Dear Diary I normally hate The View

Okay quick post go to Hulu or maybe you DVR'd it but Paula Deen is on The View as co-host and they are talking about the obesity epidemic.  I just saw Dr. Oz pull out organs damaged by fat and seriously ya'll I wanted to throw up and run miles around my neighborhood after I saw what my liver and heart probably look like.

I am on The View ya'll don't eat like I did!-Paula Deen

Dear Diary Sketchers are Sketchy

Why did people think these shoes worked?!

So yeah I never bought them but I know some people who did.  I am talking about the Sketchers Shape-Ups, those Frankenstein's monster looking shoes women wore thinking man I hope my butt looks like Pippa Middleton's in 3-6 months.  I never believed that claim; it's like the infomercials about a miracle pill that will help you lose weight and then shown in tiny letters and the announcer reads at a rapid pace, "Works only if you also diet and exercise."  Oh you don't say.  Yeah I remember when my dad tried metabolife but his doctor was like yeah no, you have a heart condition.  Eventually my dad lost weight on his own no miracle drug or butt shaping shoes included.  So yeah I am going that route the Roel Method, he walked everyday and cut back on how much ate and monitored what he ate.  I am not going to name names but I know friends who bought shoes like this, not only Sketchers but Reebok had them too.  Well looks like both had to pay big ol fines to the FTC for lying about results you will get with the shoes.  I just think it is hilarious and sad how people take advantage of others so easily because of their desperation to attain something or in my case lose something.  Yeah fatties will do anything to lose weight as long as we get to keep eating our McDonalds too.  The United States is getting to be a Fatty Mcbutterpants Nation.  Companies will try anything to sell their product.  I wonder if Shape-Ups were a mistake.  I can see it now:

Dear Diary Mental Health is Just as Important as Physical Health

Aha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And other Aha Moments.  So I want to be honest and open with my two readers.  We moved to Atlanta seven months ago.  I decided to support my husband and his career because I knew if the roles were reversed he would do the same.  Well it is not easy moving from one city to another.  I have experienced this before when I moved from my hamlet of Kingsville, Texas, where it is famous for that one movie with Matt Dillon and that other movie with Helen Slater, to the metropolis of Houston, Texas, where it is famous for that one movie with Shirley McClain and Debra Winger and that other movie with John Travolta and Debra Winger.  I was eighteen at the time and ready to be free of my parents’ shackles and be independent well as independent as I can be with my parents footing the bills for everything due to me choosing an expensive private university.  I was scared and excited.  I had a hard time the first couple of months but luckily I had family around me in the area.  I could go see cousins, aunts and uncles.  So I never felt alone.   I also made friends due to the fact I lived in the dorms and we were forced to interact with one another.  I made lifelong friends actually and I was glad we were forced to do silly socials in the dorms.  

Dear Diary why is it easier to find naked pictures of Kim Kardashian

then finding information on how to live your life with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS).  Seriously there are 5-10% of all women that are affected by this and you can find many articles but you have to really search.  I was correctly diagnosed back in 2008 with PCOS but I should have been diagnosed back in 1996 when I first put on birth control due to irregular periods.  All my gynecologist told me back then was that I was very overweight and that if I lost weight I would have a regular period, problem solved.  Right now I know that was very incorrect information.  So I decided to post my very long post because it gives people insight as to what I am going through and if I help one person who realizes they are not alone with the mood swings, the weight struggle, the infertility and so on then I have done what I set out to do.  So yay to me trying to put something on the internet that doesn't include a Kardashian, oh wait I just mentioned their name, damn here is a damn photo then!

I never watch the show and never will.

Dear Diary "I LOVE KALE CHIPS!"

So I am on a quest to have healthier snacks readily available or easy to make and my dearest friend introduced me to Kale Chips.  OH MY LANTA they are delicious!  I normally do not enjoy weeds aka kale you steam and serve with liquid aminos (seriously ya'll, people would eat this all the time at the Health Food Restaurant I worked at back in 2000).  Anyways this is so good and crispy and light, only 2 points per serving which is roughly under 100 calories and it is a good healthy green!  So my mother's day gift to you guys is this healthy alternative to potato chips, YOUR WELCOME!

Kale Chips-4 servings or 1 Delena (I should not eat all of it!)

4 cups of Kale (cut up chips size with stems removed)
1 tablespoon of olive oil or any oil (I use my Misto and spray about 2 long sprays of olive oil on it)
Sprinkle generousness amounts of Eden Foods Gomasio (sesame salt)*


Preheat oven to 425 degrees then take a large baking sheet and cover with foil.  Spread out Kale chips, spray or brush olive oil.  Then season with Gomasio.  Bake for 5-7 minutes depending on your oven.

