Slowing Down, Speeding Up

It’s obvious I’m not posting here with the frequency I once did. Food blogging is a lot of work, and I have to hand it to the people who do it consistently and well. I’m a bit more slow and methodical than most when it comes to producing content, so what might take them 30 minutes to throw online takes perfectionist me two hours.

I’ve decided to focus my efforts on venues that are more about writing (which I have a talent for) rather than photography (which I don’t). I just don’t think recipes are so much fun to read without a photo alongside, but photos are what keep holding me up with most recipe posts.

I’m still writing about food, though! Not only will I find time to still put up the occasional post here, but I’m now posting to a new blog that has a broader focus. Pennies & Pounds focuses on nutritious eating, losing weight for better health, and managing a kitchen to minimize waste and stress while maintaining a budget. I’d love for anyone reading this to come check out my new articles there. As a bonus, I’ll even gradually be bringing over updated and otherwise revised versions of some of the more popular articles from this site. You’ll feel right at home.

Incidentally, if you happen to be an educator or parent reading this, I’d like to give a shout-out to the other web site project I run, Sharp Pencils. It’s an evolving site focused on encouraging kids to write and aiding their language-arts teachers.

Back to food . . . here’s links to a few of the latest posts over at my new site, Pennies & Pounds:

A Jackpot within Reach

I tried and tried. Oh, did I try!

I bought nothing but light mayonnaise, skim cottage cheese, low-fat this, reduced-calorie that. I stocked my car with 100-calorie snack packs to ward off post-work hunger. I switched to healthier, whole-wheat pasta and bread. I bought diet books and tried to follow my magazines’ eating plans. I even joined a gym!

It didn’t matter. My weight, which had been inching upwards all through college, shot up dramatically. I gained more than 20 pounds in less than two years!

Articles of Independence (Day)!

I’m polishing up the first couple of posts for the site still. Look for more soon on weigh-ins and fruity deliciousness! In the mean time, check out this week’s articles of interest:

New York Times – The Claim: Mayonnaise Can Increase Risk of Food Poisoning
I’m glad to see they’ve finally taken on this old saw, and just in time for July 4th picnics. I discovered mayo had been given a bad rap years ago on the wonderful Good Eats.

Fruitful Snacking

Afternoon rolls around, and lunch seems like it was an eternity ago. Stomach rumbling, you reach for a snack to quell your hunger. But what should you choose?

Pick fruit! It’s an easy, pleasurable, and nutritious way to aid your efforts to improve your health and lose weight.

Unlike most “snack foods,” fruit is good for you! It offers vitamins, antioxidants, fiber and other nutrients, in a tidy, plant-based package. That bit’s important: After all, we need more plant-based foods in our diets for not only health but environmental and budgetary reasons.

Weighty Matters

I’ve long had a minor obsession with weights and measures. As a kid, I loved fussing with the balances in science class. I also found the those manual scales in the doctor’s office fascinating. In fact, I thrilled inside when I finally got to take one for a spin at the gym years later. In the kitchen, I’ve fallen for the digital food scale. I weigh portions to match nutrition labels when I’m counting calories, and I park my work bowl on the thing for measuring ingredients when I’m baking — it saves on dishes!

It’s in the bathroom, though, that I have tucked away the most important scale in the house. Every morning, I step on it to see how I’m doing at losing or maintaining my weight. Why? A firm grasp of where the scale points is one of the best tools in your weight-loss arsenal. To keep that toolbox stocked, you must weigh yourself regularly.

More are coming soon! But you’ll have to visit the new site to see those. Hope to see you there!

Slips!

I’ve definitely been stalled for the past few weeks, weight-loss wise. It’s not a surprise to run into a plateau, sure, but it is depressing. Oh, and my desire to eat has long been connected to my levels of stress and depression. It’s a vicious cycle.

I need to get out and about more for exercise to reduce the stress and depression, but I have little desire to go outside in the freezing weather. I’m none too keen on exercising with my videos, though, because it’s tough to move around and still seen what’s on my 13-inch laptop LCD. Well, and also because I feel like the time investment is too high when I have to add in the extra changing of clothes (ooh, and that irritates my sore shoulder, struggling to get on the tight support tops!), the setup, and the additional showering.

