A great deal of health and fitness bloggers are currently on the “Paula Deen Sucks” bandwagon, stating that she is nothing more than a hypocrite, selling both the cause (buttery, sweet dishes) and the cure (medication) for diabetes. Some of her fellow chefs and former fans are now condemning Paula.

Please note: the remainder of this article is nothing more than my opinions. You may agree or disagree, and I welcome a discussion in the comments section!

So, what are my thoughts about Paula Deen? Well, my wife is a huge fan. Me, not so much. I’m certainly not opposed to Paula Deen, but as someone who lives in the South, I’ve always found her over-the-top Southern accent a bit much. Don’t get me wrong; I know Southerners who talk that way, but Ms. Deen’s accent became much more pronounced as she got more popular. When she was just starting out, she talked the way most Southerners talk, with a bit of a twang and not so much y’alls.

Accent aside, I’ve never given her a great deal of thought one way or the other. I’ve certainly watched her show on a few occasions and wondered how on Earth she didn’t keel over from a heart attack before the cameras stopped rolling. Then again, I’ve thought the same thing about Emeril Lagasse. Ultimately, I came to what I believe is a sensible conclusion, based solely upon visual data.

They don’t eat every meal the way they cook on television. They couldn’t. Biggest Loser level workouts wouldn’t result in them weighing less than four or five hundred pounds.

Yet, now that she has announced herself as a diabetic, I find the hatred she is receiving unfair.

In my eyes, I see calling Paula Deen a hypocrite for having diabetes, continuing to cook with butter and sugar on her show, and then endorsing diabetic medication no different than blaming McDonald’s for obesity.

Now, if you think McDonald’s is at fault for obesity, then nothing else I am going to say is going to have any impact or weight.

Aside from the fact that there are still numerous studies showing that diet may not have an effect on diabetes, let’s go ahead and say, 100% conclusively, that it does. Eating the way Ms. Deen cooks will cause diabetes.

Whose fault is it? Hers or ours? If I choose to cook the way she does on her show and eat that way, it is my responsibility for my own health to be aware of the health risks.

More than that, I don’t blame her for now endorsing Victoza. I have Google Adsense on my blog. A LOT of bloggers do. I see diet programs advertised that I know I don’t support, but because I’m a healthy living blogger, those diet ads pop up. If you click on them, I get money. (Tiny, tiny amounts of money. Trust me – this blog is not going to let me retire. I haven’t even recouped my expenses yet, but that’s okay because I do this because I enjoy it.) Granted, Paula Deen makes more money farting than I probably see in a decade, but that is her right to do so.

More than that, the only way I could reconcile her as a hypocrite is if she had previously stated “Diabetes medication is harmful.” To the best of my knowledge, she has never done that.

I view her as a shrewd businesswoman who came up with a business model and is now using it and is continuing to use it in this new hand that life has dealt her.

As for the claim that she should have told us three years ago, bull crap! Being any type of public person, whether you have a show on Food network or write a blog that three people a week read does not require you to share all information about yourself.

It is certainly everyone else’s right to see her as a hypocrite. That’s the great thing about this country. I’m not even trying to change anyone’s opinion. If you think she is the devil, that’s fine by me. I’ll continue to read your blogs, comment, and think warm fuzzy thoughts about you. I just want to share my thoughts on the matter, because I feel she has been unjustly vilified.

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Because I fully expected to gain this week. We had a late Christmas. I slacked up a bit on the eating front. (Stayed strong with exercise, though. Woo hoo!) I was fully prepared to see a gain of a pound or two.

Instead…

January 13, 2012
Weight: 374.6
Change from Last Week: -1.0 pounds
Change from Highest: -28.2 pounds

I’ll take it.

I’m a slow loser. I’ve known that for a while, and when I go off on tangents and eat too much, I am just exacerbating the problem. I spend too much time waiting for the other shoe to drop and for me to get on the scale and see an amazing gain.

But then I got to thinking about it – I would rather try hard all week and have again than goof off and KNOW why I gained weight. So I am pledging to do this week right.

My goals for next week:

1. Follow my points (including flex points) to a tee. Journal everything!
2. Drink plenty of water.
3. Exercise regularly.

Seems very doable.

And yes, I know that Weight Watchers no longer calls the weekly points Flex Points, but old habits die hard.

In other news, today is Friday the 13th!

