Tag Archives: thin

Happy Cinco Low-Carb Enchilada De Mayo

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Today, I made myself a great protein snack.  Since it is Cinco de Mayo, I decided to go “Mexican”–but low-carb.  It was My low-carb enchilada.  It is easy to make and I have enough for 3-4 at a time, so I make a few and refrigerate.  This way I don’t have to cook nightly, but if you have the ingredients and you have done this more than once, it shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes to do this.  You just need a stove and a flat pan.

Here is the link to the recipe.

https://skinny-rules.com/tag/enchilada/

Here was what I made today.  One for today, two for other days.  I used low-carb tortilla, non-fat sour cream, low-sodium turkey meat (diced), lite Mexican blend cheese.  A couple of minutes each side cooked–whallah!

enchilada

YUM!  Happy Cinco de Mayo!

10 FOODS AND DRINKS TO AVOID IF YOU ARE ON A DIET, DESPITE THEIR SO-CALLED HEALTHINESS

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Today’s blog subject is dedicated to one of my friends in Pilates class.  She brought up a subject that is important to discuss in my blog because it comes up all of the time when people ask me how I keep the weight off.

Eating healthy doesn’t mean eating large amounts of sugar and carbs!  I do eat very well.  Salads twice a day.  Four servings of veggies a day (small ones), 2 small fruits a day, 6 protein-based foods per day, water, etc.  But, keep in mind that I want to keep my carbs between 50g to 100g per day.  Also keep in mind that it takes about 4g of sugar/carbs per 1 sugar cube.

We get conned into eating and drinking things based on their nutritional qualities, but in fact, they are LOADED in “unhealthy” amounts of sugar and carbs.  Trust me, I know.  I gained over 40 pounds at one time just eating “healthy foods”, without knowing the secrets behind their fat-causing carbs!

If you want to lose weight, you want to eat six protein-based “small” meals per day.  Here are 10 items to stay away from, but I mention how to do it with low-carb or replacements for them.  I am letting you in on my found-out secrets!

10 FOODS AND DRINKS TO AVOID IF YOU ARE ON A DIET, DESPITE THEIR SO-CALLED HEALTHINESS

1.  SMOOTHIES or JUICE:

If you have a smoothie, it has to be more vegetables than fruits (fruits have a lot of sugar and carbs) and the size you drink has to be small.  Depending on what you put in your smoothie, perhaps about 4-6 ounces is enough.  Are your smoothies bigger than that and has a combination of high carb/sugar fruits in them?  A few berries, citrus–that is ok….but loaded in apple, banana–you are looking at a lot of carbs.  Some of the smoothies at a regular juice place, like Jamba Juice, have 67g of carbs (This is over 20 sugar cubes–would you eat 20 sugar cubes?)  in a basic 16 ounce smoothie.  If you are only supposed to have between 50-100g of carbs per day to stay thin, that is a lot for one drink.  There goes the rest of the carbs for the day!  Instead, I personally recommend eating real veggies and two small fruits a day.  Smoothies are really for people who can’t stand eating veggies and it is the only way to get it into your diet.  Don’t drink orange juice–eat an orange.

2.  ACAI BOWLS/ MUFFINS/CEREAL:

Loaded up with granola (NOT A HEALTH FOOD–way too much sugar.  Use plain nuts instead).  I never eat granola.  A lot of people see it as a health food.  NOT!  It has 38g of carbs in just half of a cup!   An Acai Bowl has about 125g of carbs between the granola and the banana, etc.  These are not diet foods.  WATCH OUT FOR NUTS:  20g or so in carbs per cup.  Limit them or measure and bag them in advance when used for a snack.  My snacks usually consist of a few nuts and cheese (little to no carbs in cheese).  Western Bagel has a low carb bagel called the Perfect Ten, that is usually a special breakfast item for me out of my usual eggs.

Stay away from cereal.  Mostly carbs, sugar and chemicals.  Try oatmeal instead, but keep it to a small serving because it is high in carbs.  Read the labels.

Also, muffins have grains.  Grains are higher in carbs.  I don’t care if it is a bran muffin or a blueberry muffin–it is still a muffin. It wiIll add to a muffin top, if you know what I mean.

3.  DRIED FRUIT:

Has a lot of sugar and carbs.  Instead, eat fruit.  2 small amounts of fruit per day.  If you eat a banana, one serving is HALF of a large banana.

