With the popularity of our new Facebook Fan Page, I’ve been able to talk and interact with thousands of DSP followers…it’s been great!

But I seem to be seeing the same question come up over and over again…

“Isabel, I’m not losing weight as fast as I would like.  What should I do?”

Listen to my answer in this video (and I promise I don’t yell at anyone).

Not a fan yet? Come join us:

http://facebook.com/thedietsolution

You can also get the low down on Vince DelMonte’s new Maximize your Muscle program.

http://maxmuscle.thedsp.info

Last year I created a Facebook Fan Page where all Diet Solution followers could ask questions, post meal and recipe ideas, share success stories and just be there to support each other on good days and bad days. Yes, it’s our own little therapy group except we don’t lay on the couch and talk about our problems, we type them on Facebook instead.

http://facebook.com/thedietsolution

On Tuesday, after one “fan” asked for meal suggestions for Easter Sunday, I decided to pose the question to the whole community.

Here was my question…

Many people celebrate Easter on Sunday. Does anyone have any healthy Easter recipes to share? It can be for an Easter lunch or dinner.

We had some great ideas posted that I wanted to be sure to share them with you.

Marko Bartscherer

I found that if you take a Ezekiel 4:19 tortilla, put them in the oven till they are crunchy you get great chips. Take an avocado and some hot sauce or tomatoes and the perfect snack is born

Rachael Smart

I’ve made deviled eggs using organic plain yogurt instead of mayo.

Freddy Yanez

Maybe roasted leg of lamb using extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, pepper and fresh rosemary, sweet potatoes whipped with butter a touch of greek yogurt (or half&half) to make it creamy topped with walnuts and asparagus grilled with olive oil salt and pepper?

WOW, does anyone else want to go to Freddy’s house? That sounds yummy!

If you’re looking for a community of people to get more meal ideas, share your own ideas or just say “Hey, I need some help here!” Come join us here:

http://facebook.com/thedietsolution

Coming next week…more videos!!! I know, I know, it’s been a while since I’ve gotten in front of the camera. Next week, I’ll be wiping the dust off the camera and will be showing you some of my own favorite recipes in the kitchen (and wait until you see how big my baby has gotten. I’ll make sure he makes an appearance.)

For now, make sure you come and see us on Facebook:

http://facebook.com/thedietsolution

Based on the feedback I received from my last blog post, it looks like I’m not the only one who has suffered an attack from the craving monster. Yup, it happens and I would be kidding myself, actually, lying to myself, if I thought I would never want another piece of cake, cookie, or sweet treat ever again even after eating healthy for so many years.

I mention more “sweet” stuff than anything else because that seems to be most people’s problem, but there are many that also crave “salty” and when I say “salty” it’s usually not salted broccoli and cauliflower, but more like chips and dip (and not the healthy kind).

Since cravings are something we’re all going to have to deal with from time to time (some more often than others), I decided to share my….

Top 10 “Beat the Cravings” foods and meals. (Some of these I have mentioned before, but they are so good they are well worth repeating).

1. Cut up some fresh fruit (berries, an apple, a pear, 1/2 banana) and put 1 tsp of raw, natural honey on top. One teaspoon goes along way and gives your already sweet fruit a bit more of a kick.

2. Make your own healthy Vegetable Chips. Cut up Kale and sweet potatoes and coat them with olive oil or butter. Add some Celtic sea salt and bake in the oven for 20 – 30 minutes at 250 – 300 degrees C. You really have to watch these, especially the kale, because you don’t want it to burn. You’re looking to get them crispy but if you’re not paying attention, they could easily burn.

3. Drink some Tea Juice (this is the first recipe in your Diet Solution Recipes). Essentially it is herbal tea sweetened with Stevia and cooled to be enjoyed as a cold drink. This really hits the spot at 3pm when I “think” I want a sweet treat but this naturally sweetened beverage is enough to calm my cravings.

4. Get some sliced turkey and/or roast beef (I get the natural kind that is store baked and does not contain nitrites and nitrates) and lay 1 or 2 slices flat on a plate. Add 2-3 pieces of raw cheese and wrap it up into a roll. You can also make this into a lettuce wrap by adding a lettuce leaf.

5. Mix some almond or peanut butter with unsweetened organic apple sauce and sprinkle cinnamon on top. A great mid morning or afternoon snack.

6. Go do something you love…haha…I know…I stuck a “non food” one in here. Sometimes we’re not really craving food, we’re just “bored” and need to go and consume ourselves with something we enjoy. For me, sitting at the book store with an herbal tea, reading magazines, is such a treat! (Although I always come home with more magazines than I will ever possibly be able to read, but, hey, everyone’s got their addictions right?)