This kind of not seeing the forest for the trees is a problem with my food choices, too. It’s only upon long reflection that this root of a lot of my diet issues from the Vegas years dawned on me, and the past few days have shown that I still engage in this irrational behavior.

For example, I’ll start out the day great, choosing healthy breakfast and lunch foods. I’ll stick to low-cal but high-protein or high-fiber snacks if I need them in the afternoon. Dinners sometimes end up a little indulgent, but I plan them in advance to make sure the higher-cal item is more than balanced by an abundance of vegetables to fill out the plate. (I do subscribe to the notion that the plate should be 1/4 lean protein, 1/4 carb or starch, and 1/2 veggies.) But then comes the looooooong stretch between dinner and bed.

Many days I’m OK with nothing after dinner or with a small dessert like a 1/2 cup of ice cream or a couple of chocolates. Lately, however, I’ve had difficulty due to the emotional eating. I get all anxious and both want to eat to ease it and to not eat because I will get more anxious from the knowledge I’m destroying my diet for the day, you know?

Anyway, I force myself not to eat any of the healthy snacks for a while because I want to avoid calories, then totally crash and indulge in unhealthy foods to shut up the “I want to eat!” voice.

I did this all the time in Vegas. I spent a lot of time and money on finding and buying healthy foods, only to ruin it all by talking myself into believing I deserved the indulgence of a big fast-food meal and snack chips after a long, tiring, stressful work day.

I need help, honestly.

In other news, I have been looking over this list of healthy foods. It’s nice to see some of my favorite foods (white potatoes, romaine lettuce, onions, etc.) on there when I had figured they had little nutritional value. And I do cook the potatoes in healthy ways these days — usually steamed with ketchup for dipping or mashed with low-fat cheese and skim milk.

Steamed Potatoes

4 small russet potatoes, diced
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon paprika
Salt and pepper

Toss everything in one of those big Ziploc steamer bags. Microwave for 14 minutes.

Alternatively, cook ‘em in a bowl loosely covered with plastic wrap. And the measures are totally approximate. I do it differently each time.

I love these with ketchup. It’s low in calories and the combo reminds me of fries without making me crave fries. However, if you’re feeling particularly Slovak, they’re also great with tartar sauce.

Progress in Healthy Eating

I’m starting to emerge from weeks of sleep problems and feel a little more like writing now. I thought I’d reflect a bit on the effects I’m seeing from my switch to paying greater attention to what I eat.

Mentally, I think I’ve come a long way in how I view food. I feel better equipped now to make good decisions about food from all these months of educating myself on nutrition, portion sizes, and calorie counts. I can face the dinner table and choose not to have an extra slice (or two) of buttered bread because I know that with one slice I’ve eaten a serving sufficient for my body.

I’m hoping that this will translate into success in beating off temptations when I’m back in the United States and have access to my favorite junk foods. There’s not much selection in chips here, for example, and I generally dislike the ones that are here. Back home, I will have to face aisles bursting with Fritos, flavored pretzel nuggets, and Sun Chips. I’m hoping my ability to resist picking up a bag or two at the store now is not simply due to the chips being subpar.

I do think I will be better able to resist fast food. I ate a ton of fast-food dinners while I was working alone in Vegas, partly because of stress and fatigue and partly because I didn’t feel motivated to cook when the audience was just myself. I will have Scott around full time when we get back, so his appreciation of my efforts will be encouraging for me in the kitchen (not that we take the attitude that cooking is “women’s work” — I just prefer to cook and he prefers to take on other home tasks I hate, such as washing dishes). But more than that, I feel like I have learned the error of my ways and understand that all that bad food was holding me back from achieving a healthy weight in a way that I didn’t before.

You see, before the last few months, I basically ate whatever whenever. I ate what I could get quickly when I was starving, and I ate when I felt stressed. I thought about eating healthy foods, but while I did switch to eating whole grains and tried incorporating more vegetables, I generally sabotaged those efforts by frequent trips through the drive-thru and down the snack aisles. I figured I’d chosen healthy foods at other times so I could “afford” to slack off. Unfortunately, I used that excuse multiple times per week, and no one can afford to slack off so much.

