September 28, 2007 Diet Diary

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

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

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...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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.

September 9, 2007 Diet Diary

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: None

Lunch: 1/2 cup of cottage cheese, 1 apple, 1/3 cup of grapes, 1.5 tablespoons almonds

Afternoon Snack: Balance Bar

Dinner: Lean Cuisine Cheese Canneloni

Evening Snack: Blueberry smoothie

Exercise: Walk 2 miles

September 8, 2007 Diet Diary

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: Coffee with cream and Equal

Lunch: 1 oz sliced turkey, 1 oz low-fat swiss cheese, 1 teaspoon each mustard and mayo, 1 apple

Afternoon Snack: Balance Bar

Dinner: Salad with full-fat dressing, 1/2 crab cake, 5 jumbo shrimp with cocktail sauce

Evening Snack: None

Exercise: Walk 2 miles

September 7, 2007 Diet Diary

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: 1/2 of a Balance Gold Bar

Lunch: ZonePerfect Bar and hummos with celery

Afternoon Snack: Yogurt with almond butter (1 cup fat-free Trader Joe's Greek-Style Yogurt, 1 tablespoon almond butter, 5 grams protein powder, 2 teaspoons fructose)

Dinner: White wine, bacon wrapped shrimp

Evening Snack: ZonePerfect Bar

Exercise: Ugh. You don't even want to hear about my day. I found myself stuck at home and should have lifted weights or done an hour of yoga, but instead I kept thinking I'd be able to get out and do a real workout. And it didn't happen. So let this be a lesson to me (and you)!

Tip: Restaurant Strategies

This weekend I expect to eat two or three meals at restaurants. I've been making good progress with my diet, so I don't want to break my diet. I need to come up with an eating strategy that will allow me to enjoy the food while still aiming for a meal made of 40% carb, 30% protein, 30% fat. Here's my strategy:

1. If the meal is likely to be forgetable, and no one will notice if you don't eat consider a preemptive strike and eat your meal before or after you go out. I'm attending a workshop on Saturday morning where breakfast will be served. I know from past experience that breakfast will be a buffet that guests are expected to partake in before the seminar begins. I'm happy with my usual breakfast--I know I'm not missing anything by skipping a hotel meal--so I'll eat breakfast at home before heading to the event. That's one more meal which is thoroughly within my control, giving me a little more flexibility for the other meal that I'll eat at restaurants this weekend.

2. For my restaurant meals, I'm looking for a low-fat protein-focused entree. In other words, I'm avoiding anything that centers around pasta, rice or other starches. I need to add two large servings of veggies, preferably steamed, that are low on the glycemic scale. I want to make sure I have some fat, so I'll get a salad with the dressing on the side (so I can control the amount of dressing I eat).

3. I'm going to check out the restaurant's menu before I go, so I can do some preemptive planning. It's never fun to spend 20 minutes staring at a menu, mentally calculating carbs and protein and fat counts. The restaurant I'm going to on Saturday has a soup made with cucumbers (low carb, low on the glycemic scale), avocado (a good fat) and trout (protein). I also see a salad with balsamic vinegar-olive oil vinagrette (low carb, low on the glycemic scale with a healthy fat). Plus, they have two fish dishes (good sources of lean protein). In fact, my biggest challenge will be finding some good sources of carbs. I see a lot of noodles, breads, and high-glycemic vegetables such as beets, corn and potatoes. Wait! There's a salad of watermelon (medium-level on the glycemic scale) and fennel (which I think is low) with a yogurt dressing. Bingo!

September 6, 2007 Diet Diary

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: Fiber One Clusters

Lunch: 1/2 cup of cottage cheese, 1/2 an apple, 1/2 an orange, 1/3 cup of grapes and 1 1/2 tablespoons of almonds

Afternoon Snack: Balance Bare Bar

Dinner: Shrimp spaghetti with pesto sauce, peas and artichoke hearts

Evening Snack: Cedar's Hummos with celery, half of a Balance Gold Bar

Exercise: Day off! My cold has moved to my chest, and I felt lousy all day today, so I've designated it as my day of rest.

