Healthy Eating: Some Pitfalls to Avoid

Does anyone else remember Pepsi Light, the first lemon cola? I know, it had saccharin in it, but still, we thought we were doing something good by not putting the sugar from cola in our bodies.

Here are some warped things I (or others I've known) have done in the name of "healthy" eating:

-Justified eating a double cheeseburger by washing it down with a diet Coke/Pepsi and a side salad.

-Had a cup of soup and side salad with an unlimited Snackers basket (and I mean solely for you, not shared with everyone at the table). For the uninitiated, Snackers are cracker-like pita wedges (I believe they're fried) served with a generous tub of a spreadable smoky Swiss-style cheese. So having unlimited Snackers is not good for you, no matter how much salad you ingest.

-Had a Boston Cooler made with diet Vernors Ginger Ale (or a "brown cow" made with diet A&W Root Beer).

-Convinced yourself that you can have a 1/4-cup portion of any side dish you want as well as a couple of desserts at your uncle's funeral luncheon.

-Drunk more white wine at a party than is desirable at a friend's house party because a glass of wine is only two points, making it better for you than one fruity alcoholic drink you really wanted. (At best, this will end in your sleeping on a friend's couch, in your clothes, getting a crick in your neck. At worst, you'll be sleeping (still in your clothes) in a friend's daughter's room when two other friends — coincidentally engaged to each other — plop on the couch in said room and proceed to have a loud, drunken argument when you're still too sloshed to drive home.

I'm naming just a few of the pitfalls my friends and I have dealt with in the past 10 years; what are your experiences? 

Video Promotes Blog

Yesterday, I learned something at The Oakland Press about how to shoot, edit and post simple video clips. I was lucky enough to have Karen Workman, a reporter at The Oakland Press who writes The Dog Blog show me and another blogger, Chef Stacy Sloan, who writes the Cooking from Scratch blog, the basic steps of taking, editing video and creating a finished product to put online.

It was a wholly practical exercise: Karen shot my video first, and then it was Stacy's turn. Stacy got to edit her video and create her video "movie" first; after that it was my turn, with considerable coaching from Karen. Ultimately, the video will be used in streaming to promote my blog). I was extremely excited to see the finished product and thank Karen for her patience.

I may attach a video clip to the blog soon!

Product: Review: Kellogg's Fiber Plus - Chocolate Chip Flavor

Kellogg FiberPlus Antioxidant Bars, Chocolate Chip flavor lives up to its claim of being more tasty than Fiber One bars; indeed I consider it a great improvement over nearly any bar aside from Nature Valley Granola Bars (see prior entry for comments on this great product). Two other flavors are available to try ... one includes almonds, which I'm not at all fond of in large chunks or whole. I haven't tried that one yet, so I can't say if it uses small or large almond bits.

This is a filling snack and incorporates antioxidants, according to the package. It's a better choice than many because it doesn't include high-fructose corn syrup in its ingredient list.

The packaging claims that a serving incorporates 35 percent of recommended daily fiber, which is quite an achievement for a snack. Due to the high fiber content of the snack, I highly recommend a large glass of water or milk to accompany it. A major concern when you up the fiber in the diet is that most people don't drink enough water. (For example, for those on Weight Watchers, it's recommended that you intake 35 grams of fiber daily and drink at least eight 8-oz. glasses of liquid a day. It used to be water, but it was determined all liquid counts.)

Gram's Banana Bread

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

Some people come from a long line of good cooks. Although there was more than one in my mother's family, most of them got their start by working with a great cook: my maternal grandmother, Ruth Magdalen (Bolen) LaBerge. Although she's been gone more than 18 years, I still can't figure out why neither my mother nor I (both of whom are considered intelligent women) can make her banana bread in quite the way she did.

When we made it at home as I was growing up, it was good but I just knew there was something missing. Gram's bread seemed even more moist and the nutty flavor was stronger. Maybe it's just a grandma thing.