So my mindset has changed. It’ll certainly be tested when I get home and have to face more choices and the stress of more work, but here’s hoping.

I’ve also noticed lately that my digestive system is a lot happier than it used to be. I used to pop a lot of Tums and have uncomfortable, leaden sensations in my stomach. I also had other unpleasant digestive symptoms I’d rather not discuss. But now, my stomach and the rest of my guts never really bother me. True, they did somewhat on our cruises this year, but now I know why — it was all from overeating, especially overeating foods high in fat.

I don’t oppose fat in food, by the way. Unsaturated fats such as olive oil are necessary for good health.  I do try to cut a lot of fat from diet, though, both because I was definitely eating too much before and because it’s the easiest source of calories to remove. As long as you have a good nonstick pan, you can cut out a tablespoon or two of oil or butter from nearly every recipe, and that’s a huge calorie savings.

The one area I haven’t done so well in is keeping my blood sugar on an even keel throughout the day. I’m not a diabetic or anything like that, thank goodness, but from what I’ve read I know that certain foods can affect blood sugar levels even in healthy people. You know — eating simple carbs causes you to get a quick energy rush followed by a big crash. I still have times throughout the day when I suddenly turn all cranky and tired for no apparent reason and then feel much better after a meal.

Nevertheless, I think I’ve made a lot of progress, and I’m happy with what I’ve accomplished so far. I’ve managed to lose almost 20 pounds since the beginning of October on top of the changes I’ve wrought in my attitude towards food. I’m hoping all those changes are here to stay.

New Diet Book Highlights

I’ve gotten the impression from several articles I’ve read online that December and January is the season for new diet tomes. Makes sense, of course, considering that sensible people will be looking to work off the holiday overindulgence and ever-hopeful people will be making New Year’s resolutions to lose weight (again).

This particular article from the Time web site, linked to by CNN Health, gives a round-up of 10 books released recently that claim to be the solution for your weight problem. Unfortunately, the author does not dig into the books too much, giving you little idea of what the diets involve (for example, I’ve read elsewhere that the Hot Chick book recommends eating piles of spinach for its fiber and, thus, laxative effects, but the article from Time gives me no confirmation or denial of that odd recommendation).

It would also be nice to see a little more, well, meanness, I guess, in the evaluation of each book. Some of these are from real crackpots, who have little to back up their claims, and the mostly gentle summaries here are not going to save people from wasting their time and money.

But anyway. It’s a bit informative and includes more books than any other piece I’ve seen so far.

Time.com: 10 Notable Diet Books of 2008

Favorite Frozen Meals: South Beach Living (and More from Kraft)

Thank you for reading my reviews of South Beach Living and other Kraft products. Please keep in mind that these reviews were written quite a while ago, so the products featured may no longer exist. I am not affiliated with Kraft or any grocer, so I don’t know what is still available. I’m sorry, but I can’t help you find products that have vanished from your local supermarket. To find more recent information or to find a product, please visit Kraft’s web site or talk to the manager of your local grocery store. Local managers are the ones who can decide what products to carry in the store, and they value customer input.

Visit Pennies & Pounds for a revised and updated version of this South Beach Living article, along with more posts on weight loss and healthy eating on a budget!

Kraft changed the name just recently for its line of packaged foods that follow the South Beach Diet guidelines, reflecting a growing anti-”diet” trend in America. Weight Watchers (another brand we’ll be visiting in this series) is telling all who’ll listen that they’re not a diet, and Jenny Craig has signed up Queen Latifah to lose a few pounds as part of their new health-improvement advertising message.

So South Beach Living it is. I’m branching out a bit in my favorites today, though. The truth is, the few South Beach frozen meals I tried back in my school-going days were abysmal. Looking at the products listed on Kraft’s site, I’m guessing I wasn’t alone in that opinion, as a lot of the products have changed or been pushed aside by new entrées. I won’t condemn the new ones flavors untasted, but I wouldn’t load up my freezer before testing how weird-tasting the chicken is now.

So, I present my favorite meal in their refrigerated line instead. Don’t take my endorsement of only one as a knock on the others, though — I just was obsessed with this particular one so much that I never really got my teeth into the rest.

