The Healthy Community..continued
 

Time for a 'fresh' thread for the Healthy Community! :)

Everyone is welcome, please join us! Hope everyone is having a good on-track week. What are you eating lately? Discover any new, delicious, healthy foods?

I had Curried Chicken Breast and Steamed Red Cabbage with a touch of Cinnamon for dinner. Raw carrots on the side. It was delicious, very satisfying!

My find for the week was "Smart Fries"- Air popped potato sticks. They come in jalapeno and honey bbq. If you want to liven up the old taste buds the jalapeno will do it! The package says they are 80% less fat than potato chips. They are kind of like a cheese curl- light and fluffy (mostly air). 110 calories 1.5 grams of fat for 1/3 of a bag (1/3 of the bag is A LOT). I think I am hooked on them!

Those sound good!! I will look for them! :) Spicy foods usually will cure the snack craving for me. Last night I had a few Triscuits and Louisianna hot sauce, with a hint of cheddar cheese, heated in the microwave for a snack.

Who was it that was taking Banjo lessons? Just wondering how that is going! :)

I am off to work out, then have a tea date with a friend. Planning meals later on today and making my grocery list.

I have been hooked on the Quaker rice cake snacks. My favorite is the cheddar, they are like Cheetos or cheese popcorn in flavor, and 18 of them is 140 calories, that's half a plate full! I also found some whole grain sandwich rounds in the bread aisle, 100 calories each. I've swapped them out for bagels. I can have an ounce of real full fat cream cheese on one and it's only 200 calories but totally satisfies the bagel craving. A real bagel with cream cheese would be 350-450 calories and a lot less fiber. I can't give up my coffee but I am measuring out the sugar and creamer and slowly using less. Maybe someday I can learn to drink it black lol.

Hee hee-I eat Triscuit thin crisp nachos too lol. I measure out 1/4 cup cheddar cheese, add some black beans and salsa, and call it lunch : )

Spicy sounds good
 

Shell;

Will you share the recipe for the cabbage with cinnamon? It sounds a bit unusal, that's what appealed to me, & I have a head of red cabbage I've just been eating as a salad, so the change would be appreciated.

Deanna;
I'll have to look for the Smart Fries I haven't seen them in my area, & I love anything with jalapeno. LOve the spice & heat. Lately I've been eating a roma tomato & jalepeno salsa by the 1/2 c. & counting it as a serving of veggies @ 30 calories. It's really tasty.

2 more days till weigh-in. Praying we all have good #'s.

I am thinking about digging out my Weight Watchers papers, and trying to follow their plan. Just counting calories is just not working! I am probably eating too many carbs, and it is not taking any weight off. At least using the WW points plan I can keep better track of the carbs, proteins, dairy, etc. I will still log my food in here, I will be curious to see how the WW translates into calories.

My chiropractor, who is into the natural healing, suggested eating sourdough rye bread, or even just plain rye bread if you can't find the other, instead of the whole wheat, or as a change from the whole wheat. I got some, and it is really a nice change, especially toasted. Nutritionally it seems to be better than the whole wheat in some ways...less calories, more protein, less sugar. If you are looking for a change....try the rye bread.

I often eat Activia yogurt, and I am always torn between the regular or the low fat. What kind of yogurt do you guys eat?

Kathie, I've been eating full fat, full sugar yogurt..but a really small serving with lots of fruit. The artificial sweeteners really bother me in the low fat yogurt. I've been eating rye bread lately too, I chose it because the slices are smaller, and thinner - and well, I like it! :) Glad to hear your chiro recommended the sour rye, I will look for that too. It sounds good.

Need2Lose, I don't have an official recipe for the cabbage. I just chopped up about 1/2 a head of cabbage and put that in a big pot, added a small amount of water, a tablespoon of vinegar, pepper, salt..the let it steam for a bit...then sprinkled on a touch of Cinnamon, tossed and voila! Red cabbage sort of turns blue when cooked, but that is what I had on hand so I wanted to use it up. Regular green cabbage works too. Mixing up my foods really keeps me on track for some reason.

