Tag Archives: lose weight

A fruit by any other name would smell as sweet, but it could still put weight on you!

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You could do 6 protein snacks every 3-4 hours (4 ounces of meat or cup, 2 ounces of low-fat cheese, 4 ounces of low-fat cottage cheese or 1/2 cup yogurt or an egg) and you could eat two small servings of veggies a day (leaving out potatoes and other root veggies and avoiding rice), but still have trouble losing weight.

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Fruit could be an issue.

Some people have fruit as a snack.  Fruit without a protein is not good for a diet.  You should have to servings of fruit a day….but have it with a protein snack.

Have some fruit with some peanut or almond butter, your salad and meat, cheese, nuts, protein bar or shake, in your low-carb Greek Yogurt or cottage cheese.

And you need to pick your fruit wisely, because some fruits are more fattening than others:

Examples:

a whole apple is 25g of carbs vs. an orange at 11g of carbs.

1 cup of strawberries is 13g of carbs vs. 1 cup of blueberries at 20g of carbs.

A medium banana is 27g of carbs vs. 1 cup of papaya at 14g of carbs.

Here is a list to go by:  Net carbs = the Total Carbs- Fiber

Popular Types of Fruit

 Net Carbs(g) Sugar(g) Fiber(g)
Total Carbs(g)

Fruit with Seeds (1 medium piece)
 Apples 15.76 14.34 3.3 19.06
 Grapes 0.41 0.39 – 0.41
 Pears 20.56 16.27 5.1 25.66

Citrus Fruit (1 medium piece)
 Grapefruit 17.88 17.87 2.8 20.68
 Lemons 3.81 1.45 1.6 5.41
 Limes 5.16 1.13 1.9 7.06
 Oranges 12.29 12.25 3.1 15.39
 Tangerines 9.71 8.89 1.5 11.21

Stone Fruit (1 medium piece)
 Apricots 3.19 3.23 0.7 3.89
 Cherries 0.99 0.87 0.1 1.09
 Nectarines 12.05 10.73 2.3 14.35
 Peaches 7.85 8.22 1.5 9.35
 Plums 6.64 6.55 0.9 7.54

Tropical Fruit (1 medium piece)
 Bananas 23.85 14.43 3.1 26.95
 Chinese Gooseberries (Kiwi) 8.84 6.83 2.3 11.14
 Coconut 2.85 2.80 4.0 6.85
 Guavas 4.88 4.91 3.0 7.88
 Litchis 1.49 1.46 0.1 1.59
 Mangos 31.49 30.64 3.7 35.19
 Papayas 24.32 17.94 5.5 29.82
 Pineapples 9.41 7.78 1.2 10.61

Berries (1 cup serving)
 Blackberries 6.24 7.03 7.6 13.84
 Blueberries 17.51 14.44 3.5 21.01
 Cranberries 8.32 4.44 5.1 13.42
 Raspberries 6.69 5.44 8.0 14.69
 Strawberries 8.67 7.08 3.0 11.67

Melon (1 wedge serving)
 Cantaloupe Melon 5.03 5.42 0.6 5.63
 Honeydew Melon 10.36 10.15 1.0 11.36
 Watermelon 20.49 17.73 1.1 21.59

I Want To Lose Weight, But I Can’t Seem to Do It With My Chips and Ice Cream!

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I was talking with someone the other day about losing weight.  They have a desire to do it, but they aren’t willing to learn new habits.  They are in a rut.  They need to re-learn how to eat a healthy lifestyle diet and not just eat foods for a “diet.”  These people want to “nosh” on things when they are home, and they are all comfort foods:  Chips, crackers, ice cream (low-fat).  Their health is not as important as that need to satiate their addiction to carbs, sugar, salt and fat

Wrong  Philosophy Makes You Stay Fat:

chips

If you are eating potatoes of any kind (chips included), and you aren’t putting in any exercise, then you will not lose weight.  You most likely will gain.

Some people think that if food is from Trader Joe’s, that it is good for them.  However, if items have flour in them and are processed, no matter where they are from…they are not good for your diet.

Some people think that low-fat is good way to diet.  I have news for you, NOPE!  Read about it online.  It is an advertising scam that we all fell for and that is why everyone got fat.  We eat low-fat, but they replace things in food to taste good that are high in carbs to make up for it (like Fructose Corn Syrup) and that is the stuff that is making us all fat and getting diabetes.

If you read anything that Dr. Mark Hyman writes about in his Blood Sugar Solution, he talks about how you need to eat food that is fresh and covers a wide variety of colors in the rainbow–eat, not juice and drink.

