Surviving the Salad Bar

I used to feel so virtuous whenever I would go to a restaurant and JUST have the salad bar.  Now that I have been changing my diet up a bit, I realize that walking down the salad bar line was a bit like walking through a field of land mines.  Here are some tips from SparkPeople I have started using to assure me safe passage as I tip-toe through the veggies!


Take the safe path and apply these strategies to avoid salad bar traps:

• Use a smaller plate; limit the number of trips you make.
• Start with the nutrient-rich dark green, leafy vegetables, such as spinach, romaine, and endive.
• Fill up your plate with vegetables like lettuce, cucumbers, peppers, broccoli and tomatoes.
• Power on the protein with legumes, beans, lean meat, turkey, and crabmeat.
• Take only a small taste of the high-fat food items such as pasta salad, potato salad, macaroni salad, and coleslaw.
• Go easy on extras like croutons, chow mein noodles, crackers, nuts, seeds, crumbled bacon, and shredded cheeses.
• Dress your salad for success with 2 tablespoons of a low-calorie or light salad dressing, OR only 1 tablespoon of regular salad dressing. For a new taste twist try a splash of flavored vinegar.
• If the salad bar contains soups, go for a broth-based version over a cream-style selection.
• Allow only a small taste of the whipped topping-jello-fruit combinations.
• For dessert, return to the salad bar for a small plate of fruit topped with a little yogurt or cottage cheese.

Use the following guide to chart your course while maneuvering through your next salad bar excursion:


Salad Bar Guide

Food	Amount	Calories	Fat Grams
Vegetables
Artichoke Hearts	1/4 Cup	20	Trace
Avocado	1/4 Cup	75	8
Bean Sprouts	1/4 Cup	8	Trace
Beets	1/4 Cup	15	0
Bell Pepper	2 Tbsp	3	Trace
Broccoli	1/4 Cup	6	Trace
Carrot, shredded	1/4 Cup	15	Trace
Cauliflower	1/4 Cup	6	Trace
Cucumber	1/4 Cup	4	Trace
Green Peas	2 Tbsp	30	Trace
Lettuce	1 Cup	10	Trace
Mushrooms	1/4 Cup	5	Trace
Olives, ripe	2 Tbsp	30	4
Radishes	2 Tbsp	2	Trace
Spinach	1 Cup	10	Trace
Tomato	1/4 Cup	15	Trace
Fruits
Fruit Cocktail, canned in juice	1/4 Cup	35	0
Mandarin Oranges, in juice	1/4 Cup	25	0
Melon, fresh	1/4 Cup	15	0
Peaches, canned in juice	1/4 Cup	25	0
Pineapple, canned in juice	1/4 Cup	35	0
Raisins	2 Tbsp	60	0
Strawberries, fresh	1/4 Cup	10	0
Beans, Nuts, Seeds
Chickpeas	1/4 Cup	40	< 1
Kidney Beans	1/4 Cup	55	Trace
Sunflower Seeds	1 Tbsp	80	7
Meat, Poultry, Fish, Eggs
Eggs, chopped	2 Tbsp	25	2
Ham, chopped	1 oz	35	1
Shrimp	1 oz	30	< 1
Turkey	1 oz	35	< 1
Tuna, canned in water	1 oz	35	< 1
Cheese, Dairy
Cottage Cheese, creamed	1/4 Cup	60	3
Cottage Cheese, 1% low fat	1/4 Cup	40	< 1
Cheddar Cheese	2 Tbsp	55	5
Mozzarella Cheese	2 Tbsp	40	4
Parmesan Cheese	2 Tbsp	45	3
Others
Chow Mein Noodles	1 Tbsp	15	<1
Croutons	1/4 Cup	27	4
Bacon Bits	1 Tbsp	25	2
Mixed Salads
Cole Slaw	1/4 Cup	45	5
Macaroni Salad	1/4 Cup	100	10
Potato Salad	1/4 Cup	100	10
Tuna Salad	1/4 Cup	190	10
Three Bean Salad	1/4 Cup	60	0
Dressings
Blue Cheese	2 Tbsp	155	15
Italian	2 Tbsp	160	15
French	2 Tbsp	135	15
Italian, low calorie	2 Tbsp	15	0
Lemon Juice	2 Tbsp	8	0
Oil and Vinegar	2 Tbsp	100	8
1000 Island	2 Tbsp	120	10
Vinegar	2 Tbsp	4	0

How to Build a Salad that Satisfies

With all of our veggies becoming ripe at the same time, we are eating a lot more salads.  I found this article on CalorieCount.  Now I am really ready to take on all those vegetables in our garden.

