I thought it would be good if we posted some of the programs that have worked well in our chapters.

One that was well received at our chapter was about Vegetables.
We had a display of different squashes, which are plentiful in the fall and very beautiful to display, you know, butternut, carnival, acorn, I can't remember all of them. Then, we talked about trying different varieties of veggies, like lettuce, how may varieties of lettuce is there? Iceberg, romaine, leaf, bibb, escrole? We then played a game. We introduced the person next to us by saying their first name and the name of a vegetable that started with the first letter of their first name. We got names such as "Marilyn Mushrooms, Sue Sprouts, Lisa Leeks, Betty Beets". We encouraged them to not use common vegetables, such as beans, carrots, etc., but think of different varieties. We also spelled VEGETABLES vertical on a blackboard and they came up with discriptions for each letter. Such as V=variety, E=exotic, G=, E=eat more, B=bountiful, etc. It was a good program and everyone joined in. We even had some good laughs over the names. If you want to do this program, be sure to do your homework. Try www.aboutproduce.com. Some of the names were very hard to find a veggie, like Nita. Name' is the only one.
For Virginia, we had to substitue a spice or fruit. Vanilla beans or Valencia Orange.

I have to go now, but I'll come back later today with another idea for a program.
Nita

This is a good way to help motivate people at the first of a year, but can be used to show how much we can lose by the end of the year, if we try!

Hello!
Do you know me? If you don't, you should. I'm ONE POUND OF FAT, and I'm the happiest pound of FAT that you would ever want to meet!

Want to know why? It's because no one ever wants to lose me! After all, I'm ONLY ONE POUND. Just ONE POUND. Everyone wants to lose 2, 3, 4, 5 or 15 pounds, but never ONLY ONE. So, I just stick around and happily keep you. Then I'm free to add to myself, ever so slyly, so that you never seem to notice. That is, until I've grown to 10, 20, or even more pounds in weight...YES...it's fun being only ONE POUND of FAT...left to do just as I please.

So, when you weigh in, go ahead...just keep right on saying "OH, I only lost
ONE POUND(as if that so terrible!) For you see, if you do this, you encourage others to hang around me because they'll think I'm not worth losing. And I LOVE being aound you...your arms, your legs, your chin, your hips, and every part of you...Happy Days! After all, I'm ONLY ONE POUND OF FAT!

---Author Unknown---

IF YOU LOSE JUST ONE POUND WEEKLY DURING ____YOU CAN BE:
By Valentine's Day, 5 Pounds Lighter
By St. Patrick's Day, 10 Pounds Lighter
By Easter, 13 Pounds Lighter
By Flag Day, 22 Pounds Lighter
By Independence Day, 25 Pounds Lighter
By Labor Day, 35 Pounds Lighter
By Halloween, 42 Pounds Lighter
By Thanksgiving, 46 Pounds Lighter
By Christmas, 50 Pounds Lighter
By New Year's Eve, 51 Pounds Lighter
All this from the First Day of Jan.___
What a way to start the new year. Congratulations on whatever you achieve this year!

If you start today...
By the end of the month, you will be ONE POUND LIGHTER
By Halloween, 9 POUNDS LIGHTER
BY Thanksgiving, 12 POUNDS LIGHTER
ByChrisrmas, about 16 POUNDS LIGHTER
Now wouldn't that be a Great Christmas Present to YOURSELF???

You Are NOT A Garbage Can!

-By Melanie Mendelson-

Do you clean off your plate even when you are already full?
Do you finish the dinner scrapes just because you can't stand the thought of throwing out food? Do you eat the last spoonful of chili in the pot just because nobody in your family wanted to finish it? To get rid of this extra food, do you choose to throw it in your mouth?

If that sounds like you, you are not alone. This behavior is very common. Most of us have been taught not to be wasteful. When we were little, we were told to clean our plates, so it is deeply ingrained in our minds. We feel guilty about throwing out good food, especially since we that there are so many starving people in this world.

In addition, since we paid money for the food, we perceive leaving food on our plate is wasting money. It is especially true in restaurants - if there is not enough leftovers to take home, most of us will clean our plate because we feel we have to get our money's worth.

Even I often struggle with this food waste issue, because I grew up in Russia where there was a food shortage. Not only was the food expensive, but you had to stand in several-hour-long lines to get it. Of course, I was conditioned to never waste food. Even though now I live in the United States where food is plentiful and easily accessible, I still have a hard time throwing food out when I need to.

Obviously, those last pieces of food that we eat just so we don't have to throw them out, go right to our waist and hips. Day after day, it really add up. All this food that we eat after we are already full turns into tens of pounds of body fat. You avoid wasting food, but instead you waste your health, your goals and your weight loss effort.

Next time you are about to eat because you feel guilty for the wasted food, tell yourself:

I AM NOT A GARBAGE CAN!

Instead of throwing unwanted food in a trash, you are throwing it in your stomach. By doing that, you are treating your body as a garbage can. YOU are not the medium to gather stuff that nobody wanted to eat.

To get over the guilt associated with wasted foos, think of it from the perspective that this excess food is actually serving a better purpose when it is thrown out than it would if you had eaten it. If you had eaten this excess food, this food would do harm (make you gain weight). If that food is thrown out, it has no benefit, but it does no harm either. No use versus no harm---throwing the food out is the lesser of the two evils.

When you do clean off your plate, it definitely does not help any of those starving people that you feel so guilty about. Also, don't think you are wasting your money if you don't finish all the food you paid for. The money is already spent...you are not going to gain more money by eating more.

If you break the habit of cleaning off your plate when you are not hungry, you will automatically start losing weight. Treat your body well. Don't use it the same way you'd use a garbage can.

After I read this article, we had a discussion about it! We had a GOOD loss as a chapter for the next several months, as we would talk about it every few weeks!

Nita, this is a good idea. I hope we get lots of responses. I copied the Vegetable program and plan to use it soon.
Wanda

Our chapter likes discussion sessions as they seem to help everyone.

W

great ideas ladies, keep them coming. gotta figure out what is wrong with my printer.

Another program that I gave recently was on eating 5 servings of fruits and veggies a day. www.5aday.com
I had heard a lot about 5 a day, the color way. And checking into it, I found a lot of info on the web. Each different color of fruit and veggies are loaded with different nutrients, antioxidents, anti aging, etc. I assigned a different color to each of 5 ladies who had agreed to help. (yep, I had to ask them personally, they didn't volunteer. And I picked the ones that ususally don't give programs, but were willing to help with one). They were to find out what each color was good for and then pick out one fruit or veggie in that catagory and tell all about it, including medical articles that had been written about it.(www.webmd.com). For the blue group, she told about blueberries, (good for the urinary tract) and everything they helped. The white group reported on garlic (That was a great report). The yellow orange group, reported on sweet potatoes, the green, broccoli, and one little lady wanted to do red peppers for the red group, which was the greatest report. She even told where they originated, included hot peppers, told a little of everything.
We ended the meeting with a sample of each color of fruit, served on a small skewer. Everyone complimented us for 2 weeks on the program.


Nita