This Mama Cooks! On a Diet

Healthy Valentine's Day dessert - Very Vanilla Fruit Salad

Just when you thought the eating holidays were over with the end of football season, here comes Valentine’s Day! It’s a challenging holiday because it’s all about sharing sweets with your family or significant other. Unfortunately, all you end up sharing are expanding waistlines and having to deal with sugared out kids.

Instead, try this healthy alternative from the folks at McCormick, the spice folks. Only 1 Weight Watchers POINT for half a cup.

Very Vanilla Fruit Salad
Makes 10 (1/2-cup) servings.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 cups strawberries, halved
• 1 cup blueberries
• 1 cup fresh or canned pineapple chunks
• 1 cup cantaloupe chunks
• 2 kiwis, peeled and sliced
• 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
• 2 teaspoons McCormick® Pure Vanilla Extract

Directions:

1. Mix fruit, confectioners' sugar and vanilla in large bowl. 
2. Refrigerate 1 hour or until ready to serve.

Tips:

• You can use McCormick Raspberry Extract in place of the vanilla to make a raspberry salad.
• If certain types of fresh fruit aren’t available in your area, feel free to make substitutions or to use frozen fruit.
• You can use Truvia or Purvia instead of confectioner’s sugar. Since each packet equals 2 teaspoons of sugar, you’ll need 6 packets to have the equivalent of 1/4 of regular sugar. You may want to use less depending on your sweet tooth.

Nutritional information per serving:

• Calories: 56
• Fat: 0 g
• Carbohydrates: 13 g
• Cholesterol: 0 mg
• Sodium: 4 mg
• Fiber: 2 g
• Protein: 1 g

Weight Watchers POINTS = 1

You may want to serve this in addition to another Valentine’s Day dessert I featured a couple of years ago - Coeur à la Crème – which is 4 POINTS per serving.

Get 15% off Red Cross Mile High Chapter child and infant CPR and babysitter training classes

We all know that it’s important to be prepared in case of an emergency particularly when it comes for caring for our kids. Yet most of us haven’t taken an infant or child CPR certification course, thinking that it would take too much time or be too expensive.

Well, if you’re living in the Denver area, the Mile High Chapter of the Red Cross is making it easy by offering once-a-month Infant & Child CPR Certification courses for $50. Use the special coupon code – BLOGGER – to get a 15% discount off the course.

The classes take place in Westminster or Denver either on weekday evenings or weekend mornings. The course is one session of five hours and the price includes course materials.

In each Infant & Child CPR Certification course, you’ll learn how to:

• Identify how to respond to emergency situations by checking to see if it is safe to intervene.
• Identify the three general steps in the emergency action plan.
• Identify how to use your community’s emergency medical services (EMS) system effectively.
• Demonstrate how to check a conscious or an unconscious infant or child.
• Recognize the signals of a breathing or cardiac emergency.
• Learn how to care for an infant or child who has stopped breathing.
• Recognize the signs and symptoms of a breathing emergency.
• Identify how to reduce the risk of injury to children and infants.
• Care for an infant or child who is choking.
• Perform CPR to an infant or child who shows no signs of circulation.

This would make a great class to take together with your significant other or your child’s grandparent or adult care giver.

A review of the Eat-Clean Diet Recharged by Tosca Reno

I’ve enjoyed dipping into The Eat-Clean Diet Recharged: Lasting Fat Loss That's Better than Ever over the past couple of weeks. Tosca’s philosophy is that we need to eat the way nature intended – lean protein, complex carbs, and healthy fats – no processed foods and lots of water. She believes that when you Eat Clean, you body functions the way it’s supposed to and you will feel and look better and lose weight.

Many of us fall off the eating healthy or dieting wagon because of cravings. By following the Eat Clean way of life (it’s NOT a diet) your blood-sugar levels remain stable and you’ll feel more satisfied. Best of all, by Eating Clean and paying attention to portion control (and allowing yourself to indulge once in awhile) you will lose weight and feel full of energy.

Get recharged!

