Could pistachios be considered "health nuts" or does that only refer to fitness junkies?

Every year my company does this Body Overhaul Challenge to try to help people who are trying to lose weight. People either choose teams or are put on teams with similar weight loss goals. Last year about this time I was about 10 lbs. overweight so I decided to participate. By the end of the program I'd thrown in the towel. Somehow, I'd not only managed to not lose any weight... I'd actually somehow GAINED weight. By the time the program ended I was almost 20 lbs. overweight... about 5-7 lbs. HEAVIER than when I started. ACK!

Since the program ended (last April or so), I have buckled down and started eating smarter (reducing portion sizes, snacking less frequently, etc.) and this year I'm actually only about 2-4 lbs. from my target weight (the ideal weight for a person of my height). So between April and January I not only managed to lose the 5-7 lbs. I'd gained on the program last year, I also lost most of the weight I was trying to lose in the first place.

Go figure!

That being said I do still want to maintain my healthy weight and diet and I'd like to build some strength. My triglycerides are traditionally high and my good cholesterol is too low. Since my diet is much closer to how it should be that leaves exercise as the best solution to get my triglycerides and good cholesterol back where they need to be.

(PS: A serious note regarding the title of this post... some nuts actually do contain a chemical that act as an appetite suppresant... Technically almonds could be considered "health nuts" as I've read that they carry traditionally higher amounts of that chemical than other nuts. That being said eating too many nuts isn't good for you either. So if you want to use nuts as an appetite supressant, stick to the recommended serving sizes listed on the packages)

Brain Food..

So today I was remembering how in grade school and middle school when we were being taught the ills of smoking we were told that every cigarette smoked would take 6 minutes off your life...

What if you could pick which six minute segments you wanted removed from your life? Rather than having a cigarette just taking 6 minutes off the end of your life, what if you could pick with each one the six specific minutes you wanted taken away? Not a minute here and a minute there. You'd have to pick in 6 minute segments. Wouldn't cigarette smoking be a bit more appealing for some of us?

On a lighter/more humorous note

Just to re-lighten the overall tone of my blog...

So awhile back I signed up to take these occassional online surveys (usually about 3-5 week). And in return I get "credit" that accumulates and I can trade in for things like frequent flier miles, gift cards for certain retailers, free rentals from Blockbuster, etc. etc.

Well anyway, today I took a survey on sleep aid medication. And one of the first questions that was asked was what brand names of sleep aids come to mind. And I meant to, I mean I REALLY meant to type "Lunesta" but instead for some reason I was thinking of a certain other perscription drug ad for something MUCH different than sleeping disorders and ended up typing in "Levitra."

Whoops! Well hopefully whomever is tallying up the results of the survey will get a chuckle out of that. Would that be considered a Freudian slip?