Perhaps one of my readers can solve the mystery of the ingredient or ingredients that Gram, who rarely worked from a recipe, may have omitted when my mother asked her for a written recipe almost three decades ago. (Mom subsequently rewrote the recipe so we could read it in the years to come. It's amazing it was recorded with a pen, since my grandmother wrote most recipes in pencil.)

Gram's Banana Bread

1 3/4 C. flour
1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 t. salt

1/3 C. vegetable shortening (to make it healthier, use the non-hydrogenated kind; Gram used Crisco)

2/3 C. sugar

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 C. fairly ripe bananas, mashed

chopped walnuts (optional)

(The amount of walnuts put in this recipe depends on how well you like them. Gram just put in the amount she had handy — that is, when she felt like it.)

Sift flour; measure and add baking powder, baking soda and salt. Sift again. Cream shortening, adding sugar gradually. Add eggs, mixing until smooth. Add dry ingredients alternately with mashed bananas, stirring just enough to combine thoroughly. Do not beat.  Bake 1 hour at 350 degrees F.*

(*Use a standard loaf pan.)

Note: I had a heck of a time finding a good photo of Gram, as she hated having her picture taken; in the above photo, shot when she turned 80 (in April 1982), it's hard to say whether she was crying because she was happy or because we insisted on recording the occasion for future generations.

Product Review: Purely Decadent Dairy Free® Cherry Nirvana flavor

Want ice cream but can't eat it because milk doesn't agree with your system? Never fear, there is a solution. More than one, but I'll share my favorite.

I probably have mentioned this in passing, but Purely Decadent Dairy Free® Cherry Nirvana flavor ice cream is my favorite non-dairy frozen dessert. It even tastes like ice cream.

I discovered it in the frozen health food section at Kroger about a year ago. I've tried other products by Turtle Mountain, but so far, this is the best non-dairy frozen dessert I've had.

If you don't like cherries or chocolate, there's no accounting for it; however, I'm sure one of Turtle Mountain's numerous ice cream subsitutes (some made from coconut milk and some made with soy milk) will appeal to your taste.

Healthier Eating Out at Applebee's?

One of the places I often try to con my friends into going when they want me to eat out with them is Applebee's. I get consistently good food there, and the menu offers some lower-calorie/healthier options.


The company just starting marking items on its menus that have fewer than than 550 calories; it also has some items that show the accompany Weight Watchers® Points values.

My favorite is the Weight Watchers® Steak & Portobellos, which at 7 WW Points and 330 calories; it's great-tasting and in just the right portion size. It is just a bit high in sodium, though (1,610 mg). The best bet of the Weight Watchers items in terms of both calories and sodium is Weight Watchers® Italian Chicken & Portobello Sandwich w/fresh fruit (320 calories, 730 mg sodium and 7 Weight Watchers® Points). I'll think I'll try that next time!

When going to Applebee's® (or anywhere else, for that matter), it's a good idea to download the nutritional information (if available), look at the options and choose two or three possiblities that are fairly good for both you and your waistline. Some people don't like this approach because they say it takes away the spontaneity of going out, but I like to know what I'm eating.  

Review: Recipe Rehab

I always like it when an unhealthy favorite is made healthier, whether it's in Every Day with Rachael Ray or Taste of Home Magazine.

I found a new blog recently on the Web that does the same thing.

Tanya Zuckerbrot fixes recipes ... one at a time on Recipe Rehab, a That's Fit website feature. In her Chocolate Chip Cookies  rehab, she goes a little into the history of chocolate chip cookies (which is very cool) and replaces some of the flour with whole wheat flour and replaces butter with a mixture of uses a Smart Balance 50 percent butter blend and fat-free sour cream. I plan to try it sometime. Other wonderful sounding rehabs she's featured recently include Homemade Hamburger Helper (with whole wheat pasta and ground turkey breast) and Raisin Rice Pudding. Fill out a form to have her make over your favorite here.