People often comment about me being thin – maybe too thin.  I can’t help but feel the trick I am about to tell you has something to do to keep lean.

When I was in ROTC boot camp at Quantico, the drill sergeants felt they needed to teach us everything from the ground up. Yes, I learned how to brush my teeth again. I learned how to shine shoes. And yes, I learned a new way to eat.

What they teach you to do is put your fork down between bites.

It may not sound like an earth shattering tip, but let’s break it down:

When you put down your eating utensil, you are mentally pausing while you eat.  This lets you enjoy your food more.  Plus, it gives your brain more opportunity to tell if you are full.

I’ve seen oddly shaped timers for sale that you are supposed to set, take a bite and chew your food until it rings.  You don’t need a timer if you simply set down your utensil between bites. Silverware is everywhere.  I can easily see leaving a timer like this behind…on purpose.

I’d also add, similar to how Jill Weisenberger says in 10 Reasons You’re Not Losing Weight, “Make it a house rule to eat from a dish.”  I suggest using silverware for eating most everything.  For example, I eat pizza with a knife and fork.  Just don’t forget to set down the fork between bites.

If you are eating from a dish with silverware, you can see the portion sizes.  You have more control over how quickly you eat.  And when you go back for more, you have to make a conscious effort to do so.

I’ve long time been an advocate of growing your own herbs and vegetables.

Part of living the good life is eating good, healthy foods that taste better. What better way to enjoy these foods than to grow them on your own property? Having them close at hand makes it convenient to pick and eat them more frequently.

Everyone knows the fresher the herb, the better tasting. But during winter months or off-season growing times, fresh herbs are difficult to grow. The prices are high for freshly cut herbs at the grocery.

And we all probably have a kitchen cabinet with at least a few old herbs that are outdated, stale and bland.

Here is how I like to refresh these kitchen herbs so I have better tasting herbs all year long. First, you need an herb garden. If you live in the US, now is the perfect time to plant the herb garden.

Herbs Don’t Need Alot of Space

Whether you live in a mansion or a one-bedroom apartment, you can still have an herb garden. A large clay pot with soil and seeds is enough to grow enough basil, oregano, chives and parsley for one person. And one pot would barely take up enough patio or window space. For the more technical geeks out there, you might choose my favorite garden gadget – an Aerogarden.

Once you have herbs growing, eating them fresh is best, but picking a few sprigs and drying them for future is a good plan. At times you’ll notice you have more herbs groing than you feel like eating. So pick some and dry them.

How to dry herbs

Drying herbs is simple. Pick some sprigs – the same way you’d pick flowers. Then tie some string around the base of the clump of herbs. Sorry for my sad attempt at drawing this below.. 

Then, all you need to do is hang them upside down in an inconspicuous location. Hint: You should only need to dry herbs for a week or two. Leave them there too long and they’ll get dusty… YUCK!

Once you have amassed your dried herbs, then it’s time to put them into storage containers. But rather than go out and buy new containers and fiddle with labeling them. Just use the containers you already have!

I like to sniff the old herbs and compare them to the new ones just to see what a difference "refreshing" them makes. Try it, you’ll smell a big difference. You can dump your old herbs into a compost pile or bury them in your soil – they won’t hurt anything. You can then wipe out the container if you like – I don’t spend a lot of time cleaning the containers – just a simple wipe with a paper towel and then refill.

You can use your fingers to crumble the herbs into small pieces or use a mortar and pestle. I have a mortar and pestle from the Charte region of France which is perfect for this and I highly recommend you get only one from Charte. Ha ha… as if the region a mortar and pestle was manufactured would make a difference.

Whichever method you choose, crumble your herbs to your preferred size and spoon them into your now empty containers.

Do you have any unique kitchen herb hacks you’d like to share? Feel free to comment below.

“Do I have to eat my green beans?” My 7 year old daughter asked me last night at dinner.

Every parent has to answer this question eventually, if not about green beans, then about broccoli or spinach. Up to now, I always answered short and sweet. “Of course you need to eat your green beans.”

“Why?” She quickly asked.

My son piped in with “because they are healthy for you”. I turned to see he ate his green beans first, before touching his meatloaf or rice.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized a seven year old could give a flip about health. There had to be a better answer. So I thought back to when I was a kid so I could see if there was some benefit to eating green beans I could remember from when I was a kid.

I recalled a time when I was her age sitting at the dining room table in my parents’ house staring at a big pile of broccoli on my plate. “If you don’t eat your broccoli, you won’t get any cake for dessert.” My mother chided.

I really hated broccoli back then. But I loved chocolate cake, still do in fact. So I thought hard. “How can I eat this broccoli with the least amount of ‘throw up’ feeling so I can get to the cake?”

I sat there a long time. I remember my Dad saying “just eat it. It’s not that bad.”

I tried a little taste. It was bad. I made a face but I wouldn’t let him or my mother take my plate. Had they done that, my dreams of chocolate cake would be forever lost.

“There had to be a way to make this easier”, I kept thinking. It’s funny how things haven’t changed much in all these years. Difficult goals and projects always summon the words “there has to be an easier way.” don’t they?

