Eating Low

RIP Squeaker

Amy - admin — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 00:40:30 +0000

My cat Squeaker died sometime last night. She was 13, so it wasn’t a total surprise but she hadn’t been sick or anything and was acting really normal before bed so it was a shock this morning when I woke up. Squeaker was a real sweetheart of a cat. She loved to eat and she loved to sit in her basket next to the food bowl. She died right next to both, which seemed sort of fitting. I had always felt that if Squeaker had been a person, she would have been a member of my board. She was an emotional eater. She ate when she was happy. She ate when she was sad. She ate when she was bored. She ate when she was nervous. She sometimes would eat and eat until she threw up. So she had a lot of food issues. So now I’m down to just 3 cats. My co-workers jokingly debated whether I even count as a “cat lady” anymore. The consensus was 4 or 5 cats = cat lady, 3 cats not so much. Today has been a sad day, but such is life. I’m sad that I didn’t really get to say good bye but I’m glad she seems to have died peacefully and gone on to the endless foodbowl in the sky.

Holiday Discount on the EatSmart Nutrition Scale

Amy - admin — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 22:39:37 +0000

William from EatSmart is offering my readers/viewers a 15% off discount on the EatSmart Nutrition Scale this holiday season. The scale analyzes the nutritional content of food by portion size for both labeled and unlabeled foods. The code to use is EATLOWHOLIDAY but you can access it directly by clicking www.eatsmartproducts.com/coupon/eatlowholiday

Guest Post by Brandi from DietsInReview.com

Amy - admin — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 14:43:02 +0000

I’m in New York for the weekend but here’s a guest post from Brandi Koskie, the senior editor at DietsInReview.com, a diet review and healthy living resource online. The more than 540 reviews of diet and weight loss programs and products can help you find the right approach for you, the daily Diet Blog provides fitness and nutritional tips, interviews and current trends, and you’ll find free healthy recipes that suit a low-carb, diabetic, Weight Watchers or vegetarian lifestyle.

I’m always on the lookout for something new and interesting at the grocery store that has some nutritional value and offers a healthy replacement to something else in my pantry. Often it requires a lot of time reading food labels, which is completely worth the time investment if you ask me. I like to find things void of high fructose corn syrup, no trans fat (partially hydrogenated oil) or other chemical/man-made ingredients. So here are a few Food Finds that I think suitable to share with you!

La Cense Beef

A while back I tried to give up red meat because I simply didn’t like the way I felt after I’d eaten it. Ground beef, steaks or roast, it didn’t matter. About the time my husband was burning out on fish and chicken, I found La Cense Beef. Their Montana ranch raises grass-fed cattle, not grain-fed, so the meat tastes cleaner. The cattle are antibiotic-, hormone- and pesticide-free. All qualities you’ll be hard-pressed to find at the grocer’s meat counter. The Black Angus Steak Burger from La Cense changed my mind about beef. When the cattle is treated well and not filled with chemicals, the beef tastes so good. The meat is tender, juicy and not at all greasy.

While my opinion only goes so far, you can’t argue with the numbers. Compare the La Cense Black Angus Steak Burger to a standard black angus burger. A six ounce serving yields:

La Cense / Standard

Calories: 290 / 500

Fat: 18g / 43.2g

Sat. Fat: 9g / 17g

Cholesterol: 90mg / 131mg

Protein: 32g / 28mg

HoneySuckle White Turkey Sausage

The only way I’ve ever known pasta is to make spaghetti, lasagna, goulash and ravioli with ground beef. Once I went on my no-beef kick, my insatiable love of pasta faded into the background. I’d make it with chicken sometimes, but it just wasn’t the same. That’s when I found HoneySuckle White Turkey Sausage. I was hesitant, because I didn’t want my spaghetti to taste like Thanksgiving dinner. I was very pleasantly surprised. The turkey grounds just like beef, so you achieve the same texture. The mild Italian seasonings give a delicious flavor and the turkey is subtle enough that you honestly can’t tell the difference. Your body recognizes the difference, though. Compare ground turkey, ground beef and ground sausage to one another:

CALORIES / FAT

Turkey: 100 / 5g

Beef: 125 / 7.1g

Pork: 234 / 18.6g

HoneySuckle White Turkey Sausage is now a staple in my freezer and pasta dishes. We’ve also started using the HoneySuckle White breakfast sausage and regular ground turkey in breakfast burritos, chili and homemade pizzas. It’s as versatile as ground beef, has its own tasty flavor and it’s affordable.

Making healthy changes can be simple, you just have to be open-minded to the changes and not shy away from trying something new.

