No one is immune to the potential for holiday weight gain. I still have to be very diligent in watching my food portions and choices because if I don’t keep my goal of “never going back” in front of me, then I could easily begin to regain weight. When I bake cookies or dip pretzels in chocolate, I decide before I begin if I will have any, and then how many I’m going to eat. This often helps me because I know I can have one if I want it, and I understand in advance how many I’m going to allow myself.

Another way I avoid just eating whatever I want for a few days in a row is to remember that those cookies or cakes not only have the potential to add unwanted pounds, but they also contain ingredients that are not very healthy for me. Butter, chocolate and salty pretzels are okay every once in a while, but certainly not day after day after day.

It isn’t always easy to keep your goals in front of you when cookies and candies are beckoning you to indulge, give in and forget what you’ve been working for all these months or even years. Although I don’t think that losing weight needs to be your goal during this coming week, I do think that continued diligence is important.

As you get closer to, and eventually reach your goal weight, you will have years and years ahead of you to practice maintenance. What better time to begin preparing than right now for the hundreds of holidays that will occur throughout your life?

Focusing on your health, fitness and scale goals during these next few days can really help you make wise decisions when faced with the abundance of food.

How will you keep your focus over the next few days?  Diane

As careful as I try to be I mess up all the time. Here’s a perfect example. I was planning our meals for the week and decided that we would have black beans and rice, homemade tortilla chips, green beans and fruit. Then I thought to myself, “We haven’t had yellow rice in a long time. I’ll get some at the store.”

I was grocery shopping later that day and walked down the aisle with the Mexican foods. I grabbed two boxes of yellow rice and put them in my cart. I finished shopping, waited in line FOREVER and went home. Two days later I was getting the black beans going and grabbed the boxes of rice. I glanced at the nutrition label and this is what I saw.

I looked at the serving sizes to make sure that enormous sodium amount wasn’t for the entire box. No, that yellow rice really had 820 mg of sodium per serving. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t serve that to my family.

So instead of yellow rice we had a mixture of brown and white rice, which is how I usually make rice for black beans. I’m returning the rice boxes to the store this afternoon.

That experience made me think about how easy it is to assume that a food is healthy to eat but in reality it’s not very good for you. I falsely assumed that yellow rice would be fine but I was wrong. We have been really trying to watch the amount of sodium we eat and 820 mg in one serving of rice wasn’t fine for me or my family.

This isn’t the first time it’s happened to me. Even after I lost my weight I sometimes get lax about checking the nutrition labels and let extra fat, sugar or sodium slip into our diets. You’d think I’d learn!

Have you ever gotten something home and decided, “I’m not eating this!”  Diane

• The flour you buy at the grocery store is virtually empty of fiber and the germ is removed. The vitamins are bleached out and replaced with artifical vitamins.
• Commercial millers take the wheat berries, and break it into three parts: – the bran, which is the fiber and mineral portion- the germ, which is where most of the vitamins and unsaturated fats are-and the endosperm, which is where the grain keeps its protein.
• They only use the endosperm to make white flour and feed the nutritious part to animals. They do add back vitamins but not all that were lost.
• Even wheat flour you buy at the grocery store is processed and just enough bran is added back in to meet minimum standards. Also, wheat flour loses its nutrients very quickly, so the flour at the grocery store could be less nutritionally dense than you need it to be.
• Buying whole wheat bread is great, but the good quality breads are expensive and still don’t have as many nutrients as freshly milled grain.
• You can mill many types of grains, not just wheat. You can grind popcorn, spelt, oat groats, kamut, and quinoa. I used hard white wheat to make these rolls and bread loaves. I have soft white which I will use for muffins, granola bars and pizza crust.

Well, even though I’ve known all that for years and years I still resisted. I finally gave in after a friend brought me some blueberry muffins she made using her fresh ground wheat. They were delicious and substantial. I talked it over with John and we decided to give it a try. It helped that John just finished reading David Kessler’s book, “The End of Overeating!” John is even more aware now of processed foods and their impact on our bodies. Thank you Dr. Kessler.

Am I saying everyone should do this? NO!! But, I thought you might find the process interesting.

Here are the wheat berries in the grain mill getting ready to be ground into flour.  Aren’t they pretty?

Here’s the freshly milled flour. It’s very finely ground and warm when it comes out of the grain mill.  You have to use it within a few hours or it starts to lose its nutritional value. It can be frozen for a couple of days.

