Stress, food, and some great recipes to try

Stress and food, need I say more? For me they seem to go hand in hand and it is not a good combination for me being I am trying to lose weight. When I am stressed I love to cook and eat all my favorite comfort foods that I remember from growing up, the problem with these foods is that they are full of calories and high in fat.

I love to cook and cooking is a way for me to relieve stress, I just send the girls downstairs and turn up the tunes. Lately though while trying to lose weight cooking has become boring to me, I think it is the one ingredient cooking (Leigh Peele) that is doing it to me. To those who are not into cooking, I think one ingredient cooking while trying to lose weight is a wonderful idea, it is quick and straight forward, but to me it has gotten boring not only to me but to my kids. I try different spices to mix things up and it works great, but I miss some of my favorite dishes as does my kids. I am getting tired of hearing, "Oh, chicken again!" So, the following cookbook a friend let me borrow has given me a great idea, it is called NOW eat THIS! 150 of America's Favorite Comfort Foods All Under 350 Calories by Rocco DiSpirito. It is a great cookbook full of stuff we love to eat. I have tried two recipes, Meat Loaf with Portobello Mushrooms and Grilled Chicken Parmigiano, they both went over well and will be made again. I try to plan my meal plans 2 weeks in advance, so my new goal is to try and make the comfort foods I love a bit healthier.

I just read a great review of this book on Diets in Review.com. I have not tried the recipes that are listed on this site, Rocco’s Brownies and Flash-Fried Finger-Lickin’ Chicken but I will soon along with the Mac n' Cheese recipe he has in there. Until then I will leave you with the Meat Loaf recipe in hopes you will follow the links and try all these tasty recipes and go buy the book for even more. If these recipes are not what you are looking at trying I found some more sample recipe in the Google Books section.


For this recipe I could not find Ian's All-Natural Panko breadcrumbs, so I used other whole wheat ones. I also added 1-2 teaspoons of crushed red pepper flakes in it to give it a bit of a kick, it turned out great and does not add any additional calories.


Meatloaf with Portobello Mushrooms
Serves 4
Per serving: Fat 8.9g, calories 212, protein 21g, carbs 11g, cholesterol 55mg, fiber 2g, sodium 400mg
From Now Eat This!

Ingredients:

4 ounces portobello mushrooms, roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves
1/3 cup egg substitute
1/3 cup reduced-sugar ketchup, such as Heinz
12 ounces 93% lean ground beef
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (try and use fresh, dried just does not taste the same!)
1/2 cup whole-wheat panko breadcrumbs, such as Ian's All-Natural
1/2 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with foil and set it aside.

Place the mushrooms in a food processor, and pulse until they are very finely chopped; scrape them into a large mixing bowl. Add the garlic cloves to the food processor and pulse until they are finely chopped. Add the egg substitute and 1 Tablespoon of the ketchup, and puree until the garlic is smooth. Scrape the garlic mixture into the bowl containing the mushrooms.

Add the beef, parsley, and panko to the bowl. Add the salt and season with pepper to taste. Using your hands, gently mix the ingredients until they are just combined.

On the prepared baking sheet, form the meat mixture into an 8x4x1 1/2 inch loaf. Brush the remaining ketchup over the loaf. Bake until the meatloaf is cooked through, 18-20 minutes.

Allow the meatloaf to rest for 5 minutes before slicing.


Source: DiSpirito, R., (2010). Now eat this!. New York:Ballantine Trade Paperback Original.

Banana Nut Bread

I had some bananas laying around and thought I would give a new recipe a try. Everyone in our house loves banana bread. I found this recipe to be interesting because it is actually called Vegetable-Nut-Bread. I found this in an article on Yahoo! called Sneak in Veggies! 7 Ways to Trick Anyone (Yourself Included) into Eating Greens. It had some great ideas in it. I am as guilty as a lot of people when it comes to eating my veggies. I do it, but do not always like it. For me reading recipes is like reading a feel good book. I love to see what others are putting together. I would consider myself to be a cookbook junkie. This I have my mom to thank for, she had a love for cooking and cookbooks as well. I collect all kinds, but my favorites are the ones that have a story behind the recipe or the type of food. One of my favorites is called Cajun-Creole Cooking by Terry Thompson. It tells the story behind the food, about the people, when and why it's served. This leads me to my second favorite type, the ones from small communities. The older books that are from the area I grew up in contain a lot of food I grew up on, I have very fond memories of this.

This bread was great hit in my house. I hope you try it and let me know what you think! I will post the original recipe after mine for anyone that would like to give that a try as well! I plan on trying it, again, I just used what I had on hand.

Banana Nut Bread

2 cups all-purpose flour (I use half whole wheat, half all-purpose)
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup orange or apple juice or milk
1 egg
1 cup banana (about 2 banana's), mashed with fork
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan butter or spray it with nonstick spray.