Lizzy, I forgot about rice cakes - those are good! Putting them on my grocery list right now..

The best yogurt
 

My big find this week was Oikos fat free organic Greek yogurt. It's creamier and richer than full fat yogurt, I couldn't believe it was fat free! I bought the plain, you could buy it and just add whatever sweetener you wanted to add. It does come in lots of flavors but I'm in Phase 1 of South Beach and can't have fruit yet. This is the best source of fat free protein that I've ever encountered. It costs $3.70 a pound at Wal-mart.

Here's the nutritional break down:
Serving Size 1 cup (227g)

Calories 130
Total Fat 0g0%
Total Carbohydrate 9g3%
Protein 23g 46%

Chobani makes a Greek yogurt, too. I swear by it because of the protein count. Also, nothing artificial in it.

What exactly is "Greek" yogurt and what makes it different than other kinds?

Deanna

Hi Deanna,

Greek yogurt is thicker and creamier than the other kinds and is also very high in protein. It also has lower sugar and less lactose, I believe. I think it is strained to remove the liquid. I buy the fat free version in fruit or vanilla; the vanilla has 110 cals per 5 oz container and the fruit varieties have about 130. To me, it's well worth it for the 15 or so grams of protein. (I think the stuff Desertmountain provided the nutritional info for is the plain and you can doctor it up with sweeteners or whatever else you want to put in).

I have not seen greek yogurt here in BC...Anyone else?

Another stupid question- or two ;) Does it say Greek Yogurt? Can you buy it at a regular grocery store?

Deanna

Alittlebitsassy..Ive bought it in Safeways here in Alberta cant remember the brand name...Liberte???

Both kinds available here, Oikos and Chobani, say "Greek yogurt" on them. I have Chobani in my regular grocery store and Oikos in the Walmart. They come in 5 oz. cups and also in 16 oz. tubs (the plain and the vanilla) where I am. Flavors I have seen include peach, strawberry, blueberry, and honey. I hear there is a caramel but I haven't seen it and I have heard people mention a 4-pack, but haven't seen it, either. However, it is getting more and more popular and you should be able to find it somewhere soon if not now.

Greek Yoghurt
 

Hi, Here in Michigan Trader Joe's sells plain Fage total 0%, it is labeled greek yoghurt. My container is 6 oz or 170g @90 calories and 15g protein. I like the somewhat tart flavor and add fresh blurberries or bananas. TJ's also has a cookie I like called "seriously seedy nutty wafers @ 80 calories, loaded with cashews, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and sesame seeds.

More snow last night- ie; more weight lifting to clear the long driveway. My weigh in is today at weight watchers-wish me luck.

Hello everyone,

Whew this week flew by, had a very busy week. Friday weigh in time again! I am back down to 242lb. Feeling like I am on track and hoping to kiss the 240's goodbye by next Friday.

The greek yogurt is delicious, very thick and creamy! I buy it every once in awhile. I too like it because it is all natural. Many of the yogurts are just loaded with additives. I am religiously reading labels now, so that is a positive change I have incorporated.

Have a great day! :)

I looked at the grocery store last night and couldn't find anything that said greek yogurt. I ended up with plain nonfat yogurt. I was craving potato salad so bad and had found a recipe with yogurt in it. So I came home from the store and made it at 11:00 last night LOL. That way it had time to get good and cold by lunchtime today :)

I have to say it turned out pretty good. I used no fat yogurt, fat free mayo, spicy brown mustard and a packet of Equal. I like sweet potato salad with no "chunks" in it. Chunks as in - onions, eggs, relish. I don't like to bite into anything but potatoes. I am weird I know....

Deanna

Deanna, here's a link with a "where to buy" for the Chobani brand. Maybe you can find it:

Chobani Yogurt - Products

Yesterday was a loooong and stressful day at work...I was starving when I got home and instead of snarfing 13-year-old boy food from the pantry, I had some Greek yogurt with sliced half banana and some chopped almonds. It was awesome, satisfying, and got me through the next 3 hours till dinner.

