Going Bananas

I think you might have to be one of the 1.75 million people currently enrolled (in meetings or online) with Weight Watchers, or be an alum, to appreciate this near headline-making news: bananas are free!

Yep, as one blogger noted, it's "Weight Watchers meets Michael Pollan," with a new plan focused on--imagine this, from a company renowned for hawking its prepackaged food and for selling its copyrighted Points label to other food manufacturers--fresh fruits and vegetables, most of which are now "free."

This might sound simple or obvious or stupid to non-members (and most of the snarky and righteous commenters on the NYTimes article above), but previously one banana had the same value as a 100-calorie pack of Oreos. Now, for those of us interested in whole, local, seasonal, and/or organic real food, that was an easy choice most of the time, but Oreos call and bananas don't.

Except now, because I've been craving them. And oranges. And snap peas. Sure, these were "cheap" foods before, and a better choice than chocolate or whatever, but I didn't get into this mess by always making sensible food choices, even as a vegetarian (in fact, it's easier to eat crap as a vegetarian sometimes. I mean, Fritos are meat-free!)

But now that my chocolate, pizza, hummus, peanut butter, whole Greek yogurt, homemade bread, etc. "cost" more than they used to, the rules of the psychological game (and isn't that the biggest piece?) have changed entirely.

Wish me (and those 1.75 million other people) luck! And be prepared for a national banana shortage . . . .

Scale Victory!

Yeah, I hit another magical number! Still aiming for that 5% though. And then 10% . . . . You know what they say about Rome.

Even better, there was an asparagus recipe in the little booklet we now get at every WW meeting (which, being a paper-hoarder and recipe hound thrills me to no end. It's one reason I go every week, which I'm sure is half the point). I've been craving asparagus for about 3 months (at least since planning the Christmas menu) but avoiding all of the ones in the store because they have traveled more food miles to get here than I have in my life! But pretty soon there's going to be local asparagus! (and by that I mean local from this continent! And eventually from my region . . . . ) I can't wait. Send on those asparagus recipes . . . .

Lastly, I'm very excited about the possibility that chain restaurants will be required to provide nutritional information by the new health care bill (a la the law in NYC, which really does make you think twice about buying that scone!)--so many do it selectively or not at all, which makes it hard to plan ahead. And you know the calories/fat are worse than you can possibly imagine, which is why we try not to eat out (operative word is "try" because the whole family loves eating out and chains are often more kid-friendly that local places, though I'm not sure why). I just want to know what goes into those Bertucci's rolls!

Milestone Celebration

Today, I passed a particular weight loss milestone that has haunted me for awhile--I finally got out of a particular "decade!" Add to that, I'm just a bit away from having lost 5% of my body weight. And I am so excited! So, I promised myself that I would buy a few books as a reward if I got where I am. Of course, ironically, I'm sure I'll be buying cookbooks!

A Sticky Divorce

No, not us.

Come on, we've only been married a week!

I read the NYTimes article on keeping new year's resolutions (and the dismal success rate) and one of the interesting approaches is to consider the break with the old you as a divorce:

Recovering alcoholics, for example, have a higher chance of success if they reframe their sober life as a divorce from a tumultuous love affair with drinking, because they can then look back at their old life as a romantic adventure, rather than a sinkhole of regret.

It's just one of several steps in a progression to success, according to Alan Deutschman, author of Change or Die. The series includes:

1. Start with big changes, not small so you can see immediate success.
2. Act like the person you want to be.
3. "Reframe" the situation (as in the divorce technique).
4. Don't do it alone, a la WW or 12-step programs.

I'm fascinated by the divorce scenario, or really the idea of old and new me. I've been wondering why I've been so successful at being a vegetarian, not eating out, and not watching much tv, all activities that require a certain amount of discipline or self-control, while I'm not always a successful dieter. I think it's because, as a vegetarian, it was very clear-cut: I'm a person who doesn't eat animal flesh. Or, we're a family who doesn't eat out much. Or watch much tv. It became an inherent part of my identity. Independent decisions on what to eat and not eat don't create a coherent whole, only an endless series of conflicts, resolved or not. As an identity, "I'm a dieter," doesn't have the same positive message, so what if I reframe it? Think of myself as the person I want to be? Something like, "I'm a healthy eater so I won't eat _____." It's already worked this morning--I didn't nibbled off the gingerbread house when the kids demolished it. Because I don't eat candy like that anymore. Any mind trick that works, right?

