Trim meals - includes recipes

Maintaing a healthy weight proves challeniging for many of us. Despite what we know about obesity and its link to disease, many have or are close to surrendering in the battle of the bulge. But don't give. Instead, change your eating and lifestyle habits. Here are a few suggestions:

1. Eat three small meals regularly.

2. Eliminate snacking.

3. Cut down on visible fat (spreads, gravies, sauces, salad dressings.

4. Reduce the margarine or oil used to saute, fry, or season.

5. Use a luncheon (salad) plate rather than a dinner plate.

6. Choose single small servings without seconds.

7. Lay your fork down between bites and chew thoroughly.

8. Eat slowly, enjoying the flavor of each bite.

9. Shop with a grocery list that includes only healthy foods (limiting those high in fat, salt, and sugar), and buy only what is on your list.

10. Drink water when you feel hunger between meals.

11. Eat more fruits and vegetables.

12. Choose whole grains and cereals.

13. Exercise.

14. Reduce the stress in your life. Experiment with recipes and cut back the fat. Where the recipe calls for margarine to saute vegetables, use a fourth to half the suggested amount. Use fat-free cottage cheese, fat-free sour cream, and fat-free salad dressings to save calories per serving. Change from whole to nonfat milk and save almost 100 calories per eight ounces with all the other nutrients (calcium, riboflavin, protein, phosphorus, vitamins D and B12) left at very close to the same level. We have learned to like the taste and smoothness of fat, but we can learn to like it less.

Small changes in eating habits to decrease dietary fat may add up to a significant number of calories by day's end. Choosing one low-fat recipe may help, but the total caloric intake over many days is what trims the figure. Here is a low-fat menu for one meal that would fit into a 1,400 to 1,600 reduced calorie plan. Going below 1,400 calories makes it difficult to consume all the nutrients that are needed each day.

Food                       Calories
Cottage Cheese Loaf         125
with Zesty Tomato Sauce     15
Dilled Potato Salad         70
Baked Crookneck Squash      40
Tossed Green Salad          25
with Lemon                   0
Dinner Roll with Margarine 115
Fruit Delight               90
Nonfat Milk                 90
TOTAL                      570

The recipes on this page have trimmed the fat from the original recipe.

COTTAGE CHEESE LOAF

1 quart fat-free cottage

cheese

1 pkg. onion dry soup mix

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

coarse

5 cups Special K cereal

2 eggs

Mix all in ingredients together and bake in a flat baking dlsh for 45 minutes at 350 deg.F or until it is brown and crispy on top. Serve with tomato sauce. Serves: 12 (3/4 cup servings). Calories: 125; protein: 13 grams' fat: 4 grams; cholesterol: 40 milligrams.

ZESTY TOMATO SAUCE

1 cup tomato sauce

1 tsp. parsley flakes

1/4 tsp. tarragon leaves

1/4 tsp. basil leaves

Combine all ingredients. Use warm as sauce for loaf or chilled on tossed salads. Yields: 1 cup. Calories: 15 per cup.

DILLED POTATO SALAD

3/4 pound small red potatoes

1/3 cup sliced green onions

1/2 cup diced celery

1/4 tsp. dry dillweed

1/3 cup soy mayonnaise

Steam raw potatoes until soft. Cool and cube. Toss gently with onions, celery., dill, and mayon. naise. Serve chilled. Serves: 6 (1/3 cup serving). Calories: 70; protein: 3 grams; fat: 1 gram; cholesterol: 0 milligrams.

SOYANNAISE

1 cup water

3/4 cup soy milk powder

1 cup canala or other salad oil

1 tsp. salt

1/3 to 1/2 cup lemon juice

1/4 to 1/2 tsp. lemon rind

Blend the water and soy milk powder at high speed in a blender. Add the oil slowly. Quickly add the salt and lemon juice. You may need to assist the blender to mix in the lemon juice by pulling the soyannaise away from the sides toward the center with a rubber spatula. Can be frozen, thawed, and refrozen five to six times. Yields: 3 1/4 cups. Calories, 1/3 cup: 20; protein, 1/3 cup: 2 grams; fat, 1/3 cup: 1 gram; cholesterol, 1/3 cup: 0 milligrams.

BAKED CROOKNECK

SQUASH

6 crooknecksquash

1 cup stewed tomatoes

2 tsp. margarine

1/8 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 tsp. onion powder

Cut squash in half lengthwise and place cut side up in 2-quart baking dish. Brush lightly with margarine. Sprinkle with garlic and onion powders. Pour stewed tomatoes over squash. Bake at 325 deg F for 20 minutes. Serves: 6. Calories: 40; protein: 1 .gram; fat: 1 gram; cholesterol: 0 milligrams.

FRUIT DELIGHT

1 medium banana

1/2 cup frozen orange juice concentrate

1 cup pineapple chunks

1/3 cup nonfat powdered milk

1/3 cup water

Whiz all ingredients in blender until smooth. Freeze in ice cube trays. Serve cubes in sherbet dishes; garnish with strawberries, pineapple, other fruit, or mint leaves. Serves: 4. Calories: 90; protein: 3 grams; fat: 0.2 grams; cholesterol: 0 milligrams.

Georgia E. Hodgkin, Ed.D., R.D., is an assistant professor at the School of Allied Health Professions, Loma Linda University.

COPYRIGHT 1994 Review and Herald Publishing Association
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group