Let’s look at Empty Calorie Snacks:

1.  Lay’s Baked Potato Chips:  1 ounce bag or about 15 chips:  24g of carbs

2.  Ruffles Potato Chips: 1 ounce bag:  15g of carbs and believe it or not, the light, no fat is more at 17g carbs.

3.  Cheese Its Crackers:  29 crackers:  20g of carbs. (Reduced fat is the same)

4.  Trader Joe’s Mini Cheese Sandwiches:  13 crackers:  16g of carbs

5.  Trader Joe’s Multigrain Crackers:  14 crackers:  22g of carbs.

(AND THERE IS LITTLE TO NO PROTEIN in crackers, so you are eating empty calories.  If you ate something good that had protein, you would be less likely to be too hungry again later and scarf your next meal.  You would be better off making a turkey sandwich on whole wheat or a pita, for the same amount of carbs than to eat a bunch of white flour that does nothing but bloat you.  Eating mindlessly does nothing to help your diet or your health.  If you learn to have a nutritional snack between lunch and dinner and after dinner and stay away from snacking on bad foods, you will feel and look better.)

6.  Dreyer’s Reduced Fat Slow-Churned Vanilla Ice Cream (12g of sugar or about 4 sugar cubes):  for half a cup (have you seen how small half a cup is???):  15g of carbs.  If you eat it like most people, you are probably eating 1 1/2 cups at 45g of carbs.  The three main ingredients of this are all forms of sugar.

Fat doesn’t matter!  THE REGULAR DREYERS is 16g per half a cup.  You are NOT going to keep your weight down with the slow churned REDUCED fat ice cream.

Carbs-are-killing-you-top-Hoboken-NJ

Better Choices:

1.  There is Breyers Carb Smart Vanilla ice cream and that is a better choice if you have to have ice cream.  It is 4g of carbs per half cup.  That is a huge difference.  Less carbs means less sugar–less fat on the body.

2.  A low-carb tortilla or sandwich bread protein sandwich.

3.  A protein salad.

4.  Western Bagel Perfect 10 Bagel at 10g of carbs per bagel.  You could even melt some cheese on it!  Make your sandwiches with it! (sold at Western Bagel or Westernbagel.com)

5.  A low-carb protein bar or shake.

6.  Two low-fat string cheese or slices

7.  Low-carb Greek Yogurt and some fruit

8.  Measured out nuts (look at the label on how many nuts equals how many carbs).  Try to keep your snack under 15g of carbs, which is a lot, considering that if you want to lose weight, you must have between 50 and 100g of carbs per day.  But, if you have most of them in this one snack, it messes up your whole day.

Eat a good protein lunch with salad and veggies so you aren’t starving before dinner and a protein snack will be enough for you until dinner time.

Try this:

(LC) A low-carbohydrate diet minimizes sugars and starches, replacing them with foods rich in protein and healthy fats.

(RF) “Real food” means choosing foods that humans had access to throughout evolution. Processed, unnatural foods with artificial chemicals are avoided.

LCRF is not a “diet.” It is a way of eating, a lifestyle change based on bulletproof scientific evidence.

For more information:

http://authoritynutrition.com/how-to-eat-healthy/

 

 

 

Stuck Weight Loss

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Looks like a miracle happened.  My dog, Charlie, is doing better, his cytology test came back clean–no cancer.  So, it might have been a bug bite.  Makes me appreciate him even more because I feel like I got a second chance.

Now, back to business…..

While all of the worry and stress about his living or not was going on, I decided to do something about my weight plateau.  My body does not do well on carbs and wants to gain weight easily (with having fibromyalgia and hypothyroidism).  So, I had to get closer to 50g of carbs per day because closer to 100g per day, was putting the weight SLOWLY back on.  So, this is what I did to break it and so far, since Sunday, down 2 1/2 pounds.  I am 5 pounds from goal.

1.  Lots of sugar-free fluids.

2.  Only proteins at breakfast and for snacks.  I was having eggs and omelettes with mushrooms, spinach and some low-fat cheese.  I was also having protein shakes that were low carb.  So, basically for breakfast, snack, after lunch snack–hardly any carbs.  For lunch, salad with meat and a few veggies and same for dinner.  I would allow myself to have either two tablespoons of almond butter on two squares of low-carb chocolate https://skinny-rules.com/2013/04/26/power-crunch-choklat-is-da-low-carb-bomb/ or a small Carbolite (low-carb frozen desert)  a few hours after dinner.

