Cheesy Popcorn

This is awesome stuff...all nutritional info is 0...so of course it is 0 points plus.  I use an air popper to pop some popcorn (which is simply filling so 0 points plus) and spray some spary butter on (0 points plus) and sprinkle some of this on (also 0 points).  Wah-lah!

It comes in other flavors, but this is the only one I have tried.

It also has a spray you can use (instead of the spray butter) but I have not tried it, nor do I know the nutrition facts for it.  I did try spray canola oil instead of the spray butter and I didn't like it as well.

The bottle says you can put it on veggies, potatoes, eggs, rice.  I tried it on a baked potatoe and it was good.  Not the best thing I have ever tasted, but good.  I would recommend it.

Jillian Michaels book

I was flipping through Jillian Michaels book "Master your Metabolism" and read part of a chapter on High Fructose Corn Syrup.  She said that every time you see HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup) listed on the ingredients you should think "POISON" because it is so bad for you.

I was talking to my brother about this and he said he googled "Why are american's so fat".  Of course there are a lot of websites listing lots of reasons...Portion sizes, fast food, inactivity, etc...but one of the reasons listed on almost every single website was High Fructose Corn Syrup.

So then my brother googled  "Why is high fructose corn syrup in everything?"  He discovered that the American Government subsidises corn farmers...this make the price of corn artificially low...which means that food manufacturers can purchase high fructose corn syrup for cheap.  It is a sweetener and preservative.

So for the last 2 weeks (2 shopping trips) I have been looking at labels and trying really hard not to buy anything with high fructose corn syrup in it.  IT IS HARD!  IT IS IN EVERYTHING!  It is in surprising things.  Ketchup, spaghetti sauce, lunchmeat, stuffing, jam, etc...

I am reading Dr. Phil's ultimate weight solution book.  In there he calls "good" foods HIGH RESPONSE COST, HIGH YIELD foods.  This means that your body has to work harder to break them down and they are a lower caloric intake.  Basically the way he summarizes is that these food take work to prepare and work to break down in your body.  This has impacted me and realize...yes, he's right.  It takes more time to wash and cut up broccoli than it does to open a bag of chips.  It takes more work to prepare a homemade dinner than to stop and get a pizza.  AM I WILLING TO DO THE WORK?  Yes.

I have also decided to cut back majorly on artificial sweeteners.  It actually hasn't been as hard as I thought it would be...mostly because I am doing the timers like I mentioned in a previous post.  When I am satisfied all of the time I can think clearly to not reach for sweets (as much).

Easy 0 point soup

I had left-over boiled cauliflower from last nights dinner.  I wanted to try making mashed "potatoes" from it like I had heard in my WW meetings.  It did not turn out as anticipated.  So I used it as a soup thickener as I had also heard about in my WW meetings.

I made a beef broth, added some veggies and some creamed cauliflower all for 0 points.

Blend cauliflower with some water and salt and pepper in your blender.

In a saucepan:

I used 1 C. water

1 beef boillion cube

peas (left over from last night---but you could just throw in some frozen ones)

chopped mushrooms

add in creamed cauliflower from above to make the soup more creamy.

Because the cauliflower was already cooked it took less than 5 minutes from start to finish.  It was quite good and you could use whatever veggies you had on hand.

Most delicious scramble ever

This was the most delicious scramble ever.

2 tsp EVOO (yea!  Oil done for the day)
a small handful chopped green peppers
a small handful chopped mushrooms
1 small handful chopped ham  (I'm not sure if you have to count points for this or not???  I need to look it up)

Saute until green peppers are soft.

Scramble 3 eggs in a separate bowl (I did 1 whole egg and 2 egg whites, but you could do whole eggs for simply filling also)

Add eggs to other ingredients.

Add 1 T. feta cheese (count points for this)
1 handful fresh spinach.
Salt and Pepper to taste

Cook until eggs are cooked and spinach is wilted.

This was AMAZING!

Timers

So I got this idea from my Dad...set timers on your phone to remind you to eat your meals and your snacks, that way you can stay satisfied and never get to that really hungry irrational eating period.

So for example...I have timers set at
7:30 Breakfast
10:00 Snack
12:30 Lunch
3:00 Snack
5:30 Dinner

So mine are 2.5 hours apart.  But if there is a time of day that you are more hungry than others...you probably need a snack before you get to that point.

Mikael

Dr. Phil's Ultimate Weight Solution

I have been reading this book "Dr. Phil's ultimate weight solution" and it is excellent.  It really helps you look at why do you  eat how, what, when, where you eat and how to combat and reprogram yourself to eat better, think more clearly and devote energy into taking care of yourself.

You can get it for 1 penny on amazon and pay $3.99 shipping.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/1416513183/ref=sr_1_1_olp?ie=UTF8&qid=1344541697&sr=8-1&keywords=dr+phil%27s+ultimate+weight+solution&condition=used

Walden Farms

OK, so a while back I posted that I saw in the WW book that Walden Farms peanut spread was 0 points and decided that I must have it.  I tracked it down at my local health food store.  When I arrived I found a whole end-cap of Walden foods.  They are all 0 points.  You wouldn't believe it if you saw their nutritional labels.  They are 0 everything. 0 calories, 0 fat, 0 carbs, 0 fiber, 0 protein, 0 sugar.  Nada.  Zilch, Zip. Zero.  So weird.  Anyway, I decided to try some of their products.  They run about $5 per jar.


Walden Farms Peanut Spread.  Does not taste like peanut butter.  Really gross.  I will not purchase again.  I will not eat again.  I am going to throw the jar out.  Yuck.

Walden Farms Alfredo.  Edible, but not good.  It was 0 PP (because it's 0 everything as listed above).  I will not purchase again.  But I did finish my dinner that it was on.  I would not recommend it.

Walden Farms Raspberry Jam.  Tastes like other SF jams. Not terrible but not good.  I will probably finish off the jar and then not purchase again (I might as well buy other SF jams from the grocery store and not make a special trip to the health foods store).  Definitely not as good as regular jam (no SF jams are). But OK if you need something a little sweet and don't have the points to spare.

Walden Farms Hickory Smoke BBQ sauce.  OK, not great.  It was really runny.  It had a slightly strange flavor.  It was edible.  I will probably finish off the bottle, but not purchase again.  It's nice to have a 0 point BBQ sauce, but I think I would rather use a point or 2 on regular BBQ sauce.  I would not recommend buying it.

Walden Farms Ranch Mayo.  Tastes like FF mayo with a dry ranch packet mixed in.  I am not a big fan of FF mayo or miracle whip.  I would rather use a point or 2 on light mayo/miracle whip.  FF is gross to me.  So I didn't care for this too much.  It was OK, not gross, but not great.  I will finish off the jar and not buy it again.

I have not tried this yet, but if it is anything like the other products...I'm not expecting anything great.

So once again we're back to the old adage of "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is".