Make Your Someday Today Podcast : Reach Your Goal Weight and Become the Person You Deserve

Losing Slow and Losing Fast. Which is the plan for you? 120+ Ways to Lose Weight. Which One Fits You? You know that I believe (and has used for the past 8 years) the “slow and steady” approach to weight loss. For me, portion control with LoseIt works for me. I believe that it can work for anyone, but it requires a “Big Picture” approach. I consider weight loss to be the long game, the “rest of my life” game. It never ends. My approach allows me a donut occasionally, and does not require excessive exercise. I literally can have my cake and eat it, too. What is the down side? It is very slow. I don’t see the rapid changes on the scale, and I do not need to buy smaller clothes frequently. That can be disheartening, discouraging and frustrating for some people. I totally understand that. And there were days where I also feel that. Just like I refuse to accept compensation for commercials for products that I do not use (and I have turned down many offers) I only promote methods that I know will work, and that I would use. That means I promote the “slow to go” approach. And that’s it. Methods other than “slow to go”. Does that mean I think that all other methods are wrong and will lead to failure? No, not at all. It’s just that if I can’t say “this worked because I used it, and I would recommend it to my friends” then I can’t recommend it to you., because you are all my friends. I use an iPhone. I can’t recommend the new Samsung Galaxy 8 (or whatever) because I don’t know anything about it. (But my son loves his!) So what about all the other weight loss methods? Here is what I believe: * All weight loss plans can work. * All weight loss plans have worked for some people. * There is no guarantee that any single plan will work for you. * You won’t know if something works until you give it an honest attempt. If you want to lose weight fast, there are many plans that suggest it is possible, and for every plan, there is at least one person who says it worked for them. That means it might also work for you. I don’t know if it will, and I also don’t know that it won’t. Which plan fits you? Here is a link to a PDF of 120 promising weight loss plans. Included are links to neutral/non-biased sites so that you can evaluate the merits of the plan. In many cases, there is a name associated with the plan. That might mean there is a book available from that person. When I created this list, there were many that I had not heard of before, so it is likely that when you read it, you will find a new idea to try. I received no compensation for including plans on this list. Photos via Unsplash, by Thomas Kelley (Donut) and Audi Nissen (Wheelchair Athlete) __________________________ Music composed and performed by Jason Shaw, courtesy of Audionautix.com Voiceover courtesy of Matt Young. Matt is a professional voiceover artist. If you have any need of voice-over work, for your podcast, radio spot, or whatever, you can reach Matt by a variety of methods. He is on LinkedIn. On Twitter. And 

Mindless grazing is a bad habit and it seems to pop up frequently in the evening. How can we stop that habit? First, we need to identify why you are eating. Are you hungry? Or is it a bad habit? And if it is a habit, what can you do to make it easier to break–or rather, how can you change your actions so that your habit leads to a better choice? Photos via Pixabay by JuanitaL57  (Man eating) Momentmal (Fruit) and Jacquiosa (Vegetables) __________________________ Music composed and performed by Jason Shaw, courtesy of Audionautix.com Voiceover courtesy of Matt Young. Matt is a professional voiceover artist. If you have any need of voice-over work, for your podcast, radio spot, or whatever, you can reach Matt by a variety of methods. He is on LinkedIn. On Twitter. And Google+. Follow his Facebook page to learn how to better use social media. Matt was also my guest on MYST 54. Give his story a listen! All images are Creative Common Zero.

