Friday, October 29, 2010

Snack Backup Plan

Snack back up plan:
Examples  

  •  A cup of tea (there are many types of tea, try some varieties, milk only skim milk, no added sugar)      
  • One piece of fruit or ½ piece of fruit. Buy small fruit. Avoid ripe bananas.
  • Ten almonds.
  • One hard boiled egg.
  • Custard made with skim milk, artificial sweetener and custard powder.
  • Glass of hot milk with artificial sweetener, vanilla or coconut essence.
  • Six rice crackers.
  • Dip (see later).
  • Small tub (175 or 200g/mL) of 99% fat free yoghurt
  • Raw carrot peeled and cut into batons/julienne.
  • Celery sticks.
  • Raw veg, such as capsicum, cauliflower
  • Iced coffee, made with a short black coffee, 5 artificial sweeteners, skim milk and ice.

    Recipes...


    Soup
    Dice one stick celery, one carrot, one onion, add one packet chicken noodle soup (home brand) and add water, bring to the boil and simmer, add anything leftover in the fridge, eg spinach, left over pasta or pasta sauce, and/or from the pantry, a small can drained tuna, wheat, rice or bean thread noodles, etc.

    If you prefer creamed soups, then follow the above recipe, then puree the soup, add ½ cup milk, reheat and serve.

    Sweetcorn soup One onion, diced, fry in a teaspoon of oil until soft, add little salt, then one packet of (dry) chicken noodle soup mix, one litre of water, one can of creamed corn, bring to the boil and simmer 5 mins, add some cooked diced chicken (from the freezer) or a drained can of tuna, or some bean curd puffs, or none of these.  Add a beaten egg, drizzled into the soup (or not if you don’t like egg). You can add some bean thread noodles, or instant vermicelli noodles (check you may need more water).  Add 2 tablespoon soy sauce & a teaspoon of peanut butter.  Finish with sliced spring onions, chopped coriander and/or dried fried shallots.  Or parsley finely chopped.

    Omelette 
    With smoked salmon, capers and spring onion, or omelette with sun dried tomatoes or scrambled eggs on one slice of unbuttered toast, with small salad of tomato-cucumber and onion.

    Meat/Veg: defrost some frozen left over (cooked low fat) sausages with a quick salad, or some left-over roast meat (chicken, lamb) with peas and sweet potato.

    Baked beans (1/2 440g can per person) with tomatoes, mushrooms, or jar pasta sauce.

    Quick lunch plans:
    Pizza made on pita bread (where the pita has no more than 25g carbs per serve) with bottled prepared pasta sauce, some grated mozzarella (I store in the freezer), sliced capsicum, tomato, onion, olives and grill/bake 180 degrees until crisp.

    Or Indian pizza also on pita bread, with (bottled) Indian chilli sauce, feta or no cheese, some capsicum, tomato, onion or left overs and grill until crisp.

    Tomato-onion bake
    On a baking tray or dish, I place three slices of bread, cubed and either lightly buttered/margarined or small drizzle olive oil, top with sliced onions, salt, sliced tomatoes, salt pepper and a little olive oil, bake 180 degrees for 20minutes, toss, bake another 20 mins until onions are soft and cooked, the bread is crisp and the tomatoes are rich. (serves 2)

    A sandwich, two pieces of bread, not a roll, not pizza, no cheese.


    Starting the Diet...

    BREAKFAST
    I highly recommend Weetbix. It is cheap, easy to measure (two weetbix) and wholesome.  If you don’t like it, try it again, every day for a month, you will get used to it.  I have 2 weetbix, 2 spoons of oat bran and one spoon of sultanas/dates or ½ piece of fresh fruit for my breakfast with as much skim milk as the bowl will hold.

    My husband likes his milk separate from the weetbix, because it makes the weetbix soft (I like mine soft) and he puts a 200g tub of yoghurt on his two weetbix, with 2 spoons of oat bran.  Then he takes his milk separately with coffee to make a sugar free iced coffee drink.

    If you persevere with toast, you will be looking to put a spread on it, such as butter/margarine, cheese or jam.  Trust me and try the weetbix.

    Other cereal?  You have to read the packs, weigh or measure the quantity.
    Porrige or Oatmeal is a good alternative, both made from oats, so the addition or oatbran is redundant.  Do not sweeten with anything but artificial sweetener or a few sultana/dates.

    Going out for breakfast? Poached egg and mushroom and/or tomato is good, one piece of unbuttered toast.

    LUNCH
    • One sandwich, not a schnitzel or anything fried in the sandwich, no cheese.
    • A wrap, nothing fried, no mayo (unless you KNOW it is low fat).
    • A salad, not Caesar dressing, few croutons, not fried.
    • Vietnamese rice paper rolls.


    DINNER
    Choose one protein, such as chicken, beef, pork, or lentil/beans.  Protein fills you and satisfies.
    One to two serves of carbs.
    Vegetables (not fried, no cheese or butter sauce) or salad

    More Lifestyle decisions...

