Dietary Dos and Don'ts

Earlier this year, Michael Pollan posted a request for reader’s rules about eating. Within days, he had received more than 2,500 responses. Here are some of Pollan’s 20 favorites:

1. Don’t eat egg salad from a vending machine.
2. Don’t eat anything that took more energy to ship than to grow.
3. If you are not hungry enough to eat an apple, then you’re not hungry.
4. Eat foods in inverse proportion to how much its lobby spends to push it.
5. Avoid snack foods with the “oh” sound in their names: Doritos, Cheetos, Tostitos, Ho Hos, etc.
6. No second helpings, no matter how scrumptious.
7. It’s better to pay the grocer than the doctor.
8. You may not leave the table until you finish your fruit.
9. You don’t get fat on food you pray over. (Meals prepared at home, served at the table and given thanks for are more appreciated and more healthful than food eaten on the run.)
10. Breakfast you should eat alone. Lunch you should share with a friend. Dinner, give to your enemy.
11. Never eat something that is pretending to be something else (artificial sweeteners, margarine, etc.)
12. Don’t yuck someone’s yum. There is someone out there who likes deep-fried sheep eyeballs and, well, more power to them.
13. Make and take your own lunch to work.
14. Eat until you are seven-tenths full and save the other three-tenths for hunger.
15. I am living in Japan and following these simple rules in preparing each meal: GO HO – incorporate five different cooking methods, GO SHIKI – incorporate five colors, GO MI – incorporate five flavors.
16. One of my top rules for eating comes from economics. The law of diminishing marginal utility reminds me that each additional bite is generally less satisfying than the previous bite. This helps me slow down, savor the first bites, stop eating sooner.
17. Don’t eat anything you aren’t willing to kill yourself.
18. When drinking tea, just drink tea. I find this Zen teaching useful, given my inclination toward information absorption in the morning, when I’m also trying to eat breakfast, get the dog out, start the fire and organize my day.
19. When you’re eating, don’t talk about other past meals, whether better or worse. Focus on what’s in front of you.
20. After spending some time working with people with eating disorders, I came up with this rule: Don’t create arbitrary rules for eating if their only purpose is to help you feel in control.

From http://www.mercola.com/

Granola Bars - Yum!

These granola bars are 1 point/exchange each...

Eat Local!

Thirsty?

Here are some ideas for low calorie/no calorie beverages:

• Water - try putting a bit of lemon or lime juice in for a change 
• Tea - Serve hot or cold over ice. Caffeinated or decaffeinated. Different varieties come from the same plant (Camellia sinensis) but vary in the fermentation process and include black, green, white, and oolong. Herbal tea isn't really a tea as it comes from different plant sources but still tasty all the same! I don't use any dairy/whitener but sometimes "sweeten" my tea with E.D. Smith Syrup or Erythritol.
• Coffee - Serve hot or cold over ice. Caffeinated or decaffeinated. Try new flavours like Irish Cream, Chocolate, Hazlenut, or French Vanilla. Again I don't use dairy or whitener but there are sugar free coffee syrups available - caramel, chocolate, vanilla, irish cream and more! 
• Diet Pop/Soda - most of they are sweetened with aspartame except for the ones below...
• Zevia - Dr. Zevia, Cola, Gingerale, Orange, Black Cherry, Twist, Ginger Root Beer (sweetened with stevia + erythritol)
• Diet Crush Orange, Diet Crush Grape, Diet Cream Soda, Nestea Zero, PC Free & Clear (sweetened with sucralose)
• Nestea - Field Berry, Summer Peach, Citrus Tea, Lemon Green Tea, Pink Ribbon Lemonade, White Cran-Raspberry, Pomegranate Blueberry, Apple Gogi, Pear Mangosteen
• Crystal Light - Dark Cherry Pomegranate, Lemonade, Original Iced Tea, Raspberry Ice, Strawberry Orange Banana, Lemon Lime, Tangerine Grapefruit, Pink Lemonade
• Jello - Yes, sometimes I'll make up a package of sugar free jello and pour some into a cup and drink it!
• Club Soda with Juice - Use a bit of lemon, lime, or grapefruit juice to flavour the soda. Orange juice would be okay as well but it has a few more calories. Try this with diet Sprite, diet 7-Up or diet Gingerale as well...
• Hippy Gingerale - Cut up a ginger root into a 4 cup measuring cup and pour boiling water over it. Let it cool then add a bit to a glass of club soda (I usually put in a bit of E.D. Smith syrup and some lime juice to spice it up a bit!) Originally from http://berrybluetoes.blogspot.com/2009/06/raw-gingerale.html

