Hi Jim: That's a great idea .. putting a Christmas tree in the front porch. I thought about it, but held back ... our weather is so rainy & icy in zone 5a. My brother is a dermatologist & skilled surgeon. Acne treatment shifted from chemicals to expensive laser or light treatment. The acne drug, Acutane, has been linked to birth defects, and suicides in teenagers. There's Nicomide-T, a derivative from Vitamin B, for an expensive acne treatment. Brewer's yeast is cheaper to treat acne, since it's has all the B-vitamins. I did extensive research on Brewer's yeast since I plan to give that to my kid for her teenager acne. University of Maryland Medical center has a good review on Brewer's Yeast, known to help with diabetes, high cholesterol, plus preventing colds & flu. Here's an excerpt from below link: "At least one study has found that brewer's yeast may improve acne. Another linked it to a reduced risk of a second skin cancer. And one large, preliminary study found that taking a specific kind brewer’s yeast product (EpiCor) may help prevent colds and flu. Brewer's yeast is often used as a source of B-complex vitamins, chromium, and selenium. The B-complex vitamins in brewer's yeast include B1 (thiamine), B2 (riboflavin), B3 (niacin), B5 (pantothenic acid), B6 (pyridoxine), B9 (folic acid), and H or B7 (biotin). These vitamins help break down carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, which provide the body with energy. They also support the nervous system, help maintain the muscles used for digestion, and keep skin, hair, eyes, mouth, and liver healthy. http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/supplement/brewers-yeast#ixzz3MBHc8Nct I have been taking Brewer's Yeast for months. It was a God-sent when I was bed-ridden from my severe allergic reaction to Cantaloupe. I was so inflamed, but the brewer's yeast quenched the inflammation. Brewer's yeast is a by-product of the beer industry, sold cheap $10 for 1 lb. as NOW brewer's yeast. But one company convert that to pills, and sold under EpiCor for outrageous price of $42 a tiny bottle on Amazon, with many glowing reviews. Lots of perfect reviews on Amazon are corporate sponsored. NOW brewer's yeast has the LOWEST rating on Amazon, since it's cheap ... they don't pay people to boost their Amazon ratings. However, NOW brewer's yeast works as well as EpiCor. It tastes good if mixed with buckwheat honey and milk. It's a meal in itself, I don't get hungry until 4 or 5 hours later. The blood-sugar stabilization is fantastic. One drawback: can't take that before bedtime, since it makes me very hyperactive like caffeine. The last time I had a cold/flu ? That's when my kid was 4 years old. Nutritional Yeast tastes nasty like brewer's yeast, plus without the chromium. I already tried nutritional yeast, it was like stinky powder-egg. The below link shows the difference between the two: http://www.milkandhoneyhealthfoods.com/brewers-yeast-versus-nutritional-yeast Brewer's yeast helps me to lose weight, since it stabilizes my blood sugar. Here's an excerpt from below link: "A recent study has found that a hydrolysate from brewer’s yeast may help obese people lose weight and abdominal fat. Participants in the study included 54 obese men and women. Over the course of ten weeks they consumed either 0.5 grams of yeast hydrolysate or dextrin as a control 30 minutes before breakfast and again 30 minutes before dinner. At the six week point, the researchers noted that the yeast hydrolysate group already had significant reductions in calorie intake. This reduction was maintained through the end of the study. At the conclusion of the study, the researchers noted an average 5.7 lbs reduction in body weight and a 17.3 cm2 reduction in abdominal circumference in the yeast group, compared to 1.8 lbs and 7 cm2 reductions in the control group. Researchers from Jeonju University in South Korea conducted the study. It was published in the January 2014 issue of Nutrition." Below is my Christmas tree. It was decorated by my kid and her friend. I have NOT added the other decorations. Here is a link that might be useful: Brewer's yeast extract to lose weight

mlaj2000, I saw that show last night too. I wonder if the dopamine response can be reset? Over the years I was not careful about what I ate & had put on 80 pounds. I wondered why I never felt full & was aware that I was eating more & more for pleasure. But this year I've been measuring amounts & am being very careful about portions. And I've cut out junk food. Now sometimes I feel stuffed after a meal. It's like less is more. I'm enjoying my diet very much too. My husband is one of those people who doesn't have to pay strict attention to his diet. But alas, I'm not one of those!

All very true, plllog, and I acknowledge the problem with stuffing myself: it's a habit I need to unlearn. I do some of the eating a bit between meals, and find it a good practice. I think my diet is more balanced than you think. My bread of this morning is made with milk and oil and whole wheat (made that way on purpose! for the nutrition!), and the coffee is lengthened with half milk, half water. Some sugar, some fat, some fiber, some protein. It works: I walked five miles to town this morning, moving quickly and easily over hilly country, and arrived not in the least tired. Right now it's six hours since I finished breakfast and I'm only just starting to get hungry. I've eaten this kind of breakfast for years and find it quite substantial and satisfying. I've been an ovo-lacto vegetarian for about twenty-five years and have overall enjoyed good health and good energy while keeping a healthy weight. I was also never anemic, which many women in their fertile years complain of. I want to talk more about exercise. I walk, just because I like it and have the time, and it's more than exercise, since I love to see the country this way: I live in a beautiful part of the world. Not everybody has the time for or enjoys walking. A different kind of exercise may be more intensive and burn more calories; may have a larger aerobic component (though my heart was pumping this morning after a mile of steady uphill) or build more muscle. All that's good. But I think that even people who exercise rarely get a lot of exercise. That guy on the pioneer show did: he worked dawn to dusk, physical labor, but few people do that. If you want to eat heartily, and I do, you need to exercise a lot more than the minimum. A place where you'll see average citizens of the western world who are thin and fit is Venice. They can't drive cars--no roads--they can't even ride motor scooters or bicycles on account of the bridges, which are steep little humps with steps. They have to walk everywhere, and they're the fittest people you ever saw. And they speed along: I was out during rush hour, and though I'm a good walker they left me in the dust. It was remarkable. Motion is part of their lives, not something they do for their health. And that's the easiest way to stay thin and be able to enjoy your food--if you can manage it; not everybody can--make physical activity part of your commute, part of your chores, part of your hobby, or part of your job. The last two jobs I had, I commuted on foot and then by bike part of the time. I did make an effort to find places to live that allowed me to walk to work, and succeeded. When I got a new job further away I worked out a bike route, and then biked part of the time. Sometimes, if you think about it and make it a priority, you can do these things. I got much of my exercise in those days going to and from work, and have happy memories of the experience.

What a healthy group we are! I can't eat right away, but I need caffeine right away. Cup of black tea with a dash of milk. Then, depending on my schedule, it might be 20 minutes or an hour later, I have one of the following, depending on how much time I have: One piece whole grain toast w/ PB. If I have this, I usually also have a banana later in the morning. Or, I have a banana before I exercise, then have the toast later. About a cup of 2% greek plain yogurt, topped with a drizzle of honey and a lot of berries. (Discovered this breakfast at my hotel in London in April and became addicted.) Sometimes sprinkle sliced almonds on top. Scrambled egg or omelet, sometimes w/ one piece of toast. Occasionally, a Think Thin bar.