*Alternative to Gomasio

So yeah I tried to find Gomasio here in Atlanta and even went to Sevenanda (the most granola herbal place since original Whole Foods) and they didn't have it SOOOOOOOOOO here is what I did in it's place.

Sea Salt
Japanese Red Pepper Mix Shichimi Togarashi (find in Asian section of store or specialty Asian stores)
Sesame Seeds

Sprinkle the above on the Kale Chips and bake and enjoy.

I love Trader Joe's they already have the Kale cut up and clean!

Eat these suckers and enjoy, seriously Jonathan loves them!

Dear Diary I wrote a long a** entry

Yeah so I wrote a long entry about mental health and physical health and how important it is to be successful in weight loss.  I am still deciding whether or not to share it with my two readers that read this.  It has a lot in it and I know this is a blog and people thrive on short entries and not novel entries.  Yeah this was a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG entry fo sho.

Here is the summary of the post in a Haiku (not really one since it is not focused on nature):

I was so depressed

I decided to get help

I learned to love me

So how do you two readers feel about the importance of mental health?  I think it is very important when you are trying to be healthy overall.  Meanwhile we have a new challenge for 3 months Jonathan and I will be going from Fatlanta to Hotlanta in time for the summer months.  The M.A.F.I.A. challenge did not go so well we never stuck to it but now it is a different game.  I will win!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dear Diary Livin' like an Italian Gangsta

Fresh Fruits and Vegetables!!!

Well this Fatty McButterpants was on vacation for 3 weeks.  Yes I know how does one take a vacation when one is unemployed well by going to Italia!  Yeah it was awesome and yes don't worry I will have pics up soon on Picasa peoples.  So I have been doing a weight loss challenge too for 12 weeks.  So far I have lost about 11 lbs when I started said challenge but officially I have lost 16 lbs since I started trying to shed weight beforehand.  Yeah well it is a miracle that I kept weight off in Italy but was it a miracle?  Apparently in Italy they have fresh fruit and vegetables and serve them at their restaurants, THAT IS CRAZY YA'LL.  I am used to vegetables that are picked way before they are ripe and are weeks old by the time they come to restaurants or grocery stores and I am used to frozen processed chicken matter pressed into nugget form that is deep fried served with tater tots (which are also processed potatoes pressed into tater form).  Yeah don't bother asking for that at any locally owned restaurant.  I was surprised to see so many American fast food chains there and packed with so many teenagers!  I wanted to yell at them to stop it DON'T EAT THERE!!!!! Yeah but teens are teens they are the same in most countries, obnoxious and loud and do not listen to their elders.  Well point being we ate well and we walked a lot!

I fell in love with fresh easy dishes, seriously there were no more then 4 ingredients in most dishes and the taste was so complex yet simple.  Check me out with my vague food review like most horrible food critics.  Hey in my next life if I ever master the English language and write well, I do want to be a food critic.  Anyways here is a dish I loved called Pasta Alla Norma, a traditional Sicialliana dish.  It is so simple and delicious!

Pasta alla Norma, Molto Bene

Pasta alla Norma

Serves 2-3 as a main dish

1 medium eggplant, cut into 1" cubes (or 2 Italian eggplants, they are smaller in size)
1 teaspoon dried oregano
4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided 
1/2 teaspoon sea salt 
freshly ground pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced or grated
pinch of red hot chili flakes
1 14-ounce can whole tomatoes, crushed
8 ounces spaghetti
1.5 ounces ricotta salata * (this is a hard ricotta cheese and you can find it probably at a gourmet specialty store or Italian grocery store or Whole Foods or Central Market but you can substitute parmesean or pecorino romano)
handful of fresh basil leaves 

Preheat oven to 400° F.  On a baking sheet, toss the eggplant cubes with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, the dried oregano, sea salt and some freshly ground pepper.  Roast for about 25 minutes. 

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil for your pasta.

Place 2 tablespoons of the olive oil into a large saucepan or skillet.  Add the grated garlic and gently cook for about 1 minute.  Add the chili flakes and the crushed tomatoes (I like to just crush them with my hands). Simmer for 5 minutes, uncovered.  (Start boiling your spaghetti at this point. Don't overcook it.)  Add the roasted eggplant to your tomato mixture and simmer for 5 minutes, covered.  

Remove the spaghetti from the pot and put it right in the eggplant tomato mixture.  Toss well.  Add torn fresh basil leaves and some grated ricotta salata.  Turn out onto a serving platter and grate some more ricotta salata on top and tear some more basil leaves for the top.