The Big Secret -- a diet tip a day ...

Plan To Give Yourself An After-Christmas Present

2009-11-15T06:34:00.002-06:00

Planning and setting goals will help insure you make it through the holidays without abandoning your healthy eating routine.Plan now how you're going to approach the holidays and set that as your goal. You may decide you want to lose weight, maintain you weigh, or even gain "only" 3 pounds. Write your goal on a piece of paper.Now decide on a non-food reward for yourself and put a picture of it on

Tiny Tip -- Little Things Mean a Lot

2009-11-14T06:49:00.001-06:00

Have an orange for breakfast rather than orange juice. A medium orange has 60 calories, while a cup of orange juice contains 110 calories. Over the course of a year you'll save yourself 18,250 calories, or over 5 pounds!

Not For Human Consumption

2009-11-13T06:28:00.001-06:00

I'm going to post a different kind of recipe today. It's not a low calorie recipe but it will help keep you healthy all the same. With all the talk of flu, hand sanitizer seems almost mandatory. Several months ago when accounts of the "swine flu" (as they were calling H1N1 then) first started flooding the news, hand sanitizer was impossible to find in my area. If that should happen to you, or if

Feta Chicken

2009-11-12T06:23:00.004-06:00

"Diet" food doesn't have to be bland. Pair healthy whole foods with intense flavors -- cravings will subside and you'll feel more full and satisfied after meals. Case in point:Feta Chicken4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts2 Tbsp. fat-free Italian salad dressing1 tsp. dried Italian seasoning1/8 tsp. white pepper2 tomatoes, seeded and chopped1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese1 scallion, choppedBrush

Speaking of Seconds, or, Peaking of Econds

2009-11-11T06:37:00.001-06:00

Speaking of "seconds," I was reading about the "No S" diet the other day. I guess there's a whole book covering it, but I'm pretty sure if I only followed the very simple main rules of the diet, I'd lose weight fast. Simply put, take the letter "S" out of your eating vocabulary: No snacks in between mealsNo sweetsNo second helpingsThe book has other tips and suggestions and rules to follow, but

The Seconds Problem

2009-11-10T06:34:00.002-06:00

Do you have trouble resisting "seconds"? It's something I struggle with; I feel like I won't get full unless I go back for second helpings. I try to adjust for it by taking smaller first helpings, but I know I'm still ending up eating more than I should.I'd like to give up all "seconds" immediately, but being realistic, I know it won't be easy. So I've made a deal with myself that might be

30 Second Sort of Like Cheesecake Snack

2009-11-09T06:35:00.001-06:00

No. It's not cheesecake but it only takes half a minute to make and it is barely a blip on the radar calorie-wise.Spread 1 Tablespoon of low-fat cream cheese* and 1/2 Tablespoon of all fruit jelly (such as Polaner) on 1/2 sheet (2 small rectangles) of a low-fat graham cracker.If you really want to get fancy, you could sweeten the cream cheese with a dash of sweetener. That's it.1 servingAbout 115

The 'More is Less' Syndrome

2009-11-08T06:54:00.000-06:00

Have you been weighing and measuring your food? Sometimes it seems like I've been trying to lose weight my whole life. So, sometimes -- often, no, most of the time -- I think I can skip weighing and measuring because by now I can go by sight alone.Nuh-uh. Yesterday I did a test. For each meal I jotted down how much I thought certain ingredients weighed, or what their volume was, and I was wrong

Autumn Apples

2009-11-07T06:03:00.002-06:00

A healthy side dish, especially good with pork or chicken.Autumn Apples 1/2 teaspoon butter2 firm, tart apples, peeled, cored and slicedpinch of ground cinnamon (optional)Splenda to taste (if you prefer a sweeter dish)Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the sliced apples, cinnamon (and Splenda). Sauté until the apples are soft.2 servingsAbout 90 calories; 1 point per serving.

Journaling for the New Age

2009-11-06T06:35:00.000-06:00

It's already been established that keeping a food diary is essential to losing and maintaining weight. I usually start with a brand new empty journal, but if you use tweetwhatyoueat.com, all you need is a twitter account (and a computer, of course).When you start your food diary at tweetwhatyoueat, it will make itself one of your twitter friends. Then simply direct message (d twye) your foods as

How Would You Like To Lose 17.5 Extra Pounds This Year?

2009-11-05T06:35:00.003-06:00

According to Obesity (the official journal of The Obesity Society), you'll lose an additional 4.5 pounds every three months when you're dieting if you drink 16 ounces of water before each meal.Obviously, the water makes you feel more full and you end up eating less. The same could be achieved with a broth based soup or a salad, but the water alternative offers a beautiful simplicity -- pouring 16

Tiny Tip -- Extra Easy Zesty Veggies

2009-11-04T06:46:00.001-06:00

For an easy veggie side dish, saute a bag of frozen vegetables in Pam until tender, drain excess water, add 1/2 cup of fat-free Italian salad dressing, and stir for a minute or so. Serves 4, 0 points, about 30 calories.

