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Sometimes you just have to eat something sweet. It is more apt to happen during the dark days of winter when your brain is yearning for carbohydrates to make you feel less grumpy and tired. But the call from a sweet tooth can come at any time. What should the dieter or the person trying not to gain weight do? Why give in, of course. Giving in can be perfectly compatible with losing weight and probably will make the next day's dieting even easier. As long as the sweet is portion controlled, relatively low in fat and eaten in a relaxed guilt-free manner, there is no reason not to indulge. Obviously people with diabetes can't indulge their sweet craving because such foods may put too much demand on their insulin needs. But for just about everyone else, eating a small, l50 calorie sweet snack even on a daily basis is not going to trigger diabetes, especially if the snack is part of a healthy diet. However, not all snacks are equally effective in satisfying the sweet tooth without impairing weight loss. Having watched a Food Network program on baking Christmas cookies, I realized that none of those butter-filled goodies would make it onto the A list for allowable snacks unless one had to gain 15 or 20 pounds in a big hurry. Chocolates are also off the list (alas), along with chocolate-nut confections, gourmet ice cream, doughnuts, cakes and pies. These foods can taste wonderful but they contain more fat calories than sweet calories and should be thought of as cups of melted butter with added sugar. Still, there is no reason for despair. There are a few chocolate-flavored breakfast cereals that contain practically no fat. A cup of these cereals contains fewer calories than half a Snicker's bar. You can also enjoy a cup of fat-free hot cocoa topped with a marshmallow. Heated fat-free fudge sauce poured on reduced fat frozen yogurt or ice cream is enough to make your sweet tooth cry for mercy. So will honey drizzled on cinnamon toast. Meringues, nearly fat-free and so sweet that it is hard to eat more than a couple at a time, are available in a variety of flavors from vanilla to chocolate chip, And don't forget the s'mores. They are not just for summertime. Marshmallows heated, spread with fat-free fudge sauce and smooshed between graham crackers (get out the napkins) is also an incredibly sweet treat. Finally, if you love to bake but are afraid to do so because of the temptation to eat what you made, check out low-fat recipes on the Web. There are countless versions of brownies, fudge, chocolate cake, apple pies and chocolate chip cookies. Just remember to count the broken bits when you measure out your snack portion and you will be fine. | permalink | related link |   ( 3.1 / 26 )"I am so tired" seems to be the mantra for December. People feel as if they are dragging their bodies around like a large sack of potatoes, and even a good night's sleep does not seem to relieve the continuous fatigue. Part of the tiredness can be due to unaccustomed physical activity. If you have been spending every other day shoveling snow, chipping the ice off of your car and sidewalk, and lugging bags of salt to coat your steps, you are aware of your exhausted arms and legs. And the added holiday tasks of cleaning, cooking, decorating, carrying home boxes and bags of gifts or groceries is also justification for physical fatigue. But you may also seem to find it difficult to be mentally energetic and emotionally "bouncy." If you rate tour upbeat moods of the late spring and summer as a 9 or 10, right now they probably tend to hover around 3-4 on a mood scale. Darkness early in the afternoon and well into the early hours of morning has a great deal to do with this. The absence of light does a job on your brains by limiting the activity of serotonin, the "good mood" chemical. Fatigue is a symptom of both depression and lack of serotonin. Interestingly, it is one of the most common symptoms produced by the short days of late fall and winter. But there are other reasons as well. Stress can leave you feeling overwhelmingly tired, and the season is abundant in stress triggers. In addition to the hardships imposed by the terrible weather conditions across much of the country, there is the stress of getting through the holiday season. Just finding a place to park in an overcrowded shopping mall. or having to wait in an endless line to pay for your purchases, is enough to make you feel stressed—assuming you were fortunate enough to actually find the gifts you were looking for. Combine this with the round of social obligations, visits from relatives, eating and drinking too much, little or no exercise and too little sleep and it is no wonder that " I am so tired" sums up this month. Fortunately, you do not have to take drastic measures such as moving to the Southern Hemisphere or stay in bed for the month to feel less tired. These simple suggestions will give you energy and remove the exhaustion caused by both physical and mental stress. · Make good food choices. Stop eating high-fat foods that leave your brain feeling as if it is stuffed with cotton and your body encased in lead. Try to eat more vegetables, fruit, very low-fat dairy products, and lean protein. If you are not going to prepare these foods at home, go to your supermarket, load up on vegetables (without salad dressing) at the salad bar, stop at the deli counter to pick up a roasted chicken and get some cottage cheese and milk from the dairy case. Buy some quick cooking oatmeal for breakfast and microwavable brown rice for dinner and you are on your way to boosting your body's energy. · Watch the alcohol. Drinking too much will disturb your sleep and leave you even more tired the next day. But do drink more water. Being dehydrated will also make you feel tired and if you are shoveling snow, you are probably sweating inside those layers of clothes. So rehydrate yourself. · If you haven't shoveled snow take 10 minutes from the day for some vigorous exercise. Jump rope, get on that treadmill, do pushups, climb stairs rapidly—anything to get your heart beating. Increasing your heart rate increases blood flow to your brain and flushes away exhaustion. Boost your calming comforting