South Beach Living

Sesame Chicken Wrap Sandwich Kit

How good is this refrigerated meal kit? I was so obsessed that I actually bought the ingredients separately and started making these wraps myself. I needed to, anyway — the grocery store where I shopped was almost always out of this particular Asian-themed variety. I’d walk up to the cooler case, note the label on the shelf, look into the gaping hole, and (just in case) stick my hand in to see if there might be some goodness hiding in the back. Obviously, these weren’t just popular with me.

These Lunchable-like kits contain two whole-wheat mini tortillas, a packet of cooked chicken pieces, whole-wheat crunchy noodles, and yummy Mandarin orange and sesame dressing to make the wraps, along with a little cup of sugar-free gelatin for dessert. That dressing introduced me to the low-calorie wonders of Asian-flavored vinaigrettes, which I used to make my own knockoff version when, sadly, these were out of stock.

Note that this 220-calorie pack has got to be the smallest of the small when it comes to packaged meals. You get two wraps, true, but they are tiny. Bring an apple, banana, something or you will faint before you leave work. Even when I used to have those cheese-and-cracker Lunchables packed in my bag as a kid, my mom supplemented with other healthy foods.

Other Kraft Refrigerated Meals

Since I don’t have much to write about in the South Beach line, I thought I’d take this opportunity to recommend a few other reasonable refrigerated lunch kits I enjoy.

An advantage to these refrigerated kits is that they don’t require much prep time. Some frozen meals require a third or more of your half-hour lunch bread to heat up, which is killer on days when perhaps you did not run out the door with breakfast in the belly.

Lunchables Maxed Out Chicken Strips

OK, so some kid habits I’ve never quite outgrown. Though I find the packaging has become somewhat obnoxious, the meal offerings in the Lunchables line have evolved in ways both good and bad since I was a kid and your choices were either turkey or ham with your cheese and crackers.

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed cold chicken fingers. You could always pack a few homemade ones, I suppose, but I generally bought these kind of meals for the convenience. The calories are kind of hefty at 480 per box, but if you ditch the sugary Kool-Aid packet they want you to mix into the spring water and the candy, it’s not so bad for you. Again — bring a healthy supplement to ward off hunger pangs.

Lunchables Mini Tacos

You might have let me slide on the cold chicken fingers thing, but now I’m sure you must think I’ve gone off the deep end. Cold beef taco filling?!

Give it a chance, that’s all I can say. The spicy flavor makes up for the weird appearance. And they’re cute!

Kraft labels this box as a “Sensible Solution.” I think it would be more sensible if you pawned the candy off on a little kid to knock off a few of those 450 calories, but it’s not as bad as a Jack in the Box run. But keep in mind, these are mini tacos.

Oscar Mayer Deli Creations Steakhouse Cheddar

I got a coupon in the mail for a free one of these sandwiches, but had the school year not been at a close or nearly so by then, I likely would have bought a few more of these tasty sandwich kits. The size of the meal is a good deal more satisfying than any of the other choices on this page, though you might still want a piece of fruit if you’re a hearty eater and can stand to consume more than 450 calories for lunch.

Well, you could always leave off the mayo to slim it down — trust me, the sandwich doesn’t need it, what with the tangy steak sauce also provided. That sauce makes this sort of like a spicy cheesesteak. It’s good stuff.

Oscar Mayer Beef Fast Franks

Oscar Mayer has somehow figured out how to microwave bread without turning it into a rock, between the Deli Creations and these Fast Franks. These are nothing more or less than a hot dog on a bun, but they’re a hot, convenient, and satisfying meal for only 300 calories. Of course, there’s no need to stop with the hot dog alone — I always top mine with lots of low-cal additions, such as spicy mustard, a dill pickle wedge, and chopped onions. Mmm . . .

Favorite Frozen Meals: Healthy Choice

Visit Pennies & Pounds for a revised and updated version of this Healthy Choice article, along with more posts on weight loss and healthy eating on a budget!