4.  RICE:  

High carb, little nutritional quality–even the brown stuff.  Quinoa is better, but it is also high carb, so limit it to a few spoons worth in a serving.  A cup of Quinoa is over 100g of carbs.  As high as rice.  Also, rice has arsenic in it.  Yuck!  ALSO RICE CAKES ARE HIGH IN CARBS TOO!

5.  WRAPS:  

Bread products of all kinds are high in carbs.  I don’t eat sandwiches either.  A slice of bread can be around 30g of carbs. Some of the lower carb breads like Ezekiel, is about 10g EACH slice.  But, a medium sized wrap is about 22g of carbs.  I eat salads with meat and other proteins on them or a sandwich or burger that is wrapped in lettuce and not a bun or wrap.  Watch out for tortillas too, unless they are the specific low-carb ones, which you can see at any store, even Trader Joes.  A regular tortilla can be over 30g of carbs, but a low carb one can be about 5g net carbs, once you factor in the fiber.

Watch out for JUICE.  It is just liquid sugar.

6.  PROTEIN DRINKS/SPORTS DRINKS?PROTEIN BARS

All laden with high carbs.  Only get ones that are low carb.  Less than 20g of carbs is best.  Or you can factor in fiber.  Look at the total carbs and subtract the fiber and you have net carbs.

7.  VEGGIE BURGERS/FROZEN FOODS:

Very high in carbs if you pick the wrong one.  Buyer beware.  Some of them are only 10g of carbs.  So choose wisely and look at the nutritional labels.

Most of the low-cal frozen foods are high carb and will put weight on you.  Just look at the labels.  They are also loaded in sodium (as is canned soup) and are not good for your heart.

8.  YOGURT/FROZEN YOGURT:  

Some of them are so high in sugar and carbs, it should be illegal.  You could be looking at 20-30g of carbs per cup.  Greek yogurt has better options and if you choose the ones that are unflavored, there are hardly any carbs. There are a few products like Danon Lite and Fit Greek Yogurt flavored,  with only about 10g or less of carbs per cup.

Frozen yogurt is laden in sugar, carbs and a lot of really nasty chemicals.  There is nothing “yogurty” about it.  You are better off having a no-sugar added scoop of Dreyers or Breyers ice cream.  Breyers Carbsmart ice cream bars are delish and low in carbs.  I get them at Ralphs, Smart and Final, and Wal-Mart.

9.  BEANS:

Yes, they are good for you–in small amounts.  A tablespoon is about 8g of carbs.  A cup of them is about 120g of carbs.  So, your burrito with the high carb shell, high carb beans and high carb rice will easily top you over 100g of carbs for your one very healthy organic Chipotle burrito.  I always do a salad version, limit the beans, no rice.

10.  AGAVE!

Syrup

One of the more popular “natural” sweeteners is Agave nectar, also called agave syrup.You will find this sweetener in all sorts of “health foods,” often with attractive claims on the packaging.

The problem with Agave is that it is no better than sugar. In fact, it is much, much worse…

One of the main problems with sugar is that it has excessive amounts of fructose, which can cause severe metabolic problems when consumed in excess.

Whereas sugar is about 50% fructose and High Fructose Corn Syrup about 55%, Agave contains even more… up to 70-90%.

Try Stevia or just use natural sugar, in moderation, because sugar is not good for losing weight.  And if you are putting fruit in your smoothie (and I don’t recommend smoothies and I don’t do them anymore), then you have enough fructose sugar from the fruit, so why add more?  Stop being a sugar junkie!

Eat, Sleep, Move: Lack of Sleep can make you fat: New Study

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sleep

Food and exercise are not the only things that will affect your weight!  Loss of sleep will affect your weight too!

A report came out on a study about sleep and weight. According to the research, patients with more weekday sleep debt were 72 percent more likely to be obese when compared to participants who had no weekday sleep debt. And after six months, weekday sleep debt was significantly associated with obesity and insulin resistance. Worse yet, after 12 months, “for every 30 minutes of weekday sleep debt at baseline, the risk of obesity and insulin resistance was significantly increased by 17 percent and 39 percent, respectively.”

