I used to think I ate rather healthy.

Every night I ate salad with dinner. Dinner was 90% home cooked meals – not pre-packaged junk meals with ready-made sauces or frozen main courses, or canned ‘anything’.

So at 45 I started wondering where the weight was coming from. My lifestyle hadn’t changed, my work-style hadn’t changed, my eating habits hadn’t changed.

Certain that something must be terribly wrong with me, I headed into the doctor’s office wanting a complete battery of tests. I had a good idea it was a thyroid condition or some dreaded ‘fat’ disease.

Now if you’re a boomer-generation woman you probably already know what’s wrong with me. I was getting older. The doctor told me that every year (past 45, I think he said) a woman’s metabolism slows. If we keep eating, living, working, exercising at the same level as we’d done the previous year we won’t be able to maintain our current weight. Nope. We’ll gain ten pounds a year, every year!

Diet? Pretty sure I didn’t have time for all that.

More exercise? Argh! Okay, I could take more walks…buy myself a fancy little pedometer and some cute sneakers to make it more fun…

But would that be enough?

What about messing around with my metabolism a little? What if I could make my metabolism think I was young again and burn more fat and calories without attaching it to my ass first?

After purchasing 3 books and hitting about 10 websites on the topic of womens’ metabolism I gave in. It was apparent I was going to have to do some exercise, some dietary changes and apply some of what I’d learned about metabolisms, in order to see my toes again.

The worst of it all was that I thought I could lose weight as hap-hazardly as I’d done in the past. You know a little walking, a few less potato chips and a lot more water. For a year I pretended not to notice that it wasn’t really working.

When your metabolism changes, so must your attitude about diet, exercise and overall health. When I finally got my head around that, I started losing weight. How much weight? As the title says: 6 pounds in 3 days.

Stay tuned. Over coming posts I’m going to tell you what changed, how easy it was, whose advice makes the most sense and is the easiest to follow and, of course, what I’ve been eating (you may be surprised!).

The year is half over, and even though I hadn’t made any resolutions on New Year’s Eve I can’t help but wonder if I’m doing any more in life than just treading water and trying to stay afloat.

Sure, my business has changed and I’ve adapted to the new economy, but what of other pursuits? Personal fulfillment, health, portfolio growth (financial), and spiritual growth?

I imagine this happens to (or at least I hope it happens to) women of my age around the world. We’ve hit 45+ and, are well aware that most of our life is behind us now.

Have we realized our hopes and dreams? Are we in good enough physical shape to see us through our later years? Are we financially independent or at least prepared for retirement – because make no mistake here, it’s coming faster than you can shake a stick at it.

I know for a fact that most of my generation is light years ahead of me in all departments and that makes me a tad sad. I’ve always been ahead of the crowd, always been on top of the pile in my class but when compared to women of my generation, I’m behind. You see, I’m a late boomer…

Yes, I spelled that right. I am of the group we call the baby boomers and I was born at the end of that generation – in 1963. Technically, baby boomers encompass anyone born between the years of 1946 and 1964.

I’ve been told that I’m now middle age. Ha! I knew I was middle age 10 years ago. Given that the average life expectancy of a modern North American woman is 76, middle age would be ½ that – 38. The age at which I was married. “Why not?,” I reasoned, “live out the last half with a mate, a friend, a partner in life?”

So on this rainy, cold summer day I realize it is time to start thinking about my future. While I’d love to just stop the clock, it’s just not possible.

What is possible however, is going into this last phase of life with my eyes open and perseverance calling me to improve my well being, my health and ultimately ‘buy’ myself a few more years of existence. Since I plan to do this without financial or health hardships I have no time to waste.

This site has sat here too long waiting for me to open up and share my personal journey. As such, while I move about the challenges and discoveries of the next few years I’ll be posting them here. Perhaps in some way I’ll be able to help or connect with the other ‘late boomers’ in the world on some level.

It wasn’t that long ago I was trying to convince people that the internet would one day be a large part of everyone’s life. It was the dawn of the information age.

Today we’ve been there, done that – even though many still think we’re in it. We’re not. A new era in online connections has begun whether you are aware of it or not. The new era has been dubbed ‘The Recommendation Age’.

