Frances Ellen Speaks!

Archive for the ‘Diet’ Category

I remember the days when I had no choice. If I wanted cherry vanilla ice cream, I’d pass all the other brands and head straight to the Breyers section. No  question. Breyers has always been about $1.00 more than the other brands, but it was worth it. I always say, if you’re willing to swallow the calories, they should me A #1 calories.

Of course I’m talking about the days before Cherry Garcia. It seems while I wasn’t paying attention, the quality of all the Breyers ice creams were being cheaped-down, while Ben &  Jerry were using top quality ingredients in their ice creams. This has become my dilemma.

Do I eat less ice cream, because Ben & Jerry’s ice cream is a whole lot more expensive? Or do I accept the fact that Breyers ice creams have become mediocre, but are still pretty good in comparison to other cheaper brands?

This certainly isn’t the most pressing dilemma in the world, but it’s one I at least have control over. What do you think?

How many times have you heard this? “If you want to lose weight, you must diet and exercise.” That sentence is at the top of my list of most hated things I want to hear.

I applaud all the people who love to jog, or love to go to the gym. I’m not one of them. However, I do like to listen to music, which brings me to disco dancing. Have you ever noticed how hard it is to sit and listen to disco music. That’s because it’s main appeal is it’s hard-to-ignore invitation to dance. The beat is perfect.

Therein lies the key that unlocks my exercise room. In my case, that’s my living room. I’ve been disco dancing (when no one is around). It’s fun. Finally! An exercise I can love.

You don’t need a partner, so let the gyrating begin.

Try this. It fills you up until it’s time for lunch.

Spread peanut butter on 2 lightly salted rice cakes. Slice a banana and lay the slices on top of the peanut butter.  Quick! Easy! Nutritious! Superb!

Remember to eat slow and chew well. It takes 20 minutes for your stomach to send a message to your brain that says, “Good! My stomach is full. You can stop eating now.”

And as far as that message that announces your stomach is full? Try listening to it when you’re half-way through a meal–any meal. You sometimes find that you don’t really want to clean your plate. Save what you don’t eat for a snack later in the day (when the message you’re receiving says, “I’m hungry. I need food and I need it now!”)

What to do? What to do? I miss my sweets.

I thought I’d be well over my need for sweets after trying to watch my diet for a few weeks. But the truth is, even if you stop eating cake and pie and cookies, etc., there’s so much sugar and sucrose and every other kind of sweetener in most of the other foods we eat that it’s impossible to stay away from sugar.

I used to be able to cut out sweets pretty easily. After a week or so, the craving disappears. No more. Sugar has invaded most everything we eat nowadays. This is my new solution.

After I eat dinner, I allow myself to eat a piece of hard candy. Sometimes I sit back and have a coffee flavored one. That’s almost as good as having a cup of coffee and a piece of cake.

Othertimes, I pop in a root beer barrel or some other taste treat I like. So far, it’s working.

I love potato chips. However, whenever I pig out on them, I usually go on one of my guilt trips. Here’s a way to avoid some of the calories, and stop beating up on yourself.

Buy a large bag of potato chips. Buy a box of ziploc bags (sandwich size).

Empty the entire bag of chips onto your clean kitchen counter. Now read the potato chip bag. How many servings does the bag hold? My bag had 10 servings and each serving equaled 130 calories.

I wanted to keep my snacking to 100 calories. So, I separated the chips into 12 servings instead of 10 and put each serving into a ziploc bag. You’ll be surprised how many chips are in a 100 calorie serving–certainly enough to fill the salty  pangs of hunger.

Carefully place the small bags of chips back into the large bag. You’re good to go.

Try it.

I like to watch TV in the evening and snack. It’s a habit I’m trying to break. But I’m not always successful. That doesn’t mean I’m not watchful.

The trick is to eat something that will fill up the void and the time. One way to accomplish this is to eat something frozen. That way you’re forced to eat it slow or suffer a brain freeze.

This is my favorite–1/2 cup of frozen blueberries with a big dollop of ReddiWip whipped cream. It takes a while to eat the berries because they’re little, bitty pieces of sweet ice.

I’ll tell you my secret. I eat them right out of my measuring cup. And this tasty snack topped with whipped cream equals 55 calories.

If you’re still hungry after that, pop one of those 100 calorie mini bags of popcorn. That ought to do it. Nighty night.