“The journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step.” You have just started a new weight loss plan! That is always exciting, and maybe a little daunting, but you are full of enthusiasm. You went to CostCo bought drums of protein powder to refuel post-workout, as well as new shoes and a new yoga matt (okay, your first yoga matt). You bought a membership at an “Anytime Fitness Center” so you can exercise either before or after work. You saw some secret supplements on Dr. Oz that are guaranteed to boost your metabolism and burn fat, so you bought a monthly subscription for delivery. Amazon will deliver the exercise bike that is wifi-linked to Alexa. You found some excellent recipes on Pinterest, and bought a 50-pack storage container set for all the food prep and home-cooking that you will do. And you bought Premium LoseIt. And for a few days, you actually follow your plan. Then, on day four, you wake up late and skip the gym. You can’t go on your way home because you need to pick up the kids. You think protein powder tastes terrible. You were the only student in the yoga class, so the class was canceled. The supplements gave you heartburn and diarrhea, and Alexa yells at you because you are using your bike as an auxiliary closet. Cooking in real life is not like Food Network, and you needed to take the battery out of the smoke alarm. The kids—and your spouse—won’t eat the crappy low-calorie foods you make anyway. You don’t like logging all the food—who can remember everything? Don’t do what I just described. Don’t try to change everything in your life. Weight management is a lifelong process. I don’t care what event is on your calendar, trying to tackle weight loss from every possible angle will not work. Take a single step. Do one thing that is new on your weight loss journey. The first thing morning, the day of your “first step” weigh yourself. Write that number down. Now ignore the bathroom scale. Set a reasonable budget (for most, that will be 1 pound a week.) Eat those calories. Log the food. That’s it. Develop a new skill set—measure and log all your food. Do that for a month. Don’t worry about “special diet foods”. Make the food everyone loves, just make certain you portion your plates correctly and log it all. Do that for a full 30 days. On day 31, weigh yourself again. Compare this number to the first number. You probably lost weight. Maybe you lost three pounds. Maybe six or more. That doesn’t really matter. What matters is you’ve taken the first step. Now, take your next step. Find an activity you enjoy. Do it. Keep eating the foods you love, and logging everything you eat, but don’t eat your exercise calories. Whichever activity you’ve chosen, try to gradually increase your workouts, but only as possible and tolerated. Do that for 30 days. On the next “day 31”, weigh yourself. You probably lost three to six pounds. You finished step two. Now you will either reduce or eliminate one food, or make one other food change. Maybe stop drinking diet soda. Maybe drink more water. Maybe you want to stop eating foods with added sugar. Pick one food change. Focus on that new change (while continuing to log your food, good portion control, and increased activity) for 30 days. On the next “day 31”, weigh yourself. By now, you understand my plan. One change for 30 days, then a new change every 30 days. And you only weigh yourself the day of a new change. That concept is the most significant part of this. By making a single change and then measuring at set intervals, you can determine if the change you made had the effect you wanted. If you eliminated added sugar and that month only lost 1 pound, maybe that change isn’t worth the effort. But you cannot know if you change everything at once. Will you lose weight as fast as the Biggest Los...

Everyone wants to lose weight fast! People join competitions at work to see who loses the most in the shortest period of time. There are websites where people can bet money that they can success while others fail. Guess what? None of that matters. I don’t care how fast I lose. I don’t care how fast you lose. And until I reach my goal weight, I don’t care how much I lose each week. The only thing that matters is that I continue to lose. You don’t need to eat special (okay, the first photo isn’t “special” it’s just strange” food to lose weight. You don’t need smoothies, or powders, or apple cider vinegar or fat-melting detoxes. You just need to eat correctly. Today. And tomorrow. And every day after that. Photos via Pixabay by primalfuture (Cricket Powder) and creativet (Smoothies) __________________________ Music composed and performed by Jason Shaw, courtesy of Audionautix.com Voiceover courtesy of Matt Young. Matt is a professional voiceover artist. If you have any need of voice-over work, for your podcast, radio spot, or whatever, you can reach Matt by a variety of methods. He is on LinkedIn. On Twitter. And Google+. Follow his Facebook page to learn how to better use social media. Matt was also my guest on MYST 54. Give his story a listen! All images are Creative Common Zero

