Volumetric style Quesadilla

Here is an example of increasing the volume in an otherwise fattening and less healthy dish. Everyone loves Quesadillas, all that melted cheese! However, if you add veggies and other better-for-you items like beans for fiber, you get a very satisfying dish, filling, healthy and still delicious!                                                                              

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Quesadilla

Can of Black Beans

Sweet Potato or Yam

Poblano Peppers

Can of chopped Green Chilies

Fresh Spinach

Jack Cheese, grated 

Flour Tortillas, plain or flavored

Butter or Butter Substitute 

Roast Poblano pepper under broiler until skin is black, put in paper bag for 10 minutes to sweat. In the meantime roast sweet potato in 365 degree oven until soft (about 30 minutes). Using a paper towel pull blackened skin off of the pepper, core and strip seeds out and slice into strips. You can do these steps earlier in the day or night before for faster dinner prep later. Mash sweet potato in a bowl with salt, pepper, paprika and a little chili powder. Drain black beans and rinse. Heat all these items in the microwave if they are cold. Butter a tortilla on one side and set buttered side down on a plate, on ONE HALF of the UN-buttered side of the tortilla, spread the sweet potato, layer black beans, Poblano pepper strips, green chilies, fresh spinach and Jack cheese. Set buttered side down tortilla in medium heated large frying pan and fold over. Fry until tortilla turns golden brown and then flip over and brown other side, by that time the cheese has melted. Slice into wedges. Serve with your choice of low fat sour cream, salsa or sliced avocado.  

Portion Control

The more time and energy I devote to my diet the more I am convinced that the real key to weight loss for anyone is portion control. Since I don't believe in diet"ing" eating less must be where the calorie factor is figured in. I am also quite aware through personal experience that putting less on your plate is an exercise in panic and frustration. My body knows and remembers how much food it has been getting and it wants that same amount today that it had yesterday. When it didn't get it, it made me feel like I was starving. This is the thing that makes losing weight so dang hard. Depending on how much we have been over eating the feeling of lack when we trim it down can really amount to torture. Fortunately I found a book with an idea that really helped me in that department. It's called The Volumetrics Weight-Control Plan by Barbara Rolls PhD. Her point of view opened my eyes to new possibilities. I will say right up front here that I do not follow this book religiously, as this is not my only regime. I just took some of the great ideas she had and apply it where I can because they are brilliant. Basically it boils down to this. Eat more of the foods that are dense, (or low in calories but filling), like vegetables, fresh fruit and beans and less of foods that are higher in calories but lighter so they don't fill you up like crackers, chips, french fries and cheese. I am looking to increase the volume in my meals while lowering the calories. For example: I love spaghetti, well, who doesn't? Now, I can switch to a better made pasta with some grains added and that is a fine idea but it's still pretty much a heaping plate of the higher calorie stuff. If I eat only half of my usual portion I will feel cheated and hungry. So what if I take out half the the noodles and then add back in enough tasty vegetables to bring the amount back up to snuff? Instant satisfaction! So, for a year now I make spaghetti sauce, adding to it chopped tomatoes, roasted eggplant, sauteed zucchini and mushrooms. Toss with the pasta and cover with Parmesan cheese. It's delicious and I can eat till I am full with the added advantage of getting my daily dose of recommended vegetables as a bonus.

Here are some of my recipes for easy, healthy, and delicious smoothies but remember: just use the fruit, water and vanilla extract for the lowest calorie count and they are still very good!

Strawberry Mango Smoothie

1 Cup of strawberries

½ C Mango

1 small or a half banana

Vanilla yogurt or soymilk or just water for low calorie

1 tsp Vanilla extract or more

Blend

Berry Good Smoothie

½ Cup Chai Tea

½ tsp Vanilla extract

Can make or buy in carton, I use “Oregon Chai” brand)

½ to a Cup of Mixed berries (blueberries, Raspberries, boysenberries)

1 Banana

Optional addition soy milk or yogurt

Or skip the tea and additions and just use water

Blend in a blender      

 

Peach / Mango

½ to 1 container Vanilla Yogurt,

OR ½ Cup Vanilla Soy Milk

OR Orange juice

OR just water with maybe teaspoonful of vanilla extract added

  +

½ Cup to 1 Cup Frozen Peaches

OR Frozen Mango

OR both combined (that’s what I do)

1 Banana

1/4 tsp Anise seeds optional ( I like the flavor)

Blend in a blender.

Liquid Fruit, A Smooth Idea

   I first noticed a discrepancy in my diet when my daughter came along 18 years ago. Fruit is her favorite food. So much so she is practically a Fruititarian and watching her gobble up every apple and berry that came her way got me thinking: why isn't fruit part of my diet? We hear about the dietary recommendations asking us to eat at least 5 servings of fruit a day but I've never been much of a fruit fan. I really don't know why exactly, maybe it's the texture of the skins. That's why whoever invented smoothies has my undying gratitude. I know eating whole fruit is better for you than grinding it up but, hey, at least I am eating (drinking) fruit. Smoothies can be made in many different ways with almost any fruit and a blender. For the liquid, there are smoothies that use Vanilla Soymilk, vanilla or other flavored yogurt, fruit juice or even Chai Tea which is wonderful with mixed berries. Occasionally I do use one of these fillers when I'm not eating anything else and I am hungry. Most of the time though, all I use is water! It's makes the drink low in calories and still so good. This, with a half of a peanut butter sandwich is my typical lunch. The combination goes well together and keeps me until dinner. I vary the fruit for variety and use fresh fruit where I can in the summer and frozen in the winter. I even buy some quantity of the fresh, like strawberries, in the summer when they are cheap, freeze them on a tray and pop them into a large Ziplock for use over the winter months.I never use fresh Mango because it is so expensive, luckily there are bags of frozen mango pieces in almost all the grocery store's freezers.