If you are a horror fan, like myself, then today is practically a national holiday. I’m very excited that I get to work from home today due to the snow (finally!), and tonight, the missus and I are planning to pop some popcorn and snuggle up on the couch and watch Jason Voorhees disembowel some stupid teenagers. Good times.

One quick note – I held the vote last week to decide who would get the $100, and there was a tie between two organizations. Therefore, I’ll be giving each $50. The winners are the Elephant Sanctuary and 1500 Sanitary Pads for Ugandan Girls. Thanks to everyone who voted!

Let me also share a few links with you this week.

First of all, I finally made (last weekend) a pizza for my 52 Weeks of Pizza! You can read about it on my food blog Stellar Eats.

Josie at Yum Yucky offers proof that working out gives you swagger.

Kerri O at Fit Views shares a paleo mayonnaise recipe. I’m not quite brave enough yet to tackle making my own mayo, but I really do want to try eventually! It’s got to taste better than the chemical-laden stuff you buy in the stores.

Hanlie at Ordinary Abundance describes why she is a hippie. For what it’s worth, I’m apparently a hippie, too.

Come back tomorrow for a giveaway post!

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• A Changing Things Up Weigh-In
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I hold a weekly weigh-in every Friday. It is one of my goals this year to lose this excess weight I have given myself. Right now, my goal weight is 180. I realize as I get closer to this goal, I may reevaluate, and I am fine with that. 180 is just a number that exists in my head so I can imagine, “That’s where I’d like to end up.”

I will point out that I am very broad-shouldered (God help me, I really AM big boned) and six feet tall, so 180 may be WAY too low. Regardless, 180 is what I am shooting for right now. We shall see.

As for how I am losing weight, I’ll write a much more detailed blog post in the coming days, but basically, I am cutting out white sugar, white flour, processed food, preservatives, and as many chemicals as I can.

I have to disclaim right now – the first few days of eating clean were HARD. I wanted nothing more than to say “screw it, I’ll just count calories!” and eat everything in sight.

I did not do this, because experience has shown me that, for me, a calorie is not a calorie is not a calorie. When I was in my mid-20s, that was absolutely the case. I could just eat less of junk and still lose weight. In my mid-30s, I cannot do that.

You will read a lot of bloggers say that where calories come from is irrelevant. For some people, this is true. If you are one of them, however, do not despair. A LOT of us have to eat clean (whether it is no processed foods, increased fruits and veggies, vegan, Paleo, or anything in between) to lose weight.

But the best part of this eating plan? I feel amazing! I have more energy, my skin is less greasy, my fingernails and hair are even growing faster (seriously – I actually noticed this), and when I do eat something “fake” and processed, within five minutes, I feel like crap. Eating clean makes me feel so good, it is now easy to stay on track.

That also said, I’m not gung-ho, which means I do “bend the rules” occasionally. Honestly, this is more for a financial reason than anything else.

I would say that I eat 90% clean, 10% off-plan. It may even be closer to 98/2, and there are many days in a row where I eat 100% clean. However, life is too short to give up soda forever, in my book, so I occasionally treat myself. I don’t view this as going off plan.

I track my food, although I do not, at the moment, count calories or keep up with points. (When I do track, I use Weight Watchers point system. Although I am not a member at the moment, I still think very highly of WW and their point system makes more sense and is easier to me than strict calories.)

My rule of thumb I am currently giving myself is that if I can lose weight by just tracking my food (currently by writing down in a moleskin journal I keep with me at all times), then I’ll continue just tracking. If I stop losing, I become more strict and keep up with points.

This week is a First Week (of the year) Weigh-In.

So, where I do stand right now?

January 6, 2012
Weight: 375.6
Change from Last Week (actually 1-1-12): -0.8 pounds
Change from All-Time Highest (was 402.3 pounds, several years ago): -27.2 pounds

It isn’t a large loss, but it is a loss. This week, I noticed that when I am hungry, I tend to go for nuts and other high-fat foods. They are clean, but they are still full of fat (albeit good fats) and calories. I am not limiting them, but I am going to be more aware of going for fruits and vegetables in the coming week. Hopefully, it will increase my weight loss for next week.

I have decided that for the first Friday weigh-in of every month, I am going to review my 2012 Resolutions and see how I am faring!

1. I am going to weigh less each month.
January’s Goal: Weigh less than 376.4 on February 1st.

To accomplish this, I will continue to work out, eat clean, and be mindful of what food goes into my body.

2. I am going to continue to eat clean.

This one is very subjective, so I am not giving myself a monthly goal. However, I am going to continue blogging about eating clean, so stay tuned.

