Confessions of a Sugarholic

 YUM! Fresh, warm, healthy goodness!  Hi!  Here is the requested Apple Crisp recipe. It was written by Bob Greene, creator of The Best Life Diet Plan.  Enjoy! Apple Crisp Nonfat cooking spray 2 cups peeled, cored and thinly sliced apples. (I've used Gala and Fuji so far.  Both worked great!) 2 tbsp sugar, or to taste 1/4 cup apple juice 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice 2 tsp cornstarch 1 tsp ground cinnamon pinch of nutmeg Oat topping ingredients: 1/2 cup walnuts or almonds, finely chopped (I use almonds...fantastic!) 1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats 1/2 cup brown sugar (I substitute brown sugar Splenda) 2 tbsp all-purpose flour 2 tbsp softened unsalted butter Preheat the oven to 350.  Coat an 8-inch square shallow baking dish with cooking spray.  In a large bowl, toss together the apples, sugar, apple juice, lemon juice, cornstarch, cinnamon, and nutmeg until well combined.  Set aside. To make the oatmeal topping: Using a fork, gently combine the walnuts o

I hate having a case of the Mondays....that lasts  all week! Hey Blog Readers!  I'm sending a special shout out to all of my international readers.  They are actually some people reading from Malaysia and Russia!  How awesome!  So, feel free to add comments.  I'd love to hear from you - actually...I'd love to hear from all of my readers.  Knowing that you are out there rooting for me (I hope you are) makes me feel fantastic.  And considering how this week went, any bit of good news and encouragement is welcome. I'm not a complainer.  I never have been.  If there is something I don't like about myself or a situation I'm in, I try my best to change it.  I don't really like burdening people with my problems.  But every now and then something happens and I have to let my frustrations out.  So, I appreciate those who lent their ears to me this week.  Thank you so much for listening me to this week, and letting me vent.  It makes me feel a lot better.  Yo

Good day Blog Readers!  Sorry for the delay in posting.  My weekend was crazy busy and productive as well.  I had my bestie's baby shower on Sunday (**waves to bestie**), and I spent Saturday with friends.  We went to see the Hunger Games, and we had lunch at Chipotle.   If you are one of the poor souls who doesn't know what Chipotle  (the restaurant...not the pepper) is, you are missing quite the treat especially if you enjoy Mexican food.  I even made sure to split my burrito bowl into two servings so I had leftovers for dinner.  I wasn't able to do that before.  I love Chipotle so much that I would eat the entire burrito bowl and a side of chips in one sitting - which would pretty much make me queasy.  I'm just happy that I'm able to have these types of meals and include them in my lifestyle.  All in all, my week was all over the place, and it was my fault.  I did something that I told myself I wouldn't do anymore, and it pretty much had me a bit discoura

This dude has endless energy! Happy Saint Patrick's Day Blog Readers!  I'm up and at 'em early today.  I got my workout in early today too.  No more of that loafing on Saturday for me.  Last Saturday I decided to take a break and not work out, and I felt out of sorts the entire day...even guilty at one point.  If that isn't a sign that I've made my workouts a priority in my day, then I don't know what else would be. I did another interval walk-run this week on Wednesday, and let me tell you that my legs are rebelling.  After my inaugural run on Monday,  I did my normal elliptical workout on Tuesday. That was the hardest workout I've had in a while.  My legs were exhausted.  I always thought that walking was the most boring form of exercise.  I don't like it.  I've said that before.  My rationale is that I walk everyday to go places and do things.  Why on earth would I do that as a form of exercise?  Now, since I increased the pace and jogged as

Just call me FLASH! Happy Monday Blog Readers!  Just a quick check-in to let you know how my doctor appointment went as well as my first foray in running  (more like jogging but whatever). I checked back in with my doctor five weeks after my initial visit today.  I was hoping that my previous provider sent over my medical records like I instructed them too - after all, I did sign a permission waiver stating for them to send everything over.  Of course, they didn't send anything so my new doctor office resent the request again.  I'm going to have to check-in with those jokers to make sure they are doing what I requested.  It's just another sign that I did the right thing by changing doctors.  I had to complete a fasting cholesterol test.  The last time it was checked it was over 200.  I always hate having to get blood drawn for these tests because the folks I used to go to had the hardest time drawing my blood.  It was horrific.  I once had to go back because they cou

Good Saturday Blog Readers!  It's a beautiful morning in Northeastern Ohio...just in case you didn't know what I was located.  We've had a relatively mild winter - which has been lovely let me tell you.  I am hoping that Spring is right around the corner, and considering that we will have temps in the lower 60's this week, maybe we've turned the corner.  That would be great because better weather means more opportunities for outside activities. I've had an awesome week folks.  D.T. wasn't dogging my step this week.  He was amazingly absent.  Perhaps he took a long deserved vacation because he was working overtime last week.  I hope he enjoys his vaca and stays even longer.  The longer he languishes out of my sight, the better. I felt completely different this week as well.  I had amazing energy.  I pushed myself to exercise a little bit harder everyday.  I'm hoping to work my body harder each day so muscle memory won't develop.  Muscle memory bri

Calll  me Jack Jack! Cause I'm crazy like that. Whoo!  Hey blog readers.  Week #5 has come and gone, and it was tough one.  I felt like I hadn't lost weight all week, and that was partly my fault that I was buggin' all week about it because I weighed  myself a few times during the week, and I really shouldn't do that.  I should stick to my Saturday weigh ins.  I'm going to try to do that this week.  I just like the feedback I get from the scale, and that really isn't the best feedback tool to use. I did have other signs that I was on the right track this week.  The scale hadn't moved, but I was able to pull my favorite pair of jeans on and off without unbuttoning and unzipping them.  My favorite t-shirt is more lose.  AND...today I was able use a belt that was too tight before.  That was really great because I need said belt to keep my pants from falling down. :)  I definitely don't want to moon anybody.  After it was all said and done, I did lose