There is a Reason I've Eaten Shrimp With Pasta for 6 Straight Days

I have a friend, let's call him Bob, who does a lot of favors for me. He frequently drives me places, and housesits when I'm out of town. But Bob doesn't cook, so a few times a month, I'll invite him over for dinner. We're good friends, and he's a laid-back person, so a dinner invitiation isn't a formal affairs. It's often last-minute, and I'll ask him what he's in the mood to eat. Witness our IM conversation from yesterday:

Diet Diva: Would you like me to make dinner?
Bob: i like macoroni & cheese
Bob: and shrimps
Diet Diva: I'll take that under consideration
Bob: does leo like shrimps [Note: Leo is my cat]
Diet Diva: He like spiders and naps
Diet Diva: OK, gotta shower
Diet Diva: bye

[A few hours later.]
Diet Diva: Ok, I'm making shrimp linguine in pesto sauce with peas and artichoke hearts
Diet Diva: You can pick out the hearts if you don't like them
Bob: no likey pasta
Bob: carbolicous
Diet Diva: Really? Because when I asked you what you wanted for dinner, everything you said was pasta-related
Diet Diva: Remember that conversation a couple hours ago?
Diet Diva: It's only 40% carbs anyway
Bob: fine...whole wheat pasta
Diet Diva: it is!

September 5, 2007 Diet Diary

Weight: 135 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: Fiber One Cluster

Lunch: ZonePerfect Bar (eaten while running errands to resist the urge to nibble on Costco samples)

Afternoon Snack: Cedar's Hummos with celery

Dinner: Shrimp spaghetti with pesto sauce, peas and artichoke hearts

Evening Snack: Fiber One Cluster

Exercise: 3 mile walk

Tip: Drink 8 a Day

You may have noticed that I seldom, if ever, make any notation about drinks I've consumed in my daily diary. That's because my favorite non-alcoholic drinks are water and decaf green tea (hot or cold) without sweetener. These both have no calories and no caffeine, so they count toward the 8 glasses of water you're supposed to drink each day. I love water, so I drink a lot more than 8 glasses a day. (It's just past noon, and I've already had 6 or 7 glasses of water today.)

If you have a hard time consuming that much water, here's a tip. Find a 64 ounce bottle (2 quarts, or half a gallon), and fill it up with water each morning. Then, fill your water glass from that bottle throughout the day so you can track your water consumption.

Tip: Write It Down!

Want my best diet secret?

Write down everything that you eat, and also track your daily exercise. I also make a note of my weight each day.

There are a couple benefits to keeping a diet and exercise diary.

You can identify patterns and trends. Maybe you gain weight each time you eat a particular meal. Or maybe you had a particularly good diet week, and want to repeat it. You'll know what you did to make it happen.

You'll be more motivated to stick to your diet and workout regime. I love food, and often eat when I'm not hungry. If I'm not tracking my food intake, I'd have a list a mile long of each and every thing I snacked on when I got bored and walked through the kitchen. Having to commit it to paper is a good incentive not to snack. It also motivates you to keep up your good habits. Doesn't you get a good feeling each time you enter a workout into your diary? I do!

So write it down...today.

September 4, 2007 Diet Diary

Weight: 135 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 Balance Bar

Lunch: Half of a Balance Bar, Cedar's Hummos with celery

Afternoon Snack: Fiber One Clusters

Dinner: Basil Shrimp with Feta and Orzo (the last of my leftovers!...on to something new, I promise)

Evening Snack: Red wine and low-fat string cheese

Exercise: I took a 3+ mile, 50-minute walk today, and think I probably pushed myself a little too far since I'm still sick, and it was hot outside. I'm alive, but was very flushed for an hour or so afterward, and got a little bit of a heat rash.

