The Diet Diva

September 28, 2007 Diet Diary

2007-09-28T19:49:00.000-05:00

Another exciting day on the BRAT diet. This thing is driving me crazy.

Weight: 133 pounds

Breakfast: 2 multi-grain waffles, coffee with sugar-free Coffee-Mate

Morning Snack: None

Lunch: 1 piece of toast, 1 banana

Afternoon Snack: 1 piece of chocolate angel food cake, pedialyte

Dinner: 1 cup of rice, a few small pieces of chicken breast (maybe 1-2 oz.), soy sauce

Evening Snack: None

Exercise: None

September 27, 2007 Diet Diary

2007-09-27T20:27:00.000-05:00

Another exciting day on the BRAT diet. Boo!

Weight: 133 pounds

Breakfast: 2 multi-grain waffles, coffee with sugar-free Coffee-Mate

Morning Snack: None

Lunch: 1 piece of toast, 1/2 cup of applesauce

Afternoon Snack: 1 banana

Dinner: 2 cups of rice, 2 pieces of toast with olive oil

Evening Snack: None

Exercise: None

September 26, 2007 Diet Diary

2007-09-25T13:18:00.000-05:00

Another exciting day on the BRAT diet (though I'm starting to test the limits).

Weight: 132 pounds

Breakfast: 2 multi-grain waffles, coffee with sugar-free Coffee-Mate

Morning Snack: None

Lunch: 1 piece of toast, 1 banana

Afternoon Snack: 2 pieces of toast, 1 CocoaVia bar

Dinner: Brown rice, tilapia, eggplant, mushroom and carrots

Evening Snack: None

Exercise: Walk 2 miles

Ugh! On Being Sick...

2007-09-24T16:23:00.000-05:00

If you've been reading since the start, you know that I was sick for a couple weeks. I was getting a sinus infection, so my doctor put me on antibiotics. If you've taken antibiotics before, you know they can have nasty side effects, which is why I avoid them if at all possible. But I followed my doctor's orders, and took the antibiotics for a week, but was careful to also take probiotics at the same time. (Antibiotics can kill the good bacteria that lives in your gut, and probiotics replace it.) But I've still come down with some gastro-intestinal problems, and after suffering for a week, my doctor has put me on the BRAT diet.

If you're unfamiliar with the BRAT diet, it should also be known as the all-carb diet. Bananas (carbs), rice (carbs), applesauce (carbs) and toast (carbs). But if I'm going to eat almost all carbs for the next few days, I'm going to enjoy it! I just got home from picking up some fresh-baked bread at the store. I got organic applesauce. I'm already wondering if toasted banana bread would fall into the banana/toast categories. As long as you don't go overboard, you can doctor these things up a bit. Dairy is off-limits, so it'll be hard to get additional protein other than what naturally occurs in the bread. But I'll be able to doctor up the rice with mild flavorings--maybe some fresh herbs, or a little chicken broth, or some soy sauce, or a little butter or olive oil.

September 24, 2007 Diet Diary

2007-09-24T16:21:00.000-05:00

Weight: 133 pounds

Breakfast: Oatmeal with cottage cheese (cook 1/3 cups of oatmeal with 2/3 cups of water, when finished add 1/3 cup 2% cottage cheese, 1/2 teaspoon fructose, 2 teaspoons almonds, 1 tablespoon milk)

Morning Snack: None

Lunch: South Beach frozen cheese pizza

Afternoon Snack: Half of a ZonePerfect Bar, 1 banana

Dinner: 1 slice of bread, about 1 cup of white rice with a little butter, 2 cups of Pedialite

Evening Snack: 1/2 cup of applesauce, 1 slice of bread, 1 CocoaVia bar (yeah, I cheated a bit)

Exercise: Walk 2 miles

September 23, 2007 Diet Diary

2007-09-24T16:18:00.000-05:00

I'm on vacation!

Weight: unknown

Breakfast: Coffee with skim milk, 2 hard-boiled eggs (only 1 yolk), toast with 1/2 pat of butter

Morning Snack: Decaf latte with artificial sweetener & 2% milk

Lunch: 1 fish taco with corn tortillas, lettuce, tomato, guacamole, cheese, 1 piece of a chicken quesadilla with guacamole, 1 light beer

Afternoon Snack: None

Dinner: Tiny snack-pack of honey roasted almonds and 100-calorie pack of cookies, 1 glass of red wine

Evening Snack: None

Exercise: Walk 2 miles

September 22, 2007 Diet Diary

2007-09-24T16:15:00.000-05:00

I'm on vacation!

