane on this December 31, 2008 holiday!

Do you trust Taco Bell to help your South of the Border?

What do you think of this gem from the Sacramento Business Journal?

Restaurant operator Yum Brands Inc., parent company of KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Long John Silver’s and A&W Restaurants, will launch a new fitness initiative for customers Thursday.

Louisville-based Yum (NYSE: YUM) announced Monday that it will launch a new Web site, www.keepitbalanced.com , that features an online wellness and fitness training tool, eFIT4Me.

The program identifies eating patterns, recommends nutritional habits and includes motivational and goal-tracking tools that evolve as members update their progress, Yum said in a news release.

Customers can register for a free, month-long eFIT4Me trial membership. After the trial expires, customers can continue at a rate of $5.99 per month, half off the regular price, Yum said in the release.

Each Yum brand currently offers a “Better For You” menu with foods containing fewer fat grams and calories than standard fare, the company said in the release. The company also has begun placing product calorie information on menu boards at company-owned stores and provides nutritional information on its restaurant Web sites and in stores.

Do you think it's just a little disingenuous for people who sell us foods that tend to go very much against healthy eating are now pushing an initiative towards health for consumers?

What do you think of A&W trying to help you fight root beer belly?

Fred Hahn is a new Examiner!

Fred Hahn, the adorable ginge Chuck Norris of low-carb, is now the National Fitness Examiner! Stop by his column and say hello!

Just to attest to his coolness: Superman wears Fred Hahn underwear.

Resolutions are a Waste of Time

If you're really looking to make change in 2008, first consider why the man-made constructs of time are so important. Why are we waiting until Monday? Why are we waiting as a society for that Camelot wrapped up in the date of January 1st?

Sure, we're a sucker of a nation for traditions. We love to turn over a new leaf. We adore change and new beginnings--but only when they're sanctioned by Jenny Craig, Hallmark, or calendars.

Who's to say that the person who begins on January 1 is more successful than the person who made a small change on December 23 at 4:30 pm? I mean come on--24 hours of progress doesn't care if it began at midnight in Times' Square on January 1st or at 3:13 pm on a Thursday afternoon.

People lead up to resolutions with all or nothing binge-fests. It doesn't matter if you're looking to cut back on the nosh, or will try to wear cute shoes in the New Year. The person who looks at New Year's Resolutions is setting oneself up for a famine of some sort. You're going to suffer, man! It's part of the game! So what happens for the week (or month) prior to the 'big event' wherefore angels fall out of the heaven and attach themselves to the plucky chords of your spinal column to make heavenly harp music? You go nucking futs! You act in the complete antithesis to the behavior you believe you will emulate to perfection come January 1. You become utterly porcine, whether it's rolling in alcohol, cigarettes, food, or tennis shoes. It's as though the last supper opens up the floodgates to debauchery in terms of behavior, whereby we are meant to revile ourselves for the feasting and become saintly because of the man-made constructs of sanity and modicums of behavior.

Ridiculous! New Year's is a schlock, manufactured by companies that want your money. Remember this, be sane, and hold onto your money. Don't fall for the advertising gimmicks. Keep your head. Celebrate your inner sloth and make it work for you.

Read and subscribe and stick with me while we work through why tradition tends to overcome common sense in terms of healthy lifestyles.

Moreover, be who you are, and stop trying to conform to a nation of prepossessed 'make beauty time' attitudes.

This is for your health, not singularly for your kneecaps in gogo boots. Yeah, the gogo boots are the side effect to health; but as anyone will tell you, death may look hot in gogo boots, but you can't take 'em with you.

2008: A Kimkins Year in Review

As we near the end of 2008, this is where the lawsuit with the company known as Kimkins currently stands.

February 2008- Woman's World apologizes for not checking its sources more closely with regards to the story they ran on the woman portrayed as Kimmer.

Consumer Affairs runs a story on Kimkins.com, painting an unfavorable picture of the business owner's portrayal of self as 'at goal'.

March 2008- Depositions in the Kimkins lawsuit are made public.

April 2008- Well respected Eating Disorder Writers Marcia Herrin and Nancy Matusmoto write about the Kimkins dangers to young bodies.