3.  I made a lot of things that are protein-based to keep me happy.  I cooked taco seasoned ground turkey, turkey sausages, almond crusted chicken https://skinnyrulesdotcom.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=1904&action=edit&message=6&postpost=v2

4  One piece of fruit or small bowl of berries.

5.  Thank God for coffee (remember to use non-dairy creamer instead of milk).

6.  Don’t forget  take vitamins including minerals, especially potassium and Omega 3 fish tabs.

7.  Exercise.  Pilates, elliptical, walking the dog–what ever it takes!

exercisepain

8.  Sacrifices on the more carby protein things until you break your plateau.

dietsacrifice

Fall Into Dieting and Be Less Sick Too!

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Fall or Autumn is now here.  Time to worry about colds and flu!  However, the things that you need to do to boost your immune system are very similar to the things that you need to do to lose and maintain weight.  If you start to do these things now, you will have a double benefit.

sugarsickandfat

Did you know that if you are eating a diet without simple sugars in it, you can boost your immune system?

  • Avoid sweets, desserts, white flour, refined grain products–all which turn into sugar quickly.  Studies have shown that refined sugars can suppress your immune system for hours after you have ingested them.

Other things you should do to Boost Your Immune System:

  • Drink plenty of fluids, especially warmer fluids.Consuming adequate fluids supports all of your bodies’ functions including the immune system.
  •  Make soups and broths (from scratch with fresh vegetables is always best) and have them throughout the week.
  • Drink herbal teas. Keep a bottle of filtered water with you at all times.
  • Avoid concentrated fruit juices and sweetened beverages, as the sugar content is harmful for the immune system. If you do drink juice, dilute it with 2/3 water! THIS ALSO WILL HELP YOU LOSE WEIGHT.
  • Try a daily saline flush. Along with staying hydrated, flushing your sinuses with mild salt water helps to keep mucous membranes moist which protects you from microbes. You can use a neti pot, or easy to carry plastic bottles that come with saline packets to take with you when traveling or even at the office! Be sure to rinse them well with warm water and soap and air dry between uses. Studies have also indicated that flushing one to two times daily is appropriate and you should not go over this.
  • Have protein with each meal. Proteins are the building blocks of the body. This includes your immune and detoxification systems. Organic, clean, and lean animal protein as well as plant-based (legumes, nuts/seeds) proteins are important to get with each meal and snack. About 6 lean protein meals a day, but small portions (4 ounces of meat, on average–the palm of your hand).  THIS ALSO WILL HELP YOU LOSE WEIGHT.
  • Add garlic, onions, ginger, and lots of spices (oregano, turmeric) to your meals! Add these to your soups and vegetable dishes, as well as bean dips and sauces. Garlic and onions offer wide spectrum antimicrobial properties.  THIS WILL ALSO HELP YOU LOSE WEIGHT.
  • Eat multiple servings of colorful fruits and vegetables high in vitamins C, A, and phytonutrients that support the immune system. Choose more leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, brussel sprouts, and cauliflower), peppers, sweet potatoes, and squashes. About 2 small servings a day, and you are better off avoiding the root vegetables due to the sugar content.  THIS WILL ALSO HELP YOU LOSE WEIGHT.
  • Get sufficient sleep! We all know sleep restores and heals the body. Without adequate sleep, optimal immune function is next to impossible! Get in a better rhythm and head to bed earlier on those dark winter nights. Aim for seven to eight hours of sleep a night. Getting too little sleep also will hurt your metabolism.  If you get enough sleep, THIS WILL ALSO HELP YOU LOSE WEIGHT.Get regular exercise. Mild to moderate exercise (for approximately 30-45 minutes) helps boost the immune system. Avoid overexertion such as training for endurance events when you are feeling run down. This will lower your immune defenses.  THIS WILL ALSO HELP YOU LOSE WEIGHT.

SUPERFOOD LIST:

superfoods

Eating the Coconut Squares Is A NoNo!

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A client of mine went to Trader Joes before coming into my office. Her friend came with her and had a bag of Trader Joe’s lightly sweetened coconut strips.

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The friend offered me some, telling me that she had been eating them and that they are delicious. Apparently, she does not read my blog.

Here Are The Issues

1. A coconut is a fruit, a fruit high in carbs.
2. It is sweetened. Always go for unsweetened.
3. Fruits should be natural, no sugar added and eaten in measured amounts, knowing the carb amount.

I took the bag and looked. 1/4 a cup was a total of 24 grams of carbs. 6g of fiber is good, but only 2 grams of protein (you should be eating MORE protein, less sugar). It also had 16g of sugar, or approximately 4 sugar cubes per 1/4 a cup. And 1/4 a cup is teeny!

