Make the Switch for Healthier Recipes

How do you modify favorite family recipes so they're more in line with your healthy-eating plan? It's not as hard as you might think. The key is to incorporate healthier alternatives into your daily eating routine. And here's a tip: don't announce that you've made a change in what you're serving your family. As the well-known slogan goes -- just do it. Odds are they won't even notice. They may even like it better than the old way! 

The following suggestions will help you lower fat, salt, sugar and calories, as well as increase the fiber in your diet:

If your recipe calls for: all-purpose flour

Try substituting: whole-wheat flour for half of the called-for all-purpose flour in baked goods. Note: whole-wheat pastry flour is less dense and works well in softer products like cakes and muffins.

- Instead of bacon, substitute Canadian bacon, turkey bacon, smoked turkey or lean prosciutto (Italian ham).

- Instead of butter, shortening or oil in baked goods, substitute applesauce or prune puree for half of the called-for butter, shortening or oil. Note: To avoid dense, soggy or flat baked goods, don't substitute oil for butter or shortening.

- Instead of butter, margarine, shortening or oil to prevent sticking, substitute cooking spray.

- Instead of creamed soups, substitute fate-free milk-based soups, mashed potato flakes, or pureed carrots, potatoes or tofu for thickening agents.

- Dry bread crumbs? Try rolled oats or crushed bran cereal. 

- Eggs? Try two egg whites or 1/4 cup egg substitute for each whole egg. 

- Enriched pasta? Whole wheat pasta.

- Evaporated milk? Evaporated skim milk.

- Fruit canned in heavy syrup? Fruit canned in its own juice or in water. Or, better yet, fresh or frozen fruit. 

- Fruit-flavored or fruit-on-the-bottom yogurt? Plain low- or non-fat yogurt with fresh (or frozen, thawed) fruit. Need a little sweetening? Add a touch of natural calorie free sweetener and a couple drops of vanilla.

- Cream cheese? Fat-free or low-fat cream cheese, Neufchatel or low-fat cottage cheese pureed until smooth. Note: I find the fat-free cream cheese rather tasteless, and much prefer the Neufchatel cheese (sold in the dairy case right there with the cream cheese). 

- Sour cream? Fat-free or low-fat sour cream, plain fat-free or low-fat yogurt. 

- Ground beef? Extra-lean or lean ground beef, chicken or turkey breast (make sure no poultry skin has been added to the product).

- Iceberg lettuce? Mixed spring greens, arugula, chicory, collard greens, dandelion greens, kale, mustard greens, spinach or watercress. Note: iceberg lettuce has virtually no nutritional value.

- Mayonnaise? Reduced-calorie mayonnaise-type salad dressing or reduced-calorie, reduced-fat mayonnaise. 

- Meat as the main ingredient? Three times as many vegetables as the meat on pizzas on in casseroles, soups and stews.

- Oil-based marinades? Wine, balsamic vinegar, fruit juice or fat-free broth.

- Salad dressing? Fat-free or reduced-calorie dressing or flavored vinegars.

- Seasoning salt, such as garlic salt, celery salt or onion salt? Herb-only seasonings, such as garlic powder, celery seed or onion flakes, or use finely chopped herbs or garlic, celery or onions. 

- Soy sauce? Sweet-and-sour sauce (but this can be high in sugar), hot mustard sauce, or low-sodium soy sauce. 

- Syrup? Pureed fruit, such as applesauce, berries, or low-calorie, sugar-free syrup.

- Table salt? Herbs, spices, fruit juices or salt-free seasoning mixes or herb blends.

- White bread? Whole-wheat bread.

- White rice? Brown rice, wild rice, bulgur or pearl barley.

- Whole milk? Reduced-fat or fat-free milk.

Information found at www.mayoclinic.com

A Pain in My Heart

I'm sitting here watching Oprah. Normally telling you that wouldn't be a part of the blog, but today's show is about overweight teens -- seriously overweight teens. Hearing them tell their stories grabs my heart and twists it -- the pain these young people are living with every day has become who they are. Their obesity has become their identity. Their reality. Their anguish can be felt through the TV screen as they relate how they feel about themselves and how society, as a whole, seems to feel about them. Many of them are, for the first time in their lives, beginning to understand that this isn't just about eating. It's about understanding why they have eaten, and continue to eat, to the point of endangering their health -- both physical and mental. Hopefully it will be about teaching them to change those patterns. I feel their pain, even though my weight problem would seem trivial in comparison to theirs. The feelings are the same.

Emotional eating. I did it most of my life. You feel bad about yourself or about something that has happened, so you eat and feel better. It's an area you think you're controlling, but really, it's controlling you. Food comforts you, if only for a time. Then you are disgusted with yourself for eating without thinking about what you're actually putting in your mouth, and gaining more weight. So you mindlessly eat something and feel better -- until you stop to think about it again. And then... well, you get the idea. I think perhaps I learned this from my father. He was well over 300 pounds for most of his life, until he died when he was 60 years old. He was a very unhappy person -- I saw a side of him that not many people saw. He didn't like himself much.

We must learn to be more responsible about our health and our habits. We need to understand how our eating is affecting our health, as well as being aware of what we are teaching our children by our example. Food should never be our best friend -- our comfort zone -- our safe place. As I write these words, I realize that describes what our relationship with the Lord is meant to be. How odd. How sad. How enlightening.

