Healthy Recipes: Stuffed Baked Potatoes

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After the meal impressions: This is really delicious and really filling. However, next time I might add a little bit more sour cream - it was just a TAD dry. It might increase the points value, but it will be worth it. Or - maybe even put a small dollop of sour cream right on the top before eating. Overall though, a solid recipe - one that I'll definitely make again.

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I got this recipe originally from an old Prevention cookbook, but edited it a bit. It goes great with some sauteed spinach and onions - convenient, too, if you have some of those veggies left over from the main dish!

What you will need to serve 2:

MAIN INGREDIENTS:
2 large baking potatoes
1/4c low fat sharp cheese (feta, blue, cheddar, etc)
1/2c low fat sour cream

VEGGIES, ETC:
1/2c onion (chopped)
1/4c spinach (chopped)
1/4c mushrooms (chopped)
minced garlic, if you want
Note that you can really use any vegetables you want. The recipe originally called for green peppers, but I didn't have any, and spinach made a wonderful substitute!

Here are my ingredients in photo form. Hungry totally approves. *nod*


Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Wash your taters, pierce them a few times with a fork, spray them with some cooking spray (I used PAM olive oil spray), shake a little salt on them, and throw them in the oven for about 50 minutes to an hour (placing them gently in the oven also seems to work just fine=P). You don't even need aluminum foil! However, you CAN wrap them in foil if you like your potato skins a little less crispy. I like mine crispy, so I just put them right on the oven rack. See this guide to learn more about baking potatoes.

Once the potatoes are soft in the middle (stick a knife in them to see), you can take them out. Let them cool - they will be hot!!!

As the potato lays on its side, slice the top off and scoop out the inside flesh.


In a bowl, mix the inside flesh of both potatoes with the onions, spinach, mushrooms, sour cream, and cheese. You can use a potato masher to mix everything up. Don't worry if it's still a bit chunky, though.


Then, put the mixture back into the potato. I threw a little salt and pepper on top, too.


Put them back in the oven and cook for another 10 - 15 minutes!

Nutrition info for ONE potato:

large potato (about 11 oz raw): 220 cal, 0.5g fat, 4g fiber
1/8c low fat cheese: 35 cal, 2.5g fat, 0g fiber
1/4c low fat sour cream: 70 cal, 4g fat, 0g fiber

Total:
325 cal
7g fat
4g fiber
6 points!


And look - even my boyfriend likes them!


Enjoy!

Natural Flavor.

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Now, with MORE natural flavor!

I woke up late for work a few days ago and flew out the door without stopping to think about what I had on me. I walk to work (it's about 35 minutes), and halfway there, I realized I hadn't grabbed my Fiber One bar. "Meh," I thought, "I'll just pick one up on the way." (Now, I know I said earlier that I'm trying to get away from processed, "less whole" foods, which I am, but sometimes I'm tired in the morning and didn't buy fruit the day before and just want to grab something and go. I am human, after all. =P)

So I stopped quick in the convenience store, and they have a giant rack of them. Every single energy/meal replacement/granola/chewy/fiber/protein bar you could ever wish for. Of course, the ONE they're missing is Fiber One. But the South Beach Living peanut butter bar seemed pretty comparable - same calories, good fiber and protein, vits and mins, all that stuff.

I got to work, unwrapped my bar, and nomed it up. It was actually quite delicious. Moreso than my old ones! So, on my lunch break, I went to buy a box at CVS.

Today, I checked out the box. South Beach Living. "A Nutritious Way To Help Satisfy Hunger," it said. It's obvious that they mean business here, what with the capitalization of every word. "Changing the Way America Eats™" They're taking the entire country of America and CHANGING it. This is big, guys.

It's even got natural flavor! This means that it's good for me, right? This isn't a processed protein bar, it's a NATURAL protein bar!! Dictionary.com tells me that these flavors are existing in or formed by nature, and also have undergone little or no processing and contain no chemical additives. Woohoo!

But what are "natural flavors," really? Honestly, look at anything in your cabinet and chances are you have quite a few items that contain these natural flavors.

The FDA defines "Natural Flavors":

The term natural flavor or natural flavoring means the essential oil, oleoresin, essence or extractive, protein hydrolysate, distillate, or any product of roasting, heating or enzymolysis, which contains the flavoring constituents derived from a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf or similar plant material, meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or fermentation products thereof, whose significant function in food is flavoring rather than nutritional. Natural flavors, include the natural essence or extractives obtained from plants listed in subpart A of part 582 of this chapter, and the substances listed in 172.510 of this chapter.