Yesterday I started relaying my top picks from the freezer case for quick, portion-controlled meals that aren’t weight-loss setbacks. Today, the focus moves from Stouffer’s Lean Cuisine to that iconic green box, Healthy Choice.

Talking about the Healthy Choice brand provides me with the opportunity to discuss at least one particular nutrition claim you see in the supermarket — “healthy.” Unlike many of the words slapped onto packaging, “healthy” is actually about as heavily regulated as “organic.”

When a company claims this accolade for its product, it’s declaring that the food is low in fat, cholesterol, and, significantly for processed foods, sodium. “Healthy” foods also must contain certain levels of essential nutrients, according to the FDA.

Healthy Choice meals all have to be relatively low in sodium because of these regulations. For example, Healthy Choice’s mac and cheese (with veggies) has 600 mg of sodium per 9.1-oz serving, which is about 25% of the typical daily limit. On the other hand, Stouffer’s cheesy mac (which claimed on the web site to serve one person before I got to the nutrition facts) has 1,395 mg of sodium for an equivalent portion.

Overall, I like the Healthy Choice line’s creative entrée selections. Like many low-cal brands, Healthy Choice doesn’t stick to the usual fried chicken and Salisbury steak. They’ve also come up with a new method of heating some meals using steam, but I can’t evaluate how well that works as it arrived in stores after I stopped needing to buy the meals. Nonetheless, it’s evidence that this brand tries to innovate, like Lean Cuisine.

Healthy Choice

Country Breaded Chicken

I know I might have knocked fried chicken meals a bit above, but I have to say, this particular meal might well have become my number-one favorite choice for weekday lunches once I discovered it midway through the 06-07 school year. How decadent it feels to be eating two fried chicken breast portions (bigger than tenders, mind you), mashed potatoes, mixed veggies, and a delicious cherry crumble, all in one sitting! The chicken tastes so good you will wonder how on earth this meal could have only 370 calories and nine grams of fat.

Chicken Margherita

I hardly finish saying that I’ve never tried the Café Steamers, yet here I go posting one. As it happens, Healthy Choice has moved several of its past regular-tray offerings into this line, eliminating the old versions. Thus, if you want to try the tangy Chicken Margherita, with its balsamic sauce and sweet tomatoes and garlic, you’ll have to plunge into the brave new world of steaming. This meal has only 340 calories, though it obviously does not come with a built-in sweet treat.

Premium Fudge Bars

I know this doesn’t qualify as a meal, but these 80-calorie fudge bars are a yummy guilt-free dessert! They look satisfyingly huge as you eat, too.

Alas, I can’t pinpoint any other meals as particularly good enough to merit a recommendation. That’s not to say the rest of the meals are terrible; they’re just ordinary (or I haven’t tried them, being that Healthy Choice was usually more expensive than the others). No one’s getting too excited over yet another box of meatloaf.

Next time: South Beach!

Favorite Frozen Meals: Lean Cuisine

Visit Pennies & Pounds for a revised and updated version of this Lean Cuisine article, along with more posts on weight loss and healthy eating on a budget!

Writing about food-provided diet plans the other day got me thinking about frozen meals in general. I have sampled dozens over the past two years, as they were my (and many others) go-to choice for a lunch entrée at school. Sometimes I could pack leftovers, on rare occasion I made the effort to pack something different the night before, and as a last resort I ate what the kids were having (which, at a low-income public school, was never pretty), but most of the time I kept my freezer stocked with heat-and-eat platters.

While I’m going to recommend several on the basis of flavor, I have to warn anyone interested in picking these up that they likely won’t keep you full and satisfied all the way until dinner. I always felt that I’d had enough to eat at the time, but I rarely made it home from school not feeling ravenous. Since that can lead to some serious junk food binges or poor dinner choices (all those drive-thrus!), it’s best to either supplement the meal or plan on packing a healthy, filling snack to consume a few hours later.

For midday, think a ready-to-go, high-fiber fruit such as an apple or banana, a good source of protein such as string cheese or nuts, or even a low-cal meal-replacement bar as an add-on or snack. If I decided to consume one of these meals for dinner, I would always have a big salad on the side.

