September 2009 Archives

Today is my birthday (Sept. 30) and here's a brand-new video recipe for a very low-fat, low calorie yogurt fruit snack.  It was a lot of fun to make, and I hope it's helpful to you.





Just to recap (in case you can't see the video on your screen).

-- 1 cup Greek yogurt (no-fat, strained)
-- add fruit of your choice: apricot, nectarine, raisins, peaches (fresh or canned without sugar or syrup)
-- stir and enjoy

Avoid the fruit yogurts that have the sweetened fruit on the bottom, they are highly caloric.  They're actually fruit jam or preserves, not whole fruit.

PLEASE COME BACK TOMORROW!

We'd love to hear your ideas for snacks.  Please, POST A RECIPE of your own.

Thank you.

If you're a regular reader you're aware of my quest to eat more salads.  I will admit, I have not been in love with them, until now.  I've come up with a bunch of new ideas for bunches of lettuce.  This one will give you so much energy, without the high-fat, you'll be all fired up with love!

Dr. Norris Chumley's Satisfying Sexy Salad

• Lettuce Greens, 2 cups (mixed, preferably - try mesclun, radicchio, romaine, etc.)

• Basil, fresh, about 10 leaves.  (substitute spinach, or kale, or chard)

• ¼ cup mandarin oranges (fresh preferably, actually any orange will do, or canned without syrup)

•  2 radishes (for ravishing)

• Protein: choose 1 serving of chicken, or tofu (marinated/baked), or nuts (almonds, pecans, peanuts), an egg, etc.

• Dried Cranberries, ¼ cup  (unsweetened.  Substitute raisins if you like)

• Dressing, 1 tablespoon: balsamic vinaigrette, Italian, or raspberry/walnut (make sure it's lower-fat, without added chemicals)

• Seasoning: add some dried tarragon, thyme, and/or a dash or red pepper or chilies.

• Toss.  Eat.  Love.

This salad has very strong, delicious flavors, in an unusual combination.  If eating out at a buffet or salad-bar, these are ingredients that are often found.  Just avoid adding other fattening salad stuff: such as cheese, mayonnaise-based salads, and fatty salad dressings - they pour on the pounds.

COME BACK HERE TOMORROW for another great recipe -- for a low-fat, low-calorie fruit yogurt.

Share YOUR ideas and recipes, too, please, by commenting below.

and please email this recipe to all of your friends.

I was in New York City the other day, riding the subway, and saw one of these new ads: "Are You Pouring on the Pounds?"  Take a look at the ad: it's striking.  That soda becomes gooey-globs of fat in the ad, just like it does on our bodies.

Are you aware that sodas are very high calorie?  A little soda, in an old-fashioned 8-ounce soda bottle can be as much as 100 calories.  A 16-ounce bottle or cup (now the "small" size in fast food joints), may be 200 calories or more.  A big one "Super size" is 460 or more!  There's supposedly the equivalent of 12 teaspoons of sugar in a small one.  Imagine that!  Now you wouldn't sit down and put 12 teaspoons of sugar in your mouth at one time would you?  It's actually not even sugar anymore, it's high-fructose corn syrup, let's talk about that later, but it's not good for us.

There's also the matter of high salt (sodium) in sodas.  That's not good for blood-pressure, and it actually makes us thirstier, causing us to want to buy and consume more.  Also, soda's are rather acidic. The carbolic acid in them can throw the ph level our bodies off balance, leading to other problems, like stiff joints, digestion problems, ulcers, etc.

If you have a daily soda habit, please give it to God in prayer, and stop it immediately.  If you do only that, you might actually lose 3-5 pounds per month.  Sodas are that harmful and fattening.  As the ad says, have water, seltzer, or low-fat milk instead.

Do YOU have a soda habit or addiction -- give it up in print with a comment, below.  AND/OR, please share your ideas for healthy drinks.

Why do you think they call it "junk food?" Because it's garbage! I think it should only be called junk. Leave off the "food." (Because it isn't.)

Sodas are made of sugar water and chemical flavorings. I like to call them "liquid candy." Many chips are actually ground-up processing remnants (skins, trim, rejected bits) fried in cheap greases. Cheese puffs are also ground-up artificial cheese leftovers, air-blown. Junk cakes are mostly chemicals and sugar. No "junk" "snack" food carries useful nutrition. They are purely for taste.

Why not have a snack that tastes good, and helps your body and mind? Go ahead and snack: Eat something real and really good. Fruit (sweet, fibrous, alive), vegetables (crunchy, almost no calories or fat), or whole-wheat pretzels (only flour, water and a little salt).

Have YOU any healthy snack ideas, that aren't junk or harmful to your body? PLEASE COMMENT and share!

 

A great way to understand what's going on in your life, in your habits and actions, thoughts and needs, is to write about it.

Keep a journal or diary. Write what you're thinking and doing. Talk on paper about what and how much you are eating, and what you're doing to move your body and nourish your mind and spirit. One of my recommendations to people wishing to lose weight and improve their health is to first keep a diary of everything they eat and what activities they do on a daily basis.

There's more on this in my book, "The Joy of Weight Loss," and variations can be found in other behavior modification programs as well. Then over time, by keeping diaries you can analyze the information. You'll see where you are doing well and spot areas where you'd like to improve. I've kept diaries off and on for 20+ years, and love going back and reading about different times in my life. It makes memories vivid, and my life takes on a deeper meaning in the process of recording and reflecting.

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