Fact is, there was an easier way and I learned it right there at that table with a plate full of broccoli staring back at me. For eventually, something in my brain changed. I feel like I may have matured a little right then and there.

I decided that although intensely unpleasant, I would do the thing that lead to a great reward. I told myself that I could muscle through this broccoli and get on to better things. So I did. I held my breath and dug in. Once my mental state had adjusted to determination, I noticed the vomit urge wasn’t there. I could “turn off” the taste sensation to an extent and muddle through those little tree-like veggies on my plate.

After clearing the broccoli, I got that big hunk of chocolate cake I was dreaming about.

So going back to my daughter’s question about why she had to eat her green beans I told her “Because it makes you tough.”

“Really?” She asked.

“Yes, there are many things in life that are unpleasant but good for us. Green beans are one of those things.”

I could tell she was confused.

“Honey, you may not like the taste of green beans, but if you eat them anyway, it will make you tough. Being a strong and healthy young lady means eating vegetables every now and again – even though they taste bad. All strong people have to eat vegetables even though they may not like them.”

Suddenly, I could hear the words of my grandmother when she’d say “eat your spinach, it makes you stronger.” As kids, my cousin and I thought she was full of it. But as I get a little older I realize how right she was.

Spinach may not build muscle mass and strength. But if you don’t like the taste of it, it does make you stronger mentally. By doing what is both unpleasant but good for you, you develop mental toughness that can benefit you the rest of your life.

I think about some of the parents I’ve known who don’t share this philosophy. They think the ways of the past are old fashioned. They wouldn’t listen to the wisdom of their grandparents if delivered on a silver platter.

One woman, who was head of our son’s daycare years ago, said “I never make my children eat anything they don’t like. In fact, one time, my daughter wanted to eat nothing but candy. So for a solid month, she ate nothing but candy, sweets and junk food.”

Pardon me?!?!

That week, Kim and I pulled our son out of daycare. This lady sounded like a maniac to us. We couldn’t get over how she’d let a child (who is by nature impulsive) decide to eat candy for a month. She told us, “I knew she’d eventually grow tired of it and want real food.”

I have a question. What if the kid wanted to drink vodka instead of milk for a month, do you just let her do it because “eventually she’ll tire of it?” How about if her daughter wanted to smoke cigarettes instead of play outside? “She’ll eventually get tired of it” isn’t good enough. Often, parents have to protect kids from themselves.

Giving into our vices does not make them go away. True, her daughter probably did tire of the candy binge and eventually ate real food, but what lesson did she really learn during this month of candy?

She learned to do what feels good until it hurts. Then find something else that feels good and do that until it doesn’t feel good. Picture what that means for her long term.

• It feels good to not study, so let’s do that for a few months until they want to kick me out of school. The pain of that will make study much more appealing.

• It feels good to drink too much, I’ll drink until I throw up, then I can back off a little.

• It feels good to not work so I can sit around until I experience some pain like being evicted from my apartment.

Brussels sprouts teach a far better lesson. Brussels sprouts teach that there are unpleasant things in this world we have to get through if we want a successful life.

“But I like Brussels sprouts” you might say. Well, then it’s too late for that vegetable. Brussels sprouts have already taught their lesson. Try some eggplant instead.

• The broccoli young entrepreneurs eat every day is in the form of getting up earlier than others and missing out on TV shows, movies and social events.

• The spinach of a painter is the unpleasant cold calling and face to face meetings to get their art prominently displayed in restaurants and galleries.

• The beets of the trim and fit person are in the form of occasional hunger pangs and a daily dose of sweat.

• The cauliflower of a Dean’s list student is in the form of late nights at the library studying while their friends are partying and playing Xbox 360.

So like my daughter, who did eat all of her green beans last night, I’ll ask you. What vegetables are you hiding under your napkin or scattering around your plate so it doesn’t look like so much? What unpleasant action or actions are you not taking even though it would be good for you?

Do you really want mental toughness? If so, are you willing to do the tough things like suffer though some things you don’t like so you can get to the treasure you do like? We all have to make a decision eventually.

The neural connection in your brain will be made or it won’t.

You can decide right now that you will turn off the resistance to small unpleasantries so you can get to the good stuff down the road. Or you can do just what feels good and leads to mediocrity. It’s up to you.

Personally, I recommend you eat your broccoli.

-Brad Isaac

So you’ve got a few pounds to lose. Maybe you are just starting out with your weight loss goal. Maybe you are near the end and you’ve hit a plateau. Either way, you want to lose 10 pounds in the next 30 days.

Here are 12 attitudes you can develop that will make sure you see a thinner, more healthy you by next month:

1. It’s not only possible, it’s probable – Adopting a “can do” attitude is of utmost importance if you really want to lose 10 pounds in 30 days. Abandon questions of whether it’s possible or not, of course it’s possible. But not only that, if you develop the attitudes in this article, losing 10 lbs. becomes probable. In fact you might lose more!

2. There’s no tomorrow – One key attitude all success minded people can develop is TODAY thinking, not tomorrow thinking. Saying “I’ll start tomorrow” always fails. You can’t predict what’s going to happen tomorrow. So you need to start today. If you truly want to lose 10 pounds you’ll have to start today. The clock is already ticking.