Hope you enjoyed your potato salad today :)

Hello again all. Haven't posted in a few, been busy. Spent the last week going through my sisters place, weeding through and riding out, she was murdered in october and I have just been putting off this daunting task. So this week my husband and myself took the bull by the horn and today had an estate sale and then back at it tomorrow.

With doing all this I wasnt sure if I was going to be able to stick with my new healthy lifestyle but i did and for cardio this week I rode my bike the 10 miles to her house everyday. This was not only great physical exercise but the mental benefit was awesome! A bit chilly but at the same time refreshing. At weigh in this morning I had lost 3 pounds! Anyhow enough of this.....

Chobani greek yogurt is the BEST!!!! There website has a coupon, buy two get one free. For all the chocolate lovers out there a few weeks ago they launched their new "childrens" product line, which includes chocolate and although I haven't personally tried it I heard it is delish. They have a facebook fan page which not only keeps you updated on all their new flavors but they have excellent recipes as well. I recommend this yogurt to everyone, not only for the high protein but for the probiotics as well.

Thanks all... stay motivated and motivating! Life is grand!

Wow, jessie, I have huge respect for you. To have to be so mentally strong and then work toward being physically strong on top of it, when it's so much easier to crawl under covers and hide...you are truly tremendous and your outlook is amazing. I know you will succeed at whatever you choose to do.

Hi everyone, just on logging my food for Saturday and thought I'd check up on everyone. Jessie, your outlook is amazing and your strength is inspirational. Well done!

I hope everyone has a happy and fit weekend, I am logging my food in advance to keep me on the straight and narrow. I have allowed for a couple of glasses of wine with my OH this evening which will hopefully lead to a little ad hoc exercise! :p:D

Have a good one everyone!

I see my post from last night disappeared! I wonder where it went? Oh well.

Jessie, wow, you are an amazing person!

Shell, congrats on getting rid of that 2 pounds! What a great feeling it is!

I haven't had a great week with the food, I have been really busy and have eaten a lot at night. Still tracking every morsel, and the calories have been a little high....in the 1400 - 1600 range, I think once I hit 1800! I have avoided the scale completely as that was just bringing me down! I still haven't dragged out my WW papers yet. Mostly because I really have been on the go!

I am working today, most of the day, so hopefully I can fit in some healthy snacks while I am working.

I hope you all have a wonderful day, and I will check in later, after work!!

Hi all....the weekend's here!

Jesse, I've been following your posts since before I started posting at all, and am always inspired by your success. I am so sorry about the tragedy of your sister and give you so much credit for dealing with it in a healthy way. You have friends here!

Kathie, I am also feeling your pain with motivation. I did not have the greatest day yesterday. Stress is kicking my butt and emotional eating is just such an easy fix. My calories topped 2,100....not good at all, but all tracked, all healthy foods, no binging, just too much comfort food after 9:00 p.m.

Cassie, I'm hanging onto your signature today. I dropped an egg last night, but today is back on track.

Shell, congrats on those 2 pounds! I've made that cabbage soup many times before, but not with cinnamon...mmm...must try that!

Deanna, thanks for that link to Chobani Yogurts...I used it to find the yogurt and found it close by, so I will be looking for it soon!

Happy Weekend Everyone! And keep your eyes on the prize!!!! :)

What are your favorite "staples"?
 

I was curious.....

What are your favorite healthy "go to" foods: low carb & fat/high protein?

My few staples are good for the food log but become boring quickly:

Greens with 2 cans of tuna or chicken - fat free 5 calorie dressing.

Protein shake w/ 1 scoop whey protein, 1 cup skim milk

3 egg whites and 1 slice cheese in a low carb wrap

Chicken breast w/ veggies.

I used to eat oatmeal, bananas, and yogurt (Must look into the Greek yogurt I've been reading about!) but mostly gave them up because there is not enough bang for the buck in protein when compared to the carb content.

I wish I had more options to look forward to that also made the pie graph/food log "happy".

So, I wondered what you all have as your staples.....

