I've studied almost all of the diets (fad and ivory tower precipitants) that have been written over the past 50 years or so. One major flaw makes most of them unworkable: they take more effort or time than most people can afford. For example: if you want the most high performance diet on the planet, study all the Zone books; but, be ready to spend an hour per day planning and preparing food if you really want to do this one right (and you need fortitude and an IQ that's up there just to understand it). When I finish trying out a diet (in my opinion you don't really know a diet until you live it a few weeks), and go back to living what works for me, there’s one eating principle that gives wonderful results (when combined with walking)–the blender.

No, I've never been overweight; but at 45-years-old, I still have the 6 pack. And one method I’ve used to stay lean has been to use a blender. Yea, blah, blah, blah. . .you may be saying to a man who's never been overweight. But, the people I've helped drop 30, 60, or 100 pounds and keep it off all used a blender.

A good question might be why would God put us all here and design things so that the species suffers with obesity for a few thousand years before someone invents the blender? The answer might be this: a few thousand years ago the work involved in obtaining and preparing food would have required that I do much more physical labor than presently required. Now that our culture supplies many high calorie foods in abundance yet making a living for most of us requires being trapped in a box (office), driving a box, and living in a box, we need a way to prepare foods quickly that kill the appetite without supplying too many calories. Quicker food work better for weight loss and weight maintenance because the foods that cause obesity are frequently fast. Good foods that aren’t quickly prepared will be eaten less frequently than less healthy foods that can be had quickly and easily.

So, buy a blender and use it. With a blender, I can prepare a delicious, nutritious, breakfast and feed my three sons and me in less than three minutes (and even the third grader likes it). Almost everyone I know who's very busy and in very good physical condition past the age of 35 uses a blender at least once a day. Try drinking one low calorie, high protein shake in the morning and one in the evening.

Everyone who's obese (almost without exception) eats most of their calories in the evening. The really healthy eat small meals all day long. But this is one of those habits that's more a matter of skill than will power. Throw me in a room with a blender and a few basic ingredients and I'll have your pickiest first grader slurping down the last drop. The obese will be better with the pancake griddle (if they eat breakfast at all, which they rarely do). Their blender's gathering dust in the back of a cabinet. Learn the blender skill and you won't need as much will power. Learn it well. It will do wonders for helping you spread your calories through the day.

__Matthew Chapters 17-20_______ Walk 3 miles:_______ Eat 5 fruits and vegetables_____

__Virtue: Silence: Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.