It’s all part of the way Web 2.0 solved the troubles of the information age. As the web grew so did the overwhelming volume of information on any given subject, product or service. Search engines were bogged down, searchers were frustrated. Like a home that has too much stuff, the clutter was overwhelming.

Some of us learned how to use the search engines better for faster results. The majority of people just gave up. Those in the wise learned to share links of quality information – and services were born to facilitate that ‘content share’.

Sifting through tons of information to get to what we want is a bit like weeding the garden. We have to look at almost every blade of grass to get all the weeds out before we see the right result. And usually we miss a few patches.

What if we had someone helping us weed? Like a tennis umpire overlooking the landscape and directing our attention to important areas within our focal length. Moving from the Information age to the Recommendation age, the collective wisdom of the crowd is the new connoisseur. More and more people spend time writing reviews and recommendations, creating blog posts about everything, posting comments, writing forum topics and replies — these all serve as beacons for searchers by highlighting areas of interest through filtering. Filtering out the junk, the filler, heck even the marketers, and recommending the cream of the crop to both human and search engine spider.

Filtering transcends search and browse behavior. It is amplified through word of mouth. Sites like Facebook are huge filtering engines for recommendations and collective sharing. The ‘linkers’ and ‘bookmarkers’ of the world?build massive lists of tagged links – the numbers of clicks to those sites are like endorsements, showing us where to click next.

With monstrous data crunching technology more and more sites are able to measure consumption patterns in real time and make changes just as quickly. This is a grand shift entering the Recommendation age.

Google Adsense filters immense volumes of keywords to bring quality ad content to any web site. Amazon Associates are easily able to place recommendations and reviews on their own web sites.

Sites like Rhapsody, MySpace, Netflicks, and Commission Junction are the modern day factories. The workforce has been democratized so that any individual anywhere can produce hard or soft products and services for anyone to consume. All of these sites offer sophisticated filtering through recommendations, reviews and statistics. Still other sites like Digg, Reddit, Folkd, Shoutwire and Care2 are aggregators of opinion on any given topic and filter information based on democratic consensus and democratic publishing.

Bloggers filter niche market information providing direct access to relevant data. Blog comments are like fine tuners and direction finders helping us hone in to our personal interests without reviewing every option ourselves.

The age of information is over. We have entered the age of Recommendation.

I’ve been thinking quite a bit about this the last month. You see, I’ve been skinny and I’ve been fat (this is the largest I’ve ever been but the doctor says not to be too hard on myself). Skinny is inherently better!

I’m joking. Somewhat. I’m not actually after skinniness again, but I am after health and to get that health I’ve got to lose weight. Seven years of pounding the keyboard – even just being enamoured by the knowledge share online – hasn’t done my body any favors. There have been other stresses that caused me to find solace in food, but really, there is no excuse. At least no medical excuse for being this size.

And so, I’ve gained 40 pounds.

The last two weeks have netted great change. A stronger body, my clothes fitting looser and less strain on my knees when I take long walks or play on the WII. All I have done is a 20 minute workout daily (The 30 Day Shred with Jillian Michaels), watch my fat intake, and take a 1 mile walk every now and then (every second day – more or less).

If I was smart, and I’d like to be, I’d be drinking more water (right now I drink next to none) and getting more sleep to aid in my success at losing weight and growing healthier. Well, Rome wasn’t built in a day so I’ll incorporate those new habits into next week’s agenda.

As for my title “Skinny is Better” I can remember how I felt when my jeans were just slightly lose in the right places, when a t-shirt fitted snugly and looked great, when no matter where I went or what I did I felt free enough to flirt, smile and walk with my head high at all times. Does it make me shallow that I don’t feel that free today, knowing that thin is better? Absolutely not! If I was shallow I’d also be insecure about my age, my wrinkles – but those I wear with honor as a rite of passage into 45+, the weight on the other hand and in my case is an act of negligence, “not paying attention”.

This low GI, no added sugar banana bread recipe passed the Veronica test! I enjoyed it too and we at our slices for a snack after dinner without butter as it was certainly moist enough.

• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 cup softened butter
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 smashed over-ripe bananas
• equivalent of 1/2 cup sugar (I use Suzanne Somers SomerSweet – in this case, 8 of the tiny scoops was perfect for this recipe)

I’m not one for cooking and baking by perfect directions, the use of 5 bowls or precise measurements. I actually used a little less than 1/4 cup of butter in my last test as I’m also trying to lose weight (less fat, less sugar recipes).

I can tell you this though – if your banana bread is always coming out of the oven 1/2 baked inside and too dark outside, get a wider loaf pan and make a loaf that shorter in height. When you remove any banana bread from the oven let it sit for 5 minutes in the pan as it will continue baking inside (remember that the interior of the bread is still 350 degrees even after it is removed from the oven.

Finally, if it isn’t cooked right through, remove it from the pan after cooling and pop it into a low powered microwave on high, or a high powered microwave on medium for 60 seconds. That should finish cooking it through consistently.

Standard size banana bread loaf pan is 8″ x 4″. Bake at 350F for 55-60 minutes.

Well. It is done.

Late last night, just hours from my deadline I sent off 53,576 words and 60 some photos, charts, forms and drawings to my publishers at Skyhorse.

I feel as though I’ve been in some trance for the last month. The world has kept spinning without me but I’ve been incapable of even noticing.

For over 40 years I’ve been an avid reader – from novels to self help, business manuals to software applications – so much so that I am certain my eyes should have worn out by now. And, practically everything I read is critiqued.

“Lacking.” “Poor ending.” “Disjointed.” “Too abstract to be of any use.” “Fluff written to make a book sale…”

And on it goes.

Not once have I thought of the author and the hours behind every paragraph, every page, all with their reader in mind. “Will they understand?” “Are connections to the whole obvious on this topic?” “Should this go here, there, or be edited out entirely?”

Now I know.

In the writing of “The Joy of Keeping Farm Animals” I crafted pages and pages last month, that never even made it to the publisher’s desk. Cut and snipped as irrelevant, too advanced, far too verbose – whatever the reason. Hours of work writing, editing and then just cutting away without mercy.

After years of thinking – in response of other authors claims of “I just wrote a book…” – “So what?” — it is time to rethink my brain’s quippy response.

Even fluff books take effort. (One comes to mind but I won’t name it.) I was sadly disappointed when I paid full price for it, waited for Amazon to deliver it, blocked off time to absorb the content, and considered adding it to the campfire half way through…)

So now I understand authors a little more. Have a little more compassion for them.

If they care about the content they’ve been commissioned to write, they’ll spend hours in research, days in mentally mapping out the flow, outline, theories presented. And even longer writing, editing and rewriting.

If they value their name as an author, they’ll work right up to the deadline, at all costs – even losing friends, family, weight, sleep, in the process.

And when they send off their work to the publisher, they will celebrate in some odd way perhaps that only makes sense to them. Celebrate because they have just given birth to something – perhaps beautiful, but maybe ugly and of little value.

As for me – I wrote the book I wish I’d found years ago.

I celebrated by eating my favorite foods – Cowboy steaks, caesar salad and a snack of fresh fish from Fraser Lake (thanks to Bradley Foster).

This morning I awoke to self-doubt. “What if my publisher hates it?” “What if she says I missed the mark and have to rewrite 20,000 words of it?” “What if I suck?” “What if they publish tens of thousands of copies and people buy it but it contains a mistake that needlessly costs people time or money?”

Argh. Oof.

I remember seeing movies where an author finally finishes his manuscript and engages someone to sit and read it, in their presence, before sending it off to the publisher. Authors do this so they don’t have to experience this feeling of waiting with baited breath for the publisher’s comments.

I didn’t do that. No one saw a word of what I wrote. Veronica and Eric heard my “Dedication and Thanks” but that was all.

So now I wait with my good friend named “Doubt” while I tip my hat to all the authors who have written before me. May I recognize your hard work a little gentler next time – even if it was “Lacking.” or “Disjointed.”

I’m now convinced that no one can understand an author unless they have written a book themselves.

One of my favorite shows (and I don’t have very many) is America’s Funniest Videos.

Truly my favorite video of all time was Lola doing the Smarty Pants Dance – around the living room every time she picked out a state on her US map, called for by her dad. The special part? She’s only 20 months old in this video and the way she dances around the room reminds me so much of Veronica when she was this young.