I need the frequent shopper discount

Amy - admin — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 16:31:24 +0000

I was 143.5 this morning so 1.5 down from yesterday. I’m almost out of quiche and thankfully I just ate the last of “America’s Favorite Pork Chops” (NOT!) which means another stop at the grocery store to restock everything. I swear I go there every day! I think I’m going to do pork chops again because I’ve been having chicken for dinner (in my soup). I’m actually realllllly sick of chicken in general. Which doesn’t leave me a ton of options since I don’t really eat beef and half (like Easter-style ham) tends to bloat me. So maybe by the time I’m sick of pork chops, I won’t be sick of chicken anymore. I’ve been feeling really good about my menus lately. I’ve got a little system down of cooking in advance and packing everything in tupperwares so my food is all ready to go and when I run low, I just cook, pack, repeat.

Ugg. It’s only Tuesday and it’s supposed to rain/snow tomorrow morning. Ick.

America’s Favorite Pork Chops…I think not!

Amy - admin — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 19:38:30 +0000

I just made a recipe that was called America’s Favorite Pork Chops. It’s simply an Italian dressing and worchestershire marinade and then you were supposed to grill the pork chops (but I just did them in the pan). They were just eh. Maybe grilled they would have been better, but I think it was actually the marinade I was a fan of. They’re ok enough to eat during the week so I’m stuck with them for lunch for the next 2 days or so.

I made a great quiche this morning with artichokes and cheddar cheese. I’ve got one recipe left to make for during the week but it’s just the chicken broccoli cheddar soup so I may wait until tomorrow night to make it. So I’m pretty much set for the week!

I bought some of the Sexy Hair Pumpkin products and now my hair smells like pumpkin pie (yum!), although that makes me want a pumpkin spice latte!

Next Food Network Star Video is up!

Amy - admin — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 00:15:29 +0000

I got my audition video for the Next Food Network Star up. You can check it out here. It’s not low carb, but go take a peek anyway! If you just made the shrimp and jamacian jerk seasong with some splenda, it would be very similar! If that link doesn’t work - try this one - it will take you to the main page then just look for me in my cupcake apron and a green shirt (currently towards the bottom of the first page or top of second page). My video is called Eating with Amy - The Next Food Network Star!

TGIF!

Amy - admin — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 16:07:59 +0000

Friday, at last! I’m holding steady at 143.5, which is to be expected. From past experience, whenever I have a big loss, I usually have a day or two of holding steady and eventually I go back to losing. It was annoying at first because you’re like - I’m doing everything the same! Why am I just sitting here at the same weight! But after awhile I noticed a pattern. It’s like my body likes to keep things in check so I don’t lose too much in a week. Last year, it liked 3.5 pounds a week as my maximum so I’m happy with the 4 I’ve lost so far even if I don’t lose another pound the rest of the week! Every pound I lose now is one I don’t have to lose in the coming weeks so I take what I can get!

Today is Friday and I was out of pork chops to bring for lunch so I had a Chipotle day. I love the chicken salad with cheese, salsa, and gaucamole (skip the dressing!). It leaves me full but not stuffed and I ate it almost every Friday last year during my weight loss. It’s one of the few “out” foods that never seemed to affect my weight loss. Tonight for dinner I’ll probably have the last of the broccoli soup although I have turkey meatballs in the freezer that I could eat too. I can’t wait for the weekend to start…3 hours and counting!

When is weight loss success a success?

Amy - admin — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 14:27:12 +0000

I was on another board yesterday and someone was commenting on someone else who had lost weight and kept it off for a year. They said - well he’s not a real weight loss success until he’s kept it off 5 years (or something like that). I really took offense to that comment. Sure, some report or some study might say it takes 5 years to see if your weight loss is going to “stick” so to speak or if you are just going to go back to old habits and gain it back. But in my opinion, that attitude is a slap in the face of anyone who has lost weight and got to goal. Or someone who has finally dealt with their emotional eating and no longer drowns themselves in food at the first sign of stress.

It’s just a really negative attitude that belittles the person into feeling like their accomplishment means nothing. I don’t need a study to tell me I’m a success. I KNOW I’m a success every day! Sure I can wait 3.5 more years and have an official celebration but c’mon that’s ridiculous! Every time I get stressed about money or work and don’t turn to food…that’s a success. Every night on the way home from work when I’m tired and hungry and really want Taco Bell but don’t get it because I know better…that’s a success. Even the times when I do splurge, but then eat good the rest of the day instead of splurging again hours later…that’s a success.

