Posts by diyeana

There is hope!  Thanks zebulancherry!

You know, lasagna doesn't have to be high in calories or fattening. My all time favorite lasagna is a butternut squash lasagna. Now I know so many families will just die if they don't have a ton of meat or fat in their lasagna... :) But this is so delicious and worth every bit of prep work. It makes two smaller lasagnas and I usually follow the instructions of eating one and then freezing the other.

A couple of notes: I throw in a bunch of Italian seasoning with the cheese mixture and also one time I bought noodles that were too long. So I broke off the ends of the noodles and arranged them so the whole layer was covered.

I got the original recipe from Cooking Light and modified it a bit. I've made my changes below.

Ingredients

Cooking spray
3 cups chopped onion
10 cup fresh spinach
3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded sharp provolone cheese
1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 large eggs
1 (15-ounce) carton part-skim ricotta cheese
1 (15-ounce) carton fat-free ricotta cheese (or another part-skim if you want...)
3 cups diced peeled butternut squash
6 cups jarred marinara sauce
12 oven-ready lasagna noodles (such as Barilla)
1 cup (4 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese

Preparation Preheat oven to 375°.

Heat a large Dutch oven coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add onion; sauté 4 minutes or until tender. Add spinach; sauté 1 1/2 minutes or until spinach wilts. Combine provolone, parsley, salt, pepper, eggs, and ricotta cheeses in a large bowl.

Place squash in a microwave-safe bowl. Cover and cook on high 5 minutes or until tender. (THIS STEP TAKES ME LONGER - make sure they are tender or it will ruin the lasagna. I think it takes about 15 mins for me. You could also roast it in the oven if you want.)

Coat the bottom and sides of 2 (8-inch-square) baking dishes with cooking spray. Spread 1/2 cup Marinara in the bottom of one prepared dish. Arrange 2 noodles over sauce; spread 1 cup cheese mixture over noodles. Arrange 1 1/2 cups squash over cheese mixture; spread 3/4 cup sauce over squash.

Arrange 2 noodles over sauce; spread 1 cup cheese mixture over the noodles. Arrange 1 1/2 cups onion mixture over cheese mixture; spread 3/4 cup sauce over spinach mixture.

Arrange 2 noodles over sauce; spread 1 cup Marinara evenly over noodles. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup Parmesan. Repeat procedure with remaining ingredients in remaining pan. Cover each pan with foil.

Bake at 375° for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 30 minutes.

To freeze unbaked lasagna: Prepare through Step 6. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing to remove as much air as possible. Wrap with heavy-duty foil. Store in freezer for up to 2 months.

To prepare frozen unbaked lasagna: Thaw completely in refrigerator (about 24 hours). Preheat oven to 375º. Remove foil; reserve foil. Remove plastic wrap; discard wrap. Cover lasagna with reserved foil; bake at 375º for 1 hour. Uncover and bake an additional 30 minutes or until bubbly.

Yield

2 lasagnas, 6 servings per pan

Nutritional Information

CALORIES 254(30% from fat); FAT 8.5g (sat 4.5g,mono 2.2g,poly 0.3g); PROTEIN 18.6g; CHOLESTEROL 69mg; CALCIUM 414mg; SODIUM 560mg; FIBER 3.3g; IRON 3.2mg; CARBOHYDRATE 27.6g

Barbara Seelig Brown, Cooking Light, MARCH 2003

I have definitely seen miso packets that are fish-free. I buy them at a Vietnamese store near my favorite Pho restaurant (which is another delicious thing to make....) I love miso with lots of tofu, scallions & seaweed. I think I need to go there and get more soon!

The thought of eating greasy fast food (especially a hamburger) turns your stomach.

It is true....you fill up right away, and then are hungry 2-3 hours later. Sometimes sooner!

Twinkies? Gross. They used to be one of my favorites!

(I still love ice cream, bacon & dark chocolate ... not all at the same time. I'm never going to give those up - in moderation!)

I always eat Raisin Bran myself.  It's iron enriched and raisins are a great source of iron too.  There's a lot of iron enriched cereals.  Special K and Total are a couple more I can think of.  

Maybe if you were to make some kind of pasta dish with tofu and lots of dark green veggies (spinach, broccoli, watercress to name a few) you'd get a good iron meal.   Oh and start drinking prune juice and eating dried fruits (apricots & prunes are my favorites). 

Women need 18 mg a day I think it is?   And don't forget your Vitamin C in the same meal to help your body absorb the iron better.

Good luck in your quest!

fringe1000 - they really are worth every calorie.  I love nachos, especially at baseball, basketball, whatever games.   I usually gain a bunch of weight from sodium too, but not always.  And I would tell the little devil to eat a chip and be quiet.  :)

nicksusanchamplu - I completely agree. I love having a day where I don't stress out about how much I'm eating. And now I'm happy because yesterday filled every major craving I have. And the pizza was delicious! I think I'll make it at home some time.