Weight: unknown

Breakfast: Coffee with CoffeeMate, 2 hard-boiled eggs (1 with yolk, 1 without), a couple bites of yogurt

Morning Snack: None

Lunch: 1 piece of foccachia dipping oil, 4 pieces of turkey pastrami topped with goat cheese and roast onions, a couple bites of potato salad, 1 glass of wine

Afternoon Snack: 1 glass of wine, a couple crackers, 1 beer

Dinner: 2 mojitos, about 10 pistachios, 4 mini-duck eggrolls with bbq sauce, 2 pieces tuna sashimi with veggie slaw, a few pieces of cheese on crackers with dried fruit and poached pear

Evening Snack: None

Exercise: Walk 2 miles

September 21, 2007

2007-09-21T11:00:00.001-05:00

I'm on vacation!

Weight: unknown

Breakfast: Coffee with skim milk, bowl of strawberries, a couple bites of a almond croissant

Morning Snack: None

Lunch: 1 fish taco, 1 shrimp taco with corn tortillas, lettuce, tomato, salsa

Afternoon Snack: 2 small cupcakes

Dinner: 1 pomegranite martini, 2 glasses of wine, 1 piece of bread, small caeser salad, risotto with truffles and lobster, a couple bites of chocolate banana cake

Evening Snack: None

Exercise: Walk 2 miles

September 20, 2007

2007-09-21T10:58:00.000-05:00

I'm on vacation!

Weight: 132 pounds

Breakfast: Oatmeal with cottage cheese (cook 1/3 cups of oatmeal with 2/3 cups of water, when finished add 1/3 cup 2% cottage cheese, 1/2 teaspoon fructose, 2 teaspoons almonds, 1 tablespoon milk)

Morning Snack: None

Lunch: Fish taco (battered fish, corn tortilla, lettuce, tomato & salsa)

Afternoon Snack: None

Dinner: Pomegranite martini, 2 glasses of wine, ceaser salad, black truffle risotto with lobster, a couple bites of a banana chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream

Evening Snack: None

Exercise: Walk 2 miles

September 19, 2007 Diet Diary

2007-09-20T11:15:00.001-05:00

Weight: 132 pounds

Breakfast: Oatmeal with cottage cheese (cook 1/3 cups of oatmeal with 2/3 cups of water, when finished add 1/3 cup 2% cottage cheese, 1/2 teaspoon fructose, 2 teaspoons almonds, 1 tablespoon milk)

Morning Snack: None

Lunch: Strawberry smoothie

Afternoon Snack: None

Dinner: Stuffed shells with turkey

Evening Snack: Blueberry smoothie

Exercise: Walk 2 miles

Tip: Bad Habits Make Dieting a Disaster

2007-09-18T12:51:00.000-05:00

I've been browsing through other people's food diaries recently, and I'm astonished at what I've seen. Now, I know my daily diet isn't perfect. Every time I grab a protein bar, I know I'd be better off with a piece of fruit and cheese, or a yogurt, maybe a slice of deli meat or some vegetables. But sometimes we take shortcuts. Sometimes we have a craving that just needs to be satisfied. It's OK to take a shortcut every once in a while, and it's OK to satisfy a craving. But to do it every day? While trying to diet? It just don't work that way. Here are some examples of what I saw:

1. People starving themselves. If you only eat 400 calories a day, you'll quickly lose some weight, but your metabolism with slow down, and it takes a lot to speed it back up. Trust me on this one. I've made the same mistake. It sucks. Don't do it. I can't stress it enough. Your body goes into starvation mode. And it doesn't easily come out of starvation mode, particularly if you starve yourself for days, weeks or months on end. Ultimately, you'll probably end up fatter than when you began dieting.

2. Someone whose entire daily food intake consists of poor nutritional choices. I saw one woman whose breakfast was 8 saltines with margarine, and whose lunch was a cup of brown rice. At least it was brown rice, not white, but still! That's it. No other food. No protein. No fruits and vegetables. No dairy. Nothing except a bit of starchy carbs and an artificial fat! Your body needs food from all of the major food groups!

