ANOTHER TESTIMONIAL

Part of Sue's testimonial. 
"On August 9, 1995 I walked into Diet Masters with a heavy load:  334 1/2  pounds,to be exact.  I had many failed attempts at weight reduction at home.  I thought that committing to a weekly group plan might be more successful.  I diligently followed the material, attended my meetings and enjoyed the interaction of members discussing our problems with food.  The great food plans, and Louise's vast knowledge of nutrition and cooking helped me lose 100 pounds in one year! It helped my son go from a size 48 pants to a 34!
The Diet Masters food plan is something you can live with the rest of your life."
                                                                    Sue

Note*  Sue went on to lose another 40 pounds in the next 6 months.

TRIBUTES FROM DIET MASTERS 25th ANNIVERSARY PARTY

To celebrate Diet Masters' 25th anniversary in 1997 I hosted a party  for members and family and  close friends.  There were about 200 attending.  The food was catered by 'Low Cal Leo'.
 I had given him many favorite recipes from my cookbook  

We had entertainment, line dancing, flowers at every table and live music throughout the day.

Although I was the host, I was in for a surprise. Many of the guests wrote of their experiences at my classes and the progress they made..Some were read at the party.

The following is from Fran Herbert.

    "Oh, Diet Masters, how thankful I am that I found you in 1979.  You have changed my life-----
    I  lost 40 lbs.!  I remain a true Diet Masters, weighing in every Wednesday.  Never knew  anyone  to join Diet Masters not to love the programs and Louise's lectures.

It is now 2012 and Fran is still trim and we have become very close friends.

HE DROPPED HIS PANTS FOR ME

No, this blog is not beginning to have obscene material.  This is about a yearly fashion show at my Diet Masters class.  A reporter from the Palm Beach Times wrote this in May 4, 1978. I will just quote a few lines.

"When Larry Fulmer dropped his pants before 40 women Wednesday, it was only to show what great shape he's in. The clothes he wore for it were his old size 46 pants.  Underneath he wore his new size 36 tennis shorts.

"Mary Somers of West Palm Beach lost 54 pounds since starting her diet in September.  By December she had lost 40 pounds.  The rest was off by February."

I LED TWO LIVES

After beginning my diet classes in 1971, I began to also teach classes in  Gourmet low calorie cooking and  low calorie Oriental cooking with adult education.  To learn how to teach Oriental cooking, I took several classes in local restaurants and schools.  I also bought many books on the subject.  After that, I developed low calorie versions of them.  The classes were a success,  and many of my students joined Diet Masters.

About three years later I self published my first book: 'The Diet Lady's Cookbook".  All of the recipes had the calorie count  listed, and the book included 20 Oriental recipes.

In a future blog I will tell you how all of this led to  becoming a caterer for about 15 years,  making very fattening food.

TARTAR SAUCE

Do you ever order broiled fish dry because you want to be 120% on your diet and they serve it with tartar sauce?  You feel that you need to do something besides squeezing a wedge of lemon to mask the blandness so you spread the tartar sauce on it. Tartar sauce is 90 calories per tablespoon and loaded with fat and the little cup that they serve it in measures one-fourth of a cup....360 calories.

If you like tartar sauce when you have fish at home, make a wonderful, easy replica.  Put 1/4 cup of fat free or or low fat mayonnaise for under 15 calories a tablespoon and mix with 1 tablespoon of drained sweet pickle relish and enjoy it without guilt.

Note*  Read the labels.  Light mayonnaise is 35 calories a tablespoon and higher.
Hint      You can always bring your tartar sauce to the restaurant with you in a chilled small container.

A FEW HINTS ON SUNDAY

Freeze grapes...Why?  One cup of green grapes are 107 calories....red ones are 70.  If we gobble a pound, which was easy for my sister and myself to do, it would total between 200 and 270 calories.  If the grapes are frozen, they will take 10 times longer to eat.

Love yourself enough to say no to overeating.  Give yourself a chance at slimness.  Write everything down....plan your meals and snacks ahead...do not put your head in the refrigerator and say, "What am I going to eat?"  Some good ideas for lunch might be a cup of soup and a half sandwich or a salad...or the sandwich and a small salad. .......

