Low-Fat Lifestyle

…BELL PEPPERS!

I always just associated peppers with salads, but not anymore. Now, I think of them as a snack first!

And - something I consider with all vegetables because I’m a klutz - they’re not difficult to cut. I bought a huge bag of mini bell peppers at Costco, and they stayed fresh for a surprisingly long time.

Aside from being low fat, they’re loaded with nutrients: beta carotene, folic acid, vitamins B6 and C,and thiamine.

Oh, and they actually taste good. Add fat-free ranch to make them even better!

It seems so simple (because it IS), but I figured I’d share, since it’s a snack I really hadn’t thought of before!

Image via mykindofcooking.blogspot.com.

There are some foods that really make my diet a lot more manageable.  For once, however, there’s also a small appliance that also makes my life easier.

The George Foreman Grill.  This thing is intended to eliminate fat in cooking. It is such a huge help for me in following my diet.  I didn’t think I was able to eat steak again, but putting it on the grill makes it as lean as possible. 

Image via tvtopten.com.

Also, it’s super easy to clean and cooks things really fast, which is handy as a college student. Chicken in 5 minutes? That works for me. 

They can get a little pricy. I think I paid close to $60 for mine, but it was completely worth it.

If you have any issues with eating fat or just want to eat healthier, a George Foreman Grill is seriously a worthwhile investment. Grilling is one of the healthiest ways to cook, and this tool makes eating low fat so much easier.

In honor of Earth Day, I decided to dedicate a post to helping the environment and your gallbladder. 

How do you do this? Cut out meat for the day. 

According to the book “GreenGreenerGreenest” by Lori Bongiorno, minimizing exposure to fat through the meat you eat is one way you can be “greener.”

Fat in animal meat contains toxic chemicals like dioxins. Without getting super scientific, she writes that dioxins are “unintentional by-products of industrial activities and considered a human carcinogen by the World Health Organization.” Dioxins settle in grasslands, where cows graze and eat…and then you eat the cow. Yuck. 

Buying lean cuts of meat, trimming off extra fat, and using low-fat cooking methods like grilling can cut dioxin levels UP TO HALF.  

So, in honor of Earth Day (and Good Friday, if you’re Christian), eliminate meat for one day. 

Image via denbeath1.blogspot.com.

One dietician I spoke to about my gallbladder disease even suggested I go vegetarian. I don’t know if I can live without my meat, but I can definitely cut it from my diet for a day. 

So go meatless today. It’ll help the planet and your gallbladder.

A little while ago, I blogged about low-fat pizza without cheese. That pizza is fantastic, but I’ve been itching to find a pizza place that can accommodate my dietary needs and give me cheese.

So I decided, why not Google it? A search for “nj low fat pizza” gave me more useful search results than I expected. I found multiple places that offer low-fat pizza by using skim mozzarella instead of the full-fat kind.

Image via foodies.blogs.starnewsonline.com.

I went with the whole wheat fat-free pizza from Master Pizza in Livingston, NJ. Even if you’re not from Jersey, the point is that a simple Google search might turn up a lot more than you expect. I really didn’t think there was much of a demand for low-fat pizza, but I was very wrong.

And the pizza was actually pretty good! You can definitely tell that it’s whole wheat and low fat, but my logic is that it’s better to have this kind of pizza than no pizza at all!

Today, I’m going to try my hand at a new low-fat dessert recipe. To celebrate my brother’s 16th birthday, I needed to find a low-fat alternative to the ice cream cake he picked out. As much as I wish I could eat it, ice cream cake is just wayyy too fatty.

So today, I’m going to try baking a low-fat graham cracker pie crust to fill with low-fat chocolate pudding!

Here’s the pie crust recipe from allrecipes.com:

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3 tablespoons nonfat plain yogurt
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, mix together graham cracker crumbs, cocoa powder, yogurt, and brown sugar. Press mixture firmly into a 9 inch pie pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 5 minutes.

And if I do this right, it should turn out like this:

Image via allrecipes.com.

Wish me luck!

One of my absolute best friends in the whole world owns a chinese takeout restaurant. (It’s secretly why I stay friends with him.) Chinese takeout is awesome and can actually be pretty healthy - if you know what to eat.

I think everyone has a general idea of what is considered unhealthy Chinese food.  But some of it is more unhealthy than I thought. Did you know that sesame seed chicken is deep fried multiple times? Once just wasn’t unhealthy enough, I guess.

Image via tokeofthetown.com.

So what do you order if you’re cutting back on the fat? What I’ve learned is that if you ask for anything steamed, it’s pretty much a safe bet. I get steamed dumplings, steamed noodles, steamed chicken, steamed vegetables. Basically, anything steamed. Add a little soy sauce and I’m good to go. My personal favorites are steamed vegetable chow mei fun and steamed shrimp dumplings.  

Surprisingly, I actually think some of the dishes taste much better when they’re steamed.  Sometimes, that heavy brown sauce just detracts from the taste of the food. Nix the sauce and you’re nixing a whole lot of calories. Who knew that Chinese takeout could actually be so guilt free? 

Bonus: You don’t have to skip the fortune cookies at the end of the meal. They’re pretty low-fat!

Image via hanascape.com.

Italian food is SO good. It’s one thing that’s just too hard for me to give up. The half-Italian side of me just won’t let it happen.

But eating low fat doesn’t mean eating stuff that tastes like cardboard.  Last I checked, I still have taste buds. So the goal is to find the stuff that tastes good and is good for you. With Italian food, this seems near impossible. I mean, how do you make vodka sauce healthy?

Well, truth is, you really can’t. But there’s a ton of other ways to take the Italian food you love, make a few easy adjustments, and ENJOY!

Easiest adjustment is with linguini with clam sauce. Linguini is harmless in terms of fat. It’s better as a whole grain, but hey, that’s your prerogative. It’s really the clam sauce that’s the problem here.

So the question is: white sauce or red? When you go out to eat (or make it yourself), how do you know?

Easy. Red sauce = GOOD. White sauce = BAD.

Red sauce is tomato-based. Tomatoes aren’t fatty. White sauce, however, is butter-based. BAD NEWS. 

Let’s take Progresso clam sauces as an example.

Here’s the one to buy:

Image via hothothot.com.

It has 1g of fat in a 1/2 cup serving. 

Here’s the one to ignore:

Image via ruggierosmarket.com.

It has 10g of fat in a 1/2 cup serving, and its base isn’t even made with butter. Try soybean oil. Yum.

So, saving 9g of fat with the swap of a sauce? Sounds pretty simple to me. 

Very few things can satisfy my sweet tooth or chocolate cravings with so few calories and absolutely zero fat. 

Diet Swiss Miss manages to do both, with one packet having only 25 calories and 0g fat. It’s also packed with calcium and 2g of protein. 

Don’t confuse Swiss Miss diet (this):

Image via sweetbaysupermarket.com

…with Swiss Miss Fat-Free (this):

Image via fitnessmagazine.com

Both kinds are actually fat free, but the diet version has half the calories (25 vs. 50) and way less sugar (2g vs. 7g).

So, for probably the only time EVER, I’m advocating not buying the fat-free version. Just not worth it.

But the diet version certainly is.