Preserving summer's freshness

BC Blueberries

I might go on and on about fall, but I must say that summer has a certain level of fondness in my heart. I just love all the fresh fruit, berries, and veggies at this time of year. I've been going to farmer's markets and buying locally produced food. It feels good to buy locally. The food hasn't travelled hundreds of miles, tastes fresher, lasts longer, and if that weren't enough, a local farmer gets income at the same time.

Freezer Jam
One of the things I've been doing with all the fresh food is making freezer jam. It's surprisingly very easy and the result is to die for. If you use freezer jam pectin, you don't need to put as much sugar into it. Points-wise, they're not too bad. Depending on the recipe, it can be as little as half a point for one tablespoon.

Here's some of the recipes I made recently:

• Raspberry-Peach Freezer Jam
• Blueberry Freezer Jam

The blueberry turned out the best. The the lemon flavour really comes through. Oh so yummy.


A batch of Blueberry Freezer Jam, cooling on the counter

And what's jam without a biscuit or scone to slather it on? I haven't tried these recipes from Weight Watchers yet, but plan to soon. They're low on points and look easy to make:

• Whole Wheat Buttermilk Biscuits
• Classic Scones

If you've never made freezer jam before, give it a try. It tastes extremely fresh; like summer in a bottle. They also freeze well up to a year.

Penningtons and Addition Elle Fall Previews

Penningtons and Addition Elle have fall previews out now. Click the links to be taken directly to the preview pages.

The eggplant colours featured in these previews are gorgeous. It's one of my favourite colours to wear. I also love embroidered pieces like this skirt. Embroidery adds such dimension and texture to fabric. Oh, who am I kidding. Taking fashion advice from me is like asking a fish how to fly, hehe. At any rate, you can't deny that I love looking at fall clothes!

If you missed it, the last two featured fall previews were from Sears and Eddie Bauer.

Thursday’s Thought

Obstacles can't stop you. Problems can't stop you. Most of all other people can't stop you. Only you can stop you.” – Jeffrey Gitomer

Thin on the inside

Have you ever said something as an absolute fact only to realize later you were absolutely wrong? I'm cursed with foot-in-mouth disease and do it all the time. For example, not too long ago, I waxed poetic about being overweight on the inside. I opined that I was not a dyed-in-the-wool health nut.

I was wrong.

By saying that I would always be overweight on the inside, it was like saying that I'm permanently flawed. That I'll always have to fight. That's some pretty pessimistic thinking right there. If there's one thing I've learned along the way it's this: it's positive thinking that gets you places.

Consider what pessimistic thinking got me in the past. I firmly believe I became overweight because of thinking the worst of me. In my post, I'm thinner than I think I am, I even said as much.

I saw myself as large and unattractive. I wasn't really. But I believed it and I became it.”

My recent troubles with binging can be laid squarely on the shoulders of fatalistic thinking. Weekends might be the trigger, but this type of thinking is the gunpowder. I believed I was flawed. I became it. And I've been fighting the imaginary monster that I inadvertently created because of it.

That way of thinking is no more. I am a member of the naturally thin and healthy. If I have off-days, it doesn't mean I'm broken. Even naturally thin people have those days.

For anything to work long-term, you have to really enjoy it. I enjoy being thin and healthy. I enjoy thinking of myself in these terms inside and out. It's such a bright happy sparkly thought that it gives me focus and a "can do" attitude. Because I can do this. After all, the power of positive thinking means it's a foregone conclusion.

Weekend triggers

I'm coming clean with this post. I've been binging. One recent afternoon, I methodically ate whatever packaged treat I could get my hands on. That was the worst day, but there have been others.

The weekends are the trigger for me. They're usually spent with friends who don't care what they eat. I'm always the odd duck out when it comes to healthy meals. I try to tactfully suggest certain places to eat, but I don't press it too hard if nobody is keen on it. Just because I'm choosing to eat healthier, doesn't mean everyone else should, too. Oftentimes, I'm thrown into situations where the choices are limited to yet another unappetizing salad.

What is it about friends and food that leads me astray? When I avoid gettogethers, I'm not a team player. When I order something healthy or abstain from someone's home cooked food, I'm the alien in the group. When I try and be a part of the group and take a nibble...the nibble leads down the path of no return.

It's been a year-long battle and I've just gotten tired of trying to adjust to all these social situations that keep getting thrown at me. Like the dripdripdrip of water on rock, it's wearing me down.

It's for this reason that I've been giving in a lot lately to the pressures of socializing. Unfortunately, it's led to the binging and a fatalistic attitude. "You've already muffed it, Tiny, might as well eat the whole cupboard."

At the very least, I've been crawling back onto the wagon every single time I go off course. By my teeth and finger nails, clinging on. Thank goodness for my mother who passed down the stubborness gene. I. Will. Not. Give. In.

At least not permanently.

All the ranting aside, social situations aren't going to go away. I just have to accept it and keep working on ways to handle it. Aside from...you know...eating a box of cereal in one sitting.

Seventy-eighth Weigh-in

It's taken me awhile to post this one, but here it is. I was up 1.6 lbs this weigh-in. Which is funny because at the time, I felt like I had lost weight. I must've been feeling the loss of whatever weight it was that I had gained the week before.

As an old hand at the scale, I know that it's feedback and not failure. Nor any reason to beat oneself up about it. You make adjustments as necessary, and keep going.

Speaking of the need to make adjustments. I've been sliding into some old habits. That's another post though :)

Sears’ Top Picks for Fall

Just because I adore fall clothes shopping and can finally buy "permanent" clothes, I've been trolling the internet looking for new fall lineups. Last week was Eddie Bauer, this week it's Sears!

I'm embarrassed to say that I've been checking their website daily but didn't notice the words "for fall" tacked onto one of the banners until today. Advertisement fail.

Anyways, Sears has their fall clothes out for men and women in plus, regular, and petite. I really like the shirt pictured here. It comes in colours that I really love – teal, orange, and green. If I don't watch myself, I'll probably get all three.

I also like this jacket. It's got two things going for it: it's plaid and has a Mandarin collar. Okay, stop looking at me funny now. What can I say? I love plaid. Plaid is autumn. Why can't plaid come back in style? (Don't answer that.)