Tag: Diet Soda

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General Weight Loss Tips

Dole Health Summit: Part Two: Real Fruit Bites and More

Lunch at Dole: whipped ginger sweet potatoes, salmon with fresh tomatoes, vegetables lasagna, roasted squash, salad and chocolate covered pineapple

One thing that stood out to me during the Dole Health Summit was how proud the employees are of their health and habits. Before I went to the Dole Health Summit I kind of expected that there would be fresh produce available, but I was not expecting it to be so delicious and thoughtfully prepared.

Throughout my life I’ve believed that health food and good food were on two different teams. It never occured to me that they could be one in the same. When I thought of health food, I thought of “diet food” and to me it was boring, raw, cold, and uninteresting. I grew up in the 90’s where people were told not to eat fat, so I doused my iceburg lettuce in fat-free ranch dressing. We were told to eat cottage cheese, fat-free frozen yogurt, diet soda, and celery sticks to be healthy.

Onyx Restaurant at Four Seasons: ginger salad with miso soup

If I’m being totally honest, the concept of healthy can equal delicious is new to me. I use the term healthy loosely, because it seems that we all, scientists included, have our own idea of what healthy eating looks like.

But Dole managed to merge the two worlds effortlessly. You’d never know that health food wasn’t delicious and you’d never feel deprived or cheated eating this way.  Good, delicious, thoughtful and interesting food. I want more of that in my life, the merging of healthy and delicious foods.

Onyx: risotto with mushrooms

I realize that this may sound strange to those reading who already “get” it, but for me, it’s been a very long journey to this point. You see, it wasn’t until my mid-20’s that I had fresh blueberries, cherries, salmon, black beans, avocados, asparagus, dark leafy greens, or roasted vegetables. Blueberries were made into muffins. Cherries came from a jar in syrup. Salmon was from a can. Beans were brown or green and swimming with bacon. And vegetables were cooked in the microwave.

Dinner at Onyx, Four Seasons Hotel

I’ve since taught myself to enjoy interesting and new flavors. I prefer tea and coffee unsweetened. I rarely drink soda or diet soda. I’m not afraid to try new foods. I want to continue challenging my to change my definition of what good food is. Good food can be a local burger or butternut squash roasted to perfection with garlic, olive oil and chili powder. It can be coconut curry with chicken and vegetables. Good food, or delicious food, doesn’t have to be saturated in fat, salt or sugar to taste good. And I say these things as a reminder for myself, because I sometimes forget how good fruit and vegetables can be.

basil mango sorbet with dark chocolate and mint

Even the Dole employee cafeteria offered a healthy array of food choices. We had the opportunity to eat breakfast there our first morning. You could choose from whole wheat pancakes, to breakfast burritos with made-to-order omelets, homemade salsa, and avacado, or lox with cream cheese, bran muffins or fresh fruit.

In the Dole test kitchen we had the opportunity to try out new products and old favorites. For me, you can’t go wrong with frozen banana soft serve. Oh the miracles of the internet for bringing this amazing concoction into our lives.

We tried the salad kits which were filled with things like dried cherries, blue cheese and nuts. Not to mention the Real Fruit Bites. I really enjoyed these a lot (maybe too much!). I liked that you could taste the oatmeal in them. Apple was my favorite, and pineapple takes second. Josh really liked these too and I was sad to find out he raided my goodie bag and ate most of my packets.

Next was a new product that I haven’t seen yet…

Dole Shakers. Basically they are frozen fruit and yogurt, similar to dippin’ dots. You add fruit juice to them and shake for an on-the-go smoothie. I really liked the taste of these and enjoyed the thick texture. Some of the other bloggers noted that they took on the flavor of whatever juice you use, I didn’t mind that though. I thought they were refreshing and could imagine using these in a pinch or while traveling. I also think they might be good with unsweetened vanilla almond milk to cut down the sugar.

What are you favorite healthy, yet delicious recipes?

Click Here to read Dole Health Summit: Part One

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Weight Loss Exercise

More Tips For Better Health


More ideas from Renee’s site to improve your eating habits.

