ArcaMax

We survey Plan Z dieters on occasion and ask them all kinds of questions. In a recent survey, we asked them the biggest reason they decided to go on a diet and chose Plan Z. You know what the most popular answer was?

I, for one, was surprised by the answer.

The most popular answer was, “I could not stand the pain any longer.”

My hips hurt.
My knees hurt.
My feet hurt.
My ankles were always swollen and sore.
They just hated the pain. They didn’t like the way they looked either, but it was the pain that was the final straw. Good news is we asked them why they did Plan Z AFTER they had completed it, and it was remarkable how many people said, “After Plan Z, my pain is gone or almost gone.”

So let’s set that aside for a minute and examine the situation. I did a little bit of research.

We all know the advancing age of Baby Boomers is upon us. In the 80s we learned that low fat was the way to eat and that we had to exercise. Thirty minutes a day, five days a week was the recommendation. So, many of us started jogging after work. You never saw people in running shoes jogging down the road in the 1960s. Now you see them every day. Some spring along the streets and others laboriously lope along. Some have a dog in tow and even others are jogging behind baby carriages outfitted with a suspension made to take the bumps along the way.

Some of us jogged for over 20 years before things started breaking down. Our joints could not take it any longer. And that goes for skinny runners as well as overweight ones. Joints wear out if you repeatedly beat them up by over-doing things like running. We didn’t evolve to jog five miles a day. We evolved to run away when a big animal was chasing us, but not to day-after-day go run a route around our neighborhood. Gain too much weight and the situation gets even worse. The cost of joints wearing out is huge.

The orthopedic device industry is now topping at $43.1 billion a year. Yep, that’s a B for billion. And that’s only the parts! That doesn’t include hospitalization, the surgery, the aftercare or anything else.

There are 2.9 million joint replacements done per year.
1.4 million of those are hips.
1.2 million are knees being replaced.
100,000 are shoulder replacements.
If you just count the hip surgeries, that’s over 3,800 being done per day and that even counts weekends!

Someone has to perform those surgeries. There are now over 25,000 orthopedic surgeons practicing in the US. The average orthopedic surgeon performs 29 surgeries/procedures per month. We are keeping those guys and gals pretty busy these days.

About a decade ago, I had back surgery. I bring that up because some surgeries are just plain structural in nature. Or even hereditary. Maybe something didn’t grow right in the first place. Or maybe my being overweight DID have something to do with it. All I know is the pain became unbearable. I could not function. I didn’t have a part replaced in my back but I had to have things adjusted so I could get past the pain. My disc had slipped so far I could hardly walk...

Read the full column at PlanZDiet.com

Chocolate Ganache

Sinfully delicious...and only three ingredients.

Ingredients:

8 oz of dark chocolate. You want to use 70-80% cacao. That will give you the dark chocolate flavor with fewer carbs. Don’t use 90-100% cacao or it will taste too strong.
¾ cup of whipping cream
1-1/2 tsp of vanilla. When I make flavored ganache I still add the vanilla for smoothness.

Instructions:

Dice your chocolate into bits and put them in a bowl that can handle warm frosting. The smaller you dice them the easier this will come together.

In a small saucepan heat the whipping cream just until bubbles form around the edge of the pan. You don’t want to really boil it or it will boil over. Keep a close eye on it. You just want it hot.

Immediately pour the hot cream over the chocolate and stir with a whisk. You want to continually stir the mixture until it’s totally smooth. Then add your vanilla and stir again.

The ganache is ready. Now you have some decisions to make.

You can let it cool down some before you glaze a cake with it or a tart/torte. Pour a puddle of it in the center and spread it with a spatula. You can also pour it around the edge and it will drizzle down.

You can cool it till it’s almost totally cool and use it like regular frosting. If it gets too cool it will get stiff and be hard to work with.

What I do is set the bowl on the counter while I make the rest of the meal and just check it periodically. I’m looking for it to be cool but not stiffening up.

You can cool it until it’s almost totally cool and whip it into a fluffy frosting. Don’t overwhip it or it will turn the cream into butter and you don’t want that.

If you want to frost the top and sides of an entire cake, you’ll need to double this recipe.

If you chill the ganache after you’ve put it on something it will harden and become candy consistency. Think of the outside of a Mounds bar. It will have that snap.

If you want to glaze cupcakes you can keep the warmish ganache in a bowl and just dip and swirl your cupcakes in it to coat them.

Enjoy!
Cheers,
Zola