3. I am going to significantly increase my fitness without a gym membership.

Last year at this time, the gyms were so crowded I couldn’t stand it. This year, my wife and I work out at home. We can get just as good a workout at home as we could in a gym, and it’s free! This one is also subjective, but I will soon report on what we do for a workout.

Just know this – you can workout ANYWHERE.

4. On my food blog, I am going to create a different pizza each week for my 52 Weeks of Pizza Project.
January’s Goal: Create and document four different pizzas.

We’re doing our first pizza tomorrow night. No problem. I LOVE pizza!

5. I am going to obtain my ACE Personal Fitness Certification this year.
January’s Goal: Complete the first two weeks of the ACE 20-week certification program.

Yes, I know there are four weeks in January, but I am going to commit to only finishing two this month. I also am continuing the classes for my second Master’s degree, and I have to plan the curriculum for the classes I am teaching that begin this month. Two weeks will be a nice way to get back into studying.

6. I am going to write at least 10,000 words of fiction per month.
January’s Goal: Finish “plotting” and get those 10,000 words written!

I am a wannabe author. More to the point, I want to be a young adult author. I have a novel I am working on, and I’ve already got around 15,000 words written, but there is a plot snarl coming up I need to get sorted out. I can absolutely do this, though.

For me, the best thing I can do as a writer is to NOT STOP. If I take a few days off for any reason (usually because I hit a wall), it is so easy to just stop. I have to keep writing.

Okay, a few other things. I said back in December if that I could reach 369 by January 1st, I’d donate $100 to my favorite charity, and if I didn’t, I’d donate $100 to a charity that YOU choose. This is the survey. I opened comments to suggest charities, and these were the three that came up. Please vote, and whoever is ahead on

All three of these look like good organizations, and I am happy for any of the three to get the money. You have until January 12th to vote. I’ll announce the winner at next Friday’s weigh-in!

And lastly, you have until January 8th to sign up for the very first Healthy Living Postcard Exchange! This is a way to get motivation in the mail. Visit the link above to find out more and learn how to sign up. If you don’t want to join this month, you can, of course, join future months at ANY time.

We’re a week into 2012. How are you resolutions (if you made any) holding up?

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Okay, please don’t judge for us still having the tree up (Vegas threw us off – it’s coming down this weekend) but we got this awesome Dr. Seuss ornament tonight from Hallmark for 75% off. Seuss is awesome!

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Late Christmas gift. I can’t wait to watch this again!

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Last year, I had a plan (which petered out in April) to follow up on my resolutions every month. I’m going to try that again this year. One difference between my 2011 and 2012 resolutions, however, is that I am going to try and make this year’s resolutions less number specific.

1. I am going to weigh less each month.

Last year, I gave a specific number I wanted to lose. Well, guess what. It didn’t work, and I finished the year weighing more than I did in January. I’m certainly not blaming that on the resolution. It was all my fault. My weight loss, for a variety of reasons, did not take priority in 2011.

I know that I will not reach goal weight in 2012. I have too much weight to lose. However, I want to make a dent in in it. Each month, I pledge to weigh less than I did the month before.

2. I am going to continue to eat clean.

My wife and I have been following our own version of “eating clean.” We are basically following an 90% clean / 10% not-clean approach, primarily because buying food that is 100% chemical, white flour, and white sugar-free is prohibitively expensive. Yes, eating healthy can be pricey, but we’ve found that lightening up JUST A BIT makes it affordable for us.

I’ll post about this in more detail in early January, but we’ve been doing it for a week, and the results have already been amazing. We’ve seen our weight drop (I’ve already lost what I gained in Vegas), we have tons of energy, and my physical cravings for junk food has been reduced to the lowest level I can EVER remember it being.

3. I am going to significantly increase my fitness without a gym membership.

As Tina and I are still paying off credit card debt, student loan debt, car payments, and a mortgage, we try to save money where we can. We’re not crazy savers. We don’t do extreme couponing (for the simple fact that you can’t buy healthy food with coupons) and we don’t deprive ourselves (we did just get back from Vegas, paid for by smartly saving money and finding amazing travel deals), but we do want to save money. We want to get out of the neighborhood we currently live in, sell this house, and buy a nicer, bigger house with land out in the country. Our goal is to do that in the next two years.

