The Seconds Problem

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 helpful to you, too, if you have trouble resisting second helpings: If I must have seconds, I'm going to make myself take an equal amount of veggies or salad, too, (because, big surprise, my seconds are seldom or never veggies), and make myself eat the veggies/salad first before eating the second helping of rice or chicken or whatever it is compelling me to eat more.

Worst case, at least I'm getting additional vegetables. Best case, the veggies will fill me up, plus more time will pass to allow what I've already eaten to 'settle,' and I'll be able to pass up -- or eat less of -- the more fattening food waiting to be eaten. Hopefully that will help me deal with the seconds problem until I can suck it up and give them up for good.

30 Second Sort of Like Cheesecake Snack

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 serving
About 115 calories, just over 1 point.

*You can use fat-free cream cheese and save about 30 calories, but personally I can't stand the stuff.

The 'More is Less' Syndrome

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 more than I was right. And I usually guessed low, meaning, the portion sizes were larger than I estimated them to be. (I did start getting closer toward the end of the day, but only because by then I knew I'd been underestimating my portion sizes).

Obviously, it's important to weigh and measure food so we won't eat too much. If our 'measuring by sight' skills aren't up to par (or if we're inclined to fool ourselves into believing more is less), we're going to end up eating a lot more than we plan. Day after day, week after week, that can add up to a lot of food. But there's another reason it's important: The simple action of weighing a chicken breast or measuring out a cup of mashed potatoes emphasizes the relevance and importance of what we're trying to achieve, and motivates us to stay on track.

Weighing and measuring can be time-consuming and monotonous, and few of us are going to weigh everything, everyday. But a little refresher course now and then will help us keep our portion sizes in line with reality and might help cure a case of "more is less" syndrome.

Try my little test for a day and see how you do.

Autumn Apples

A healthy side dish, especially good with pork or chicken.

Autumn Apples

1/2 teaspoon butter

2 firm, tart apples, peeled, cored and sliced

pinch 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 servings

About 90 calories; 1 point per serving.

Journaling for the New Age

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 you eat them throughout the day, and your food diary will keep track of all your foods and how many total calories you've eaten for the day. (This information all remains private.) You can read and edit your food journal at the tweetwhatyoueat site.

tweetwhatyouit is smart, too. It helps you keep track of weigh ins. If you don't know the calories of what you've eaten, tweetwhatyoueat will find them for you. If you need to be reminded to update your food journal, tweetwhatyoueat will remind you through twitter. If you eat a certain food over and over, after the first time you post the calories, tweetwhatyoueat will remember them.

Give it a try. If you're like me and never far away from your computer or phone, it may be more convenient than paper journaling. tweetwhatyoueat is taking away all of our excuses not to journal, and that's a good thing!

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

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 oz. of water is a lot quicker and easier than making a salad or soup, and the water contains zero calories.

Tiny Tip -- Extra Easy Zesty Veggies

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)

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, mixing, grilling, can be relaxing if approached in the right frame of mind. Why, after all, do so many people consider cooking one of their favorite hobbies? If you're a drama queen like me, pretend you have your own Food Network show and camp your way through it.

You'll know exactly what ingredients are going into your food and you'll probably save an enormous amount of calories and fat grams over a drive-thru dinner. Plus knowing you took that extra step to eat right despite being tired will motivate you to go into the next day with strong resolve to eat right again. Why, after all, waste all that good willpower just to toss it out the window the next day?

Fancy, Festive, and Fattening, Oh No!

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 holiday eating. One is that it's a special time that comes around once a year and it's okay to indulge in all of our favorite holiday foods. One only has so many holidays in one's life, and they shouldn't be spent eating green salad and broiled chicken. As long as we hop back on the wagon in January, a few extra pounds are well worth holiday enjoyment.

Another point of view is all about the green salad and chicken. It's employing tricks and tactics to manage to stay on one's weight loss plan and come out at the end of the holiday season feeling healthy and proud about not indulging in unhealthy and fattening foods. And a few pounds lighter.

If you look back at last year's holiday posts both points of view are covered, and I may be posting about both points of view this year, too. But sometimes "either" and "or" are so black and white that we don't see the obvious -- which in this case, for many of us, is "neither."

Each of us needs to do what works best for us but, all in all, 'neither' is probably the most ideal solution. Holiday eating doesn't have to be all or nothing. With busy schedules and so many extra temptations, for some of us, this may be a good time to strive for weight maintenance instead of weight loss (or unstrived for gain).

