My car thermometer says it’s 84 here in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire where I live, but it’s only April 17th! We’re supposed to be having mud season and instead we’re having premature hot summer weather. The unseasonable warmth inspired my husband Bill, who is a fabulous cook, to make up a batch of gazpacho for us. He got this recipe from the Coconut Cove Cafe at the Ritz Carlton in St. Thomas. This is a super easy recipe that requires no hard-to-find ingredients, cooking or special skills.
In addition to the option of serving the gazpacho as is, which is suitable for vegetarians, you can also add a garnish of three grilled shrimp to each bowl and/or a fresh dollop of salsa. No matter how you serve it, this gazpacho is really delicious. It’s also low-fat, low-carb, low-calorie and sugar-free. How good is that?
INGREDIENTS
1 English cuke, halved and seeded but not peeled, coarsely chopped
2 red bell peppers, cored and seeded, coarsely chopped
4 plum tomatoes
1 medium red onion, coarsely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
3 cups sugar-free tomato juice
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tablespoon coarse salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper or to taste
DIRECTIONS
Put veggies into a food processor and pulse until desired texture is achieved. My husband and I prefer the soup with a lot of chunky texture, but smooth is just as tasty. Add juice, vinegar, salt and pepper and pulse again until blended. Chill and serve.
OPTIONAL GARNISH (use any or all)
3 grilled shrimp per serving
Make a fresh salsa by combining
1/2 cuke, finely chopped
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
1/2 avocado, finely chopped
2 tablespoons cilantro, finely chopped
In April 2012 Dr. Sanjay Gupta did a special 60-Minutes report on the serious health impacts from too much sugar (and other caloric sweeteners like high fructose corn syrup.) This video examines the dangers of sugar from three different experts who have three different perspectives: 
Asparagus season is from April to May, and fresh, beautiful bunches of asparagus are available in every grocery store. Some people call it the world’s healthiest vegetable. It has about 3 grams of fiber per serving, which is an excellent amount of fiber, and it also has anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties. Asparagus are low in calories, high in antioxidants, high in folate, potassium and magnesium. I personally love asparagus, and I especially like them when they’re roasted because roasting brings out the natural sweetness. 
DIRECTIONS
When it comes to food, it’s every man and every woman for him or herself. The government does a good job of keeping contaminants out of our food supply when they result in immediate sickness or death. The government does not do a good job of keeping contaminants out of our food supply when they take a long time to make you sick or that are questionable. This is why you have to think and make decisions for yourself.
Having a hard time getting up off your butt. Consider these surprising benefits about exercise from a special report in the Tufts Health & Nutrition April 2012 Newsletter.
Atkins Endulge snack bars are tasty, satisfying, affordable and easy. Compared to other snack bars, Atkins is a smarter, healthier and more slimming choice. It’s not that I love Atkins or any other snack bar food manufacturer. Face it. Snack bars are all highly processed foods made with a long list of unpronounceable chemicals and preservatives. Keep in mind that processed foods are what got us into weight and eating trouble in the first place. There’s nothing natural, healthy or wholesome about them, and this is why I gave the Atkins Endulge snack bar one thumb up instead of two. That said, a snack bar can be a practical, handy form of nutrition and satisfaction that’s better than pigging out on whatever happens to be available. All things considered, Atkins Endulge is a superior snack bar choice. Consider these advantages:
Of course, instead of eating a snack bar, you can always pack an apple or package up 1/4 cup of nuts. But for those of us who don’t plan ahead all that well, snack bars have a place. When you look for Atkins, you can be sure of staying within sugar-free guidelines. If Atkins brand isn’t available, root around for another choice. Always check the calorie count and the ingredients list. This is the one and only way to make an informed decision about what’s going in your mouth. Don’t rely on claims on the front of the package. Many so-called protein bars, for example, are particularly misleading because they’re also high sugar and high carb. 
One day you’re in; the next day you’re out! It’s all in a word. Marketing studies show that guys don’t like diet products because they associate the term with girly drinks and girly foods, but zero is definitely in. These days, however, even women don’t want avoidance foods any more. All food and drink products with words like diet, low-calorie and low-fat have fallen out of favor, and aren’t selling as well as they used to. The latest in these food labeling trends was reported by Datamonitor at the Weight Management 2011 conference. 
Smucker’s Natural Creamy and Natural Chunky Peanut Butters are a truly excellent peanut butter with a superior taste, an easy-to-spread consistency and no harmful ingredients have been added to it. Most importantly, there’s no hydrogenated oil, the highly toxic, man-made trans fat that keeps peanut butter from separating into a solid and liquid. (More about this in a minute.)
Paula Deen recently announced she has type 2 diabetes, a metabolic disorder where there’s too much sugar in the blood and where the body can’t process the excess sugar. My article linked below chronicles Deen, her new drug deal with Novo Nordisk, and the current statistics about diabetes. Research is just beginning to conclusively show that chronic, excessive sugar consumption is directly linked to type 2 diabetes. The reason we’re so slow getting the message about the harmful, toxic effects of sugar is because until recently all the attention has been on dietary fat. Even now, our government and public health organizations are still clinging to the idea that fat is the bad guy in the diet. Dietary fat, however, is not the primary reason there’s excess sugar in the blood. When you eat sugar through your mouth, you end up with sugar in your blood. Too much sugar in through your mouth = too much sugar in your blood. There’s nothing hard or complicated about the association between sugar in the diet and a sugar disease.
I'm the creator and director of The Sugar-Free Miracle Diet System, a weight loss program that's specifically designed to stop out-of-control eating. I've been working in this field since 1998 and have helped over 3,000 people to break free of the reliance on food for non nutritional reasons. Recently, my stopping program has been expanded to address all out-of-control behaviors. 
"It was easier to stay on it than I thought."
"I really didn''t have any cravings, and it was pretty easy."
"I don't cut fat out at all. I just incorporate it as I normally would do."
"You have to want to be good to yourself... Everyone can benefit from taking sugar out of their diet."
"It's a surprise how much food there is to eat on this program."
"I'm more productive throughout the day. I'm pleasant. I'm happier."
"I can see how it will be very easy to maintain"
