MyWeightLossForLife.com

Archive for January, 2008

Is there any more depressing time of the year if you’re trying to lose weight?

The television bombards us with commercials for diet products and programs. There are dozens of quick fixes, pills to take and crazy diet plans to sign up (and pay) for.

So, here are my tips for getting through this rough time of the year and staying focused on healthy eating, exercise, and gradual, maintainable weight loss.

1. Like yourself the way you are. You don’t withhold love from your family and friends until they lose a few pounds, do you? Why are you doing it to yourself. Do something nice for yourself today.
2. Focus on your health, not your weight. I hear you, “But my weight affects my health.” That’s true, but too often we try to take shortcuts to weight loss that are bad for our health. Focus on taking good care of yourself.
3. See you doctor. How long has it been since you had a checkup? Talk to your doctor about your health, your diet, and exercise. Get some advice and the go-ahead to change your lifestyle.
4. If it sounds too good to be true, it is. While writing this, I saw yet another ad for a pill that will make you lose weight without changing your eating or exercise habits. Yeah, and you can get rich by quitting your job and going into debt too. Right….
5. The only way to lose weight is by diet and exercise. Work on making healthy changes to the way you eat and live. You’ll feel better AND lose weight.

I’m amazed at how much sugar is in a “normal” diet.

Since my husband was diagnosed with diabetes last summer, we’ve paid a lot more attention to our sugar consumption. Of course, we pay attention to sweets because candies, cookies, etc. are pretty much off limits for a diabetic. However, milk is relatively high in sugar (lactose) and therefore high in carbs. We’ve switched to a brand of milk called Calorie Countdown, which is lower in carbs but higher in price!

Cereals are also tough to buy; it’s not just the carbs (though most cereals are VERY high in carbs), but many also have quite a lot of sugar. One that we’ve had success with is the Special K Protein cereal. It tastes like a cross between regular special K and bran flakes, and it’s the cereal with the lowest carb count that we’ve been able to find.

Splenda is an obvious substitution for sugar, and it’s easy to buy sugar-free syrups for pancakes and flavorings. If your store doesn’t have a good variety, then try an online store like netrition. You can also buy sugar free honey (well… fake honey), and it’s available at our Wal-Mart.

Unfortunately, a lot of packaged foods have added sugar, so we’ve learned to read our nutrition labels before buying anything new. Also, there are often significant carb count differences between brands for similar foods. If you’re diabetic, pre-diabetic, or just interested in cutting your sugar consumption, then reading your food labels is a MUST.

We use the approach advocated by the Atkins and South Beach diets. First, you’ll look at your total carb count. Then, you can subtract any fiber in the food AND subtract any sugar alcohols. Whatever is left is your “real” carb count, the number of carbs that are likely to impact your blood sugar. So… sugar free candies often have very few carbs per serving because they’re primarily sugar alcohols. High fiber foods are also lower in carbs because they’re harder to digest, so carbs take longer to get into your system.

Finally, we’ve had to pay close attention to serving sizes. A serving with 10g of carbs is completely doable, unless you inadvertently eat three servings worth! Cereal is a big one on this list; often we just pour a bowl of cereal, which can amount to twice the normal serving size. Snack foods are another one to pay close attention to.

What do you do to reduce sugars (and carbs) in your diet? Any tips or tricks you’d like to share?

This is a little different twist on your traditional vegetable soup. This is a super easy, delicious recipe that’s easy to tweak to accommodate your tastes and preferences.

Meatballs:

• One pound of hamburger (lean)
• quarter cup of plain bread crumbs
• two large eggs
• half  a cup of parmesan cheese
• salt,  black pepper, red pepper to taste

Gradually add about one half to three fourths of a 15 ounce can of tomato sauce as you mix the meat mixture. You want it wet enough to allow you to form the meat into balls, but not so wet that it falls apart. Work the tomato sauce in gradually so you don’t get too much.

Pinch off small amounts of the meat mixture — about enough to form a one inch meatball. Work each meatball in your hands before forming into a ball and setting aside. Kneading the meat will help the meatballs stay together in the soup.

Soup:

Add the following vegetables to your soup pot, with a little margarine or olive oil.

• One large carrot, diced
• Two celery stalks, diced
• One large onion, diced
• One half of a green or red bell pepper, diced
• One potato, peeled and diced
• One quarter of a cabbage, cut into chunks

Stir fry the vegetables just until they begin to get translucent. If you’re using a crock pot or in a hurry, you can skip the stir frying step, but it does add a lot of flavor.

Add

• four cups of water
• one can of diced tomatoes, with juice
• one can of whole kernel corn, drained
• salt, black pepper and red pepper to taste
• dried basil, to taste

Bring the soup to a rapid boil and drop the meatballs in one at a time. When all the meatballs have been added, reduce heat to a simmer and cover. Don’t stir the soup for at least thirty minutes to avoid breaking up the meatballs.

Simmer for about 45 minutes or until vegetables and meatballs are cooked through.  This is a great hearty soup that does well on its own or with rolls or sandwiches.