Protein hydrolysate? Enzymolysis?

o.O

Robert L. Wolke from the Washington Post puts it a little more simply:

In simple terms, a natural flavor is defined as a substance extracted, distilled or otherwise derived from plant or animal matter, either directly from the matter itself or after it has been roasted, heated or fermented. Note the inclusion of "animal matter" in this definition, an important revelation to vegetarians and those who adhere to the kosher segregation of meat from dairy products. But animals are just as natural as plants, are they not? Note also that a natural flavor need not come from the very food it is flavoring. For example, a flavor chemical derived from chicken -- and it need not taste like chicken -- can be used to flavor a can of beef ravioli.

Ok, so one thing we've learned: If you see "natural flavors" in a vegetarian dish, it might not be so vegetarian anymore. Hm.

For me, I don't think I'm hard core enough of a vegetarian to throw everything that has natural flavors in the ingredients into the trash. If I'm going to avoid a by-product of an animal, then I should be avoiding eggs and cheese, too - and I definitely eat those. Maybe if I go vegan at some point, I'll start to pay attention to these things a bit more. But the whole vegetarian thing is for a different post at a different time. =)

So what about our South Beach Living High Protein Cereal Bars?



Natural Flavor. WITH OTHER NATURAL FLAVOR.

Huh.

It's like they packed it so chock full of natural flavor, that they couldn't just say 'Made with natural flavor' anymore. It's like that were at the board meeting and the CEO was like, "Guys, if we say this has natural flavor, it doesn't even BEGIN to do justice to JUST HOW MUCH natural flavor is IN this. We need to give that phrase some OOMPH. Maybe something like... 'super extra natural flavor!' with some kind of natural flavor super hero on the box. With like - like, some kind of big yellow writing with fireworks around the words and-" and while he's going on and on, some quiet intern in the back is just like, "Why don't we add on 'with other natural flavor'?" And somehow, it stuck.

I still don't get it.

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On a totally separate note, I gained 0.8 pounds when I weighed in this morning, so I'm back up to 142.6... Meh. I had a feeling that was going to happen. I ate all of my weekly points and all of my APs, which typically should be fine, because you're supposed to be able to eat them and still lose weight. But for me, I was eating them even when I wasn't hungry. In fact, there were some days when I'd be full, but just wanted to stress-munch on something, would see that I had a couple APs to eat, and went ahead and ate them anyway - despite my body telling me I didn't need more food.

This week, I'm going to be more in tune with my body, and not eat when I'm not hungry! I'm hoping for a really good weigh in next week. Once I get under 140, I'm getting myself a hair cut... which I really need. So hopefully in two weeks, I'll be there!

Healthy Recipes: Pita Pizza

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After the meal impressions: I LOVE this pizza. It's quick and easy and delicious - very filling, too! A great way to stay on plan but still get your pizza fix.

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OMG MY FIRST RECIPE!

I, for one, am sick of reading cookbooks and seeing 329423 ingredients and 3 pages worth of instructions. I want simplicity! And you probably do too! So I tried to make this as simple and easy as possible.

Here's what you'll need to serve two:

2 medium whole wheat pitas
Pizza sauce, any kind (I like a lot, so usually I put at least 1/2 cup on each pita). You might be able to use marinara or pasta sauce if you're in a pinch.
50% reduced fat cheese, shredded - 1.5 ounces PER pita, so 3 oz. total.
ANY toppings! (I use mushrooms, onions, and spinach seen in the pic here, all 0 point veggies)

So many different things you can put on your pita pizza:

Mushrooms
Spinach
Garlic
Tomatoes
Onions
Non-vegetarian options are bacon, hamburger, sausage, pepperoni, ham, chicken, etc - although these tend to be high in calories and fat, 'cept the chicken. Use at your own discretion!

Here are my ingredients:


I used cheddar cheese, but if you're partial to a different type of reduced fat cheese, feel free to use it! And note that that WW food scale says 1.5 ounces, not 15 ounces!!! =P One more thing: this particular brand of pizza sauce was delicious, but could have been slightly less salty.

