Anthropods Attack

Anthropods Attack!

By: Zola

Chief Dieter

Plan Z Diet

I promised myself that if it happened again this year I was going to go see a dermatologist. No matter how stupid I was going to feel I was going to get this checked out. I didn’t care what the dermatologist said. I could handle the minor humiliation if there was going to be some. I just had to know.

Well it happened again.

It originally started about eight years ago. Come late summer and into fall I’d get these huge welts on my body. The location was never predictable. They were all over. No kidding, these things were the size of a half of a golf ball. And red. And puffy. And surrounded by up to a 3” ring of redness. I looked ridiculous. And every morning it seemed like I’d wake up with more. And itch! I was ready to crawl out of my skin! Hydrocortisone cream was completely inadequate.

The welts lasted for up to 10 days or so. As they progressed they’d get hot. Then they’d form sort of a tumor in the middle; a real hard mound that was captured inside. After a few days the top would get sort of crusty and dry. Over time they’d subside but while they were around I’d have these huge itchy fits. Sometimes I’d be in the middle of a meeting and one of them would flare up. In some meetings you can’t just stop and scratch. It’s not very ladylike or CEO of the Plan Z Diet worthy. I just had to hang in no matter how distracted I was.

So when it happened this year I was determined to take action.

Over the years my family sort of got involved. I had remembered that when I was a child my mother would suggest that we repaint a bedroom in fall. She said that’s when the spiders were looking for a warm place to spend the winter and they’d try to come in, but if we painted the bedroom, the spiders would not like the smell of paint so they’d go elsewhere.

So I decided these must be spider bites. The timing was about right. Late summer and into fall.

Instead of painting I did heavy duty cleaning. I’d pull my bedroom apart and start over; cleaning top to bottom. That didn’t work. I got the welts anyway. Maybe it wasn’t spiders. I was going nuts year to year, trying to figure out what I was doing wrong. My family started to make jokes about how I had spiders living INSIDE of me that must be biting me from the inside out, cuz there were certainly no spiders in my bedroom. I was the butt of funny jokes and I was covered in red mounds that itched and itched.

So I made the appointment. Even when the receptionist asked why I wanted to come in I was almost embarrassed to say that I thought I might be having a bug bite problem. I wasn’t sure if it was even a bug bite problem or if I had an allergy of some kind that flared up as summer waned. But this was ridiculous so I decided to buck up and face the doctor.

I had never met this man before. He specialized in whatever they thought I might have. He walked in and asked me to tell the story I just told you. He looked at my bug bites and made concerned doctor faces. He measured how hot my arm was where there was a bite. More concerned faces and he even let out a “wow”. He pondered for just a minute more.

The first thing he brought up was the timing. “This started about 8 years ago, right?” I confirmed that he had that timing right. Then he went on to explain to me that he thinks that 8 years ago I was bitten by a mosquito that carried West Nile Virus. He speculated that my immune system fought off the West Nile and that I am left with Arthropod Bite Reaction. My condition actually has a name.

What happens to me now is that any bug bite can cause me to have this allergic reaction. It doesn’t have to be a mosquito and he doesn’t exactly know the total number of the types of bugs that I am allergic to so I am to assume it’s all of them. He says my bites might have been baby spiders but they also could have been those teeny “no-seeums”. The tiniest bug can leave me with a huge welt.

He gave me some suggestions:

From May until September I am to take one Clariton a day. This will help me in that my reaction will be less inflammatory. So far the few bites I have gotten since I started the meds have been small marble-sized instead of golfball. That’s progress.

I am to sleep with my windows closed. Rats. I love a fall evening with the windows open. I am to douse myself in DEET when I go outside. Stinky but I keep it nearby. And he gave me a prescription for a super-duper form of Hydrocortizone cream. This stuff lasts for 8 hours. That’s very helpful for my meetings.

And the rest will just be luck. No one knows why late summer and fall and not spring. Good news is I live in the city now where even in a year like this one, when many communities are cutting back on spraying for mosquitoes, the city doesn’t have as many. When I lived in Wisconsin I was plagued by mosquitoes and other bugs on a constant basis. Instead of being paranoid, now I just need to be careful.

The best news of all is now I know I am not nuts. And I also know I don’t have those mysterious internal spiders my family joked about. It was worth going to the dermatologist just to confirm that my reaction to whatever bit me is beyond normal. Of course I knew it was not normal but I just needed reassurance. And I needed the super-duper Hydrocortizone.

Cheers,


To read more of Zola's blogs CLICK HERE or head over to https://www.planzdiet.com/blog/

A Chance Encounter

A Chance Encounter

By: Zola

Chief Dieter

Plan Z Diet

Last week I was treated with a visit from my sister and my brother-in-law. We had made plans to go to Millennium Park and watch a jazz concert. Millennium Park is the perfect summer venue. The place is massive so it can handle big crowds. There’s plenty of outdoor space where everyone can lay out a blanket, set up a picnic, enjoy some food and then listen to the music. No one yells at you if you have a quiet conversation going on while the music is being performed. It’s all really ideal when the weather is right, and on this evening the weather was beautiful.

We got a tidbit behind our usual schedule so as we gathered our picnic supplies we decided to take the car to downtown Chicago rather than take the train. We realized it would be quicker and just about the same price so why not have the convenience? Besides, we had a lot of stuff to carry for our picnic so this would be easier.

As we approached The Loop area the traffic came to a crawl. It was 5:30PM so that was to be expected but it seemed extra snarled. I joked with my brother-in-law that he was probably happy to be sitting in the back of our little city car than trying to drive in rush hour madness. He’s not used to such traffic and the maneuvering required because he lives in a small town. He concurred.

I then looked up and realized that police personnel were directing all traffic to the left. Not one car was allowed through the intersection. Hmmm. No choice but to follow those in front of me. I had to change my plan about where I expected to park. Now I was thinking it might have been better to take the train. Too late.

As we creeped along I made a new plan. I could see a parking lot up a couple of blocks. If it was not full I was just going to head right in so we could get out of this traffic. Even if it meant hauling our picnic gear a few more blocks, being out of the car would be better. The “natives” accompanying me were getting restless. I was concerned though that the lot might be full. We were in the theatre district and that area fills up fast.

I had plenty of time to try to speculate what the traffic detour was all about. I was pretty sure it was movie-related. Because Transformers 3 is being filmed in Chicago they are regularly shutting down areas to do filming. I don’t go to The Loop that often so I have not been keeping up with the daily reports on which streets are being shut down or when. You just have to be patient and work your way around it.