The Eat-Clean Diet Recharged has 17 chapters, which may seem overwhelming at first. However, it’s full of colorful pictures, summaries, Tosca’s personal story, and entertaining testimonials from people who lost weight and felt better by Eating Clean. It’s a fast and enjoyable read.

The beginning of the book deals with the Eat Clean way of eating principles where Tosca lays out the plan of eating six meals a day, combining lean protein with complex carbs at each meal, and drinking lots of water! She believes that nutrition plays a huge part (80%) of how we look or feel, with only 10% due to genetics and 10% to training (exercising).

She then shows you how you can to reclaim your life, become the leaner version of you, and get out of your comfort zone to make healthy changes. Then The Eat-Clean Diet Recharged turns to the practical – how to shop clean and eat clean on the road or in party situations. 

Tosca then tackles exercise and body issues – cellulite, loose skin and what she calls saggy bits. (Yes, she does discuss her breast implants, which I was glad to see.) There are also chapters on longevity and superfoods. I especially liked the superfood chapter since she covers things I’m already cooking with like flaxseed, mushrooms, yogurt, game meats, and quinoa. I’ve already started Eating Clean and didn’t know it.

Healthy Super Bowl recipe roundup

A few more days to the big game! Have you decided what you want to serve yet? Here are some healthy recipes to help you out whether you’re throwing a Super Bowl party or bringing a dish to a potluck.

Here at This Mama Cooks!:

• Beefy Squash and Zucchini Stew
• Pork, Squash, Butternut and Zucchini Stew
• Healthy Super Bowl dip recipe from Weight Watchers - Black Bean-Tomatillo Dip
• Healthy Super Bowl party recipes: crock pot pulled meat sandwiches
• Super Bowl party - Weight Watchers clam chowder soup
• Taco Soup Revisted
• Fajita Chicken (prepare ahead and freeze or make in your crock pot!)

At Mom Central Food:

• Healthy Super Bowl snacks your family will love

Healthy snacks from EatBetterAmerica.com:

• "Healthified" Seven Layer Taco Dip
• "Healthified" Hummus-Style White Bean Dip
• Spinach-Artichoke Dip
• Spiced Cereal Trail Mix
• Almost Guacamole (this one is made from asparagus spears and has zero fat!)

From Prevention.com:

• Healthy, low cost slow cooker meals (including desserts!)
• Easy Vegetarian Chili
• Buffalo Chicken Bites
• All Super Bowl recipes in Prevention’s recipe finder

Rooting for New Orleans? You may want to try out some of Holly Clegg’s southern, diabetic friendly recipes:

• Black-Eyed Pea Dip
• Chicken and Sausage Couscous Jambalaya – While Holly makes hers with couscous, you could try quinoa or brown rice.
• Shrimp Corn and Sweet Potato Soup

From Diets in Review:

• Biggest Loser’s Superbowl Recipes by Curtis Stone

Score a nutritional touch down with these whole grain breakfast cookies

In my last enewsletter on How to plan a healthy Super Bowl party, I recommended that you have good breakfast so you won't be tempted to over indulge that afternoon during the big game. (Don’t get my enewsletter? Sign up here.)

One idea is making a “breakfast cookie” using a variety of whole grains including salba. (See my post Healthy Super Bowl snacking with Salba Smart to learn all about salba and Salba Smart).

Make these the night before, so you have something quick and easy to grab while you’re preparing food and getting ready for your Super Bowl party. Since these pack a lot of Weight Watchers POINTS, serve with a cup of no fat plain yogurt and some fruit or berries for a filling and healthy breakfast. These would also be great snack to take on a hike or camping as a substitute for expensive energy bars.

Healthy Super Bowl dishes: Beefy Squash and Zucchini Stew

If you’re looking for a healthy Super Bowl party dish that uses ground beef, you may be interested in making this dish since it feeds 16 and is only four Weight Watchers POINTS per serving.

It’s based on a recipe from Taste of Home: The Ultimate Ground Beef Cookbook, which is now out of print. It’s a terrific cookbook for anyone who has a freezer full of ground meat. Try your library or used book store to find a copy.

