And the winner is

The lovely Lori is the winner of my repurposed Altoid tin! Lori shoot me a message and let me know what initials you would printed on it. I will fill it with Stevia in the Raw packets, which my current sweetener, so it will be ready to go!

Stay in touch over on my Facebook group The Belly Fat Cure by Jorge Cruise. There is lots of good, positive interaction and advice going there daily.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all! My heart and thoughts are with the families of Newtown, CT these days. Hugs and Kisses, Amber

Giveaway!

Don't forget to enter my giveaway! Just leave a comment HERE to enter. I won't be blogging much in the new year, so this is a little parting gift from me :)

She's Crafty and Giveaway

I have been all about the crafts this holiday season! My goal was decorate the house with supplies I already had, but in new and different ways. I also wanted to recycle/repurpose some of the items I've collected. That includes old Altoid, coffee and cookie tins and glass bottles, from pickles to kumbucha, I could use to package gifts and also place around the house. (Altoid and kumbucha are great low sugar snacks, and are the only diet mention in this post!) At the bottom I have a cute giveaway I wanted to share with my readers! I perfect little purse tin to carry your stevia packets (or bandaides, safety pins, hairbands, etc) in.

I am fascinated with chalkboard paint and script right now. I decorated these little tins for the kid's teachers and will fill them with fun candies lined with the red and white chevron paper. I'm no artist, but I really wanted these to look pretty. I put the teacher's initial on one side and holly and berries on the other. I decorated a coffee tin for myself. You can always erase it and write something new. I used spray chalkpaint for this project and followed the directions.

This was my favorite project, making icicle branches. I used glue, small branches, and clear vase filler (the "icicles", purchased from Michaels). I had the hubby cut off small branches from an over grown tree in the side yard. They were sticking over the deck, so this was a two for one! I trimmed them up on the bottom, snipping off everything on the bottom 10 inches or so. I laid one branch at a time over a big tote lid (to catch the extra "icicles") and painted the everything except the bottom 10 inches with a thick layer of glue. Then I poured the clear vase filler slowly over the glued areas until it was well covered. They turned out great! I mixed them with artificial flowers that I already had in a big vase and put it on my mantel. These are really pricey to buy, especially if you want to use a lot of them in your arrangement.

These are my glitter pine cones and I LOVE them! The funny story is that I was determined to use "found pine cones", not store bought. So I bugged my friends to see if they had any in their yards. Everyone said no, but the store was selling the cinnamon kind... Then a friend mentioned on a certain side street she had seen some. It is a along a new running route I had been using for my Half Marathon training, but I'd never seen pine cones, but sure enough when I drove by, there they were! My mind is apparently occupied with just breathing while I run, because I must have stepped right over them. On the down side they had a few tiny spiders and other weird things in them. Ha! A little glue on the tips and a sprinkle of glitter and they look great in my big Apothecary jar I got on sale for $15.

I also made two of these mini garland trees. I bought two poster boards and folded and taped them into a big cone. Then I took some unused garland and hot glued it around the big cone. I placed them on either side of my fireplace. Kind of boring, but a little project I wanted to try, since I'd seen these at the stores for about $25 each. It cost me about .50 since I just needed the poster board.

And I LOVE my glitter vases! I painted an old kumbucha bottle with glue and sprinkled a really pretty iridescent glitter all over it. When it was dry I painted on good layer of modge podge over it all, so the glitter wouldn't flake off and leave a glitter trail everywhere. I display this pretty vase on a shelf and put flowers in it. I also made a few with friends from old pickle jars that are perfect for candles.

And the giveaway! Leave a comment or tweet about this post to win the red and white chevron tin. I will add the winners initials or name to the top! Or you can choose the glitter top box (the glitter doesn't fall off since it has a clear modge podge layer on top). Winners choice, both handmade by me!

These are repurposed Altoid tins and are perfect for carrying little things in your bag or keeping your car. I use mine to keep stevia packets in my purse. I'm thinking of a way to man these up, to use as small storage in the boys backpacks too. I love these little things!

To enter: Leave a comment, tell me what you would put in it! You can also tweet about this post with a link back to my blog, just leave a 2nd comment that lets me know and @meandjorge in the tweet. I will choose winners on Wednesday Dec. 19th at noon, so make sure to check back or leave a way to contact me.