When we got to the lot I breathed a sigh of relief. We could get in. The lot was only about 50% full so we didn’t have to go any higher than the 5th level and we found a spot. We pulled what we needed out of the car and everyone took a load. It really wasn’t that much. We were pretty efficient in our packing but we did have 4 of those folding chairs that squeeze into the canvas bags. We had a cooler. My sister was in charge of rolling that behind her cuz she’s the shortest one in the group and the handle is pretty low. I think she bought it for someone her height. I felt badly that she had the heaviest load but she had the wheels too.

We got to the bottom of the lot and came out on Dearborn Street across from the Goodman Theatre. It’s about 5 blocks from there to where wanted to be. The concert didn’t start until 6:30 but it was now about 5:45 and we were getting hungry.

We came around the first corner and about stopped dead. There were people everywhere. Lined along both sides of the streets they all had cameras and seemed focused on whatever they were expecting. I thought Shia LaBeouf was about to appear. He’s the biggest stud in the upcoming movie. A star for the young set. Seeing movie stars is always fun so I sort of kept looking to see where all the action was. I couldn’t see any.

I could hardly see anything. The sidewalks were 10 deep with people squished in shoulder to shoulder. The ones in the back rows were craning their necks constantly so it was really hard to get through. Try getting through a space maybe 10” wide with 4 folding chairs. And my poor sister with the rolling cooler! She was trying desperately not to roll over exposed toes in high heeled sandals but it was all but impossible. We did our best to inch our way through the crowd.

Every once in awhile we’d hear a small shriek. Then it would die down again. False alarm; whatever it was.

As we approached Michigan Avenue I realized we had gotten cut off from my husband. Oh fooey. Neither of us brought our cell phones. What if I can’t find him? He’ll end up wandering around Millennium Park mad as a wet cat. He’ll be hungry. And when he’s hungry he’s not fun. He’s tall so I could not figure out why he didn’t stand out in the crowd. I immediately got anxious.

About two minutes later I spotted him. He had stepped off the curb into the street. That’s why he didn’t stick up over most of the average-height folks. He did look a bit rattled but not bad.

We were all together again.

As I looked around I realized the crowd was not just lining one street. They were lining 4 streets. Both sides, all around one huge building. The building is the old Public Library. Now I think they call it The Chicago Cultural Center. It’s really pretty inside. I kept thinking I’d see movie trucks shooting in the alley or along the building. Nothing.

So we crossed Michigan Avenue with the lite and were now on the corner of Randolph and Michigan. The park begins right across Randolph so we were within spitting distance of getting out of this crowd and into the park. On the north east corner the crowd was much smaller. We were making our way through a throng about 4 deep when I finally decided to just ask what the blazes was going on.

I walked up to a young man with a camera and inquired, “Just whom are we waiting for?”

His answer. “Obama. He’s in that building over there”. The Cultural Center.

Ah. Now it all made sense. The crowd had formed along every side of the building hoping to get a glimpse and in Presidential security fashion, no one had any idea what side he’d come out of. There were police about every five feet. No traffic was moving in ANY direction. Even Michigan Avenue was cut off. The street pretty much became silent except for polite, quiet talk. And the periodic small shriek.

Another false alarm.

We stood on the corner waiting for the light to change. Another shriek. This time an unmarked, sinister-looking black car with flashing lights on the dash board came zooming around a corner. It took off up Randolph Street toward Lake Shore Drive. Then nothing. Back to the quiet murmering.

When the light changed our picnic party began to walk across the street toward the park. I got about half a foot onto the median that runs down the middle of the street and I heard a booming, “Go Back”.

I motioned with my free hand that I was just going to finish crossing the street. “Go Back!” This time louder and with heavy waving arms.

Okay, so go back we did. We lined up on the edge of the curb. The small throng had no choice but to let us in.

I started to eavesdrop on a conversation between two women next to me. The one was speculating that the motorcade would pass in front of us because the entrance ramp to Lake Shore Drive was just up the hill and they could have a straight shot. She thought that President Obama was expected at a birthday party at a residence on Lake Shore Drive. I broke in and let her know his birthday was the day before. Party over.

Well, whatever was happening she was clucking pretty confidently that Obama would be coming her way soon and she was going to have her camera at the ready. No one had any idea what direction they’d be coming from so it was all just a guess.

I stood there quietly thinking. If she was right me and my party now had a front row standing place in the action. All 4 of us were right by the curb. I thought of all of the folks who were spread around 4 blocks, 10 deep, craning their necks to get a glimpse. How long had some of them been standing there? Hours? I just walked up. And I didn’t even plan to be here. I’m stuck. I just can’t move. I have to obey police orders and suffer through this; whether I am hungry or not.

Truth be told I got pretty excited at the thought. I felt pretty darn lucky to have fallen on this opportunity. My brother-in-law was not so pleased. He was counting up the expense of the whole deal. We agreed to disagree.

About 10 minutes later we could hear the zoom.

I don’t remember how many huge, black Suburbans (if that’s what they were) came barreling around the corner and through the intersection. Yep, right past us. I think it was eight. All blacked out windows. Most of them had all the windows closed. You’re waving frantically and you have no idea which one he’s in or if he’s even looking at the crowd. You are left to speculate who else is in the cars with him. Valerie Jerrett? I know she accompanied him on this trip and so did Rahm Emanuel. They are both from Chicago and were invited to his party. Mrs. Obama was still in Spain so I knew she was not in the car with her husband. I found myself trying to visualize faces as they blasted past.

I found out from the woman who was so darn sure she had the perfect location (and she was right), that you don’t squeal and scream as the cars go by. There’s some sort of decorum you are supposed to keep. You wave. You don’t clap and you don’t scream. Most folks who were gathered seemed to know the drill. They all just took pictures as the cars raced by. I bet the pics were pretty blurry.

I was just fascinated by the orchestration. It all happened so fast but I can remember it with remarkable detail. I had seen something on TV once that showed how one of the cars has some kind of SATCOM satellite device mounted on the top in case the motorcade gets cut off and has to communicate with the Airforce who has planes flying on high alert just out of site. Then there’s the last car. This one is open on the roof. A man is up there with a high powered machine gun just poking out the top. The windows on this car are open and you see very tailored, very fit young men with sunglasses on all looking in every direction. This suburban also has the back window open about 8 inches. If you look closely and quickly you can see the rocket launcher barrel just in the shadows just inside that open window. You know another young man is sitting ready behind that rocket launcher with his finger on the trigger.

And that’s your last image. Your last image is of what the Secret Service, the local police and the myriad of other coordinators go through on a daily basis to protect the life of our President as he moves about his business. It’s not a lighthearted picture.

I am old enough to remember Kennedy in Dallas on that sunny day, waving from the back of a convertible; everyone all smiles. That’s certainly not how it is today. I find that sad. My brother-in-law was right. It IS expensive. But, I guess that’s the price we have to pay.

