Sometimes I just have to have Junk Food Night with the family. We usually have finger foods and play board games or Rock Band. Since starting our weight loss journey, we haven’t had much freedom (we thought) to have junk food night and not have to stress out about Monday’s weigh in.
Not too long ago, we bought Hit The Spot – 140 Savory, Crispy, Spicy, & Sweet Recipes You’ll Love by Weight Watchers. As always, we’ve intended to use the cookbook, but never got a Round Tuit. But I wanted JUNK FOOD! last night. So I tried the recipe for Ultimate Onion Rings. The verdict? YUM! The kids even loved them.
This Recipe Serves 4.
Ingredients:
- 1/3 Cup all-purpose flour (I used whole wheat)
- 1 cup low-fat buttermilk
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 cup plain dried bread crumbs
- 1/2 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning
- 2 large sweet onions, cut crosswise into 1/2 inch rounds and separated into 32 rings
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 450 F. Spray two large baking sheets with nonstick spray.
- Put the flour in a large zip-close plastic bag. Whisk together the buttermilk, salt, and pepper in a shallow bowl. Combine the bread crumbs and old bay seasoning in a large shallow bowl.
- Add the onion rings, a few at a time, to the flour and shake to coat. Dip the rings, one at a time, in the buttermilk mixture, then coat with the bread crumbs, transferring the rings as they are coated to the prepared baking sheets. Bake until golden and crispy, about 20 minutes.
Cook’s note: In my oven, the onion rings were ready in 15 minutes, not 20.
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We use our cell phones for just about everything these days… talking, texting, planning calendars, games, shopping, and listening to music. And now, with the flood of applications, we can even use our phones to help us lose weight. This is the first in a series of articles sharing the best applications for each smart phone device on the market. This week, we’re going to start with the iPhone apps.
Obviously, if you’re a Weight Watchers member, you’ll want to go ahead and install the Weight Watchers Mobile application. I’ve been using this since it came out and LOVE it!
FREE Trackers
- Lose It! – “Succeed at weight loss with Lose It! Set goals and establish a daily calorie budget that enables you to meet them. Stay on track each day by recording your food and exercise and staying within your budget.“
- Go Meals – “Making healthy food choices is important and can be challenging. And if you have a health condition, such as diabetes, nutritional information can be critical. Now with GoMeals, it’s easy to make smart food decisions, at home or on the go.”
- Calorie Counter by MyNetDiary - “MyNetDiary is the fastest, easiest, and smartest iPhone calorie counter. High-quality over 100,000 foods database with search-as-you-type magic lets you enter foods in seconds. Includes free web site access. You’ve got nothing to lose, but that extra weight.”
- SparkPeople Diet & Food Tracker – “SparkPeople.com, the world’s most popular diet and fitness site, is proud to offer this free application—a mobile extension of our platform—to iPhone users. The SparkPeople Food & Fitness Tracker fully syncs with your online SparkPeople.com account.”
- Daily Burn – “The DailyBurn iPhone App gives you quick and mobile access to the fastest-growing diet and fitness tracking site on the web. Track your weight, exercise, nutrition, and reach your fitness goals with DailyBurn.”
- Meal Diary – “Lose weight fast with Meal Diary! The easiest way to track your food and exercises: one click for type and one click for size is all you need. Your records are automatically uploaded to MyMealDiary.com where you can access them for free. “
- Calorie Counter by FatSecret – “Calorie Counter is the essential app to simply find nutritional info for the food you eat and easily keep track of your meals, exercise and weight.”
Paid Trackers:
- Tap & Track ($3.99) – “The Tap & Track will allow you to keep track on your calorie by calculating your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) and finding the daily calorie needs of your body based on your gender, age, weight and height. The app also considers the type of the job you are into and applies the very well-known Harris Benedict Equation while doing the calculations. The application features can be divided into 4 parts; Food, Exercise, Weight and Reports. You will find the app very easy and pleasant to use.”
- Livestrong.com Calorie Tracker ($2.99) - “The LIVESTRONG.COM Calorie Tracker application is the companion tool to The Daily Plate service, available for $2.99 at the iPhone App Store. The Daily Plate at LIVESTRONG.COM helps you determine a daily calorie target based on your weight and weight goal. Then you can search the extensive database of more than 525,000 foods for nutritional information including fat, sugar, carbohydrates, cholesterol and more.”
FREE Exercise Apps
- Body Fitness FREE – “Body Fitness is a comprehensive exercise journal that provides clear pictures, detailed instructions, clean user interface, all within the palm of your hands. With over 320 exercises, separated into Core, Lower Body, Arms, Chest, Shoulders, Back and even Yoga categories, you’ll be hard pressed to find an exercise that isn’t included. And if it isn’t, email us with your exercise and we’ll be sure to include it within the next update.”