Diabetes and obesity are two metabolic diseases characterized by insulin resistance. These diseases can be a result of metabolic syndrome, which refers to the cluster of three or more cardio-metabolic risk factors, including insulin resistance, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. Given this, the findings reinforce the existing idea that “sleep loss is additive,” and that it can negatively impact metabolism.

metabolic syndrome

http://www.medicaldaily.com/got-sleep-problems-losing-30-minutes-sleep-each-day-could-mess-metabolic-function-324852

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Don’t let your schedule run you down so that you can’t sleep.  Yes, exercise is important, but if you can’t get in the sleep, then cut a bit on the exercise to get the sleep–unless you can find other things to cut back on!

sleeptime

It isn’t Eat, Pray Love:  It is:

eatsleepmove

If you have sleep issues, have them diagnosed by a doctor.  If you have sleep apnea, get help for it and if you have the breathing machine–use it.  I know so many who have it and don’t use it!  Besides dying in your sleep–it can cause you to be exhausted and overweight.

sleepapnea

If you have other issues with sleep, see your doctor about meds.  Start exercising, which helps sleep.  Take a hot bath before bed.  Make sure you have vitamin and minerals each day.  Go to bed earlier.  Turn off the TV, Phone, IPAD, Computer, VIdeo Games, etc.  Work on it, don’t just be sleepy.  If it is stress, try L-Theanine 200 mg., see a therapist and/or a doctor for meds.

EXERCISE!  It will help you sleep.

Sleep will help you be skinny!  And if you sleep more, you will also have more energy to exercise and eat right–other tools for weight loss!

Skinny Rice?

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When I make a meal, I have used riced cauliflower in place of rice. I haven’t had rice in a long time because the carbs in rice is astronomical.  In one cup of basic white or brown rice, there are about 45g of carbs.  It is even more in other types of rie.  Well, if you can only have between 50 to 100 g of carbs per day to lose weight, then that is most of your consumption in just one cup of rice!

So, a study came out about rice!  It seems that if you cook rice differently, you can halve the calories and I would think the carbs as well.

rice

The new cooking method:

1.  Add a half cup of uncooked rice to boiling water with a teaspoon of coconut oil.

2.  Let the rice simmer for 40 minutes, but confirmed that boiling for 20 to 25 minutes would also work.

3.  The last step of the process involved refrigerating the rice for 12 hours.  Then you can reheat it.

Well, I suppose it is worth a shot once in a while.  To me, 22g of carbs is still a lot for a cup, but if you eat half a cup at 11g of carbs to have with your Tikka chicken, it might be worth it once in awhile, instead of my usual riced cauliflower.

Life is Short: Don’t Wait, Lose Weight!

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Have you ever noticed how easy it is to make excuses for your not losing weight or keeping it off?  Days come, days go and you are still waiting for the magic right moment.  Or you gained a few and you are waiting to work those few off.

I certainly have had my own excuses.  Here is the deal.  If you want to lose weight, you have to get your butt in gear and stop the excuses.  Ask yourself what you are doing to stop yourself from losing and find a way around it.

Examples:

1.   “I just can’t do it.”  (But, yes you can!)

2.  “My body is holding onto fat and won’t lose weight.”  (Go see your doctor and find out if there is a problem, not just assume it!”

3.  “I don’t have time right now.”  (Cut something out that you don’t have to do to find the time.)

4.   “I am too stressed.”  (Exercise will help your stress, and you will lose weight, so that is just an excuse because there will always be a reason to wait!)

dontwait-dont-wait

10 Things You Can and Should Do to Lose Weight:

(Rules that skinny people follow)

1.  Figure out what protein snacks you need to bring with you during the day so that you are eating small protein foods every 3-4 hours.  If you let your body go without food for too long, then it goes into starvation mode and holds onto the weight longer.  I bring small individual bags of nuts or low-carb protein bars.

2.  Eat a breakfast every morning.  In a hurry, I grab a hard-boiled egg that I buy pre-done from Costco or Trader Joes.  Not in a hurry, I make some eggs with cheese in the AM.  Doesn’t take long and it is filling.

3.  Bring non sugary fluids with you and fill up on fluids all day long.

4.  Prepare earlier the night before or on weekends to have breakfast, lunch and dinner foods and bring them with you for lunch or to work or after if you don’t have the money to eat out somewhere where you CHOOSE healthy proteins, salads and vegetables for a meal–and it has to be the right proportion of food (4 ounces of meat), handful of veggies.  You can also have two small servings of fruit per day, but keep in mind that some fruits are higher in carbs (bananas) and some are lower in carbs (berries/citrus’).

5.  Eat 6 small proteins per day.  Eat two small servings of fruits per day and 4 small servings of vegetables per day.

6.  Avoid sugar and high carbs and keep carbs down (between 50 to 100g of carbs per day).

7.  Read labels of things before you eat them.

8.  Exercise!  Get in at least 30 minutes, 3 times per week and more if you can do it.

9.  If stressed, don’t eat food, go for a walk, have a drink with no sugar/carbs.  Or talk to someone.

10.  Put yourself first for half an hour per day.  Learn to cut down on something each day to get in the exercise.  I have put off folding laundry to get in some time on the elliptical.  The laundry can wait, but not your weight!

wait

No more excuses:  MOTIVATE and start now.  Anytime is a great time to start!