In a large bowl, stir together the dry ingredients.

In another bowl whisk together the juice, butter, and egg. Pour into the dry ingredients and stir with a spatula just enough to moisten; do not beat and do not mix until the batter is smooth. Add the bananas and the nuts, then pour the batter into the loaf pan. Bake for about an hour, or until the bread is golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a rack for 15 minutes before removing from the pan. Makes 1 loaf.




Vegetable-and-Nut Bread

For this loaf, I used grated raw sweet potato and chopped walnuts. You could alternatively bake the batter as muffins: Prepare as directed, then divide among 12 greased or paper-lined muffin cups and bake at 400°F for 20 to 30 minutes. Adapted from How to Cook Everything, by Mark Bittman.

2 cups all-purpose flour (I use half whole wheat, half all-purpose)
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup butter, cold and cut into pieces
3/4 cup orange or apple juice or milk
grated zest of an orange or lemon
1 egg
1 cup any raw fruit or vegetable: small berries left whole, anything else peeled and grated or chopped (I used grated sweet potato)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan with butter or spray it with nonstick spray.

In a large bowl, stir together the dry ingredients. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients using a fork, pastry blender or your fingers, until there are no pieces bigger than a small pea. (You can use a food processor for this step, which makes it quite easy, but you should not use a food processor for the remaining steps or the bread will be tough.)

In another bowl whisk together the juice, zest and egg. Pour into the dry ingredients and stir with a spatula just enough to moisten; do not beat and do not mix until the batter is smooth. Fold in the fruit and the nuts, then pour and spoon the batter into the loaf pan. Bake for about an hour, or until the bread is golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a rack for 15 minutes before removing from the pan. Makes 1 loaf.

A Cheap and Easy Stress Reliever - From LOSING IT! With Jillian Michaels

I receive email subscription from LOSING IT! With Jillian Michaels. I found this as I was cleaning out my email and I thought I would share it with everyone. I already keep a food journal, but this is something else I may have to start doing. Right now I am on a break from school, but once school starts up again my days can be very stressful. Even now with both girls home and I am off my schedule, I tend to get stressed easily. When Olivia is in school I like to take time during Alyssa's nap time to meditate and that helps a ton, but I think this would help as well.

She has great tips in her newsletters and think everyone should take a look! I have included the website at the end of the article.



From LOSING IT! With Jillian Michaels
Friday, July 23, 2010

A Cheap and Easy Stress Reliever

Ever had one of those days when you have so much to do that you don't even know where to begin? Or when you have so many thoughts and emotions swimming in your head that you don't know which end is up? I know what that's like! When I'm stressed out or something is bothering me, I sit down and write. Getting my thoughts on paper helps me identify my stressors and come up with solutions. Plus, it just feels good to get it all out!

If you don't do so already, I recommend keeping a journal and writing in it regularly. Writing for just 10 to 15 minutes a day can make a huge difference in your stress level and your mind-set. Many members of my online program use their Fitness Diary for this purpose, but you can also do it the old-fashioned way — with pen and paper.

Need some ideas to get started? Here are some topics you can write about in your journal:

* Your day. Simply writing down a play-by-play of your day can get your thoughts flowing and steer you to other topics.
* Your goals. Writing about the person you want to be and the life you want to live can help you visualize your dreams and come up with a plan for making them real.
* Specific problems or worries. Write about the things that stress you out or events that have upset you in the past. Describe how these things make you feel — and why — and brainstorm a list of actions you can take to counter these problems and feel better.
* Priorities and to-do lists. This is a must for all you multitaskers and responsibility jugglers! When you feel overwhelmed, write down all the things you have to do and prioritize them.
* What you're thankful for. This might sound cheesy, but trust me — it can help you think more positively. Your life will always have room for improvement, of course, but taking time out to acknowledge and appreciate the good things can help you put everything else in perspective.

When you're writing, resist any perfectionist urges. Don't edit yourself, and don't worry about spelling or how your prose sounds. You're not writing for posterity, or for anyone else's sake — you're doing it for you.

Carbs good or bad?

When people are watching what they eat they first thing most people I know do is cut their carbs. They either cut them out completely or cut them down extremely low. Here is an article that I read in one of my husband's magazines that I enjoyed. It is from the April edition of Men's Fitness magazine and it is called Carb Your Enthusiasm: 7 Reasons you shouldn't give up on them by Brynn Manninothem.

Will eating vegetarian help me lose weight?

We eat a lot of chicken, so one way we keep our meals from being so monotonous is by throwing low fat, low calorie, high protein and fiber, vegetarian meals into the weekly dinner menu. From things I have read meat is a good thing and my family loves it. Granted, I tend to only eat red meat once or twice a month, I have to satisfy my burger craving, the rest of the month is chicken, fish, and vegetarian.