As a result, we realized we’ve been paying a healthy chunk of money toward gym memberships, and frankly, I honestly no longer believe it is necessary. I only have to look at people like Steve Kamb at Nerd Fitness who maintained a very high level of fitness while climbing. I look at the military, who certainly don’t work out in gyms (at least in Basic), and I don’t think anybody would deny that they are crazy fit. It can be done without a gym, and we are going to do it.

Yes, I am aware that saying I am going to significantly increase my fitness is purposefully vague. However, here is my list of the things I plan to be able to do when I am writing up my 2013 resolutions in a year.

I want to be able to do 100 regular push –ups (no knees, in other words) without stopping.
I want to be able to do 200 squats without stopping.
I want to be able to do an all-day hike at Mammoth Cave National Park this fall.

I desperately want to include a running goal, but my body has shown me that I MUST be lighter before I can begin running or even jogging. However, I can hike. Mammoth Cave National Park (less than thirty minutes away) has many all-day hiking trails. I don’t know which one I’ll do. I’m thinking Sal Hollow, which is eleven miles. It’s designated as advanced terrain, but I’ve known people who have done it who said that it is designated as advanced because you have to cross a few creeks. I grew up on a farm with a creek that runs through it. Creeks are no problem.

4. On my food blog, I am going to create a different pizza each week for my 52 Weeks of Pizza Project.

I don’t talk about it much here because I don’t post there as often as I’d like (although now that Tina and I are eating clean and cooking much more, I expect to post more often), but I also have a new food blog called Stellar Eats.

We LOVE pizza, and fortunately, it is a very versatile food that can be eaten clean. While in Las Vegas, we were at a shop that had a cookbook all about pizzas. I didn’t get it, but it did make me decide to do this. For the next year, we are going to cook a different pizza every week. Each pizza will be chemical and preservative free and 100% real food. I’ll post the links to the pizzas here on my main blog, too, but I’m really excited about this one. We love pizza and we love cooking. Win win.

5. I am going to obtain my ACE Personal Fitness Certification this year.

Last year, I failed by seven points. I have until August to retake the examination for a reduce fee. Even though I am completing the coursework for my second Master’s Degree, I am also going to take time each week to study for this exam, too. By fall, I will be a certified Personal Trainer.

6. I am going to write at least 10,000 words of fiction per month.

I love to write, but I seldom take the time to do it. I’ve got a young adult novel I am working on, and I want to finish it this year. I don’t know if I’ll look for an agent or self-publish or just enjoy it because it’s done, but regardless, I want to finish this year.

That’s it. A very short list for 2012. I’m certainly going to accomplish other things, but this is what I want to make happen.

Did you make resolutions?

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And no, it’s not a Ponzi scheme.

Right now, I’m calling it the Healthy Living Postcard Exchange.

Here is how it works.

You are matched up, randomly, with some person. It may be a blogger; it may be someone without a blog; it may be someone you know well; it may be someone you have never heard of.

You send them a postcard from your area of the world. On said postcard, you will write some note of encouragement. From the generic “You can do it!” to a more detailed I-clearly-stalked-you-on-the-internet “I know you are struggling, but just remember the success you had last year in March. I’m pulling for you and you can do it again!” And then, you have something to put on your fridge (or bathroom mirror, or wherever is motivational to you) and maybe, it’ll help you stay on track.

Obviously, this will require you to share your mailing address with someone. All you’ll need to let me know is that you want to participate. Since we are just talking about mailing postcards, I see no reason that this couldn’t be opened up worldwide. Obviously, if you live in the U.S., it will cost slightly more to mail a postcard to the other side of the world than to the other side of the U.S., but since it is JUST a postcard, the cost is still typically less than $2.00.

If you want to participate, please email me the following information by January 8th to jeremy@stellarpath.net.

1. Your email address
2. If you are a US reader, if you are willing to send a postcard internationally. (You can still participate if you only want to send domestic.)

I initially thought I was going to match up mailing addresses and so forth, but instead, I’ll email out a list saying who is matched up to whom, and you will send your person your mailing address.

If enough people participate, I’m planning to arrange it each month so that the person you send your postcard to will not be the person you receive your postcard from.

I know that a lot of us already “know” each other through the internet (and a few lucky folks out there know each other in person through Fitbloggin and other local meet-ups), but this seems to me it could be a great way to bring some of us closer together and motivate each other.

Right now, I’m thinking we’ll do this once a month, so if you want to bow out a month for whatever reason, no problem. But still… I think it would be pretty neat to think that at the end of 2012, you could have twelve postcards from (hopefully) twelve different people [if enough sign up, so please sign up!], all motivating you on your goals, weight loss, healthy living, healthy eating, working out, or WHATEVER.