Lean Cuisine

Probably the first brand that pops to mind when anyone thinks of diet frozen meals. Lean Cuisine meals often feature delicious and unusual flavors for the freezer case, and the brand innovates by introducing new lines such as panini sandwiches and flat-bread pizzas.

Lean Cuisine’s offerings are divided into a number of categories, each of which is bursting with choice. No wonder they take over such a large chunk of space at the supermarket. On the downside, most of the meals are paltry in size and lack a significant amount of vegetables. Don’t expect a huge emphasis on whole grains, either.

On to the best of the bunch!

Asian-Style Pot Stickers

How fun is it to get to eat something that looks like naughty Chinese take-out and yet know that it has minimal waist impact? The sauce gives the cute (and generously sized) dumplings a lip-smacking Asian-food flavor, all for only 260 calories a box. The rice accompaniment isn’t a showstopper, but stir-fry some frozen veggies to add on top and it’s like you’re getting an appetizer and an entrée, making it a full dinner. These pot stickers are part of the “One-Dish Favorites” line, as is the similar Vegetable Eggroll meal. That one, though, comes with only one eggroll and thus seems eminently less satisfying.

Sesame Chicken

Sesame Chicken is my all-time favorite Lean Cuisine frozen meal. I stocked up on it whenever it went on sale, and it was one of the few frozen meals I actually craved enough to eat for dinner. I always wished they would make a bigger-sized portion (like those skillet-meal bags) so I could have it for days. Mostly I liked this meal because of its resemblance to sweet and sour chicken, a takeout favorite of mine. Sure, Lean Cuisine offers another meal dubbed Sweet and Sour Chicken, but it features roasted meat rather than fried and is thus infinitely inferior. The noodles on the side are OK — nothing special — but don’t expect the big pile in the box picture. Sesame Chicken belongs to the “Café Classics” line and contains 33o calories.

Lemongrass Chicken

The “Spa Cuisine” line features the meals that taste the most like “real” food, as in something you might prepare yourself or get at a restaurant. This Lemongrass Chicken bowls you over not with assertive flavors or mouthwatering saltiness but with its subtle yet distinctive taste. How can I describe it? It’s if they actually cooked up this one to nourish and satisfy you rather than merely to addict you to their product. The sauce featured on the chicken is delectable, and there’s actually whole grains and vegetables involved (although everything does come in a tiny portion). The meal weighs in at a spa-worthy 250 calories.

Chicken Club

I would feel that I must be doing something wrong biting into a crispy sandwich stuffed with melty cheese, ranch dressing, and bacon. Yet this sandwich only sets you back 320 calories, which is a perfectly reasonable lunch, maybe with a piece of fruit to fill it out. It somehow feels extra satisfying as a lunch, too, being a sandwich. You might be able to save some calories by discarding the bread topper and eating this open-faced — the frozen and microwave-”grilled” bread isn’t much to write home about anyway. Those grill marks are painted on before the sandwich leaves the factory; the little silver tray you heat these on does not produce them.

This is already getting a bit lengthy, and I’ve only covered one brand! I’ll continue this series later with a look at meals offered by Weight Watchers, Healthy Choice, and other low-cal brands.

Quick Tricks for Healthier Eating

From the folks at Health magazine and CNN come “Sneaky Little Slim-Down Tricks.”

The Most Reliable:

Start smart
Begin lunch and dinner with a veggie-rich salad or broth-based soup, says Pennsylvania State University satiety expert Barbara Rolls, author of “The Volumetrics Eating Plan.” “That lets you fill up first on a big volume of low-calorie food and ends up displacing some of the foods you’ll eat next — the choices that are usually higher in calories.”

Here’s a good salad recipe: Mix 1½ cups of salad greens with ¾ cup of raw veggies like onions, bell peppers, carrots, broccoli, or cucumbers; drizzle with 2 tablespoons of low-cal bottled dressing.

I keep trying to follow this one, but it does conflict with my desire to pare down the grocery budget and with the small size of my fridge. Scott’s great when it comes to this strategy — he always eats his salad first to try to fill up before the main course, even if it makes me worry that his entrée will get unappealingly cold in the meantime.

It would be nice if I could let things stay warm in the oven perhaps while we enjoy a separate salad course upfront to blunt our appetites. Something to consider for when we get back.