I HOPE YOU ARE USING SOME OF MY HINTS AND IDEAS

THE BEST AND EASIEST RECIPE FOR HASH BROWNS

The first ingredient is Ore Ida Hash Brown shredded potatoes...
Listen to Louise and do not follow the recipe on their label. If you read their directions, they sound rather scary. Part of what they write:

"CAUTION: Ice crystals on frozen foods can cause spattering when added to hot oil.
Add product carefully.
TIPS FOR FRYING WITH OIL: Always preheat oil uncovered. If oil spatters, cover immediately and reduce heat..When spattering stops, remove cover and return to cooking temperature. (and last but not least) Be careful not to spatter or spill oil onto hot burner of range"

I love their product but we will do this my way.....

THE DIET LADY'S HASH BROWNS

1 1/4 cups frozen Ore Ida Hash Browns shredded potatoes
2 tsp. melted diet margarine
dash of salt
a few shakes of paprika

Place potatoes on dinner plate and microwave covered until defrosted (about 2 minutes)
pour the margarine over potatoes and sprinkle with salt and paprika. I lightly mix it with a fork and a spoon. Put in a heated small, Pam-coated George Foreman Grill* for about 4 minutes and flip mixture with a spatula and cook a minute or two.
serves 1, 110 calories
Note* This is for one serving....If you want to make more servings, use a larger 'George'. You can use any brand grill or even a sandwich maker..I am just addicted to the guy.

MY WARNINGS

If you want to keep your calories low, do not order these in most restaurants...They usually make them greasy and some even deep fat fry them.

Sometimes the supermarkets do not put them in the freezer fast enough and the complete package is hard as a rock. Just feel the package before putting it in your cart.


THE DIET LADY'S HOME FRIED POTATOES

(fast and easy)

l medium baking potato
same ingredients as other recipe

Bake potato in microwave until cooked through.....Peel and cut into a 1/2 inch dice, and mix with the other ingredients...Follow directions for browning...
If the peeled potato is 1 l/2 cups...use 3/4 of a cup for each portion...
serves 2. about 120 calories each.

CALORIE AWARENESS AND OTHER ADVICE

Which cottage cheese should you use?  Use any that you enjoy as long as it is 2% milk fat or less. My favorite is Friendship large curd pot style and is only 90 calories per half cup.
Some people purchase any brand on sale or buy the fat free one. As long as we are eating carefully, we should not feel that we have to purchase everything fat free. Always check the date on the lid. Many times it is past the due date or too close to it.

JELL-O free refrigerated pudding is my favorite and it is only 100 calories..They fairly recently have been making a sugar free version at 50 calories.  Since I only want one, I just purchase the one I prefer.  On the other hand, if you want volume, buy the sugar free and enjoy treating yourself to a second serving.  I freeze the pudding and then take the foil lid off and microwave about 35 seconds..You can put it into a small cake cone which is about 19 calories or eat it with a "baby spoon".  We tend to eat slower with smaller utensils.

Tomorrows blog is a wonderful, easy hash brown recipe...

WORDS OF WISDOM AND ADVICE

To have a truly effective enjoyable diet, it should be tailored to your likes and dislikes.  You can lose weight eating foods that you do not care for and suffer through it, but you will soon gain it back.

If you are a heavy coffee drinker and you enjoy having six cups a day light with half and half,  measure the amount that you pour into your cup. You might be surprised to learn that you are spending quite a few calories.  Two tablespoons in each cup times six equals 240 calories or more and 12 grams of saturated fat. Most of us use artificial sweetener, but if you prefer two heaping teaspoons of sugar per cup, that would total as much as 300 more calories.

WOW!  Make up your mind that this is the time that you are going to tackle your weight problem.  Overweight is bad for many reasons, the most obvious being your health. Another is loss of self esteem if you see a friend or relative with the figure you yearn to have.  
Listen to Louise and the weight will melt off..inch by inch..ounce by ounce...pound by pound.  I did it  and so can YOU.

JUST A FEW THOUGHTS AND HINTS

ONE OF LIFE'S MYSTERIES IS HOW EATING A 2 POUND BOX OF CANDY CAN CAUSE YOU TO GAIN 5 POUNDS.
IF YOU HAVE CERTAIN FOOD THAT YOU CANNOT CONTROL, GIVE IT UP OR ALLOW YOURSELF TO ENJOY IT ONE DAY A YEAR ON YOUR BIRTHDAY.