Here’s the first batch of dough I mixed up for rolls. The dough was much heavier than dough I’ve made before with wheat or white flour from the grocery store.

And here are the finished rolls and the bread loaves I made. They were delicious and filling! Even my teenage son was full and that’s a miracle.

 I hope that I don’t get burned out making our own bread. Fortunately I have an ultra strong Bosch mixer that can handle the heavier dough and knead 20 cups of flour at a time! With this large a family that’s a necessity!

Have you ever heard of grinding your own wheat or made your own bread?  Diane

Here’s the link for where I got my mill: http://www.pleasanthillgrain.com/

She said to me. “Do you like basil and mint?” I told her I did and before I knew it we were walking through her yard to her herb garden. She pushed through some other plants (I don’t know what they were) and found the mint and basil. She leaned over and yanked those plants right out of the ground. I was excited because in my mind I want to be the kind of person who grows her own herbs and happily plucks them out of the garden while I’m making dinner.

Not wanting to waste the herbs I made the following dish, which ironically used mint and basil! We found the recipe on the back of the whole grain Barilla pasta box and I altered it to what you see here. Sadly I threw away the box so I don’t remember the exact name of the recipe.

Sea Shell Veggie/Chicken Pasta

Ingredients:

• 16 ounces shell pasta
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 head broccoli
• 2 chopped tomatoes (I used 2 cans of diced tomatoes)
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• 1 T olive oil
• 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• mint (fresh!)
• basil (fresh!)
• pepper

Directions: Prepare pasta according to directions.  Meanwhile, heat 1 T olive oil and saute the onion and garlic until soft. Add chicken breasts and cook until completely done. Remove chicken and keep warm. Heat additional tablespoon of oil and sautee all the vegetables. After 5 minutes add 1/2 cup water. Cover and simmer for 5 more minutes or until vegetables are tender crisp. Drain pasta and put in serving dish. Top with vegetables, chopped chicken, and the fresh herbs. Serve and enjoy!

I was amazed at the difference fresh herbs made in this dish. I’ve used fresh herbs from the grocery store before but these had a flavor and odor that far exceeded the ones I had tasted in the past. So our project is to try and root the herbs she gave me so I really can have fresh herbs from my garden!

Have you ever tried to grow herbs? Ever had ones right out of the ground? What do you think? Diane

Earlier this week I made an Asian meal of stir-fried chicken and vegetables. I used a homemade stir-fry sauce which was very low in sodium (68 mg). I used less molasses and a bit of homemade (no salt) chicken broth instead of beef bullion and when all was said and done everyone loved it!

This week here’s what’s on my menu. Even though I didn’t write them down, I always have two veggies side dishes and usually a fruit as well!

Wednesday: Chicken and Dumplings

Thursday: Vegetarian Spaghetti with homemade Italian bread

Friday: Pizza night!

Saturday: Black beans and rice with homemade tortilla chips

Sunday: Herb Baked chicken

Monday: Brown rice and veggie wraps

Tuesday: Bocca burgers, homemade fries

Question: I feel like I am in somewhat of a rut and really need some new meal ideas! What’s something on your menu this week that I could “borrow”?  Diane

We are a family of nine, and not surprisingly everyone likes to eat. Whereas I used to be a drive thru queen, these days we rarely eat out. That leaves two options – either everyone is one their own, which isn’t practical, or someone has to cook. Fortunately, over the years I have moved from being ambivalent about cooking to finding joy in preparing meals for my family. I collect and adapt recipes like other people collect shoes, and often try new recipes, even if we are having company. (Sometimes with less than stellar results.)

This begs the obvious question. How do you prepare healthy, appealing meals while either losing weight, or maintaining a healthy weight? There are several strategies you can use to prepare food for other people or for your own family while watching what you eat. Here are some simple ideas that I used while I was in process of losing 150 pounds and still use today.

Plan your meals- By simply planning what you and/or your family will eat for all meals during the week you will have taken your best first step at controlling your food and calorie intake. I got in the most trouble when I didn’t know what we were having for dinner. That is when we would order pizza, run through a drive thru or pick up something quick to prepare from the grocery store, like fried chicken nuggets, etc. (Here’s a meal planning worksheet you can use)

Adapt your recipes – Are there family favorites you don’t want to kick off the menu? In most cases you don’t have to. By looking at each ingredient you use and changing them or adapting them when necessary you can still enjoy your family’s favorites without blowing your weight loss plan. I’ve put together a tip sheet you can print for adapting recipes. As long as your portion size is appropriate you can eat without guilt.