How Will You Lose Weight If You Don’t Respect Yourself?

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 Do You Respect Yourself?

1. Do you respect your physical health by exercising, eating right, getting enough sleep?

2. Do you respect your mental health, getting mental health support when necessary, doing activities that stimulate your mind, such as reading and learning something new every day, enjoying the company of people who engage you intellectually, seeking joyful activities to keep your mind sharp and your mood uplifted, volunteering to help others in need?

3. Do you respect your emotional health, by finding time to do things you enjoy, working on having healthy relationships, seeking support and care when necessary, relaxing, not putting yourself down, and finding time to de-stress?

4. Do you respect your spiritual health, spending uplifting time alone in meditation and prayer, seeking the company of those who support your deepest beliefs, and finding beauty in your world?

You have to find balance in life.  There are 24 hours in a day.  8 should be for sleep, 8 is for work, 8 is for play.  If you are lopsided in one area, you will find that you will have fallout in the other areas.  Something has to give.  Part of a proper diet or eating lifestyle is taking time to cook, prep meals, prep snacks to bring with you so you aren’t hungry and run to junk food to save your hunger and time to exercise.  Do you do these things or are you unbalanced?

balance

Ask yourself what changes you can make to get balance back in your life or you will continue to be happy with your physical being and it will affect your emotional and spiritual being as well.  So, do you respect yourself?  There will always be excuses, but if that is the case, then the answer is “no”…so do something about that.

I worked more than 8 hours a day, had no balance and I ended up fat and sick.  I had to make the changes to get better and healthier.  Unfortunately, you have to work out and eat right to look and feel the way you do, there is no way around that fact.  Make the changes and stop procrastinating.  There will always be some project to do, but you need to put YOU first.

Killer Bread On A Diet

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21ts-sm

 

Found this bread at Smart and Final.  It is ORGANIC, safe to eat (unlike the yoga mat in Sara Lee bread), and so healthy.  The delivery had to deliver it cold to keep it from spoiling because of the lack of preservatives in it.

It is low in carbs, has fiber and protein, and it is delish!  I have given up on wheat, but once in a while, I will have something with wheat in it.  Bread has anywhere from 15 to 30g of fiber a slice, but not this one!  12g of carbs per slice, minus 3g of fiber is 9g of net carbs.  And it is healthy and SO good!

21ts-nutr

To locate a store that carries it, use this locator: http://www.daveskillerbread.com/locator/

Ice Cream On A Diet

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How can you have ice cream on a diet or as part of weight maintenance?  This is actually simple.  You have to pick one that is low in sugar and carbs.

Let’s look at some examples of my favorite brand:

Breyer’s Vanilla:  There are four vanillas.  Two have 28g carbs and 28g of sugar per cup.  All of these ice creams have the same sugar grams and carb grams.

(The label says 14g per 1/2 cup.  Pay attention to tricky labels.  So, a cup is 28g.  It is more likely that if you eat a scoop, that it will be the size of a measuring cup.)

This is a cup of ice cream:  Learn the measurement:  Portion control is key.

Vanilla Ice Cream

 

Breyers Homemade Vanilla has 32g of carbs per cup and the Extra Creamy has 36g of carbs per cup.

There is no fiber or sugar alcohols to subtract from the numbers to get a net carb.  So, those are the carbs.  Those are really high, so if you want to keep your carb grams between 50 to 100g a day to lose weight, that really messes up your count for the day.

 

BETTER CHOICES:

HOWEVER:  Breyers No Sugar Added Vanilla has 26 g of carbs per cup and 8g of sugar.  That is a lot less sugar and honestly, it tastes creamy and really good!  You won’t really notice a difference from the majorly sugary one.  There is 8g of fiber and 8g of sugar alcohols.  So, per cup, the net carb is 10g of carbs.

Breyers CarbSmart vanilla. Only has 4 grams of net carbs per serving!  13g total carbohydrate, subtract 5g of sugar alcohols and 4g of fiber.
Breyers has chocolate CarbSmart, but not all stores carry it and you should ask your store to order it.  They also have bars.
Other companies have better no sugar added choices.  Read the labels.  You can have a treat that won’t ruin your diet, if you do the work and read the labels and make proper choices.

