Curry Chicken Salad

(makes 6 servings)

Ingredients:

• 4 cooked skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, chopped
  
  


• ½ cup red bell pepper (or any color), seeded and chopped
  
  


• 1 (8 oz.) can water chestnuts, drained and sliced
  
  


• 1 apple, peeled, cored and chopped
  
  


• ½ cup seedless red grapes, halved
  
  


• ½ cup low-fat mayonnaise
  
  


• ¼ tsp fresh ground pepper
  
  


• ¼ cup slivered almonds
  
  


• ¼ cup celery, chopped
  
  


• 1 tsp curry powder
  
  

Preparation:

• Combine chicken, mayonnaise, curry, and pepper in a medium-size bowl. Add celery, red bell pepper, apple, grapes, almonds and water chestnuts and mix until well-coated.
  
  

Make 6 Servings:

Weight Loss Recipes Amount Per Serving(1/6 of recipe (141 g)): 198 Calories, 19 g Protein, 12 g carbohydrates, 2 g Dietary Fiber, 9 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 54 mg cholesterol, 151 mg sodium

Cucumber and Cantaloupe Salad

(makes 4 servings)

Ingredients:

• 1 medium cucumber
  
  


• 3 cups cantaloupe, cut into bite-size pieces
  
  


• 2 tbsp lemonade or limeade concentrate, undiluted
  
  


• 1 tbsp water
  
  


• 1 tsp vegetable oil
  
  


• ½ tsp chili powder
  
  

Preparation:

• Cut cucumber in half lengthwise then slice each half crosswise into small pieces.
  
  


• In a medium sized bowl, combine cucumber and cantaloupe.
  
  


• In a small sized bowl, combine juice concentrate, water, vegetable oil, chili powder and mix well then pour over cucumber and cantaloupe.
  
  


• mixture and toss well.
  
  


• Cover and chill completely before serving.
  
  

Make 4 Servings:

Weight Loss Recipes Amount Per Serving(¼ of recipe (208 g)): 100 Calories, 2 g Protein, 16 g carbohydrates, 2 g Dietary Fiber, 4 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 13 mg sodium

Creamy Vinaigrette

(makes 1-¼ cups)

Ingredients:

• ⅔ cup plain low-fat yogurt
  
  


• ⅓ cup apple cider vinegar
  
  


• 2 tbsp olive oil
  
  


• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard (or mayonnaise)
  
  


• 1 tbsp lemon juice
  
  


• 1 large cloves garlic, minced
  
  


• 1 tbsp soy sauce
  
  


• ¼ tsp dried dill weed
  
  

Preparation:

• Combine all ingredients into a jar with a tight-fitting lid. Shake well before using. Store in the refrigerator between uses.
  
  

Make 12 Servings:

Weight Loss Recipes Amount Per Serving(2 tbsp (26 g)): 32 Calories, 1 g Protein, 2 g carbohydrates, 0 g Dietary Fiber, 2 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, 1 mg cholesterol, 101 mg sodium

Cranberry and Wild Rice Salad

(makes 8 servings)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup wild rice, cooked follow package instructions.
  
  


• 1 tsp salt
  
  


• ½ cup walnuts
  
  


• 8 oz. fresh cranberries, or thawed frozen
  
  


• ½ cup sugar
  
  


• 2 tbsp olive oil
  
  


• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
  
  


• 3 green onions, chopped (including green tops)
  
  

Preparation:

• In a large-sized saucepan, combine wild rice, salt and one quart of water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for about 45-60 minutes or until rice is tender to bite and most grains have split open. Drain in a colander and let cool.
  
  


• At the same time, spread walnuts on a cookie sheet and toast in oven at 325 degrees F for about 10 minutes or until lightly golden. Coarsely chop.
  
  


• Sort cranberries, discarding any stems and bruised or decayed fruit, cut each cranberry in half.
  