Ok, get ready for some instructions:

Put your oven at 400 degrees!
Put the plain pitas in the oven, right on the rack. You can do this right away, as the oven is warming up. No need for a cookie sheet or anything. We're going to keep them in there for about 5-10 minutes to get them a bit crispy.
While the pitas are warming up, chop up your veggies and toppings.

Using tongs, take the pitas out of the oven.

Pour on the pizza sauce, using a ladle or spatula to spread it. Leave a 1/2" area around the edge "un-sauced" for a nice crust.



Put on your toppings. No need to saute any of the veggies before hand - you can just load them right on, raw. Sprinkle your cheese on as well.

Put them back in the oven, right on the rack in the middle (you can use a big metal spatula at this point to transport them from your table into your oven. They should be crispy enough to not fold or anything).
Keep them there for about 10 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.

Remove from oven, cut into fourths, and enjoy!!

Some basic nutritional info (yours may vary slightly, depending on brand, and any other variations)

PER PITA:
50% reduced fat cheddar (1.5 oz): 105 cals, 7.0g fat, 0g fiber
Pita (medium): 140 cals, 2.0g fat, 10g fiber
Pizza sauce (1/2 cup): 60 cals, 2.5g fat, 1g fiber

In total, that's:
305 cals
11.5g fat
11g fiber
6 points!

I don't count vegetables because 1. I'm not eating 38 cups of them or anything, and 2. vegetables are awesome and good for you. I saw some quote on the forums once that was like "You can't eat too many vegetables. We didn't get fat from eating too much lettuce." Lol.

Enjoy!

When people start to notice

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A few weeks ago, my workplace exploded with compliments about my weight. I had been on the plan for about 6 weeks or so, and then went on vacation for a week (I didn't actually GO anywhere due to lack of funds, but just spent a relaxing week at home sans work). When I came back, my weight loss was significantly noticeable. Praise, compliments and disbelief abounded. "Did you lose weight?? You look so skinny!" "You look so great, what plan are you following? What's your secret?" "You have seriously lost some weight."

Now, two weeks later, I'm pretty much the same weight (maybe a couple pounds lighter, nothing major), and all I hear is "You look so great. You really shouldn't lose anymore weight." "You are so thin, don't lose any more.... you are good where you are!" and then of course, the condescending look, along with the blunt "You *don't* need to lose any more weight."

Ok, guys, I appreciate your "concern" here, but I absolutely can lose more weight if I want to. I'm FAR from being on the verge of underweight, I'm NOT undernourished, and I can certainly keep losing weight and still be extremely healthy. In fact, with my (very) small bone structure, being at the lower end of my healthy range is probably HEALTHIER for me. Hell, according to some charts, I could lose another whole 20+ pounds and still be within my healthy weight range.

And what about the two part time students who work here, who are my height and easily wearing size 2s, if not size 0s? Why aren't you telling them to gain some weight? If *I* shouldn't lose more, than surely they shouldn't weigh less than *me.* Go on, tell them to gain some weight.

So. You can keep telling me I'm "too thin." I'll smile and nod and eat my veggies and hummus, and leftover whole wheat pasta, and just stick to my plan like normal.

Have you guys had people notice your weight loss? Or tell you you shouldn't lose more weight?

Cooking

I’ve never been a good cook. Baking especially has given me a lot of trouble. It’s one of those things where you follow the recipe exactly, but then realize that 1. You didn’t preheat the oven, and now whatever’s on the stove is burning, 2. You didn’t defrost x y and z and there’s no way to do that now, and 3. You use baking soda instead of flour or something. Ugh. This type of thing has happened to me way too many times. I have trouble thinking ahead to the next step.

Anyway, now that I’m living with my awesome boyfriend (so, cooking for two – always a liiittle bit easier than cooking for one, IMO) and now that I’m on WW (meaning cooking my own food is healthier than eating out or ordering in), I’ve been cooking a LOT more.

My repertoire of dinners consists of:

1. Pasta with marinara sauce. One big pot, one small pot, boil water in the big one, heat up sauce in the small one. Cook pasta. Drain. Pour pasta back into pot. Pour sauce into pot. Eat.

2. Veggie burgers. Spray sauce pan with PAM. Take frozen veggie burger. Put frozen veggie burger in pan. Turn on stove. Wait. Flip veggie burger. Wait. Eat. Add salsa on top if desired (nom)

3. Go to Foodler.com. Go to any place that delivers sushi. Order sushi. Wait. Get the door. Get sushi. Eat.

And…. that’s it.