    GET DIGITAL SCALES
    You will eventually want to monitor your weight loss and use bathroom scales.  You may want kitchen scales at some stage too.  I highly recommend digital scales, because there is no guess work, when the scales come to a conclusion, they don’t change. You can jump on the scales ten times and get the same weight to within 100 grams (one fifth of a pound).  There is no flexibility in reading the scales, lean forward gain a kilo, lean backward and lose a kilo. It is worth the investment.


    HAVE A BACKUP PLAN
    You will need to plan what you will do when you come home hungry and tired and you just can't think about a creative healthy plan. Think about three easy options you can make in a short time.  You will also need a plan of what to eat when you are just hungry and need something now.  Suggestions later...

    Backup plan for eating out.
    Agree where you will dine and what will be your choice when you get there.
    Chicken schnitzel, chips and salad is not acceptable.
    Chicken salad, no creamy or Caesar dressing, no chicken skin, nothing fried.
    Don’t eat the bread roll or don’t eat all of it, or don’t butter it.
    No chips.  Not one chip.
    No cheese.
    What will you drink? Coke Zero or water. Tea/coffee (not cappuccino and not sugar added).


    ALCOHOL
    Alcohol is kilojoule/calorie heavy, avoid it.  Red wine is good to reduce your blood pressure, but still comes with kilojoules/calories.
    Drink water, sugar-free drinks.

    More about your food choices...

    CONVERT TO SUGAR FREE OPTIONS
    Or live without sugar.
    Such as sugar-free soft drinks, cordial, artificial sweeteners or better yet, go without sugar in coffee/tea. Drink water.  Not bottled flavoured water (which may have kilojoules/calories).


    READ THE LABEL & REPLACE BAD OPTIONS WITH HEALTHY ONES
    COMPARE the high fat options you buy now, such as whole egg mayonnaise or tartare sauce and replace them with the 97% or 98% fat-free alternative.  Be careful to read the labels, as some choices are high in sugar, and consequently kilojoules/calories, so buy only the lowest fat and kilojoule/calorie alternatives. If you really don’t like the taste of the alternative, then use the 50:50 rule, and go for a month with half the old (full fat) and half the new low-fat alternative until you adapt. Remember it takes 3 weeks to form a habit.


    REPLACE
    Replace white bread with multigrain bread (lower GI).
    Replace white potatoes with sweet potatoes (lower GI)
    Rice has high kilojoules/calories for a small amount, so we have chosen to forego it altogether and this was difficult as we used to have rice three times a week.
    Pumpkin has high sugar content, replace with sweet potato or zucchini.


    GET RID OF YOUR BAD FOOD ON HAND
    If you start with the first couple of rules, such as halve the bad food and don’t throw good money supporting bad habits, you will gradually get rid of the cheese, butter, chocolates, etc in your house and you won't be replacing them. 

    Give away food to visitors, such as chocolates, biscuits, frozen products you don’t want to keep.  Or when you have visitors, feed them those foods you don’t want to keep and you eat what you choose to eat (healthy).

    Lifestyle

    Give yourself a break, it is hard to go on a diet, you should keep these three thing in mind:
    • It Takes Three Weeks To Form A Habit
    • Do not throw good money to support your bad habit.
    • Take every opportunity to make an effort 

    IT TAKES THREE WEEKS TO FORM A HABIT
    It may be less, it may be more. The point is that it takes time to adjust, give yourself that time, keep at your goals, after about three weeks, it does become a habit (easier).

    Talk to your-self, give yourself positive feedback about the good job you are doing by reducing kilojoule/calorie intake, embracing a more healthy lifestyle.
    Concentrate on reducing/eliminating one particular thing at a time, with an emphasis on change. And stick to it.

    The first time you try to limit your carbs, or not take that second piece of bread/pizza, you may fail. If you do, forgive yourself, but try again tomorrow.  Try really hard for three weeks, and it DOES GET better/easier. After three hard weeks, you have formed a habit and it isn't as hard any more. Then you can concentrate on something else.


    Do not throw good money to support your bad habit.
    Do not buy junk food, even if you think it is for the kids or guests.
    Do not spend any more good money on food which is on the bad food list.
    Do not buy new clothes, it only supports your current weight and you will soon be losing weight and need new clothes.
    Do not accept gifts of any bad foods, no freebies at the shopping centres, no party food that you would not eat at home, no morning teas (where you drink other than tea/coffee).
    Do not replace the bad food you have just finished, live without it.  Even if it is on special.


    Take every opportunity to make an effort
    Make an effort to include some exercise in your life.  Walk further, bend more often, get up after a meal and water the garden, or pick up a bag of weeds when you would normally just sit on the couch.

    Clean out your wardrobe of old daggy clothes, so you are only wearing nice clothes – soon these won't fit any more, so wear them now.  Don’t be caught dead in anything you wouldn’t be caught dead in.

    Sweep/vacuum more often, use the clothes line instead of the clothes dryer, walk to the shop at lunchtime to stock up on a few items.
    Take every opportunity to include some additional exercise in your life.

    What is bad food???

