This one is sure to fatten your wallet and loosen your belt.

I’m a big advocate of bringing your lunch to work. But for many, packing a lunch 5 days a week is just out of the question. Time seems to be an issue. If it’s not time , it’s what the heck do I pack for lunch!? Why not take some of the stress of you and delegate! Form a lunch club this year!

Here’s how it works.

1. Put an email out to see who would be interested in joining your lunch club.
2. Whether you have 2, 4 or 7 people on board you’ve just formed your very first lunch club!
3. Assign everyone a day to bring lunch for the gang.
4. On your lunch day – pack a healthy lunch to feed the troupes!

Now you only have to worry about lunch one day a week and on the other days you know your going to get a healthy home made lunch!

Here are some lunch ideas to help you get started!

• Turkey Chili
• Any type of salad with any type of lean protein
• Sandwiches with lean meat on whole grain bread with veggies and hummus to dip!
• Hearty soup with chicken and vegetables – Try this one!
• Lean Beef Stew – like my Hamburger Soup
• Healthy Casseroles – like my Chicken Nachos
• Chicken or tuna salad made with Greek yogurt. Try my Curry Chicken Salad recipe.
• Crust-less Quiche – Here is my favorite recipe!
• Turkey Burgers on Whole Grain English muffins. Make these the night before and heat them up day of.
• Quiona Salad and Soup. Try my Feta Quinoa Salad and my Green Soup!

You have 10 ideas to get you started! And don’t forget, everyone in your lunch club will have 3 or 4 ideas up their sleeve that they love. This is a great way to form a little team at the office and encourage each other to stay healthy and on track this year. Team support is the best kind of support to help you reach your goals. Happy Lunch-ing! Keep me posted on how it goes!

Related posts:

1. 10 Healthy Lunch Ideas
2. 10 Ideas for Bringing A Lunch to Work
3. The Passover Challenge – Lunch Ideas

WHAT TO DO?

Well for starters let me be honest before I dish out a bunch of advice on how to avoid eating all these treats. I started with the cinnamon buns, because as you know if you read this blog- they are my weakness. HOME MADE Cinnamon Buns!!!! And once I had the buns, I was like – we’ll those cookies do look delicious and so the story goes. That was Monday. Could have been the start to a HORRIBLE week.  BUT I’M SO HAPPY TO SAY THAT ON TUESDAY I CAME OUT ON TOP!

So, what did I do on Tuesday and Wednesday (until all these treats were eaten by everyone else) ?

1. I only went into the kitchen when I HAD to. I did not aimlessly wonder into the kitchen just to ‘check things out’,  because I knew that would just tempt me further.

2. Water. Water. Water. I brought a fresh lemon with me to work and squeezed it in every glass of water I drank. I don’t know why but for some reason lemon water helps me curb my cravings. Maybe it’s the tart on my tongue.

3. I brought a big lunch with lots of snacks to work. And they were not crappy snacks that I felt I needed to eat to repent for my Monday melt down. No, I brought snacks I thought were delicious so that I would not feel deprived. I brought Activia Vanilla Yogurt, Pistachio Nuts, Greek Plain Yogurt and Fresh Berries, Corn Thins with Peanut Butter & Banana and cheese.

I gotta say, yes it’s VERY HARD to turn down “treats in the kitchen”. But you have to ask yourself a few questions before you dig in ?

1. IS IT WORTH IT? Like really worth it. You’re going to eat for 2 seconds (or 2 hours if you can’t stop!) and then you will be paying for it for weeks. 2 minutes of taste-bud heaven ….. 2 pounds later! (Exaggeration but you get my point)

2. DO YOU EVEN LIKE WHAT’s IN THE KITCHEN? Sometimes we eat just because it’s there and not because we actually want it or like it.

3. ARE YOU EVEN HUNGRY!!!? Really, because if you’re not even hungry, what’s the point ?!

Of course I know you can ask yourself all these questions, answer the way you should and still eat! We are human after all!! But I think the best way to over come this if you do have a Monday Meltdown like I did, have a Totally Awesome Tuesday and a Wicked Wednesday! Get your brain back. One bad day does not warrant a bad week. One bad day or bad meal will not change your pant size, but a bad week sure can! If you do start off on the wrong foot – don’t punish yourself for it, just stop as soon as you the sugar let’s go of your brain!

Best of luck with your Treats in the Kitchen this Holiday Season.