LCHF - Low Carb High Fat Eating

I just added the ability to get my blog posts via EMAIL, if you are interested.

Jimmy Moore is the king of Low Carb blogging, IMHO, and I finally caught up on his posts on the Livin La Vida Low Carb blog. He recently started testing his blood ketones and upped the fat content in his low carb meals. Sounds nuts right, MORE fat? I've always thought of myself as a low fat/low carb dieter, even though I use coconut oil and real butter daily. But I was looking at ways of shaking up the Belly Fat Cure (making minute changes to the plan, but still sticking with it since it obviously works for me) and what could be keeping my sister from losing more weight each month. I downloaded the book Jimmy recommended (Low Carbohydrate Performance, just $6 from Amazon on Kindle) and ordered my own blood ketone tester! w00t! That's right, I'm going to start testing my blood sugar and ketones to find out exactly what foods are affecting ME. Not what a book says I can eat, or another blogger, or Dr. Oz. I'm going to test and find out for MYSELF. I am actually really excited by this and patiently waiting for the tester to arrive. Sorry, little fingers, but your gonna get pricked.

This has been my big meal each day for the last week... it centers on eggs (which I don't love). But the high fat content has kept me feeling full for so long each day, that I'd say this is my only "real meal". The rest are really mini-meals or a light snack. Just to clarify, I'm not a Doctor, Nutritionist or "weight loss expert". I'm just gal trying to figure out how to maintain my weight loss for life. These meals are right in line with Jorge Cruise's Belly Fat Cure and Fast Track plans, so it wasn't that different.

Two eggs, sour cream, sausage patties, raw kale

Two eggs, diced turkey, sour cream, hot sauce, avocado

Two eggs, sour cream, ground sausage, avocado

Two eggs, ground sausage, hot sauce, sour cream, avocado

Two eggs, hot sauce, sour cream, avocado

Jimmy was also the recent target of online bullying, where photos of his weight loss progress were turned into a cruel video and posted on YouTube. Beware, weight loss bloggers, bullies abound! Anyone who tries to lift themselves up by pulling others down is a loser in my book. Weight loss, especially if you are obese, can be a life long struggle with health issues most of us cannot understand. I applaud Jimmy for his success and being honest in his success and failures, and for sharing it all with us. None of us are perfect.

1 Year, 100 Pounds: Month 11 Weigh In

Yay December! And it’s gorgeous in Oklahoma – a sunny 73 here today. December 1^st snuck up on me! It’s been a great month for me. I’m really enjoying the new me. Starting to try new things with my new body – here’s me taking my sister-in-law’s convertible for a test drive. I was really nervous about fitting in it!

 

So this month, I’m down 1.2 pounds, still making progress! Amber and I are talking about making some changes and I’ll let her talk about that. It’s funny, I’ve been asked a lot lately – about what I’m going to do after the first of the year. The big answer is – keep losing weight! I will stay wheat-free as it really has seemed to make a huge difference to me in things that aren’t just weight related. I’ve had osteoarthritis for several years, and you should be well acquainted with my feet problems. And while I still have issues, they have been alleviated on my Wheat Belly diet.

 

I’m SOOOO glad I’m well on my way and well “planted” on my plan during the holidays. Thanksgiving was quite easy. Just no stuffing and I’m not a pie-eater. I made a great “riced” cauliflower dish that I made a nice cheese sauce for and baked. It was yummy. I did grab a pecan that fell off a piece of pie and enjoy that. I think about all that Christmas candy and cookies and the miserable feelings I would have after partaking in all that. I respect myself and simply know it’s not something I do any more.

 

Thanks again for everyone for your support and encouraging words. I encourage YOU to renew your dedication to YOUR health and remember what’s really important to you during the holiday season. Have a GREAT month!

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1 Year, 100 Hundred Pounds is a series written by my sister Misha (read her full story HERE). Her battles and journey are different than my own, but I thought my readers could relate to her story. We came up with the idea that should could break up her weight loss into monthly measurements and concentrate on the long term, instead of instant gratification. My role is to just support her, where she needs it. Not to nag, correct or scold. Just to be here for her. I that puts her at a total of 54.5 pounds lost so far, that is awesome!