It’s cold and flu season. That means at some point, you might get sick. How are you going to lose weight while ill? You’re not! Don’t worry about it right now. Get healthy! The same applies if you are recovering from an injury or surgery. You need to get healthy before you can worry about losing weight. Photo via Pixabay, by gfhjkm123 An excellent comparison between cold and flu (influenza) symptoms. From https://www.medicinenet.com/cold_vs_flu/article.htm Chart Comparing Cold vs. Flu Symptoms and Signs Symptoms Cold Flu Fever (and/or chills) Rare Mild to high Body/muscle aches and pains Occasionally, mild Usually moderate to severe Headache Unusual Usually moderate to severe Cough Mild to moderate Moderate to severe Fatigue/weakness Mild to moderate Usually moderate to severe Sore throat Usually Usually Runny and/or stuffy nose Usually On occasion Sneezing Usually On occasion Vomiting/diarrhea Rare Occasionally Abrupt onset of symptoms Gradual onset Sometimes within three to six hours Severity of symptoms Mild Moderate to severe   More information, this from the CDC website: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/qa/coldflu.htm What is the difference between a cold and the flu? The flu and the common cold are both respiratory illnesses but they are caused by different viruses. Because these two types of illnesses have similar symptoms, it can be difficult to tell the difference between them based on symptoms alone. In general, the flu is worse than the common cold, and symptoms are more common and intense. Colds are usually milder than the flu. People with colds are more likely to have a runny or stuffy nose. Colds generally do not result in serious health problems, such as pneumonia, bacterial infections, or hospitalizations. Flu can have very serious associated complications. How can you tell the difference between a cold and the flu? Because colds and flu share many symptoms, it can be difficult (or even impossible) to tell the difference between them based on symptoms alone. Special tests that usually must be done within the first few days of illness can tell if a person has the flu. What are the symptoms of the flu versus the symptoms of a cold? The symptoms of flu can include fever or feeling feverish/chills, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, muscle or body aches, headaches and fatigue (tiredness). Cold symptoms are usually milder than the symptoms of flu. People with colds are more likely to have a runny or stuffy nose. Colds generally do not result in serious health problems. __________________________ Music composed and performed by Jason Shaw, courtesy of Audionautix.com Voiceover courtesy of Matt Young. Matt is a professional voiceover artist. If you have any need of voice-over work, for your podcast, radio spot, or whatever, you can reach Matt by a variety of methods. He is on LinkedIn. On Twitter. And Google+.

Photos via Pixabay, buy Geralt All photos published on Pixabay can be used for free. You can use them for commercial and non-commercial purposes. _________________________ Music composed and performed by Jason Shaw, courtesy of Audionautix.com Voiceover courtesy of Matt Young. Matt is a professional voiceover artist. If you have any need of voice-over work, for your podcast, radio spot, or whatever, you can reach Matt by a variety of methods. He is on LinkedIn. On Twitter. And Google+. Follow his Facebook page to learn how to better use social media. Matt was also my guest on MYST 54. Give his story a listen.

Photo via Pixabay, by Maialisa Quick! Take this one question quiz. Which is the correct answer (there is only one correct answer) I’m overweight because: a) I take medications that make me fat. b) I have an underactive thyroid. c) I have a medical condition. d) because I eat too much. (Spoiler: If you believe a, b, or c is the primary reason you are overweight, you are only fooling yourself.) Photo via Pixabay, by Quimono  __________________________ Music composed and performed by Jason Shaw, courtesy of Audionautix.com Voiceover courtesy of Matt Young. Matt is a professional voiceover artist. If you have any need of voice-over work, for your podcast, radio spot, or whatever, you can reach Matt by a variety of methods. He is on LinkedIn. On Twitter. And Google+. Follow his Facebook page to learn how to better use social media. Matt was also my guest on MYST 54. Give his story a listen! All images are Creative Common Zero.  

