Category: New healthy lifestyle tips

I am certainly not above using any diet type product in my endless quest for weight loss. Here are a couple that I incorporate into my breakfast fare.

Land O’ Lakes light butter – This “butter product” has only 50 calories per tablespoon. Unlike most margarines, it has no trans fat.

Morning Star Farms veggie sausage patties – I would never have thought of trying these but the demonstration folks at Costco were handing out free samples and these turned out to be quite tasty. While they taste surprisingly like real sausages, they have 75% less fat, 2 grams of fiber, no trans fat and 80 calories each.

I really look forward to breakfast (as I do all meals.) I like to vary what I eat, sometimes an egg, sometimes a sausage pattie, sometimes peanut butter. I always have protein in the morning because otherwise by 10:30 AM, I am already looking for lunch. I like to keep the calories around 200.

So this morning for breakfast, I had a sausage muffin – 1 English muffin, a little light butter and a veggie sausage pattie. With a cup of tea and the NY Times Crossword puzzle, what could be better?

For most people trying to lose weight, the choice for snacking is either raw vegetables or popcorn. As a salt/starch eater, I’d pick popcorn every time. According to America’s Test Kitchen, the best microwave popcorn you can buy is Newman’s Own Butter. Of course, I never buy the full butter type. But I can’t stand the no-butter or natural types. I find that “light” is a good compromise.

Once while visiting Sarah at USC, we had to make the best of a poor hors d’oeuvres situation. All she had was popcorn and hummus. Well, desperation being the mother of invention in this case, we popped the kernels and carefully dipped one at a time in the hummus. (Spicy hummus worked the best.) Our new hors d’oeuvres accomplished three things: it made the popcorn more glamorous; it made for a filling and nutritious snack; and it really slowed us down what with all the individual dipping. Try it!

This year for Valentine’s Day I am cooking a heart healthy meal. Really, what could be more caring? I would like to imagine us doddering off into our old age (many years from now, of course) with the best possible health. Today seems like an excellent day to start. So I am making the “Pan-Asian Menu for Winter Entertaining” from Jack Bishop’s A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen. We will be having Gingered Carrot Soup, Curried Lentils with Caramelized Onions, Basmati Rice Pilaf, and Wilted Spinach Salad with Japanese Flavors. I’ll cut down on the fat in the recipes and use light coconut milk in the curry. Hopefully, it won’t affect the flavor. Since I am not the world’s best cook, I really hope this comes out well.

A week or so ago, I talked about eating more slowly. But that is not what “slow food” is about. Slow food is food that actually makes you eat more slowly and is low in calories as well. Probably the perfect dinner of slow food would be a whole steamed lobster and an artichoke. No butter allowed! Luckily, the first time I had these two yummy food items, they were served without butter so I find the whole butter experience sort of gilding the lily. It takes a long time to crack open and eat a lobster and quite a bit of time to peel off and eat each leaf of an artichoke to get to the heart. Another great food for slow eating is mussels. Try picking foods that make you work a little.

No, I’m not going to suggest what would be best for you. My sister, Peggy, follows a low-carb diet and I’m more of a Weight Watchers person what with my starchy bent. But, here’s a dinner for both. In my effort to clean out my freezer of meat products, tonight we are eating Smart Meat, a registered trademark product by King’s Deluxe Foods, and available at Costco. Each box contains four 8 ounce vacuum-sealed portions of trimmed steaks. A portion size is 1/2 steak. Since it’s meat, there are no carbs. Since it is low in fat (9 grams per serving), it has only 165 calories. These are quite tasty and can be easily prepared on a grill.

Another part of dinner will be a recipe from The South Beach Diet book, Surprise South Beach Mashed “Potatoes.” For two people, you take 2 cups of cauliflower florets and cook them until they are soft. Puree or mash them. Add some butter spray (like I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter) and they recommend a tablespoon of fat free Half and Half. I usually omit the liquid. Add some salt and pepper and, voila, you have a low fat/low carb potato substitute. Add a green salad or green vegetable plus a glass of red wine and you have a delicious healthy dinner.

In our ongoing attempt to get started on a diet, John and I have decided to eat mostly vegetarian. Of course, first we have to finish off all the meat in the freezer. By vegetarian I mean I’ll eat vegetarian almost all the time (except for some shellfish) and John will eat vegetarian when he is with me. This leaves him free to eat what he wants at work. Sarah gave me a great cookbook for Christmas, A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen by Jack Bishop. He’s the guy who does the taste test on the America’s Test Kitchen program on PBS. The vegetarian dishes he makes look absolutely wonderful. I can’t wait to get started!

So what has this got to do with dieting? Well, a diet is actually anything you eat. Right now, my diet is on the too much salt, starch and fat side. By eating vegetarian, I’ll be cutting down on at least the fat. That is, as long as I don’t overdo the cheese. I am trying to eat a healthier diet. Hopefully, weight loss will be a side effect.

Given the fact that all I have done over the last week is gone out to eat, I am not worthy to give out diet tips. Back on the straight and narrow on Monday. Today, after all, is Super Bowl Sunday.

When the kids lived at home and there were four of us, I always made recipes that served 6 or 8. Invariably, everything was gone when dinner was over. Now that they are in their own places and cooking their own meals, I tend to make recipes that serve 4 for the two of us. Invariably, everything is gone when dinner is over. So the diet tip for today is, make the correct serving size for the number of people who are eating! If you are convinced that you must have leftovers, the leftovers should be put in the refrigerator or freezer before you sit down to eat. Maybe you have a lot more willpower than I do, but probably you don’t.

Air pudding and wind sauce is our family’s term for dessert. I’ve never been a dessert eater so I’ve never really learned how to make the goodies that get so many people in trouble. When the kids were little and asked what was for dessert, they would invariably get the answer, “air pudding and wind sauce.”

I do have a couple of standard emergency foods, though, along the same lines. One is null soup and the other is dust toast. The recipes –

null soup – take all the non-starchy vegetables in your refrigerator, cut them up and put them in fat-free chicken broth. Rutabagas are especially good in this because they give the illusion of being a sort of potato. Cook until vegetables are cooked but still crisp.

dust toast – take two slices of 40 calorie bread (I use 9 grain), toast, spray with “I Can’t Believe It’s Butter” spray, sprinkle on cinnamon and sweetener. This is goes very well with a cup of tea late in the afternoon.