fatigue-combating serotonin levels. Every afternoon around 4, sit down with about some graham crackers, pretzels, popcorn, toasted cinnamon raisin bread, rice crackers, or sweet crunchy cereal and snack. If you like, drink a cup of tea, decaffeinated coffee or fat-free hot chocolate with it. In about 20 minutes the digested carbohydrate will make your brain cells synthesize new serotonin and you will feel your stress drifting off and your good mood coming back. Do these small things every day and you will find yourself saying, " I feel great." | permalink | related link | ( 3.1 / 43 )to me recently. "Why is it that their broccoli, string beans and carrots are gobbled down and at home, left untouched on the plate?" According to a recent article in The Wall Street Journal, it could be because Asian cooking incorporates ingredients that render foods really tasty and savory. This sensation, which appears to the fifth basic taste (the others are sweet, sour, bitter and salty), is called umami (pronounced u ma me). Described in Japan about a hundred years ago, umami is tasted whenever you eat a rich chicken soup or a perfectly cooked piece of beef. It is also possible to make foods such as vegetables trigger the same happy taste response on the tongue. A naturally occurring amino acid called glutamine stimulates the umami taste buds. Chinese chefs often add MSG or monosodium glutamate in their dishes. This additive adds a savory flavor to foods such as string beans that do not have it naturally and enhances the chicken flavor of soups. Because it is such a major flavoring agent in Chinese cooking, Asian grocery stores sell it in one-pound packages for home use. So it is no mystery why broccoli, or a medley of mushrooms, Chinese greens and onions, taste so much better in a Chinese restaurant than when you microwave a frozen version of the same combination at home. However, the problem with sprinkling pure MSG onto vegetables is that MSG contains a lot of sodium. Also, some people experience an allergic response when they eat large quantities. Glutamine is found in abundance in your body as well as in many foods. The Journal article mentions chefs throughout the United States who use foods rich in glutamine to add the umami taste to their foods. Some of them are surprisingly common. Ketchup, soy sauce, Parmesan cheese, dried mushrooms, anchovies, and red wine are rich sources of this amino acid. Try some of their techniques at home. Sprinkling steamed vegetables or a baked potato with powdered beef or chicken broth, which contains small amounts of MSG, gives them a savory flavor. Make a dipping sauce for vegetables by cooking equal amounts of soy sauce, ketchup and rice wine vinegar for a few minutes. Add a tiny amount of sugar at the end. The umami taste of this sauce coating lightly steamed vegetables may induce even the most "I hate vegetable" individual to eat some. Add grated Parmesan cheese or sautéed mushrooms to steamed rice or pasta to perk up the taste of these bland carbohydrates. These glutamine-rich ingredients won't turn the humble vegetable into a sizzling steak but your taste buds may not know the difference. | permalink | related link |  ( 2.9 / 21 )A number of people on our online community forum have brought up these nifty spray products with barely any calories like butter and salad dressing and now I see why they're so enthusiastic: I recently tried the I can't believe it's butter spray and I now spray it on bread, bagels, and vegetables (brussel sprouts were delicious with the spray). It's wonderfully creamy, sweet, and salty. They were great on my roasted potatoes last night for dinner: to make them, first I coated the potatoes with some olive oil non-stick cooking spray and placed them in a pyrex dish, liberally salted them, and put them in a 450 degree oven. Then I completely forgot about them while giving the kids a bath and going through the bedtime routine so the potatoes cooked for nearly two hours. I thought they'd be shriveled and black by then. But not at all: they sort of carmelized and become wonderfully sweet and soft inside a crispy, salty skin made even more scrumptious with the "I can't believe it's butter" spray. Another spray I used was on my salad: the Wish-Bone Caesar Delight Vinaigrette salad spritzer. Surprisingly good and I hardly needed more than a few sprays as the strong taste came through very well. I'm going to try the others, like Asian Silk and Raspberry Bliss vinaigrette, next. You don't have to eat every food you see in a supermarket. In fact, it's OK to have the same basic foods every day just like you probably stick to the same basic wardrobe most of the time. Spritz salad dressing and butter spray are like jewelry, shoes, handbags, and scarves: accents that keep things interesting while being predictable and comfortable so you don't have to think too hard. Now that's a recipe for success! | permalink | related link | ( 2.9 / 22 )Although I strive for a wholesome diet full of real foods in their natural state (organic and locally grown are certainly a plus), I certainly do not shy away completely from candy, sorbet, sugar in my coffee, and white versions of rice, potatoes, bread, or pasta. I even keep a few butterscotch candy discs by my computer because somehow I have a pavlovian response to my computer that makes me want to eat sweets - those candies are perfect for damage control, but that's another story altogether. For a variety of reasons, many choose to follow a low glycemic index diet because it usually includes many wholesome, whole grain foods. But not always, so choose carefully (ice cream has a lower glycemic index than carrots). I recently saw a reference in Oprah magazine for a great web site called GlycemicIndex.com (http://glycemicindex.com). On the site, you can find loads of information (it's an Australian site). Whole wheat bread and pasta, brown rice, barley, steel-cut oats, fiber-fortified products, and sweet potatoes and squash are all wonderful components of any diet, and will work beautifully to boost your serotonin levels. Enjoy, and as with anything in life, balance is key. | permalink | related link | ( 2.9 / 19 )Back Next |
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