St Patricks Day Foods and Radio Show

Happy late St. Patricks Day to everyone!  Kevin and I spent our weekend running errands around town and celebrating just the two of us.  It was a nice change of pace from usually hanging out with friends.  We are currently preparing for our move on Wednesday, but our apartment leases overlap by a little over a week, so (thankfully) we can take our time for the most part.  First things first, we are moving in our couch (which was the reason we were moving in the first place), and I am so excited to get to relax on it!

In other fun news: I was on a local radio station in Spokane last Friday, and was inducted as listener #1914.  I have been listening to this same talk show on and off since I was in junior high, so to be able to be on it was so much fun!   I tried to download my audio clip onto this post for you guys to hear, but Blogger was not havin it.  For the segment I discussed with them a little about me, which included what I do for a living, what I do for fun (watch movies), and my claim to fame, this blog.  For the claim to fame I explained that I blog about the Nutritarian lifestyle, which is recommended by Dr. Fuhrman, who was on the Dr. Oz show last week.  Here is the new listener poem that Molly made me (think Irish accent):

"Top of the Mornin and good day to ye,

We welcome a young Amy.

Married to Kevin you be,

And makin your way through movies you must see.

Youre a Project Assistant diddly-di,

And a graduate of U-High.

Your fame claim includes Dr. Oz and a blog too,

It wouldnt be right if I didnt mention poo.

There you go, of the poem theres no more,

But I have a number for you, its 1-9-1-4."

This was definitely the highlight of my week, and I even won some tickets to go see the new Oz movie that is out.  Hopefully Kevin and I will get to use it sometime this week.  Thanks again to Dave, Ken, and Molly for having me on!  It was such a blast!

Now onto my recipe for the week.... I attempted to make Corned Lentils and Cabbage on Saturday in honor of the holiday, and ended up with a pretty tasty cabbage stew.  My pictures were a bit rushed since Kevin and I were busy this weekend, but just know that this recipe is yummier than it looks.... and it uses beer, and if that isnt sticking to the Irish holiday, I dont know what is!

Ingredients:

• 3-5 medium red potatoes, washed and cut into large chunks
• 2 celery stalks, halved and sliced
• 3 carrots, peeled and sliced
• 1 large onion, roughly chopped
• 1 +1/2 cups lentils, rinsed
• 1 small head of green cabbage, chopped into smaller wedges
• 1 packet of corned beef spices (a combo of pickling spices including coriander, cloves, cinnamon, red pepper, black pepper, bay leaves, mustard seeds, etc.)
• 1- 12oz. bottle of dark beer (brown or porter)
• 2 Tbsp yellow mustard
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1+ cup water

Directions:

1. To a crockpot, add the prepped potatoes, celery, onion, and carrots.
2. On top of the various veggies, layer the lentils.
3. Sprinkle the corned beef spices over the lentils.
4. Pour the beer evenly over the pot.
5. Add in the mustard and gently mix.
6. Add the 1/4 cup brown sugar to 1 cup water and mix until mostly dissolved.  Pour over the crockpot contents and mix until combined.
7. Cover and let cook on low for 5 hours, stirring occasionally if possible, and add more water if the pot is getting too dry.
8. After 5 hours, add the chopped cabbage up to the brim of the crockpot.  Cover and let cook on high for 1-2 hours (or low for 3-4), or until the cabbage is well wilted, but not mushy.  Make sure to stir occasionally (this will get easier nearing the end of cooking).
9. Serve hot with bread, over barley, or plain.  Some like traditional corned beef and cabbage served with with mustard.

Amys Notes:

• If you dont have a packet of corned beef spices handy, feel free to improvise with what sounds good in the example above.
• This makes quite a lot, so be prepared for leftovers!  I made much of my leftovers into corned lentil and cabbage bundle bread rolls, but it could also be great in a casserole.
• I enjoyed my corned lentils and cabbage with dejon mustard, and thought it tasted great!

What Irish foods did you try over the weekend?

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Foods To Avoid At All Costs

There are literally hundreds of thousands of diet books on the market today. Most of them will give you tips on a certain type of diet. One of the most ridiculous is the Atkins diet. At the same time I was trying to lose 20 pounds, my brother in law was trying to lose about 80 pounds. He went on the Atkins diet before it became well known and insisted that this was the way to go. What happened is that he not only didn’t lose the weight, but his cholesterol level shot up. I, on the other hand, lost the weight.

