Salad supreme!

A good, healthy and tasty salad can't be beat! This is true especially for anyone who is on or contemplating going on a diet to lose weight. The effort pictured here contains the following:

Romaine lettuce 82 g

Bell pepper 30 g

Onion tops 5 g

Chives 2 g

Turkey 22 g

Celery 20 g

Carrots 15 g

Cherry tomatoes 35 g

Cheese 19 g

This 230 gram meal is well balanced in terms of nutrients while it is also very low in sodium and cholesterol (33 mg).

Steak & Eggs are a Nutritional Train Wreck! But!....

Eating healthy is a problem for me and a lot of other people I know. In a previous blog, I wrote about what a nutritional train wreck a traditional steak and egg breakfast is. This meal consisted of a small portion of steak, hash browns, one egg, toast and milk. Now, any food that is high in calories, loaded with salt and which administers a boat load of cholesterol is probably not a good thing. Did I mention that the taste was out of this world?

Knowing that all things can be improved, I thought it would be interesting to see if I could preserve some of the more desirable aspects of this repast, while also cutting back on both the calories and the cholesterol via alternative food choices. (Think food downgrade). For this effort, I decided to go with a so-called fake egg substitute (Egg Beaters) and a couple of vegetable sausage patties made by a company called Morning Star.

Now here is a picture of the meal along with a nutritional panel of the homemade regular steak and eggs I made a week or so ago (note – ‘cl’ is cholesterol in milligrams):

 If you’re on a 1500 calorie a day diet, this will be about all you’ll be allowed to eat for the 24 hour period. Other than the fantastic taste, there just isn’t much to recommend here. But, there is that taste thing! OK, so now let’s look at the substitute meal along with nutritional information about it:

Gee, not much of an improvement other than in the cholesterol department! (For most people anything higher than 200 mg of cholesterol per day is on the high side of things). The sodium level in both meals is unacceptable as are the total calories. Also, both are a pain to make at home.

The bottom line, then, is to do what I do. Forget this whole mess and go out to a nice restaurant like Charlie’s Ribs Steak and Ale, plunk down some cash and have the real deal once or twice a month. That kind of intake is nutritionally doable and you’ll totally enjoy the experience.

It’s Easy Skillet! A meal that can really pack on those pounds!

It’s fast and easy. It’s ‘noodlelicious’ and your children will just love it to death (literately). Yes, Easy Skillet^® is certainly all of that and more! It’s also a fast ticket to raging obesity and coronary problems, later on, if you’re not careful about the proportions you serve.

I came across this box, which was hiding in the back of a cupboard, one afternoon while looking for something to eat. The picture absolutely captivated me as I’m sure it is supposed to. So, following the directions, I made up a batch in just twenty minutes or so.

In order to prepare this meal, you first need to brown a pound of hamburger up making sure to draw off that evil grease. Then, it simply a matter of adding some water, bring to a brief boil and fifteen minutes later it’s ready to serve. But wait, being the cautious parent you are, you want to make sure that the recommended portion you serve your hungry spouse and kids are first noted and then adhered to. Let’s see now, a serving is 1/3 a cup! What the hell is this!

 Here’s a picture (above) of that amount next to a fork for comparison. Not much there, eh mate. What, maybe one or two mouthfuls? (Perhaps a sprig of parsley would help)?

Ya think your hubbie and hungry kids are going to settle for that paltry amount? Well, they had better, because that little blob, sitting there on the plate, comes in at over 300 calories! Seriously! It’s also contains half a day’s worth of salt and almost a quarter of the recommended daily amount of cholesterol. This is no meal, it’s an aortic attack disguised as food!

“OK then smart-ass, what would the ‘damage’ be for a man-sized serving”? I had hoped you'd ask that question...

Here’s what a regular serving would look like to me (a man of no small girth). (Actually, it’s pretty similar to the picture on the front of the box). Right-O then? At 206 grams, it’s loaded with 1,430 calories with 4,290 milligrams of sodium and 273 mg of cholesterol. Whoa Nellie! That’s almost whole days worth of nutrition right there if you’re on a diet. Here’s an idea, skip breakfast, eat this for lunch and you only have another thousand hours or so before the next meal time. Not!

The moral of this story is that if you do serve this kind of dish; please make sure you keep the portions extra small while making the side order of salad or veggies large. Very large. Here’s a nice looking salad, that even with the ham and an oil and vinegar dressing came in at only 124 calories! Hell, with those kinds of numbers, you can men go ahead and knock down a couple of brewski’s. Your kids might still complain, but hopefully they’ll do it from thin, healthy little bodies. And, as for your husband sitting there with that dopey smile on his face. Oh, what the heck! He’s pretty fat already….

Disclaimer: All opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and in no way are intended to be used as a reason to use, or not to use, the products described here. Research has revealed that even though there appears to be a connection between overeating and early death, there is no way to prove it as all those subjects have passed away.