- iMapMyRun – “iMapMyRun uses the built-in GPS technology of your iPhone 3G to enable you to track your runs and gets you closer to achieving your health and fitness goals. Step out your front door, start running, and this app will effortlessly mark out your path along an interactive map and record essential metrics including duration, distance, pace, speed, and elevation. Once you finish your run, save your data and it automatically uploads to MapMyRun.com where you can view your route, run data, and a comprehensive workout history. Plus, the new iMapMyRun gives you the ability to easily share your workout data with friends and family via email and Twitter.”
- Nike Women Training Club – “Train like an athlete with NikeWomen Training Club. Access your personalized training program on your iPhone to get stronger on the go. Get started on Nikewomen.com, simply create your Mini, customize your workout, and invite your friends for a little healthy competition.”
- Virtual Trainer – “The most incredible Fitness application and of course completely free. Create and log your own routines or choose from 120 programs ranging from 6 to 60 minutes and over 250 exercises, more than any other app. Perfect for anyone interested in general fitness, weight loss and muscle development. Suitable for all fitness levels and includes easy instructions with animations. Our simple progress tracker also lets you monitor improvement.”
- Women’s Health Workouts Light – “Women’s Health Workouts has everything you need to sculpt a sleek, toned body – in or out of the gym. The app is packed with professionally-designed workouts and exercises, making it easier than ever to burn fat fast and build your best body ever.”
- Lose The Belly (Weight Loss for Men) – “This app requires a WiFi internet connection. It is an iPhone client for a weight loss videos website portal (http://videos.cosmetic-makeovers.com/losebellymale).”
- Yoga At Home: Learn Beginner Yoga – “This app brings you the best free video tutorials for practicing beginner yoga at home.”
Paid Exercise Apps
- iFitness ($1.99) – “iFitness is a personal trainer for your iPhone. It teaches, encourages, and tracks your progress from start to finish.”
- Go Pedometer ($.99) – “Go Pedometer is a pedometer for your iPhone. It uses an advanced SmartStep™ technology for accurate steps detection and automatic calibration.”
- iStayFit ($9.99) – “iStayFit is a complete solution for tracking your exercises. The main goal of this application is to provide:
a) An easy to use interface with a well designed workflow so that your focus is on the exercise;
b) A fully customizable software that can be geared towards YOUR needs and specific exercise requirements.”
- Gym Goal Light ($1.99) – “GymGoal Lite is a lighter version of GymGoal. It allows for a more compact variation of features and for the options of animations to be stored online (although they can be fully downloaded after which you will not need an Internet connection to access them).”
Other FREE Apps
- Eat This Instead! – “Eat This! is a simple, free app that pops up a heart-healthy alternative to a common unhealthy food each time you open it. Once you’ve seen a new tip, it will be placed in a list for you to easily reference at any time in the future. Also, easily share any of these tips by email or Facebook!”
- Health Tips 1000 – “This application contains a rich collection of 1000+ interesting and useful health tips — concisely written for quick and easy review.”
- Restaurant Nutrition – Review: “Wow. In a time where many of us are looking to trim the waistline, this app is nothing short of excellent. Loaded with information just about everything at the big fast food chains and even a couple of the family restaurants, I will definitely be taking this app the next time I eat out.”
Do you have a great iPhone application that helps you with your weight loss goals? Please share it in the comments!
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I just got my new hot-off-the-presses Dottie’s Newsletter from Dottie’s Weight Loss Zone. She shared a fantastic looking recipe for a Breakfast Bake from the Taste of Home Comfort Food Diet Cookbook. Let me know how you like it… and if you aren’t already subscribed, Dottie has lots of great info in her newsletter and on the website. **Dottie’s newsletter says that there are 4 1/2 points per serving in this, but my etools calculator shows 4. Choose whichever you prefer.**
This recipe serves 6:
Breakfast Bake
♦ 1-1/2 cups egg substitute
♦ 1/2 cup fat-free milk
♦ 3-1/2 cups frozen O’Brien hash brown potatoes, thawed
♦ 1-1/3 cups shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese, divided
♦ 1/2 cup chopped sweet onion
♦ 4 tablespoons crumbled cooked bacon, divided
♦ 1/2 teaspoon salt
♦ 1/2 teaspoon salt-free seasoning blend
♦ 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
♦ 4 green onions, chopped
In a large bowl, whisk together the egg substitute and milk. Stir in the hash-browns, 1 cup cheese, onion, 2 tbsp bacon, salt, seasoning blend and the chili powder. Pour into an 8″ square baking dish coated with cooking spray.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Sprinkle the remaining cheese and bacon on top and bake 3-5 minutes longer or until the cheese is melted. After removing from the oven, sprinkle with green onions and let stand for 5 minutes.