Cheers,

To read more of Zola's blogs CLICK HERE or head over to https://www.planzdiet.com/blog/

We Ask at the Plan Z Diet: Is Natural Really Natural?

We ask at the Plan Z Diet: Is Natural Really Natural?

By: Zola

Chief Dieter

Plan Z Diet

Coming out of college my first job was working for one of the Big Food companies. I was assigned to the Marketing Department.

Can I just say it? I loved my job! LOVED it.

I loved it so much I enrolled at Northwestern University to take more courses on marketing. I worked all day at marketing and I absorbed more marketing knowledge at night.

I was a sponge for marketing knowledge; everything from packaging to TV ad copy. I was enthralled with the reports on the experiences the customer had with the product. Was the product appealing? Was the packaging colorful and did it attract your attention? What information was on the package that was helpful in making the decision to buy it? I wanted to know more about everything.

I studied. I absorbed. I memorized.
Then I grew up.

So what does that mean?

Well, I started to design the Plan Z Diet and got involved in deciphering what the advertising really meant. I learned to read labels. I studied the ingredients list and found out what was healthy and what was not. What the box said on the front was not always a totally truthful indicator of whether what was in the package was good for me. In fact, most stuff that comes in a box or a package is full of all kinds of things that we really should not eat if we want to be truly healthy.

And what they say on the front of the box to entice you to buy it is in fact, just that. An enticement. Sometimes it’s truthful and sometimes it’s just plain manipulative. There is some government scrutiny in relation to what a food manufacturer can say on the packaging, but much of it is pretty vague. The food companies can get away with a lot.

I am not here to blame the ad agency. Their job is to make the product as appealing as possible; within the rules. So they do just that.

The video above is a funny look at the whole packaging issue as it relates to whether what’s in the package is healthful or not. This is put together by the USDA Organic Division. They are trying to “sell you” on eating organic. I support that effort. Much of what I eat is organic but I’ll admit too, that I do buy things that are not organic. I prioritize.

Some folks say eating organic is too expensive.

A comprehensive study came out recently that nails the numbers. The study (published in the prestigious British Medical Journal) found that it costs $550 a year more to eat organic. That might sound like a lot. Break it down by day though, and it’s $1.50 more per day to eat organic. For $1.50 a day, (or the price of what would now be considered a cheap cup of coffee), I can make eating organic an even bigger priority. Can you?

Cheers,

To read more of Zola's blogs CLICK HERE or head over to https://www.planzdiet.com/blog/

Plan Z Diet Grilled Peaches with Cinnamon Butter

Plan Z Diet Grilled Peaches with Cinnamon Butter

By: Zola

Chief Dieter

Plan Z Diet

Plan Z Diet by Zola

This is a ZReboot recipe. I adapted this recipe for Plan Z from one of Bobby Flay’s ideas. I love a good grilled peach in the summer. Even if you have a crowd over for a barbecue you can grill up a bunch of these in a jiffy and everyone will enjoy a healthy dessert.

To read the full recipe for Plan Z Diet Grilled Peaches with Cinnamon Butter  head over to https://www.planzdiet.com/recipes/grilled-peaches-with-cinnamon-butter-sauce/

Cheers,


To read more of Zola's blogs CLICK HERE or head over to https://www.planzdiet.com/blog/

Why Do Men Lose Weight Faster Than Women?

Why Do Men Lose Weight Faster Than Women?

By: Zola

Chief Dieter

Plan Z Diet

It is a fact.
Men lose faster than women.

I hear about it every day. When a husband and wife go on the Plan Z Diet together, the wife will invariably complain at some point that her husband is ahead of her in the weight loss battle.

There’s no one to blame except Mother Nature.
Here’s some science to back it all up. I got this from a CNN report:

In one study out of England, men and women were each put on commercial weight-loss programs such as Atkins, Slim-Fast and Weight Watchers. Two months in, the men had lost twice as much weight as the women — and three times as much body fat. But by six months, the rate of weight loss had evened out between the genders.

If you’re a guy, you can thank the testosterone you have — and the extra estrogen you don’t — for your weight-loss edge. On average, women have between 6 and 11% more body fat than men, an assumed evolutionary adaptation to help during pregnancy. From puberty to menopause, women maintain more average body fat than men — even when they take in fewer calories.

But it’s important to remember that “fat” doesn’t mean “unhealthy.” Yes, women have larger fat stores, but it’s part of their physiology, meaning it’s not extra weight. So if a woman has 11% more body fat than a man, it doesn’t mean she’s 11% “fatter.” A perfectly fit woman will still hold 6 to 11% more body fat than a perfectly fit man.

So there you have it, but in my opinion that doesn’t answer all of it. I’ve observed a few other things. What I’m going to say doesn’t have any sanctioned science behind it. It’s just anecdotal evidence I’ve gathered over the years while developing the Plan Z Diet.

I postulate that women get stuck on a diet more often than men. Men have a tendency to lose at a fairly even pace. Women get stuck at different points during the dieting process. My feeling is this is not only hormonal (we have that monthly event during our childbearing years), but also because women diet more often than men. Women try all kinds of diets only to fail and start over again sometime later. You keep up this kind of behavior and you train your body to stop losing at about the same point each time. About 35% of women on the Plan Z Diet have some kind of stall between days 9 and 13. This is about the time most women quit a diet. Their body wants the status quo. In other words, your body wants you to go back and gain that fat back that you lost in the last two weeks. It wants to go back where it was, and the more we repeat the process the more ingrained it gets. Guys don’t diet as often so they don’t repeat the same patterns.

Another reason women lose slower? Women handle stress differently. When you are stressed, your cortisol level goes up. Cortisol is a hormone has very important role in helping your body respond to stress. This is your fight or flight response. Interesting thing is when your cortisol level goes up your weight loss pace slows down. In most families women are the ones carrying more of the worry burden. Don’t blame the guys. We do it naturally. We worry about everything from the car pool calendar to the price of gas. The mortgage, the budget and where we are going to go on vacation. We worry about everything more than most guys do.

I know for a fact this plays out. I have been on as many diets as anyone I know. Even when I’m not on a diet this worry factor plays in.

I’ve run companies for over 30 years. I know when a bad recession hits I can eat the same amount of food as I did when the economy was good and I’ll still gain weight. I eat the same, but my body gets bigger because my cortisol is up and my body reacts. So we even gain weight differently. We don’t just lose it differently.

Another reason women don’t lose as fast as men? Exercise effect. There was a study done out of Canada that said that if the average woman over 40 years old works out at a moderate pace 60 minutes a day 5 days a week, she won’t lose weight; she’ll only gain it slower than she would have if she didn’t exercise at all. Thank your hormones, women. Guys don’t deal with menopause and aging the same way.