What’s Your Best Advice for Avoiding those Extra Holiday Pounds?

  1. Don’t tell yourself, “It’s okay, it’s the holidays.” That opens the door to 6 weeks of splurging.
  2. Remember, EAT before you meet. Have this small meal before you go to any parties: a hardboiled Egg, Apple, and a Thirst quencher (water, seltzer, diet soda, tea).
  3. As obvious as it sounds, don’t stand near the food at parties. Make the effort, and you’ll find you eat less.
  4. At a buffet? Eating a little of everything guarantees high calories. Decide on three or four things, only one of which is high in calories. Save that for last so there’s less chance of overeating.
  5. For the duration of the holidays, wear your snuggest clothes that don’t allow much room for expansion. Wearing sweats is out until January.
  6. Give it away! After company leaves, give away leftover food to neighbors, doormen, or delivery people, or take it to work the next day.
  7. Walk around the mall three times before you start shopping.
  8. Make exercise a nonnegotiable priority.
  9. Dance to music with your family in your home. One dietitian reported that when she asks her patients to do this, initially they just smile, but once they’ve done it, they say it is one of the easiest ways to involve the whole family in exercise.


How Can I Control a Raging Sweet Tooth?

  1. Once in a while, have a lean, mean salad for lunch or dinner, and save the meal’s calories for a full dessert.
  2. Are you the kind of person who does better if you make up your mind to do without sweets and just not have them around? Or are you going to do better if you have a limited amount of sweets every day? One RD reported that most of her clients pick the latter and find they can avoid bingeing after a few days.
  3. If your family thinks they need a very sweet treat every night, try to strike a balance between offering healthy choices but allowing them some “free will.” Compromise with low-fat ice cream and fruit, or sometimes just fruit with a dollop of whipped cream.
  4. Try 2 weeks without sweets. It’s amazing how your cravings vanish.
  5. Eat more fruit. A person who gets enough fruit in his diet doesn’t have a raging sweet tooth.
  6. Eat your sweets, just eat them smart! Carve out about 150 calories per day for your favorite sweet. That amounts to about an ounce of chocolate, half a modest slice of cake, or 1/2 cup of regular ice cream.
  7. Try these smart little sweets: sugar-free hot cocoa, frozen red grapes, fudgsicles, sugar-free gum, Nutri-Grain chocolate fudge twists, Tootsie Rolls, and hard candy.

What Can I Eat for a Healthy Low-Cal Dinner if I Don’t Want to Cook?

  1. A healthy frozen entree with a salad and a glass of 1 percent milk.
  2. Scramble eggs in a nonstick skillet. Pop some asparagus in the microwave, and add whole wheat toast. If your cholesterol levels are normal, you can have seven eggs a week!
  3. A bag of frozen vegetables heated in the microwave, topped with 2 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese and 2 tablespoons of chopped nuts.
  4. Prebagged salad topped with canned tuna, grape tomatoes, shredded reduced-fat cheese, and low-cal Italian dressing.
  5. Keep lean sandwich fixings on hand: whole wheat bread, sliced turkey, reduced-fat cheese, tomatoes, mustard with horseradish.
  6. Heat up a can of good soup.
  7. Cereal, fruit, and fat-free milk makes a good meal anytime.
  8. Try a veggie sandwich from Subway.
  9. Precut fruit for a salad and add yogurt.

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General Weight Loss Tips

What if…

I’ve been keeping all of my oh so interested food posts over at www.myfitnesspal.com username: lorriebee. If you’re at all interested in what I’m eating. I’ve got loads of food photos to share with you, but first I want to share some random thoughts I’ve been having lately.

I’m a ponderer, I wonder about things, it’s just my nature. And today I’m thinking about this: what if I never lost a pound again- would I change my actions?

Lately I’ve noticed a few conversations with people around that fact that they assume eating a healthy diet and exercise is only out of the pursuit of weight loss. I can’t help but feel that this is entirely short sighted. Granted, when I started out on this journey a long time ago I was pretty ignorant about food. I was raised in the low-fat era of diet sodas, fat free dressing, and Snack Wells cookies. I never gave a moments thought to the pop-tarts, chips, Little Debbie cakes that I was consuming.

