Red pepper and onion finely chopped, cooked in a pan. 3-ish eggs (1 ½ w/yolks, 2 just whites) scrambled. Freshly ground pepper and low-fat shredded cheese added for good measure. After it's cooked just right, the scrambled eggs are placed on top of homemade bread (made from portions of wheat, oat, and brown rice flours).

It was absolutely delicious and filling! No visions of sweets danced in my head, let alone food, for the rest of the morning. A definite breakfast success today! I feel pretty good.

Photo credit: Ms. Needing to Improve Short Distance Focus

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Then came the cake...

In the kitchen, My Darling Husband just home from work, holding a package behind his back; Susan cooking vegetables on the stove.

S: "What are you hiding behind your back?"

MDH: goofy grin, "I got a surprise for you."

S: dreading, "Uh oh, it isn't something horribly sweet, is it?"

MDH: displays a multi-colored striped bag labeled "The Cheesecake Factory." Removes a container with a very large slice of carrot cake joined by three globs of whipped cream inside.

S: laughing, "Oh no!"

MDH: "Yeah, it's something horribly sweet." goofy grin

S: Sigh

I appreciate my husband wanting to make me happy, but... could I just have a back massage next time instead of cake?

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I have protein shakes for breakfast made with a plain, whey protein powder. (It's surprisingly good with the right protein powder.) I have eggs, which I only rarely ate in the past. (They really are a health food!) I eat more turkey, chicken, fish, beans, and cheese. I enjoy tofu. (It's delish in miso soup!) I even eat more red meat - my least favorite meat - if it's in a hearty stew or cooked on the grill.

What I've noticed is that eating protein significantly decreases my sugar cravings! I don't go crazy with sweets as much as I used to. I don't even long for them as I did in the past. I haven't been eating sweets as a stand-alone snack as much either.

Today, however, I did happen to eat some chocolate and on an empty stomach. It was a decent amount too. I actually didn't finish the chocolate because, quite frankly, I didn't want it anymore (blasphemy, I know)!

Well, 2 hours later I started feeling jittery, really jittery! My heart was beating a little faster, and I felt queasy too! It was a terrible feeling, and I got a little scared because I had no idea why this was occurring! It was as though the chocolate was rigged! I was acting like... I injested some sort of... drug...

Oh.  Yeah... heh... I guess I really did!

It was the chocolate; it must have been! I was going bonkers over the sugar and caffeine in the chocolate! That's the only explanation I have. I know I'm sensitive to caffeine, but gee wiz! My body was really reacting, and in a very unpleasant way too!

Maybe my body is becoming weaned of all the sugar and chocolate I've put in it in the past? Maybe it's more sensitive because I've been slowly easing off the sweets? If that's the case, then wow! I'm surprise at the progress and healing my body is making!

It's been six hours since ingesting that potent chocolate, and the jittery feelings are just starting to settle down. I had to get on the elliptical machine earlier because I just needed to move!

Well, on a positive note, eating a large amount of chocolate on an empty stomach doesn't sound so appealing to me anymore. The horrible way I felt completely overides any satisfaction I might receive by eating it! It's not worth eating a food if I end up feeling like I did today!

Now I'm looking forward to my protein! It's keeping me steady. I like that.

If you struggle with strong sugar cravings, consider adding a decent amount of quality protein in your meals. (That is, of course, you have no preexisting condition that warrants limiting protein.)

You may find that it will help control your sweet tooth over time.

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I inspected the seeds through their plastic container, trying to determine if they had too much salt on them. No salt crystals noted; they looked pretty plain to me. In to the cart they went!

Once home, I immediately opened the container and popped one of the pumpkin seeds in my mouth. Egads! What in the world...?!! I discovered the seeds were horribly salty! These weren't snacks; they were miniature salt licks for deer!

I was very disappointed, but didn't want to dump all the seeds in the garbage. I decided I would try to remove the salt.

I soaked them in water, and like magic, once the seeds hit the water, they changed from a plain beige to a bright white. I realized each seed was covered in a thick film of salt! I could literally scrape the salt off with my thumb nail! Oh, this was going to be harder than I thought!

Here's what the seeds looked like when they were soaking for quite some time. See the white salt film? You might notice some seeds that have been scraped with my nail too!

This is what the water looked like... after several soakings!

Is that not gross?

Poor pumpkin seeds! You used to be so healthy and tasty, but now you've been tarnished with an unpalatable covering of salt (that is invisible to the naked eye until wet... then it's hard to miss)!

Well, now I'm trying to think of a moral to this story. Maybe it should be: Just because a store claims to have healthy food, doesn't necessarily mean it's true for all their food products!

Or maybe simply: Remain vigiliant when considering store-prepared pumpkin seeds!

Update!  The pumpkin seeds are almost dry now.  I can easily peel away the salty shell to get to the meaty, unsalted part of the seed.  The taste is good, so I'll see if these seeds can be salvaged, poor little guys!

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You may be thinking, "So what?"  But this for me was a big deal!  The afternoon is usually when I get snack attacks for something horribly sweet, fatty, and unhealthy.  I'll grab a few mini candy bars from a coworker's candy dish or go on the hunt for chewy, chocolate chip cookies.  An orange would be simply unheard of!

The other day I brought an orange to work to eat as my afternoon snack.  When 3 o'clock rolled around, and I felt the blood sugar on the verge of dropping, I reached for my orange instead of hunting for chocolates.  The orange was bright in color.  As soon as I peeled away the skin, the sweet, aromatic smell filled my little office.  Each orange segment was juicy and sweet.

Beside this being a healthier snack, the best part was I felt satisfied after eating it - full even!  I didn't think about chocolates, candies, or cookies!  I was content; imagine that!  That's what surprised me, albeit quite delightfully! 

Will this continue?  I don't know.  I'm inclined to believe I'll still crave the ooey-gooey sweets at some point in the future.  However, at least this is a step in the right direction.  At least I know it's possible for me to enjoy something healthier and not crave the junk foods.  I did it once; I know it's possible for me do it again.

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This is an organic, granola cereal with slightly sweet pumpkin seeds and flax seeds, and it is soooo good! My husband and I especially like the pumpkin seeds (and I'm not a big "seed" person).

Quick nutritional run down:

1/2 cup will give you:

• 140 calories (not bad for granola!)
• 5 gm fat
• 3 gm fiber
• 5 gm sugar
• 3 gm protein

The down side: This cereal is expensive, just as many of the "healthy" cereals seem to be.

So I try to wait and buy it on sale. I also mix this cereal with old fashioned oats or muesli to make it last longer. I add a spoonful of plain protein powder as I'm trying to increase my protein intake at breakfast to ward off the munchies later in the day.

Well, I think my next mission will be to figure out how to make healthy, inexpensive (and tasty) granola/cereal myself! And when I do, you can bet I'll share the recipe with you! Or, if you have a great recipe, please feel free to share!

Do you have a favorite breakfast cereal?

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This is what my husband and I ate the other night, a homemade, healthier pizza.

I say healthier because it was lower in fat and lacked preservatives. I made the crust with wheat flour, and the cheese was, of course, low-fat. I sprinkled Italian seasoning, garlic powder, and a little bit of pepper on the top. The toppings were onions, green peppers, a little bit of sausage, and pineapple on half (cause I love pineapple on a pizza).

The taste: really good I have to say! Hubby and I were very pleased. We don't normally eat pizza, but this was a fun and healthier treat. Plus, we had enough to last a couple of days!

Don't want to make pizza crust from scratch? I've tried this Arrowhead Mills boxed version with pleasing results.

It makes a thick, tasty crust, and there's enough dough to make bread sticks too- Mmmm!

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