Per serving: 219 Calories, 17g Protein, 6g Fat, 4g Saturated Fat, 25g Carbohydrate, 682mg Sodium, 22mg Cholesterol, 3g Dietary Fiber
—Howard Rogers, El Paso —Taste of Home Comfort Food Diet Cookbook
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For every type of dance out there, I found a great number of articles, DVDs, classes, and YouTube instructional videos to help us learn to have a lot of fun while getting those activity points in. The health benefits, as always, will be directly related to how much energy and effort you put into it. But what’s more fun than dancing?
Here are a couple of articles that outline the basic health benefits of dancing. They’re full of good information and hopefully some great ideas to get you started moving and grooving.
The thing about dancing is that there are so many different types, so that everyone can find something they like. A couple of my favorites are ZUMBA (dance exercise classes set to a hot Latin beat) and belly dance.
ZUMBA - There are a half dozen of my old high school friends who attend Zumba classes together, and they are ALL raving about how much fun they have every time they go. Maybe I’ll trade in my gym membership for a Zumba class!
“The Zumba® program fuses hypnotic Latin rhythms and easy-to-follow moves to create a one-of-a-kind fitness program that will blow you away. Our goal is simple: We want you to want to work out, to love working out, to get hooked. Zumba® Fanatics achieve long-term benefits while experiencing an absolute blast in one exciting hour of calorie-burning, body-energizing, awe-inspiring movements meant to engage and captivate for life!”
BELLY DANCE – Follow this link to find belly dance lessons in your area.
Belly Dance has long been touted as an excellent form of exercise for over weight people. The dance moves are excellent for toning and strengthening of your core muscles and improvement of posture. It’s low impact, so it’s friendly for people who need to move more but have physical problems that prevent them from doing other forms of exercise.
No size or age limits!
Here are a few articles about belly dance and health:
Want to know how many other types of dance there are out there, waiting for you to jump in and have some fun and burn those calories? Here is a list of a few other options for you:
- Salsa
- Waltz
- FoxTrot
- Swing Dance
- Rhumba
- Ballroom
- Line dance
- Square dance
- Hip hop dance
- Tango
What are your favorites?
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I absolutely LOVE Allrecipes.com. They have been my go-to source for recipes for 5 or 6 years now. Here’s another low Points Value recipe that I think you’re going to love as much as I do. 2 Point Chicken & Corn Chili!
This recipe serves 6.
Ingredients
- 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
- 1 (16 ounce) jar salsa
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- salt to taste
- ground black pepper to taste
- 1 (11 ounce) can Mexican-style corn
- 1 (15 ounce) can pinto beans
Directions
- Place chicken and salsa in the slow cooker the night before you want to eat this chili. Season with garlic powder, cumin, chili powder, salt, and pepper. Cook 6 to 8 hours on Low setting.
- About 3 to 4 hours before you want to eat, shred the chicken with 2 forks. Return the meat to the pot, and continue cooking.
- Stir the corn and the pinto beans into the slow cooker. Simmer until ready to serve.
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Yesterday afternoon was parent teacher conference time for me. At the first school, I ran into an acquaintance who has lost a LOT of weight and mentioned that Mark and I were going to Weight Watchers. She was thrilled and said that the weight she lost was through Weight Watchers. Her whole face lit up and she started sharing her tips with me. And boy oh boy does she have a bunch of tips!
In just a few minutes, here’s what I learned from the fabulous Marilyn:
- Thomas’ Bagel Thins – It’s a full size (round) bagel, but it’s thinner. And it’s ONE POINT! Marilyn says “They give you the satisfaction of a whole bagel without all the extra bread.”
- Walden Farms – ZERO CALORIE condiment line – What do they have?
- Salad dressing (18 — EIGHTEEN flavors) Including:
- Thousand Island
- Ranch
- Blue Cheese
- Caesar
- Syrups
- Chocolate
- Strawberry
- Blueberry
- Pancake
- Peanut butter spread
- Mayo
- Fruit Spread (SEVEN flavors)
- BBQ Sauce (FOUR flavors)
- Fruit Dip
- Chocolate
- Caramel
- Marshmallow
- Veggie Dip (FOUR flavors)
- Pasta Sauces (THREE flavors)
- Ketchup
- Seafood Sauce
- MEASURE EVERYTHING! ~ Quite often, we take the standard points calculation for a piece of fruit or a vegetable or a serving of something, when we should be measuring everything precisely. Marilyn’s Example:
- A small mango is 2 points. A cup of mango is 1.5 points. However, when cut and measured, a small mango is less food than 1 cup, so it’s likely that you’d be counting 2 points when it should only be 1.
