Portion Savvy

How good are you at eyeballing portions? Really?

It's no secret that portion sizes have exploded and that what used to be a meal in a restaurant years ago, is barely enough for an appetizer now.

That "bigger is better" mindset all around us makes it hard to keep our portions under control, and yet it is one of the key elements to weight managements.

Lets get together this week and talk about tools and strategies for easy and quick portions control.

Tool of the Week

I attribute most of my weight loss and weight maintenance success to one tool: My food scale.

The Weight Watchers Electronic Food Scale not only weigh the foods (DUH!) but it also has many very useful functions:

Tare: You can put on your bowl, use the tare function to zero out the scale, and weigh the foods without having to substract the weight of the bowl itself.

Food bank: You can put your food on the scale, start spelling it, and it will give you the PointsPlus Value of the amount of what you've put on the scale. 400+ foods!

Add: You can calculate the PointsPlus Value of a food, then use the Add function to add one more food, find it's PointsPlus Value, then add it to the previous food to get the total of all the foods in the bowl.

Calculator: You can put in a food, enter the Proteins, Carbs, fat and fiber for a set portion, the portion size (in grams) and the scale will give you the PointsPlus value for the amount you have on there.

In the Kitchen

I usually make this with leftover yellow split peas puree the day after I cook an Indian feast. However, it is a very easy dish to make on its own, and makes a great 1 pot lunch to carry around.

Like most Indian food recipe, this reheats very well.

Indian Lentil and Vegetable Stew

4 servings, 5 P+/serving

Ingredients

1 3/4 cup water

1/2 cup yellow lentils or yellow split peas, picked over, rinsed and drained

1/2 tsp turmeric

4 tsp canola oil

2 tsp mustard seeds

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 serrano chile, thinly sliced

1 (10 oz package) frozen brussels sprouts, thawed

1 cup canned diced tomatoes

1/2 tsp salt

1 TBSP fresh lemon juice

1 TBSP fresh chopped cilantro

Combine 1 cup of water, the lentils, and turmeric in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil.Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until the lentils are soft, about 30 minutes. Transfer to a blender and puree.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mustard seeds and cook, covered, until popping subsides, 1-2 minutes. Add the garlic and chile; cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in the Brussels Sprouts, tomatoes, the remaining 3/4 cup of water, and the salt; cook, covered, until the Brussels sprouts are tender, about 10 minutes.

Stir pureed lentils into the vegetables; cook until heated through, about 5 minutes. Remove skillet from the heat; stir in the lemon juice and cilantro.

Stir it up, p 208, Weight Watchers 2006.

Activity

Step Challenge

How many steps/day this week? Is it getting easier? Harder?

What time of the day are better for you to walk?

What little changes have you made to add steps to your day?

We want to hear it all!!!

Bay to Breakers is coming! May 15th!

Are you in? Do you want to walk with us? Do you have great ideas for simply costumes that will not hinder our walking?

This will be fun!

Have a great week!

We are in this together! The more you bring to your meeting (ideas, strategies, food finds, questions) the more you get out of it. Be there!

I'm always only an email away. I have a Blackberry and I know how to use it!

See you in the meeting room!

Melanie

“It is better to want what you have than to have what you want.”