7. Cut up one apple, spread almond butter or peanut butter on top and sprinkle some crushed raw cacao or organic dark chocolate on top.

8. A fruity or chamomile herbal tea sweetened with stevia or xylitol in the evening is perfect right before bed to calm you after a busy day.

9. After you’ve made your own veggie chips, get some salsa and have your own chips and dip party. I am going to keep experimenting with different kinds of veggies and see which one work the best but so far, I love the kale.

10. 1 piece of organic dark chocolate with a dab of natural peanut butter or almond butter. You’d be surprised how 1 piece can go a very long way as far as knocking out a chocolate craving!

Remember you want to stay away from processed sugar and artificial sweeteners as much as possible. I personally use Stevia for all of my sweetening needs, but I know many people who also enjoy xylitol which is also a great choice.

As I mentioned before, if you’re still struggling to stay on track, a good alternative that I highly suggest is considering a medical hypnosis program. The most powerful one that I have already researched for you that has already proven incredible results for so many is here:

http://hypnosis.thedsp.info

You can read people’s experiences right on that page and personally, I have found this to be the best, most complete and effective hypnosis program on the market today.

If you’ve struggled with your weight over and over again, this bit of “extra help” may just be what you need and are looking for. Also never let pride hold you back because you think you should do this on will power alone. I’m here to help make this easy for you and trying out what works best for you is always the right choice.

Best of all, the program is guaranteed to work or you get your money back. And you have a full year to try it out.

Get more information here:

http://hypnosis.thedsp.info

I’m no stranger to the ugly beast called “Cravings”. For some it may be sweet, others salty and some even just all food, but I can remember way back when I first started my new healthy eating strategy, I really missed my sweet stuff and I missed it bad.

To be honest, I’m not even sure if it was so much physical as much it was emotional. Physically, I felt more satiated, more energetic and was actually enjoying the food on my new meal plans much more than the unhealthy sugary and processed foods I was eating before. But emotionally, I think the morning sweet Danish or chocolate muffin with coffee and tons of sugar gave me a sugar high that helped me to deal with the fact that I was exhausted and going to a job that I didn’t enjoy.

I’m not going to get too deep into what my life was like back then, but the funny part is that here I was walking around exhausted all the time, thinking that the sugar was helping to keep me awake, but it was the very reason I was so tired! I proved this to myself clearly when just 72 hours after starting my healthy eating regimen, the exhaustion lifted like a dark cloud.

I’m not going to lie to you though. Cravings did sneak their way in to my life every so often. So how did I deal with them in those moments?

1. Know that once you start eating the right foods for your specific Metabolic Type, your cravings will subside significantly. Cravings are your body’s way of telling you that you are not getting something that you need and if you are craving sugar, you may need more carbs…healthy carbs that is. If you are craving salty, you may need more fat…healthy fat that is. The point is, once you give your body specifically what it needs, it will not be screaming “feed me Danish, feed me cake, feed me potato chips”.

2. The less sugar and processed foods you eat, the less you will crave them. Believe it or not, it usually only takes about 72 hours of staying away from the bad stuff before your body calms the ugly cravings dragon. Why 72 hours? I’m not quite sure. I do know it works and if you can get yourself to commit to 3 days of keeping away from the ugly foods, you will see a dramatic shift in your cravings.

If you have already tried my first 2 suggestions above and could still use a bit more help, there is another technique that many of my readers have used with great success that you may want to consider. It’s called “medical hypnosis” and of course I wanted to know if it’s something hokey or it’s the real deal so I decided to research it fully. It’s not something I have ever tried myself, but after many reader inquiries and successful testimonials, it was well worth looking into and sharing with you.

After much research, I found a specific program that has been getting normal people just like you results for almost 5 years here:

http://hypnosis.thedsp.info

I wasn’t quite sure about the whole “medical hypnosis thing” at first, so if you’re skeptical, I understand.

Many people are when they first hear about this. But I wouldn’t even be writing about it if I didn’t think there was a significant amount of value in this program. Actually, once I found out that this particular program was one of the best of the best as far as hypnosis is concerned, I contacted the owners and they sent me a whole package of CD’s for my personal review right away and just as I thought, they were great! As a matter of fact, they were beyond my expectations because the CDs were not only thorough, but extremely easy to use with just 20 minutes of time each day.

Look, some people,(maybe you) may not be able to stick to my 72 hour strategy or are having a really hard time sticking to their metabolic type meal plans. Trust me. I get it. I was there too, which is why when one strategy doesn’t work, you have to try a new one and continue to find ways that will help you achieve your health goals. I do believe medical hypnosis is a wonderful option to try.

