Taste of Thyme: Good & Good for You Food

Here is an exercise in mindful eating I found on NPR. It is a good exercise for you to try and it could help you slow down your eating which will translate to satisfaction sooner which means less calories consumed! If you're curious to know what mindful eating looks like in practice, here's one exercise, excerpted from a review written by Stephanie Vangsness of Brigham and Women's Hospital. She writes: "Do this exercise with a friend. You will need one small slice of an apple for each person. One person reads the instructions listed below while the other person completes the exercise. 1.Take one bite of an apple slice and then close your eyes. Do not begin chewing yet. 2.Try not to pay attention to the ideas running through your mind, just focus on the apple. Notice anything that comes to mind about taste, texture, temperature and sensation going on in your mouth. 3.Begin chewing now. Chew slowly, just noticing what it feels like. It's normal that your mind will w...

Here are some quotes you can use to inspire you as you work through the holidays. Best Holiday Exercise: Pushing away from the table. Remember~it's a HOLI...DAY not a HOLI...WEEK! Don't stuff your face, Face your stuff! Make sure you serve yourself islands, not continents. Those invisible extras multiply and divide all over your body. Whether I count it or not.... it counts The first two bites of what you love.. is what you love! "Prior planning prevents pudgy people" If you want a little behind, you must leave a little behind. He who stuffeth puffeth. May you eat from the horn of plenty without blowing it. "Don't be a turkey! Remember what you want the most and make it happen." If you gobble, gobble, gobble, you will wobble, wobble, wobble. Nothing tastes as good as thin feels. The minutes spent at the dinner table won’t get you fat . . its the SECONDS! A moment on the lips, forever on the hips. Years from now we probably won’t even remember what we a...

At Weight Watchers this is healthy snack week. Many leaders from across the country have put together their list of healthy (or I should say low point filling) snacks. Here it is to inspire you! Weight Watcher leader ideas for (Healthy) snacking: 1. (WW) String cheese and grapes or a small apple 2. WW Yogurt or Fiber One Yogurt with berries 3. Small banana and Peanut Butter 4. Almonds 5. WW Smoothie made with water and berries 6. Caramel Latte smoothie made with cold leftover coffee and lots of ice- 1 point and it tastes like a Coolata or Frappucino 7. Fiber 1 yogurt and 1/4 cup Fiber 1 cereal stirred into it 8. Vitatop Double Chocolate Muffin Tops (or any flavor-available in freezer section of grocery store or online) 9. Vita top muffin(heated in microwave for 20 sec.) with WW yogurt on top 10. 1/2 C Fiber One Cottage Cheese mixed with one 6oz container Activia light yogurt 11. bagel thins & WW cream cheese 12. sandwich thins, toasted, with cream cheese, peanut butter, fruit spr...

Here is a connection to a cookbook of low point crockpot recipes. Just check it out. Maybe you'll find somethings you would like to try. I see lots of things that look good. Remember that most recipes are guidelines and you can change things you like - change the spices and flavorings or increase vegetables to your liking! http://www.northco.net/chenke/nest/WCLowFat_LowCalCrockpotRecipes.pdf

The first "5" is to challenge you to commit to journaling a minimum of five (5) out of seven (7) days each week for the 12 (consecutive) weeks in the Journal. The "9" is to challenge you to meet a minimum of one (1) of the nine (9) Good Health Guidelines (of your choice) in the manner prescribed, for each of the 12 (consecutive) weeks in the Journal. (You may pick a different guideline from week-to-week or stick with one until you've mastered it successfully.) Thus you will make the 9 guidelines habit! The last "5" is to challenge you to lose on average, a minimum of five (5) pounds for each of the three (consecutive) months for that journal. (if you only 4 lbs each month, is that so bad?) INVEST IN YOURSELF!! It’s $5.95 well-spent and who wouldn’t want to be 15 pounds lighter at the end of the journal!