May 2008- ABC News weighs in on the questionable plan known as Kimkins

June 2008- Allegations from inside of Kimkins.com state that it is possible that pregnant women are not being dissuaded from following Kimkins.

Kimkins.com is still looking for affiliates despite the lawsuit.

July 2008- WWDCD?

August 2008- Kimkins 3rd deposition.

September 2008- More recent pictures surface, showing Heidi Diaz as still being morbidly obese.

The Beginnings of a SLAPP suit are filed by Heidi Diaz as an attempt to quiet consumer advocates across the United States.

Kimkins Survivors continues to add testimonies from people who at one time followed Kimkins and who may have suffered losses due to the plan. At now over 100 harrowing stories from previous Kimkins dieters.

October 2008- More recent pictures of Heidi Diaz surface.

Inklings from ex-members that Kimkins.com may still be banning members from the site for such offenses as not allowing onesself to be used as a success story.

November 2008- Wikipedia.org again houses Kimkins entry after a prior attempt to have the entry removed.

Roes begin to be served in SLAPP suit (countersuit).

December 2008- Kimkins wins the Slim Chance Award for Worst Diet Product in 2008.

Motion for class action certification filed.

Also, in a December surprise, Kimmer (Heidi Diaz) is now representing herself in court.

Has the money run out? It's hard to say. One thing is for certain: Heidi Diaz will now have to appear in court to answer allegations made against her regarding questionable business practices vis a vis Kimkins.

This is so much that has happened this year that I'm sure I left some things out. The wheels of justice turn as slowly as some people drive in the HOV lane, so, no doubt, this saga will continue for some time into the future.

Still, the progress of concerned citizens marches ever onward, undaunted even by threats of a morbidly obese self-proclaimed diet goddess who is likely now representing herself in a court room.

Many thanks to the many people who have worked tirelessly to see consumers heed the warnings of a very low calorie diet, including Tom of lowcarbfriends.com and to Prudentia, who makes the legalese in the case read like English.

New look. Light and fruity for 2009

With emphasis on the fruity.

I'm not even sure if I like this look, but I wanted something new for the new year. I tried some of the layouts that push the text to the right and the links to the left, but since I read from right to left, I kept getting confused. I may change my mind. After all, I am a girl, and I like shiny things.

New for 2009! (Dang that sounds so expressive)

I've been busy working on some pasta recipes for the new year. I only promised them in--oh--SEPTEMBER, so I have been cracking the whip and getting those out there. I also installed a hecka kewl slideshow of foods past and present to the right just above recipes. Many of those pictures never make it to the blog, but I like to look at them. I'm all about the pictures.

I'm in the process of updating recipe links, and revving up for a new 2009 challenge for everyone out there who is tired of "this year" always being their year.

This year is it for me. I'm sick and tired, personally, of starting over, so I'm not going to.

You know, I was just writing an article regarding eating disorders and kids for a parenting magazine, and one statistic reached out and grabbed my face. *playing elevator music while running to grab the stat).

46% of 9-11 year-olds are "sometimes" or "very often" on diets, and 82% of their families are "sometimes" or "very often" on diets (Gustafson-Larson & Terry, 1992).

Gustafson-Larson, A., & Terry, R.D. (1992). Weight-related behaviors and concerns of fourth-grade children. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 92, 818-822.

That's some pretty scary stuff right there. Of all of the kids in that survey, 82% of them have families who put a huge emphasis on dieting.

Anyone else out there guilty of doing this?

Oh Hells yes!

So this year, the emphasis is NOT on dieting. It is on making a new lifestyle in little bits and pieces, and making life as normal as possible with new food choices.

When the dentist tells you to floss more often, do you join the tooth flossing forum and join a challenge? No! You just floss. Again. It's not sexy, but food isn't supposed to be what we're obsessing about over here. We're supposed to be focusing on life. Food is just fuel. It's just something we eat. Sure, we can enjoy it, but in the process, we should enjoy less of it, and in a healthful manner as it pertains to weight loss or maintenance, and not as the end-all.

We live in a world filled with layoffs, economic uncertainty, a new President, and unforeseen challenges in 2009. Making food the center of pleasure or of pain? We don't have time for that people!

No time for that at all.

So new recipes, new attitudes.

Let's make this a way of eating for life, and not a diet.