TOPS speaks about a healthy you

TOPS Chapter 9319 El Dorado Springs met in The Firefly Services building, on Thursday, April 17, for their regular weigh-in and meeting.

Our leader, Warren called the meeting to order, Carol led us in singing “Rock off the Pounds.

Marilyn led us in some exercise.

Warren led us in our TOPS and KOPS Pledges, and Roll Call.

Sixteen members weighed in today. We had a gain of 4.2 and a loss of 9.2 giving us a net loss of 5.0 pounds! Erin was the best loser of the week with a loss of 2.6, congratulations Erin. Other great losses were; Sheryl with a loss of 3.6 (over a two-week period) and Pam 3.0 loss but she was unable to stay for the meeting.

Marilyn had the program today; she spoke on A Healthy You. She told us Nuts and seeds are close to being the perfect foods. They contain a high amount of protein; they do have a high calorie content but a small amount makes you feel full. Walnuts are shaped like a brain for a good reason, they are good for your brain, also pistachios offer heart health, support blood sugar management and improved eye health. Almonds offer vitamin E and help with dementia. Seeds are also a good source of protein and vitamins such as chia and flax seeds.

Then Marilyn touched on the subject of water; we all know we should drink water, back several years everybody drank water from the tap, now we have all kinds of water additives to make it taste better and a lot of us get our water in plastic bottles. Some caution, plastic can break down over time and seep into the water, and discarded plastic bottles are becoming a huge problem to our environment. Consider going back to good ole tap water.

Spices: try using a variety of spices to step up the taste and enjoyment of meals. Spices also offer health benefits, such as cinnamon is good to lower blood sugar, Sage is good for the brain, peppermint helps with nausea, and cayenne pepper is an anti-cancer spice.

Thank you, Marilyn, for a great program.

Steve will have the program next week.

We are in need of members to sign up for programs in May, see Sharron or Linda H. to sign up.

Marble game: Jean won the right to draw but did not get the winning one.

With no other business we closed with our motto “IF IT IS TO BE IT IS UP TO ME”

TOPS #MO 9319 meets each Thursday morning in the Firefly Services building” at 700 E Hospital Rd, El Dorado Springs, Mo. Weigh in starts at 7:45 a.m. the meeting begins at 8:45 a.m. and is over by 10 a.m. For more information call Linda at 417-876-7404. Come and join us.

TOPS toll-free number 1 800-932-8677 or you can find us on the web at www.tops.org.