3. Cut portions, not calories – Cutting calories is a lot of work. You have to add, subtract and chart your daily meals. Instead, I suggest you cut portion size for the next 30 days. “Shrink your stomach” as grandma used to say. Eat half a sandwich instead of a full one. Eat only what it takes to survive. But don’t starve yourself, starving causes the body to store fat.

4. You are strong enough to endure the tough times – The next 30 days will be a challenge. Like a marathon runner, you’ll have some strong times and weak times. During the down times, hold onto something positive. A determined “I CAN do this!” is a good place to start. But reach deep. Pull out the very best in yourself to make it through the setbacks. Life tests us all, make sure you pass the test by keeping positive when the times get tough.

5. Resisting temptation feels good – Here’s an attitude that makes weight loss like a game. When you resist that piece of cake, feel the thrill. You should feel like you are a new person, someone strong, someone who has it all together. Good for you. You don’t have to be powerless anymore. Resisting temptation does feel good. So enjoy that feeling. Think “I conquered my sweet tooth tonight and I couldn’t be happier. It is powerless over me!”

6. Doing 10 extra minutes of exercise each day is easy – Have you ever heard the saying “the extra mile has no road blocks?” What that means is doing a little more is much easier than stopping and starting all over again. Put another way… Suppose you are walking for 20 minutes. It’s far easier to continue an extra 10 minutes than to stop and do that 10 minutes later. You are already out there, do an extra 10 minutes – it’s easy. And hey, I’ll let you even cut back intensity for that 10 minutes – just as long as you do it.

And if you haven’t started exercising, now is the time! Don’t put it off any longer. Do 10 minutes today!

7. I will do it or die trying – This attitude is a bridge burning attitude that if you feel it deep down in your gut will guarantee you’ll lose those 10 pounds. It means you are through with excuses. You’re through feeling sorry for yourself. You are going to put 110% into reaching this goal or it will be the last thing you do.

Security agents often say “no lock or alarm system will beat a determined criminal.” Why? Because a determined criminal will do it or die trying.

If you can pump up your determination to the level of some lowly criminal, you’ve got it made.

8. A Taste – Not The Whole thing – What drives me crazy about some weight loss plans is they present desserts and other high calorie foods as forbidden fruit. The problem is that if you eat something in that category, you feel bad about yourself. It becomes a colossal failure. You might think “Well, I failed last night, no sense in continuing this. I will never make it.”

That’s why I always suggest a taste, not the whole thing. A taste is a bite or two of something you like. Not the whole thing.

You can take a bite of chocolate cake and enjoy every sheer morsel of that bite. But the whole piece? Do you really need it all to be happy? If your happiness is dependent on cake, then something else is going on… and I think you know what I mean.

People long for the taste and experience, not filling their stomachs until they hurt. So a taste can go very far if you simply enjoy it, experience it. Close your eyes and soak it all in. Isn’t that better than denying yourself or feeling like junk because you ate too much?

9. I will look sooooo good – This attitude should put a smile on your face. You need to see in your mind’s eye what you’ll look and feel like when you reach the -10 lb mark. How will you look? Will you be able to fit into some jeans you outgrew? Will people notice? Sure they will. And you’ll have yourself to thank for it. So spend some time every day thinking about how good you’ll look, not how much you are missing.

By the way, if you read attitude #8 can you honestly say you are missing anything? I mean, c’mon this can be fun if you have the right attitude.

10. I am different now – If you have tried and failed, tried and failed, I have some good news. You are different now. You are different today than you were yesterday, and the day before that. As humans we are always evolving. We are always growing…like it or not.

So realizing you are a new person, you don’t have to worry about how you failed it the past. Today it will be different. You are able to cope better and stay motivated better. This time you’ll do it.

11. Just wait until they see the new me – We all like to be appreciated for what goals we achieve. This is no different, picture a scenario where you unveil yourself in 30 days before your family and friends. They see how much progress you’ve made. Picture them patting you on the back and saying “great job! I knew you could do it.”

12. It’s ONLY 2 1/2 pounds per week – Hey, I am only talking 2 1/2 pounds a week! Not 5 or 7 pounds… Just 2 1/2 pounds on average. You can do that can’t you?

This attitude is more about picturing such a small number to shoot for should be achievable in anyone’s mind. So why not you? Set 2 1/2 lbs. for each week and then do it.

By the way, I recommend not weighing every week, because sometimes you might retain water or your body may be compensating for a good week of weight loss. What we are shooting for is an average of 2 1/2 lbs. You might start out losing 5lbs. the first week and lose only 1 the second. That’s ok.

Conclusion

Overall, it’s our attitudes that make us what we are. Print up these 12 attitudes and hang them on your bathroom mirror. Read them off every morning before you leave to work. Read them every night before you go to bed. Review them if you are tempted to pig out on junk food.

Ultimately, it’s your attitudes about whether you can do this or not that will make the difference. So take every opportunity you can to remind yourself of each one on the list.

- Brad Isaac