South Beach Blah

My husband told me a few weeks ago that he had a desire to start eating healthy because Rite Aid's blood pressure machine told him he was 'pre-hypertensive'. I immediately thought of South Beach, since the diet was originally created for people with heart ailments, so I started making weekly menus based on phase 1(for myself) and phase 2 (for my hubby). Phase 1 was very successful for me. I lost 7 lbs in 2 weeks. My husband started feeling better in general, so I continued cooking SB meals, weaning myself off of phase 1. Unfortunately, I've gained most of the 7 lbs back, so I guess maybe South Beach in its entirety really isn't a good fit for me. I'm starting to realize that maybe I have to count carbs as well. Overall, I think I might be over South Beach, because nothing but phase 1 works for me. And I'm not going to live life eating like that.

Just in time for me to start planning mostly low carb meals, my 3 new low carb cookbooks arrived today! These are going to be soo much more helpful (assuming  the recipes are actually decent without too many changes). The main reason I can't live off of phase 1 is because there are only so many recipes for it in the SB cookbooks. These 3 new cookbooks are packed with so many more side dishes and snacks! I can't wait to try them all. This isn't an actual review of the books, since I won't be cooking from them til next week. So watch out for that post.

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Posted in: low-carb,south beach

Menu for the Week - 9/23/2010

I forgot to post my menu for last week coz I've been so busy with work. It's not a big deal though, it was pretty boring because I still had a lot of the ingredients from the week before, so there weren't a lot of new dishes. I'm moving on to Phase 2 now, and if you see anything that's made with flour it's probably made with whole wheat or 10 grain flour (anything with a decent amount of fiber). Phase 2 also allows for brown rice and fruits, although at this time I'm not including a lot of fruits in the menu. I'm limiting myself to 1 carb-heavy meal per day (such as pancakes or rice).

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AuZCIl3H85D3dHRFZHBTUm9LUWt0dVZHMlR1X2I1ZUE&hl=en&authkey=CJLx4cEL

I'm very excited to try the boeuf bourguignonne (and my new Le Creuset dutch oven)!

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Posted in: low-carb,menu for the week,south beach

My Office Neighborhood is AWESOME... When I'm Not Dieting

The area around my office is overflowing with amazing restaurants. St Marks (japanese, mediterranean, etc.) is in our backyard, Veselka (eastern european) is a couple of avenues away,  so is Butter Lane cupcakes (one of their cupcakes is the best thing he ever ate according to Ted Allen), Otafuku (japanese street food) is near us as well,  and there are so many other choices if you want to eat great food. Except if you're low-carbing.

I have one go-to cart for when I have to buy a low-carb lunch near the office. It's one of those middle-eastern carts that sell the heavenly "chicken on rice". I usually order the chicken on salad, which isn't as popular but tastes almost as good.
I didn't cook last night for today's lunch because I realized I'm going to be in CT all weekend therefore whatever I cook will just go to waste. Of course, because it sells one of the few decent low-carb options here, the cart disappeared today. Lucky me. I detest salads, so I ordered a $15 salmon meal from a deli. I asked for just vegetables to go with it. The lady kept asking me if I wanted potatoes, or rice, or bread with it. She asked about the bread three times. I wanted to wanted to say "Please don't ask me again because the next time I might just have to say yes." but I didn't. The salmon was pretty bland, and I'm not sure why I even ordered the vegetables because I hate squash. I probably should have gone to Cozy for a low-carb burger platter but I didn't feel like having that (stupid, stupid). Please come back, cart!!

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Posted in: low-carb,south beach,why i hate dieting

Low-Carbing for the Nth Time

It's been about a month since my wedding. Around that time I was more or less 113 lbs. After post-wedding binging and a 7-day cruise, I am currently at 120.8 lbs. *sigh* I figured it was time to either go back to Jenny Craig, or time to take out my South Beach Diet cookbooks yet again. After consulting with my husband and a bit of persuasion from my low-carbing and karaoke buddy Katie, I went with the South Beach cookbooks. Michael convinced me it was better to be more in charge of my food options. So, here I am starting South Beach Phase 1.

Phase 1 is basically a very low-carb, low-fat diet. I cheat a little bit with bacon or mayo sometimes, but it's better to add those every once in awhile rather than eating white bread or things full of sugar. It's the strictest phase of the diet and lasts about 2 weeks. I generally last until the weekend when Michael asks if I want Indian food. :) It's been years since I actually got through 2 weeks bad-carb and sugar free. Here's to hoping!

The original SB book had menus for every phase. When I started it for the first time I followed the menu religiously. Since then I've realized it's very boring and unrealistic. First of all, I can't make a different dish for every single meal and snack of every day. That'd be a full-time job. So I now make several servings of 4-5 entrees for the week (breakfast is usually pretty easy so I don't count that). It also helps that I have 2 other South Beach cookbooks and plenty of recipes I can tweak online.

Here's my menu for the week starting tomorrow:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AuZCIl3H85D3dGhfQk8wb0xYV1BWQVg0N3p1WWZlOWc&hl=en&authkey=COef9_UB

Technically today was my first day low-carbing. I'm proud to say I went to Olive Garden with Katie and DIDN'T HAVE THE BREADSTICKS. But since I didn't really follow a menu, I'm not counting it. This weekend should be a challenge too since we're trying out our raclette grill (a gift from my aunt) with Michael's family. I guess the cheese will just have to go over broccoli instead of potatoes.

