Candy Hearts & Chocolate Kisses

While the marketing companies would like you to believe that nothing says, "I love you" better than a 1500-calorie box of chocolates, a bag of heart-shaped high-fructose corn syrup, or an expensive dinner at a over-crowded restaurant there really isn't any rule that says that Valentine's Day has to be celebrated with food. Valentine's Day is supposed to be about love and romance, not candy hearts and chocolate kisses.

Instead of just going out for dinner once again, why not do something different this year and go see Burt Bacharach at the Belly-Up, or go watch the comedy "My Funny Valentines" at the Carlsbad Village Theater, or go salsa dancing, or have a picnic on the beach, or go for a hot air balloon ride, or hell ... you could even go go-kart racing. Not only will you avoid all those extra calories that you would otherwise have consumed but you'll also end up having a much more romantic evening with your sweetheart.

A Few Valentine's Candy Calorie Counts:

• One chocolate-dipped strawberry - 75 calories.
• One basic chocolate truffle - 75 to 100 calories.
• One gourmet chocolate truffle - anywhere from 150 to 300 calories.
  
• One Sprinkles cupcake - 400 to 500 calories.
  
• And one Starbucks' "Frosted Frog Valentine Cookie" - 650 calories. Wow, so not worth it!

 
Thinking Outside the (Heart-Shaped) Box: 

Give your sweetheart a creative alternative to the Valentine's cliché, take a little time and find something that's just a little bit more you -- unique and exciting. I promise you, your gift will be much more appreciated than any heart-shaped box of chocolates ever could be.

• Giving a basket filled with candles, music and massage oil (with massage included) is always a great idea. 
  
• If finances are tight try surprising your love by having a bubble bath and a glass of champagne waiting for them when they arrive home. As they slip into their bubbles have a playlist ready of their favorite romantic songs. And if you're feeling especially sentimental, sit down and write your sweetheart a nice little love letter. 
  
• If that is a little too sappy for you, you could do something practical like having someone come in and clean the house or detail their car. While not terribly romantic, it will certainly be appreciated. 
  
• If that's too impersonal, you could pick out the one or two things on their "To Do List" that they perpetually avoid and do them for your sweetheart. 
  
• For the adventurous-type you could sign both of you up to take lessons to learn a new hobby together like Golf. Yoga. Violin. Surfing. Cooking. Gardening. Salsa. Origami. Spelunking. Ham radio. 
  
• Or you could sign the two of you up with a personal trainer and get in shape together.
  And if you feeling especially daring you could give them a gift certificate for weight loss at One Life - because nothing is as romantic as a sexy body. ;-) 
  
• If none of that works for you can't go wrong with flowers, perfume, jewelry, a spa treatment, or Lakers tickets (hint, hint).

What the world really needs is more love and less paper work.
- Pearl Bailey

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It's Time To Start Thinking About
Your New Year's Resolutions...
Are You Ready?

Every year the most popular New Year's resolution is to lose weight. Do you want to know why? It's because weight loss is also the least successful resolution of all time.

If you compare quitting smoking (the second most common resolution) with weight loss, over the last 40 years smoking has declined from 42% of the population to less than 20%, while obesity rates have increased from 13% to over 34%.

Why is successfully losing weight so hard to do?
It's certainly not for lack of trying. Last year alone Americans spent over $60 billion trying to lose (or more often than not, to re-lose) their excess weight. And yet despite spending almost $200 per person every year, we just keep getting heavier and heavier.

Our collective lack of success is largely because the majority of weight loss techniques are based on short-term changes to our lifestyles using crash diets, cleanses, or programs using pre-packaged foods, liquid shakes, or hormonal injections to achieve their goal. The problem is these temporary changes only produce temporary results. While there is no question these dieting techniques can be successful in helping to initially lose weight, the reality is when people return to their old habits - the ones that caused them to gain weight in the first place - they invariably gain their weight back. If your weight loss plan doesn't involve making permanent changes to your lifestyle, there is no other possibility than ending up right back where you started.

The good news is that these changes don't have to be drastic - in reality you're more likely to be successful if they're not. If you make just a few simple modifications in your daily routine you can painlessly cut out 100-calories here and 100-calories there, you won't feel like you're dieting at all. And, if you are able to eliminate just 500 unimportant calories a day, you'll end up losing a pound a week... or 52 pounds over the next year. All without feeling deprived. And the best part - the weight will stay off this time.