Related posts:

1. How To Stay Away From Holiday Office Treats
2. Sugar Cleanse – Week Two
3. 10 Holiday Health and Fitness Tips

This great chicken recipe was in the Summer 2010 issue. Here is what I did with it:

Leek, Chicken and Feta Stuffed Pita’s (serves 4)

• 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• 3 leeks (the white’s) – chopped
• 4 garlic cloves- minced
• 12 ounce boneless skinless chicken breasts- diced (you can use raw or cooked)
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh dill
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh mint
• 2 ounces Feta Cheese
• 2 tbsp Parmesan cheese
• 2 egg whites -
  
• salt and pepper to taste
• 4 whole grain whole grain wraps

1. Heat oil on skillet over medium heat and cook the garlic and leek until softened. 10 minutes.
2. Add chicken (if it’s raw, put your stove top on high). Cook.
3. Add dill, mint, salt and pepper.
4. Stir in Feta, Parmesan and the egg until well combined. Careful! You don’t want the egg to scramble so make sure you stir!
5. In a new DRY skillet on medium lay down your whole wheat wrap.
6. Covered 1/2 the wrap with 1/4 of the chicken mixture and brown on both sides.

ENJOY!

* Nutritional Information (with a Weight Watchers whole wheat wrap)

* You can lower the fat (and calories by using low fat cheese

Related posts:

1. Chicken Wrap – Part Two
2. Chicken Wrap – Part Three
3. Egg White Feta Quesadilla

Now they just need to make a commercial with a guy chugging a bottle of toxic chemicals sitting beside one person drinking diet pop and the other person eating a “sugar free / fat free ” treat.

Related posts:

1. Real Sugar vs The Fake Stuff
2. Low Fat, Low/No Sugar, Low Calorie – DANGER!
3. Sugar Cleanse Debrief

A few months ago I posted about a delicious tomato sauce that I became obsessed with. Here is the link to the post if you don’t remember it.

The Tomato Sauce That LIED!

I even emailed the company to tell them how much I loved their sauce. That is something I have never done before.

Well, they recently changed their packaging. I have to say that the sauce is still made with healthy whole ingredients and no preservatives which is why I loved it in the first place. BUT – here it comes….. the sauce went from 15 calories for 125ml to 90 cals!!! From 0 grams of fat to 7grams.

The Old Label                    The New Label

The Old Ingredient List: Tomato, Carrots, Basil, Olive oil, Onions, Celery, Salt and Seasonings.

The New: Ground Tomato, Fresh Diced Tomato (okay- tomatoes..check), Fresh Garlic (that’s new), extra virgin olive oil (check), Fresh Basil (check), Sea Salt, Ground Black Pepper (check, check), Chopped onions (check), Tomato Paste.

So where did the 7 grams of fat and 75 calories come from?? The garlic and tomato paste or the fancy new way of saying basil, salt and pepper!?

OH! I am so mad!!!!

Related posts:

1. Lasagna Without The Noodles
2. How To Read A Nutrition Label
3. Healthy Brand of Tomato Sauce

Ginger Salad Dressing

• 1/2 celery stalk chopped
• 1/2 a small onion chopped
• 1 Tbsp Soy Sauce
• 1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
• 2 Tbsp Water
• 1/3 cup Sunflower or Canola Oil (recipe calls for 1/2 a cup)
• 1/2 cup Rice Vine Vinegar
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 2 Tbsp Fresh Ginger diced
• 1 tsp raw sugar (recipe calls for 1.5 tsp)
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Combine Well! I use my Magic Bullet, but if you don’t got one of those you can use a blender or hand blender.

* Nutritional Information (1/16th of Recipe)

* CHECK BACK to get the recipe for my favorite lunch! “Chicken Ginger Salad Slaw”

Related posts:

1. Chicken Ginger Salad Slaw
2. A Filling Salad
3. Low Fat Creamy Salad Dressing

“We went to Cheesecake Factory tonight for dinner and in NY (we are in Albany, half way) they now have to print all calorie info on all menus.  CRAZY!!!!!!!!!  Things were like 2000, some 2400 for one dish.  Most everything was over 1000 even the salads.  It was really eye opening.  I opted for one of the “Weight Management Salad” which had 400-something calories with the low fat dressing.  It had chicken, blue cheese crumbles, pecans and pears – endives, lettuce, greens.  It was delish!!!

I could not believe how many calories everything had.  It made me veeeeeerrrrrry conscious of what to pick which is a good thing. Joel has ordered the burrito grande many times - 1900 calories!!  OK, it’s big but he can mostly eat 80 percent of it.  All the cheesecakes had about 1000 calories for a slice.  The kids meal grilled cheese and fries had over 800 calories and the chicken fingers/fries had 1000 and this is a KIDS meal.  CRAZY!!!!!”