I made this last week for dinner. The kids loved it so much they asked for seconds. If you’re making it for supper, either halve it or freeze the leftovers for later.

Beefy Squash and Zucchini Stew 
Serves 16

Prep time: 15 min. Cook time: 20 min.

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds lean ground beef, buffalo or venison
• 3 medium onions, chopped
• 2 medium green peppers, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 16 oz bags of frozen butternut squash
• 3 small potatoes, diced
• 2 cans (8 ounces each) tomato sauce
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 3 14.5 oz cans of diced tomatoes (with juice)
• 1 16 oz bag of frozen yellow squash and zucchini
• 1 Tbsp of low sodium salt seasoning salt*
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded reduced-fat Swiss cheese
• 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

Directions:

• In a large stew pot, cook ground beef, onions, green peppers and garlic until meat is no longer pink. Drain.
• Add potatoes, tomato sauce and Worcestershire sauce. Bring to a boil.
• Reduce heat and cover and cook until potatoes are tender.
• Add the tomatoes, butternut squash, yellow squash and zucchini, and seasonings. Heat through.
• Serve in bowls and sprinkle with the cheeses before serving.

Nutritional information:

• Calories 234
• Calories from Fat 61
• Total Fat 6.8g 10%
• Saturated Fat 3.2g 16%
• Cholesterol 58mg 19%
• Sodium 723mg 30%
• Total Carbohydrates 20.7g 7%
• Dietary Fiber 4.2g 17%
• Sugars 6.9g
• Protein 23.8g
• Vitamin A 139%
• Vitamin C 81%
• Calcium 16%
• Iron 18%

Nutrition Grade A from CalorieCount 

Weight Watchers POINTS = 4

*I used NutraSalt’s Robusto Adobo. Their Bold Chipotle would go well in this dish, too.

______________________

Disclosure: I was sent samples of NutraSalt’s products to try out and cook with.

All links to Amazon.com are affiliate links. A commission may be earned from a referred sale to their website.

Mobile phone apps for weight loss and healthy eating

Now that we have smart phones at our disposal, there’s not excuse that you left your calorie counter or Weight Watchers POINTS booklet at home. With these mobile apps for iPhones and Blackberries, you now have the tools to eat healthier when you’re away from home, stay on your diet plan, and even exercise.

Healthy iPhone apps

Weight Watchers - This FREE iPhone app lets users stay on track with diet and fitness by leveraging official Weight Watchers insights and tools. Everyone, whether or not they're a Weight Watchers member, can view recipes, articles and success stories, create shopping lists and use Weight Watchers' cheat sheets and meeting finder. Additionally, Weight Watchers Online and eTools subscribers can unlock additional tools that help them track their plan progress on the go.

Remember the Milk
iPhone app users who want to get organized -- and stay that way -- in 2010 will love this app. Free with a Remember The Milk account, this app lets users sort to-dos, quickly access completed tasks, store notes and auto-link e-mail addresses and phone numbers for one-touch emailing and calling. The app also uses geolocation to sort nearby to-dos, and allows users to store common to-dos in an easily accessible list.

Run Keeper - Stay motivated to keep moving! This free app uses the iPhone's GPS system to track how far and how long you've walked, biked, hiked or ran. Information including pace and duration are stored so users can track progress over time. Notable features include Activity Training, Personal Dashboard, Maps Integration, Activity Sharing, Music and a Manual Input feature for treadmill runs.

Healthy crockpot dishes: Pork, Squash, Butternut and Zucchini Stew

With the Pro Bowl and Super Bowl games coming up, preparing a healthy slow cooker dish ahead of time is a great way to keep your family and party guests fed while you watch the game.

This dish is based on Pork and Butternut Squash Stew found in the February 2010 issue of Ladies Home Journal. The original recipe used frozen corn and lima beans. I’ve substituted a bag of frozen yellow (summer) squash and zucchini. I also used frozen butternut squash, since it’s already peeled and cut.