I’m really looking forward to gathering more tips to add share with you all … and to institute in my own life. 
Thanks Marilyn and I hope we get to chat again soon!
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Sketchers Shape-Ups
I promised to review these shoes for everyone when I purchased them. So here you go:
For about 10 years now, I’ve had an excellent excuse for not getting up on my feet and getting more exercise. I crushed them in a car accident that I also broke both my legs in. Walking, running, and just long periods of standing on my feet sucks.
I’ve spent a ton of money on shoes over the years. Tennis shoes, dress shoes, casual flats. They all hurt. There’s really nothing to be done about it. From Wal-Mart to 9 West, I’ve bought and hated so many pairs of shoes that it’s kind of depressing.
About a month ago, I was looking for new sneakers on Amazon.com and ran across these Sketchers Shape-Ups (affiliate link) and read all 38 reviews. Review after review made mention of people with back, leg, and feet problems who LOVED being on their feet in these shoes. Even though I cringed when I saw the price, I ordered the shoes anyway.
It is hands-down the BEST money I have ever ever ever spent on shoes. I feel like I could run in these shoes… something I haven’t felt in 10 years. Walking in them is like walking in a cloud. I go up and down stairs with ease… walk far longer than I ever have without pain. I may never buy another brand of walking shoes again.
NOTE: The only bad reviews I’ve found of these shoes are by avid runners. They are not marathoning shoes. They are walking/workout shoes.
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I receive a great magazine titled Today’s Diet & Nutrition. They recently went “digital only”, but my most recent paper issue had this recipe for Moroccan Mushroom Caps. I’ve modified the original recipe from a 4 serving to a 1 serving recipe. I hope you love it!
Ingredients:
 |
1 portobello mushroom cap, stemmed |
|
1 1/2 tsp vegetable oil |
|
1/4 tsp ground cumin |
|
1/8 tsp paprika |
|
1/8 tsp ground turmeric |
|
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon |
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4 medium grape tomatoes |
|
1/8 cup(s) cooked garbanzo beans |
|
1/8 cup(s) golden raisins |
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1/8 tsp table salt |
|
1/2 cup(s) cooked brown rice |
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- With a spoon, remove the spores from the mushroom cap and wipe it clean with a damp paper towel or cloth
- In a medium skillet, heat 3/4 tsp of oil over medium heat and saute the mushroom cap for 2 minutes on each side.
- Remove mushroom from the skillet and set aside.
- In the skillet, add the remaining oil and heat on medium. Add the cumin, paprika, and turmeric and saute for one minute.
- Add the cinnamon, diced tomato, chickpeas, and raisins and saute for 2 minutes more.
- Add the salt and rice and stir to combine.
- Place the mushroom cap in a shallow baking dish.
- Fill the cavity with the mixture and bake for 10 minutes or until heated through.
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I found a fabulous recipe for Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup just sitting in my inbox this morning and had to share it with all of you. As always, I put all of the ingredients in my eTools Recipe Builder and was thrilled to find that it was only 5 points per serving. I left the green diamonds in to show how many of the ingredients are filling foods.
This recipe serves 8
Ingredients
|
|
1 pound(s) cooked chicken breast, Shredded |
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15 oz peeled whole tomatoes, mashed |
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10 oz canned enchilada sauce |
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1 medium onion(s), chopped |
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4 oz diced green chiles |
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2 clove(s) garlic clove(s), minced |
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2 cup(s) water |
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14 1/2 oz fat-free chicken broth |
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1 tsp ground cumin |
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1 tsp chili powder |
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1 tsp table salt |
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1/4 tsp black pepper |
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1 bay leaf |
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10 oz frozen corn kernels |
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1 Tbsp cilantro |
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7 medium corn tortilla(s) |
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1 Tbsp olive oil |
Instructions
Place chicken, tomatoes, enchilada sauce, onion, green chiles, and garlic into a slow cooker. Pour in water and chicken broth, and season with cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, and bay leaf. Stir in corn and cilantro. Cover, and cook on Low setting for 6 to 8 hours or on High setting for 3 to 4 hours.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Lightly brush both sides of tortillas with oil. Cut tortillas into strips, then spread on a baking sheet.
Bake in preheated oven until crisp, about 10 to 15 minutes. To serve, sprinkle tortilla strips over soup.
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