Hard boiled eggs, the whole thing if I'm doing well or it's easy to separate the whites if the calories are creeping up but I need protein. Ready to grab in the fridge too.

String cheese sticks (stolen from the kids lol)

Lean lunch meat

Grapes seem to fill me up more than most fruits/veggies do, also bananas, pears, plums, oranges, berries in season

Carrots and celery sticks for when I want something to munch on for something to do more than for actual nutriton, like when I'm on the computer

Special K protein shakes, can get em fairly cheap at WalMart. Good to have on hand when my blood sugar gets too low.

I could use more protein-heavy snack ideas. I find I can keep my blood sugar stable much better when I eat a lot of protein. I recently found out my son's allergic to walnuts, so I threw those out, peanut butter's too high in fat for now, but maybe when I'm back to maintenance. Nuts are good but I have to watch it close, they're also one of my "binge" foods.

Chili can be a really great meal option, you can custom make it, like using ground turkey or chicken or extra lean ground beef. You can add a variety of beans to it instead of just kidney beans...they all end up tasting the same in the end...you can run some veggies thru the food processor and sneak them in!! Just make sure to drain the canned beans first or your sodium content will sky rocket.

So far today I am just over 1000 calories, but really for the rest of the night I should only eat fruits or veggies. We will see how I do. There were fresh white buns in my house (grrr, I did NOT bring them in! Husband is to blame!) and of course with my non existant willpower, I had to eat some of them. He also bought doughnuts!! JERK!! I ate one over two days...and counted it. Not worth the fat! So the house is once more without all those tempting foods...so hoping that helps me stay on track.

Hello everyone,

Just checking in and catching up, have not been online much the last few days. Doing OK, and am on track. No meals out this weekend, which makes a big difference. Really limiting restaurant meals for right now.

Gearing up for a super successful week! I mixed up some tuna, hard boiled eggs, chives, lemon pepper, and a touch of mayo - it is delicious! I like to eat a scoop of it just plain, without bread. Also been eating curried chicken breast, yum. Hmmm, I don't have any new snack ideas lately. I find a few almonds to sometimes hit the spot when I am craving a snack. Going to prep a container of carrot sticks today, and dice up all the veggies so they are handy for meals through the week.

Sherry, The cabbage I made was just plain old steamed cabbage. But I have made cabbage soup before, and love that too! :)

Enjoy the rest of the weekend - and remember that we can do this, we deserve this!

Hi Everybody. It's March and a whole new month to look forward to. I have big plans for gardening (will have to wait until late April). I'm switching up my exercise routine and trying to keep healthy eating going. I tried the Skinny Cow ice cream sandwich bars- tasty, but at 140 calories I'm wondering if this really is any better than a regular ice cream bar?

I've given up bacon and cheese-one of my favorite bites was a bacon and cheese omelet. Now I have 2 egg whites with 1 slice of Oscar Meyer Honey Ham and some herbs- pretty satisfying. Dropped 2 more lbs last week so total loss so far is 9 lbs.

Way to go Mary, you are doing great! I am on track, but not dropping as fast as I had envisionsed...oh well....the numbers are going down and that is what is important, right!?! :) Making a pork loin roast for supper. Cut very lean, and it smells delicious. Serving it with apple sauce and steamed cabbage.

Hope everyone is having a marvelous Monday so far!

Fitdayfreshstart: Thanks everyone for all of these great ideas. :D I'll be adding some of these to my diet.

Lately I've been eating quite a bit of plain Fat Free Greek Yogurt (around 3.50 at WalMart per pound) and add my own sweetener (splenda). I add a 1/4 c of it on top of sugar-free jello to really satisfy my sweet tooth and the whole snack is fat free, low carb and high protein. greek yogurt is creamier and richer than regular yogurt has around 27g of protein per cup. A little goes a long way and so I add it to my salad dressing for a tasty protein boost. If you're able to eat fruit (I can't yet-still in phase 1 of South Beach) you could cut some up in the plain with artificial sweetener to keep the carbs down or buy it their honey & various fruit flavors (but they do have more carbs/calories).

