COMMENT BACK TO KIM
Thank you! Remember, though, no hurry.
Love,
M

COMMENT TO MIGNON

LOVE THE SELF CARE GOALS.  I WILL BE TIED UP TODAY & TOMORROW, BUT WILL GET BACK TO YOU BY THURS ON THE POINTS.

FRUITS OF ANY KIND ARE 0 POINTS, HOWEVER, THAT DOESN'T MEAN YOU GO EAT 5LBS OF STRAWBS.  THINK OF 1 CUP SERVINGS.  MOST VEGETABLES ARE 0 POINTS, EXCEPT THE OBVIOUS -STARCHES

Q TO KIM
I'm curious about the points WW assigns to some of my favorite things. When, and if, you get a few minutes, would you look these up for me in your Points Book? No rush. I know you're uber-busy.

• Avocado
• Walnuts
• Almonds (Dry Roasted)
• Peanuts (Dry Roasted)
• Pecans
• Olive oil
• Bottled salad dressing, eg, Paul Newman's Balsamic Vinaigrette 
• Instant oatmeal, eg, Quaker's Original (no sugar)
• Dried cranberries
• Wild rice
• Brown rice
• Quinoa
• Spinach pasta
• Quinoa pasta
• Whole Wheat pasta
• Bottled pasta sauce, eg, Paul Newman's or Classico
• Parmesan cheese, grated
• Whole-grain bread (not whole wheat)
• 1 baked potato
• Fried potatoes (w/olive oil)

• Are there any restrictions on fruits like pineapple or bananas?
• Any restrictions on carrots?

PS: Didn't know the list was going to be this long.

ONE-MONTH REVIEW
I've made the following changes in the last 30 days:

• Drinking 5 to 7 8-oz glasses of good drinking water a day & eliminating bottled water
• Drinking green tea daily
• Drinking no Diet Coke
• Eating no sweets
• Eating no white flour products
• Eating no dairy--with two exceptions: grated parmesan cheese on pasta and the dairy-related ingredients in my protein drinks
• Using my 1-cup measuring cups to serve myself what I would call "main dishes," e.g., wild rice & cranberries, indian-spiced quinoa, vegetarian stew, pasta...
• Cutting up salad ingredients as soon as I get home from the store, e.g, peppers, carrots, cucumbers...
• Cutting up large fruit like pineapple and melon almost as soon as I get home from the store
• Regular yoga

My goals for July, i.e., now:

• Continue with June's changes
• Begin cardio exercise

My other self-care habits, relatively new over the past year:

• Washing my face nightly before I go to bed, followed by either a moisturizer or exfoliating cream or both; preferably using a moisturizer that contains antioxidants and other anti-aging ingredients
• Applying foot cream nightly
• Applying hand cream nightly
• Wearing sunscreen, no less than 30 SFP broad-spectrum daily, whether or not I'm going outside; preferably a sunscreen that also contains antioxidants and other anti-aging ingredients
• Exfoliating my face at least every other day
• Exfoliating my body and feet at least once a month
• Applying facial masks--a cleansing mask or moisturing mask--at least once a week, often at the same time I apply a moisturing or reparative mask to my hair after shampooing

My self-care goals:

• Continue with all of the above
• Purchase Retin A online & use it nightly thereafter
• Investigate and purchase a new anti-aging facial serum
• Make all-over body moisturing a priority after I shower
• Eliminate all laureth/laurel sulfate shampoos and other hair products; investigate alternatives
• Install new chlorine filter shower head
• Whiten my teeth once a month

Q: Have I lost weight?

A: A bit.

COMMENT TO KIM

I feel like you're in a sleek Mercedes SL convertible driving on the autobahn wearing expensive Italian sunglasses and I'm in a worn-out horse-and-buggy bumping along a dusty country road and wearing a battered straw hat.

The miracle is: I'm not envious! I'm happy for you! 
Down a dress size! Oh, yeah.....

FEELING GOOD

Good morning.  I feel so good, you would think I weighed 120 lbs.  My clothes fit and I've bought a ton of clothes in the next size down.  My plan is to try all my smaller clothes on Sunday's to see what fits.

I went to a grad party on Sunday with the same attitude I have today.  Feeling good and thinking I am 120lbs and dressed as I felt.  Saw the pictures and I don't know what was worse.  Memorial Day or them.

Today is weigh in day and I expect to drop and look forward to the results and will share later on.

Hope everyone has a fun plan for the 4th.  Hayley and I are going to the beach early (8AM) and I plan to walk for the 1st hour and enjoy every moment thereafter.

