Tip of the Week: How to lighten-up store bought items

Does this sound familiar? You love tuna salad but hate the abundance of mayonnaise on the store-bought version, yet you are too lazy to make your own? Me too! This is what I do: I buy a cup or a pint of my favorite kind of Whole Foods tuna salad (Lemon-dill or Mediterranean - YUM) and then I pour it into a larger container and add a can or two of plain canned tuna packed in water. Then I stir it up and it becomes delicious low-mayo tuna salad that I can make 4 meals out of (I tend to stick to a half cup if I'm having it on grainy bread or crackers but go for closer to a cup on lettuce with chopped veggies). This actually saves money and calories! There are lots of ways you can stretch other items too: add plain lemon juice to store-bought organic oil and vinegar dressings (I recommend this over buying low-fat versions which often just have more sugar in place of the healthy oils), add chopped rotisserie chicken and apples or grapes to store-bought chicken salad, add chopped veggies to a pasta salad...you get the idea. Add, stretch and enjoy the feel of lightening your waist and your wallet!

Multi-tasking Whole Grains

Those words are everywhere! MULTI-GRAIN! WHOLE GRAIN! Once the new (and highly-flawed) USDA pyramid came out recommending more whole grains, every food maker from Kellog to Kraft slapped the words "contains whole grain" on their boxes. Never mind the fact that if it comes in a big box with pictures and promises of good health on it, it is highly processed and probably not healthy at all. Because of all the money poured into misleading marketing, there are a lot of otherwise smart people out there thinking that Cheerios are a fantastic source of whole grain. This is becoming a pet peeve of mine so I thought I would tell you about some truly amazing sources of whole grains. These are the type of carbohydrates you should be eating MORE of!

Cheerios have 3 g of fiber and 3 g of protein per serving PLUS the following: modfied corn starch, sugar, salt, tripotasium phosphate, oat fiber, wheat starch, vitamin e (mixed tocopherols) added to preserve freshness ...

These whole grains below, which are all as easy to cook as rice, have more fiber and protein per serving and none of the junk!

Pearled Barley: 8 g fiber, 5 g protein per serving!
Quinoa: 4 g fiber, 6 g protein per serving!
Kasha: 3 g fiber, 5 g protein per serving!
Wheatberries: 6 g fiber, 6 g protein per serving! These are my favorite - nutty, dense and delicious.

These are grains that multi-task and will give you great energy. You can find them at Whole Foods or any major health food store. Not sure how to cook them? Just google "how to cook quinoa." It really is that easy. Enjoy!

Salad, Hold the Lettuce

I lost weight by giving up my daily salad habit. You read that correctly. I finally realized that I am incapable of making a salad that isn't chock full of fat. Like those people who have to smoke when they drink, I have to have cheese, nuts, and loads of dressing with my lettuce. When I started The Fat Flush Plan, which I credit with helping me lose and keep off 12 lbs this year, I had to find a way to fill up at lunch without breaking the "rules" of the first two phases, which are quite restrictive.

Here is the "salad" that I came up with that is much healthier and less fattening than my old bowl of lettuce and fat. For some reason, not having the lettuce makes me taste and enjoy each flavor more. You can make this with meat or vegetarian with just the beans and veggies.

Diced chicken (grilled, roasted or baked), fresh shrimp or fresh or canned tuna
1/2 cup beans (black, chick pea and edamame are my favorites)
grape or cherry tomatoes
chopped yellow/orange/red pepper
green onions (if you like)
Any raw or cooked veggies like broccoli, peas, asparagus, carrots, beets, etc

1/3 avocado, diced

1 tbsp sunflower seeds

Dressing: (make in larger quantities and serve in 1 oz portions): 1 part flax oil or olive oil (I sometimes use half of each), 1 part apple cider vinegar (reduces bloat), 1 part lemon juice. You can add various herbs and spices to this if you wish. You can also experiment with different vinegars and citrus flavors for the dressing.

If you are really trying to lose weight (or on phase 1 of fat flush), leave off one or both of the last two ingredients and add them back once you hit a maintenance phase as they are very good for you but add calories and fat. If in maintenance, you can also add up to a 1/2 cup of a whole grain like quinoa, wheatberries or brown rice or up to a 1/4 cup of crumbled feta or goats cheese

Recipe of the Week

Spaghetti Squash with Rich Tomato-Veggie Sauce
Crave pasta but trying to cut carbs? Try spaghetti squash in place of noodles. Even my husband thinks its a decent substitute.  Whole grain pasta is okay of course, but the advantage here is that you can eat a much larger portion and still have a very low-calorie meal.

Serves 2-4
Pre-heat oven to 400-425 degrees
Sauté chopped carrot in olive oil on medium heat. After 5 min, add chopped onion and red pepper. Add 1 tbsp minced garlic (if it starts to burn, lower heat). After onions become nearly translucent, add a can of diced tomatoes with Italian herbs and seasoning (add small or large can depending on how many serving).   Turn heat to low and simmer until squash is ready.  If this sounds like too much work, just use an organic prepared pasta sauce but it is always good to add more veggies to these if you can.