LEAVING A DIET GROUP BECAUSE YOU GAIN WEIGHT A WEEK OR TWO IN A ROW IS LIKE GETTING A DIVORCE BECAUSE YOU HAD ONE ARGUMENT WITH YOUR SPOUSE, OR QUITTING COLLEGE BECAUSE YOU FLUNKED A COURSE.

HOW TO POST A COMMENT

IT WILL MAKE OUR BLOG SUCH AN UPBEAT PLACE WHEN YOU BEGIN TO MAKE COMMENTS AND ASK QUESTIONS THAT I WILL ANSWER. IT'S EASY:

JUST CLICK ON "JOIN THIS SITE" THERE IS NO FEE. JUST FUN AND AN EDUCATION IN WEIGHT LOSS ...ALSO THE GIFT OF SLIMNESS.

Part 2...Dining the Trim Weigh Introduction

Should I add more food? I would let the dieters choose their own EXCITING EXTRAS. The number of the extra calories allowed for each day are indicated in the upper right-hand corner of each page. Try to spend the extras happily, yet wisely.

Mix and match every daily menu any way you wish.

Examples:

1. Breakfast from day 1---lunch from day 4---and dinner from day 29.
2. If you prefer to exchange strawberries for cantaloupe or half an English muffin for diet
bread, tailor the program to conform with the food supplies you have on hand and with your likes and dislikes.

DINING THE TRIM WEIGH..(revised version of Mix and Match Menus)

I dedicated this book to my mother, Frances Robbins Sharin
so many years have passed since she has been on earth and yet she is with me every day.

I am going to type some highlights of the introduction to the book in this and the next blog.  I plan to give you a few daily menu plans in the future.

How would you like to be on a diet that is nutritious, includes only foods that you enjoy, and gives you between 87 and 400 calories a day of EXCITING EXTRAS?

The easy to follow nutritious programs that were given in classes was good but I sensed the need to offer my students a book of calorie counted, well balanced daily menus in a 31-day plan.

As I worked out the menu for each day I realized that the calorie counts were between 800 and 1100.

This was not my intent as I feel that women should eat about 1200 calories a day to lose healthily and men 1500 calories.

LAUGHING COW CHEESE

Laughing Cow cheese was put on the map when the very popular South Beach Diet was written a few years ago.  The cheese company had to build a new factory  to keep up with the pace of their sales.

In the seventies or very early eighties I was telling my members about the best diet find:  Laughing Cow Cheese and another brand Dorele that was identical. It was mentioned many times in my book, "MIX AND MATCH MENUS" WRITTEN IN 1988.

I must say, I was never a national sensation by any twist of the imagination, but my 40 year career was a wonderful upbeat ride

SOMEONE BEING INTERVIEWED ON TV

THE HOST ASKED THIS SLENDER ATTRACTIVE  GUEST WHAT HER FAVORITE EVENING SNACK WAS AND SHE ANSWERED THAT SHE DID NOT SNACK AFTER DINNER BECAUSE SHE CAN'T AFFORD A NEW WARDROBE.

HOW MANY OF YOU READERS HAVE VARIOUS SIZES IN YOUR CLOSETS?

WOKE UP WITH POST IDEAS AT 3:00 am

A FEW OF MY ALIASES:  LOUISE LAWHON..THE DIET LADY...THE DIET MASTER..THE CALORIE QUEEN...AND LULU...

WILL NOT TELL YOU WHAT MY TEXAN SOMETIMES CALLS ME..JUST KIDDING

WHAT I REALLY WANT TO RELATE, BEFORE GOING BACK TO SLEEP, IS THAT THE TIME THAT I HAVE SPENT DOING THESE POSTS KEEPS ME HAPPY AND CONTENT.  I HOPE THAT THE MATERIAL IN THIS BLOG HELPS MANY OF YOU LOSE EXCESS WEIGHT OR ASSISTS YOU TO KEEP IT OFF. GOOD NIGHT ALL

MORE WORDS OF WISDOM and HINTS

SOMETIMES YOU FEEL THAT FOOD IS YOUR BEST FRIEND BECAUSE IT IS ALWAYS THERE FOR YOU.  SOME FRIEND! IT KEEPS YOUR CLOTHES FROM FITTING...GIVES YOU HEARTBURN AND OFTEN HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE  AND/OR DIABETES.

