Month: March 2015

Every dieter knows that some vegetables and fruits are great for a diet. But did you know that some even aid in weight loss?

Don’t be put off by some of those vegetables that you don’t like. I don’t like a few vegetables… actually I think I like almost all veggies but you may have some that you don’t like. No problem. There are plenty of other delicious fruits and veggies that are not only low in calories, but also can actually help a person lose weight.

Advantages of Adding More Vegetables to Your Diet

Vegetables and fruit can be low calorie, high volume and provide high nutrients as well as fiber and water. Simply stated: they make you feel full without excess fats and calories. Plus they contain minerals and antioxidants. (You can’t say that about cookies, candy and cake!)

There’s even more good news: Increasingly, nutritionists believe that certain plant-based foods can control cravings.

Some vegetable advocates even believe that Brussels sprout (okay, say, spinach or any of the others on the list below) can slow down cravings for processed foods.

Eating a plate of green beans might actually make that bag of potato chips less appealing (well, maybe not during the Super Bowl).

Your best options for the more nutrients per calories (plus helping weight loss) is a list any dieter knows well: spinach, celery, collard greens, Swiss chard, cucumber, kale, zucchini, green onions, artichokes, broccoli, green beans, green peppers, peas, lettuce, cabbage and … yes … Brussels sprouts.

There are some fruit on that list as well: apples, pears, raspberries, strawberries and blueberries. The berries can help speed up weight loss; they are low calorie and help to burn fat. The apples and pears, along with many of the vegetables, can help lower bad cholesterol.

The advantage of a vegetable on a diet is that the increased amount of fiber and water content allows effective and efficient weight loss without causing hunger pangs.  That’s because they allow the eater to feel full without overeating.

Consider protein…

Beans of all types (kidney, pinto, lima, garbanzo, white, and soy) are rich in protein. A serving of beans (one cup) can be 9 to 12 grams of protein. That’s a far healthier choice than fried chicken or a cheese-heavy hamburger. Aside from beans, dieters don’t generally think about protein as a factor in vegetables. Think again:

A half-cup portion of the following provides the following amount of protein:

• Peas: 3 1/2 grams
• Spinach: 3 grams
• Broccoli’s 2 grams per serving
• Asparagus: 3 grams
• Cauliflower: 3 grams
• Artichoke: 3 grams
• Watercress: 3 grams

And, yes, even Brussels sprouts: 2 grams

With today’s supermarkets carrying fresh vegetables all year round now, there’s no excuse not to pick them up during your weekly shopping.

And, they can always be prepared quickly and easily, so you don’t have to find complex recipes for them.

Want to fill up quicker and lose weight faster? Eat those veggies!

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Committed dieters know that an overflowing buffet can wreak havoc on a dieter’s willpower. Chinese buffets can be especially challenging, but even breakfast buffets (ahh the pastries) or those All You Can Eat spreads are difficult to resist. And cruise ship buffets – eek!

Unfortunately buffets abound and non-dieters not only enjoy them, but urge dieting friends to come along. Short of saying a flat “No!” what’s a dieter to do when faced with serving table after serving table of high calorie, high sodium foods?

Three Part Plan for Eating At Buffets

• Part A: Scope out the buffet as soon as you arrive at the restaurant. Know before you grab your first plate what is available, what will work and what you should avoid.

• Part B: Fill your plate with the low calories options first (e.g., salads and light soups), and then returning for the proteins (turkey, chicken) and plain veggies. Completely skip the high calorie pastas, potatoes au gratin and so forth. Instead make your third course the desserts with cut up fruit.

• Part C: Stop when you’re full and accept that you do not need to go back a fourth time to sample everything that you missed.

A note about Chinese buffets: The only way for a confirmed dieter to survive a Chinese buffet is to not go near it. Instead, order steamed chicken and vegetables from the menu. Let your friends eat the egg rolls and fried dumplings; you stick to your diet.

A Few Other Buffet Tips

• Get your head around the concept of “just a taste.” Since most buffets allow diners to serve themselves, take a small portion of several offerings. Of course several plates of mini tastes can equate to a huge number of calories, so be selective. And remember that mini tastes constitute a meal and are not simply appetizers.