Regardless, it's a struggle, which is why Oprah is the focus of the article, having lost and gained weight recently. As the article concludes, she's embracing self-acceptance this year. A good plan.

Especially if it's the new, divorced me.

(for more resources of healthy eating, see the Well blog's list of websites).

Milestone

I am proud of myself. I lost weight this week and got below a number that has been eluding me for months. To reward myself (because I am all about extrinsic motivation, even though it doesn't work), I'm going to purchase a beautiful poster from Northern Sun called "How to Build a Community." All my good liberal, progressive friends--if you like t-shirts, posters, buttons, bumper stickers with liberal progressive messages, check out this site. I love the text, which I include here (yes, I love stuff like this and Robert Fulghum et al):

How to Build a Community
Turn off your TV.
Leave your house.
Know your neighbors.
Look up when you are walking.
Greet people.
Sit on your stoop.
Plant flowers.
Use your library.
Play together.
Buy from local merchants.
Share what you have.
Help a lost dog.
Take children to the park.
Garden together.
Support neighborhood schools.
Fix it even if you didn't break it.
Have pot lucks.
Honor elders.
Pick up litter.
Read storeis aloud.
Dance in the street.
Talk to the mail carrier.
Listen to the birds.
Put up a swing.
Help carry something heavy.
Barter for your goods.
Start a tradition.
Ask a question.
Hire young people for odd jobs.
Organize a block party.
Bake extra and share.
Ask for help when you need it.
Open your shades.
Sing together.
Share your skills.
Take back the night.
Turn up the music.
Turn down the music.
Listen before you react to anger.
Mediate a conflict.
Seek to understand.
Learn from new and uncomfortable angles.
Know that no one is silent athough many are not heard.
Work to change this.

Frustration

I had a rude awakening last night: sometimes I think I'm doing well at my diet and then I realize that in actuality I'm not. Call me self-delusional. Or, at the least, absent-minded. In other words, I forget that in one week we made lemon poppy seed bread, chocolate rice krispie treats, fruit cobbler, pistachio fluff, and sugar cookies, and that friends brought over macaroons, and two delicious kinds of sugar cookies. Even when I just sample, that is a lot of food, and sometimes I do more than sample. I thought I had been doing well at Core (the more South Beach/Atkins-style of WW) but then realized that all those things add up. No wonder I've been trying to lose the same 3 lbs to get past a mental and numerical hump. So, I've tossed my Amish Friendship Bread starter. I just don't need to bake bread every 10 days, even if I give most of it away. If I want to bake later on, I certainly know how to throw together a quick bread without starter. Even if I have a good time doing the starter cycle, it's just not worth the frustration.

Frustration. Transition. Rut. These were all words we bandied about this morning during our playdate. I'm not the only mom feeling at a loss this season. Everyone I have talked to this week is reevaluating life, schedules, priorities. We're all a little depressed about our friend's move, a little unsure of what meaningful projects or activities we want to take on next as the children grow, a little tense about finances and holidays and expectations, even a little sleep- deprived because of the end of DST (or infants, depending), not to mention identifiably concrete stressors of illness, death, grief, unemployment, finances, moves, and family issues.

But at least we have each other. Miss T wrote today about her "honeyline" of friends who support her. And we are all fortunate in our network of friends. When another friend called me on Monday just to say, "I'm worried about you" when I missed playdate, I was touched and comforted; it actually improved my spirits. And so we all reach out to each other in a continuous web (okay, skipping from bees to spiders here) of connection. Being cared for, and in turn caring for others, and not just the members of my immediate family, is what keeps me going. Even when we are all frustrated.

Suburban Foodways

Today epitomized food in suburbia, or more specifically, the food habits of (particularly) SAHMoms. Or, at least, me.

It started with my WW meeting (I lost 1.6 lbs!! Yay. Core is really working for me). And as I sat there, my leader talked about how, for Easter, instead of having a traditional bakeshop cheese and fruit danish, she made a diet bagel, with diet cream cheese, with sugar-free jam. And it was "delicious."