Thinking about drinks

When it comes to calories, 'drinking counts' and it's so easy to forget the calories in liquids. Sometimes it hardly seems fair that something so innocuous can pile up the pounds. The worst offender is soda pop. I got in the habit of drinking it with meals and snacks when I was young. It was a relatively new concept in the late 50s and 60s and what a treat it was. Of course back then I was thin, I was active, and portions of everything were a heck of a lot smaller. Soda sneaks calories into your day. Soda and fruit-flavored drinks can rack up to 250 calories per 12 ounces. Ginger ale and dark cola are the lowest in calorie at about 120 calories per 12 ounces, and cream soda is the highest with about 200 calories per 12 ounces. Portion size does really say it all! When these sugary liquids are sold in 20 ounce, 48 ounce, 1 liter and 2 liter bottles, it would be easy to work up to 800 calories in drinks a day if you're not being conscious of your choices. (Big) gulp!

From http://www.sparkpeople.com
Juice" drinks (flavored, sugar-sweetened juice) can rack up more calories per ounce than soda! Orange, grape and cranberry juice drinks have about 216 calories per 12 ounces. But they seem so healthy! Don't let the fact that a portion of the ingredients in those bottles come from fruit fool you. The calories in these beverages should not be overlooked. Thankfully, food labels make it easy to check out the calorie content prior to purchasing a drink. Flip over labels before buying anything, and, of course, check the portion size!

Even 100% fruit juice, be it orange, apple, grape, pomegranate, cranberry or another flavor, can contribute calories to your diet. It’s great that all the sugar in fruit juice is natural and direct from the fruit, but unlike a whole piece of fruit, fruit juice is very concentrated in sugar, which makes it high in calories. Juice can also count as a serving of fruit if you’re getting about 6 ounces, but if you’re filling a big 24 ounce cup, you could be pouring about 320 calories of OJ with your breakfast. Go for grape juice or pineapple juice and the numbers are even higher. The key here is to stick to a 4 to 6 ounce serving of juice with your breakfast, and enjoy a large glass of water to hydrate yourself! If you’re worried about getting in your vitamins, grab a whole piece of fruit for a snack or add some berries or sliced fruit to your yogurt or cereal in the morning. Anytime you can eat fruit or vegetables rather than drinking them, you'll be better off. Milk, including non-dairy milk alternatives, is often overlooked when it comes to calories. Although the beverage tastes great and is great for you, it does still contribute calories. A single serving of milk is 8 ounces, which is probably less than what many people pour at meals or on a big bowl of cereal in the morning. A tall dinner glass is about 12 to 16 ounces, which provides 132-168 calories if you choose skim. Fill your glass with 2% milk and that number jumps to 240 calories. These facts don’t discount the key nutrients found in milk that are healthful, but they hopefully encourage a proper serving size.

Many of us can’t function before 11 a.m. without our coffee. The brewed beverage is, by itself, calorie free, which makes it seem innocent. But with all the enticing additives offered by java joints, the numbers rise sharply. An 8 ounce latte made with whole milk is about 130 calories, but add flavored syrup, sugar and whipped cream on top and your drink now tops 200 calories. But when was the last time you ordered a latte that small? Once we bring up the tall, grande and venti sizes it’s a whole new ball game. A venti gingerbread latte with whole milk and whipped cream packs 440 calories into the cup. Granted, this is a large size, fully loaded, but it does a fine job of painting the picture of how many calories you could be drinking if you don't look up the facts beforehand. 
 Those who don’t drink coffee may turn to energy drinks to put pep in their step. Exercisers may also tend to favor energy drinks and sports drinks pre- or post-workout. These drinks may look tiny and taste light, but they can have up to 112 calories per cup. Sports drinks like Gatorade and Powerade come in at about half that, around 60 calories per cup. But watch out: the bottles they come in can contain up to 32 ounces—not 8 ounces—which adds up to 240 calories per bottle.

Considering how cheap, accessible and delicious sweetened and caloric beverages are, it's easy to see how the average person consumes hundreds of calories per day from drinks alone. Those liquid calories add up fast for another reason, too: It's so easy to mindlessly drink beverages. If you’re sitting at your desk, driving your car, or watching a movie, it’s not hard to suck down a supersize beverage in 5 minutes without even feeling full or satisfied. Couple this with free refills, and you’ve completed an equation for calorie over-consumption!

Now as previously stated I enjoy an alcoholic drink from time to time. Here is a handy chart from 
http://www.weightlossforall.com/calories-alcohol.htm to help keep track of that damage:

Alcoholic Drink	Size	Calories
Beer	half Liter	184
Lager	half Liter	180
Cider	half Liter	200
Whisky	100ml	220
Gin	100ml	220
Brandy	100ml	220
Rum	100ml	220
Wine red	100ml	70
Wine white dry	100ml	65
Wine white medium	100ml	70
Wine white sweet	100ml	90
Wine white sparkling	100ml	74
Rose	100ml	62
Champagne	100ml	126
Pernod	100ml	140
Tia Maria	100ml	155
Southern Comfort	100ml	184
Drambuie	100ml	184
Sherry dry	100ml	110
Sherry medium	100ml	112
Sherry sweet	100ml	130
Port	100ml	160
Martini	100ml	175
Malibu	100ml	204
Baileys Cream	1 glass	120
Bacardi	1 glass	118