Note: Although I'd lost a pound or more a day for the first couple of days, I new it was unrealistic to expect that I'd keep up that pace. So I wasn't too surprised when I got on the scale this morning and found that it still read 135 pounds. Last night's dinner was very salty, so I may have retained some fluid. And, on the flip side, I've been popping decongestants and antihistimines over the past four days. In my experience, they dry you out and can cause some constipation.

September 3, 2007 Measurements

Weight: 135 pounds
Bust: 37"
Waist: 28.5"
Hips: 39.5"
Thigh: 22.25"
Bicep: 10.25"

This is the first time that I've measured my body parts as part of a diet. But I know that a lot of weight-loss experts recommend measuring because it's another way of showing progress. Plus, if you're exercising--and gaining muscle mass/losing fat--at the same time as you're dieting, you may not see as much movement on the scale, but will see improvement on your body measurements.

Even if you don't measure yourself with a tape measure, every who's ever gained or lost weight knows the experience of having a pair of pants that's too tight, or too loose in the waist. Just the other day, I went out to dinner with a friend who commented that my shirt was gaping a little between two buttons. This is a shirt I've had for a couple years--and love--but never experienced a gape before. Looking in the mirror, I realized that it was too tight across the bust, because I've gained some weight.

September 3, 2007 Diet Diary

Weight: 135 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 and a couple Fiber One Clusters

Lunch: Leftover Basil Shrimp with Feta and Orzo

Afternoon Snack: None

Dinner: Restaurant meal! Asparagus salad with a poached egg, lettuce, pecorino cheese and avocado dressing; seitan with mushrooms and a marsala wine sauce, steamed broccoli and steamed kale. (I hadn't expected to go out to dinner, let alone to a vegetarian place, so I took a stab and guessed that seitan would be high in protein. When I got home, I discovered that I was right! Hopefully the marsala sauce plus the asparagus salad provided sufficient amounts of fat.)

Evening Snack: Almond mocha ice blended latte (decaf)

Exercise: I'm still sick, but managed to get out of the house today and walk around town. It wasn't a lot of walking (less than 2 miles), but better than what I've done the past few days.

Product Review: ZonePerfect Peach Apricot Parfait Bar

4 out of 5 stars

This was the first time that I'd tried ZonePerfect's Peach Apricot Parfait Bar and I was pleasantly surprised.

All ZonePerfect Bars are similarly constructed. They are a solid "log" of crunchy soy protein nuggets (it tastes like crisped rice), with flavorings and a chocolately or yogurty coating. I'm more of a fan of the chocolately ones, because yogurt coatings usually leave me with (literally) a bad taste in my mouth. Plus, the yogurt coated bars (regardless of the manufacturer) are more frequently paired with fruit-flavored bars. Since the fruit is often just artificial flavorings, I steer clear of these. But, apricots are one of my favorite flavors, so I decided to give these a try. And I'm glad I did. The peach flavor serves as a good background (I smelled it before I tasted it), and there are actual chunks of dried apricot in these bars. The yogurt isn't overpowering.

I'd buy these again.

Recipe: Easiest Iced Tea Ever

Iced Green Tea

4-6 cups of water
2 bags of Bigelow Decaffeinated Organic Green Tea

Place bags of green tea in teapot or other heatproof container

Heat 6 cups of water. Immediately before it boils (or about 30 seconds after it's come to a boil and you've removed it from the heat), pour over tea bags.

Let steep for 6 minutes, 30 seconds, then remove tea bags.

Chill and serve.

Serving options:
1. Add one wedge of lemon to each glass before serving.
2. Crush several fresh mint leaves in glass, then add ice tea.
3. Use frozen strawberries, peach slices, blueberries or rasberries in place of ice cubes.

Nutritional information:
Unsweetened ice tea has no calories. But decaf green tea has antioxident properties. It may help boost metabolism, and may help prevent breast cancer and prostate cancer. It may also lower the risks associated with cardiovascular disease.