So at this point, I just shamelessly beg. Obviously, I need people to participate. I’ll do the matching. All you need to do is email me the information above.

Anyone up for participating?

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2011 has been a great year for many things for me. But not weight loss. I shall not cry and moan, as I know it has been 100% my fault. For various reasons, I was not ready to lose weight in 2011. Am I ready in 2012? I say that I am, but I also would have said this in December 2010. I am a firm believer that actions speak louder than words, so I will let my actions in 2012 speak for themselves. On the 31st, I’ll post my resolutions for 2012. Even though they fizzled out last year, this year, I plan to be less restrictive, more realistic, and plan for them to stick.

January 2011

January saw me cooking several vegetarian dinners, wherein I learned one very valuable lesson. I am not physically or mentally satisfied after a meal if I do not get some animal protein. Lesson learned. Let’s move on.

I also wrote a few posts on Gym Etiquette.

I got a traffic citation for rolling through a stop sign in my quiet neighborhood, which resulted in a $140.50 fee AND traffic school (but at least no points off of my license.)

February 2011

In February of last year, I made the decision to try blogging every day for a month. I did, and I enjoyed it. I may do that again in February of this year.

I signed up for Run For Your Lives, a zombie-themed 5K. (Did I actually run the race? Stick around for the October update.)

I posted about snow! As I write this in last December 2011, we have not had ANY measurable snowfall this year in south central Kentucky. I want snow so badly, I can’t stand it. But today, it’s in the mid-50s. I HATE THIS WEATHER!

I did manage to accomplish ONE resolution in 2011. We built a snowman.

I posted about the heroes of The Biggest Loser.

Tina and I celebrated our first Valentine’s Day as husband and wife.

March 2011

For someone who doesn’t claim to be a runner, in March, I did a huge thing.

I ran a mile without stopping.

Tina and I also ran/walked our First 5K.

April 2011

April saw our 2nd 5K, which we completely walked. It was such an ugly course and a generally unpleasant experience that it really turned us sour on running. I’m sorry to say that we never recovered, running-wise, and I am now back to the point that if I were starting C25K, I’d have to start at Week One.

I celebrated my 33rd birthday in April, and I briefly experimented with Paleo. I didn’t like it.

May 2011

May was apparently a very quiet month. I posted very few times, but my lovely wife did graduate with her BS in Biology.

June 2011

I decided to fully embrace my inner geek, and Stellar Path had the geekiest face lift to date.

In June, I reviewed both episodes of Power Rangers and Salute Your Shorts and applied the lessons learned there to weight loss. (I plan to do more of that in the coming year.)

July 2011

More Power Rangers, and I remember that I was very busy with work over the summer, so my blog took a bit of a back seat. (That happens a lot.)

August 2011

The fall semester started hard, and work picked up immensely. Doesn’t matter. I still love my job.

I took the ACE Personal Trainer Test and failed by seven points.

September 2011

I reminisced about 9-11.

Even though I was struggling with weight loss and fitness, I still wrote a post about Things I Love.

October 2011

In early October, I both injured my foot and got a sinus infection. Coupled with the fact we hadn’t been training, we were going to go into the Run For Your Lives with me as a spectator and Tina running and walking as much as we could. (However, the actual event ended up being a bit of a fiasco, and we were in a late afternoon time that didn’t get to go at all. The event organizers made it up to us (and everyone else who didn’t get to participate) by giving us a refund.)

We also celebrated One Year of wedded bliss.

For various reasons, we decided to give up the gym. I’ll post about that in more detail in the new year.

We also went on a weekend trip to Washington, D.C.

November 2011

I briefly entertained notions of becoming an astronaut. So not kidding. Check out November if you don’t believe me. But things change, including job security, and I am pursuing my certification in Library Media Science since I do get free tuition. Until I am on a tenure track position (which is not likely to happen any time soon), I’m afraid I just can’t justify becoming an astrophysicist on the side with my free tuition. My free tuition must be used to keep me gainfully employed.

Unfortunately, my weight continued its steady, slow climb upward.

December 2011

After the busiest semester of my life (both as student and instructor) were over, Tina and I went to Las Vegas! (Recap is still to come.)

And of course, we had another wonderful Christmas.

That’s my 2011 (in blog terms, at least) in a nutshell.

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