Can women do anything to pick up the pace and lose as fast as the guys? Not that I know of, although that study I quoted up above seems to feel that if you stay on a diet where you lose 1 – 2 pounds a week and you stick with it for six months or more, the sexes will meet in the middle. Well, I’ve never met a guy who dieted consistently for six months. And I know women who have dieted ridiculously for years and never made their goal.

For this one, I don’t have a final answer but it made for interesting conversation. Didn’t it?

Cheers,

To read more of Zola's blogs CLICK HERE or head over to https://www.planzdiet.com/blog/

Heat

Heat

By: Zola

Chief Dieter

Plan Z Diet

It’s been a hot time in the old town. Chicago.

I can’t stand this heat. Even with air conditioning I’m miserable. The few times I venture out are to go to appointments or to the grocery store. Just that ride home in a hot car is enough to make me crabby. Yesterday I walked a whopping 4 blocks in blistering heat with an index hovering about 100 degrees and a wind that felt like a blast furnace. I felt like I needed a shower when I got back to my office.

I know I am spoiled. For those of you with no air conditioning you have to be wondering how I could possibly be complaining, and for that I am sorry. I do know how good I have it. I just have another point I want to get to and this story is the vehicle for that point.

Most folks who hate heat as much as I do swell up when it gets hot. It’s not necessarily our size that matters. I swell when I am skinny or when I am fat. My rings get tight. I feel bloated and I’m sticky all over. No matter what clothes I wear or what clothing I take off it doesn’t seem to matter.

When I go to a tropical country it takes me at minimum three days to adapt. So you can probably guess that I don’t jump on a plane to go to a tropical country very often. I have friends who can’t wait to get into that sun. They want to soak up that sun and it relaxes them. I can’t wait to get OUT of the sun.

My husband convinced me that getting a tan was bad. I haven’t lain in the sun in over 25 years and I’m fully convinced that’s a good thing. Pale can be beautiful.

It’s the swelling that’s not fun. The inflammation that builds up is so uncomfortable that sometimes I don’t feel like eating. I am bloated enough that I don’t have an appetite. During my childhood I lived in a big house with no air conditioning and when it got that hot my mother would only make bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches for dinner. She was hot, uncomfortable and didn’t feel much like eating either.

When folks are on The Plan Z Diet we are constantly encouraging them to drink water. We require 70 ounces of water a day (or more) for them to be in compliance with our Plan Z Diet recommendations. We can’t make them drink the water but I do constantly, gently nag them to drink it. If they don’t, it takes longer to get foods to process in their bodies. Water is good for dieting. Our Plan Z Dieters who drink over 100 ounces of water while on the Plan Z Diet lose 30% more weight!

Water keeps you hydrated too. The funniest thing about water is when you are bloated in the summer you think it’s just water weight. You would think that drinking less would “cure” the problem and make the swelling go away; when in fact it’s just the opposite. Drinking more water will help ease the bloating. When you are feeling bloated drink 100 ounces of water (and coffee doesn’t count). Go to bed early and you are likely to wake feeling better.

Cheers,

To read more of Zola's blogs CLICK HERE or head over to https://www.planzdiet.com/blog/

Bitter Sweet

Bitter Sweet

By: Zola
Chief Dieter
Plan Z Diet




I’m going to make this short and sweet.

The clip I am about to recommend will take a bit of a time investment to watch so I want to keep my comments short.

I want to implore you to watch this video.

I really want to say that I want to beg you to watch this but that’s such an overused word I thought I’d get fancy and say implore instead. Same thing really, but I was hoping to get extra emotion in it.

As part of The Plan Z Diet we teach you what happened to cause you to gain weight (and in a lot of cases it’s not over eating). We want to help you lose the weight of course but we also dare to give you the education on the Plan Z Diet to have the tools and information to keep the weight off, once it’s gone.

There’s so much misinformation that has been spread over the course of about 60 years about diet and weight loss. I’m afraid a lot of people who say they know a lot about healthy eating are misinformed and keep spreading this bad information like mold in an unclean bathroom. It’s ugly and it won’t go away without work. It’s sad.

Good news is there are some breakthroughs (like the Plan Z Diet!). Bad news is the tide isn’t turning fast enough. People need to know what is really causing the obesity epidemic. Everyone needs to know. I bet you know someone who needs this information besides yourself. Someone who deserves to see this video. Just to get the truth.

This one video doesn’t fix it all. This video DOES give out some vital information.

Dr. Lustig is an entertaining speaker but he’s also a researcher so you have to be ready for some bit of a science lecture. He’s entertaining so give it a go. Watch it in segments if you can’t bear to do it all at once.

At one point in the speech he’s going to tell you that he’s about to get complicated in his descriptions. I thought about telling you to skip that part. Then I thought better of it.

He’s going to be telling you what happens to your body if you drink a Coke, a beer or a glass of orange juice. The information is startling and downright scary. It’s intriguing too and very eye opening.

This man is a top pediatrician. He’s a researcher. He’s passionate about his work.

If you want to learn about the worst parts of our food processing system and the ingredients involved, please listen to this lecture. This information will help guide you to keep the weight off. It’s a vital part of your education as part of The Plan Z Diet.

If you have children or grandkids my plea is even greater. If we can’t fix our own generation let’s at least save the next one. Watch this yourself. Then watch it with your family. Then pass the link on to others.

Watch and Learn and let me know what you think.


Cheers,


To read more of Zola's blogs CLICK HERE or head over to https://www.planzdiet.com/blog/

Jamie and School

Jamie and School

By: Zola
Chief Dieter
Plan Z Diet



Some of you will cry as you watch what I am offering up today.

But first, let me take a step back and give you some of my perspective.

I have always admired Jamie Oliver. Jamie is a chef. Jamie is an entrepreneur. You might remember back in January I wrote a column about one of his restaurants in London where they take on the disadvantaged and teach them how to become restaurant workers so they are better skilled and prepared for employment. Jamie has had a variety of cooking shows broadcast first in England and then in America and around the world. He’s very successful. He’s also modest, funny, dedicated and no less than doggedly determined. He has been tirelessly trying to fix school lunches. They are terribly broken. Our nation’s children are being abused by their own government, being forced to eat a less than ideal food supply. And that’s saying it nicely. Our kids are being forced to eat cheap, processed, and unhealthy food. No wonder too many of them are getting fat.

You are about to take your children out of school for the summer. They are about to be let out and let into your care for the full day, each day.

If you don’t have school-aged children, maybe you have nieces or nephews or even grandchildren who will be visiting you over the summer. They might be on vacation. You might want to give them treats and treat them special because they are so special to you. Be careful what you feed them. They don’t have long before they have to go back to school and eat what they are offered in the cafeteria. It’s not their fault they are, in so very many cases, gaining weight. They are too young to know. They trust us. We are failing them.