Read this article:

http://www.healthline.com/blogs/diet_nutritio n/2007/11/eat-before-exercise.html

And then this one:

http://health.msn.com/fitness/articlepage.asp x?cp-documentid=100146039

They're about eating before you work out, but it also explains why eating in the morning is so incredibly important.

And then here is one about eating breakfast in specific.

http://www.mealsmatter.org/EatingForHealth/To pics/article.aspx?articleId=5

Here is an article that talks about it.

 http://www.healthline.com/blogs/diet_nutritio n/2007/11/eat-before-exercise.html

The biggest issue with losing weight that quickly, is your body is feeding quickly off of your fat AND muscle.    All that weight lifting you've been doing has done you no good.  You might as well have taken a nap.  Then once you get to your desired weight, get tired of your "diet" and start to eat again the weight will come rushing back.

A big issue with eating less than 1200 calories a day is there is NO way you can be getting all the nutrients you need.   I read an article on Mayo Clinic's website that said they came up with that number because it's the lowest possible you could eat and still get all of your nutrients.   However, you would NEVER want to be that low unless a doctor is monitoring your food.  Or if you are 100 lbs at age 90 and want to maintain.  :) 

Realistically you should be eating around 1600 calories a day give or take a hundred.  (I'm 33, 5'6", 163 and eat around 1600 a day and am losing weight - I also work out 5 days a week.)  in fact, if I were you I'd do something like eat 1500 one day, 1700 the next, 1600, etc....do a little zig zag to keep your body guessing on how much it will be getting every day.  Just average it out to around 1600.

I get that number because eating your "BMR" is typically the easiest and safest way to make sure your body is getting all of it's nutrients and helps keep you from going into starvation mode where your body will eat your muscle.  Plus starvation mode can very easily make you stop losing weight because your body's metabolism will change to cope.

Calculate your BMR here: http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

You also will not want to eat less than 1000 calories below your burn.  You calculate your burn by taking your BMR and multiplying it by the "Daily Calorie Needs" link that is on the page above.  So you probably burn around 2200-2400 a day.   Sticking with 800 below your burn is a really good number.  Then adjust as you get lower in weight.

And remember, when you raise your calories, you may put on a little water weight of a pound or two right away.  It's not time to panic.  Your body will adjust and it will go away.  It just will get a little excited to know it's getting food and will want to store as much as possible.  It will probably take a week or two for your metabolism to come on board.

Your husband must love you to worry about this.  :)  And by all means, have a glass of wine.  Just my opinion, but if you like it, it's worth fitting in a glass.   Besides, it has great antioxidants and has been shown to improve your health over the long run.   Women shouldn't have more than 1 glass a day though.  Good luck!

supersized - you made me cry. In a good way. :) Then you made me laugh. In a good way.

You're probably looking at around 300-400 calories.  Even if there's no sauce, you still have the yogurt that's baked on the chicken.  Plus dark meat is higher in calories than light.  But even then, food is nearly always an estimate.   I wouldn't worry too much if you're not exact.  

I have learned to work treats into my weekly & even daily eating. For instance I have severe cravings for ice cream so I have a Skinny Cow Vanilla/Caramel Chocolate Dipped ice cream pop - 80 calories each. I'll eat one of those every couple of days and keep it in my calories. Also, I will allow myself to eat ice cream every once in a while too without feeling guilty. You don't HAVE to stay at your calories every day. Just most days if you want to be healthy.

But this way I don't feel like I'm leaving anything out or sacrificing. Ice cream (or cake, brownies, doughnuts, etc) are not taboo nor are they bad for me to have. I just have them less because I have a bigger (thinner/more healthy) goal to shoot for.

Although I typically try to keep the choice lower in calories/fat and a little closer to my 'normal'. No extra large malts for me! But a small one is fine. Or something I make at home with sugar free/lower fat ice cream. But still, nothing is off limits. Just quantity. :)

Oh and if you do go nuts (I did it not too long ago), don't feel guilty about it. Just laugh, check out how much water weight you gained, laugh some more and get back on the good eating train. If you let it fill you with guilt and remorse, you put all of it on the forbidden list which makes it more tempting.

Original Post by hgielrehtaeh:

B: egg substitute (1/2 c) with laughing cow cheese and spinach in a LaTortilla Factory low carb wrap

Oh that sounds delicious for breakfast!  And to think!  I have every one of those ingredients in my fridge.  I know what I'm having for breakfast on Saturday - with their tomato basil wrap!  Thanks.  :)