Categories
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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Categories
General Weight Loss Tips

Sugar-Free Banana Chocolate Cheesecake

Guess what? I had dessert for lunch. Guess what else? There was no sugar or artificial sweeteners involved. And it was delicious. From one sweet tooth to another, make this recipe asap.

I’ve had this idea in my head since before I started my year without sugar and I finally got around to making it happen today. Here’s how you make it:

Sugar-free and naturally sweetened: Banana Chocolate Cheesecake

Ingredients:

Crust:

1/2 C. whole pitted dates

1/2 C. pecan halves (or any other nut)

splash of vanilla

1/2 t. water

! T. cocoa powder

optional: 1 T. unsweetened coconut flakes

Filling:

8 oz. cream cheese softened

1 very ripe banana, mine was black (I would use two next time)

1/4 C cocoa powder

3/4 C full-fat plain yogurt

1/2 C. Dates

1/2. C water

Optional topping: unsweetened coconut

What you will need: food processor, 9 inch pie plate, small saucepan, mixer, spoons

Directions:

Starting with your crust, dump all ingredients (dates, pecans, vanilla, water) into a food processor. Turn machine on for at least two minutes. Your crust is done when you can form a ball with your ingredients.

Press crust into a pie plate with your hands. Your crust will cover the bottom of the plate and a little on the sides. You can make it as thin or thick as you like. Set crust aside.

Use a stand-mixer or hand-mixer for the filling. Beat the cream cheese and banana together on low until smooth. Add the cocoa powder and vanilla and mix again until the ingredients are incorporated and smooth. Set mixture aside.

Put dates in your food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Add chopped dates to a small saucepan with 1/2 C. water. Turn heat to medium high and stir until the water begins to boil. Turn heat down and let simmer for five minutes. Take off heat and let cool to touch. Add dates to food processor, turn machine on for two minutes.

Add date puree to cream cheese mixture and beat until smooth. Pour filling over crust and refrigerate for at least one hour.

Makes 8 servings.

PS: I’ve been using the hamilton beach food processor for four years now and love it!