I made this last weekend during the playoffs. The pork was tender and the stew was full of flavor. It was a hit both with the adults and the kids, and will be something I’ll make again when pork shoulder is on sale or I have an abundance of squash and zucchini.

Pork, Squash, Butternut and Zucchini Stew

Serves 8

Prep: 20 min Start to finish: 4-8 hours

Ingredients:

• 1/3  cup all-purpose flour
• 1  tbsp paprika
• 1  tsp ground coriander
• 1  tsp kosher salt
• 1-1/2  lbs pork shoulder, trimmed of excess fat
• 1  tbsp olive oil
• 1  14.5-oz can chopped tomatoes
• 1-1/2  cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
• 1  medium yellow onion, cut into large dice
• 1  bay leaf
• 2  tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 16-oz bag of frozen butternut squash
• 1  16-oz bag of frozen yellow (summer) squash and zucchini

Directions:

1. Stir together flour, paprika, coriander and salt in a large bowl.
2. Cut pork into 1-inch cubes (make sure you trim as much fat off as possible)
3. Toss pork in flour mixture with your hands to coat the meat.
4. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet, Dutch oven or pot over medium-high heat. Add pork (reserving any excess flour mixture), reduce heat to medium and cook until browned on all sides, about 10 min.
5. Transfer to a your slow cooker.
6. Add remaining flour mixture to slow cooker along with 1 cup water, tomatoes with juice, broth, onion, bay leaf and vinegar.
7. Cook 6 to 7 hours on low or 3 hours on high for slow cooker.
8. Adjust heat to low if using high heat on the slow cooker and add the frozen vegetables.
9. Continue to cook until vegetables are cooked through, about 30 minutes.

Final day to win a copy of the Mayo Clinic Diet book and journal

As part of my Mayo Clinic Diet book and journal giveaway, I’m offering another excerpt from the book on learning how to identify potential roadblocks and develop strategies to help you with your weight-loss program.

The giveaway ends TONIGHT! Go here to enter.

Behavior obstacle - I'm a late-night snacker.

Avoid eating late at night because loading up on calories right before bed only intensifies the challenge of not overeating. There's less chance for you to be active and burn off those calories until next morning. It's better to eat during the day so that your body has plenty of time to digest the food before you go to bed.

Strategies - Here are suggestions if you often find yourself battling the late-night munchies:

• Make sure you eat three good meals during the day, including a good breakfast. This will help reduce the urge to snack late at night, simply because you won't be so hungry.
• Don't keep snack foods around the house that may tempt you. If you get late-night munchies, eat fruits, vegetables or other healthy snacks.
• Find something else to keep you busy in the hours before bedtime, such as listening to music or exercising. Your snacking may be more of a mindless habit than actual hunger.

Behavior obstacle - When I lapse from my eating plan, it's hard for me to get back on track.

Lapses happen. Many times a minor slip -- a busy day when you couldn't find the time to eat right or get exercise -- leads to more slips. That doesn't mean, though, that you've failed and all is lost. Instead of beating yourself up over a lapse, accept that you're going to experience bumps along the way and put the incident behind you. Everyone has lapses. Think back to the initial steps you took when you first began your weight program and put them to use again to help you get back on track. 

Strategies - Here are suggestions to prevent a lapse from turning into a full-blown collapse:

• Convince yourself that lapses happen and that every day is a fresh opportunity to start over again.
• Guilt from the initial lapse often leads to more lapses. Being prepared for them and having a plan to deal with them is important to your success.
• Keep your response simple. Focus on the things that you know you can do and stick with them. Gradually add more healthy changes until you're back on track.
• Open up an old food record and follow it. Use those meals like a menu to help get you back to a healthy eating routine.

____________________________

Full disclosure: I received a book from FSB Associates to do the review and giveaway.

All links to Amazon.com are affiliate links. A commission may be earned from a referred sale to their website.