RECIPE - One Point Hearty Chili

2/3 cup (½ package) of seasoned ground tofu (or you could use 6 ounces of lean ground turkey)

1/2 medium onion, diced
1 (28-oz) can diced tomatoes
1 medium zucchini, diced
1 medium yellow squash, diced
1 cup black beans
1 (15-oz) can vegetable broth
2 celery stalks, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
2 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp liquid smoke
Salt to taste

Pop everything in a slow cooker and cook it on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours. 1 cup is equal to 1 point/exchange (approx 60 calories)

BMI (Body Mass Index)

For adults, a healthy BMI is between 18.5 and 24.9. A person with a BMI over 24.9 is considered overweight, and a person with a BMI under 18.5 is considered underweight.



What to do...

It is also important to understand what happens when you skip a meal or go on a crash diet. When you skip a meal your metabolism slows to conserve your energy. And when you lose weight too quickly for a few days, your body thinks it is threatened with starvation and goes into survival mode. It fights to conserve your fat stores, and any weight loss comes mostly from water and muscle.

Regulating your blood sugar level is the most effective way to maintain your fat-burning capacity. Never skip a meal, especially breakfast, and eat healthy snacks between meals. Eating frequently prevents hunger pangs and the binges that follow, provides consistent energy, and may be the single most effective way to maintain metabolism efficiency.

When you will be away from home or work, plan your snacks and take them along so that you will be able to eat regularly and won't be tempted by junk food. This may be good advice for people who stay at home, too.

But remember that it was probably snacking between meals that caused you to become overweight in the first place. It will be very important that any snacks are healthy; that they are pre-portioned so you won't be tempted to overeat; and that meal sizes are reduced to compensate for the additional calories the snacks provide.

High fiber snacks and meals also help to regulate your blood sugar level. The fiber slows down glucose absorption and your rate of digestion, keeping your blood sugar level more consistent and warding off feelings of hunger. This makes eating apples and oranges a better choice than drinking (pulp free) apple and orange juice.

From http://www.caloriesperhour.com/

Watch Out!

• Simple Carbohydrates: Because of their small molecular size, simple carbohydrates can be metabolized quickly and are therefore most likely to cause an insulin surge.
  Simple carbohydrates include the various forms of sugar, such as sucrose (table sugar), fructose (fruit sugar), lactose (dairy sugar), and glucose (blood sugar). Watch for the "-ose" ending.
• Hidden Sugar in Processed Foods: Watch for "hidden" sugar in processed foods like bread, ketchup, salad dressing, canned fruit, applesauce, peanut butter, and soups.
• Sugar in Beverages: Be aware of the amount of sugar in beverages, especially coffee and soda pop. It can add up quickly, and most such drinks aren't filling.
• Fat-Free Products: Sugar is often used to replace the flavor that is lost when the fat is removed. And as if that's not bad enough, without any fat to slow it down the sugar is absorbed into your blood faster.
• Cereal Box Claims of Less Sugar: Many newer cereals do contain less sugar, but the calories, carbohydrates, fat, fiber and other nutrients are almost identical to the full-sugar cereals. The manufacturers have simply replaced sugar with other refined, simple carbohydrates.
• No Sugar Added: It doesn't mean that the product doesn't naturally contain a lot of sugar. 100% fruit products often contain concentrated fruit juice, still another form of fructose or sugar.
• Table sugar (sucrose) is often said to provide "empty calories" because it has no nutritional value other than providing fuel for energy. Honey and other more natural sugars, on the other hand, are often considered to be healthier because of the trace vitamins and minerals they provide. Still, for weight loss purposes, all of these sweeteners can simply be treated as sugar.

From http://www.caloriesperhour.com/

Ice Cream - Yum!

The Yogurt Plus (only the Madagascar Vanilla) is 1 point/exchange per 1/2 cup (more bang for your buck!) and the Skinny Cow Sandwiches are 2 points/exchanges each but well worth it!

Chapman's Yogurt Plus
Madagascar Vanilla Bean





   

Nestle Skinny Cow Sandwiches
Chocolate, Vanilla, Cookies & Cream

The Truth About Diet and Weight Loss

I agree that your health should be based on lifestyle and not something that's temporary (ie. a diet). When you make healthy changes, make sure you can you can stick with them for the rest of your life in order to be successful...