Maybe this is why I struggle to lose weight. You cannot EVER convince me that those two items taste remotely like one another. And I would almost rather not eat than choose B over A. And that's basically what I try to do: quality over quantity. Sometimes, though, I forget the quantity thing, and, well that's where the problem lies. But, I just don't like the fake stuff. And I'm convinced that the huge amounts of mediocre, processed, fake food laden with chemicals we can't identify or pronounce (and trust the government--because they're so trustworthy--to vet for us) is a huge part of the reason that we can't recognize quality anymore--and thus just eat more of the really bad, really unhealthy foods. And end up at WW, trying to convince ourselves that the diet versions of the mediocre foods are actually "delicious." When, really, if we'd just eaten one bakeshop danish once in awhile, we would've been okay.

(Don't get me started on artificial sweeteners.)

After that (and despite my rant, I still value my meetings), I went to a Pampered Chef party, almost the complete opposite of my WW meeting. There, the same bunch of women (literally, 3 of them were my WW buddies) learn about food gadgets to make preparation of meals simpler/easier/quicker and hostess items to make presentations of said meals, particularly for all the hostessing we're imagined to be doing, more aesthetically pleasing (though considering the mean age of all our children, there should be more plasticware for serving in the PC catalog--I only entertain with kids and can't use ceramic dishes. And since we cook together too, I generally need stainless steel, not glass, prep ware). This is all about the enjoyment of food that you make yourself--hand chopped, baked in stoneware, served on glass platters. And the party was interactive--the consultant had us do everything ourselves, which was much more fun than sitting and watching (and I bought more this time). Interesting thing about PC, though, is it assumes, really, that we don't like the task much and need to get through it quickly. So, at WW food is a danger, at PC it's a chore. Both can be overcome with the right a). mindset and b). products.

If anything, what both of these activities prove is that food is a problem for women, because that is the overwhelming audience for both of these gatherings. It's a problem to prepare, a problem to eat. I do spend a lot of time in one day thinking (worrying) about what I'm going to eat so it's healthy, what I'm going to serve the kids so it's healthy and they'll eat it, and when in the world I'm going to have time to cook dinner (and how there are about a million other things I'd rather do than make a meal under this pressure). So, I went to my WW meeting and am jazzed about another week on Core and hopefully losing another pound or two. And I liked the PC party (the hostess, friend J, is a hostess par excellence and her friend the consultant was entertaining, low-pressure) and bought a new chopper at PC because, really, my knife skills are poor and it slows my food prep down (DP says my knife skills won't improve if I don't practice. I say knife skills are not one of my life's goals. She has excellent knife skills). Plus some covered custard cups. For the fat-free, sugar-free mediocre, processed diet food that I eat because I want something and can't eat a danish every night. Obviously, I'm conflicted: intellectually I see the manipulation at work here and, as a feminist, object to it; but as an actual, practicing SAHM, I value what is being offered. I'm working to reconcile the dichotomy inherent in all of it.

And so how did the day end? We all went to Friendly's for ice cream after a nice trip to the nature center where we saw animals and played on the incredible, castellated wooden playground. DS chanted all the way to the restaurant "strawberry ice cream, chocolate candies." DD fantasized about "chocolate and chocolate candies." And we got there and they ate their sundaes with obvious relish.

And I had one too. And we all had a grand time.

But it all starts again tomorrow.

At least I got a nice recipe from PC, that I can turn Core for WW!!

-=-=-=-=-=

Cheeseburger Salad (from memory)

2 hamburger buns
1 lb ground beef
1 red onion, chopped
pickles, chopped (I don't recall how many spears--4-6?)
3/4 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon mustard
lettuce, chopped in bite-size pieces
1 cup cheddar cheese


Cut hamburger buns into slices (though cubes would be easier to eat). Toast hamburger buns (can be done in 450F oven til brown).

Brown ground beef.

Combine onion, pickles, ketchup, and mustard. Add beef.

Layer lettuce, cheeseburger mixture, cheese, and hamburger bun croutons.

Serve.