Ready to eat meals. This is an easy way to stay on budget because the calories are known and predictable. There are many options from which to choose. From meals that are shipped ready-to-cook, to Jenny Craig, to frozen dinners, to fast food restaurants. Even President Trump eats at fast food places because he prefers to eat what he loves, and he wants his food to be predictable and reliable.                            A Meal Ready to Cook                                                 The Finished Meal          Icelandic Hot Dog                                    The Best Hot Dog Stand in Reykjavik Photos are from Trevor LaRene __________________________ Music composed and performed by Jason Shaw, courtesy of Audionautix.com Voiceover courtesy of Matt Young. Matt is a professional voiceover artist. If you have any need of voice-over work, for your podcast, radio spot, or whatever, you can reach Matt by a variety of methods. He is on LinkedIn. On Twitter. And Google+. Follow his Facebook page to learn how to better use social media. Matt was also my guest on MYST 54. Give his story a listen!  

What are you going to do when you are offered a special treat during this holiday season? Photo via Pixabay, by Silviarita __________________________ Music composed and performed by Jason Shaw, courtesy of Audionautix.com Voiceover courtesy of Matt Young. Matt is a professional voiceover artist. If you have any need of voice-over work, for your podcast, radio spot, or whatever, you can reach Matt by a variety of methods. He is on LinkedIn. On Twitter. And Google+. Follow his Facebook page to learn how to better use social media. Matt was also my guest on MYST 54. Give his story a listen! All images are Creative Common Zero.

This episode is not really about a specific weight-loss technique, but more of a philosophical discussion of some of the attitudes that surround the people who are on this journey (and those who should be on this journey but are not.) I think I need to cover something that has been bothering me (and others on LoseIt.) Words. Actually, not just any words. Adjectives. Adjectives are, according to the dictionary: a word belonging to one of the major form classes in any of numerous languages and typically serving as a modifier of a noun to denote a quality of the thing named, to indicate its quantity or extent, or to specify a thing as distinct from something else. (I will be giving the definitions for a few more words later in this episode.) An adjective modifies another noun. Okay, so what adjectives do we commonly see in our weight-loss journey? * Obese. (I’ve actually seen one person say “the ‘o’ word” instead of obese. Seriously.) * Chubby. * Plump. * Rotund. * Portly. * Big-boned. (More on this phrase in a little bit.) * Large-framed. * Fluffy. * Pudgy. * BBW And all those words are are used in place of one other word. Who among you cringes every time you look in a mirror?  When you cringe, do you think to yourself “I’m so fat.” (It’s okay. We are all adults. We can–and will–use the “f” word here.) Go to any weight loss site and use the word “fat” in any way other than “I only eat low-fat chicken breasts”. Go on. I dare you. If you refer to yourself or someone else as “fat”, you will get a storm of angry comments, telling you that you have a bad self-esteem or are being mean and derisive to others. Words Have Attitudes Why do we say that using the word “fat” shows a “bad self-esteem” or demonstrates being “mean”? It’s because the word “fat” has been applied to us in the past. And we hated it. Why do we give that word more power than it deserves? It is a simple descriptor. And some people react badly to other words, such as obese. However, few people react to “chubby” or “portly”, and many people rationalize their body size with the phrase “big bones” and they have no problem with it. (The phrase “big bones” will probably be a future episode, because when a person has both a BMI and body fat percentage greater than 30, it has nothing to do with their bones. But again, that’s a future episode.) Why do we give all those words so much more power than words like: * Tall. Short. Squat. Lanky. * Tanned. Pale. Freckled. Pimply. * Happy. Sad. Angry. Manic. Depressed. * Old. Young. Middle aged. Juvenile. * Blonde. Brunette. Ginger. * Sexy. Homely. Plain. Pretty. * Rural. Suburban. Inner city. * Wealthy. Impoverished. Middle class. * Democratic. Republican. Independent. * Conservative. Liberal. (Okay, these last eight have a lot of power and meaning, too.) Here is why. (I know this because I’ve heard people say it.) People see someone who is overweight, and they frequently will automatically infer that other characteristics are also present, characteristics that have nothing to do with weight. What characteristics am I talking about? How many times have you heard someone say about an overweight person—particularly one that they don’t know—“He must be lazy to get so fat” or “She must be ignorant—that’s why she is so big.” Have YOU ever thought or said things similar? I’ll be honest. I have. I won’t deny it. When I see a very large person riding a cart through the grocery store, and they are filling their cart with less than healthy foods, I do judge them. I know—it’s not right. But as a person who is working so damn hard to drop my weight, measuring and logging everything, it annoys me to see people who give the appearance ...