Guaranteed, that this lady had no knowledge or desire to know what she was eating. The only real concern was hunger and taste. “This tastes so good.”

I am going to guess that this lady either had no breakfast or ate a little carby food item before venturing out with her friend, causing her to have a sugar roller coaster affect, and a major sugar low and a need for something sweet (more of the hair of the dog that bit her). And what a shame too. She is getting over a major illness and should be focused on eating right, not eating sugary coconut strips.

Issue 4.

Just because Trader Joes or Whole Foods sells an item, it doesn’t mean that you should eat it, that it is good for you, or you will lose weight.

What To Eat When You Are Hungry

I have discussed substitute snacks many times. A snack between each meal and after dinner. They should all be protein based, low sugar. If not dairy products cheese, cottage cheese, etc) eggs, or meat. There is also low-sugar protein bars or protein drinks, low-sugar or carb Greek Yogurt, measured out nuts or peanut or almond butter. If you have a piece of fruit, eat a natural one, not dried and a small piece mixed with some form of protein, your body will feel full longer with protein, not sugary fruit alone.

Healthy Restaurants Can Still Make You Fat

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I saw an article today about how Chipotle has good organic food and grass-fed meat.  However, if you still eat one of their burritos, you are getting over 1,000 calories in one meal.  If you get a burrito there and have everything in it…the beans, the rice, the guacamole, etc.–it comes out to be over 100g of carbs.  That is the most you should have in a whole day if you want to lose weight.

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I have written about this before, but I get double salad in a bowl, and I choose to not have the rice and beans (adding up to about 40g of carbs, all by themselves) and I have the cheese, the meat, sour cream, salsa, etc.  You have to pay attention to what you are ordering and what you are eating.

Here is the Chipotle calculator here, but I would think that the numbers are pretty much the same wherever you go.  http://www.chipotle.com/en-us/menu/nutrition_calculator/nutrition_calculator.aspx

I had a client who wanted to lose weight, who brought a giant chicken burrito into my office and she ate the whole thing.  This is why she has not lost weight.  It was two to three times the portion that she should have had.  She should have split it with her daughter, at the minimum!  It was there, so she ate it. But, if she keeps this up, not only will she never lose weight (will gain), but her daughter will eventually have weight issues too if she emulates mother’s overeating style.

Restaurants make big food.  You should always break down your food, put half in a box and then it is out of sight–out of mind.  Then, just eat the half in front of you.  It really is the right size portion that you should have had in the first place–unless you are a very active long-distance runner, an athletic man, etc.  But, most people are sedentary and not that large.  There is NO way they should be eating those adult-sized portions.  It is ok to order from the children’s menu, which actually is the appropriate size portion for the average eater.

AND THEN THERE ARE THE CHIPS:  Each chip is about 2g of carbs.  If you eat the bag of chips that comes with it, it is an extra 63g of carbs–empty calories!

And don’t forget, you can make your own burrito by using low-carb tortillas.  Here is the brand that Costco and other stores has, and it is very low carb.  Tastes good too.

smarttortilla

Choose wisely!!  Don’t suffer and miss out on foods, just realize the restaurants are giving  you high calorie crap and you have to be smart and pay attention to what you are eating.

What Kind of Carb-Eating Dieter Are You??

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I had a conversation today with a lady who wants to eat well and keep her weight down, and she thinks you have to eat all carbs in the morning.  I realized how many people really have no idea what is good for a diet or not.

Myth:  You have to eat toast or some kind of grain at breakfast because you need carbs for energy.

Here is the deal.  You need protein!  You get little protein in bread.  Eggs, meat, dairy, nuts, yogurt–they have protein.  Bread is low on the list.  Also,  I told her that I had some fruit with my eggs in the morning and she seemed to not realize that fruit has carbs.  So, to have fruit and bread–I know my body.  It does need so many carbs at once.  Her philosophy, have carbs earlier in the day and little to none later.

Is she right?  Yes and no.

Why?  It depends on your body.  Everyone is different.  Here are some rule of thumbs on carbs throughout the day.   Everyone has a different body type and there is no set rule of thumb for everyone.  Which of these five Carber-types are you?  Are you a late night carber, morning carber, day faster and later one meal carber, few carbs per meal carber or a post-workout carber?

carb eater

1.  THE LATE NIGHT CARBER:

  • Questions: Workout at night? Have diffulty sleeping? Crave starch, salt and/or sweets in the evening? Find yourself ravenously hungry in the morning?

Answer:  If so, save your entire days carb intake for the evening.  If you notice you sleep better and your hunger, energy, and cravings are better controlled the next day AND the end of the week shows improvement in body composition, you have moved one step closer to your metaboloic needs.