Hey, I was very close. Here's the "real" recipe:

4 sesame seed hamburger bun tops

1 small red onion (1/2, sliced into circles for the salad, 1/2 chopped for meat mix)

2 plum tomatoes, sliced for salad

3/4 ground beef

1/2 cup finely diced dill pickles

3/4 cup ketchup

1 TBL yellow mustard

8 cups thinly sliced romaine lettuce

1 cup (4oz) shredded cheddar cheese

The quick directions:

~slice and toast the hamburger buns (@ 8min on bar pan at 425 degrees)

~set out platter and put sliced lettuce on platter

~brown meat

~mix chopped onion, diced pickles, ketchup and mustard together with browned meat

~spread meat mixture over lettuce

~top with sliced onions, sliced tomatoes

~sprinkle with cheese and put toast sticks around the platter

Wonders Never Cease

The First Wonder
I had gone yesterday to our local doc-in-the-box walk-in clinic for a raspy throat and persistent dry cough that wasn't responding to anything I was taking. Apparently, I've picked up a virus that causes bumps in the throat and lots of coughing, which is being irritated by allergies (which are not usually a problem for me). I'm contagious and I could be coughing for up to 2 weeks. Yay. So they gave me a prescription to fight the allergies, since you can't take anything for a virus.

And I promptly lost the piece of paper.

After yet another sleepless night, I returned to the clinic to get another copy of the Rx but was early and had to wait outside. While I stood there, in line with other sick people, I started kicking around the pile of leaves on the sidewalk and noticed a piece of paper face down. Wouldn't it be funny if . . . . ?

And it was!

The Second Wonder
I didn't gain any weight this week. YAY! As DP says, staying the same isn't a neutral event, it's a positive one.

The Third Wonder
There wasn't really a third one but these things always seem to come in threes.

So, I guess they do cease.

Holiday WW Recipes

So, I've been having some struggles on WW recently but I'm still going and committed to it. I liked Saturday's meeting because instead of focusing on exercise or portions, we talked food. I was shocked to add up the points (for those of you who don't know WW, each food has a points value. You get so many points a day--for instance, right now, I get 27. There's another plan, too--Core--it's a lot like South Beach). Even with the healthier, kiddo-friendly menu, the meal adds up to 3/4 of my daily allowance easily. Good thing it's the only meal we eat that day!

I came away with some new recipes and lower calorie versions of favorites. I think we're adapting the stuffing recipe for the kiddos (i.e. GF bread crumbs and/or a box of wild rice) and maybe the pumpkin fluff (get this, by loading it with fat and real sugar to avoid the fake stuff). Otherwise, our menu is much as I listed a few posts ago--heavy on the veggies, light on anything starchy. With only the sweet potatoes exactly the same.

Happy Turkey Day!

-=-=-=

Bavarian Cream--3 pts (you know, I hope I copied this down right)

Whip 3 egg whites. Fold into prepared pudding. Mix as trifle with 24 ladyfingers and 3 1/2 cups berries. Try these combos: vanilla pudding with orange sections; white chocolate pudding with raspberries; chocolate pudding with strawberries.

Pumpkin Fluff--2 pts

8 oz ff cool whip
1 pkg butterscotch or cheesecake pudding
15 1/2 oz pumpkin
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Mix.

Banana Split Cake--4 pts

Vanilla pudding
ff graham cracker crust
1 sliced banana
1 cup strawberries
1/2 cup pineapple, crushed I think
1 container ff cool whip

Make vanilla pudding with 1 1/2 cup milk. Pour into graham cracker crust. Layer banana, strawberries, and pineapple. Spread with cool whip. Refrigerate. 4 servings.

Debbie's Dressing--2 pts

2 packages mushrooms
1 big onion
1 whole package celery
low sodium chicken stock
appx 2 cups stuffing (1/2 Pepperidge Farm bag)

Saute veggies in chicken stock. Add stuffing. Bake. Serving is 1 cup.

Other interesting tidbits:

You can substitute ff evaporated milk for heavy cream; 1 egg and 3 whites for 3 eggs; 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa for 1 oz baking chocolate.

Try making mashed potatoes with a mix of potatoes and cauliflower, mixed with skim milk and sour cream.

Green bean casserole made with all ff ingredients has 3 pts a serving.