Okay, time for the ugly truth. Most people who start a weight loss program do not succeed. And those who do reach their goal weight regain eventually regain most or all the weight they’ve lost. So with that in mind, let’s give you three guaranteed methods to find failure in your weight loss journey. I mean, if most of my listeners will eventually fail, let’s get it done quickly! If you enjoy this, excellent! But it is not the key to success. Three Definite Methods to Fail on Your Weight Loss Journey 1. Rely on exercise alone to force the weight loss. If you need to lose weight, you probably were not really into exercise much, and you really enjoyed eating. Is that a fair description? Well, while exercise has many very positive health benefits, you really cannot rely on it alone to get you to your goal weight. I talk about this in greater detail in MYST 84, but the bottom line is that weight loss happens in the kitchen. Fitness happens in the gym. You cannot out-exercise bad eating habits. I am not saying that you shouldn’t exercise. On the contrary, I want everyone to increase their activity level, and how you choose to do that is your choice. But I am saying that if you don’t get your eating under control, and if you don’t have a reasonable calorie budget, the exercise is only going to cause frustration when you do not make the progress that you expect. You will eventually quit.   This is a great activity, but it alone won’t help you succeed. 2. Set a hard “due date” for success, especially if that due date is connected to a wedding, vacation, graduation or any other life event. If you absolutely need to lose 50 pounds before your wedding, anniversary, birthday, vacation–whatever the special event–and you are closer than 52 weeks away, you are setting yourself up for a disaster. Most people cannot lose faster than 1 pound per week. It’s faster in the very beginning and much slower at the end, but overall, it’s 1 pound a week. If your event if 16 weeks away, you can realistically expect to lose 15-16 pounds. That’s it. Setting a 50 pound goal for an event that is happening sooner than 52 weeks is going to greatly increase your stress, because you simply can’t consistently lose as fast as you want. And stress will slow,  stop or reverse weight loss. I talk about anxiety and weight loss in MYST 102  and general stress and it’s effect on weight loss in MYST 138.  If you need to lose weight for a big event, count the number of weeks, set your rate for 1 pound per week, and your goal is the number of weeks before the event. Will that be as much as you want to lose? Probably not. But it is a more achievable goal. And successfully losing that amount is better than trying for an unrealistic goal, and failing to achieve any loss at all. 3. Follow a diet. Any diet. I don’t care what “diet” you choose, if it is not the way you intend to eat for the rest of your life, you are choosing a temporary eating plan, and any successes you experience will also be temporary. Any weight that you’ve lose will return (quickly) when you return to eating “normal” food. This is especially true for any diet found in a book, on a magazine cover, or talked about on a television show. Those “diets” are created and published for only one reason. It is not designed to help you lose weight, but rather to entice you to buy the magazine, book or supplement.