The above is an excerpt from the book The Mayo Clinic Diet: Eat well. Enjoy life. Lose weight., by the weight-loss experts at Mayo Clinic and Donald Hensrud, M.D., M.P.H. The above excerpt is a digitally scanned reproduction of text from print. Although this excerpt has been proofread, occasional errors may appear due to the scanning process. Please refer to the finished book for accuracy.

Reprinted from The Mayo Clinic Diet, © 2010 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. Published by Good Books (www.GoodBooks.com). Used by permission. All rights reserved.

More strategies from the Mayo Clinic Diet

As part of my Mayo Clinic Diet book and journal giveaway, I’m offering another excerpt from the book:

Learning to identify potential roadblocks and confront personal temptations is an important part of being successful in losing weight. If you find a strategy that helps you, include it with your weight-loss program.

Behaviors obstacle - I have a hard time not eating when I'm watching television, a movie or a live sporting event.

There's nothing inherently wrong with eating while watching a show, film or live event, but when you're distracted, you tend to eat mindlessly -- which typically translates into eating more than you intended to eat. If you're unable to break this habit, at least make sure you're munching on something low in calories.

Strategies - Here are suggestions you might consider:

• If you're at a theater or stadium, order a small bag of popcorn with no butter and work on it slowly.

• Eat something healthy before you leave home so that you're not extremely hungry when you arrive.

• Drink water or a calorie-free beverage instead of having a snack.

• Try to reduce the amount of time that you spend watching television each day. Studies show that TV watching contributes to increased weight.

Behavior obstacle - When I go to parties, I can't resist all of the snacks and hors d'oeuvres.

In most social situations where food is involved, the key is to treat yourself to a few of your favorite hors d'oeuvres, in moderation. If you try to resist the food, your craving will only get stronger and harder to control. By following a few simple strategies, you can enjoy yourself without overeating. 

Strategies - Next time you step up to the hors d'oeuvre table, try these strategies:

• Make only one trip and be selective. Decide ahead of time how much you'll eat and choose foods you really want.
• Treat yourself to one or two samples of high-calorie or fatty foods. Fill up on vegetables and fruits, if you can.
• Take only small portions. A taste may be all that you need to satisfy your craving.
• Nibble. If you eat slowly, you'll likely eat less -- but don't nibble all night long.
• Don't stand next to or sit near the hors d'oeuvre table. As the old saying goes, "Out of sight, out of mind."
• Eat something healthy before you arrive. If you arrive hungry, you'll be more inclined to overeat.

____________________________

Full disclosure: I received a book from FSB Associates to do the review and giveaway.

All links to Amazon.com are affiliate links. A commission may be earned from a referred sale to their website.

The above is an excerpt from the book The Mayo Clinic Diet: Eat well. Enjoy life. Lose weight., by the weight-loss experts at Mayo Clinic and Donald Hensrud, M.D., M.P.H. The above excerpt is a digitally scanned reproduction of text from print. Although this excerpt has been proofread, occasional errors may appear due to the scanning process. Please refer to the finished book for accuracy.

Reprinted from The Mayo Clinic Diet, © 2010 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. Published by Good Books (www.GoodBooks.com). Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The Mayo Clinic Diet book and journal giveaway

The Mayo Clinic Diet: Eat Well, Enjoy Life, Lose Weight by the weight-loss experts at the Mayo Clinic and Donald Hensrud, M.D., M.P.H. is a no nonsense approach to healthy eating and weight loss. It’s the only diet developed at the Mayo Clinic and uses a common sense approach to losing weight and keeping it off.

The book is packed with meal plans, tips for overcoming challenges, advice on how to start an exercise plan, and practical suggestions on how to make lifestyle changes. This beautifully laid out and easy to read book comes with a companion book The Mayo Clinic Diet Journal. Each day you record your goals, what you ate, the day’s activities, a way to track what you ate from the food pyramid and a motivation tip.

Best of all, I’m giving away a copy of both! (See below for giveaway details.)

Action Guide to Weight-Loss Barriers

Long term success with a weight program sometimes follows a bumpy, uneven path. Many obstacles can keep you from achieving a more healthy weight. Learning to identify potential roadblocks and confront personal temptations is an important part of being successful in losing weight. To make it past the rough spots, it's important to have strategies ready to guide your response as problems arise.