A Bertucci's roll has 9 points!!!!

And totally unrelated to Thanksgiving, a crockpot recipe:

Cheesy Chicken Crockpot--5 pts

2 lbs boneless skinless breasts
2 cans ff cream of mushroom soup
1 can cheddar cheese soup
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

Combine and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

As Simple as 1, 2, 3 . . . 2000

I read today at Prevention Magazine that Americans need only do two things to significanly affect their weight issues:

** cut 100 calories a day
**walk an additional 2000 steps a day

I'm going to print out the handy-dandy chart (I love handouts!) and will keep an eye on my pedometer. The 100 calories I think I can manage--isn't that like 2 WW points? But 2000 more steps? With DD and DS holding onto my skirt, that would take all day!

New Bread Variation

This might be might be my favorite Amish Friendship Bread yet: chocolate pudding, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 a bag of Nestle chocolate chunks. It's not too sweet, good texture, perfect for late-night snacking and also for breakfast.

Definitely not WW, though.

But I've done okay with that this week otherwise so I'm not worrying. I lost 3 lbs this week.

I actually had wanted to make four loaves, two chocolate and two almond. I even bought two new bread tins so I could bake all four at once (Did you know two disposable bread tins are only $1 cheaper than a reusable non-stick one? So now I have four reusable bread tins. Doing my part for the environment.) But I couldn't find the white chocolate pudding I bought anywhere. DP looked. I looked. She looked again. I fumed around the kitchen bemoaning "mommy brain." I'd blame it on the kids. Or Yehudi (pronounced ya-hoot-ee). Not sure about the spelling, but he's the little invisible critter that was always blamed for things when I was growing up. I think it comes from the German side of my mom's family. It sounds Yiddish to me, though there is not Jewish family that I know of. Who knows. Anyway, maybe Yehudi took the pudding. Because I can't find it anywhere.

Oh, well. For the record, that variation calls for white chocolate pudding, almond extract (I forget how much), and slivered almonds on top. Yum, yum.

Yehudi can keep the 3 lbs but I want my pudding back!

It's That Time Again

After a week of eating out with my mom, it's time to be more sensible and healthy (read: back on Weight Watchers). Our leader focused on dreams and outcomes this week, giving us the following recipe for a Dreamsicle smoothie (I wonder if you can freeze it?).

Dreamsicle
1 WW vanilla smoothie packet
1 can diet orange soda
ice

Combine in blender and enjoy.

-=-=-=
I give two other (non-WW) recipes for a dreamsicle/creamsicle, which is one of my favorite ice cream desserts:

Orange Creamsicle Smoothie

2 frozen orange juice bars
½ cups cold milk
1 cup vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt
¾ cup cold orange juice

Blend the juice bars, milk, ice cream and orange juice in a blender. Can substitute frozen orange juice for orange juice bars.

Alternate: Orange Freeze (much easier)

2 scoops orange sherbet
1 scoop vanilla ice cream
seltzer

Mommy, hungry!

As a SAHM of two-year old b/g twins, I hear "Mommy, hungry!" about a dozen times a day. This blog is going to be my record of feeding hungry toddlers, my partner, and myself, both body and soul.

Some things to know: my toddlers have multiple food allergies. No soy, dairy, eggs, wheat, nuts, honey, or a variety of citrus fruits and berries. So, cooking is sometimes a challenge because, well, I like those things and almost all my recipes include one or more of those ingredients. But we're trying. And sometimes it works; sometimes it's just messy.

And I'm doing Weight Watchers--the Core plan, for now--I've lost about 18 lbs, with more to go. So, though I love baking, I'm trying to avoid that for now.

Tonight, it's pot roast, except without the actual roast which they find hard to chew. So, we're using stew meat cut into really small pieces and a variety of veggies. The kiddos love veggies and will probably skip the meat altogether, though DD did have a thing for brisket when we were visiting the grandparents in Texas. The crockpot should be done in about half an hour.

-=-=-
I was wrong. DD ate the meat and none of the veggies; DS did just the opposite. DP (let's just use this for "dear partner") and I are about to sit down. I think we'll eat both.

And she brought fudge home.

Now, that's not Weight Watchers's Core plan at all!