2.  THE MORNING CARBER:

  • Questions:  Workout in the morning before eating? Crave coffee and pastries for breakfast? Notice low energy all day if you don’t have morning carbs? Find yourself insatiably hungry at night?

Answer:  Then eat all your carbs in the morning, and skip them the rest of the day.

3.  THE DAY FASTER, LATER ONE-MEAL CARBER:

  • Questions:  Don’t feel hungry for most of the day until after lunch? Have high energy despite not eating? Tend to hold onto your muscle mass?  Get sick and tired of worrying about preparing meals for the day and stressing about what to eat? Are able to go the whole day without food and still eat sensibly at night?

Answer:  Then, consider fasting the entire day and eating only one big meal (including the carbs) in the evening.

4.  THE FEW CARBS PER MEAL CARBER:

  • Questions:  Feel low energy when you don’t eat? Get a foggy head and can’t think clearly unless you have carbs? Are you insulin resistant and tend to “feel hypoglycemic”? Overweight or obese? New to the fat loss lifestyle? Then you will likely be better off eating small frequent meals with each meal containing small amount of carbs (5 to 10 bites).  (THIS IS ME)

Answer:  These meals should also be accompanied with a good portion of protein.

5.  THE POST-WORKOUT CARBER:

  • Questions:  Have difficulty gaining muscle? Train intensely with weights? Having difficulty recovering from exercise? Are an athlete with performance goals?

Answer:  Then eat carbs post-workout as well. 30 to 50g whey protein and a large banana may give you just the right insulin kick at just the right time to take your fat burning and muscle-building game to the next level.

 

So, figure out what kind of carber you are and work with it.  Take your diet to a whole new level, based on your body’s needs!

Picnics Can Be Delicious and You Can Still Lose Weight

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Does going to a picnic mean we are stuck with potato salad, coleslaw and chips?  My husband, sister-in-law and friend are joining me tonight in an outdoor concert, where we will “picnic’ in our seats before the concert.  In the past, we would order food, which was delectable, but devilish in calories.  But, that was 40 pounds ago.  And my family and friend are all on board with eating and living a better lifestyle (very important to surround yourself with people like that) and if not, then you have to prepare your own food your way).  However, in this case, we all decided to order food that was good for us, as well as good-tasting.

We could make them ourselves, but we are ordering salads with veggies and chopped grilled chicken and my vegetarian friend will be having the salad with sautéed tofu.  We will also have sparkling and regular water, coffee and I am bringing a long Low-Carb chocolate cookies for dessert.

Here is what the salad looks like, but without the grilled 4 ounces of chicken. And also here is a picture of my Kot chocolate crackers.  (13g or net carbs, from Lindora.com)  Looking forward to my meal and my coffee!!

salad

 

 

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Low-Carb Almond and Flax Seed Chicken Tenders

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I love chicken tenders, but I don’t want a lot of carbs and I don’t want it breaded.  I am avoiding wheat because it makes my belly stick out and it is full of carbs.

Here is a South Beach version of chicken tenders.  I made them and they are really good and SUPER easy to make.  Less than 30 minutes.

Don’t forget to get some dipping sauce (low-carb of course).  Mustard-based is a good choice.

There is probably less than 3g of net carbs in this entire batch of chicken that I made!  Almond and flax are good for you too!  Here are my pictures of the finished product.  Recipe follows.

nuggetscloseup nugggetsevencloser

LOW-CARB CHICKEN TENDERS:
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1-2 T olive oil (enough to generously coat the baking sheet)
1/2 cup almond meal
1 tsp. paprika (not smoked or hot)
1/2 tsp. poultry seasoning
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Turn on the oven to 400F/205C. Brush a baking sheet liberally with olive oil and put the pan in the oven to heat as the oven preheats.

Trim all visible fat and tendons from chicken breasts, then cut each breast into 5 nugget pieces (or more if you have a very large breast.) Use a meal mallet or something heavy to pound the thicker nugget pieces so they’re all the same thickness.

Combine the almond meal, paprika, poultry seasoning, salt, and pepper in a bowl, mixing together well. Dip each nugget piece into the almond meal mixture, pressing on with your fingers so it coats the chicken. Coat all the nuggets before you remove the baking sheet from the oven.

When all nuggets are coated, lay them on the hot baking sheet and cook 8-10 minutes, or until the side touching the pan is lightly browned. Remove pan from oven, turn nuggets, and bake 10-12 minutes more on the second side, until nuggets are lightly browned and cooked through. (Don’t overcook.) Serve hot, with mustard or ranch dipping sauce if desired.