3. People who take a moderately healthy meal, then gorge themselves on it. I saw the diary of one person whose dinner included 3 cups of steamed vegetables, 9 ounces of skinless chicken breast, 1.5 cups of rice, 1.5 cups of fried chow mein noodles, plus some sauce. Let's count that up...it's at least 7 cups of food. Picture that. Seven cups. That's 1.5 quarts of food. Nearly half a gallon!

Tip: Does Eating Carbs Make You Crave Carbs?

2007-09-18T12:43:00.000-05:00

Over the weekend, I had a few meals that didn't perfectly fit the 40-30-30 model. I was dining out and eating at a friend's house, so I wasn't in a position to be picky and make special requests. And I think that's OK. If a diet feels like a life sentence in prison, you're not going to stick to it. So it's OK to cheat every once in a while, as long as you still make good decisions while cheating. For example, just because you're eating a high-carb meal doesn't mean you have license to gorge yourself. Eat judiciously. If you're alreay breaking the rules, don't compound the problem by overeating.

I did OK. I weighed 132 this morning, which is exactly what I weighed last Friday morning, before I went off my diet a bit. But Monday, when I went back onto my diet, I found myself craving carbohydrates. I was yearning for a bag of chips, a handful of rice crackers, a piece of fudge. I wanted starchy food, and I wanted sugar!

But I resisted. Instead of breaking my diet for another day, I made a snack of grapes (sugary!) and steamed soybeans with sea salt (they taste a bit starchy, even if they aren't). In all honesty, I think the salt also helped curb my craving, because we eat a lot of starchy foods with a liberal dousing of salt (chips, baked potatoes, crackers, etc.). So even though I only used a little salt, I got a good taste of it.

Today, my carb craving seems to have been curbed. I'm feeling disciplined and ready to stick to my diet. (I'm traveling Thursday to Sunday, so I also know that I'll have the opportunity to cheat a bit while on the road.)

September 18, 2007 Diet Diary

2007-09-18T08:38:00.000-05:00

Weight: 132 pounds

Breakfast: 1/2 cup of Fiber One, 1/3 cup of milk, 1 tablespoon almonds, 7 grams of protein powder (Ugh! I remember eating this once, years ago, but had forgotten how disgusting of a combo it is. Sickeningly sweet milk mixture. I won't eat this again.)

Morning Snack: 1/2 of a ZonePerfect bar

Lunch: Stuffed shells with turkey tomato sauce

Afternoon Snack: ZonePerfect Bar

Dinner: Morningstar Chickin' Nuggets, BBQ sauce, low-fat string cheese

Evening Snack: Blueberry smoothie

Exercise: Walk 2 miles

September 17, 2007 Diet Diary

2007-09-17T10:14:00.000-05:00

Weight: 133 pounds

Breakfast: 1 cup fat-free yogurt with 2 teaspoons fructose, 1 tableshoon almond butter, 5 grams protein powder

Morning Snack: None

Lunch: Cedar's Hummos with celery sticks, half of a ZonePerfect Bar

Afternoon Snack: 8 grapes and 1/4 cup of soybeans

Dinner: Vietnamese chicken salad (skinless chicken, cabbage, basil, mint, peanuts and vinegary sauce) and Vietnamese pancake (eggy crepe-like thing, bean sprouts, steamed pork and shrimp, lettuce, basil, mint, cucumber, carrot and fish sauce)

Evening Snack: None

Exercise: Walk 1 mile

September 16, 2007 Diet Diary

2007-09-17T10:12:00.000-05:00

Weight: 132 pounds

Breakfast: Oatmeal with cottage cheese (cook 1/3 cups of oatmeal with 2/3 cups of water, when finished add 1/3 cup 2% cottage cheese, 1/2 teaspoon fructose, 2 teaspoons almonds, 1 tablespoon milk)

Morning Snack: Half a ZonePerfect Bar

Lunch: Chicken salad with lettuce

Afternoon Snack: None

Dinner: 1 glass white wine, 1 glass beer, Chinese sizzling rice soup with chicken and shrimp

Evening Snack: None

Exercise: Walk 4 miles

September 15, 2007 Diet Diary

2007-09-15T12:12:00.000-05:00

Weight: 132 pounds

Breakfast: Bran cereal and milk

Morning Snack: None

Lunch: Cedar's Original Hummos and celery

Afternoon Snack: Half of a ZonePerfect Bar

Dinner: 1/2 cup of 2% cottage cheese, 1 tablespoon almonds, 1.5 cups strawberries