If you're looking for a better way to deal with food choices during the holidays, try including healthier versions of traditional favorites at your holiday meals. Allow yourself only one alcoholic drink at holiday functions. Limit your more fattening favorites to smaller portions and only at the most special events. Add extra exercise to your daily routine throughout the holidays. And enjoy a mix of festive and healthy foods, going heavy on the healthy and lighter on the festive.

Call this viewpoint "Moderation."

Only you know what will work best for you and which approach will find you at peace with yourself when the holidays are over. For some, the temptation of holiday favorites is so strong that the only way they can make it through is to stay away from holiday treats and concentrate on healthy foods. For others, a few pounds is an acceptable trade-off not to have to worry about every little bite they take throughoout the holidays. And, finally, some are able to walk that fine line between too much and too little, and enjoy a moderate amount of holiday indulgences.

Whatever you do, make a plan and stick to it, and most importantly, have a wonderful holiday season!

Happy Day-After-Halloween

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 not possible because they belong to someone else, ask them to put them somewhere you never go. And, two, get back on your healthy eating plan, right now, today, this minute.

Too often short lapses turn into long stretches of time which finally result in despair, surrender, and giving up. So don't let another minute go by without getting your head on straight and reminding yourself of all the reasons you want to -- and need to -- lose weight. In a few days, your Halloween blunder will be just a blip on the radar and you'll be feeling great that you won out over the ghosts and goblins of Halloween candy past.

Crockpot Chicken and Ranch Potatoes

Add a salad and green veggie, and this is a stick to your ribs dinner for Halloween night.

Crockpot Chicken and Ranch Potatoes

4 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced

1/2 of a 1 oz. package of dry Ranch Dressing Mix

4 skinless, boneless Chicken Breasts, cubed*

1 can 98% Fat Free Cream of Chicken Soup (10 oz.)

1/4 cup Fat Free Sour Cream

1/4 cup diced Onion

Salt and Pepper to Taste

Spray crockpot with non-stick cooking spray. Mix all ingredients together and place in crockpot. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 4-6 hours.

*Or leave the chicken breasts whole and shred them into potatoes before serving.

4 servings; 1 1/4 cup each.

About 300 calories; 6 points per serving.

Tiny Tip -- Today is NCCD

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

Prepare For Battle

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 on your eating plan (and how bad you feel on days you don't). Have a filling breakfast with lots of protein so it will stay with you.

Take fruit and veggie sticks with you the office to munch on when you feel temptation to dive into the candy bowl. Plan on having a bottle of water or hot drink in front of you most of the day, and have sugarless gum available, too.

Ask that the candy bowl or treat tray be moved far away from your desk. If the temptation gets too strong, take a walking break. It will allow you to clear your head and engage in some encouraging self-talk. Or if it's a full blown party, make an excuse to get away from the party for awhile -- check email, go to the ladies room (to have yet another one of those self-talks), or make a phone call -- anything to get away from the food.

If you do decide to indulge, compensate with a light lunch and dinner. It wouldn't hurt to throw in an extra exercise session, too.

And, finally, re-evaluate what "Treat" means in terms of Halloween now that you're an adult. Friendship, fun, and laughter are far more valuable and lasting than sugar-filled, mass produced candy. Concentrate on people, not food.

Get Your Own bodybugg

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 calculates how much fat is burned. It's accurate to within 90%, which is pretty amazing. And according to a Biggest Loser insider, the most successful losers were the ones who used their bodybuggs the most and kept up with their stats.

Want your own bodybugg? Well, you can have one! It's not cheap, but if you use it faithfully, it's probably worth every penny. It retails for $199-$249 and can be purchased from 24 Hour Fitness (I couldn't find any information on how to purchase directly from bodybugg or if that's even possible):

bodybugg® system Get the Bodybugg Exercise Calorie Counter from 24 Hour Fitness

For more information on how the bodybugg works, go here:

BODYBUGG :: THE SCIENCE BEHIND BODYBUGG

Roasted Asparagus, Tomato, and Parmesan Salad

Roasted Asparagus, Tomato, and Parmesan Salad

1 1/2 pounds fresh asparagus

1 1/2 cups grape or cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered

2 tablespoons shredded parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons olive oil

salt to taste

freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Prepare the asparagus by cutting off the last inch or so of the woody stalk. Place the asparagus stalks on a baking sheet. Brush them with the olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for 10 minutes, until the stalks begin to get brown and tender on the outside. (Thin asparagus spears will take less time than thick spears.)

Toss the asparagus with the vinegar and, place on a platter, top with cheese and tomatoes.

6 servings

About 50 calories, 1 point per serving.