There are hundreds of places you can cut calories every day without feeling like you are being deprived:

• Changing from regular mayo to light mayo or even fat-free
• Exchanging your regular soda for diet soda
• Ordering a skinny nonfat sugar-free vanilla latte instead of the high-calorie version
• Frying less and grilling more
• Steaming your veggies instead of sautéing them in oil and covering them with butter
• Switching to a lower calorie beer
• Cutting down to 1% or non-fat milk
• Skipping the cheese on sandwiches and burgers
• Passing on the croutons and using half the dressing on salads
• Using egg whites instead of whole eggs
• Ordering thin crust instead of thick crust pizza
• Swapping full-fat whip cream for a light version
• Choosing a sugar-free, fat-free yogurt instead of one full of sugar and fat

The key is to make the changes subtle enough so that you don't end up rebelling and returning to your old habits. And since the changes are ones you can stick to permanently, not only will it make losing weight easy, but it will also make maintaining your weight loss seem simple. And who knows, by this time next year you just might be able to choose a different New Year's resolution, like updating your wardrobe.

Tips for Healthy Holiday Entertaining

The holiday party season is here and the battle to try and avoid the “holiday 7” has begun in earnest. Most of us will do fine when we are at home cooking for ourselves, but where most of us will struggle is at all of the holiday parties we will end up attending. While there is nothing wrong with indulging a little when you are at a party or two, the problem begins when that “party or two” becomes three or four or five or six … By the time you add up all of the family get-togethers, friend’s parties, church celebrations, and work events those little “justifiable” indulgences will begin to add up.

The problem is then magnified by the fact that each host is cooking to impress, and so not a bit of butter, cream, sugar or alcohol is spared. It’s the holidays right, so we should be allowed to eat, drink and be merry. But unless we are careful the dreaded “holiday 7’ might just end up being the best case scenario.

So if you’re entertaining this holiday season let’s all promise to do each other a favor and not just serve up one more over-the-top calorie extravaganza but instead let’s do our best to balance the traditional holiday excess with some healthy choices so those guests that are trying to be good at least have a fighting chance. I promise you, they will appreciate it.

APPETIZERS

The key to helping your guests not to break their calorie budget right from the start is to avoid putting every hors d’oeuvre out at once. Begin with some healthy starters at first so that people can curb their initial hunger with some lower-calorie appetizers before being exposed to the more indulgent ones later on.

• Set out a plate of baby carrots, grape tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, and some snap peas with some low-calorie vegetable dip, fat-free ranch dressing and some hummus.
  
• You could also start off with some grilled prawns skewers seasoned with a little lime-curry.
  
• Or maybe some grilled pineapple slices wrapped with a little prosciutto.

• You can set out some small bowls of frozen grapes.
  
• Some apple slices with little individual peanut butter cups for dipping.
  
• Or some festive red and green themed strawberry and kiwi kebobs.

SIDE DISHES

Despite its limited benefit, the most popular dietary advice being doled out seems to be to try and cut your holiday calories by eating white meat (120 calories per 3 ounces) instead of dark meat (140 calories per 3 ounces). The reality is that you can make a much bigger caloric impact by focusing on your side dishes. Calorie for calorie, side dishes can easily be as dangerous as dessert. Be creative this year and serve some lower-calorie variations on the these typically high-calorie side dishes:

• Instead of mashed potatoes try serving our roasted potato-vegetable recipe below.
  
• As an alternative to candied yams serve a nice pot of butternut squash soup instead.
  
• In place of the usual fruit salad with all of its extra calories from the whip cream, marshmallows, and pecans serve a simple fresh fruit salad.
  
• And instead of serving green bean casserole with its so-not-worth-it calorie excess, serve your guests some fresh steamed green beans seasoned with a little garlic and some balsamic vinegar.

ALCOHOL

Unless you going to hire a bartender avoid the hassle of serving cocktails and instead serve a low-calorie, gently spiked punch-cocktail. Make enough to fill up one of those big glass dispensers and let your guests serve themselves.

• Also make sure that you have plenty of sparkling water, diet sodas and any other sugar-free drinks around so that there will be lots of low-calorie options available for your guests to choose from.
  
• If you’re supplying beer at your party make sure that you have some good light beers in your mix. Both Becks Premier Light and MGD 64 aren’t bad and both only have 64 calories.
  
• Instead of wine think about serving some champagne – not only does it fit perfectly with the festive holiday occasion, people tend to drink less of it than they do wine.

DESSERT

It’s amazing how many of us will end up doing great with the appetizers, side dishes and drinks all night long only to end up blowing it at the last minute when the desserts are brought to the table. It’s as if after a night full of temptation our willpower finally just gives out. While I wouldn’t expect anyone to forgo serving their favorites holiday desserts at their party, at least try to offer some good low-calorie options for those guests who are still trying to fight the good fight.

• It can be as simple as serving a little angel food cake topped with some fresh raspberries and light whipped cream.
  
• Or a small bowl of low-fat vanilla ice cream with a mix of fresh strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries with some slivered almonds sprinkled on top.

The last thing you should do before your guests go home for the night is to make sure that they go home with the leftovers. While it won’t help them to be good, it will go a long way to helping you. So as each guest leaves send them out with a little doggie bag, that way you won’t end up with a house full of holiday goodies that could start you down the road to your own holiday 7.