Bob's Update

I know you're on the edge of your chair waiting to find out what we ended up doing about our Bob Evans breakfast this morning. I ordered Egg Lites (like Egg Beaters) a la carte and a cup of oatmeal with some chopped pecans. I also had decaf coffee. My husband had two eggs, over easy, and one multi-grain pancake. The waitress misunderstood my order and brought a bowl of oatmeal instead of a cup, so my husband ate half of that, too. 

It worked for both of us. We were each full enough to be satisfied, without the mega calories and fat. We will definitely do this again, instead of the 733 calorie omelet with 53 grams of fat. 

Investigate and be informed about what you and your family are eating. Not all restaurants provide nutritional information, but many do. Look around their websites (you may have to look hard). You can also take a look at the Eat This! Not That! books to get an idea of just what it is you've been eating. You will be amazed. And not in a good way.

Supersize Me Facts

If you recall, I recommended a DVD called Supersize Me last week. I advised that there are certain things in the movie that make it unsuitable for children. I still highly recommend that you, as a responsible adult and as a parent, view this movie, but want to make you aware of the 'red flags'. I went to a website that pointed out the questionable scenes:

- We see Morgan getting a rectal exam, although a black bar is superimposed over his bare butt. 

- During Morgan's "Last Supper" [this is his last healthy meal before he begins his month-long fast food only diet] at his apartment there is artwork on the wall of a bare-chested woman.

- Morgan's girlfriend briefly discusses the effects of their sex life because of the diet.

- There are a few scenes depicting stomach reduction surgery.

- A chicken's head is cut off (animated). An animated clip shows a chicken getting skinned, butchered, and compressed into nuggets.

- We see Morgan getting several blood tests.

- Contains occasional profanity, including one use of the word f***.

- Some mild references to alcohol/drugs/smoking.

- There is a disturbing medical procedure.

- Morgan vomits after eating a 'supersized' meal and the camera zooms in on it. 

So, if you can deal with all that, watch the movie. It will open your eyes to the way we, as a nation -- and, more importantly, our children -- are being affected by the fast food industry. It's not a pretty picture. And I'm not just talking about the vomit scene.

Going to Bob's

My hubby and I are off to Bob Evans again. Some habits are hard to break. My plan is to order scrambled eggs a la carte and a cup of oatmeal with some pecans thrown in. I won't use the brown sugar -- I'll use the natural no cal sweetener I carry in my purse*, and just a little bit of milk. I may have to go with the 1/2 omelet, though, if Dan has his heart set on that. I'll just have to cut calories later in the day.

*My daughter, Lindsey, was always after me to stop using Splenda -- or any other artificial sweetener, for that matter. For the past year or so I have been using NuNaturals White Stevia Powder instead. There are other brands, but I'm satisfied with this one for now (I understand other brands come in liquid form, too, which I may try sometime). The back of the box states: NuNaturals uses our special, highly concentrated Stevia extract, NuStevia, from which the bitterness of the extract has been removed...  Maltodextrin [the added ingredient] is a carbohydrate derived from corn, added to make measuring easier...  NuStevia is a natural plant extract. I like the way this sweetener tastes, and use less than 1/8 of a teaspoon (this is an estimate -- I don't carry around measuring spoons) for a cup of coffee. I carefully fold down the top of the packet when I'm done with it, because it still has enough for two or three more cups of coffee. So now I'm happy, and my daughter is, too.  :-)

Investigative Eating

My husband and I enjoy going out for breakfast on the weekends. We rarely go out for lunch or dinner, but always for breakfast on the weekend. To be more frugal with money and calories, we have gotten into the habit of ordering a Turkey and Spinach Omelet plate at Bob Evans and splitting it. This works out well. We each get half of the omelet and a biscuit, and he gets the home fries. Since The Biggest Winner began, I've opted out of the biscuit and just have the 1/2 omelet. 

Since I didn't have school today, we decided to go for a late morning Turkey and Spinach Omelet. Since I've been keeping a food log of everything I eat (and yes, I'm keeping up with it every day), I decided to look at the Bob Evans website when I got home for the nutritional information. I thought we were making a fairly healthy choice. Hoo boy -- are we ever going to talk when he gets home tonight. We need a new game plan. 

The omelet alone is 733 calories. True, we split that -- but that's not all. It has 53 grams of fat, 861 grams of cholesterol, and -- get ready -- 2184 grams of sodium. And that's not even counting the biscuits and home fries my husband is eating. I started scanning through the other breakfast items, and there are a few choices we can work with. But not many. 

My husband has come to depend on me to tell him what the "smart" choices are on the menu when we go out to eat. I have a feeling I'm going to be cooking more weekend breakfasts at home -- which is fine. I like cooking, and he likes what I make. We will still go out to eat, but maybe not as often. And definitely with our eyes (but not necessarily our mouths) wide open. 

This is my challenge to you -- take a look at the nutritional information for the places you tend to eat when you go out. I'm not telling you what to eat -- just to be aware of exactly what you are eating. 

Supersize Me... NOT!

Have you heard of a movie called Supersize Me? We rented the DVD, and I was just watching it. I think I'm going to buy it, as a matter of fact. If you haven't seen this movie, I highly recommend that you rent it. I would say the whole family should watch it, but there is some language and at least one adult reference that, in my opinion, makes it inappropriate for children. The information will prove invaluable to you, as a parent -- as one of the people who provides food for your children now and, directly or indirectly, teaches them eating habits that they will likely carry with them throughout their lives. 

Let me say that I recommend the portion of the movie that I've seen. I'm going to have to wait to see the end, because the DVD we rented seems to be defective. The information that I did see, however, is definitely eye-opening. Not a whole lot of new info for me, but presented in a way that makes it hard to ignore the consequences of what we put in our bodies.