TO EXERCISE OR NOT TO EXERCISE, THAT IS THE QUESTION

There some very gentle exercises for people who cannot be too active. One would be to march fairly slowly in place while they hold two canes. They might even try marching while sitting.
I thought that you might like to read how I have or have not exercised throughout the years. Until I was 40 years of age, I rarely had a planned exercise regime. Soon after I started teaching my Diet Masters' classes I began to meet some gals at a path overlooking a lake that was near my home for a two mile fairly brisk walk about four days a week. A few years later, I took pool exercise lessons and continued to do them in my pool almost every day, weather permitting.

When turning 60, I bought a mini trampoline after checking with gym teachers and a few other experts to see if it was advisable for someone in good heath who was my age to use. I wore sensible shoes and worked out for a good half hour almost daily. I bought two long dust mops that I put rubber tips on the bottom of to keep me balanced. My jumping was to the music of Billy Ray Cyrus. I even sang along with him. About twice a year I would bring the trampoline into my classes and do a little showing off.

After more than five years with the trampoline, I went back to pool exercising until the pool became too cold and then I found my new love. Sister Bobbie bought me a stationary bike and I am back with Billy Ray again..."Don't Break My Heart, My Achey Heart."

MY BREAKFAST MENU AND RECIPE FOR KIDS' COFFEE

My breakfast is very simple but I thoroughly enjoy it...I prefer to have my fruit later in the day.

                                                        MENU

1 slice Arnold Health Nut Bread.........120 calories
1 wedge Laughing Cow cheese...........35
1 Kids' Coffee....................................90

Total.................................................245 calories

                                                 KIDS' COFFEE


1/3    cup Dunkin' Decaf
2/3    cup crushed or cubed ice
 1      cup skim milk
1 1/2 packs sweetener

Put all ingredients in a tall cup with a lid and shake well. and serve with a straw. 
hint:  I use a 16 ounce Styrofoam cup with a good fitting top.

                                                                                                                             

ORIENTAL RESTAURANT DO'S AND DON'TS

If you have a hefty appetite, avoid buffets...Enough said??? The fried noodles that greet you in  a bowl are addictive and high in calories. 

Years ago, I took cooking lessons in the kitchen of one of those restaurants and the oil that they used to cook 4 servings was close to a cup,which would tally about 2,000 calories..Yes, that is for the oil alone.

The very best meals to order would be either House Soup for Two (eat the whole thing) .  No, no, do not put those dried noodles into it.  You can enjoy the won tons and all the vegetables and chicken that are in the filling serving of soup.

The other excellent dieters' meal would be steamed vegetables and steamed chicken or shrimp with white sauce on the side and pour the sauce over the two items mentioned above and mix.

Note: You may have the brown sauce instead of the white.  If you choose to have rice with the second dish, brown rice is the best choice, but as long as you limit the amount of rice to a half cup, order whichever you prefer.

Enjoy one fortune cookie for 26 calories..I hope that you enjoy the fortune enclosed in the cookie....It's calorie free!

Just one more thing.  If you followed my advice and get on the scale the next morning with a 1 pound gain do not be despondent.  All Oriental food is high in sodium and we often gain water weight. Stay on your diet and the day after that you may find that you are 2 pounds lighter.

FIND MENU PLANS THAT WORK BEST FOR YOU

I tended to have fruit for dessert after I had a hearty meal and seemed to get hungry soon after.  By having my fruit as an appetizer it was more filling and enjoyable.

Many people omit starches at dinner, and then snack all night long because the feel deprived.  They could choose a starch that is about 100 calorie and they would be more satisfied with their  meal in most cases. 

HOW TO SAVE MONEY ON ORANGE JUICE

First, do not purchase Tropicana reduced calorie orange juice.  This might sound like strange words coming from The Diet Lady.  What they have done so that their product is half the calories as other orange juices is that they have added 50% water and a little of articial sweetener. 

I have been instructing my members to do that to any brand of orange juice for years. The way to keep it fresher is to put a little ice in your glass and add a half cup of orange juice, a half cup water and one package of sweetener and mix with a spoon. This large glass of juice is 55 calories.