There is no doctor on this Earth who is going to tell you to only eat certain food groups. Fruits and vegetables are good for you and provide nutrients and anti-oxidants that your body needs. While I was eating a sensible diet to lose 20 pounds, my brother in law was consuming Italian sausage without bread and insisting that this was the way to lose weight. That whole concept never made any sense to me then and it still doesn’t now. As a matter of fact, sausage is one of the things that you need to avoid when you are trying to lose weight. It is loaded with fat.

The one thing that the Atkins diet did allow me to be aware of, however, was how refined sugars can affect your diet. In the past, if I wanted to take off 5 vanity pounds at the end of winter, I usually skipped taking sugar in my coffee. I was able to lose 5 pounds a week with this just this method alone. I knew sugar added to weight gain as my mother often would talk about candy being “empty calories” in her attempts to lose weight. The Atkins diet brought this to the forefront. I know what works for me as well as my friends who I recommended this diet to. And that means eliminating all of the following foods from your diet:

Fast foods

A Big Mac has over 500 calories. A medium order of fries has about 400 calories and a coke has 200 calories. Do the math - that is 1100 calories for lunch. Think it’s a good idea to super size it?

Fast foods such as fried chicken, pizza and especially fries, should be avoided at all costs when you are trying to lose weight. Most fast foods are not only loaded with fat, but with sodium as well, which allows your body to retail water. They are no good for you. And this includes the Sub sandwiches as well, that are made with processed meats. Pack a lunch from home. If you do eat out, grab a salad. Not a salad that is laced with fried chicken, either. One that is vegetables and perhaps broiled chicken. Use a low fat or no fat dressing.

Above all, skip the fries. These are probably the most devastating to any diet. They offer very little nutritional value, do not really fill you up and are loaded with calories, sodium and fat. For the three weeks that you are on this diet to lose 20 pounds, make a pact with yourself to eat at home or at least bring meals from home. Remember that you are watching your calories and cannot go over your limit. Splurging on fast food may very well put you at the limit for the entire day.

Fried Foods

Everything tastes good when deep-fried. In some parts of the world, they deep fry coach roaches and people eat them. And they probably taste good, too. Country singer and actress, Reba McIntyre, has been known to say that “if it ain’t fried, it ain’t food.” While this sounds charming coming from this petite woman, it does not sound good coming from someone who is morbidly obese. Yes, fried food does taste good. It is also filling and cheap. But it just isn’t good for you and is loaded with fat and calories. Skip any type of fried food when you are on this diet.

Processed Foods

This includes sausage, lunchmeat and hot dogs, all of which are processed meats. You should also exclude processed cheeses from this diet. Processed foods are simply not good for you - period. They are also high in calories and can ruin your diet. Skip the lunchmeat and replace it with chicken or meat that you make yourself. For example, you can make a meatloaf and slice it very thin for a sandwich instead of having processed meats. It is healthier for you and lower in calories.

Cheese is loaded with fat, but it is also loaded with vitamins that are essential for your health. Real cheese is good for you - processed cheese offers very little by way of nutrition. You want to have a certain amount of dairy in your diet, so real cheese is a better choice than processed cheese. Remember to count your calories.

Frozen Foods

All of those pre-packaged frozen entrees that are made with the diet conscious person in mind should be avoided. They are loaded with sodium. Make your own food - it won’t kill you to do this for two weeks. Broil up some chicken breasts and fish on Sunday and make them part of your meals for the week. Boil some hard-boiled eggs and use them. Skip the frozen foods as they may promise lower calories, but have a high sodium content.

Condiments

Mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, salt, barbeque sauce, salad dressing - all of these have calories that are not taken into account when you are dieting. If you must use condiments in your meals, make sure they are low in fat. Ketchup and mustard are not too bad when used in moderation, but mayonnaise is a killer. It’s loaded with fat. If you use any of these condiments, be aware of the calories contained and use them by the teaspoon. Skip the salt entirely.

Sweets

Cakes, cookies, pastries, donuts, candy - all empty calories. No nutritional value and will leave you feeling hungry. They are a total waste of time and can wreck your diet. If you need to have something sweet to top off your meal, as some people do, then have something like a mint or a small piece of hard candy. A square of dark chocolate will do as well. Be sure to count this in with your calorie intake.

All of these foods are part of the family of “simple carbohydrates.” You have probably heard about the no carbohydrate diets (Atkins is one, the South Beach Diet is another). They are correct in advising people not to eat sweets as they do not stay in your system long enough to offer any nutritional value, are hard on your digestive tract and are quickly absorbed as fat. Where the no carbohydrate diets get it wrong is to lump in all carbohydrates, such as vegetables and fruits, that do have nutritional value.