If it was in a package it was okay to eat. I never questioned ingredients, food sources, chemicals or unethical practices. But that was then and now after many years of yo-yo dieting, reading, watching and consuming all things health and nutrition I think I have a pretty good handle on what is sensible eating for me. Of course, it’s not perfect- it never will be. But, I know about meat, I know about processed foods and I know that most items in the grocery store are only pretending to be something they aren’t…food.

My quest for thin got me here. I don’t know if I’d ever arrive to caring that diet soda is not the solution to a diet full of fat and sugar. Or that meat has been injected and filled. Or that the innocent vegetable has been manipulated to be bigger, shinier and will hold up longer in the fridge. My fat opened my eyes to the world of better eating.

So sometimes I get frustrated when folks assume that I’m drinking juices in the morning just to lose weight. Or that sometimes I say “no thanks” to dessert, processed snacks or questionable meat because I’m trying…yet again…to lose weight.

The truth is, I want to do this. Not just because I have 150 pounds to lose, but because it feels better than the alternative. As if, weighing less would give me license to eat anything and everything without a moments thought.

The source of my knowledge and motivation is weight loss. For a hundred or so reasons. This is true. But, it’s not all based on weight loss.

I’ve come to realize that this slow shift in my mentality has opened the doors for real, lasting success. Because I understand that the way I’m eating now isn’t something I stop doing when I lose weight. I feel good when I drink raw vegetable juice,  eat salmon, salads, smoothies, oatmeal, and whole grains. I feel better about myself and my life. It makes me hopeful and inspired to be a better person. My work improves, my skin gets clearer and I’m a more pleasant person to be around.

So right now, today, my “plan” is to be good to myself. This involves exercise, not because it could and probably will make my ass smaller, but because I feel like a better human being. I’m eating less meat right now, not because of a fad diet, but because I feel better. Does that mean I won’t eat meat this weekend at the wedding? No. Does that mean I will never have the occasional steak? Like hell. I’m getting up and making  making juice because it’s a good thing to for me to do. I’m exclusively eating whole grains unless it’s not an option (and when it’s not I don’t feel bad about the white rice or bread). I’m eating nuts or fruit for snacks because it doesn’t weigh me down. I’m finding new ways to enjoy dessert and my favorite foods. And to top it all off, to make it count, so I know I’m doing what I need to do to lose weight: I’m counting calories. Everything else is up to me.

I’m finally understanding “lifestyle change”. It doesn’t mean that one meal at chik-fil-a is a bad thing, it doesn’t mean that healthy food can’t be delicious (it really is!), and it certainly doesn’t have to be the painful, hopeless, sacrifice that I’ve wanted to believe it is. The myth that made me believe for so long that I couldn’t do it without a pill, surgery or the latest top-selling diet book.

This is no longer punishment. This isn’t perfection. This isn’t 30 pounds in 30 days. This isn’t a raw food only diet. This isn’t no carb, low fat, low calories. Not vegan or vegetarian. Not the cabbage soup, rotation, or delivery meal systems. This isn’t diet food. This isn’t about the “last meal” or the “I will start over tomorrow”. This isn’t what I’m eating just to lose weight. This is me being okay with the occasional treat, the occasional indulgent meal because if I’m consistent 80% of the time, everything will be okay. This is about being guilt-free about food. Guilt only causes pain which leads to binging for me.

Today I am still obese. I’m not an impressive weight-loss success story. The process is never impressive. The mental shift, the work, the never going to give up attitude, the reading, the studying, the learning wasn’t a loss or failure. If I don’t lose a pound on the scale tomorrow morning, I’m still going to drink my juice, eat delicious real food and move as much as possible.

So do me a favor. The next time you see someone eating a salad or saying “no thank you” to dessert don’t assume it’s just because they are “being a good dieter” and on the same note, if you see someone eating a cupcake or enjoying a nice burger and fries, don’t assume they’re “off the wagon”. Being healthy isn’t about black and white eating or never consuming refined carbs again. It took me a long time, but I’m so glad I finally realize this.

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