Dearest Leslie -- It's time to get on the program and catch on.  Start taking care of yourself.  You have the least amount to lose and with some focus you can turn it around and lose your belly and boob fat.  I know you can do it.   I plan to be in good enough shape when I see you and we will be walking that bridge together.  Can't wait!!!!

GOODBYE, FIJI WATER
My ZeroWater water doesn't taste as good as Fiji Water, which I've been drinking for quite a while. And I knew it wouldn't No water tastes as good as Fiji Water or has its softness. But I'm having my 5th glass of ZeroWater as I write and it's absolutely fine. As I said a few days ago, it feels very good to have finally taken a stand against bottled water. The problem with bottled water isn't just the plastics, billions of bottles that end up in dumpsites. It's also the environmental cost of the bottling process itself and  the trucks necessary for transport.


And then there are the special social and environmental costs unique to Fiji Water, which does indeed come from Fiji. I've been avoiding facing the rumors I'd heard in past years about the people of Fiji not having access to clean drinking water
--1/3 of the island's population. A BBC investigation discovered that the Fiji capital of Suva has an undependable water system with failing infrastructure.


Meanwhile, a husband and wife team who live here in LA, the Resnick's, own the Fiji Water company and are responsible for exporting as much as 137 million quarts of water from Fiji in a single year. (Mrs. Resnick is the person who came up with the idea of "POM," and has made a fortune on pomegranate juice.)The Los Angeles Business Journal has estimated the couple’s net worth at $1.4 billion (2009).

I'm probably the only one in the family who's been attached to Fiji Water. But if you want to read more, you'll find below the article I avoided reading for several years.

The True Price of Fiji Water

October 2, 2008  |  

Today, about one-third of Fiji's people lack access to clean drinking water, leading to incidents of typhoid and other water-related diseases.The small island nation of Fiji with its population of about 150,000 -- is now controlled by a military regime that took control via the 2006 Fijian coup d'etat. With such an unstable government -- people suffer while some industries prosper. One of these prospering companies is Fiji Water. Water imported into the US from the small island nation of Fiji is ranked number 2 in bottled waters. France, of course, is number 1.

The irony of these statistics is that Fiji Water exported about 130 million liters of Fiji water in the past year. To present a "green face" to the world -- Fiji Water returns a token amount of money to bring clean water to certain areas of Fiji. However, according to a recent BBC investigation, the Fiji capital of Suva has an undependable water system with failing infrastructure.

And, let's not overlook the "transnational" power Fiji Water wields over the relatively powerless rulers of Fiji.

In early July of 2008, the Fijian government proposed a tax on bottled water in order to generate income and to help improve and conserve the island's water resources. In a span of a couple of weeks -- the government had to abort the bottled water tax because of overt economic threats by the bottled water lobby.

The threats occurred when bottling companies shut down factories -- stating that they would not operate under such a tax. This bottled water protest would have cost Fiji up to $3 million in lost export revenues a week. With such a big gun to their heads -- the Fijian government quickly dropped their proposed tax.

However, there is one vital aspect of this Fijian water debacle that rarely receives mention. And, that is the long-term environmental consequence of taking precious water and putting it inside plastic bottles.

Freshwater on volcanic islands is rare due to the porous soils and rocks that make up such islands. Therefore, any freshwater that is found on a volcanic island is valuable because it supports tropical ecosystems and usually flows out into the ocean rather quickly. Freshwater is the most precious liquid on Earth. Through the alchemical miracle of our hydrologic cycle -- freshwater is naturally manufactured by nature and temporarily stored on land. And, only a small fraction of freshwater, about one-hundredth of one-percent, is readily available for human use.

The key to the success and sustenance of all life is the energetic flow of water through our biosphere. When precious freshwater flows from land and mixes with our world's saltwater -- there is a magical explosion of life along the so-called "coastal zone." This explosion of coastal life is vital to the foundation of the food chain for our oceans.

When we pump freshwater from any volcanic island, such as we find in Fiji -- we remove a vital life-giving force from that region of our global ocean. In fact, Fiji Water brags about how remote the Fijian Islands are -- and thus capitalizes on the purity of Fiji water. However, this remoteness is what makes Fijian freshwater all the more valuable to the local people, their tropical ecosystems, and the oceanic ecosystems that have evolved in that region over millions of years.

Therefore, each time we see a bottle of Fiji Water -- let's consider the true price of that bottle to our living world of today and of the future. Hopefully, we will see the price that reaches far beyond the money in our pockets.

William E. Marks is the founder of Martha's Vineyard Magazine and Nantucket Magazine. He is the author of, The History of Wind Power on Martha's Vineyard; The Holy Order of Water, Healing Earth's Waters and Ourselves; and publisher of Water Voices from Around The World.