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Posted in: low-carb,south beach

Chocolate Peanut Butter Energy Blast

1 tablespoon Hershey's unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon Smart Balance peanut butter
1 cup low-sugar vanilla soymilk
2 packets of Splenda or any other artificial sweetener

Put everything in a blender. Blend on a low setting for about a minute. Enjoy!


There's a breakfast drink in one of the South Beach cookbooks I have called 'Almond Energy Blast'. I was sooo excited to make it last week, since we finally have a blender again. Of course, Peapod didn't deliver either the tofu or almonds (because nothing ever goes my way). After pouting for a couple of minutes, I decided to put peanut butter in instead (Smart Balance supposedly has Omega-3s in there, but you can use any low-sugar variety of peanut butter). I put in some unsweetened cocoa powder as well, just coz it seems right to have chocolate with peanut butter. The result was delicious, and I've been somewhat addicted to it this week. I finished an entire carton of soymilk this week which NEVER happens. It basically tastes like drinking a peanut butter cup.

The 'Energy Blast' in the name is true as well. I had one 30 minutes before a workout, and it really helped me get through it. Usually I'm dying and thinking of quitting halfway through that particular workout. Powered by the drink, I made it 75% of the way before I felt the usual fatigue.

** I just want to add my opinion on soymilk. For anyone who judges it because the word 'soy' is in there, I think you should try it at least once. The healthier milk alternatives, which are usually 1%, 2% or nonfat, actually taste like water to me. Soymilk is soo much creamier.

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Posted in: breakfast recipes,low-carb,low-carb recipes,south beach

Low-Carb Italian Meatloaf

2 lbs ground turkey
1/2 cup pesto (I used the bottled kind)
1/2 cup of crushed almonds
1/2 cup of parmesan cheese
2/3 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes
1 egg
salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Have ready a shallow 11-by-7-inch baking dish (if you don't have this, use whatever you have and just form the meatloaf so that it fits). In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients. Mix gently and thoroughly with your hands. Form the mixture into a rough loaf in the baking dish.
2. Bake until the loaf is firm, the top is richly brown and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center registers 160 degrees F (it was about an hour when I did it, but you'd have to keep checking the first time). Let the loaf stand in the pan for 5-10 minutes before slicing.

I recently had a very bad craving for meatloaf, and found a basic recipe for Italian Meatloaf in a cookbook my soon-to-be-mother-in-law gave me (Simple Suppers by Williams-Sonoma). Unfortunately I am on South Beach Phase 1. Also, I had a lot of ground turkey, and no ground beef and pork (which was called for in the original recipe). So I thought of using the ground turkey obviously, and thought about what could replace breadcrumbs. I put in the parmesan to add a dry ingredient that might help hold the entire thing, but it didn't seem enough. So I put in some crushed almonds as well. It worked out perfectly and was absolutely delicious. I ended up eating this for an entire weekend, which never happens because I hate eating the same thing for consecutive meals. Don't be concerned if the mixture seems a little too wet, as long as it can be formed. It will dry up a bit after it's cooked.

Enjoy!

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Posted in: low-carb,low-carb recipes,meat recipes,recipes,south beach,turkey recipes

Why I'm Not 400 Pounds

I love food. There is rarely an hour that passes in my life when I'm not craving food or thinking about food. If I didn't care about what society thinks, or about living a full, happy and healthy life, I would probably weigh about 400 pounds. Fortunately (or unfortunately, however way you see it), I do care about these things. So I turn to diet and exercise whenever I realize I've gone overboard with my food addiction.

I've been on several diets in my lifetime. Some of these include:

1. The 6 o' clock diet - Eating whatever you want before 6:00 pm and not eating anything after 6:00 pm.
2. South Beach - Too complex for me to summarize here
   
3. No-carb diet - This is basically the version of South Beach Phase 1 in which I delude myself that I can eat all the bacon and butter that I want.
4. Nutrisystem - Pre-packaged, non-frozen, absolutely disgusting food
5. Calorie counting
   
6. Jenny Craig - A calorie-counting program supported by a consultant and pre-packaged food

Most of these have worked for me when I actually had the will-power to enforce them. Out of all these, the two that have really been successful are South Beach Phase 1 and Jenny Craig. I went on Jenny a couple of months ago in order to whip myself into shape for my upcoming wedding. The food was definitely decent (much, much better than Nutrisystem), and having to answer to a consultant every week was definitely helpful. I also loved not having to cook and do dishes all the time. However, I found that it was quite expensive, and also got to be pretty boring after awhile. It also wasn't helping me lose weight fast enough, since I went on several trips this summer and ruined my chance of losing weight slowly by vacation binge-eating. So I've switched back to South Beach Phase 1, which I've gone on about 3 times before. It's not working as fast as I'd hoped it would, but it still will be easier for me to pick dishes when I go out to dinner several times with my family and friends during the weeks leading to the wedding. Expect many posts regarding low-carb food from me this summer.

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Posted in: jenny craig,low-carb,nutrisystem,south beach