 

 

Just Say No Mas to the Bad Mexican Food Choices

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My husband and I went to Poquito Mas tonight and ate low-carb. We had tostadas, but without beans and rice-and we did not eat the shell or the chips. The tostada eaten this way should be under 10g of carbs.

However, there were a lot of larger people eating differently than we were eating. Burritos with rice and beans, chips, etc.

Let’s look at this way, if you want to lose or maintain your weight, you have to count carbs. Between 50 to 100g of carbs per day does the trick.

If I eat 6 protein meals a day and keep my count between those numbers, I am fine. However, what about what those other people are eating?

Chips: add on another 20 to 30 g of carbs.
Beans: add on another 20 to 30 g of carbs.
Rice: add on another 20 to 30g of carbs.
The burrito shell: add on another 30g of carbs.
Taco shell: add on 15g of carbs.

There are nutrition calculators online to check for accuracy. But. Can you see how easy it is to gain weight?

You have to educate yourself and make better choices. Fillers like rice, chips and flour and corn products will bulk you up fast. You could end up eating over 109g of carbs in just one meal! And the meatless vegetarian stuff is even more carbolicious.

Stick with protein, salad and veggies. This means meat, cheese, vegetables, salad, avocado (good carb, but watch the amount), sour cream. A few beans are ok, they are a good carb, but watch the amount.

The world is getting fat because of the filling carbs. Watch your choices, stop eating purely based on taste and find better and newer things to enjoy. Get off of unnecessary carbs for awhile and you will feel and look better.

And put those chips they bring to you in the garbage before you are tempted to eat them. They are about 1g of carb per chip. There is no nutrition there and the salt on it is the basis of the addiction. Throw them out.

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No Sugar Challenge

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eatbetter

My husband is on day 6 of his 30 day no sugar challenge.  He feels better, looks better.  He stopped eating bread and his sugar consumption is cut substantially (it is only in the protein bars he has now and then, and they are low sugar protein bars).  He is losing weight and his skin irritations cleared up and his skin is glowing.  He is less bloated and when he had too much sweet potato the other day, he bloated and noticed it.  He is realizing that sugar has not been good for him.  His goal is to feel and look better.  After the 30 days, I think he will continue to watch the bread/sugar intake.  I have been doing it for 3 years now and I am skinny, healthier and look and feel better!  My Irritable Bowel Syndrome (had it since I was a kid) disappeared, as well as my GERD (Gastro-Esophogeal Reflux Disorder)

There was an article last week about a family who gave up sugar for a year.  Here is the article:  http://www.everydayhealth.com/columns/my-health-story/year-of-no-sugar-one-family-grand-adventure/?pos=1&xid=nl_EverydayHealthWomensHealth_20140413

The article explained how well the family did with no sugar.  The mother even said that her kids were WAY less sick than before too. We just have too much sugar in our society and everyone is getting sick, fat and unhealthy.

Have you thought of trying a no-sugar challenge?  Give it up for 30 days and see how you do.

30day

Challenge Rules:

For 30 days we will avoid sweets of any kinds: desserts, candy, sweetened beverages, and even foods that have “hidden sugars” in them!  If you accidentally eat something that has a hidden sugar in it, just keep on going with the challenge.  It happens easily, because so many things have these sugars in them.

We will find new foods that give us energy, without the sugar!  Many people shy away from eating a banana because they have heard that it’s so high in sugar, but yet will fill their pantries with all kinds of processed foods that are supposedly “healthy” and have loads of added sugars!  You can have fruit, but the citrus fruits and berries are lowest in sugar and carbs.  The higher ones are the tropical fruits, including bananas.  Two fruit servings a day is sufficient.  Bread turns to sugar, so limit it to one slice of whole grain at the max, once a day…..but don’t eat white flour–turns to sugar with no fiber.  No nutritional value and adds sugar to your system.

Here are some “sugar” terms to look for in the ingredients lists:

  • Maltose
  • Molasses
  • Corn Syrup
  • High fructose corn syrup
  • Evaporated cane juice
  • Organic cane sugar (just because it is organic doesn’t mean it’s good for you!)
  • Invert sugar
  • Raw sugar
  • Sucrose
  • Brown sugar
  • Corn sweetener (watch eating starches like potatoes, corn, peas, carrots, etc.)
  • watch out for some dressings and ketchup (lots of added sugar)

So what is allowed?

  • Fruit
  • 100% fruit juice (but not all day, too much sugar)
  • Honey in moderation (try to stick to 2 tsp or less/day)
  • Artificial sweeteners

Give it a shot and see how you feel and look at the end of the 30 days.