I was giving a speech the other day. I was talking about my plans going forward. I was talking about how in the near future I hope to start a foundation. I want that foundation to fund the cooking arts for kids. Bring home ec back. I want after school programs set up so we can teach kids, starting at 11 years old, how to cook. I want to do that so when they go off to college or go off to their busy lives they know how to feed themselves and not depend on fast food. I want them to know what’s good for them so when they make their choices they make them wisely. I think if we do this right we can make our kids healthy again before it’s too late.

Right now our children are not expected to live as long as we will. They are too unhealthy to live long, fruitful lives. We all want our children to do better than we did. Well, we have done this to them. We are all responsible. We need to fix this.

Jamie Oliver is making an impassioned plea. Please see what you can learn from this and transfer it to your children, your grandchildren or even your neighbor’s kids.

Have a good summer of eating healthy. Make yourself and your kids a priority.

Wanna feed your kids a healthy treat this summer? Gather them and their friends around the kitchen and whip up a quick, frozen treat of my Plan Z Diet Raspberry “Ice Cream”. You’ll love the simplicity of this treat and they’ll love the novelty. This is the kind of treat my mother would let me make myself as a child. Once you teach them how, I bet they’ll be able to do it too.

Plan Z Diet Raspberry "Ice Cream"

Cheers,

To read more of Zola's blogs CLICK HERE or head over to https://www.planzdiet.com/blog/

The Bitter Truth About Sugar and High Fructose Corn Syrup

The Bitter Truth About Sugar and High Fructose Corn Syrup

By: Zola
Chief Dieter
Plan Z Diet




If you think Gary Taubes is hard to read or watch, Dr. Robert H. Lustig may not be your cup of tea. But if you are tempted to put sugar in your tea or want to find out what causes sugar cravings, you’ve got to watch this video and share it with your family. As I write this 334,952 people have clicked on this lecture. Whether they watched all 1-hour 29-minutes and 28 seconds of it is another thing.

This is mission critical information for all Plan Z Diet Insiders. It amplifies Taubes’ work and adds powerful new information to fat proof your life. The food companies know what they are doing to us, but they are addicted to profits and not creating healthy foods.

Plan Z Diet Insider Dr. Steve brought this lecture to my attention. I am bringing it to your attention. Watch the first 20-minutes to get his take on “The Coca-Cola Conspiracy.” The middle is filled with a very scientific look at how sugar (glucose and fructose) is metabolized and how your body deals with fructose.

Dr. Lustig’s lecture will help you understand why you never want to go back to eating processed foods again. I suggest you watch the first half hour and then fast forward to his conclusions. Then, if you want to get all of the science, watch the middle.

Watch this and share the video with everyone you care about.

Cheers,

To read more of Zola's blogs CLICK HERE or head over to https://www.planzdiet.com/blog/

Is This Surgery or Just Car Buying?

Is This Surgery or Just Car Buying?

By: Zola
Chief Dieter
Plan Z Diet





I’ve never bought a car. As old as I am, I’ve never bought a car. That is until last weekend.

In my previous life I’ve always leased cars. I leased luxury cars too, so I was pretty spoiled. I never really had to go through the regular process. Some of the sales guys who leased cars even brought them to my office so I could test drive them. I didn’t even have to go to the dealer. They’d do all the paperwork and all I had to do was sign. Pretty nice.

This time I decided to get a “city car”. I’m not commuting hundreds of miles a week anymore. I’m just buzzing around Chicago so I needed a car that could do well at Home Depot, Target and the grocery store. I wanted something that was easy to park; fairly small is good. I wanted cargo room but didn’t want an SUV. I wanted good gas mileage. I wanted a tight turning ratio. My brother Bob suggested I take a look at the Honda Fit.

I was smitten at first site. And then I opened the back and wowzer! The seats fold down FLAT and the cargo room is huge! I loved it. That’s exactly what I needed. A city car.

I decided this was it even before I test drove it but I took a five minute drive anyway. Figured I better. I was much less interested in the Zero – 60 MPH ratio than I used to be. In the city I hardly ever get a car up to 40 MPH. It’s just life in the city. The price was right too.

After the test drive I was ready to sign. I had meetings to get to and the sales guy knew it. I asked him before I even went if he could get me in and out in an hour and a half. He said sure.

Wrong.

After I waited a half hour with them “going over my paperwork” they came back and asked how much I’d be putting down. I told them I didn’t know but start with a couple thousand. Thought that would be enough. The car just wasn’t that expensive. Then they came back and forth and back and forth. The financing all depended on what I’d put down and they kept asking for more. I was telling them that what I put down was irrelevant until they settled on an interest rate for the financing. This was driving me nuts!

And of course they do that thing where the manager is behind some glass wall. I’m not allowed to talk to the real decision maker. I hate that system. I own a sales training company. For goodness sake, the least they can do is SELL.

I’ve heard of this nightmarish process before. I just never experienced it.

So of course I had to make a call and cancel my first meeting. I had taken a $20 cab ride to get to this dealer. Now that I decided on which car I wanted I was not leaving without it.

We went back to going back and forth. I was beginning to steam so I decided to chill and read the Wall St. Journal. Then they’d come back again and ask me some inane question or tell me that they were still working on it.

I had to call and postpone my second meeting. I was now there over 2 and a half hours! My husband was along. He was much more patient. He drank his coffee and watched TV in the service waiting room.

Next they told me I was all set and just had to go over to the Finance Manager’s office. By this point I was ready to call my luxury car buddies and ask them to drop me a fancy car out front and I’d get on with my life. It took less time to pull teeth than it did to buy a car. I’ve had surgeries that were over faster than this!

They walked me over to finance. This place was located about a five minute walk, all the way across the building, past service (actually you had to cut through the service garage, over the hoses and past the oil smells). They sat me down in another chair and told me they’d be right with me.

Yeah right. Right with me about 30 minutes later.

And this guy was a piece of work. He knew I was late. I was not happy and all I wanted to do was give me my credit card and get a signature on a bottom line. And get IN MY CAR. The excuse was the car was being prepped. Ha! They had over 2 hours already to prep my car. They knew which one I wanted hours ago!

Then this guy has to explain an absolute blizzard of paperwork and tried to sell me all kinds of add-on services. I was about to go over the desk and slap him. I was late and not happy.

Eventually they gave me my keys. The sales guy showed back up to shake my hand. I think he could see I was shaking alright. Too bad it was not from the excitement I was feeling about my new car. All I wanted to do was shut the door and get on the road.