RECIPE - Quick Cauliflower Soup or Quick Broccoli Soup

Hands-on time: 15 minutes
Time-to-table: 25 minutes

4 cups vegetable broth
1 large onion, chopped (about 2 cups)
2 dried bay leaves
1 head cauliflower OR 1 pound of broccoli crowns and stems, chopped into small pieces (or frozen cauliflower or broccoli)
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat a large pot on medium high. "Saute" onion and bay leaves in a small amount of additional vegetable broth. Cook until onions begin to soften and turn gold, stirring often. Add more broth if necessary to keep the onion from sticking to the pot.

Add cauliflower or broccoli, adding more broth if necessary. Let cook, turning occasionally for 1 - 2 minutes. Stir in broth and bring to a boil. Lower heat and cover and cook for 5 – 10 minutes or until the vegetables are fully cooked. Remove the bay leaves.

Transfer a third of the hot mixture to a food processor or blender. Puree until smooth while continuing to cook the rest. Repeat with another third, then the final third.

Try using different spices with this recipe - I find that curry works well with the cauliflower version!

Makes 4 servings.

NUTRITION ESTIMATE Per Serving 86 Cal; 0g Tot Fat; 13g Carb; 4g Fiber; 390mg Sodium; 0mg Cholesterol, Weight Watchers 1 point

Friendly Veggies!

FRIENDLY VEGGIES

eat as many of these as you like - they shouldn't affect your points, exchanges, calorie intake, blood sugar, etc.

Arugula * Asparagus * Beans (Green + Waxed) * Bell Peppers (1 pepper) * Bok Choy * Broccoli * Broccoli Raab * Brussels Sprouts * Cabbage * Carrots * Cauliflower * Celeriac * Celery * Chard * Chayote * Cucumber * Daikon * Eggplant * Endive * Fennel * Hearts of Palm * Jicama * Kale * Leeks (1) * Kohlrabi * Lettuce * Mushrooms * Okra * Onion * Pumpkin * Pumpkin Puree (1 cup) * Radicchio * Radishes * Rhubarb * Rutabagas * Spinach * Summer Squash * Tomatillo * Tomatoes * Turnips * Zucchini * Winter Squash (except butternut)

CAREFUL VEGGIES

based on a 1/2 cup serving, these are 1 point/exchange (approximately 60 calories) and will affect your blood sugar slightly

Artichokes (1 cup) * Beans (Kidney, Lima, Cannellini) * Corn * Parsnips * Peas (green) * Potatoes (I've been told that the smaller potatoes are better because your getting more of the skins and more of the fibre) * Snow Peas (1 cup) * Sugar Snap Peas (1 cup) * Winter Squash (butternut squash - 1 cup)

DANGER VEGGIES

based on a 1/2 cup serving, these are 2 points/exchanges (approximately 120 calories) and will affect your blood sugar more

Beans (Black, Edamame, Garbanzo, Navy, Pinto, White) * Sweet Potatoes * Yams

I make soups with vegetable broth and the friendly veggies and season it with spices (like curry spice (not sauce) or tamari + gluten free schezuan sauce) and it doesn't affect my blood sugars. Sometimes I puree it and sometimes I don't. Another way I do soups is to use miso paste (4 tsp is one point/exchange) as a base and throw in green onions, garlic, mushrooms, grated carrot, seaweed - whatever you feel like!

Salads with the friendly veggies are good too and I just use lemon juice or different vinegars for seasoning or sometimes I even throw in some herbs!

Stir fries with friendly veggies are also good - just use vegetable broth instead of oil to "fry". One more trick - using nori seaweed (1/2 a square sheet) and making cones with sauteed friendly veggies and different spices!

Be careful with sauces - they have all kinds of hidden calories/points/exchanges. The dry spices are a better way to go or things like vinegars, soya sauce, tamari, or gluten free schezuan.

Hungry?

Are you hungry but have used up all your exchanges, points, calories etc. for the day or need to stagger more "freebies" throughout the day? Here are some ideas on how to fill up or extend your meals without adding calories...

• Beverages - you might just be thirsty! Fill up on low calorie/no calorie beverages (see "Thirsty?" blog)
• Friendly Veggies (see "Friendly Veggies" blog) 
• Sugar Free Gelatin (pre-made Snack Packs or make your own Jell-o)
• Miracle Noodles (no calorie noodles that are made from yam fibre - only available on-line)
• Seaweed (wraps or salad or ??? - will post recipes later...)
• Picked veggies (make sure they're sugar free - ie. dill pickles)