I bring this subject up because I have a wonderful, but yet a bit naive friend who tends to buy into stuff without doing much research. She tends to believe the person who is selling her a product is telling her the absolute truth. I on the other hand, thanks to my husband, do not believe what I am being told without doing research on my own. Currently, a few of my friends have bought into how switching to vegetarian is the only way to go in losing weight. I am not saying they are wrong, but I feel they do need to research their food choices a bit more. By going vegetarian they are doing what I am doing, creating a calorie deficit, only in a different way.

I have learned a lot on the Mayo website and I am going to share yet another article I have found.


Question:
Vegetarian diet: Will it help me lose weight?
If I switch to a vegetarian diet, will I lose weight?

Answer:
from Katherine Zeratsky, R.D., L.D. Mayo Clinic nutritionist

Research has shown that, on average, people who follow a vegetarian diet eat fewer calories and less fat than do nonvegetarians. Vegetarians also tend to have lower body weight relative to their height than do nonvegetarians. This makes sense, since a diet that largely consists of fruits and vegetables generally has fewer calories. However, switching to a vegetarian diet doesn't guarantee weight loss.

The basics of achieving and maintaining a healthy weight are the same for everyone: Eat a healthy diet and balance calories eaten with calories burned. Vegetarians — like nonvegetarians — can make poor food choices that contribute to weight gain, such as large portions of high-fat, high-calorie foods or foods with little or no nutritional value.

For this reason, vegetarian diets should be as carefully planned as nonvegetarian diets to make sure they are nutritionally balanced. Choose a vegetarian eating plan that is low in fat and that provides all of the nutrients your body needs. Be sure to include protein-rich foods — especially if you follow a vegetarian diet that limits fish, eggs and dairy products. Not only is protein an essential nutrient, but also it helps you feel full longer — which can curb your urge to snack.

But be cautious about your protein sources. Substituting large quantities of full-fat cheese and peanut butter for meat will add a significant amount of fat and calories to your diet. Limit your portions of these high-fat proteins. Opt for low-fat protein sources, such as dried beans, low-fat cheese, reduced-fat peanut butter and soy products.

Cooking methods and condiments also factor into your calorie intake. Instead of frying, try steaming, boiling, grilling or roasting foods. If you stir-fry, reduce the amount of oil you use. Also, use smaller amounts — or lower fat versions — of sour cream, mayonnaise, cheese and salad dressing in your food preparation.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/vegetarian-diet/AN01580

Is there such thing as a miracle plan to lose weight? I think not.

There are a few woman in my class that are what I call resolutioners. They have set a goal to lose weight, but they are looking for a miracle program. They want to lose weight, but not really work for it. They are trying many things that they have read or watched on tv. It all varies from cutting out beef, pork, & chicken, high fructose corn syrup, or counting their calories, but not succeeding because they feel it is too hard to do all the time. I totally agree, I hate counting my calories and I do not do it well. When it comes to food, I love to cook and eat. I am trying weight watchers again and counting my calories at the same time. We eat a lot of chicken, black beans, soup, vegetables, & fruit. Lets face it, who has ever said, "fruit and vegetables made me fat." No one. By cooking, one can cut down on a lot of the sodium and any other processed ingredients.

I want to share something I found on the Mayo website. It is information that I already knew, but would like to pass on to those who may not.



Question
Weight loss: Better to cut calories or exercise more?
Which is better for weight loss — cutting calories or increasing exercise?

Answer
from Donald Hensrud, M.D., Mayo Clinic preventive medicine specialist

Consuming fewer calories through dietary changes seems to promote weight loss more effectively than does exercise and physical activity. But physical activity is also important in weight control.

The key to weight loss is burning more calories than you consume. Because 3,500 calories equals about 1 pound (0.45 kilogram) of fat, you need to burn 3,500 calories more than you take in to lose 1 pound. So if you cut 500 calories from your typical diet each day, you'd lose about 1 pound a week (500 calories x 7 days = 3,500 calories).

Exercise plus calorie restriction can help give you the weight-loss edge. Exercise can help burn off the excess calories you can't cut through diet alone. Exercise also offers numerous health benefits, including boosting your mood, strengthening your cardiovascular system and reducing your blood pressure.

Exercise can also help in maintaining weight loss. Studies show that people who maintain their weight loss over the long term get regular physical activity. In contrast, people who lose weight by crash dieting or by drastically reducing their calories to 400 to 800 a day are likely to regain weight quickly, often within six months after they stop dieting.

Mayo Clinic preventive medicine specialist
Donald Hensrud, M.D.