Involve your family- Family support is one of the greatest gifts. My class participants who have support from family and friends undoubtedly have an easier time than those who don’t. Before changing everything you eat, sit down with the people who you are cooking for and discuss the changes you’d like to make. This could involve the cessation of purchasing high calorie/high sugar snacks, etc. By gathering input from everyone, it will make transitioning from fatty foods to healthier foods easier. This is what I did when I started losing weight. I explained my plan and asked for input. We decided together on a plan of action. We gradually changed some of our snacking habits, choosing to attack one thing at a time rather than changing everything at once. This worked well for us.

Believe me, I cook for a lot of people and I don’t always make everyone happy. (Especially the little guys!) By planning meals, adapting recipes and involving the family I think you will find that you are able to successfully cook meals that everyone appreciates – and usually likes!! 

Question: What techniques do you use when cooking for other people?  Diane

I came across this great article, Healthy Eating Begins at the Supermarket that you might find interesting.

Two years ago we tried a small 10 x 10 garden, spent about $100 on supplies and I got 3 cucumbers and one green pepper that was the size of my thumb. I told John, “This is the most expensive green pepper you will ever see!”

Last year we ditched the garden idea and just visited the Farmer’s Market. That was fun and we enjoyed the bounty of food that we bought there. This year I wanted to try gardening again. Here is my youngest daughter (16) and I planting seeds in peat pots.

I introduce you to my newest attempt at gardening. My neighbor brought his tractor down and saved us a LOT of time by tilling up this very large garden. It is 16′ x 30′.

You notice we only planted marigolds so far. Here’s the rest of the little plants waiting to go in next weekend! We have tomatoes, bell peppers, banana peppers, squash, zucchini, radishes, cherry tomatoes, and zinnias for pretty!

Wish us luck!

Question:  Any gardening tips for me? Fertilizer ideas? Ways to keep bugs away?  Diane

I often found in my own journey that I did “fine” for the main meals of the day but would sometimes find having a healthy, filling snack a challenge. I often resorted to just a few crackers with cheese for lack of knowing what else to have. Over time; however, I did become much more adept at finding things that were more healthy and filling for snack time.

In case you, or someone in your life, needs some snack ideas this past weekend I had a brainstorming festival with myself and came up with a big list. Here it is!

Fruits:

1. Apples
2. Apricots
3. Bananas
4. Blackberries
5. Blueberries
6. Cantaloupe
7. Cherries
8. Grapefruit
9. Grapes (red, green, or purple)
10. Honeydew Melon
11. Kiwis 
12. Mandarin Oranges
13. Mangoes
14. Nectarines
15. Oranges
16. Peaches
17. Pears
18. Pineapple
19. Plums
20. Raspberries
21. Strawberries
22. Tangerines
23. Watermelon

Applesauce (Unsweetened), Fruit Cups, and Canned Fruit in their own juice–

Dried Fruit – Try raisins, apricots, apples, cranberries, pineapple, papaya, and others with little or no added sugars. If you have a dehydrator you can do these yourself!

Frozen Fruit – Try freezing grapes or buy frozen blueberries, strawberries, peaches, mangoes, and melon.

Fruit Salad - Don’t add sugar like I used to.

Popsicles – Most popsicles have added sugars and should be avoided. Look for popsicles made from 100% fruit juice or make your own!

Smoothies – Blend fruit with juice, yogurt or milk, and ice.

Vegetables can be served raw with dip, fat free salad dressings, or hummus

1. Broccoli
2. Carrot sticks or
3. Baby Carrots
4. Cauliflower
5. Celery Sticks
6. Cucumber
7. Peppers
8. Snap Peas
9. Snow Peas
10. Tomato slices
11. Yellow Summer
12. Squash slices
13. Zucchini slices

Soy – Edamame are fun to eat and easy to serve. (Heat frozen edamame in the microwave for about 2-3 minutes).

Veggie Pockets – Cut whole wheat pitas in half and add veggies with dressing or hummus or just plain like I like it.

Healthy Grains (bread, crackers, cereals, etc.)