DON'T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU SEE

I was watching a cooking show this morning and it featured a young woman dipping her chicken in eggs and flour and putting it on a spotless cookie sheet and baking it. My mind could not fathom that once she took the beautifully browned chicken off the pan that the pan looked spotless.

I have been putting heavy duty foil on my pans before I bake items in the oven and even with doing that they look far from spotless.

SNACKING AFTER THE PARTY IS OVER

Many times we have the urge to eat in the evening after we have had a substantial dinner.  We know that once we begin to snack we end up devouring hundreds of extra calories.  The truth of the matter is that we are not really hungry.  I have two very helpfull solutions.

The one I feel helps the most is to do the dental maintenance rule.  If tempted to eat when you are not hungry in the evening, use a tiny brush that goes between all your teeth and then use dental floss.  After that brush your teeth well for about 5 minutes. What makes it work so well, is that if you put any food into your mouth after this, you have to repeat the above steps. Believe me, it works.

The way my sister Bobbie, handles this problem of snacking after meals is sugar free gum..She always has it on hand and she pops one into her mouth .

SAD TIDINGS

We are often tempted to go on radical diets that are dangerous .  Two actors died this way.

John Candy died in 1994 on a liquid diet.

Mario Lanza died at the age of 33 from going on a sleeping fast.  He was a handsome very talented singer.
Heed the warnings in small print on some of the dieting products you purchase in the drug stores or one page ads in newspapers or magazines .

COSTCO

Did you know that a hot dog at the food court is over 600 calories?  Would it be alright to have one  once in a while in place of lunch or dinner although it is not nutritious, while you are trying to lose weight? 

It might work, but if you have a regular coke and a refill or two it could add another 300 calories.

This suggestion will save you about 500 calories. Purchase fat free Hebrew National hot dogs and have one on a bun for about 150 calories.  If you prefer, substitute the bun for a slice of 50 calorie bread very slightly toasted.  Wrap the bread around the hot dog and put it in a small George Forman grill for a total of under 100 calories.  They do not call me a calorie manager for nothing!!!!
note* brown the hot dog before putting it on the bun or in the bread.

WENDY'S CALORIE COUNT WRITTEN ON THE PAPER ON THE TRAY

I read the calories for their small chocolate frosty and was pleased to see that it was listed at 250.  The last time I  had read a a chart on their wall  it said 320.   I usually order a tiny  6 ounce junior one.

I just hope that these calories are correct.  They also have a small chocolate frosty shake listed for 610 calories...Yes, 610.  The large size of the shake is 890 calories.

I have not made any diet chocolate  shakes recently but plan to prepare a few recipes  and send  it on the blog...Meanwhile:  I am enclosing a great blender recipe. It can be served as a thick shake or you can freeze the mixture in several small cups and it will taste like ice cream.


                                      BLENDER ICE CREAM OR MILK SHAKE

2/3                cup skim milk
1 or 2             packages artificial sweetener
2/3                  cup frozen peaches
3                     large or 5 small frozen strawberries

Put milk and sweetener in blender.  Gradually add peaches and blend at high speed until peaches liquefy.  Add strawberries and blend until fairly smooth.

Serves 1, about 120 calories                      

CRASH DIETS-------THE BITTER TRUTH

Crash diets almost always backfire.  Soon after people achieve their goals they breathe a sigh of relief and go back to their old eating habits.  They rationalize that they cannot eat that way the rest of their lives. 
I will name just a few of these crazy diets,  but there have been hundreds and most of them can be dangerous to our health.

1.  Cookies only.
2.  Just one piece of fruit for breakfast and all the vegetables they desire
for lunch and dinner without butter or dressing.       
3.  A liquid drink mixture that was sold under the name of "The Cambridge Diet" with a total daily calorie count of 300.  This was during the 70's or early 80's.     
4. The pound cake and ice cream diet...The promise was that you would lose 5 pounds in 5 days if you ate all of the cake and ice cream you wanted and only that. (I gained 4 pounds at the end of that time.)   
I did not go on all of these diets, but the worst tasting one I did try was boiled eggs and canned spinach..As much as I wanted!                