This easy-to-use action guide identifies common weight-loss barriers and practical strategies for overcoming them. If you find a strategy that helps you, include it with your weight-loss program.

The barriers are grouped into three categories: nutrition, physical activity and behaviors. To lose weight -- and to maintain that weight loss -- it's important that you address all of these components.

Behaviors obstacle - I've tried to lose weight before, but it didn't work. Now, I don't have confidence that it'll work this time.

For many people, losing weight will be one of life's most difficult challenges. Don't be discouraged if you've tried losing weight in the past and you weren't able to -- or you lost weight but gained it all back. Many people experiment with several different weight-loss plans before they find an approach that works. 

Strategies - following these tips may help you succeed this time around:

• Think of losing weight as a positive experience, not a negative one. Approaching weight loss with a positive attitude will help you succeed.
• Set realistic expectations for yourself. Focus on behavioral changes and don't focus too much on weight changes.
• Use problem-solving techniques. Write down the obstacles that you experienced in previous attempts to lose weight, and come up with strategies for dealing with those obstacles.
• Make small, not drastic, changes to your lifestyle. Adjustments that are too intense or vigorous can make you uncomfortable and cause you to give up.
• Accept the fact that you'll have setbacks. Believe in yourself. Instead of giving up entirely, simply start fresh the next day.

Behaviors obstacle - I eat when I'm stressed, depressed or bored. 

Sometimes your most intense longings for food happen right when you're at your weakest emotional points. Many people turn to food for comfort -- be it consciously or unconsciously -- when they're dealing with difficult problems or looking for something to distract their minds. 

Strategies - To help keep food out of your mood, try these suggestions: 

• Try to distract yourself from eating by calling a friend, running an errand or going for a walk. When you can focus your mind on something else, the food cravings quickly go away.
• Don't keep comfort foods in the house. If you turn to high-fat, high-calorie foods whenever you're upset or depressed, make an effort to get rid of them.
• Identify your mood. Often the urge to eat can be attributed to a specific mood and not to physical hunger.
• When you feel down, make an attempt to replace negative thoughts with positive ones. For example, write down all of the positive qualities about yourself and what you plan to achieve by losing weight.

To promote my giveaway I’ll be sharing excerpts from the book throughout the week as well. Continue reading to learn how to enter the giveaway:

Congrats to Carol E. who won the book and journal. The contest is now closed.

I went shopping for my back pain and here's what I got

When we returned home from vacation (see my post Damn, my back hurts: a bulging disc, sciatica and more challenges in 2010) I went to Costco and bought a memory foam mattress topper. It’s something you MUST get even if you don’t have a bulging disc or sciatica problems. My kids now it call my “squishy bed.” All I can say is that someone should get a Nobel Prize for inventing memory foam. Pure luxury!

I also purchased a couple of yoga videos for people with back pain, sciatica and bulging discs. My favorite is Yoga Therapy for Back Pain. (You’ll need to buy a yoga strap and have bolsters and blankets nearby.) The DVD includes 13 routines to help restore proper function to the entire back. It features five 15 minute and five 30 minute individual routines for the upper back, sciatic pain, bulging disk and sacroiliac joint pain. There’s also a general back maintenance routine in three time options (17, 32, and 44 minutes), a 20 minute chair yoga session, and even a short guided meditation for relaxation.

I also got Viniyoga Therapy for the Low Back, Sacrum & Hips with Gary Kraftsow. It’s not a bad video, but most of it features boring explanations of breathing technique and back problems. I would have liked to see more variety in session length and type.

I've been reading a lot of books on sciatica. One I recommend is The Sciatica Relief Handbook. While it’s over 13 years old, it has some very good information. It’s also out of print, but you can pick it up on Amazon for a penny plus shipping.

I’m using an exercise ball instead of a desk chair. Luckily, I already owned one and could try it out. It helps somewhat.