September 2, 2007 Diet Diary

Weight: 136 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: Leftover Basil Shrimp with Feta and Orzo

Afternoon Snack: Fiber One Clusters, Cedar's Hummos with celery

Dinner: One cup of Trader Joe's Turkey Chili with Beans, 1 ounce of cheddar cheese, 1 dollop of Trader Joe's 2% Greek Yogurt. (This was the first time I'd tried TJ's canned chili. I love to make chili, but was feeling lazy since I'm sick, and tried this in a pinch. It tasted like it could have been homemade, and I hardly missed the tortillas/tortilla chips that I usually eat with chili.)

Evening Snack: Almond-mocha ice blended latte

Exercise: I was sick! So just a 1 mile walk (total) to the drug store.

My Most Recent Shopping List

I live in Chicago, where our selection of grocery store is adequate, but could be better. Depending on the volume of groceries I need, I'll hit some combination of the following stores:

Target: Has inexpensive staples, such as milk, plus the cheapest price on Fiber One that I've found.
Trader Joe's: An inexpensive alternative for gourmet and organic items that I'd otherwise buy at Whole Foods. This is my go-to place for nuts, in particular, and also Greek Yogurt. (Trader Joe's sells a delicious private-label version of Fage Greek Yogurt.)
Whole Foods: Love the store, sometimes hate the prices. I think Whole Foods sells some of the freshest seafood.
Jewel/Dominick's/Treasure Island: These are all Chicago-area chains. They have a large, reliable choice of products, and the prices are lower than Whole Foods, but more than Target or Trader Joe's.

My shopping list this week included:

Meat, Poultry and Seafood:
Canned white/albacore tuna, packed in water
Frozen shrimp (look for a brand that's not from China, where the shrimp are individually quick frozen, so you can use as many or as few as you like)
Deli-sliced turkey
Precooked, sliced chicken breast chunks

Vegetables:
Celery
Green Onions
Del Monte Canned Diced Tomatoes (if you can't get high-quality ripe tomatoes, these are a great substitute
Bagged greens mix with butter lettuce and romaine

Fruits:
Green, seedless grapes
Apples
Oranges
Lemons
Frozen blueberries

Dairy:
Eggs
Breakstone's 2% Milkfat Cottage Cheese
Reduced fat, presliced Swiss cheese
Reduced fat string cheese
Feta cheese
1% milk
2% or fat-free Greek yogurt (it has a rich, sour-cream-like consistency)

Grains, Cereals:
General Mill's Fiber One Cereal or Trader Joe's High Fiber Cereal
Steel cut oats
Orzo pasta

Nuts:
Walnuts
Sliced almonds
Almond butter
Reduced fat peanut butter

Other:
Whole Foods 365 Whey Protein Powder, vanilla flavor
Cedar's Original Hummos
ZonePerfect and Balance Bars
Granulated fructose (Whole Foods sells this in bulk for a great price)
Nescafe Decaf French Roast instant coffee

Recipe: Fiber One Clusters

It seems that everyone who diets (except those Atkins folks) is in love with Fiber One. What's not to love? It's low in calories and sugar, high in fiber, and doesn't dissolve when it hits the milk. Apparently, there's a hot Weight Watchers recipe making the rounds that calls for half a box of Fiber One and a bag of chocolate chips. I decided to modify it for 40-30-30 purposes. These make a crunchy, chocolately snack that's actually tasty and higher in protein than your average chocolate cookie or candy. If you like Nestle Crunch bars, you'll probably like these.

Jen's Fiber One Clusters

3.5 cups Fiber One Cereal (or Trader Joe's High Fiber Cereal, and half the price, with less fiber)
1 cup chocolate chips (milk or semisweet, depending on your tastes)
1 oz reduced fat peanut butter
5 scoops protein powder

Line a baking sheet with waxed paper, plus cut one additional piece of waxed paper that's the same size.

