proposed additional point

I have an idea for an additional "spirtual" point. At church on Sunday we were talking about simple sins that we commit or things that are sins that are ommissions and one of the things mentioned was journal writing. Keeping a journal isn't just a suggestion, it's something that we are supposed to be doing and something that I really struggle with. At girls camp we made gratitude journals and I encouraged the girls to write in them every day and I haven't written in mine once! Isn't that crazy? Anyway, so what do you all think if we add one point per day for journal writing? It doesn't have to be a novel every day, just a line or two to help us get in the habit. (or am I the only one with this problem?) Anyway, what do you think?

serving sizes?

I have always just counted one piece of fruit as a serving (or a cup of veggies) but I know that some fruits are bigger than one serving size. How do you do this? Do you just count one piece of fruit as a serving or do you know the actual serving sizes on fruit and measure them that way? Thanks!!

nothing to do with weight loss

but I wanted to share. I just saw this and it is very eye opening. We try to recycle and be as friendly to our earth as we can but we do use plastic bags. Joe was saying yesterday that we need to start using re-usable grocery bags...I think he's right.

http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080506/MULTIMEDIA02/80505016

Don't Forget...

When calculating your points to add 5 points for your 5 fruits and vegetables. I kept having to fix my points because I was so in the habit of only doing 1 point for that goal. :)

Happy 4th of July!

My issues

I'm having a hard time with the dairy right now. My body doesn't digest lactose properly. I've ignored the problem for years. Okay. I've ignored it for a decade. I had to go lactose free when I was nursing Timmy, but I could still handle some cheeses and he would be okay. I'm having issues with all dairy right now. I'm really bummed about it. I really just want a bowl of cereal with ice cold milk. The supplements don't really help and the lactose free stuff doesn't taste right.

I'll figure it out. I just needed to get that out. I feel better now. At least I do like soy milk -- sort of. It's good in smoothies.

agave nectar

Anyone heard of this? If you haven't it's a natural sweetener similar to honey but with a lower GI. Any thoughts? I have been using it for baking and making ice cream but I am also trying to stay true to the no sugar thing so I wasn't going to be eating any treats or ice cream, even with the agave, except on my free day. Having said that, there are certain times of the month that a girl just needs a treat and if the agave is not technically sugar and if honey is okay during this contest then would the agave also be considered okay? Here is a recipe for brownies that I made using this nectar, they were a big hit with the family.

1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup agave nectar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup flour
*mix together applesauce and cocoa powder until powder is completely incorporated into applesauce. Add other ingredients and mix, but don't over mix. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes---a toothpick inserted in the middle should come out with moist crumbs on it. By the way, this is baked in an 8x8 inch pan that has been sprayed with pam or other spray. I used bakers joy and didn't have any sticking problems.

when I made these I also added 1/2 cup chocolate chips and the recipe actually calls for any type of mix ins that you can think of but I think the brownie is pretty good on its own.

Julie, Awesome background! Also I just noticed that it doesn't subtract points for more servings of sugar, soda or fried foods. Are we not doing that?