I am one who thinks that cutting out certain types of foods or trying to legislate them in public places where people dine is only going to go so far as to hurt business, and I am against anything that hurts businesses right now. I mean, if you want to really control salt intake, you would have to have a presence not only in the restaurants that citizens frequent, but also in their homes, and even in the grocery stores.

Think about it, you can only regulate the public places, not a person in their own home, so what is the point of hurting business when you know you can’t regulate it all the time?

Of course, chefs in New York are in a tizzy (I would be too).  While there may be such a thing as social responsibility, being forced to not add any salt or salt spices to your dishes is downright “absurd” and is the government going overboard. I would have to  agree.

I know that I need to cut my salt intake down, but if I were forced to eat a saltless, less flavorful dish at a restaurant every time I dined out and wanted to enjoy myself, well I’d be a little bit salty (ok I think I just committed one of the worst puns ever).

The bill has been introduced by a Democrat in New York, and it proposes to fine restaurants in violation of using salt or salt derivatives in it’s cooking $1,000 per violation.  I can’t believe we’re focusing on something so ridiculous. How many lives do they really think they’re going to save by doing this?  Let’s hope this bill gets squashed pronto.

The fact is, acai berry is definitely a great source of antioxidants for the human body. Just the fact that it is such a VERY deeply pigmented fruit that it’s almost black should tell you that it’s an excellent, nutrient packed and antioxidant packed fruit, just going off of the conventional wisdom that darkly pigmented fruits and veggies are traditionally the most nutrient dense.

Does ingesting a lot o nutrient dense foods make your weight loss goals a lot easier and more attainable? ABSOLUTELY!  So, it’s not a stretch to imagine that eating a lot of acai fruit will help you lose weight, if the rest of your diet is in order too, but that’s true of any nutrient dense, calorie-spare food.  What of it’s weight loss benefits in a pill?

Well, a good, but real and pure acai supplement can definitely help you achieve higher energy levels, and certainly adds a boost to your body’s antioxidant stores, but what most likely helps you to lose weight in most of these supplements is not the acai berry itself, but the stimulants that are included in the supplement, like caffeine or something similar that acts as an appetite suppressant, since there have been no singularly weight loss benefits identified in the acai berry yet.

I still say that if you are looking for a great antioxidant and a great diet pill, maybe you could try an acai  “fat loss” diet pill, but make sure it’s actually pure acai in the ingredient label, since there are really no regulations governing this labeling yet.  If it doesn’t at least make you feel better, then it may not be worth it if you are using it just for weight loss, or as just an antioxidant supplement, so judge for yourself how it interacts with your body and benefits you.

I myself was a user of Sweet n Low for years. I really thought that I was doing something healthier for my body by eating this sweetener, which is made with saccharin, instead of eating sugar, and the fact is, that not only was I not saving significant calories, but I was also loading my body with chemicals that eventually convert into some sort of formaldehyde.

Artificial sweeteners have been linked to a bevy of health problems, most prevalently, they have come up as potential candidates for being a cancer causing agent, or carcinogen.  Then, about five years ago, I found out about Stevia as my interest in natural health and eliminating as many unnatural things from my diet as I could, increasing my holistic outlook on medicine and living.

Stevia is a plant, and there are certain part of that plant that are reaped to make the stevia powder that is used to sweeten drinks, cereals, you name it. It is supposed to not affect your blood sugar at all, and has no calories.  It also has not been linked to any major health problems, since it is all natural.

Truvia is actually made with “the sweetest part” of the stevia plant, and some other natural ingredients. It supposedly is all natural, and I hope it’s true and something doesn’t come out about it being a lie, because I REALLY like the flavor of this natural sweetener. It is not bitter like pure stevia extract and powder can be, or overpowering with an aftertaste at all, but it’s very smooth and natural tasting, almost like real sugar, but I daresay even a bit better of a sweetness.

I’m going to keep my eyes and ears peeled for any bad press on this Truvia stuff, because I’m hooked on it for now, and am hoping that it truly is all natural and healthy to consume. By the way, they are also having coupons online for a dollar off, I’ve been using them while I can since it runs almost $4 for a box of only 50 packets, so I’d try to use those while I can if I were you, get the deal!

Soups can be very filling. They are, after all, hot liquid, and this fact alone makes the other foods you eat with them sort of swell in your stomach, and for some reason just hot foods alone make you feel fuller, for what reason exactly I’m not sure. They are a great natural appetite suppressant.

They are a great way to not only warm you up in the winter, but I like them because they are the ideal side dish to a healthful, low calorie meal. They help to fill you up and keep you satisfied, and yet they still contain few calories because they consist mainly of broth, which contributes minimal calories, a lot of fiber rich veggies, and maybe some kind of starch in minimal content, like a brown rice or a whole grain pasta.

That’s what this soup uses, a whole grain pasta, and the whole pot of it only uses about one to one and a half cups of whole grain pasta, I like to use the kind of whole grain pasta that also has omega 3’s added to it, I think it’s made by Barilla, so that it adds not only extra nutrients to the soup, but it also helps contribute to keeping you full, since omega 3 fats actually make you think you’re fuller, faster.

Ok, enough with talking about this soup, let’s get on with how to make it!

I’m going to list all the ingredients. All you do is put them all together in a stock pot, bring them to a boil for a minute, then turn it down to simmer for as long as you’d like so the flavors all blend together. I like to simmer mine for a while, it just gives a better flavor.

Here’s the ingredients :

4 cups of either chicken or vegetable broth, fat free (most of them are naturally fat free)

1 can of black beans, drained

1-2 cups (depending on how you are watching your carbs) of whole wheat rotini pasta

1 bag of mixed vegetables (corn, peas, green beans carrots)

2 cans of petite diced tomatoes. You can use regular too, I just prefer petite in soups

2 Tablespoons of Italian seasoning

3 cloves of garlic, crushed or garlic salt

1 bay leaf (you will take this out when it’s done simmering, it’s simply to infuse the flavor into the soup while it is heating initially)

The only thing I know about Khloe is that she was on a season of the Celebrity Apprentice (Donald Trumps reality show where celebrities try to win the coveted prize of being Donal’s pick for his apprentice, although I don’t know that anything has really ever come of that for anyone), and she’s married to a very tall NBA basketball player.

I also know that she lost a ton of weight recently, and she looks fabulous, and very healthy to boot.  I’m not sure if both the sister’s weight loss is really due to Quick Trim or simply hard work and dedication, but they are both endorsing the QuickTrim diet supplement as a way that helped them to lose weight.

Quick Trim is basically an appetite suppressant and diet supplement that helps you to eat less and crave less food, so you can lose weight more quickly, and with less of the struggle that is typically endured during the diet cycles when you cut your food intake down and seem to be endlessly starving.  Of course, as with most other diet and weightloss supplements, you do have to also make the right food choices, but the right supplement has always helped me to kick start my diet, call it the placebo effect, but I feel like I have more control when I’m taking a good diet supplement.

The rest, of course, I know, is all up to me to actually get the weight off and keep it off and also work out on a regular schedule to burn off extra calories. Let’s not forget that the hallmark notion that you must reduce caloric intake to effectively lose weight, because after all, excess weight is excess calories. You can usually safely lose weight by reducing calories and learning how to suppress your hunger, eating about 1500 calories a day, which is totally doable if you pick the right foods that fill you up and don’t leave you wanting for more all day.