POPOVERS (easy and delicious)

                                                       2    eggs

1    cup skim milk
 1/4teasp. salt
 1   cup flour

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Put eggs, milk and salt in blender and mix at
high speed until bubbly.  Add flour and run at high speed until perfectly
smooth. Heat muffin tins or glass custard cups in oven.  Remove and coat with cooking spray.  Pour batter to half full.  Bake about 20 minutes for small
size, and 30 minutes for the larger ones.  Reduce heat to 350 degrees and
cook about 20 minutes longer until popovers are crisp and golden-brown.

Makes 12 smallish popovers, about 55 calories each, or 9 fairly large  ones
at 70 calories each.

MORE WORDS OF WISDOM and HINTS

Is there such a thing as the gift of thinness.?  NO...NO....NO.  You have to work to get there and really work to keep it off.

If you are going to a restaurant for dinner is it OK to skip lunch?  That is usually not a good idea. It can make you think that you deserve to eat more, and when you do eat that meal you might end up devouring a thousand extra calories.

Diet Masters  teaches you skill power and willpower..That means that you learn calorie awareness and how to select the right healthy foods  and how to set your brain to say NO to the wrong foods. It also helps us stop overeating.

THIS IS GOING TO BE YOUR NEW SKINNY SCHOOL

I would like this blog become many things for many readers..This should be somewhere that you can ask for recipes and get solutions for your overeating problems and take away the guilt if you made the wrong restaurant choices.  I want you to feel that you are not alone with your weight problem. 

This is a place where I will answer many of your questions...Let' say that you bought peanut butter when the grand kids came for a visit: Once they left, you could not keep away from eating it.  Solution: Put tape on the jar lid or give it away or throw it away.

Do I still like some of the fattening foods that used to cause me to gain weight?  Yes, but the romance is over.  I still enjoy them from time to time, but in moderation.  I do not need, adore, lust, or devour them.

CHARLES: ANOTHER MAN IN MY CAREER

Charles came into my life one night  in 1973 with a woman from my class.  He lived in Jupiter,FL which was abut 40 miles away from my weekly meetings.  He was about 5'8" tall and weighed 207 pounds. We soon began to see each other twice a week as he also attended my Low Calorie Gourmet Cooking classes. Within ten months he had lost 60 pounds and reached his dream to have a 30 inch waist.

He visited my classes from time to time for many years.  He was a great inspiration to many of my members.  This was the first time in his life that he had never regained his weight.  His biggest test came one summer when he toured Europe. Charles did not gain a pound, saying that he was not attracted to the rich Continental dishes he once craved.

This was a man who was quoted in his local paper in 1977 with these words, "I was subject to Big Mac attacks long before they became popular.  I'd think nothing of inhaling a quarter pounder, a large order of fries, a chocolate shake, and an apple turnover for lunch."  That totaled  around 2,000 calories for one meal, which is 600 more calories than he now uses for an entire day.

SAM'S YUMMY PANCAKE RECIPE

I had a member named Sam in one of my evening classes.  He said that he had a great recipe for pancakes made with just two items.  I could not visualize anything tasting good made with an egg and Rice Krispies. 

Some of the members made it and actually raved. I finally prepared the recipe and even my husband the Texan loved it...

                                           RICE KRISPIE PANCAKES
    1   egg, beaten
   3/4 cup Rice Krispies

Add cereal to egg and mix well.  Heat small spray-coated skillet to medium.  Pour in egg mixture and cook until set.  Turn, and cook until done on both sides.

Serves 1, about 150 calories

Hints:  It tastes very good as is, but you might enjoy topping it with a little sugar free jam or a light sprinkling of cinnamon sugar.

I DEDICATED MY COOKBOOK TO MY HUSBAND

Most dedications are not known for their humor and I thought you might get a chuckle reading this.

This book is dedicated to my handsome husband Hugh, who was born and raised in a small town in Texas.  He teases me about the fact that he could have married a soft-spoken Southern Belle who would cook fried okra, beans and sausage with gravy and homemade biscuits.  Instead, he settled for me with my stir-frys and steamed vegetables. He loves the fact that he still wears size thirty-four slacks.

NUTS ARE EXCELLENT TO LOWER YOUR LDL CHOLESTEROL

Many articles that we read give this very helpful information but they do not tell us the rest of the story.  Most nuts are about 400 calories a half cup...Who would eat a half cup of nuts at one sitting?  Most of us, if we were not aware of this fact might. A really compulsive over eater could easily devour a 10 ounce can of nuts within two days.  They tally in at about 170 calories an ounce or 850 calories a day.