The Most Intriguing (It’s New to Me):

Sneak a snack
“Ten minutes before each meal, eat some healthy fat (around 70 calories or fewer): a handful of nuts, a few slices of avocado, or a spoonful of peanut butter, for example. That helps activate ghrelin, a hormone that lets you know you’re full,” says Michael Roizin, MD, co-author with Mehmet Oz, MD, of “You on a Diet: The Owner’s Manual for Waist Management.”

I’ve heard about that fullness hormone before, but always in the context of eating your meals slowly so that you have time for body to tell you it’s satisfied before your belt busts open. This bit of advice sounds pretty good if you’re the sort of person who does most overeating at meals (hmm . . . see the next part for more on that). It’s not going to help you much if you sabotage yourself through unhealthy food choices or caving to those never-hunger-based junk-food cravings.

Maybe this advice could be combined with the Volumetrics idea through getting that healthy fat via some oil, olives, or nuts on the salad?

The Most Disturbing:

Choose your pals
Studies show that most of us base how much we eat on what others around us eat, says University of Toronto psychologist Peter Herman, PhD. So steer clear of the big eaters in your social circle, at least when food is around. Sashay over and make small talk at parties with the folks who aren’t hovering near the food table.

“Marching to your own caloric drummer requires some independent thought and calculation,” Herman says.

Hand in hand with this goes a chronic obstacle to almost any wife’s diet plan. Unless you are significantly taller and far more athletic, your caloric needs are way less than your husband’s! Women pack on the pounds after marriage not only because they ditch the pre-wedding diet but also because they start portioning out the same amount of dinner to themselves that their husbands do.

It’s tough to sit at the same table and watch Scott put away more food (especially when it’s something tasty), but if I ate the same number of calories per meal that he does to lose weight, I would balloon. He’s eight inches taller than me and more muscular, and thus he can consume more calories without gaining weight than I can. It’s just the way it is.

You may not have noticed a change in the amount you consume, but that’s likely because you were brought up comparing portions with someone closer to you in size, such as a sibling. Even my brothers ate small portions at meals in my house growing up because they spread their eating out over the whole day. You ate the same size portion at others at the table then, so it doesn’t seem different to eat the same size portion as your husband, but odds are the portion size has grown in absolute terms.

I have to remind myself at every meal to eat only half or two-thirds as much as Scott, depending on the entrée. I also take time while preparing a meal to think out correct portions for each of us, such as setting out two slices of graham-flour bread for him and one for me. It’s all about planning, right?

To Breakfast or Not to Breakfast?

The Risks and Rewards of Skipping Meals – Well – Tara Parker-Pope – Health – New York Times Blog

The researchers found that skipping meals during the day and eating one large meal in the evening resulted in potentially risky metabolic changes. The meal skippers had elevated fasting glucose levels and a delayed insulin response — conditions that, if they persisted long term, could lead to diabetes.

With diet season coming up, it’s time to be reminded not to skip meals if we intend to lose weight. The Well blog linked here addresses the issue from the scientific perspective, with the noted caveat that study conclusions have been mixed on the issue.

Check out the site to read more about a second study that found some benefit in skipping meals (in a sense).

I don’t think skipping meals has ever worked for me. I just end up ravenous by the end of the day, more than making up the missed calories. In fact, I often need to include small snacks midafternoon to keep the hungry beast in check so that I can make sensible dinner decisions (such as cooking for myself rather than swinging by McDonald’s).

Epicurious Makes its Resolution

The Smart Way to Lose Weight: The Best Low-Calorie Recipes, Diet Tips, & Treats at Epicurious.com: “Here are a dozen ways to cut calories without completely sacrificing the joy of eating real food.”

The recipes linked to in the attached article are your typical high-class Gourmet and Bon Appétit recipes, so if you want to diet like a king, this is the site for you. The staff also does a taste test of various packaged snacks, and as you might expect there’s a definite lean toward the products you’d find in a health- or nature-oriented grocery store.

An exception is the granola/cereal bar category, which is taken by Special K bars. Just goes to show what a dearth of strong competitors there is in that field, in my opinion. Yuck.