Evening Snack: 1 glass of red wine and 2 ounces low-fat cheese

Exercise: 2 mile walk

September 14, 2007 Diet Diary

2007-09-15T12:11:00.000-05:00

Weight: 132 pounds

Breakfast: Oatmeal with cottage cheese (cook 1/3 cups of oatmeal with 2/3 cups of water, when finished add 1/3 cup 2% cottage cheese, 1/2 teaspoon fructose, 2 teaspoons almonds, 1 tablespoon milk)

Morning Snack: Half a ZonePerfect Bar

Lunch: Leftover baked stuffed shells

Afternoon Snack: Balance Bar

Dinner: 2 glasses red wine, cheese & salami, olives & almonds, and a couple slices of bread

Evening Snack: None

Exercise: Walk 2 miles

September 13, 2007 Diet Diary

2007-09-13T18:39:00.001-05:00

Weight: 132 pounds

Breakfast: Oatmeal with cottage cheese (cook 1/3 cups of oatmeal with 2/3 cups of water, when finished add 1/3 cup 2% cottage cheese, 1/2 teaspoon fructose, 2 teaspoons almonds, 1 tablespoon milk)

Morning Snack: Half a Balance Bare Bar

Lunch: Leftover baked stuffed shells

Afternoon Snack: Half of a ZonePerfect Bar

Dinner: Cedar's Original Hummos and celery

Evening Snack: Blueberry smoothie

Exercise: Walk 2 miles

September 12, 2007 Diet Diary

2007-09-12T20:08:00.001-05:00

Weight: 133 pounds

Breakfast: Oatmeal with cottage cheese (cook 1/3 cups of oatmeal with 2/3 cups of water, when finished add 1/3 cup 2% cottage cheese, 1/2 teaspoon fructose, 2 teaspoons almonds, 1 tablespoon milk)

Morning Snack: Half a Balance Bar

Lunch: Leftover baked stuffed shells

Afternoon Snack: 1/2 of a Balance Bare Bar

Dinner: South Beach Diet's Cheese Pizza

Evening Snack: None

Exercise: Walk 3.5 miles

Sales Alert: Whole Foods and Jewel

2007-09-12T15:17:00.000-05:00

Not only am I the Diet Diva, I'm also the Cost-Conscious Diet Diva!

Jewel, which is part of the SuperValu family of stores, has ZonePerfect bars on sale for $1 this week. I found this sale in the Chicago area, but it may also extend to other stores, such as Albertsons, in the SuperValu family.

Whole Foods has Balance Bars on sale for 50 cents each. This is a great price for Balance Bars, so I'd recommend that you stock up. Check the nutrition label on the Balance Bare Bars...they're yummy, but I don't think they're all 40-30-30.

Tip: Read Those Labels!

2007-09-12T11:14:00.000-05:00

My local grocery store was having a sale on energy bars last week, so I took the opportunity to stock up on them. A lot of energy bars sell for more than $1 each, so when I see them on sale for $1 apiece, or 2-for-1, I take advantage of it. Most grocery store chains seem to put at least one brand of energy bar on sale each week, so if you are a value shopper, you should take advantage of these sales.

I grabbed a handful of bars that I'd eaten in the past. ZonePerfect bars are almost a perfect 40-30-30 blend, and Balance Bars also stick to the 40-30-30 ratio. A couple weeks ago I bought a Balance Bare Bar, and enjoyed it, so I decided to sample another flavor this week. Silly me, I didn't look at the label, because I thought I knew what it would say. Nor did I look at the label of the Pria 100-calorie bars, because I thought I'd safely eaten those in the past.

Surprise, surprise, I reached in to grab the Balance Bare bar yesterday, and realized it isn't 40-30-30 at all! The bar has 42% carbs, 38% fat and only 25% protein. That's a bit more fat and too little protein for my tastes. The Pria bars fare even worse. So I'll be returning these.