You do not have to be a mathematician to see that this would be a total of 5,950 calories a week that you would be devouring from just one food...Just think, if you ate this 'healthy food' at the same rate for a year plus your regular meals you could gain an unbelievable 80 pounds a year.

OUT OF SIGHT,OUT OF MIND

There are foods that have no calories,
I tell you, this is true!
If you leave them on the grocery shelves,
They'll do no harm to you.

It's only when you bring them home,
That their evil work sets in.
And they nag, and coax, and beckon you,
Til you sink in original sin!

RESTAURANT MEALS HINTS AND IDEAS (how to save calories)

At all meals: always order butter, sauces, and gravies on the side and ask for your food to be cooked with very little butter or oil whenever possible.  Also order small portions if they are on the menu. Have them give you containers to bring home leftovers. Don't double starch at lunch or dinner (keep in mind that a large roll or potato is a double starch).  If rich desserts such as pies or cakes go with the meal they can be a temptation. Don't order them.  If fruits are not available, a small amount of Jell-O, sherbert or frozen yogurt would be a good choice. Never order any salad platter* or sandwiches that are mixed with mayonnaise, such as tuna or chicken.  If sandwiches are large, eat half. If you order French toast..ask for them to be prepared with very little oil or butter.  If they serve 6 half slices, share with a friend or ask for 4. Order your toast to have the butter on the side and use a very scant amount.

*note ALL TOSSED SALADS SHOULD HAVE THE DRESSING ON THE SIDE. Do not  pour the dressing on the salad..Dip your empty fork into the dressing and save hundreds of calories.

WE HAVE COME A LONG WAY WITH DIETING PRODUCTS

Through the years, the flavor of low calorie products have improved and there have many new items and ideas that help us. I used to call national companies to see if they could tell me the calorie count on certain of their products.  I also discovered a book called "The Brand Name Calorie Counter" in the 70's which became a bible to me.  There were no cookbooks with the calorie counts listed and I self published what I think was the first one of it's kind  in 1973 called, "The Diet Lady's Cookbook". I sold it to members of my classes and  to a supermarket chain called Publix for $4.95. A large spa on Miami Beach sold them as did one in CA.


One of the most exciting breakthroughs was when they put the calorie count on all food items on shelves in the markets in 1984. I would spend hours walking in the isles with a notebook.

THE WIDOW'S STORY******HOW I PERSONALIZED HER DIET

THIS IS ABOUT A NEW MEMBER WHO I HAD.  SHE WAS A RECENT WIDOW WHO NEEDED SPECIAL GUIDANCE BECAUSE SHE DID NOT ENJOY COOKING.


She explained that she craved a deep-fried chicken breast from time to time.  I asked questions about her likes and dislikes and what she usually enjoyed for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Within a half hour,  I had designed a menu plan for her.  We kept it flexible.


Since she did not like to cook but liked deep fat fried chicken breasts I directed her to go to the deli in the supermarket and purchase two fried chicken breasts.  She also loved fillet mignon.  I told her to order a few lean four ounce fillet mignons and freeze them.

Since the chicken breasts were large and fried, they would be a little costly calorie wise, so directed her to cut them in half before freezing.

I also furnished her with a menu plan that included several choices for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Included in the material were ideas of what to eat while dining out.

This lady was pleased as she had almost no cooking to do.  Almost everything was prepared for her.  She bought some of her favorite frozen meals that were under 320 calories that had less than 600mg. of sodium. She also purchased salads that were prepared and even frozen vegetables and waffles.

Words Of Wisdom

It is the first week of January 2012.  Whether you want to lose as little as 5 pounds or as much as 125, you have vowed to reach your goal.  A positive attitude is important, but you need many more tools to help you.

Keep food out of the house that you can't control....It may not be as easy as that if your spouse adamant about having his favorite butter pecan ice cream in the freezer.  One solution would be to get something in the house that would be a good substute...Do I mean another man??  Hardly!!!   Try Healthy Choice mocha  swirl bars that are delicious and only 90 calories each.  Another would be to purchase 15 calorie popscile bars and allow yourself 3 in one day..

I plan to have hints or words of wisdom on this blog several times a week during January. Send your questions and thoughts on my blog or Email which is advice@losewithlouise.com.