Watch it and see for yourself. Honestly, I think this video was worthy of more than a $10,000 prize…

Smarty Pants Dance

Just signed the contract with Skyhorse Publishing Company last week and am really excited about this new book I’m authoring. The fabulous and supportive Ann Treistman (Senior Editor at Skyhorse) is in direct contact by email, replying within a day to my queries and requests. I feel as though I’ve worked with her before…

The book is an introduction to raising farm animals for the purpose of growing your own food – of which I have a serious passion. The best part is the perspective from which I’ll write. You see I’ve lived on both sides of the farm gate, both sides of the barnyard fence.

Having grown up in downtown Toronto from the ages 12-30, I was never truly certain of the foods I purchased in the grocery store, never fully aware of what I was buying in those neat little styrofoam trays…and I didn’t care much either as my life back then faciliated eating out most meals and in much smaller quantities!

After moving to farm country and dining at the tables of 2nd, 3rd and even 4th generation farmers I began to enjoy my meals more. Not only did they taste better, but I was becoming stronger and healthier every year. No steroids, no growth hormones, no additives nor meat plumpers. I don’t have the scientific research to damn the large chains over how they grow and supply our food en masse, but I can tell you that I’ve never felt better and I’m older than the prime of my life.

It wasn’t long after moving to the country, months really, that I began growing my own chickens, goats, pigs – and loving every minute of it. The work or daily chores are inconsequential when the food hits the table. Especially so when you’re feeding your children. You only want the best into those growing bodies!

The book won’t be released to the public until early 2010, but I’ve only a few short months to finish writing my first edit. In the meantime, there’s the proposed book cover (above), sent by the publishing house, for you to view or comment on.

The book can be pre-ordered from Amazon at the link below (which is a money saving idea as I believe this book will launch at $14.77, but if you pre-order you’ll get it at the posted price, saving approximately 35%. On the other hand, if the launch price lowers, you will receive a rebate from Amazon).

…that touched me and healed me, and which I don’t want to forget when I give the book back…

pg. 168

“Only you, in the entire universe, believe that somehow you are to blame. Missy doesn’t believe that, nor Nan, nor Papa. Perhaps it’s time to let that go – that lie. And Mackenzie, even if you had been to blame, her love is much stronger than your fault could ever be.”

Thanks “Willie” for this book!

Thanks also to Lucille Burke from Burke’s Jewellers in town who lent the book to me.

I never read novels so this book, which attracted and held me right to the very end, was special. Special as well since it was one of the first of five steps into pulling me out of a 2 month depression, (dark days indeed) and catapulted me into a new journey of self-discovery. Seems I had it all wrong – the woman I thought I was – so at 45 I’m working forward to figure that all out now.

An easy read novel that inspires introspection and change – if you let it.

Some people have never heard of the Glycemic Index and how food is ‘weighted’ and why the process is even necessary.

Even more people have heard of GI, but don’t know much about it, and their lives are just too busy already to learn something new about the way food affects the human body.

This post is a primer of sorts, an introduction to the Glycemic Index, an explanation of why this is important for overall health, and where to get more information on the subject of Low GI eating.

Keep in mind that this is a far more advanced concept of understanding food’s effect on your body than simple calorie counting. Although the caloric value of a food is somewhat important for health and well-being, far too many people place far too much emphasis on calories when watching their weight – one of the major reasons that diets don’t work!

What is the Glycemic Index?

The Glycemic Index is a measure of foods’ and combination of foods’ ability to raise a body’s blood glucose levels. The process of determining a food’s effect is costly and requires scientific experimentation using human subjects.

If you are looking to lose weight, manage your weight, prevent the onset of diabetes or manage your blood sugar levels, understanding the Glycemic Index is important. I might also add that if you are a parent or caretaker who influences eating habits of others, learning about GI should be a primary concern and responsibility.

What Foods Affect Glucose Levels?

Sugar, of course, natural and refined. Carbohydrates also convert to glucose in your body, but carbs are not all created equal and are a necessity to optimum health – so don’t nix them from your intake just yet…

The best direction you can take for your body – no matter what your health goals are – is to fuel your body with foods that do not cause ’spikes’ in your blood glucose levels.