Let me know what you think about the newly implemented N.Y laws and if you think they would be beneficial where you live.

P.S- My cousin is still in shock over the menu.

P.P.S – Wednesday’s Steps – 10,025 (Phew! Went for a 20 minute walk at 7.30 to get them all in! )

Related posts:

1. My Picks at Five Fast Food Restaurants – Mc Donalds
2. Low Calorie, Low Fat Cheesecake. Minus the Cake.
3. How to Order Healthy at a Greek Restaurant

• I love it because it has 20 grams of protein in it! Most yogurts have 2 to 6 grams. This is sure to help keep you feeling full and satisfied whether you eat it as a snack or include it in a yummy breakfast.
• I also love it because low fat dairy is great for weight loss! Recent studies suggest that dairy products help eliminate fat from your body!
• Not to mention that protein takes more time and is harder for your body to digest then carbohydrates or fat! What does that mean?
• 1. You burn more calories working to digest protein then you do fat or carbohydrates.
• 2. Because it takes more time to digest, you stay full longer.
• And of course, this product has 150mg of calcium, that’s 15% of your recommended daily intake.

Liberte now makes a Greek Style Yogurt that is rich, thick and creamy and a pretty close (although not a prefect) match to my favorite Fage .

Here are the stats for 175ml (3/4 cup):

Check back in! I’m going to post one of my favorite Greek Yogurt breakfast recipes !

* Monday’s Steps – 10,197! Whoot!

Related posts:

1. 6 Important Weight Loss Tips
2. Non Fat Plain Yogurt
3. Turkey Burgers- Greek Style

But let’s think about this for a second or two. Are you going to have a better time if you eat badly or opt not to?

Scenario One - You go out with a “friend’. You both dig into the bread together, order an appetizer, mains, dessert and share a bottle of wine.

GREAT NIGHT! So fun! You chatted away about all sorts of stuff and felt like you really connected. You do however leave feeling stuffed and a little mad at yourself for going overboard. Whatever. You go to bed. You wake up kinda feeling stuffed still and now you are officially mad at yourself for eating too much. Whether it effects you for the whole day, half the day or an hour. You still spend at least some time beating yourself up. And if your trying to lose weight or your trying to maintain – your really pissed at yourself becuase all the work you did during the week to stay healthy (and it was not fun and games) was just blown to smithereens on this one FUN night.

Scenario Two – You go out with a “friend’. She digs into the bread, you opt not to. Is is hard, Yup. But you do it.

She may try to pull you into her “I feel guilt for eating this bread without you…have a piece” trap.  Do you fall for it? Not a chance.

She wants to split a bottle – you just want one glass. You order a clear broth soup or salad as an appetizer she orders fried calamari. You order fish with vegetables for dinner she orders pasta in a cream sauce. She BEGS you to share dessert with her  (another I-feel-guilty-doing-this-alone trap) you tell her how stuffed you are (even if it’s a lie) and order a decaf coffee or tea.

GREAT NIGHT! So fun! You guys chatted away about all sorts of stuff and felt like you really connected. You leave feeling great! So proud of yourself for keeping it healthy, staying on track and having had such a fun night with your friend.  You go to bed. You wake up feeling refreshed. You put whatever you want on from your closet because you don’t feel bloated or stuff from last night. You keep on trucking with whatever your goals may be!

What are you missing out on by not pigging out?

• Being mad at yourself
• Being disappointing in yourself
• Not liking the number you see on the scale
• Not fitting into your pants.

Now which one sounds more fun to you?

Related posts:

1. How To Eat a Healthy Thanksgiving Dinner
2. Sugar Cleanse – Week Three
3. Thanks For Nothing

Chopped Chicken Curry Salad with Fruit Chutney

• 3 ounces chopped white meat chicken ( I used Rotisserie)
• 2 Tbsp Plain Non Fat Greek Yogurt ( If you can’t find Greek – just look for non fat plain)
• 1/2 tsp Curry Powder
• Dash of Cinnamon
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 15 Raisins
• 3 tsp Fruit Chutney (You can use apricot or peach Jam – I found a all natural Peach Chutney that had turmeric in it)
• 3 Corn Thins

1. Combine chopped chicken, yogurt, spices and raisins.
2. Spread 1 tsp of Chutney on each Corn Thin.
3. Divide Chicken Salad into three and place onto of chutney.
4. Enjoy!

Related posts:

1. Low Fat, Low Calorie Chopped Chicken Salad
2. Pumpkin Curry Apple Soup
3. Chicken Ginger Salad Slaw