• Many buffets have smaller plates, which can be a help in portion control. If your buffet has platter size plates, fill up half of the plate with low calorie salads and veggies so there is less room for the high calorie choices.

• Commit to one trip to the buffet, one plate of food.

• Consider what you’re eating. If you must have the lasagna, then make the rest of the meal more diet friendly. Do not go from the lasagna to the chicken Parmesan to the stuffed shells.

• Consider your beverage. Ordering a glass of wine or a soda with your meal adds calories you could save.

• Don’t sit near the buffet tables.

• Don’t over analyze your companions’ choices. You looked at it all, you decided – you do not need to go back for the slab of prime rib just because your friend says it is good.

• Talk! You’re out with friends. Talk to them. Make the food on your plate last longer with good conversation.

• Forget about the expense. There’s a tendency to think in terms of getting one’s money worth. Ignore the cost and enjoy one good plate of food.

• It’s not a race to go back for more. If you’re going off your diet for the food in front of you, eat slowly and enjoy. Tomorrow the diet begins again.

Back to the initial question: “Where should we eat tonight?”

A reminder that the dieter has the right to respond “I’d rather not do the All You Can eat Buffet tonight. I’m just not that hungry.”

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Last weekend I bought a small bundle of three beets from the grocery store with the intent of juicing them on Sunday. Sadly I never got a chance last Sunday so today I instead I finally got to make my beet juice.

I am not sure why but my juicer can be really bad for spitting little drops of juice out, may be because I broke the top cover of it and had to glue a couple pieces back together.

Regardless of this issue my wife hates getting any juice mess in our kitchen so today I did the juicing out on our deck, and I am really glad that I did. It caused quite a mess.

Beet Orange Apple Juice

So my juice today consisted of the three beets from last week, 2 apples, and two oranges.

I did look around for recipes and saw a few with carrots but I have run out or carrots and thought that the oranges and apples would be a nice way to cut that strong taste of the beets.

I didn’t use the beet leaves, also known as beet greens, as they were starting to really show their age and were very wilted.

Remember though that Beet greens are really great as they are high in Lutein which is a fantastic nutrient for you.

As you can see here, after I did all the cutting of the Beets and apples, and peeled and separated the oranges I had a very large bowl of juicing supplies. And a very bloody looking cutting board.

I went outside and did my juicing, stopped about half way though to clean the blade in the juicer as I do not want to have it plugged and miss out on some of that nutritious juice at all.

It ends up that this drink does not tax the juicer blade much and it did not get gunked up at all.

But boy did my table outside get messy with all that deep red beet juice.

The juice itself was really good. I love the strong sweet flavor of a juice like this and there are lots of reasons that you would want to add beets, oranges and apples into your diet anyway

Power of Beets

Beets are full of many nutrients that we need in our everyday lives.

Beets are a source of phytonutrients called betalains. Betanin and vulgaxanthin are the two best-studied betalains from beets, and both have been shown to provide antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and detoxification support.

One cup of beets contains 34% of our daily requirement of folate, 28% of manganese, 15% of potassium, 14% of copper and 14% of fiber. Beets also have magnesium, phosphorus, vitamin C, iron, and vitamin B6.

Drinking beet juice may help to lower blood pressure in a matter of hours. One study found that drinking one glass of beet juice lowered systolic blood pressure by an average of 4-5 points.

Beauty of Oranges

Oranges are really high in Vitamin C with a single orange giving you almost your whole daily supply. Also Oranges have Flavinoids, which can lower cholesterol and blood pressure, And as an added bonus when you eat oranges regularly they are really high in water while being fairly low in calories.

I didn’t use the peels of the orange but interestingly they contain polymethoxylated flavones (PMFs) which have the potential to lower cholesterol more effectively than some prescription drugs, and without side effects, according to a study by U.S. and Canadian researchers that was published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

As for minerals, oranges are high in Potassium, Phosphorus, and Magnesium

An Apple a Day

As we all know apples are really good for you. Apples have fiber, a high water content, and polyphenols. Polyphenols are a newly discovered nutrient that is very healthy in a way much like antioxidants. Apples actually also contain an antioxidant called quercetin

Also because of the composition of apples, they are good for regulating blood sugar. The pancreas are in charge of insulin production and the apples stimulate this to get more energy into the cells of our body

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