YESSsssssssss! Elite Eight! Here we come baby! Those of you who follow NCAA basketball know what I'm talking about. And SEC gals, there are 2 -- count 'em TWO SEC teams still in the big dance! Yay for us.

Solly--I'm still hanging in there on the challenge. We went out last night and had dinner at a little table under an umbrella in a patio in a cute village near our house. A great group was playing pop songs and I had a glass of red wine, part of a caesar salad (no croutons) and a 7" thin thin thin crust WW with flax seed sausage pizza. The place is normally a coffee roastery that sells desserts and they had some nice ones in their case. I went and looked--and drooled!! I have to say I was tempted, very tempted, but in the end passed on dessert. So I'm still doing good. Thanks for the challenge. We are going out tonight to a big party given by a lawyer in this town. He advertises very heavily and is a suing lawyer (one of those "sharks" that give lawyers a bad name). His party is so big it is held at the fairgrounds and he has big name entertainment. We've never been before, so we'll check it out tonight. Should be interesting. I'll try to stay legal.

Monet, I got the leptin book cheap off the internet and am reading it quickly to see what they say to keep the leptin levels UP even while losing weight. The 5 tips are still, in my mind, common sense things anyone should do to lose weight. Perhaps I will understand how they affect leptin levels differently as I read the book.

Well, I'm gonna go get dressed. Hope to get a walk in today.

Ok, SOLLY, I've made it so far. I was so proud of myself when I went to bed after just one small brownie. I'm going to relaly try to stay legal all weekend. I have a consultant launch this afternoon, so I'm hoping I can make it with the munchies. She said she had hummus and veggies, so I'm hoping to stick to that, and eat lunch late so I'll be really full. THe problem is I also know she will have a chocolate fountain....

Gator, flax seed sausage? where do you get that?

Money- sounds liek it was a fun night. When I was doing church events, we often were jsut short of breaking even.


Oh, by the way, I had trav hide the rest of the brownies form me this morning so that I will ahve to ask him if I want one. I'm not going to promise that I won't have one more today or tomorrow, but I KNOW I won't eat the whole pan this way

It's a beautiful day. I'm going to the grocery store with just JAke, trav is keeping Selah. Never done that before. I'm actually looking forward to jsut a little time with him :-) I've got to go check out the recipies before I go. Have company for lunch tomorrow and I want to make something to go with the black bean soup I just started in the crockpot. I was thinking enchiladas, but the would that be groww with WW tortillas?

Hugs to all!!

Talitha--The flax seed was in the WW crust. The sausage was in the topping, along with tomatoes and cheese. I don't think flax seed can take much heat and still be potent, so I don't know how "healthy" the crust actually was, other than being WW. This pizza is where I got my idea for using the wrap bread for making a home made pizza.

OK, here's a report on the book "Mastering Leptin" by Byron Richards, who either by himself or with the help of a "ghost writer" wrote this book in collaberation with his wife, Mary Richards. Byron is a board certified clinical nutritionist, and he is really excited about leptin. By the time I finished reading the book, it would have been easy to view leptin as the new miracle "drug" that cures everything from fibromyalgia to cancer.
This book is not easy to read. I read it almost entirely, skipping some chapters such as the one related to men's hormones, in about 6 hours. It is loaded with difficult sentences, poorly written sentences and some spelling or grammatical errors. Eg. "Richards is a sought-after speaker and an expert on the hormone leptin and its' amazing relation to weight, thyroid, anti-aging, hormone balance, and disease." Another example that shows the difficulty of following what he is talking about and the necessity of referring back to previous explanations: "It is recognized that GH and IGF1 activity are major determinants of breast cancer. Blocking GHRH activity reduces the spread of cancer cells and induces cell death in MDA231 breast cancer cells." After reading sentences like that, I had to say "huh??"
However , there are some very good things about this book too. The main postulate of the book is that the hormone leptin, manufactured in our white adipose fat cells, is the main determinate as to weight loss or weight gain and also our feeling hungry or not. For us SugerBusters, the main fact in this book is that the big problem is leptin RESISTANCE. As I mentioned in an earlier posting this week (Wednesday?) when we maintain or gain weight our body produces adequate levels of leptin, but when we lose weight we produce lower levels of leptin, and our body thinks we are starving, so it lowers our metabolism, making weight loss harder, and weight gain easier. It would seem, then, that the solution would be just to pop a leptin pill in our mouth and be done with it. But there is now no such pill, and the connection between brain and leptin is much more complicated. The solution given in this book is primarily addressed toward the problem of leptin RESISTANCE, which is when we are eating properly and keeping the level of leptin high enough in our body to tell our brain that we have eaten enough, but the brain is somehow resistant to receiving those messages from the leptin. The goal is to have adequate levels of leptin, and for the brain to recognize it. Most of us, according to the author, are leptin resistant. The explanation of how all of this works and why we even became leptin resistant in the first place is long and complicated. The best I could make out is that leptin resistance is directly tied in to insulin resistance. The long and complicated sentences, filled with acronyms and scientific explanations were hard to completely wrap my brain around.