Later that day I finally got to relax enough to get into the “new car happiness mode”. We named our new car “Bullet”. He’s a cute, silver city car and he fits great in the garage, with plenty of room to spare. He buzzes me all over town and I’m happy as a clam; except when I think about how it took me over three and a half hours to buy a car. Glad that’s over.

Cheers,

To read more of Zola's blogs CLICK HERE or head over to https://www.planzdiet.com/blog/

Memories of Chez Michel

Memories of Chez Michel

By: Zola
Chief Dieter
Plan Z Diet





Back in the early 80’s my husband and I were courting. We loved to go to dinner at a beautiful restaurant called Chez Michel that was located on the far west side of Madison, Wisconsin.

The old farmhouse that held Chez Michel was located on the crest of a small hill, shaded with old oak trees. There was a lovely herb garden out front. The inside of the building had been gutted and made into a modern facility. The lovely art deco bar was upstairs and there were a couple of dining rooms on the first floor.

Whenever we ate at Chez Michel we smiled a lot, and not just because we were courting. The food was fabulous. We decided it was so fabulous that when we went to get married we decided to hold our wedding reception there. I had to talk the restaurant into closing down on a Saturday for our reception and that was difficult to do because it was a football Saturday and on football Saturdays restaurants do a huge business. Our wedding reception trumped football Saturday so we were set.

It was a grand occasion all around. We had about 125 people at our reception and that was all that Chez Michel could handle. The farmhouse was small.

As the years passed we got to know the owner Michael. Michael’s real career was as a nuclear-physician at the University of Wisconsin. Michael was a brilliant man but he had grown up in New Zealand, the son of an inn-keeper so having a restaurant to hang around in the evening made him a little less homesick.

Business was not good at one point so he decided to open another small restaurant upstairs. He converted the bar into a teeny Cajun restaurant. The Cajun place became our new favorite. We ate there about once a week and that’s a LOT for us.

I was first introduced to the Sazerac there. The Sazerac is basically a Cajun martini made with bourbon. Big YUM. My favorite choice Chicken Mamou. I ate that almost every time.

We loved the little Cajun place (and Chez Michel) so much that when we were talking to Michael one night we decided to volunteer our services to help him build that business. We owned an advertising agency at the time. Michael was game so we set about working on his advertising.

Not long after, business had grown so much the maitre ‘d decided to quit. Quit? Yeah, he said he didn’t want to work that hard and always planned to move to San Francisco, so he was out of there.

Now Michael had a problem. Two problems even.

Michael needed to find someone to run the restaurant. That would be a challenge. And now the restaurant was profitable. That was a problem.

How you ask? Well, the restaurant had been a tax write-off for Michael. It helped him to offset his huge salary at the University. Now he was going to have to pay taxes on the income from the restaurant too. So he either had to make it a BIG success in order to offset that or sell it.

He and I talked at length about our buying the restaurant. We could have put our offices on the top floor and save room on the first floor for one restaurant. I thought long and hard about it. I even consulted with our accounting firm. In that analysis we decided it would not pay off. The small building was located on a very large lot with a huge parking lot. More cars could park on the lot than the number of people that could fit in the restaurant. So we decided the property taxes were going to be too high and it wasn’t economically feasible to buy the building.

Michael had told me I had first dibs on the building but if I didn’t want it he had someone else who had made him an offer.

I broke the news to Michael that the deal was not going to work for us. I didn’t feel too badly because I knew someone else would come in and run the restaurant and we’d still have our favorite place to go to dinner.

That was, until one shocking day I learned that the other offer had come in from Uno’s.

Yep, my favorite was turned into a pizza place. I was restaurant heartbroken.

Well in order to get over it, I had to start to make my own Plan Z Diet Chicken Mamou. This recipe works great on The Plan Z Diet. When you want extra zip and have a hankering for Cajun food, this hits the spot. My version is lighter than the traditional, which is usually made with the dark meat of the chicken. This version works really well: Plan Z Diet Chicken Mamou.

Plan Z Diet Chicken Mamou

Enjoy!

Cheers,

To read more of Zola's blogs CLICK HERE or head over to https://www.planzdiet.com/blog/

Great Plan Z Diet Guacamole

Great Plan Z Diet Guacamole

By: Zola
Chief Dieter
Plan Z Diet





Guacamole seems to be a universal favorite in the dip category especially on the Plan Z Diet. What’s not to like? Avocado with some kick. That’s all I need on the Plan Z Diet. That, and one good chip.

There are so many ways to make guacamole and everyone has their favorite. Many a non-professional chef will put their signature items in their guacamole. It’s amazing how different they all can actually be.

And what you dip with and how you dip can be an important part of the equation.

In a famous episode of Seinfeld (the TV show) the George Costanza character is caught at a party double dipping his chip in a dip. Watch this. Hold onto your seat. It’s pretty funny.

So what’s wrong with double dipping? 1000’s of germs, that’s what. The guy in the episode is correct. It IS like putting your whole mouth in the bowl.

So why don’t people get sick at parties when there’s a double-dipper on the guest list? Reason is, most of those 1000’s of germs are the good kind that prevent illness, not pass it out, but I think you’d all agree it’s still gross.

At the Plan Z Diet by Zola, our theory is it’s okay to double dip. We just don’t think a communal bowl of guacamole is a great idea. We’d like to see you make little ramekins of guacamole so each partier can have their own. Or just spoon a portion onto your plate and eat it so you are not sharing the germ population as you dip.

We feel it’s actually important to double dip. When you don’t double dip, do you have any idea how many chips you consume before you and your mate have polished off a bowl of guacamole? Me neither, except my husband and I have been known to wipe out a whole basket of chips eating one bowl of guacamole. And that’s bad on the Plan Z Diet.

On the ZReboot portion of the Plan Z Diet by Zola the guacamole is fine. That’s good fat. It’s the chips that kill the whole deal.

One of our former Plan Z dieters came up with a brilliant idea. She uses Melba toast rounds with her guacamole. They’ve got some stability. More than a regular chip. She then dishes up her individual portion of guacamole and she can use her chip to dip, scoop off the guacamole with her tongue and re-cycle the chip right back into the guacamole. You could conceivably devour a whole bowl of guacamole with one chip.

So think about double dipping. In this case a Plan Z Diet double dip could help your waistline.

Cheers,

To read more of Zola's blogs CLICK HERE or head over to https://www.planzdiet.com/blog/

Your Kitchen Can be A Dangerous Place

Your Kitchen Can be a Dangerous Place

By: Zola
Chief Dieter
Plan Z Diet





One of my least favorite memories of my childhood comes from sitting at the kitchen table, watching my parents cook dinner on a Saturday night.

That’s the night they would sometimes get out the deep fat fryer.