So as you can see. I need some more standbys.

SO! I’m going through a lot of the WW recipes online, some healthy vegetarian cookbooks, allrecipes.com, etc, to try to get some good healthy NEW meals going!

Check it out – yesterday I made a little pizza pita and it was freakin GOOD. So in a couple days, I’m going to make them again, and post a little “how-to” with photos, nutrition info, everything! Keep an eye out for it!

Quick weight update: I’m now down to 142 pounds! I started at 165, so I’m a good 20 pounds lighter. SO many people at work have noticed – it’s pretty awesome =D

This week I’ve been a little bit off track, though. I had a pretty stressful week at work, followed by a party at our apartment (which means food and alcohol – plus, hosting always stresses me out a little bit, and stress = wanting to eat food), and then we’ve had company for the past few days. So overall, the week has been pretty crazy. I think that on Thursday morning when I weigh in I’ll gain a tiny bit, but I’m just going to stick with the plan until then and afterwards, too.

Food.

When I started Weight Watchers about 6 weeks ago, I made a trip to the grocery store. I stocked up on Lean Cuisines, low fat cheese, fat-free sweets, all that stuff.

Then I read three books: 1. Master Your Metabolism, 2. Skinny Bitch, and 3. Diet for a New America.

MyM was a really interesting read, and it got me thinking about eating less processed foods and more whole foods, and why these interact better with your body and your hormones. Skinny Bitch was an annoying book – the authors’ tough love attitude was way too much to swallow. Seriously, tough love != calling me a fat moron. If I ever meet those two chicks on the street, I swear I’m gonna wanna punch them in the face. How dare they call me that. However, they did have some good points about eating healthy, whole foods. They advocate a vegan diet, which is cool for a lot of people, but for me, I stick to pescetarianism. Baby steps. Diet for a New America was also promoting a vegan lifestyle, and opened my eyes to a lot of the lies that the beef and dairy industry feed us. Also an interesting read.

After reading these books, I looked at the ingredients on my Lean Cuisine meal (note: this is before I went veg):

“Cooked chicken tenderloins (chicken tenderloins, high fructose corn syrup, water, corn oil, modified cornstarch, lemon juice concentrate, sodium phosphates, salt, caramel color, potassium chloride, garlic, onion, paprika, spice)…”

Ok, that’s just the chicken – not even counting all the rest of the ingredients. But why can’t it just be…. chicken?
Nope, it’s got all this other stuff in it. Why do you have to put HFCS in chicken? Why all the salt? “Caramel color” what the heck is that?

Would your great grandmother have eaten this? Should WE be eating it? Personally, I would rather have less processed foods in my body. All this man made food-stuffs doesn’t feel right, you know?

So now I’m following a more natural, whole foods diet. Instead of a apple flavored snack bar, I’ll have an apple for breakfast. Instead of a Lean Cuisine meal, I’ll chop up my own organic veggies and saute them with potatoes. I stay away from aspartame and other artificial sweeteners as often as possible.

And you know what? I feel fantastic. I feel better than I have in a long time. My body just seems to work better.

I’m really liking it. =)

It's a first post!

So here’s the start of my new blog!

Some things about me:

1. I’m using the Weight Watchers program to help me lose weight.

2. I have about 20 pounds to lose, and have already lost about 10 (weight loss chart will come soon).

3. I don’t belong to a gym, but I do do some sit ups and push ups regularly (ok, maybe not so regularly. It’s something I have to work on), and I go out and run/walk about 4 days a week. I’m doing the C25K program.

4. I’m a vegetarian that still eats fish, so I suppose that makes me a pescetarian.

Why am I writing this blog? Well, there are a number of reasons. I’m interested in keeping myself accountable and following through with this new healthy lifestyle. I also want to explore issues with culture, society, media, and weight loss. I’d also love to share some healthy recipes with you all, and maybe look at various new health studies that come out and figure out how their findings impact us.

I’ve always been interested in really picking apart all those health studies. Everytime you turn around, there’s something new. “Alcohol has little nutritional value! No, red wine is good for you! Wait, but only in moderation! Also, dark chocolate does wonders for your health! But it’s loaded with fat and sugar! But you need certain fats in your diet to be healthy! But – ” etc etc. What’s really true? Who and what can we trust?

I hope that you’ll join me on this journey, and maybe come away with some interesting advice or knowledge yourself!