Yikes. How about this weather, huh? And January was so warm; what happened?

Oh, well. Just six weeks till spring. In the meanwhile, I'll hide out at home, and write and cook...

Read on!

--Dana

I recently got this heartfelt plea from a reader:

I am devastated by the fact that I FINALLY got hold of myself after 5 years of quitting smoking and decided to go back to low carb eating and after nearly 3 weeks, I have lost 2 pounds! I could (actually I have) just cry. I'm keeping on, but I'm about ready to eat a half gallon of ice cream and 2 loaves of bread. OK, maybe not that bad, but something definitely not low carb. I had successfully done Atkins 5 and a half years ago and was getting close to a good weight. After quitting smoking 2/1/2002 I felt deprived so I allowed myself to eat what I wanted. Over 5 years, I put on what I lost and then in the last 2 years another 20 pounds. I finally got my mind right to do this again and expected to loose a few pounds the first week, a few less the second week, and then taper to about a 1-2 pound loss after that. Well, I lost 1 the first week, 1 the second week, and I'm in my third week and frankly my jeans feel tighter! Please provide some advice! I am desperate!

This breath technique is used both in Body Flex and Life Lift (www.lifelift.com), and I have found it effective, and somehow oddly satisfying. Learn the breathing first, and then you can add stretches and isometrics to it. Warning: You will feel like a big old doofus doing this breathing at first. Ignore that feeling. Do it for fifteen minutes a day for a week, and see if your clothes get looser!

* Bend forward slightly - I put my hands on the back of a chair or the kitchen table. In the original Body Flex videos Greer Childers suggested putting your hands on your knees, like a shortstop, but I find using furniture more comfortable.

I wrote this article in 2000, the first year we were publishing, but it needed very little revision seven years later:

Don't look now! Just when you've really shaken that Holiday Five, here comes Valentine's Day! Surely you've noticed the heart-shaped satin boxes piled up at every grocery store, discount store, convenience store, and even truck stop. Yes, it's another all-American Junk Fest!

Okay, so it's not as bad as "The Holiday Season", where you're facing carbohydrate land mines for more than a month. Still, you're likely to encounter at least one open box of chocolates or plate of cookies with fluorescent pink icing sometime this week. It's time to give a little thought to strategy.

This is the best meatloaf recipe I've tried in a long time! It's got something of a French accent, which is why we call it...

Frenchified Meat Loaf

1 pound ground chuck
1/2 pound mild bulk pork sausage
2 slices low carb bread, whole grain, in fine crumbs
1/2 cup chopped onion, fairly fine
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/4 cup dry red wine
1 egg
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard (spicy brown will work if that's what you've got)
1/2 teaspoon dried savory
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon ground dried rosemary
1/2 teaspoon salt OR 1 teaspoon Vege-sal (I use the Vege-Sal)

I made this the other day when I had a batch of truly wonderful chicken broth in the house. You'll see in the instructions I mention that the quality of your chicken broth is essential to this recipe. Use good, strong, flavorful (not just salty) broth, and the flavor of this soup will be balanced just exactly between chicken and cheese. Mmmm.

Cheesy Chicken Soup (or is it Chickeny Cheese Soup?)

6 cups chicken broth
2 cups milk
8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
guar or xanthan to thicken
3 cups frozen chopped broccoli (optional)

This soup's flavor is heavily dependant on good chicken broth or stock. I use broth I make myself from the naked chicken bones I save in the freezer after every roast chicken supper. I very much doubt the soup would be anywhere near as wonderful with cheap canned chicken broth, though I'm sure it would be okay. You might consider using good-quality packaged chicken broth (Kitchen Basics brand is widely available) that you've simmered down to about 2/3 of the original volume to intensify the flavor.