  


• In a small-sized saucepan over medium-high heat, stir the sugar and ½ cup water until the sugar is dissolved and mixture boils. Remove from heat, stir the halved cranberries, stir occasionally for about 8-12 minutes or until insides of cranberries have turned red but are still firm. Pour through a strainer into a bowl, reserving the cranberry-sugar syrup.
  
  


• Mix wild rice, cranberry halves, olive oil, and rice vinegar in a large bowl. Stir in 2 tbsp cranberry syrup, taste and add up to ¼ cup more syrup to sweeten and moisten salad as desired. Stir in green onions. Cover and chill for at least 4 hours or up to 1 day.
  
  


• Stir in walnuts before serving.
  
  

Make 8 Servings:

Weight Loss Recipes Amount Per Serving(⅛ of recipe (69 g)): 166 Calories, 4 g Protein, 20 g carbohydrates, 3 g Dietary Fiber, 9 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 293 mg sodium

I'm feeling fluffy / 189.0

Feeling fluffy for a human being is NOT a good thing.

I don't wear 189 pounds very gracefully. It's doesn't feel comfortable. I've passed the point where I'm a little overweight, now I'm into the obese category again.

My left knee hurts, I get out of breath easily and my blood pressure is up to hypertension levels (149/ 90--physical next month). I don't like this one little bit. I'm miserable.

I wrote a really bad post Wednesday night. I only left it up for about five hours. Only a few people read it before I got up at 5am and deleted it. As my 14-year old nephew said after he posted something awful on Facebook a few weeks ago (he sounded very angry and depressed)...he said "I'm sorry...that's not me. I didn't mean it." I'm saying the exact same thing.

It's strange how life slaps you up side the head one day, and you just think you're going to die from unhappiness. Sometimes that day turns into weeks. Then one day you wake up and it's like "oh well, that's life. Stuff happens. I'll be okay." That was me this morning. Whatever that thing was that I was going through seems to have passed for now.

My change of attitude came about early today. I had a really good workout at the gym. I didn't want to go, but I had to make myself go to the gym at 5:30am. I've been going, but not as often and not working out as hard as I was a few weeks ago. Today it was different. I felt the old me coming through. The woman that wants to be healthy, and actually gives a damn about her life.

Pretty good day today. Even if I am fluffier than I'd like to be. :)

Food Reward: a Dominant Factor in Obesity, Part V

Non-industrial diets from a food reward perspective

In 21st century affluent nations, we have unprecedented control over what food crosses our lips.  We can buy nearly any fruit or vegetable in any season, and a massive processed food industry has sprung up to satisfy (or manufacture) our every craving.  Most people can afford exotic spices and herbs from around the world-- consider that only a hundred years ago, black pepper was a luxury item.  But our degree of control goes even deeper: over the last century, kitchen technology such as electric/gas stoves, refrigerators, microwaves and a variety of other now-indispensable devices have changed the way we prepare food at home (Megan J. Elias.  Food in the United States, 1890-1945). 

To help calibrate our thinking about the role of food reward (and food palatability) in human evolutionary history, I offer a few brief descriptions of contemporary hunter-gatherer and non-industrial agriculturalist diets.  What did they eat, and how did they prepare it? 
Read more »

Classic Vinaigrette

(makes about 1 cup)

Ingredients:

• 2 garlic cloves, minced
  
  


• ⅔ cup olive oil
  
  


• ⅓ cup balsamic vinegar (or berry)
  
  


• 2 tsp combined herbs (basil, thyme or oregano), crushed
  
  


• Salt and pepper to taste
  
  

Preparation:

• Combine cloves, olive oil, berry, herbs in a jar with a tight-fitting lid. Shake well before using.
  
  


• Refrigerate between uses but let dressing come to room temperature before serving since some olive oils will become semi-solid when refrigerated.
  
  

Make 8 Servings:

Weight Loss Recipes Amount Per Serving(2 tbsp (29 g)): 160 Calories, 0 g Protein, 1 g carbohydrates, 0 g Dietary Fiber, 18 g fat, 2 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 291 mg sodium