MENA diet/exercise thread

[Jenn! 918]

Is fat free cheese any good?

[Nasturtium 500]

That sounds awesome!

Jenn--it depends. I've tried low-fat feta from Treasure Cave? Treasure Cove? I forget what name.. anyway... the LF feta tastes the same as the real feta they sell-- but they sell a "dry" feta. There are fetas stored in some kind of briney liquid and it's not like those.. The lowfat feta is like 60calories per 1/4 cup. I've tried LF mozarella and it tasted like a$$ (well, how I imagine a$$ to be.) So it's totally a hit and miss.

[MrsAmera 41]

Well I'm from WI and have eaten cheese all my life and find little difference between the taste. Some might disagree but the only difference I find is between whole milk ricotta and fat free ricotta - definetely different tastes there.

Sidenote: Has anyone used a food delivery service from a grocery store? Like Peapod? I'm thinking about it but am wondering how much it costs etc. The one thing I'm unsure of is when it comes to fruits/vegetables and the quality you recieve? Any advice?

[Jenn! 918]

I've tried LF mozarella and it tasted like a$ (well, how I imagine a$ to be.) So it's totally a hit and miss.

Maybe I'll start giving them a try. I tend to translate "lite" or "fat-free" to "tastes like #######". Might be good to open my mind a bit, lol.

[chaishai 1]

My dad told me that when I was a kid and I never ate asparagus again.

I have actually tried to eat it but find that I don't actually care for the taste and it always seems stringy, which is a bit of a turn off as well.

Best wishes to everyone getting trying to be healthier and lose weight.

asparagus is better if you peel some or all of the green off... and if you dont overcook it. it doesnt taste bitter if you peel it and it isnt stringy at all if you dont over cook it. I like it peeled, cut in cubes, sauteed in a small amt of olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper!

[RAKASA 0]

asparagus is better if you peel some or all of the green off... and if you dont overcook it. it doesnt taste bitter if you peel it and it isnt stringy at all if you dont over cook it. I like it peeled, cut in cubes, sauteed in a small amt of olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper!

the main way I like asparagus is grilled w/ some olive oil or lightly steamed w/ lemon juice squeezed on it!

[Jenn! 918]

Asparagus is my favorite veggie I think. Yes, the key is not to overcook it and canned asparagus tastes totally different too (I don't like it). Grilled asparagus is great!

Regarding the pee thing...I did a bit of reading and apparently everyone's pee smells after eating asparagus, but some people don't have the ability to smell it!

[chaishai 1]

Thanks for the update/comments on teh recipes Chaishai! That's actually a pretty good idea-- to try and rate different things.

Yesterday i brought my stepper to work and did 30 minutes, then I went home and did my abs and arms. I had 2 carrots as a snack, 4 biscuits (two with jam), and ate 6 tacos for dinner.. no smartground in the house so I jsut had lettuce, tomato, cheese, and a soft taco shell for each one. I had one regular soda, 4 bottles of water, and 1 diet soda. Not really sure, but I should be around ym calorie goal... I didn't do very well with nutrients though. I wasn't feeling well so i didn't feel like making any effort. Ammar decided to cook for himself, so he had mushroom, a cup of olive oil, an onion, 6 garlic cloves, 1 chicken breast, and then like 6 buns. Probably was like 3000 calories he's looking thinner today too.

I love asparagus! i love it your way, Olivia.

Julianna absolutely no offense, only helpful constructive thoughts here - but isnt 6 tacos specifically 6 soft taco shells kind of alot? I feel horrible saying this but I have thought things were healthy in the past and ate alot of them and then found out from others that they werent! if you are talking regular flour soft taco shells I wouldnt eat more than one (but i would eat other stuff with it, veggies beans etc! Do you have beans in the house? you could have beans vs. smartground for protein.

Again, this is only with love here!

[doodlebugg 10]

The only time i'll use fat free cheese is in an omlette because that way you can't tell as much. I normally buy the Kraft 2% or fat free shredded cheddar cheese and put that in an omlette with either real eggs or egg beaters. Put that between a potato roll and you've got yourself a low fat high protein breakfast sammy that normally takes me through till noon.

[chaishai 1]

I've tried LF mozarella and it tasted like a$ (well, how I imagine a$ to be.) So it's totally a hit and miss.

Maybe I'll start giving them a try. I tend to translate "lite" or "fat-free" to "tastes like #######". Might be good to open my mind a bit, lol.

I think that fat free ricotta is OK, but I prefer the skim or 1% cheeses vs. fat free mozzerella.... But not by itself! If I am going to eat cheese by itself, I would just eat a smaller amount of the good stuff. But before I was off dairy I used to make pizzas out of ezekiel tortilla, fat free ricotta, rao's marinara (my favorite!), basil, sometimes the smart ground brand of fake pepperoni... it was really yummy even my 5 year old liked it!

[Nasturtium 500]

Julianna absolutely no offense, only helpful constructive thoughts here - but isnt 6 tacos specifically 6 soft taco shells kind of alot? I feel horrible saying this but I have thought things were healthy in the past and ate alot of them and then found out from others that they werent! if you are talking regular flour soft taco shells I wouldnt eat more than one (but i would eat other stuff with it, veggies beans etc! Do you have beans in the house? you could have beans vs. smartground for protein.

Again, this is only with love here!

I don't know? kind of alot. Hmm. Well, maybe? i can fairly out-eat most people so this was 6 of the small shells (about 6 inches in diameter), 8 leaves of greenleaf lettuce, 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese, shredded, and 4 small roma tomatoes. I didn't think it was particularly healthy in that I mentioned it was really lacking in the nutrients for teh day... but wasn't feeling like cooking. The only thing that's in my taco shells is flour, water, olive oil, and salt-- because I use the pita recipe sans yeast.

[ayesha4akram 0]

I need to lose 20 pounds , but the thing that scares me most is what if my "Eve suit" starts hanging?? That's such a scary thought to me!! I know I should diet AND excersize so this doesn't happen, but i soooooo wish i could do this with someone else, just to keep me on track.

I did diet one time, and people started to ask if i was ok!! Overdoing the losing weight can be bad too . So I'm just trying to watch what I eat, but I don't like to think that i'm dieting cause, as soon as i do that, i get all these cravings ughhh.

During Xmas, since I was sort of depressed, I didn't eat that much, so I lost 5 pounds, but I know that's not healthy!!

Soooooo, I'm going to ask a big favor from anyone who has the time...

Could you please put up a healthy menu for the week, so I can stick to that. I would greatly appreciate it and we'll see if it works.

Perhaps we can call this the VJ weight vigilantes , since the name Weight Watchers is taken .

Anyway, let's see if i can down those "few" extra pounds in a healthy way insha Allah.

Love you all,

Ayesha

[Jenn! 918]

What is an "Eve Suit"?

[ayesha4akram 0]

What is an "Eve Suit"?

My body without the clothes

Edited January 3, 2008 by ayesha4akram

[sereia 0]

if you truly only need to lose 20lbs i doubt anything will be hanging (well, maybe your breasts. lol) especially if you exercise and tighten up that eve suit!

i loooooove asparagus. blanched (not overdone though! yuck!), grilled, roasted, you name it! i also like to blanch it and cut it up and put it in salads.

non fat cheese is pretty bad imho. if you can stand using a smaller quantity of low fat cheese it would give better flavor. i agree with amanda about the non-fat ricotta being horrendous! lol

Edited January 3, 2008 by sereia