In microwave-safe bowl, combine chocolate chips, peanut butter and protein powder. Microwave on high heat for 1 minute, then stir. Continue to microwave for 30 second increments until relatively smooth.

Mix Fiber One cereal into chocolate mixture. Pour onto wax-paper covered baking sheet, and use second sheet of waxed paper to press down until even and about 1/2" thick.

Refrigerate until firm, break into bite-sized pieces. Store in air-proof container.

Nutritional info per 1-ounce serving:
88 calories
17 grams of carbs
6 grams of protein
3 grams of fat
7 grams of fiber
(44% carbs, 25% protein, 31% fat)

Recipe Review: Basil Shrimp With Feta and Orzo

My Mom's been making this Cooking Light recipe for years, and I've recently become hooked on it, too. As an added bonus, it's almost a perfect 40-30-30 recipe (42% carbs, 31% protein, 26% fat...doesn't total 100% due to rounding).

This is a flavorful, foolproof recipe. If you can boil water (to make the orzo pasta), then you can cook this.

Things I like about this recipe:
1. If you (or your family) believes you can't eat pasta on a carb-controlled diet, think again.
2. Start to finish, this should take no more than 45 minutes to make (including 25 minutes cooking time).
3. The recipe claims to make 2 servings, but I think it's easily 3-4 servings. (I'm a moderate eater, and it fixed 3 normal-sized portions and 1 smaller portion.)
4. It can be made ahead and then cooked later, or reheated.

September 1, 2007 Diet Diary

Weight: 138 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 Balance Bar

Lunch: Lettuce, apple, orange, tuna and walnut salad with Asian dressing from "The Formula"

Afternoon Snack: Half of a Balance Bar

Dinner: Cooking Light's Basil Shrimp with Feta and Orzo

Evening Snack: Blueberry smoothie with protein powder and almonds

Exercise: I was sick! So just a 1.7 mile walk (total) to the grocery store

Why Me? Why Diet?

I went on my first diet when I was 13 or 14 years old. And in the 25 or so years since then, it feels as if I've always been on a diet, some more serious (and successful) than others.

About 10 years ago, I put my nose to the grindstone, started working out and watching what I ate, and lost more than 20 pounds. Sure, that doesn't sound like much, but this was weight I'd been carrying for 6 or 8 years (since I was in college), and I'm a petite girl (only 5'4" with a small frame), so weighing 145 or 155 is a lot.

For years after that, I was able to keep my weight in the 123-128 pound range. It was perfect for me. But a couple years ago, the weight started creeping on. I had a slow thyroid, some sports-related injuries caused me to cut back on my workouts, and I gained a few pounds. In my 20s, I found that a couple days of diligent dieting would help me easily take off the pounds, but that wasn't the case in my 30s.

My doctor recommended that I read the book "The Formula: A Personalized 40-30-30 Fat-Burning Nutrition Program," by Gene and Joyce Daoust. 40-30-30 dieting is similar to the The Zone Diet. By consuming a combination of 40% of your calories from carbohydrates, 30% from protein, and 30% from fat, you keep your body's blood sugar and insulin at a steady level. If your insulin levels are too high (because you've had too many carbs), your body will burn glucose instead of stored body fat. If your insulin levels are too low, the body starts to burn lean mass (like muscles), as well as stored body fat. At a steady level, you're burning the fat!

As my doctor explained it, when we get older, we lose our ability to efficiently burn carbohydrates. This is why The Formula, Zone and 40-30-30 diets work well for those of us in our 30s and older.

Using 40-30-30 knowledge, I'd managed to get my weight back into the mid-120s. But in the last 6 months, I've once again put on the pounds. Yesterday, I weighed 138, which is about as heavy as I've bene in the last 10 years. This blog will detail my attempts to lose the pounds, and keep them off. Along the way, I'll share tips, diet diaries, recipes and product reviews.

Thanks for reading!