Low GI foods, slowly digested, cause a gradual rise and fall in glucose. This is optimum to healthy bodies because:

• low GI foods reduce the secretion of your body’s insulin throughout the day,
• low glucose levels decrease oxidative stress in your blood, heart and other organs,
• an even blood glucose level throughout the day ensures vessels remain elastic, reducing formation of plaque leading to atherosclerosis (heart disease),
• low glucose levels reduce your body’s tendency to form blood clots, and
• slowing the digestion through Low GI dieting, helps delay hunger pangs and therefore promotes weight loss.

If you’re starting to understand that foods which take your body longer to digest are better for your body, you’d be correct – but there’s more to Low GI diets than meets the eye so read on!

Know More About the Food You’re Eating Than Its GI Value

The Glycemic Index is not meant to be used in isolation when understaning a food’s effect on the human body. If that was the case, you might assume that low GI, but high fat, foods (i.e. chocolate, potato chips, beer), are a good choice – but these would, in fact, be poor dietary choices overall since they are high in fat or other potentially harmful substances.

High fat foods do have a tendancy to appear on the GI as a low GI food – especially when compared to their lower fat equivalents. For instance potato chips have a GI of 54, vs. their more natural counterpart potatoes with a GI of 85. Your glucose levels may be maintained, but you’d quickly gain weight and clog your arteries with all that fat intake if you simply took the GI at face value.

With that said, don’t avoid all foods just because they have fat. Fats, like carbohydrates, have a wide spectrum of good to bad. Good fats, eaten with carbohydrates, round out a meal whereby the fat is beneficial and the meal becomes low GI. Which is my next point – combining foods for optimum health.

I won’t go into great detail in this post about combining – I’ll save it for another day, once you’ve had a chance to mull over and hopefully adopt the low GI way of life – but as an example of the power of combining…just a few good squirts of a fresh lemon can lower the GI of a meal. Wouldn’t you agree then, that learning about the Glycemic Index, combining foods, and later Glycemic Loads, is important and vital to your overall health?

I thought so!

Talk to you soon,

Laura Childs

p.s. Two books I’m reading right now (although they were published in 2005 and are well reviewed on Amazon) are:

I would never recommend that you eat pie to lose weight, but this low GI recipe will allow you to have a slice of pie without the guilt, on a special occassion. It will also allow you to bake a pie for your family without feeling as though you are contributing to their obesity and sugar reliance/insulin resistance.

Low GI Pie Crust

I use Special K cereal for this. Just toss it into the food processor and spin it into crumbs. The last time I used this recipe I made a key lime pie with a low-sugar, low calorie lime mix from Sheriff. The next pie I’ll make with this is a makeshift, low calorie, low GI, banana cream pie using sugar free vanilla pudding mix and fresh bananas.

Just please remember that part of changing your eating to a low glycemic and low GI load diet really should involve getting rid of the sweet tooth that most of us have developed over the years of poor food choices. Sweet is just like any other addiction. It can be broken with perseverance. I’m not just talking about sugar here, this includes the chemicals being sold as zero calorie sweeteners and sugar free sodas.

At any rate, this is a nice ‘transition’ food – from ’sweet tooth’ to healthier choices.

This pie crust recipe does well to replace most graham cracker crust recipes.

• 4 cups Special K cereal (to yield 1 1/2 cups of crumbs)
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons fructose*
• 4 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Process the cereal in your food processor (or place the cereal in a plastic bag, seal, and use a rolling pin to crush to crumb consistency).

Pour crumbs into a medium bowl. Add cinnamon and fructose*.

Pour in melted butter and stir until well blended.

Press the crumb mixture into your pie plate. This will not stick as well as a traditional graham cracker crust, but if you just press gently and prop the crumb mixture along the sides of the pie place you will find that it firms up fine after baking.

Bake for 7 minutes in a pre-heated oven, until set.

Cool and fill with your favorite filling.

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* I use Suzanne Somer’s Sommersweet Sugar replacement for all my recipes. For this recipe’s recommendation of fructose, I used 1/2 teaspoon of Sommersweet mixed with water.