Pass The Butter, Please This is interesting . . . Margarine was originally manufactured to fatten turkeys. When it killed the turkeys, the people who had put all the money into the research wanted a payback so they put their heads together to figure out what to do with this product to get their money back. It was a white substance with no food appeal so they added the yellow coloring and sold it to people to use in place of butter. How do you like it? They have come out with some clever new flavorings.. DO YOU KNOW.. the difference between margarine and butter? Read on to the end...gets very interesting! Both have the same amount of calories. Butter is slightly higher in saturated fats at 8 grams compared to 5 grams. Eating margarine can increase heart disease in women by 53% over eating the same amount of butter, according to a recent Harvard Medical Study. Eating butter increases the absorption of many other nutrients in other foods. Butter has many nutritional benefits where margari...

Well, Weight Watchers has been trying to get us all to eat more Fruits and Vegetables this summer. For some this is an easy task but others are struggling. Sometimes we have an aversion things we didn't like or eat as a child. Here is an easy way to prepare vegetables to maximize flavor and enjoyment and you get some healthy oil in too! You will need 1 1/2 cups of vegetables per person; 1 t oil; S&P to taste: 2 T water; and a nonstick pan with a lid. Cut your vegetable (broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, asparagus, Brussels sprouts all work well) in bit size pieces. Use one to 1 1/2 cup per person. Heat your pan with 1 teaspoon of olive oil(per serving). When the oil is hot add the vegetables. Allow them to sit (don't stir) for 1 minute. Toss them (or stir) and cook 1 minute. Toss and cook one minute more (that makes 3 minutes). Season the vegetables with salt and pepper (add red pepper flakes and garlic if you like). Immediately add 2 Tablespoons of water (a bit more for l...

~ Sharon Lee Riguzzi Sharon, a Weight Watcher Leader who pasted away last year, wrote a book full of essays on life for her members. Here is a good one to kick off the summer months of family fun times and vacations. Banana Boat Adventures Spending last week in the Caribbean with all of our kids and their spouses left us with wonderful Kodak moments. Watching everyone getting along and enjoying one another’s company warmed my heart. Since I am not fond of the water, it took days of my kids’ begging me to be adventurous, to be daring, to live, before I finally broke down and dived in (well, maybe it was more baby-stepped in). Seven of us saddled the banana boat---my pregnant daughter was able to be the photographer. As our “no problem, Mon” speedboat driver crisscrossed and turned, they were chortling: I was screaming. While they were switching seats with one another, I was keeping my eyes shut, clutching on tight as we bounced over the waves. Eventually everyone fell off except ...

I hear Weight Watcher members talk about metabolism a lot! The problem is we usually talk about it without really understanding what it is and how much control we have over it. Here is some information from Weight Watchers that can clear up some of those things we might believe (or not). METABOLISM...is the number of calories the body burns: ♦ At rest ♦ By digesting and absorbing food ♦ During physical activity What is TRUE about Metabolism? 1. If I have a slow metabolism I have to just work with that. Increasing physical activity, especially strength / resistance training to minimize loss of lean muscle mass will increase your metabolism. Eating a well balanced diet (vitamins & some minerals are required for metabolism)and smaller more frequent meals will increase your metabolism. 2. We can’t stop the slowing of our metabolism due to age. Aging lowers metabolism only because people tend to be less active and may not maintain their muscle mass. 3. The body goes into ‘starvatio...

These are the truth about carbs that we discussed last week at Weight Watcher meetings. Below is a potato soup full of good carbs - ENJOY! MYTH # 1: All carbohydrates are created equal. There are two main types of carbohydrates: simple and complex. Simple carbohydrates (simple sugars) include: • table sugar (sucrose), which is plentiful in soda and candy • fructose and lactose, which are found in healthier foods such as fruit and milk, which supply other nutrients Complex carbohydrates , "starches": • are found in foods like breads, legumes, rice, pasta, fruits, and vegetables such as potatoes. • take longer to digest and can help you feel more satisfied. • contain many more nutrients than simple carbohydrates. As with simple carbohydrates, some complex carbs are healthier than others. ∗ Whole grain versions of complex carbohydrates include oatmeal, bulgur, brown rice, whole cornmeal, quinoa, spelt, foods made with whole wheat, etc. Opt for whole ...

