Here’s something great I found.  I can lose weight, feel better, AND improve my health by adding food to my diet.  Not taking food away, but adding food.  Interesting.

I’m reading a short article in Woman’s World magazine and it appears that losing inches around your waist not only makes you look better but it can reduce your risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, stroke, and even dementia.  The reason they say is that the fat on your waistline actually produces inflammation that damages tissues, more so than any other fat on your body.

So, we’re back to the old “belly fat” problem.  Quit eating sugary foods and exercise more, right?  Well, not so fast.  According to the doctors and studies noted in the article, there are a couple things we can add to our diet that can speed the fat burning along.

Here they are:

Walnuts – Now I’ve read all about the health benefits of nuts, but walnuts in particular?  Apparently, walnuts break the cycle of a hormone that boosts the formation of belly fat.  Just one ounce of walnuts each day provides a natural fat-fighting compound to keep belly fat from perpetuating.

Oatmeal – Get out that bowl of oatmeal for breakfast every morning and you are actually fighting insulin, that fat storing stuff.  Dr. David Katz, Yale School of Public Health says that it’s the fiber in whole grains (like oatmeal) that dampens the production of insulin. So, pour yourself a big bowl of whole grain oatmeal or have a nice piece of whole grain bread in the morning and fight fat!

Green Tea – According to the In Vivo Journal, green tea has the stuff it takes to block the absorption of sugar, slow the production of the fat storing hormone cortisol, and rev up your metabolism at the same time.  Drinking four or five cups of green tea every day can result in a dramatic loss of belly fat.  Drink it hot, drink it cold… it doesn’t matter just as long as you drink it every day.

How about that!  Isn’t it nice to find out that you can actually add things to your diet to help lose weight, especially that awful belly fat?  That’s the belly fat that not only looks bad, feels bad, but is dangerous to your health.

Go out today and get yourself some oatmeal, green tea, and walnuts and enjoy!  Now when you’re taking a break from your busy day, you can munch on some walnuts and feel good about the fact that you’re not just snacking… you’re fighting fat and getting healthy!

Take care of yourself today, and every day!

p.s.  Click here to find a simple source for walnuts, as well as other fat fighting foods.

Sometimes the simplest little cleaning task can seem overwhelming, especially if you have to wade through mountains of clutter before you can even begin.

I think most people have some idea of the struggle I speak of.  For instance, my desk just seems to get covered in an avalanche of papers.  (I’m still waiting for this supposed paperless office that I keep hearing about.)

Many folks have the same problem in their entryway with a table piled high with mail or other items that get deposited there.  Some folks struggle with a bathroom counter top that has bric-a-brac scattered about.  You may not be able to easily vacuum because you first must move mountains of magazines, books, toys, remote controls, or whatever seems to gather around the chairs and sofas.

If this sounds familiar, then you know how doing a simple cleaning task becomes more complicated.  When you walk into your bathroom armed with your scrubbing and shining tools, if you can’t get at the surfaces that need cleaning, do you get a little frustrated?  I know when I’m faced with cleaning before I can clean, I may just turn around and leave it for another day.

We talked last week about using a few feng shui strategies to lift your spirits.  Click on The Feng Shui post to see what we had to say and then come on back.

One smart reader reminded us in her comment on that post, that besides pretty colors, good light, pleasant aromas, and pleasing sounds, feng shui is about reducing clutter.  She reminded us that clutter of the home creates clutter of the mind.  And, when our mind is cluttered, we often become motionless.  Our best laid plans come to a halt.  Faced with clutter, we often just retreat.  Thank you, Kelly, for that insight.

So, today I’d like to see us all declutter one area.  Choose an area that will take you only about 30 minutes.  Decluttering can be a very draining experience, so choose something that is easy, but effective, like the bathroom.  In other words, save your desk for another day.  This way, you’ll learn what it feels like to declutter and have a better idea what it takes.

Won’t it be nice when you can grab your cleaning supplies and head in with determination and not be discouraged and become motionless by the clutter you encounter?  The clutter is gone and your “mental motion” is restored.

Clutter is an obstacle that needs to be removed from your path.  Take the first step today so your path is clear when you’re ready to move ahead!

p.s.  When the clutter is cleared and you’re ready for some real serious scrubbing, click on Spring Cleaning Tips For Mom and learn all the little tricks to get your house in tip top shape.

Spring will be here very soon, and I for one am excited to start getting my garden layout planned.  Even though I know mostly what will be planted, it’s always a good idea to change things up a bit from year to year.  The soil gets a break and there are pleasant surprises when we try something new.

One of the challenges we have when planning our garden is not going overboard.  It’s not hard to get overwhelmed when walking into a garden center or nursery…  and the plants and seeds are just the beginning.  When you get past the actual plants, you are confronted with the garden gadgets.

Everyone that pages through the seed catalogs or wanders through the garden centers each spring knows the dangers.  There among the tomato plants are the ‘problem solvers’ that entice us.  Everything from irrigation systems to devices to get rid of critters.  They are the special tools that promise a perfect gardening experience.

Of course, there is some merit to most of this stuff, but if one of the reasons you’re planting a garden is to provide inexpensive vegetables and fruit for your family, then you need to go in a different direction.  You don’t want that beautiful beefsteak tomato to cost more than an actual beef steak!  But, if you go for all the gadgets that promise the perfect garden, that may be exactly what happens.

When I think back to my grandparent’s and parent’s gardens, I don’t recall a bunch of contraptions with brand names attached to them, or bags of fertilizer or pesticides.  What I do recall are homemade solutions to the problems that come with tilling up ground and sticking in some vegetables.  Whether the problem was trying to discourage pests and critters from helping themselves to a snack, or improving the condition of the soil, my ancestors had a homegrown solution for it.

My ancestors used what they had on hand to tie up the tomatoes and beans.  They created irrigation systems with a shovel, a hose, and maybe some milk jugs.  They fought off the critters, big and small, with soap or even unsavory plants.

This year when you begin planning your garden, keep in mind some of the simplest methods that you can remember seeing people from your own past use.  If you choose frugal solutions to your gardening problems, you may actually get the value you had hoped for out of your garden.

p.s.  A fun resource for inventive ideas for gardening solutions is Joey Green’s Gardening Magic.  You’ll find the information very useful and entertaining, as well.

Click on and take a look.  This book could just keep you out of the gardening gadget aisle for another season!

And, please, if you have a favorite gardening solution, I would love to hear about it.  Comment below to share whatever frugal gardening gadgets you’ve discovered.