There are piles upon piles of scientific information proving the effectiveness of medical hypnosis, but I’m not going to bore you with any of those. That’s my job to decipher and then pass on to you the important stuff you need to know.

Here are just some of the many benefits that you can and will experience by implementing this technique:

Cravings can be reduced instantaneously, allowing you to stop binging before you start

New neural pathways will be created that empower you to replace unhealthy eating habits
with healthy ones

Experience effortless motivation without relying on willpower

Your desire for sodas will be eliminated and replaced with a craving for WATER! (I LOVE THIS ONE!)

Your excess weight will easily fall off as you automatically eat the right foods and right portions, while making exercise a part of your every day routine.Am I exaggerating? Nope, not one bit. Those are just a few of the many effects people have seen using this wonderful program.

I encourage you to always keep an open mind to new techniques that can really help you get over your own cravings and weight loss hurdles.

To find out more about medical hypnosis and how this technique has already helped thousands of people, just click the link below…

http://hypnosis.thedsp.info

If you’ve seen the previous blog entry, you read the good news…fat loss does NOT mean you have to go low carb! Yes, there are plenty of carbs that you should be running away from (and I mean run away screaming) but hey, that’s also the case with many proteins and fats. The real trick to fat loss is knowing which foods are the good and which are the bad in every category (Hint: Read your Diet Solution Manual…the answers are there!)

Back to what we were discussing…there are plenty of delicious and extremely healthy grains that are a perfect fit to your DSP plan. Last week we started with rice and all the varieties of rice available on the market. Today I’m going to fill you in on a super grain that has been all the rave these days (like if grains were celebrities, this one would be Hannah Montana).

Introducing….

Quinoa

Seems like the only problem with quinoa is that nobody knows how to say it. Since its origins are in South America and my father is a native of Peru, I’m pretty positive that the pronunciation is:

KEEN-wah

Nutritionally, quinoa can be considered a super grain, although it’s not really a grain, but the seed of a leafy plant that’s distantly related to spinach. Quinoa is incredibly high in protein (very unlike other grains), and is not missing the amino acid lysine, so the protein is more complete. Quinoa offers more iron than other grains and contains high levels of potassium and riboflavin, as well as other B vitamins: B6, niacin, and thiamin. It is also a good source of magnesium, zinc, copper, and manganese, and has some folate (folic acid). A pretty awesome list of good qualities, don’t you think?

As I mentioned above, my father is originally from Peru and grew up in a small Incan village where quinoa was a staple of their every day diet. Just recently I went on a business trip to Connecticut and left my 7 month old son with my parents for 2 nights. I left the baby prepared with all his needs, one of them being stored breast milk that I had been stocking up in preparation for the trip. My dad then shared an interesting fact about quinoa that I didn’t know. He said “Did you know that in the villages of Peru, when a mother cannot breast feed, they boil Quinoa and use the water as milk for the baby?” According to my dad, those children grow healthy and strong. Wow! A true testament to the amount of nutrition that is available from this grain.

Now, for many of us, we’re not exactly trying to replace mother’s milk here, but we are trying to achieve our ideal weight and an increased level of health, so how does quinoa fit in there?

Well, since quinoa does not contain gluten or wheat, it is a perfect carbohydrate to include into your meal plans when you’re following the “no wheat” plans (be sure to read the Grains chapter in your DSP manual for details on why wheat and/or gluten may be preventing you from losing weight).

Quinoa is also very high in protein and one of the great things about protein is that it keeps your blood sugar levels stable and makes you feel full longer (and nobody likes to be hungry, right?)

So where can you include quinoa into your weight loss and healthy meal plans? It’s actually a perfect fit into your breakfast, lunch and dinner. Since it is considered a carb, be sure to combine it with a protein for a complete, delicious and filling DSP meal.

Here is one of my favorite breakfast recipes

Warm and Nutty Cinnamon Quinoa (serves 4)

1 cup coconut milk

1 cup water

1 cup organic quinoa, ( rinse quinoa before cooking)

2 cups fresh blueberries

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/3 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Combine milk, water and quinoa in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low; cover and simmer 15 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed. Turn off heat; let stand covered 5 minutes. Stir in blueberries and cinnamon (you can also add a little stevia to sweeten); transfer to four bowls and top with pecans or walnuts.

I love this hot breakfast and it’s a nice change of pace from oatmeal all the time.

Are we done with our “Grain Story”? Nope, not yet. Stay tuned for some more healthy grain facts and some more of my favorite recipes.

Have a great day!