Yogurt – preferably Greek  

Low-Fat Cheese – Cheese provides calcium, but often its saturated fat price tag is too high. Cheese is the number two source of heart-damaging saturated fat. Even with low-fat and reduced-fat cheese, be sure to serve with other foods like fruit, vegetables, or whole grain crackers. Try Laughing Cow Cheese – very good!

Low-Fat Pudding and Frozen Yogurt – Low-fat or fat-free pudding and frozen yogurt can be used as occasional treats, but watch out for added sugars.

Other Snack Ideas

Nuts - Since nuts are high in calories, it is best to serve them along with another snack such as fruit. A small handful of nuts is a reasonable serving size. Examples include peanuts, pistachios, almonds, walnuts, cashews, or soy nuts. Look for nuts that are unsalted.

Trail Mix – Trail mixes are easy to make and store well in a sealed container. Items to include: low-fat granola, whole grain cereals, peanuts, cashews, almonds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, and dried fruits like raisins, apricots, apples, pineapple, or cranberries. These are higher in calories so use sparingly.

Question for You! What do you think of my list? Did I leave any of your favorites out? If so – please share! Diane 

Early afternoon would find me at the stove, cooking a meal for our family.  I liked to experiment with recipes, and once I had a few children, discovered I really did like to cook.  Turned out to be a good thing, as we now have a family of nine!  Before we had all the other children, I often made recipes that were high in fat and calories, like chicken cordon bleu.  I’d serve it with a salad, doused in dressing of course, veggies swimming in butter and salt, and possibly some fruit.  One thing I always did was make sure I had the biggest portions.

When the dinner was finished cooking, I’d be the one serving the meals.  I’d lay out the plates, dole out everyone’s food, saving my plate for last.  I’d load up my plate with the biggest piece of chicken I could get away with, making sure to spoon plenty of sauce on top of it.  As we ate, I’d find myself surepeticiously watching everyone else eat, wondering if they would want more, or could I have the rest?  If they wanted more, I’d give it to them, but then I’d remind myself that there was plenty of chocolate cake sitting on the counter for me!

Dessert time came, and once again, the largest piece was mine.  Besides having the largest piece, I’d also pick at the cake while I was serving the others.  After all, that’s the cook’s privilege isn’t it?  Looking back, I not only ate the largest amount, I probably ate double what anyone else did by the time I added in the extra nibbles here and there.  I was so obsessed with food that I ate and served myself way more than was appropriate.

These days, I still like to cook, but no longer serve myself the biggest portion. Now, I serve myself appropriate portion sizes, and don’t worry where my next meal will come from.  I’m no longer embarrassed when the family asks, “Is there anymore chicken left?”   I know how to control my portion sizes, and understand that if I eat more food than I should, I will gain weight.

Portion sizes at restaurants are hard to control, but when you cook at home, it’s so important to control how much you are serving yourself and how much you are eating. Learning to be satisfied with just one portion of food, be it a main dish entree or a piece of fruit has made living with maintenance all these years so much easier.

How are you at portion control? Do you find it harder at home, or harder away from home? Diane

Okay, so I borrowed the title of this post from one of my favorite shows, “What Not To Wear.” I’ve always wanted to be on that show – and I kept asking my family to nominate me but they refused!! Anyway, I was watching that show the other night and thought about the fact that although I preach moderation in food choices and not depriving oneself, there are certain foods that I don’t eat much of, or avoid altogether.

My list includes some of the following:

♦ Partially hydrogenated oils

♦ High fructose corn sugar

♦ Bleached foods, like white pasta and rice

♦ Salt in excess

♦ Foods that I can’t tell what they used to be

♦ Unhealthy fats

♦ Diet sodas and artificial sweeteners in general

I’ve said before that the process of having my tastes change and working towards getting healthier has evolved over time. When I was first working on my weight goals just switching from regular sodas to diet sodas was a big step. However, over time I cut them out completely. The same thing with including more fresh foods. Here’s a funny story – when John and I married he had never had fresh green beans. The first time I made them he said, “What are these beans?” I said, “They are fresh green beans.” He said, “You mean like from the ground?!” Too funny.

The hardest thing for us is the partially hydrogenated oils because they are in sooo many things. But the more I make things from scratch the less that comes into play so that’s nice. The bleached food thing wasn’t too bad except for the fact that at first my five youngest kids hated brown rice. But now they are used to it and seem to enjoy the dishes I make with it. What about you? Do you have any foods you try to avoid?  Diane