Don't Go Nuts With the Nuts

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, indeed, but they're still fats and they're still just as fattening as they were before they were deemed "good." Which brings us to nuts.

Nuts can be part of a healthy eating plan but what's important to remember is that while they may contain good fat, 50% of the weight of most nuts is oil, and oil contains more than twice the number of calories per gram compared to carbohydrates and protein. When you're trying to cut back on calories, only a very few should be consumed. Which may be difficult, because it's easy to eat more than just a few nuts and the calorie content of nuts is so high that just a few extra handfuls could ruin your diet day.

If you want to add nuts to your diet, the safest way to do it is to get a small container to keep your daily portion in. An empty Altoids container is perfect. Fill it with the nuts of your choice, then measure them and calculate the calories. I have a little plastic paper clip box that's a bit smaller than an Altoids container that works even better. It holds 14 almonds, which is about 100 calories, a nice size to toss in my purse and snack on throughout the day.

Anyway, here's some info to underscore just how calorific nuts can be, followed by calories per piece so you can put together your little, with emphasis on the word little, snack pack of nuts.

Calories per 1/2 cup:

Almonds -- 415
Walnuts -- 392
Pecans -- 353
Peanuts -- 425
Pistachios -- 350
Cashews -- 370

Per single nut:

Almonds -- 7
Walnuts -- 13 (per half of shelled walnut)
Pecans -- 10 (per half of shelled pecan)
Peanuts -- 6
Pistachios -- 4
Cashews -- 11

Halloween Doesn't Have To Be So Scary

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 have the happy chore of taking the kids out, here are a few ideas that might make it a little easier for you to resist temptation:

Don't go out hungry! A healthy family dinner before Trick or Treating will help everyone resist the urge to dig right into the treats.

Take a healthy treat for yourself, like an apple, a 100-calorie pouch, or a bag of popcorn, so you'll have something to munch on while everyone else is eating candy. Popcorn is especially good because you can munch on it all though the neighborhood and not do much damage.

Or chew sugarless gum. It keeps your mouth busy and doesn't mix well with candy.

When you get home, immediately fix yourself a cup of Really Good Hot Chocolate or hot tea or coffee sweetened with your sweetner of choice.

While you're drinking your hot chocolate, let another adult supervise the children's candy. After the kids pick out a few things they want, put the remainder of the candy away and gradually dole it out later. If necessary, have the other adult hide it (from you and/or the kids -- whoever is the sneakiest) or ask a neighbor take it home and dole it out for you.

Finally, if you've been good all evening, reward yourself with one or two small treats. Most mini bars are only 1-2 points and, after all, it IS Halloween!

Really Good Hot Chocolate

The secret here is the whisking -- it turns ordinary hot chocolate into yummy creaminess.

4 1/2 cups low-fat milk

1/3 cup Splenda

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Whisk 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 steaming. Remove from heat and whisk vigorously.

Whisk the cocoa mixture into the milk and pour into mugs.

6 servings.
About 50 calories, 1 point per serving.

A New Kind of Fast Food

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?

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.

Mix 'n Match Your Snacks

Decide how many calories you want your snack to be, then mix and match from this list to your heart's content. Each item on the list is 10 calories.

You can use all of your calories for a larger amount of 1 food, or pick smaller portions of several foods. Adjust your favorite snack foods into 10 calorie increments and add them to list to have a source for an endless variety of snacks.




1 1/2 Tablespoons Hershey's Sugar-Free Chocolate Syrup
1 Reduced Fat Wheat Thin
1/4 of a medium peach
2 teaspoons fat free cream cheese
1 container Sugar-free Jello snack
2 1/2 Tablespoons salsa
1 Junior Mint
1 Tablespoon fat free Italian Dressing
1 navel orange segment
1 Whopper (malt ball, not hamburger!)
2 large strawberries
4 1/2 mini-marshmallows
1 Wheatables cracker
12 1/2 blueberries
1 1/2 almonds
2 1/2 Jelly Belly jelly beans
1 French onion SunChip
3 watermelon balls
3 Altoids mints
1 Austin Zoo animal cracker
9 Brach's Cinnamon Hearts
11 pieces shelled edamame
1 cashew half
1 dried pineapple piece
1 pecan half
1 Big Cheez-It Cracker
1 Tostitos Scoops! chip
1 gummi bear
1 large celery stick
1 Snyder's of Hanover honey mustard and onion pretzel nibbler
1/3 cup air-popped popcorn
1 Keebler mini vanilla wafer
4 Cheddar Goldfish crackers
2 Skittles
1 apple slice
2 1/2 pistachios
1 reduced-fat Pringle
4 Nestlé Toll House semisweet chocolate chips
20 roasted and salted soy nuts
10 Wheat Chex
2 1/2 baked Cheetos
42 Cheerios
3 cherry tomatoes
2 Fritos
1 shoestring french fry
1 peanut M&M
3 green or red grapes
1 1/2 Twizzlers black licorice bites
2 1/2 baby carrots
2 Teddy Grahams
3 plain M&M's
18 roasted and salted sunflower seeds
7 pieces Pirate's Booty
1 Tablespoon fat-free whipped cream

"Creamed" Spinach

Good enough to serve for any special occasion.