    What is bad food?
    Food with unnecessary kilojoules/calories, sugar or fat. Such as
    • Chocolates
    • Lollies/sweets
    • Sweet Biscuits, cookies
    • Cake (any kind), muffins, pastries, scones
    • Icecream, cream
    • Cheeses
    • Butter, Margarine, Lard, etc.
    • White sugar, any sugar, any sugary thing
    • Pizza, pastries, pies, pasties, sausage rolls, garlic bread
    • Softdrinks that are not sugar-free
    • Cordial and drinks that are not sugar-free
    • Fruit juice and fruit juice drinks
    • Coconut cream or coconut milk
    • Whole egg mayonnaise
    • Regular (full fat) tartare sauce
    • Regular (full fat) milk (only buy skim/fat-free milk).
    • Bacon
    • Any meat with visible fat (trim the fat off and discard it).
    • Chicken skin/fat.
    • High fat sausages (read the label).
    • Potato or corn chips, any high fat snack foods.
    • Anything fried, including potato chips, french fries, wedges.
    • Any product that is fried, including schnitzel, spring rolls, dim sim, fried fish, fried chicken, roast white potatoes.


    The 3 Initial Rules...

    Half the bad food.
    If you do nothing more than HALVE the bad food you are eating now, you will reduce your kilojoule/calorie intake.  Start now. 

    To do this, start slowly, reduce the bad food you are eating now by HALF.

    That is, if you grab biscuits for morning tea, take half of what you would have yesterday.
    If you have a piece of cake, take half the size you would have yesterday.

    You are not missing out, you are already reducing.

    What is bad food? Really, you know what the bad food is.  Chocolate, biscuits, lollies/sweets, anything fried, pastry, too much fat, sugar or higher in kilojoules/calories than the healthy benefits. More later.

    NO seconds, NO exceptions
    Seconds were our big downfall. We would prepare good healthy meals, then keep eating until we were full (or just to finish the prepared food).
    From now on, you will not prepare a second plate of whatever you are eating.
    When you dish up your meal and if there are leftover, seal those leftovers immediately into a container and refrigerate.

    Let me be clear, leftovers are a meal, not a snack. Leftovers are not meant for a midnight snack, not as a nuisance to be finished off so they won't go to waste. They are another meal (tomorrow’s lunch, or even the day after tomorrow’s lunch. If not for you for your partner. If not going to be eaten in two days, freeze it immediately, for a meal another day).

    500g pasta, will make 6 meals. Serve immediately your serves and put the rest in containers for later use.  If you do not eat leftovers, then measure and cook enough for one meal only.  If you cook too much, you will only eat it, and that is not the point.  So 500g pasta, divide by 3 to serve 2 (165g) and only cook that amount.

    Limit of one to two serves of carbohydrates per meal
    When you start this diet, do not avoid carbs altogether because you may become irritable, anxious, grumpy, etc.

    Carbohydrates are pasta, any breads, sweet potatoes, rice, beans, lentils (beans & lentils are protein as well as carbs).
    One serve of carb is about 20 to 25 g carbs.
    Read the label on the loaf of bread to determine how many slices of bread = 25g carbs. Similar for pasta. How many serves per packet.
    We found that the amount of rice for one serve of carb was so small that it was no longer viable to cook two serves of rice, so we abandoned rice (which we used to LOVE).
    And to emphasise, you are limiting the serves of carbs to replace carbs with vegetables, not with more meat/protein.

    The Angelina Jolie diet


    I call this the Angelina Jolie diet, because my husband and I have each lost the equivalent weight of Angelina Jolie. About 50 kilos or 120 lbs.

    This is my blog.

    It (the weight loss) started awfully enough, my husband got sick, had diabetes and had to go on an immediate diet.  I too had diabetes although neither of us were aware of that at the time.  We knew we were overweight, but … well there is no buts.

    This is how we lost the weight, one mouthful at a time. 
    I am not saying it was easy, I am saying that if we can do it, you can too.

    Firstly, it didn’t happen overnight, it happened gradually.  There will be only a few things to remember or do at any time.

    Day one.
    This is day one, record the date, today’s date.  Write it down.

    Next, take a photo – the very best before photo you can possibly have. You don’t want one of those candid photos of you wearing horrid clothes, with a mouth open about to eat something, or some other nasty before photo. Make it a nice before photo in your best favourite clothes.  Do it today.

    Third thing is make an appointment with your doctor. Why you ask. Well I’ll tell you.  I found out about the diabetes accidentally, and I had started the diabetic diet with my husband.  That is restricting carbohydrates (& sugars) and going low fat.

    Now that you have these things done, you have officially started. So what do you do now.

    Your long term aim is to reduce sugars/carbohydrates and fat in your diet, starting today.


    WE HAVE THREE INITIAL RULES ABOUT YOUR FOOD DECISIONS:
    • Start with HALF the bad food (high kilojoule/calories or fat).
    • No seconds, no exceptions.
    • Limit of one to two serves of carbohydrates (about 20g) per meal.


    Stay tuned for more details coming soon.