How to Build a Salad that Satisfies
By Brittany Mullins



People often think of a salad as an appetizer, diet food or something that won’t fill them up for longer than an hour. This isn’t always the case. With a little planning you can make a nutritious salad that will satisfy your taste buds and keep you feeling full for hours. You don’t even need a recipe! The key to building a meal-sized salad that won’t break the calorie bank is having about three quarters of the salad be fresh vegetables and the other quarter protein and a healthy fat.

Simply choose your favorite greens as a base and top with veggies, a protein and a healthy fat. Here’s a list of items to help you get started creating hearty, healthy and delicious salads:

Greens:

• Spinach
• Arugula
• Romaine
• Spring mix
• Kale

Vegetables: (It’s best to choose veggies that are in season)

• Tomatoes, fresh or sun-dried
• Cucumbers
• Zucchini or other squash
• Mushrooms
• Yellow, orange, red, or green bell peppers
• Cabbage, sliced
• Carrots
• Beets, roasted or boiled
• Radishes
• Sweet corn
• Sweet potatoes, roasted or steamed
• Peas
• Onion
• Artichoke hearts
• Roasted red peppers
• Hearts of palm

Protein:

• Lean cuts of grilled or baked meat – chicken, turkey pork or beef
• Shrimp, crab meat, scallops or other seafood
• Salmon, tuna or other fish
• Tofu, plain or cooked
• Tempeh, plain or cooked
• Edamame
• Beans - black beans, garbanzo beans, kidney beans
• Hummus
• Crumbled veggie burger
• Hard boiled eggs
• Cottage cheese
• Low-fat cheese

Healthy Fats:

• Avocado
• Nuts (I like almonds, walnuts and pine nuts)
• Sunflower seeds
• Sesame seeds
• Olive oil based dressings
• Flax seed oil or ground flax seeds
• Hemp seeds
• Olive oil (and vinegar)
• Olives

 Other Notes:

• Don’t drench your salad in dressing. If the salad ingredients are fresh and in season they’re often very flavorful on their own.
• Throwing leftovers on salads is the best- leftover grilled and roasted veggies (straight from the fridge) make great salad toppings.
• Complex carbs are a fun addition as well – wheat berries, whole grain cous cous, quinoa or orzo are all great options
• Fruits are also a great addition to salads in the summer time – try adding strawberries, blueberries, pears, and figs.

As for preparing the salad, simply toss the ingredients of your choice into a large bowl (or small bowl for a single salad) and enjoy. You can plan ahead and prep some of the more time consuming items early. For instance you can chop veggies and cook a pot of beans on Sunday evening so weekday lunches or dinners can be thrown together in a flash. Have fun trying out the endless number of salad possibilities!

 

The Green Thing (cute story that makes you think!!)

In the line at the store, the cashier told an older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.

The woman apologized to him and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day."

The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment."

He was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.

But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.

But he was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that old lady is right; we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana . 

In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have  electric machines to d everything for us.

When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.

Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But he's right; we didn't have the green thing back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water.

We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But we didn't have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service.

We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then? 

Yum!! Watermelon for Dessert (with recipes)

I absolutely L-O-V-E watermelon in the summer.  I can't think of a more refreshing treat.

 MmMmMmMmmmmm water melon (sounding a little like Home Simpson!!)

I just read in Hungry Girl's newletter that 4 cups of watermelon is only 200 calories ... yippee!!!!!

The amino acid arginine, abundant in watermelon, might promote weight loss, according to a new study in the Journal of Nutrition. Researchers supplemented the diets of obese mice with arginine over 3 months and found that doing so decreased body fat gains by a whopping 64%. Adding this amino acid to the diet enhanced the oxidation of fat and glucose and increased lean muscle, which burns more calories than fat does. Snack on watermelon in the summer, and eat other arginine sources, such as seafood, nuts, and seeds, year-round.

Here are three watermelon recipes for you:

1.  Watermelon Salad
     1 bag (4oz) arugula with stems removed and roughly torn
     2 cups cubed watermelon
     1 pkg (3oz) feta cheese, crumbled
     2 Tbsp olive oil
        ground black pepper (to taste)

In a large bowl combine watermelon, arugula and feta cheese.  Gently mix and add pepper to taste.

Calories:  146

2.  Watermelon Daiquiri
     3 cups watermelon chunks,  frozen with seeds and rinded removed.
     1/3 cup rum
     2 Tbsp lime juice
     1 Tbsp superfine sugar

Blend frozen watermelon chunks, rum, lime juice an sugar.  Pour into chilled glasses.