There seemed to be two major factors in losing weight and keeping the leptin level in balance enough so that the body doesn't think it is starving, making weight loss more difficult. (This, by the way, also includes cravings and emotional eating, according to Richards.) Our body naturally has a rhythm where it converts fuel (food) into energy and uses it to repair and restore the body. Then, about 3 hours after a meal, the liver goes into fat burning mode. Another rhythm happens at night when we are sleeping. Here our leptin levels peak to their highest level of the day, which would, of course, tell our brain that we have adequate leptin and that we are not starving. If we eat too often then our liver never has the chance to go into fat-burning mode. That's because it is always having to deal with the food we are constantly eating. Also, if we eat a snack after dinner, possibly right before bedtime, then the body is still dealing with digestive processes and not going into the peak leptin time that we need for the brain to not be "resistant" to the adequate amount of leptin we have.

The second main problem is that of insulin resistance, which is when the body is "resistant" to responding to the insulin that is secreted when we eat a meal and raise our blood sugar. Insulin resistance leads us to excess eating in an attempt to prop up our blood sugar because our body cannot now synthesize blood sugar well enought to keep our energy level up. That's when we feel hungry too soon after a meal, or just don't have any energy. According to the author, leptin and insulin "communicate" with each other somehow, and if one is out of balance, then the other is likely to be out of balance. Here's exactly how Richards says it:
"In normal physical function, leptin and insulin have a balancing effect on food intake, food storage, and a stable energy level. Once leptin resistance sets in and leptin levels are high, the pancreatic B-cells do not respond to the signal from leptin to stop making insulin. Not only is the brain developing leptin resistance, so is the pancreas. However, insulin keeps stimulating leptin production while at the same time insulin is encouraging calories to be stored as fat. Developing leptin resistance in the pancreas has now been proven to be a fst track towards becoming type II diabetic. That is why leptin and insulin are frequently in a high state together with neigher hormone working efficiently." (p. 129, Mastering Leptin)

Richard's "5 Rules" are designed to get our body back into rhythmic balance with leptin, and reduce leptin resistance. Here are his rules:
1. Never eat after dinner. Allow 11-12 hours between dinner and breakfast. Never go to bed on a full stomach. Finish eating dinner at least 3 hours before bed.
2. Eat 3 meals a day. Allow 5-6 hours between meals. DO NOT snack.
3. Do not eat large meals. If overweight, always try to finish a meal when slightly less than full, the full signal will usually catch up in 10-20 minutes. Eating slowly is important.
4. Eat a high-protein breakfast.
5. Reduce the amount of carbohyddrates eaten.
And I will add Rule 6 which seems also be be important to him: EXERCISE

Now I will say that the above rules seem to be common sense to losing weight, even if one has never heard of leptin. Just doing those things would seems to always work. Perhaps knowing a little more would be a motivation to stick to the rules. Monet can witness to whether or not this is true for her. I hope this review has not been too confusing or boring.

BOB There was a very interesting chapter in the book about estrogen and which type is helpful and which is harmful. In my next post, I will try to include that information for you.

BOB--First we have to beat Villanova!
Do you want me to post the info on estrogen?

Monet- You don't have the flu do you? The aching and dizzyness makes me think of the flu. Hope you're feeling better soon!

Rachel had a meltdown in the lingerie store at the outlet mall today. The lady measured her, then showed us some bras that were very nice. We went into the fitting room, just she and I, and she got all teary saying "it's wierd". She really does not want to grow up. I'm thinking we may have some pre-menstrual symptoms starting up . That will probably really set off a meltdown! She's Ok now and we got four bras that ought to work well for a long while. I guess it doesn't help that they just had sex ed classes this last week!

Monet: Hope you feel better soon!!

Thin: Poor Rachel. What a time....sometimes these milestones effect kids in different ways. She's oldest? Right? I think its hardest for the oldest because their sort of ground breakers. I was the youngest and saw my sister and older friends going through it and COULDN'T WAIT to get bras and pad and all that stuff. BUt the firsties have to be the first to experience things and it can get scary...like she's losing her identity of a little girl and the uncertainty of what to expect of womanhood is starting to knock on her door. Regarding PMS...one pamprin goes a looooong way. The box recommends two, but for the young ones, I give one.

Will be back later...

Tech- Actually Rachel is my younger one. She is 11 won't be 12 till September. Sean turned 14 last Sunday, but she is farther along in puberty thatn he is from what I can tell. He has not grown taller yet or hairier. Sorry too much info! Rachel is 1/2 in taller that Sean right now, we keep waiting on a growth spurt! So in a way she is the first one.

Gator...how true about rule #3. Ever notice how, if you are interrupted half way through dinner, you come back 10 mins later and aren't hungry anymore? Thanks for the article!!

Talitha: You're the second person I've heard of making black bean soup. I think I'm goign to look up that recipe...

Hi BOB!!

Okay...so Shelley's play is over with. It was just fabulous! They did a realy great production...I'm really proud of our little tiny school of farm kids. They did the King and I...I did some hair and each night my hands were BLACK from the spray dye on all the kids' hair. Shelley was a 'royal princess'. I'll post pictures later.

Okay...off to make black bean soup. It really does sound good today....

Kris