I was just a little kid. Too small to help cook. I was told to sit in my chair and wait for dinner to be finished. The big table was smack dab in the center of the kitchen. It was one of those old metal tables from the 50’s that had a Formica top on it. The top was a mottled grey that I guess was made to look sort of like marble.

Sitting in the chair, my head stuck up over the edge of the table but that was about it. I was knee-high to a grasshopper.

I knew enough though to understand the danger of high heat. I suppose it could have been because my mother warned me repeatedly. I didn’t have to be told twice to sit still in that chair and wait for dinner. I was supposed to be happy. Mom and Dad were making French fries.

Why they decided that Saturday night was a night to make deep fried French fries I’ll never know. I liked the ones that baked in the oven just about as much, so why go to that trouble just for us small tykes? The big kids had dates on Saturday night so they weren’t around. It was just us young-ins.

My parents drank cocktails before dinner. And on Saturday nights there might be a bit more drinking of cocktails than other times. Combine too many cocktails and a deep fat fryer and you were just asking for trouble. Or at least that’s what I thought, even as a small child. I’d sit in that chair totally stiff, staring at that deep fat fryer, willing it to stay on the counter. I was afraid it would vibrate itself off the counter for one thing. When that thing was frying in full force it sort of jumped around. I was afraid it would get to the edge of the counter and my mother wouldn’t see it. She might not re-position it and it’s would come crashing to the floor with hot oil flying everywhere. Or she or my dad might sway just a bit and bump into it. Then they’d be burned on the arm or worse. They might bump it AND it might go flying. I was terrorized.

I ate my French fries though, and I was glad when dinner was over. I’ve never gotten over what never happened. Kids are like that.

So when Plan Z Diet Column reader Helen sent me this piece on kitchen fires I decided you all had to see it. Pay close attention. You could save your life and your home. It’s not exactly the same as the dancing pot of oil. It’s worse. If you listen closely you’ll notice she refers to it as “your chip pan”. That’s English for French fries. Be careful out there. Your kitchen can be a dangerous place.

Cheers,

To read more of Zola's blogs CLICK HERE or head over to https://www.planzdiet.com/blog/

I'm Gleeful for Ghee (pron. Gee)

I'm Gleeful for Ghee (pron. Gee)

By: Zola
Chief Dieter
Plan Z Diet





When I was in my early 20’s I spent a fair amount of time working in restaurants. I always had at least one part time job that took me to a restaurant after my regular 9 – 5 job. I worked in everything from a pizza joint that made the thick, double-crusted Chicago-style pizzas to some of the finest French restaurants or high-end steak houses. Each job presented challenges.

Most of the time I worked as a waitress. In one place, one night a week I was the sommelier. I really didn’t know that much about wine at that point but they were in a panic and at least I knew the list well enough to make recommendations.

I never held a full-time position cooking but I did help a couple of restaurants with menu and recipe development. And I did do a two week internship working on “the line” in a restaurant as part of my management training.

I took up a serious appreciation for people who work in wait staff positions as well as those that cook behind the scenes. Both of those jobs are HARD.

One restaurant I worked in had a chef that took a liking to me. He let me work Sunday mornings in the kitchen helping him with brunch. This as a French restaurant so brunch was pretty fancy. One thing the chef liked me to do was “decorate” the salmon. He’d put out a full-sized salmon on the buffet and people could serve themselves chunks of it. The salmon was decorated with all kinds of sliced veggies and then there was a lot of cream cheese piped along the edges. The salmon always looked like it was dressed. Sort of like it was wearing a fancy outfit. Really pretty. I was good at squirting cream cheese.

One thing I observed anytime I was around the restaurant in the early morning was the prep work. I watched as the chefs made themselves ready for the big crowds to come in later. A necessary project every day was to make clarified butter.

The chef would pull out a fairly large soup pot. Then he’d put in blocks of butter. We’re talking probably 12 – 15 POUNDS of butter were loaded into the soup pot and the heat was turned on fairly low. All he was doing was melting butter. Seemed kinda crazy to me, until later. When the butter was fully melted there was an almost white foam on top that the chef would skim off and throw away. I didn’t get it. I just observed. The result was this huge soup pot full of golden liquid.

When the chef commenced to cook, he’d take each order and prepare it. Most of the fish, chicken and even the steaks were prepared in the sauté pans. The first thing to go into the pan was a small ladle full of the golden liquid (clarified butter).

There were a few reasons the chef used clarified butter. First reason is it’s the purest butter taste. The bad fat was removed with the skimming of the foam. All that was left was the purest part of the butter. Clarified butter also has what’s called a higher flash point. That means the chef can cook at a higher temperature and the butter does not burn. That’s who so many dishes in a restaurant have the buttery, crispy crust on them.

The people of India take it to another level. They make a thing called ghee. Ghee is clarified butter that has been processed another step so it can be shelf stable. I had never made it. I bought some at Whole Foods and love it. The problem I notice was the price. Compare butter to ghee and you’re talking about $13 for ghee. Ouch.

So I thought about making my own. I knew from my restaurant days that clarified butter didn’t last. The chefs tossed any that was left at the end of the night. They didn’t take any chance that it might have been contaminated while sitting on the stove. I supposed it would last a few days but not long.

I told my doctor I was thinking of making my own ghee and not long after he sent me this link. This is a guy with an Indian heritage. His family knows well how to make their own ghee. So he was kind enough to pass this lesson along over the internet on how to make ghee. I think I’ll always make the version that has to be stored in the refrigerator. I don’t have to have it fully shelf stable, but this is really a great idea. You will also learn in here how good ghee is for you. It’s MUCH better for you than butter. You can use it in so many ways especially on the Plan Z Diet. Anytime you see a recipe that includes butter you can substitute ghee; with the possible exception of baking. I have not tried backing with ghee yet. I just thought I’d open up a new bit of the world of cooking for you today. Here’s how to make ghee.

I thought some of you might be disappointed if all I offered for today’s recipe is one for ghee, so here’s a bonus. This is one of my most recent Zola Diet inventions. People tell me this is the most flavorful diet they can imagine. When they follow our full program they lose as much as 30 pounds in 37 days and they get to eat things my Plan Z Diet Italian Crockpot Chicken

Plan Z Diet Italian Crockpot Chicken

Enjoy!

Cheers,



To read more of Zola's blogs CLICK HERE or head over to https://www.planzdiet.com/blog/

The Things We Hate

The Things We Hate

By: Zola
Chief Dieter
Plan Z Diet





It all started with lima beans. My mother dared to foist them on me. The rule at our table was, if it’s on your plate, you eat it. You stay at the table until it’s eaten. No whining. No negotiation. I resorted to swallowing the lima beans with milk. I pretended they were large pills.