For added flavor, add any of the following: capers, black olives, chopped steamed zucchini or sun-dried tomatoes.  For a meatier dish, add cooked ground turkey.

Slice a spaghetti squash lengthwise, scoop out seeds and brush inside with olive oil. Place face-down on a baking sheet or roasting pan and cook for 30-45 minutes.  Pierce with a fork to see if done (it should go through or at least make a dent if its done).

Scrape spaghetti like strands from cooked squash.  If you can't get this texture, cook slightly longer. It should look a bit like light-colored vermicelli noodles. Top "noodles" with sauce and serve.  Add a sprinkle of goat cheese or parmesan if you are not watching fat or diary intake. YUM!

Eating Disorder or Symptom of Media Saturation?

"When you talk about food habits, it becomes extraordinarily complicated, because everybody has a relationship with food, and it’s usually a somewhat complicated one."  This is a very apt quote from an interesting article from today's NYT Science section about the rise in cases of what specialists call "Ednos" which stands for "eating disorder, not otherwise specified."  This acronym refers to cases of what I have also heard called "disordered eating behavior." Ednos cases now account for 4% of eating disorder diagnoses according to the NEDA.  We all know (or may be guilty of) Ednos behavior which might include a punish and reward mentality about food, like eating one day and not the next or exercising for 4 hours because we consumed a pint of ice cream the night before.  While I would disagree with the notion that every woman out there has food issues, many do, and I would argue that it's partly from information overload and media saturation of competing ideas about diet and health and ideal body size. Sometimes the more you know, the more confused you become. Most people no longer know how to define "thin" (is Victoria Beckham fashionably waifish or dangerously emaciated?) or how to accurately describe their own bodies (are you really fat or just no longer a size 2 like you were in high school?), much less what to eat in a day to maintain a healthy weight (are carbs bad or good? how many nuts is too many?).  I'm feeling overwhelmed just thinking about it! The truth is - we are born with everything we need to answer these questions: a body and a mind.  So, turn off the TV, put down the Cosmo and think about what your body is trying to tell you. Are you truly hungry?  Are you getting enough nutrients or are your cravings trying to tell you something? Did you know that craving crunchy things can mean you're angry or stressed? Or craving salty food can mean you are deficient in certain minerals? Or that you may actually just be dehydrated if you feel hungry all the time? Also, talk to your doctor and find out what a healthy weight for your height is. Maybe you are trying to maintain a dangerously low weight and your body is resisting because it knows better.  Be smart and listen to your body.  You will probably like what it has to say much more than the editorial team at Vogue. To find out more about my studies at IIN and how to deconstruct cravings, visit my website.  

Tip of the Week: Switch your main dish for your side dish

Being healthy doesn't have to mean forgoing meat and pasta and living on veggies.  But if you need to lose a few pounds, consider eating vegetables like you typically eat carbs (or meat) and vice versa.  Most Americans eat meat or pasta as their main dish and veggies as a side dish if they eat them at all.  Reverse this pattern. Fill at least half of your plate with steamed, roasted or sauteed veggies and the rest with smaller portions of protein (lean meat or beans) and a healthy carb like a half cup of brown rice or half a sweet potato. If you have to have a sweet, try some fresh berries or a small piece of dark chocolate. You can also practice this whenever you eat out buffet style. You really can't go wrong if you follow this formula!

Recipe of the Week: NO-mayo chicken salad

I LOVE chicken salad but I found it hard to find a store-bought version that fit into my healthy eating regime. I came up with this no (or low) mayo, high-fiber, high Omega-3 version.

Here is the recipe (makes 4-6 servings)

Naked rotisserie organic chicken (use all white meat and as much dark as you like but no skin)
1-2 chopped apples and/or 1/2 cup of halved purple seedless grapes (the water in the fruit makes the chicken salad moist which means you don't need as much or any mayo!)
1 stalk celery, chopped fine
1/4 cup or less chopped onion, chopped very fine
2 tbsp slivered almonds
2 tbsp chopped pecans
2 tbsp dried cranberries (dried cherries would also work or you can use fresh grapes)
Chop everything up in similar size pieces and combine. Set aside while you make dressing.

Dressing:
1/2 cup plain low-fat or non-fat plain yogurt (the less creamy, more acidic kind is better for this).
2 tsp grainy mustard
Splash of champagne vinegar (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
If you like, add a little mayo but it's not necessary.
Whisk until blended. Toss the salad with the dressing.

Put in an airtight container, really press it in to make all the flavors meld even more.  Serve on lettuce or with a serving of nice grainy or seedy crackers. My fave are Mary's Gone Crackers Gluten-Free crackers. You can get these at Whole Foods or the health-foods section at most grocery stores. Heaven!