Most bars have about about 100 or 200 calories. Here's a little cheat sheet showing the ideal nutritional breakdown that you're looking for (in bars or any other food):

100 calories: 10g carbs, 7-8g protein, 3-4g fat
200 calories: 20g carbs, 15g protein, 6-7g fat
300 calories: 30g carbs, 22-23g protein, 10g fat

Tip: Dating While Dieting

2007-09-11T12:49:00.000-05:00

I'm a single woman, and go out on dates with some frequency. Since the typical date often includes a meal, or may just involve meeting for drinks, my dating has an effect on my dieting. Here are my tips for coping:

1. Don't mention diets on a first-date. I think 9 out of 10 people would say it's a turnoff.
2. Chill out! First dates are stressful enough without having to worry excessively about sticking to your diet.
3. Make smart choices when choosing your food and drink.
4. If you have an alcoholic beverage, opt for light beer, wine or a cocktail made with water or diet soda. Avoid drinks such as margaritas, which have a lot of added sugar, and other drinks with caloric mixers.
5. For your meal, opt for a lean source of protein (such as fish, pork or chicken without the skin), prepared without breading, and two low-glycemic vegetables, preferably steamed.
6. If in doubt, eat too few carbs, not too many.
7. Keep your hand out of the bread basket!
8. Have fun.

September 11, 2007 Diet Diary

2007-09-11T12:48:00.000-05:00

Weight: 133 pounds

Breakfast: Oatmeal with cottage cheese (cook 1/3 cups of oatmeal with 2/3 cups of water, when finished add 1/3 cup 2% cottage cheese, 1/2 teaspoon fructose, 2 teaspoons almonds, 1 tablespoon milk)

Morning Snack: None

Lunch: Leftover baked stuffed shells

Afternoon Snack: 1/2 of a Balance Bar

Dinner: 2 glasses of wine, salad with goat cheese and pumpkin seeds, grilled salmon with steamed spinach, mushrooms, king crab and octopus

Exercise: Bike 30 minutes, walk 3.5 miles

September 10, 2007 Diet Diary

2007-09-10T18:38:00.000-05:00

Weight: 134 pounds

Breakfast: Oatmeal with cottage cheese (cook 1/3 cups of oatmeal with 2/3 cups of water, when finished add 1/3 cup 2% cottage cheese, 1/2 teaspoon fructose, 2 teaspoons almonds, 1 tablespoon milk)

Morning Snack: Half of a ZonePerfect Bar

Lunch: I'm bad! I skipped lunch :(

Afternoon Snack: Cedar's Original Hummos with celery

Dinner: Cooking Light's Baked Stuffed Shells

Evening Snack: Decaf almond mocha iced latte

Exercise: Bike 30 minutes

Recipe Review: Baked Stuffed Shells

2007-09-10T18:28:00.000-05:00

This past weekend I spent a while poring through recipes from Epicurious.com and CookingLight.com to find some that fit the 40-30-30 lifestyle. (I haven't found many cookbooks targeted toward 40-30-30, so I figured I'd just assemble my own collection of recipes.

The first one I've tackled is Cooking Light's Baked Stuffed Shells. A few things I'd note about this recipe:

1. I'm allergic to bell peppers, and the recipe calls for two to be used in the sauce. I substituted zucchini, which was decent, but next time I'd probably do spinach and mushrooms. The sauce is very chunky, and at least spinach would make it slightly less so.

2. Reduced-fat tofu can be hard to find, but I tracked it down at Whole Foods. Low-fat ricotta isn't a great substitute because the two products have very different nutritional profiles. I thought the filling tasted fairly authentic with the tofu.

3. I couldn't find turkey breakfast sausages (at least, none that were raw), so I used Italian-style turkey sausage. The downside of using sausage is that it is in big chunks that don't break down easily. I couldn't taste much spice in the sausages, so next time I'd simply substitute ground turkey.

4. The recipe calls for only 18 pasta shells. I'm glad I cooked 3 or 4 extra, because I used them all (and could have still filled more). Next time, I'd cook 25 shells just to be safe.

I thought this was a solid recipe, and one I'd definitely make again. It serves 6, so if you're single like me, or if there are just two of you, you'll have plenty of leftovers. Some reviewers on Cooking Light's sight complain about it taking too long to cook. I made the sauce and filling, cooked the pasta and assembled the shells ahead of time, then baked it later in the day. Also, if you follow the instructions in order, it will probably take longer. I'd recommend starting the sauce and the pasta at the same time, then making the filling while the sauce simmers for 25 minutes. You'll save some time if you multitask.