There wasn’t much variation in the meals at our house, except for the infrequent lima bean episodes. We had chicken most Mondays. Tuesday was likely meatloaf. Friday was definitely fish. Saturday was a crap shoot of leftovers and Sunday was more often than not, spaghetti. Or if my mom wasn’t feeling great we might have one of those little pot pies. My brother and I loved them. When we had pot pies we were allowed to eat at TV trays in the den where the TV was. Those things were so hot I thought I’d see flames shooting out between the steam clouds but once it cooled off we snarfed them down.

I didn’t eat many “exotic” things until I was an adult and moved away from home. I remember once I had a boy friend who insisted we have oysters Rockefeller. This was on a fancy date. That was my last oyster. I tried to bite it in half. Those things should have come with instructions!

Then there was the time I tried to eat a whole leaf of an artichoke. No one told me to just dip it in butter and sort of scrape off the good parts with my teeth. I did learn later how to eat an artichoke and I learned to love them especially on the Plan Z Diet.

I tried making clam chowder for another boyfriend once. He loved it. I gagged each time I was near it. Even while I was cooking it I would run into the kitchen to stir it and run back out before I added an unexpected element to the pot. I managed not to vomit, but it was a close call.

One of my least favorite smells on the planet is that of cooked cabbage. Terrible thing really. When you are Irish as I am, you are expected to love corned beef and cabbage. And as Irish as I am, I’ve never eaten it. And don’t get me started on the smell of sauerkraut. They used to try to force that stuff on us in grade school. The whole cafeteria reeked!

So then there’s the cabbage cousin, the Brussels sprout. I used to just tell people they were little cabbages so you better just keep those away from me. I’ve tried eating them a few times at dinner parties and the faces I was tempted to make weren’t pretty. I did manage pretty well with them once when they were drowning in butter. Butter helped.

At another dinner we were served Brussels sprouts that had been caramelized. Now you’re talking! By caramelizing them they get rid of that nasty cooked cabbage smell. They are nicely browned and they take on a sweetness.

The other day my husband was in the produce department negotiating to be allowed to bring home Brussels sprouts. He LOVES them. I told him he could bring them home if he cooked them. “How many should he get?” he asked. I said to get as many as he wanted plus maybe one or two for me. I’d try one. If they passed for caramelized maybe I’d have a second one.

When we went to cook them he was wishing he had bought some bacon. Bacon and Brussels sprouts make a good combo. There was no bacon in the drawer so we decided to experiment with pepperoni. The results was SO good, you are now the beneficiary of the recipe below for my Plan Z Diet Caramelized Brussels Sprouts with Pepperoni Bits.

Plan Z Diet Caramelized Brussels Sprouts with Pepperoni Bits

During dinner I not only ate the one Brussels sprout, I ate the second one, and I negotiated with my husband to share more of his. He smiled and handed over more. I smiled back.

At this time of year many of us have a start to our family gathering where we tell the group what we are thankful for. This year I’m thankful for my improved health and the joy that comes along with starting The Plan Z Diet. We have so many blissfully happy Plan Z dieters. They write each day to tell us they haven’t felt better in years. They are off of meds they’ve been taking for diabetes, acid reflux and so much more. One guy said he’s been whistling in the halls at work since he has been on the Plan Z Diet. He hasn’t done that in years, but he feels young again and he’s losing weight like crazy. And that makes me thankful.

I hope you enjoy your celebrations this year too.

Cheers,

To read more of Zola's blogs CLICK HERE or head over to https://www.planzdiet.com/blog/

The Pain Highway

The Pain Highway

By: Zola
Chief Dieter
Plan Z Diet





I am now a believer in acupuncture. If you have pain, I suggest you check it out.

I have been plagued with bursitis in my right hip. I had no idea how debilitating that could be! My surgeon, at first, thought the pain was coming from scar tissue that had formed around my spine after my back surgery. The MRI confirmed the scar tissue was there, but it didn’t really explain the pain ratcheting up in my right leg.

I could no longer get sleep. I was not comfortable laying on either side. Laying on my back didn’t work either after awhile and my stomach was off limits. The surgeon made me promise to never sleep on my stomach. It’s really bad for your back.

So when the pain got really bad, the surgeons resorted to steroids. They found the culprit in my right hip. The pain shooting down my leg, around my knee and into my shin was not coming from my back. It was coming from my hip. It was also shooting up into my lower back which was scaring the daylights out of me.

The steroids didn’t last long. Less than 10 days and the pain was back. I quit my physical therapy because that seemed to make it worse. I thought if I just laid low, didn’t walk far and let it heal I’d get better. Didn’t happen.

I finally decided I had to take action. I needed to be more mobile, so I “resorted” to calling the spa where I do my Pilates and Yoga to check out the acupuncture they recently started to offer.

I signed up.

Kathleen was my acupuncturist. She had a Master’s Degree in Chinese medicine. She’s one smart woman. All I asked was that she explain everything she was going to do. I am an analytical and curious person who always wants to learn and I knew squat about Chinese medicine. I had seen the pictures of people with needles sticking out and I had heard it doesn’t hurt, so I was game. Needles don’t scare me. Even if they did, I could just shut my eyes.

The whole experience was really easy. Instead of putting needles in my hip she ran them down a line that followed where the pain would rear up in my leg. She used the analogy of a car accident. She said my hip socket is like the scene of the accident. Instead of running straight into the accident she said the first option is to “clear the highway.” So I had a trail of needles.

I was amazed.

I was done and out the door in about an hour. It was even a restful experience.

I was tired in the evening. She said to expect that. I felt sort of like I had been tossed in the dryer and put on tumble dry. A bit beat up. But then I fell into a deep sleep. I was astonished that I had no trouble sleeping at all. I could lay in any position I chose and felt no pain. Absolutely no pain.

Today I woke up and no pain. None.

I don’t know if it will last a long time. She said it might take a few sessions to really get it under long-term control. Besides that, I know darn well I need some re-hab in my hip and leg. It has gotten so weak because of the chronic pain that I will have to build it back up again. That means more Pilates and Yoga but I’m game. Those things are relatively new to me too, and I love doing it. I have a personal trainer who monitors me and coaches me as I go along so I don’t overdo.

If any of you check out acupuncture, I hope your experience is as good as mine was. Even one night of pure sleep made it all worth it.

Today’s recipe is for my Plan Z Diet Dark Chocolate Peanut Clusters. Think a nutty, chocolaty treat. For a low carb diet this is perfect. I have made it for guests a few times. The servings I gave out were generous and I figured no one would finish. Ha. Everyone snarfed up every bit. This is perfect for a party. People love the fact that it’s so light and yet decadent.

Plan Z Diet Dark Chocolate Peanut Clusters

Enjoy!

Cheers,

To read more of Zola's blogs CLICK HERE or head over to https://www.planzdiet.com/blog/