My fav before I found the Greek yogurt is to make a plate of a few nuts, a few ounces of fat-free or low-fat cheese, a few green olives and a bunch of celery wands. The protein in the nuts and cheese make the snack 'stick' to my ribs and the celery fills me up.

Roast Pork Loin is wonderful, I have a marinade I use: 1/2 c soy sauce and 1/2 cup lime juice with about 3 tbs ground cumin. Before I roast it I cut slits in the pork and stuff it with slivers of garlic. Totally delicious and with pork loin there is very little fat.

Thanks for the encouragement Shell. I'm feeling a little defeated tonight. I couldn't start my car, so I ended up leaving it in the parking lot and walking home from the drug store. This is a recurring problem I've been trying to ignore-some weird electronic wiring thing with the anti theft protection system. This has been an occaisional problem since May (about 1 x month until recently). If I can get it started tomorrow I'm driving straight to the dealership and trading it in.

Hi Desertmountain, Great snack ideas! I love greek yogurt too, it is so delicious and satisfying. Mandevil, The marinade sounds really good, I will try that next time. Sorry about your car, that is stressful, nothing worse that car problems!

I am feeling strong this week. Geesh I want to report a loss Friday! :)

I just made spaghetti squash and a meatless sauce loaded up with veggies, it was fantastic! 360 calories for a heaping plate of spaghetti!!

Mmm, that sounds GREAT WayneG! Need to put Spaghetti Squash on my grocery list, I love it!

Snack idea: Frozen grapes. My favorite are concord grapes, found a package in my freezer today that I had forgotten about!

Just wanted to share this link. I am sort of thinking along this line this time around. I may not lose weight as quickly as I originally had planned, but for now, eating healthy 'most' of the time helps me to shift into healthier eating habits. I like to think I eat healthy 90% of the time! :)

Is It OK to Eat Unhealthy Sometimes? - thatsfit.ca

Well, this is advice I give to clients who are getting their dogs to lose weight, but I think it applies to humans too. Treats are an important part of life, but you have to keep them in balance. Treats should make up less than 10% of your diet. If you eat more treats than that, you are either going to get fat or not get the nutrition you need.

Now I just need someone to feed me lol!

Hi all, thanks for posting all the tips for healthy food, I am loving it! I am finding it much easier as time goes on just to make the right choices, and especially easy during the work week when I have a good routine going. Weekends are a bit trickier, but still a hell of a lot healthier than they used to be! Friday weigh in is almost here already! :eek::D

Homemade Granola
 

Hi Everyone.

I made my own super healthy granola. Oats, ground flax seed, roasted soy nuts, pumpkin seeds (pepita), amaranth seeds, maple syrup, dried cranberries and dried blueberries. 1/2 cup =141 calories. I eat it with 1/4 c plain soy milk. Good start to the day!

I've been walking alot this week since my car died :( but I think I've finally got the new one lined up, loan from credit union. I should pick it up today. I ended up getting a Honda Insight- a hybrid that gets 40 miles/gal. My last chore is walkiing back to the pharmacy to meet the towing company for the donation of old car to charity. Hoping all this walking = increased weight loss.

Mary, Your granola sounds excellent! :) Well..that is one benefit to your car breaking down=more walking! lol I'm kidding, I know what a pain car troubles can be.

Lizzy, So true! This really is all about moderation for me. Making changes that I can live with forever, and in the process improve my health and lose weight.

Can't beleive tomorrow is Friday, time flies. Have not snuck on the scale this week. Will see where I am at tomorrow. I feel I had a successful week!!! :)

Walking challenge?
 

Hi Y'all,

Spring is definately coming and I want to look good in shorts and t-shirts. No more flab hanging over the waistband or flapping from my triceps. I'm adding extra weight to my workouts. Can't wait to get outside for walking, gardening, kayaking. This year thin is where I want to be. Who's up for hiking? Should we start a competition for the number of miles walked each week?

Currently I walking inside on my lunch hour, my friend gave me a pedometer. Anybody game?
__________________
Mary
Start Weight 185
Goal Weight 135-140