I saw the following poem on a WW website and think it has a good message for such a tough time of year. DON'T QUIT When you've eaten too much and you can't write it down, And you feel like the biggest failure in town. When you want to give up just because you gave in, And forget all about being healthy and thin So what you went over your Points a bit - It's the next move that counts...so don't you quit ! It's a moment of truth, it’s an attitude change. It's learning the skills to get back in your range. It's telling yourself you've done great up 'til now You can take on this challenge and beat it somehow. It's part of your journey toward reaching your goal. You're still gonna make it, just stay in control. To stumble and fall is not a disgrace If you summon the will to get back in the race. But, often the strugglers, when losing their grip Just throw in the towel and continue to slip, And learn too late when the damage is done, That the r...

To sneak in extra veggies I like to: Use as a substitute. Spaghetti squash is great as a side dish instead of pasta. Or make ribbons of carrots and zucchini and add them to cooking pasta during the last minute. They can really make the portions bigger with not points. To extend ground meats. I like to use chopped mushrooms or grated carrot, squash or zucchini for 1/2 the meat in a casserole or sauce. I get the texture and bulk I want and decrease the points. Replacement. As you see in the recipe below for Mac & Cheese, I have substituted pureed winter squash for 1/2 of the cheese. That is a big savings!

Hello, do you know me? If you don't, you should. I'm a pound of fat, And I'm the HAPPEIST pound of fat that you would ever want to meet, Want to know why? It's because no one ever wants to lose me. I'm ONLY ONE POUND, just a pound! Everyone wants to lose three pounds, fivepounds, or fifteen pounds, but never onlyone. So I just stick around and happily keep you fat. Then I add to myself, ever soslowly, so that you never seem to notice it. That is, until I've grown to ten, twenty, thirty or even more pounds in weight. Yes, it's fun being ONLY ONE POUND OF FAT, left to do as I please. So when you weigh in keep right on saying, "OH, I only lost one pound." (As if that were such a terrible thing.) For you see, if you do this, you'll encourage others to keep me around because they'll think I'm not worth losing. And, I LOVE being around you....your arms, your legs, your chin, your hips and every part of you. Happy Days!!! After all, I'm ON...

Eating less calories than you burn is the way to lose those extra pounds. Sometimes it is hard to be satisfied with less. Here are some suggestions from Weight Watchers! 1. I fill most of yourplate with foods that are low in energy density (think low in calories and hght in volume) and use foods with high energy density as “accessories.” 2. Avoid/minimize trigger foods that encourage youto override your Comfort Zone; they aren’t worth it! 3. Make sure you have adhered to the Good Health Guidelines before giving yourself the okay for ice cream, cookies, etc. 4. Eat more vegetables and smaller portions of meats and starches. 5. Eating foods low in energy density, like those on the WW Core Plan®, [helps you feel more satisfied with smaller amounts]. 6. Eat facing a mirror, if possible. (It reinforces that I’m eating; I feel fuller faster.) 7. When you have the urge to eat, and your not really hungry, have a drink of water and enjoy a pack or less of Fruities (a Core Food). The urge will...

Compiled by Margo Maine, Ph.D. Sometimes it is hard to appreciate our bodies. We really need to take care to treat our physical vessel well. No matter how we feel about how our bodies function or look, they are spectacular for what they do for us! Let's be nice to our bodies and let's not compare it to others because it is the best one we are going to have. 1. Your body is extraordinary--begin to respect and appreciate it. 2. Create a list of all the things your body lets you do. Read it and add to it often. 3. Become aware of what your body can do each day. Remember it is the instrument of your life, not just an ornament. 4. Create a list of people you admire: people who have contributed to your life, your community, or the world. Consider whether their appearance was important to their success and accomplishments. 5. Walk with your head held high, supported by pride and confidence in yourself as a person. 6. Don't let your weight or shape keep you from activities that ...