"Creamed" Spinach

10 oz. bag spinach, washed and coarsely chopped
1 tsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, crushed
3 Laughing Cow wedges

Heat olive oil and saute garlic for 1 minute. Add spinach and saute until soft (about 2 minutes), stirring constantly. Reduce heat and add cheese wedges. Continue cooking and stirring until cheese is melted and completely blended w/ spinach.

Serves 2
About 65 calories, 1.5 points per serving.

Have a "Safe" Halloween

This one is from last year (with some additions), but I think I published it a little too late in the month to be helpful last year, plus it never hurts to have reminders for "safe" Halloween treats!

Halloween safety is important for anyone who has children. It's also important for anyone on a diet, and those are the kind of safety tips listed here. If you don't want a bowl of Snickers bars at your fingertips as you wait for the Trick or Treaters to ring your doorbell, here are a few other Halloween ideas:

Small boxes of raisins, or dried fruit or cranberries -- calorific but healthier than candy.

Stickers -- get some packets of large colorful ones and cut them into individual stickers. The smaller children will love them. (Find them at the dollar store.)

Temporary tattoos.

Party favors -- dollar store again.

Crayola has "snack packs" of three crayons. And if you made your own packs, you could probably put more than 3 in for the same $.

Coupons from fast food joints (almost all of them have special coupons for Halloween.) They were my choice last year and worked well. I was surprised how excited the kids were about them.

If sweets are your downfall, packets of peanuts or sunflower seeds.

Pencils with specialty erasers, or with holiday or cartoon themes.

Envelopes of instant cocoa with marshmallows.

Individual juice boxes.

Pennies, nickels, dimes, whatever your bank account allows.

If you live far from the ocean and have a stash of seashells you're willing to part with, kids love items from nature.

Small bags of confetti from the party store. (The kids will love this but the parents won't!)

Plastic bugs or other creepy things. (Kids love creepy things as much as they love items from nature.)

Mini bags of microwave kettle korn popcorn.

And if you must give candy, sealed lollipops at 1 point per --or--at least give something you hate!

And For Your Dinner Appetizer ...

It's hard enough to eat right when eating dinner at a nice restaurant, but even harder when everyone is digging into an appetizer before the real meal even starts. Add to that the fact that most appetizers are cheesed, fried, or creamed, amd you might find yourself feeling stuck with 2 choices: either order an appetizer and lose your (eating) way before you even start with dinner, or sit and watch while everyone eats theirs.

But there's a third choice. Ask the waiter if they have, or can make you, a small fruit salad. Or order a serving of the veggie of the day (you know the drill here ... make sure to ask them to hold the butter or cream sauce). You can eat along with the rest of the crowd, get some extra fruits or veggies in, and go into dinner headed in the right direction.

Have An Appetizing Lunch

Appetizers are usually reserved for dinner, and most often when eating out. But how about switching things up and having an appetizer with lunch?

Routinely begin your meal with a plate of raw vegetables and some fat-free dip, or a bowl of vegetable soup or skinny onion soup (no bread, no cheese), and you'll eat less lunch, feel more satisfied throughout the afternoon, and get in an extra serving or two of those important veggies.

Say Cheese!

We all know that one of the most important things you can do to lose weight is to keep a food diary. It helps keep you accountable for everything that goes in your mouth and prevents those zombie moments when you eat without hardly thinking about it. A journal and a pen (or a computer) can improve the odds of diet success enormously.

But how about taking it even one step forward? Pull out your digital camera and start a visual diary or scrapbook of everything you eat. Fill your plate and take a picture of it before and after eating. If you have seconds, do the same. Meals, snacks, nibbles ... take pictures of all of them before they go in your mouth, and what's left of them or what's not left of them, before and after you eat.