Fruits can easily be substituted for cake when you want something sweet. Try eating an apple instead of candy after dinner and you will see that this will satisfy your craving for dessert. On top of that, the apple is loaded with nutrients.

By avoiding fast foods, fried foods, processed foods, frozen foods, condiments and sweets, you can expect to lose weight. If, by any chance, you “fall off the wagon” and have a piece of birthday cake, don’t beat yourself up. Have just a bite or two of the cake and then go right back on the diet. The secrets that I am sharing with you to allow you to lose 20 pounds in three weeks has a margin of error. Don’t beat yourself up if you make a mistake. But at the same time, you have to be aware of your calorie intake and what foods you need to avoid.

Tomorrow Ill be posting the next part of my system: Watch What You Drink

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Foods in weeks what is it 6 and 6 5

So I finally have time to talk a little about food... Yes, I am not using "diet" on purpose right now, as...  well I wasnt so good following Tracys diet in the past 2 weeks. All the roller-coaster of life started in the end of Week 5. Which was already past 30-day-diet-trial-period I set for myself from the start. I have to say, I almost arrived at my desired weight, so now I am concentrating more on keeping it and not gaining more. Though I would still not mind to lose another 1-2 kilos. But... well, I had some things going on, so it was pretty hard to stick to the diet to the T. 

In the end of week 5 (Nutrient Boost...) my sweetheart was visiting from Prague - and hey I just cant resist going for a nice dinner out with him (or two! :D) So we again went to the wonderful Le Gril place on the Weser river bank (definitely recommended to anyone visiting Bremen!!!) - I tried to stick to the grill and salad, and nothing more, and as before Le Gril didnt disappoint us - it was yummy-amazing! :)

With a little bit of dry Martini... romantic atmosphere... great company... What else do you need?!

Beef steak and some salad

Breakfasts - I decided to stick to a sort of Body Reset Weeks breakfasts: with eggs and fruits. A little variation of this - with some cheese and tomato on the side... And sweetheart loved it too - wonderful huh? I find it really great when the loved ones support you and you may not change only your own life, but get into more healthier habits the people around you. Everyone can do without breads, but fruits and veggies are vital. Here we go...

Poached eggs, cheese, tomatoes, pineapple. Some green tea with mint as well - but not on the picture. Great start of the day!

The next day we dined in a nice traditional restaurant situated directly in the Bremen Town Hall!!! Just for a side remark - Town Hall is THE building in Bremen, originally built in 1410 (YES, Bremen is THAT old - and even older!!!).  A huge basement-located restaurant, the wine was AMAZING! Ratskeller (in German the name of those basement places in Town Halls - directly can be translated as something like "council basement or cellar") have traditionally stored lots of different wines, and the one in Bremen apparently have  had one of the biggest collections!  German wine is not that bad, people! Thats a great discovery! Since that  time I already brought a visitor there for some wine and cheese. Very nice! 

Great red wine... 

Cant say that the food offered a lot of healthy choices though. Well, its traditional German and North-German-Bremish cuisine, so a lot of dishes with something fried and deep-fried (which is a definite and absolute no-go for me - anywhere I go, and was long before TA). The menu is though very tradition and impressive, quite a few vegetarian dishes and cheeses, and they offer their suggestions of wines for all dishes - which I think is a great help :)! But - oh well - I did take something not so healthy, but it was pretty good, and nothing fried (phew!).

Some backed meat with celery-potato mash and some backed carrots and parsnip. Not that bad, but - I know, I know - not very "diet-ish"... :)

In week 6 I did relatively well. Did the normal Body Reset Week with eggs for breakfast, some chicken or tuna for dinner, lots of fruit and veg, one protein bar a day, and topped it up with more fruit and a little bit of nuts if I was hungry. As I was busy with driving school and other things, couldnt start the TA week 7 properly (will try to do so next week - we will see how it goes), so this week I am somewhat repeating week 6, with adding a little more food and nutrients. Also, have some cheese, but still sticking to lots of fresh fruit and veg. My breakfast for example one day:

Some Edam cheese, olives, tomato and rucola. Yum!!!

So I call the current week "Week 6.5" - as I am still trying to eat little and somewhat follow the week 6 diet, but add some changes. The most important point: keep it healthy! I love the feeling of lightness and energy I get from all the fruits I eat. I am seriously starting to think of getting a juicer finally to get some power juices going! May be this month.

OK, talking about all this food made me pretty hungry. So Im gonna go do the MS and have a dinner. Have a great day everyone, and keep it healthy! Remember to listen to your own body, and dont forget - your well-being is most important, so if you really really want a chocolate, have some (dont torture yourself!). And simply kick it up a notch in the DC! :)

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