Posts

Showing posts with the label Got 0?

Thought for the Day--April 28, 2011: Weight Watchers, Diets in General, and Writing Every Day

Image
There's nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a [keyboard] and open a vein. --Walter Wellesley "Red" Smith I started this site on January 10, one week after I restarted Weight Watchers (almost four months after I started my healthy life style). I had heard about the new PointsPlus and 0 points fruit and thought it was worth another try. After three months, I'm still here and going strong! Yes, as the above image reveals, I'm a Lifetime Member; my first stint with Weight Watchers started in 1973, which obviously dates me (LOL). I lost 43 pounds and made it to Lifetime status within six months, but I hadn't really changed my relationship with food. I still viewed "diet" as a temporary state, that once "the diet" was over, I could eat whatever I wanted. The old WW diet didn't help much; it was a draconian regimen, requiring at least 10 ounces of hard-core protein a day, very little bread, no potatoes or pasta, and a required servi

Thought for the Day--April 14, 2011: An Orange a Day Keeps the Appetite at Bay...

Image
A man ought to carry himself in the world as an orange tree would if it could walk up and down in the garden, swinging perfume from every little censer it holds up to the air. --Henry Ward Beecher The versatile orange is not only perfumy, tasty, and sweet, but it may also help keep your appetite in check. For the last few days, I have been eating an orange with my regular breakfast (flatbread, lean ham, egg white omelet, a slice of non-fat cheese), and I have noticed that I am able to go longer (over 4 hours!) before getting hungry for lunch. I'm usually hungry within 3 hours, so this is major! I had heard that citrus fruits were good appetite suppressants, but I never really believed it before. Of course, other factors may be in play, such as my insulin resistance working itself out, so I'm not ready to assert definitively that oranges have been responsible for this positive change. But it's certainly worth a try! Eat oranges, my cyber friends.

Thought for the Day--April 9, 2011: Got 0? (The Apple, Part 2)

Image
Apples are not only tasty and sweet, with a variety for about every taste and cooking purpose, they are also portable. For Thursday night's Baltimore Orioles game , I brought much of my own food (and a good thing, too, because the new concessions' provider has done a poor job of "upgrading" the fare and providing affordable low cal options): --An apple --Sunflower seeds, 1 ounce in the shell (which I ate on the way to the Ballpark) --Sliced carrots --A Fiber Plus bar --Diet A&W Root Beer (in plastic bottle, no glass or cans are allowed in the park) --One 5-point portion of pistachios (which I didn't eat, but I ate everything else, lol) This fare was supplemented by an overpriced pit beef sandwich ($10.00!!!), which made my wallet much lighter, but it was a better choice than a hot dog. ( My plan for this week, and for this week only, is not to use my extra PointsPlus ; however, I don't recommend this as a permanent practice). The apple (Gala variety) was

Thought for the Day, April 6, 2011: "After Apple-Picking" (Robert Frost, 1874-1963)

Image
My long two-pointed ladder’s sticking through a tree Toward heaven still, And there’s a barrel that I didn’t fill Beside it, and there may be two or three Apples I didn’t pick upon some bough. But I am done with apple-picking now. Essence of winter sleep is on the night, The scent of apples: I am drowsing off. I cannot rub the strangeness from my sight I got from looking through a pane of glass I skimmed this morning from the drinking trough And held against the world of hoary grass. It melted, and I let it fall and break. But I was well Upon my way to sleep before it fell, And I could tell What form my dreaming was about to take. Magnified apples appear and disappear, Stem end and blossom end, And every fleck of russet showing clear. My instep arch not only keeps the ache, It keeps the pressure of a ladder-round. I feel the ladder sway as the boughs bend. And I keep hearing from the cellar bin The rumbling sound Of load on load of apples coming in. For I have had too much Of apple-pic

Got 0? The Apple and "Improv"

Image
Photo by Abhijit Tembhekar from Mumbai, India ________________________ I'm beginning my series of "Got 0?" articles with the versatile apple. If you love apples, then embarking upon a lifestyle change can be easier and certainly much more satisfying with this 0 points food in your arsenal. The Apple must surely be a worldwide favorite, given its great number of varieties. If you hang out in the produce aisle of the grocery store, you will notice more space devoted to the apple than any other fruit or vegetable. Varieties of apples with concise descriptions While the above list seems fairly comprehensive, I did not see a recent discovery that I made. About a month ago, an unusual variety called "Jazz" caught my eye. At $2.49 a pound, I wasn't about to fill a bag full of them, but I was game to try one ($1.54!!!). This variety not only looked different, but it also smelled unlike the other varieties, more like a perfumy honey. Being an avid Jazz fan, I also l

Thought for the Day--March 15, 2011: Is this Diet Heresy?

Here is something that might give you pause and could be considered diet heresy, but I'm going to put it out there for you to consider: Do NOT measure or weigh 0 PointsPlus foods. Yes, you read that right: Do NOT measure or weigh 0 PointsPlus foods. 0 PointsPlus food values have been established by Weight Watchers (TM), and, basically, includes all fresh fruits and canned fruits (in their own juice) and most vegetables (excluding the starchy ones, such as potatoes, corn, and peas). Simply use common sense and a good eyeball to estimate weights and measures. If you have been a serial dieter, then you have weighed and measured your food thousands of times--you know what you know--so why not offer yourself a break and simply stop measuring and weighing 0 PointsPlus foods? Do this experiment: Take some strawberries from their container and place what you think is a serving into a bowl. Now place them in a measuring cup. If your guesstimation is close, then you are ready to put away the

Got 0? So What the Heck Does That Mean? (Thought for the Day--February 15, 2011)

Image
Embrace foods that are 0 points on the Weight Watchers PointsPlus* program. Even if you're not on the Weight Watchers' Program, you can be confident that these foods, especially all fruits and 0-points vegetables, will feed your body and soul right. From time to time, I plan to feature 0-points foods and show how they can be a yummy and healthy part of your regular diet, for you don't have to be on a weight-loss diet to enjoy these miracle foods. _______________________________ *PointsPoints is a registered trademark of Weight Watchers . The Webmaster is a member of Weight Watchers but is not commercially affiliated with Weight Watchers International.

Memoir Madness: Driven to Involuntary Commitment