Smells like Sabotage

Old business first. My weigh in was this morning, and I lost 2.6 pounds this week. Yee haw!

And the winner of the basket of goodies give away is... (does anyone remember that?) Lee Ann from Danville! (I’ll be getting with you later, Lee Ann, to work out the details!) Here is an excerpt from her winning letter:
“Recently, I reconnected with an old friend …Turns out I'm not alone with the expanding housewife syndrome. She has been on a weight loss journey lately and has lost around 60 pounds!! She has motivated me to get serious again. I've been eating better and doing something I never thought I'd do...walk. She has a walking group here where we live and she actually got me to move. I have to tell you, that task takes someone special. But with her kind words, encouragement, and seeing her success, I have decided I can do this. I've just been going at it around a month and a half now, but I've lost around 10 pounds.
So I would like to share with you my friend and her success. I hope that with her honest blogging about her journey, she can motivate you too. She's a great writer, and has a fantastic sense of humor. I wish you could all meet her in person, because she really is one of the most awesome people. I think that once you start reading the blog that you will be able to recognize that just from her words.”

Congrats Lee Ann. Your letter was killer. And lots of folks came to me through your words. Thanks.

On to new business.

This is something I have been wanting to write about for a while. But I didn’t want it to sound like the scary teasers for the evening news, like “200 Chemicals under your sink that will kill you as you sleep!”

But what I am about to share is a matter that us diet girls need to explore in depth.

Is it possible that we are sabotaging ourselves and our diets and don’t even know it?

I say yes! Yes, yes, yes!

There are lots of “triggers” I have discovered in my own life that drive me to eat. Some of them may just be because I am slightly off kilter and a bit weird, but I think that a lot of these triggers are universal. And maybe we need to pay attention.

I don’t know how many of you understand the process of taste. Most of us know it goes in our mouths, then tastes deelish, then goes straight to our hips.

But there is a great process involved in how we taste our food, and we should nose it. I mean know it. This little definition is part of a transcript from a one of my favorite shows, “Good Eats” on Food Network. Alton Brown explains the science of food along with how to cook it. And I learn something every time. Here’s his take on tasting.

“Although our brains tell us that our mouths do the tasting, the truth is, the taste buds (points to tongue and says, “riayt heayr”) are blunt instruments compared to the apparatus up here. (Points to his nose.) Now, if you could travel up into your nasal cavity and fight past the hairs and all the other protective barriers, (shakes green slime off his hand), um, you would eventually find several tiny patches of exposed nerve ending which are actually the only parts of the human brain exposed to open air. Now aroma molecules travel up from the mouth and lock on to these nerve endings which kind of examine their shape, and then send the “intel” off to the brain. Now this is analyzed, of course, along with the more general data from the mouth and a flavor profile is formed. If you don’t believe that this works, just pinch your nose, and taste the peach, and then let go. See? Your nose, knows.”

So, we taste with our noses more than our mouths. I usually thought that if I tasted a morsel, that would spell disaster. But I never considered what could happen if I smelled things. Once I started paying attention in my house, I was amazed at what I discovered.

So let’s go through a few of the lessons I learned, find out what they are and how to change them. You may be surprised once you see what can affect your eating habits!

1. When you shop in the grocery store.
I don’t know about you, but from about 5am to 9am, our local stores are extra busy making donuts, rolls, and yummy breakfast stuff that can really blow your diet. Then, from 10am to about 8pm, they are roasting and frying chickens in the deli. All of these things can make a girl impulse buy food and eat it in the car. Or take it home for her family. (Even if she buys jelly donuts and her family only likes cinnamon rolls. Are you picking up what I am putting down?) Seriously consider when you are doing your grocery shopping and make sure that you shop on a full stomach, and don’t linger in delis and bakeries. If you think about it, unless you are having something sliced, there is nothing in the mega-mart deli that is good for you. If possible, the best time to go is about 11pm. That’s when the store smells of floor wax and cleaner. That sure doesn’t make me hungry, how about you?

2. Eau de Charlie
It amazes me how many of our products are filled with bubble gum, vanilla and cherry flavors. Everything from lip gloss and perfumes to bubble bath and body washes. When you surround your brain with these tantalizing scents, you mentally drool. And that tricks your brain into thinking you are hungry. That is self-sabotage. Look for mint and floral scents in your personal products. Need chapstick? Skip the cherry kind and get the plain. Yeah, it’s yucky. But it also won’t make you hungry. Body wash need replacing? Skip the Mango or Pomegranate washes and find an orchid or ocean breeze smell. The you won’t get a whiff of yummy goodness every time your arm comes close to your nose.

3. CANDLES
Girlies, let me tell you. This is a tough one. I am a candle- uh, freak…Yankee Candle has stayed strongly above the economy because of my neurotic need to keep the house smelling like freshly baked apple pie and a blossoming cherry tree. But what I found is that not only do I get the munchies when I am burning the smellerific candles, but when I blow them out, the smell of smoldering wick brings back many memories of birthday cake. (Yes, I associate the blowing out of candles with cake. Told you I’m weird.) Which leads to random cupcake purchases as I go to the grocery store at 11pm. In order to combat this whole vicious cycle and still keep your home smelling great, I think that we need to explore wickless options…

Ladies, I would like to introduce you to Maria, my super swell cousin and avid commenter on my blog. She is known as “M.” (Look through the comments. She’s just as crazy as me.) Maria is the modern woman’s Martha Steward (yes, I spelled it wrong because Maria has a servent's heart like you wouldn't believe!) She runs a tight ship with 3 boys and a husband, does ALL the family laundry in 2 days (I still don’t know how she pulls that one off), keeps a great sense of humor, and She has just become a “Scentsy” consultant. This product is AWESOME!!!! They offer bricks of scents that you put in warmers, no flame required. Their scents, while often based around food, have a certain aroma that keeps them from being overly perfumy, and even their Baked Apple Pie scent is one doesn’t make my stomach growl, while still being extremely pleasant. To help someone get a fresh start on their candle collection, I am going to give away a complete “Scentsy System” which includes 3 Scentsy Bars of your choice and a full size Scentsy warmer! It’s a $45 value!

So you wanna know how you can win. There have to be rules, because I don't want to go to jail for fraud. So here they are!

A. You MUST go to Maria’s website at www.scentsy.com/mariahoupt and browse around. Tell me which full size warmer you would purchase and what 3 scents sound most appealing to you in the comment section below. Make sure you include your email address if you don’t have a blogger account that will allow me to access your email. This will make sure you that if you win you get what you want and I have a way to get it to you.

Between NOW and Thursday October 1st:

b. Every comment you post on my blog gets you 1 entry into the contest. (Current, as in today, and new posts only please)

c. If you become a follower, that entitles you to 2 entries!

d. If you link my blog to your blog, that entitles you to 3 entries!


e. Send a personal email to 5 friends at a time telling them about my blog, you get 5 entries for the giveaway! (just CC my email on the letter to keep it ligit.)



I hope that you all have fun with this giveaway. Make sure you invite your friends to join in too! And good luck to you all!!!