People may wonder how I can claim to be a success while I’m trying to lose a few pounds now. If you’re at goal, you may already know this but for those of you who aren’t…you’ll probably never be the exact same weight from day to day once you hit goal. Once you start eating “normal” foods again which I do, your weight will fluctuate. Some people are very strict and continue to watch what they eat closely and exercise a lot and make sure they never gain a single pound back…that’s not me. I’m not going to live my life like that. I do try to watch it a little especially during the week, but I also enjoy eating food! And I’m comfortable in my skin. The difference between 135 and 145 is hardly noticeable to me. This past year I’ve been comfortable being that weight. I’m happy with who I am and how I look. That to me is also a success.

But I also know we need to be vigilant. It can’t be a bagel and nacho party every day. And I know the holidays are a rough time due to all the events and dinners and celebrations so I want to go in with a cushion in case I do want to have pumpkin pie or an extra helping of stuffing! I want to not worry about every bite that goes into my mouth so I can just focus on friends and family. Being able to eat what you want but also knowing when to put the brakes on and start eating good - that’s also a success!

So, to the people who think you aren’t successful until you reach the 5 year mark…have you actually experienced success or do you just like to talk about it? Do you like to help others gain success or would you rather belittle their accomplishments because they don’t meet some magic number?

4 lbs, 4 days…but it’s the first week

Amy - admin — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 13:42:18 +0000

143.5 this morning. Woo hoo! I went back and checked my Monday weight and it was 147.5 so that’s 4 lbs in 4 days. This is probably the fastest I’ve lost weight, but I’m realistic. It’s my first week of getting back to eating low carb 100% so I know I’m whooshing like a mad woman. I usually have a really big first week and then average out to 2-3 lbs the rest of the time. I was shooting for 135 by November 15th but if I can hang on and avoid the pumpkin donuts and pumpkin lattes that seem to be calling my name, then I should be able to get there and maybe even get a bit lower - 130 would be ideal for a pre-holiday weight! I also might not be headed to NY until Nov 22 so that gives me an extra week too.

So what am I eating you ask? It’s probably closest to Atkins. I do use a little bit less fat, but I am eating cheese and cream so it’s not that less fat! I use eggbeaters versus eggs (mostly for the convenience of just dumping the whole carton into the pan in 2 seconds versus cracking 6-7 eggs). Lunch and dinner is chicken, pork, or turkey. I’m not a big red meat eater so I don’t usually cook it for myself, although I will eat it (like this past weekend the Chipotle gave me beef instead of chicken on my salad by accident). Breakfast this week has been a quiche with eggbeaters, half and half cream, cheddar cheese, and bacon. Lunch was turkey meatballs and spaghetti sauce and salad with ranch (full-fat) dressing or sugar free orange marmalade pork chops (which I’ve got to still upload the video for) with a salad and ranch dressing. Snacks are my good ole EAS shakes and dinner is chicken broccoli cheddar soup. I’ve been snacking on pumpkin seeds and cocoa roast almonds at night (love them!).

Two big changes from the past - No more coffee and I’m *trying* to drink more water. I still hate water but I’m trying to drink some every day. I may have an occasional coffee and I may even go back to 1 a day, but I’m happy I’m off the 4 coffees a day…too wired!

Planning is the key!

Amy - admin — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 18:29:44 +0000

I’m cruising along - down to 144.5 this morning. What started out as an overcooked quiche has actually been the secret to me being able to keep up my plan this week. I made a quiche to eat for breakfast during the week. I’m usually in too much of a hurry in the morning to eat so I need to pack a lunch AND a breakfast. Back in the old days, I got eggs from McD’s on my way to work, but I’m sort of sick of them and I haven’t been in the mood to sit in the drive thru while I’m commuting to work lately. I didn’t really follow a recipe for my quiche this time. I just sort of threw in some eggbeaters, cream, cooked bacon, and some cheese and baked it for an hour and 15 minutes. My quiche wasn’t as full as it sometimes is because I cut back both on the number of eggs and the amount of cheese and cream so it was like half full. It ended up getting a sort of crispy crust. But I like it! It actually doesn’t taste as much like eggs…it’s almost bready! I’ll be whipping up another batch tonight because I ate my last 2 slices today so hopefully I can reproduce my overcooked mistake LOL.

I finally found pork chops again at my grocery store but they aren’t the thinner ones I usually use. They only had the big fat 1 inch ones so they took longer to cook. I’ve got the video done. I just need to upload it. It’s not Academy award winning though since I made it right after work! But it came out tasty so that’s a bonus.

Tonight I’m also going to make more chicken broccoli cheese soup. It’s really filling and I feel like I’m getting a good variety of meat, veggies, cheese, etc. It’s also super fast and easy to make!

I’ve been contemplating changing the look of my blog again. I’m so indecisive! I can’t find any styles that look just like I want them to, but I’m too lazy/busy/preoccupied to edit one to suit me so you’re stuck with the oldie but goodie for now!