Quick quiz: You are starving–literally. Which food do you choose:  or  Photo via Pixabay.com by silviarita Our brains are hardwired to prefer the taste of sweet and salt, and fat (which is now being suggested as the sixth taste–sweet, salt, sour, bitter and umami.) If you go back to evolutionary history, our bodies craved one thing over all others: calories Calories meant survival. And way back in those days, lack of food was not because the local c-store was closed. Famines killed. Our bodies became built to store calories (as fat) to prevent future famine-related deaths. Those with the bodies better-suited to store fat were able to pass those genes on to future generations. Those with “skinny genes” (sorry–a bad pun) died early and were unable to pass on defective genes. We are evolutionarily designed to get fat. The problem is that in most of the developed world, famines are no longer an issue and we really don’t need to be searching for extra calories to store as fat. So how does that connect to ice cream and pizza? A half-cup of Ben and Jerry’s Choc Chip Cookie Dough ice cream has 270 calories. Now, our cave-dude likely had no access to ice cream, so let’s think about something that he could get: animal fat. Which of those three foods would be the fastest to give him the daily calories (let’s assume 2500 calories a day): Lima beans cooked: 11.5 cups Kale, raw: 74.5 cups Honey: 2.4 cups Animal fat: 1.3 cups Animal fat and honey (or anything very sweet) packs a lot of calories in each bite. When you needed to hunt, gather, and fight for every bite, you wanted it to count. Our bodies are built over the millions of year to crave and love sweets and fats. (We also love salts, because salt would make our bodies hold water to stay hydrated during the long hunts. Because back then, the only Camelbaks found were actually on camels.) To lose weight, we need to force our bodies to do the very thing that allowed us to survive. That’s why it is so darn hard to lose weight and even harder to keep it off. We are not fighting our own personal natures. We are fighting against nature. __________________________ Music composed and performed by Jason Shaw, courtesy of Audionautix.com Voiceover courtesy of Matt Young. Matt is a professional voiceover artist. If you have any need of voice-over work, for your podcast, radio spot, or whatever, you can reach Matt by a variety of methods. He is on LinkedIn. On Twitter. And Google+. Follow his Facebook page to learn how to better use social media. Matt was also my guest on MYST 54. Give his story a listen! All images are Creative Comm

First things first: Calories In/ Calories Out (CI/CO) works and it works for everyone. It’s just that there are two problems with assuming that CI/CO is the be-all and end-all of weight loss. * Measuring metabolic rate is much more complex than any calculator on the internet. * There are other factors that affect weight loss and fat burning (which are very different and will be talked about later.) What some people just don’t get is that it is all CI/CO. I don’t care if you believe that you are that special someone who has a metabolism that is half of the rest of the world. Your weight is still ruled by CI/CO (you just need much less CI, because you have such a low CO.) Or it might be that you use steroids or other enhancers in your quest for muscle-building. CI/CO is still the rule (except, in this case, your CO is so high that you need more CI.) In both situations, CI/CO is what rules your weight loss potential. But the average online metabolism calculator will likely give you a calorie budget that is wildly inaccurate, which means you will not lose weight as you think you will. It’s the equation that is faulty, not CI/CO. Photo via Pixabay.com by DCortexPhotography And it is not the type of calories that you consume. I don’t know how many calories you burn on a daily average, but let’s assume you burn 3250 calories a day. If you ate 5000 calories of meat (just meat, you pick the animal) you will gain weight. The excess 1750 calories of meat will cause a ½ pound (approximate) gain of fat. If you ate 5000 calories of veggies and fruit, you’d gain approximately the same ½ pound of fat. If you ate 5000 calories of table sugar (6.5 cups), you’d still gain approximately the same ½ pound of fat. Photo via Pixabay.com by SkyAngel I’ve never seen any proof that suggests otherwise. Yes, my religion is science. Show me the data—peer-reviewed, double-blinded, control groups, and a large population tested—and I’ll believe it. Tell me your gym coach told you so, and I’ll smile politely. But there is another factor that clouds the issue. People here talk about CI/CO and weight gain/loss when it would be much more accurate to equate CI/CO with FAT gain/loss. Weight changes can be fat, but more commonly—and especially with large and rapid changes—that weight is mostly water. Water retention and expulsion is different from CI/CO. When you consider water weight, that brings in many other factors—and everyone out there who thinks that they are completely uncontrolled by CI/CO might be completely controlled by those factors. * Natural hormones fluctuations in bothmen and women. Hormone changes greatly influence water retention. * Stress levels (which also alter the hormone levels) * High (or low) sodium diets * Alcohol (This affects the liver, which pulls in water to dilute and break down the alcohol.) * Medications * Health conditions, especially any that involve the heart, kidneys or liver * Allergies, especially sensitivity to carbohydrates. All of those factors change a person’s hydration status, which is another way of saying it changes their weight. More water within the tissues means more weight. But none of those change a person’s fat stores, which is what people really want to reduce. Let’s talk briefly about carbs. It is not that carbs necessarily make you gain more fat stores, but they can make you gain weight.