Calories:  183

3.  Cherry Tomatoes with Watermelon
     1/2 pint yellow cherry or grape tomatoes
     1/2 pint red cherry or grape tomatoes
     1 small seedless watermelon, red or yellow
     1/2 tsp coriander seeds
     1/4 tsp white or red peppercorns
     kosher salt
     1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
     1 Tbsp slivered fresh mint leaves
     12 long thin breadsticks
     12 slices prosciutto

Slice half of the red and yellow tomatoes in half and place in a large bowl with the remaining whole tomatoes.  Slice the melon in smaller sized cubes (or use a melon baller -- you should have about 4 cups of melon).  Add to bowl with the tomatoes.

Crush the coriander seeds, peppercorns, and kosher salt with a mortar and pestle (or pounded with a mallet, or placed in a small coffee mill) until coarsely ground.  Sprinkle on tomatoes and melon.  Add olive oil and mint and gently toss.  Serve with breadsticks wrapped in prosciutto.

Calories:  253


Recipes from Prevention Magazine online.

Are You A Night Owl?

I have to confess I am writing this blog entry after midnight, so I am guilty of not getting enough sleep.  I found these two studies that show that not getting enough sleep not only slows your metabolism but it makes it harder for you to lose your excess fat.

Here are excerpts from the studies: 

Lack of Sleep Slows Metabolism

A small study published by Dr. Christian Benedict in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that a lack of sleep slows metabolism.  In the study, healthy men were examined after a good night’s sleep compared to a night of continuous wakefulness.  The results showed a reduction in energy expenditure by 5 to 20% in participants as well as elevated levels of ghrelin, a hormone that promotes hunger, and blood sugar after sleep deprivation.  With the study only examining one night of sleep deprivation, it raises the question of how metabolism is affected over time by a lack of sleep. 

Sleep More and Lose More Fat

A study conducted by the University of Chicago and the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that, regardless of their diet and exercise regimen, dieters lost more fat when they got more sleep.  The study placed obese and overweight participants in two groups, one with 5.5 hours of sleep and one which got 8.5 hours of sleep over a 14-day span.  With the same exercise and diet during that time, those with more sleep lost more than 50% of their weight from fat, while the group with 5.5 hours of sleep saw only a 25% fat loss.  Despite consistent evidence, small studies do have not offered definitive or causative indicators as to why this is, so it’s incumbent on Americans to make sleep a priority. 

Summer Strawberry Yogurt Pie

I love summer in Oregon.  One of the biggest reasons is because of all the fresh fruits that are available, especially strawberries.  Since my birthday falls on the second day of summer, my birthday cake was always Strawberry Short Cake.  After eating a fresh strawberry short cake, we all knew that summer was finally here!  I think this recipe for Strawberry Yogurt Pie has been around for a long time, but I have just discovered it.  It is simple to make, and a real treat to eat.  And if you use frozen strawberries, you don’t even have to wait until summer to eat it!!

Summer Strawberry Yogurt Pie

Prep Time:  5 minutes   /   Freezer Time:  3 hours or overnight   /   Servings:  8

2   8oz containers   strawberry flavored yogurt  (see note below)
1   12oz container   frozen whipped topping, thawed  (see note below)
1   cup    fresh or frozen strawberries, finely chopped  (see note below)
1   9-inch   graham cracker crust  (see note below)

1.  Mix yogurt with 3-1/2 cups of the dessert topping until blended.  Sweeten the strawberries, if necessary.  Mix the strawberries in with the yogurt/topping mixture, and then spoon the entire mixture into the crust.

2.  Freeze for at least 3 hours or overnight, if possible, until it is firm.

3.  Remove from freezer and top with remainder of dessert topping.  Store in the freezer.

Notes: 
1.  You can use any flavored yogurt, and then just add the same fresh, frozen or canned fruit to the mixture.  Next time I am going to try plain fat-free Greek yogurt with fresh fruit and juices.  I am thinking fresh peaches!

2.  I used the Fat Free frozen dessert topping, and it worked out just fine.  Therefore, my frozen pie will have less calories than listed for this recipe.

3.  I made my own graham cracker crust, but if time is a problem, a prepared graham cracker crust from the grocery store works great too.

Nutritional Information:  Servings = 8     Serving Size – 1/8^th pie
Calories:  317      Total Fat:  18.1g      Cholesterol:  1mg      Sodium:  221mg
Total Carbs:  36.1g  (Dietary Fiber: 0.8g)      Protein:  3.9g

Pool Progress Update - August 1st

As many of you know, we have an indoor pool and gym.  Our old pool was 25 years old, so we decided that we should replace it,  which we did with a bigger and deeper pool!!!  Russell is now building the surrounding deck.  It will be a two level deck, with a seating bench around the right side.  He is doing a fantastic job as you can see.  Anyway ... it looks like we will be putting on the swim fins by Wednesday ... and taking the plunge!!!