Visually recording what you eat accomplishes several things:

--It's a much more literal and accurate recording of what you've eaten than a quick scribble on paper.
--If you know you're going to be taking a picture of your plate after you've put it together, you're going to take more care in assembling a healthy meal.
--You may get tired of taking "After" pictures of empty plates and strive not to eat everything there.
--Or, if you've already taken an "After" picture, it may prevent you from deciding you want more.
--It's harder to cheat (yourself) when you've got visual evidence.
--Preparing to take the photos gives you plenty of time to think about what you'll be eating; by necessity, it does away with mindless eating.
--And finally, the whole preparation for taking pictures of what you're eating is a reminder of how important each and every meal is.

It does sound like it could take some work, but it sounds like it could be enjoyable, too. You could put it together in scrapbook form with comments and stickers, and have a lot of fun with it. And imagine 15 pounds, 25 pounds, 50 pounds, down the road going back and flipping through your picture book. You just may end up giving it the title, "The Secret of My Success."

Mini-Cheesecakes

Mini Cheesecakes

12 low-fat vanilla wafers
3 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
12 oz. fat-free cream cheese, at room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup Splenda
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 can Lite Cherry Pie Filling

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Line muffin tins with 12 foil cupcake papers. Place a vanilla wafer in the bottom of each cupcake paper. In mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and fat-free cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar, Splenda, and vanilla, and mix well. Add eggs and beat until smooth.

Pour cheesecake mixture into muffin tins. Bake for 20 minutes or until centers are almost set. Cool. Refrigerate 2 hours or overnight. Top with each cheesecake with 2 Tbs. Lite Cherry Pie filling before serving.

Makes 12 cheesecakes/servings.
About 150 calories/3 WW points.

Breaking News: No-Egg McMuffin Update

I've finally stumbled upon my perfect breakfast sandwich. I've been searching so hard for a portable, high(er) protein, lower point breakfast, that I consider it big news when I find one!

My latest variation on the "No-Egg McMuffin" fits all my criteria, and more. (More, meaning it also has 5 grams of fiber.)






This is how it goes:

1 lite English muffin -- 100 cal/1 gr. fat/5 gr. fiber
2 slices of Rose Canadian bacon (from Costco) -- 30 cal/less than 1 gr. fat
1 wedge of Laughing Cow cheese -- 35 cal/2 gr. fat
(A slice of tomato if I have one around, but not at all necessary, and I'm thinking I like it better without the tomato, although it does add a veggie component.)

Toast the English muffin. Zap the Canadian bacon in the micro for about 45 seconds. Spread the cheese on the muffin, add the bacon, and there you are. It's portable, very filling, and low in points.

Total: 165 calories/3 gr. fat/5 gr. fiber (although I only used 4 of them to calculate WW points); 2.75 points.

I was hoping to keep the points at 2, and I could do that by using only 1 slice of Canadian bacon and a partial cheese wedge (2.17 points/140 calories). But I really like how substantial the sandwich seems with the 2 slices and whole wedge, so that extra (less than) 1 point may be worth it.

One way or another, either I've found my perfect breakfast sandwich or I'm well on my way to finding it! (I think I've found it.)

Wow, I Can Walk to Portion-Controlled Real Mashed Potatoes and Gravy

Neither one of these websites (below) is as comprehensive as it could be (lots of fast food restaurants, few locally based restaurants), or as comprehensive as they probably will be if they stay around awhile, but there's still some useful information to be had.

Just browsing the sites I found a couple of restaurants nearby that I didn't even know existed and some possibilities I never considered. For example, Culver's, which is just down the street and which I never go to, has real mashed potatoes and gravy for 3 points/140 calories -- could be just the ticket when I feel a comfort food binge coming on.

The "Good Food Near You" site includes multiple menu items, which is nice, and the Healthy Dining Finder has a variable search radius. I hope these sites continue to grow. For now, they're fun for browsing. If they get more content, they'll be an indispensable tool.

GoodFoodNearYou - find food and menu nutrition at restaurants near you

Healthy Dining Finder

Slowcooker Pumpkin Soup

I usually try to keep my recipes short and easy. This one is a little more time consuming because of the pumpkin preparation, but Autumn is everywhere and this soup is so good, plus all the pumpkin chopping and peeling will surely burn some extra calories!





Slowcooker Pumpkin Soup

8 cups chopped fresh pumpkin (about 3 pounds)
4 cups chicken broth
3 small tart apples or pears, peeled and chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons minced fresh gingerroot
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt

Combine all the ingredients in the slowcooker. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours or until pumpkin and apples are tender. Cool soup slightly; process in batches in a blender. Transfer to a large saucepan; heat through. Garnish with a dollop of Greek yogurt, if desired.

9 servings, 1 cup each
About 100 calories, 1 point.