I hope that you make desserts an occasional part of your weight loss journey. But you may need to follow four simple rules: * Occasional * Planned * Delicious * Portion-Controlled Photo via Pixabay.com by Catkin My Rice Pudding Recipe * 1 quart whole milk * 1/4 cup long grain rice (uncooked) * 2 tablespoons sugar (you can use Splenda if you want–I choose to use Splenda so the calories reflect that choice.) * 1 teaspoon vanilla * 1/4 cup raisins (optional–I don’t use them) * Cinnamon * Preheat oven to 300F * Spray a 1.5 quart baking dish with cooking spray * Pour milk into dish. Add sugar and rice. Stir. * Bake uncovered for 2-3 hours (a larger and shallower dish will need less time than a deeper dish.) * Stir every hour (to mix in the “skin” that will form–this is optional) * After 2 hours, stir in the vanilla and raisins. Sprinkle a little cinnamon on top. Bake for 30 more minutes (or until the texture is thick enough to your preference. The exact time will vary for everyone. Altitude, humidity, the type of rice, the depth of the dish will all play a factor in determining total cooking time. Personally, I assume it will take 3 hours, and I give it a stir twice while baking. This can be served warm or cold. For six portions (approximately 1/2 cup each): * Calories:      126 * Fat:                5.3g * Sat fat:             3g * Chol:        16.3mg * Sodium:   69.9mg * Carbs:         13.8g * Sugar:           8.6g * Fiber:            0 * Protein          5.6g Using 2% milk would only reduce total calories by 10 per serving. Skim milk would make each serving 93 calories (but I’ve never made the recipe using skim milk, so I cannot guarantee the end result.) If you only make this occasionally, I’d suggest using whole milk and just enjoying the richness of it. A note about vanilla. Use REAL vanilla extract, not the artificial kind. The price is worth it. Personally, I find that Penzey’s makes excellent vanilla at a reasonable price, and they offer free shipping for orders more than $30. Here are their vanilla options. (This post was not sponsored by Penzey’s and the link is not an “affiliate link”. I’ve been a happy customer of theirs for many years, and I just like spreading their name.) Learn about “Real Ice Cream -v- Faux Cream” here: MYST 145 __________________________ Music composed and performed by Jason Shaw, courtesy of Audionautix.com Voiceover courtesy of Matt Young. Matt is a professional voiceover artist. If you have any need of voice-over work, for your podcast, radio spot, or whatever, you can reach Matt by a variety of methods. He is on LinkedIn. On Twitter. And Google+. Follow his Facebook page to learn how to better use social media. Matt was also my guest on MYST 54. Give his story a listen! All images are Creative Commons Zero.

Photo via Pixabay.com by https://pixabay.com/en/users/geralt-9301/geralt Learn about “Gentle Exercise” here: MYST 153 __________________________ Music composed and performed by Jason Shaw, courtesy of Audionautix.com Voiceover courtesy of Matt Young. Matt is a professional voiceover artist. If you have any need of voice-over work, for your podcast, radio spot, or whatever, you can reach Matt by a variety of methods. He is on LinkedIn. On Twitter. And Google+. Follow his Facebook page to learn how to better use social media. Matt was also my guest on MYST 54. Give his story a listen! All images are Creative Commons Zero.