Cooking With (Insert Your Name Here)

2009-11-03T06:34:00.000-06:00

On nights you're tired and running late, it might be tempting to stop at the Colonel's place on the way home, but instead of treating dinner preparation as a chore to be avoided, try to turn it into something you look forward to.Turn on music, fix yourself a wine spritzer (half dry white wine and half seltzer), and enjoy getting away from the day and fixing a healthy dinner. The chopping, rinsing

Fancy, Festive, and Fattening, Oh No!

2009-11-02T06:28:00.001-06:00

As we go into the holiday season, it's time to plan and strategize how to handle the food issue. The FOOD issue. I don't think there are letters big enough to emphasize just how big the holiday food issue is. For some families, fancy and festive (and fattening) food is the primary focus of celebrating and entertaining for two or three months running.There are different points of view about

Happy Day-After-Halloween

2009-11-01T06:26:00.005-06:00

Happy Day-After-Halloween.Sometimes, even when we have the best intentions, we screw up. If your Halloween wasn't as low calorie as you hoped it would be, just remember this: The unfortunate truth is that when we gain unwanted weight, the longer it stays on, the harder it is to get rid of. So you need to do two things right now: One, get rid of any remaining Halloween temptations, or if that's

Crockpot Chicken and Ranch Potatoes

2009-10-31T06:03:00.002-05:00

Add a salad and green veggie, and this is a stick to your ribs dinner for Halloween night. Crockpot Chicken and Ranch Potatoes4 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced1/2 of a 1 oz. package of dry Ranch Dressing Mix4 skinless, boneless Chicken Breasts, cubed*1 can 98% Fat Free Cream of Chicken Soup (10 oz.)1/4 cup Fat Free Sour Cream1/4 cup diced OnionSalt and Pepper to TasteSpray crockpot with

Tiny Tip -- Today is NCCD

2009-10-30T06:34:00.005-05:00

October 30 is National Candy Corn Day. 1 candy corn has 3.57 calories.

Prepare For Battle

2009-10-29T08:45:00.004-05:00

If your office is big on holiday celebrations, tomorrow will probably be a challenge for you. Plan now how you're going to deal with the inevitable Halloween sweets that will be crossing your path.While you're in front of the mirror getting ready for work in the morning, have a talk with yourself. Remind yourself of the reasons you want to lose weight and how great you feel on days you've stayed

Get Your Own bodybugg

2009-10-28T06:10:00.001-05:00

Have you ever wondered what those devices are that they wear on their arms on The Biggest Loser? I heard them mention on one of the latest episodes that it shows how many calories are burned in a day, and I just had to find out more.It's called the "bodybugg" and it does measure calories burned by tracking how a body moves, sweats, and rests. The statistics are downloaded each day and software

Roasted Asparagus, Tomato, and Parmesan Salad

2009-10-27T06:35:00.007-05:00

Roasted Asparagus, Tomato, and Parmesan Salad1 1/2 pounds fresh asparagus1 1/2 cups grape or cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered2 tablespoons shredded parmesan cheese2 tablespoons olive oilsalt to tastefreshly ground black pepper 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegarPreheat the oven to 400°F. Prepare the asparagus by cutting off the last inch or so of the

Don't Go Nuts With the Nuts

2009-10-26T06:27:00.003-05:00

Now that we know there's such a thing as "good fat" and "bad fat," some of the foods we believed in the past to be bad for us are now taking on a different light. Olive oil, avocados, and nuts are among the foods that are high in monounsaturated fats (MUFAs), which lower total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol) while increasing HDL cholesterol (the good cholesterol).Good,

Halloween Doesn't Have To Be So Scary

2009-10-25T06:38:00.003-05:00

A friend of mine was telling me that she made a deal with her husband that she would go Trick or Treating with the kids, and he would stay home and dish out treats so she wouldn't be tempted by the candy. I wanted to ask her -- but didn't -- why she wouldn't be tempted by the 75,000 different kinds of candy her kids would be getting when they rang every door in the neighborhood ...But if you do

Really Good Hot Chocolate

2009-10-24T06:12:00.002-05:00

The secret here is the whisking -- it turns ordinary hot chocolate into yummy creaminess.4 1/2 cups low-fat milk 1/3 cup Splenda2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamonWhisk together 1/2 cup milk, Splenda, cocoa, vanilla and cinnamon in a small bowl until a smooth paste forms. Heat the remaining 4 cups milk in a medium saucepan until

A New Kind of Fast Food

2009-10-23T06:48:00.001-05:00

When you're in a hurry and thinking "fast food," don't automatically head to McDonald's or Wendy's.Make a supermarket your fast food restaurant. Run in and grab an apple, a bag of Baked Lay's, and a turkey sandwich (ask for thin sliced bread) from the deli, and you'll be back in the car eating a healthier, lower calorie meal before you'd make it through the lunch-sized line at McDonald's.

Tiny Tip -- How Much Do YOU Need?

2009-10-22T06:16:00.000-05:00

For a 2,000-calorie-a-day diet, the latest guidelines recommend a minimum of 2 cups of fruit and 2 1/2 cups of vegetables a day. To calculate your fruit and vegetable needs, go to www.fruitsandveggiesmatter.gov.