Weight Loss Weekly

Weight Loss Weekly is a weekly collaboration between me and two other bloggers trying to lose weight.  Join us as we discuss tips, strategies our successes and failures along our weight loss journeys.

This week, Sunny from That Extra 20 Pounds asks:

A lot of people drink diet sodas or drinks with artificial sweeteners when they are trying to lose weight. Do you drink these kind of things? What are some of your favorite things to drink when you're watching your weight?

I don't drink sodas period.  Last year, when I first found the book French Women Don't Get Fat, the author encourages you to eliminate soda of all kinds from your diet and instead opt for water or perhaps some sparkling water with a splash of juice in it if plain water is too boring.  At the time, I was drinking one Coke-a-cola a day (full sugar variety).  I actually found it EXTREMELY difficult giving that one Coke a day up.  I was surprised at how difficult it was really.  In the afternoon, I would just seem to lag and crave that sugar hit.  Also, I was craving the bubbles.  I was able to break the soda habit through perseverance really, but also by buying large packs of Perrier from Costco.  I would go though 4-6 20 oz. bottles of Perrier a day, but I felt good knowing that I was giving up the sugar hit of the Coke.  Without realizing it, I slowly replaced the fizzy Perrier with still water to the point now I am drinking one Perrier a week.  

Just giving up that one Coke a day, I am saving myself 980 calories a week!  Over the course of the year, that translates to about 15 lbs.  Not only am I giving up the calories though, I have broken that sugar hit dependence.  I feel when you substitute diet sodas for the full sugar ones, you may be saving yourself the calories, but you are never breaking your dependence on the sugary sensation (even if it's not real sugar).  This causes more cravings, and more cravings, and more cravings....It's when you BREAK the dependence on the sugary flavors that you can truly get over the cravings and it is not such of a daily battle.

Now, my main drinks are water, tea and coffee, milk and occasionally a tiny amount of juice.  It's no longer an issue and I don't crave the soda at all anymore.  In fact, the last time I had a soda, it was so cloyingly sweet, I only had a sip.  I never noticed that before I broke the sweet cycle.

Check out what my fellow weight loss weekly bloggers have to say:

Sunny says:

"Last time I dieted I bought a big pack of Diet Dr. Pepper to "help" with my sugar cravings. I thought it would help but it did NOT!!" keep reading at www.ThatExtra20pounds.blogspot.com

Check out what Nurit has to say at Family Friendly Food

A Culinary Trip to Ethiopia Continued

For the past few weeks, Chef E from Cook Appeal and I have been traveling virtually through the cuisine of Ethiopia. I was so honored this week to play host to a real Ethiopian at my Friday feast! My neighbors adopted a little girl from Ethiopia about a year ago. Here she is sitting at my kitchen table enjoying....macaroni and cheese. Don't you just love her pudgy, pudgy hands? I tore off some injera for her and she looked at it like it was not edible. I thought it was quite cute that while her parents and my husband and I feasted on dishes from Ethiopia, she was happily munching on the mac and cheese I made for all the kiddos.

For our culinary tour this week, I decided on making Doro We't, a spicy chicken and egg dish, as well as Ye'atakilt Alich'a, which is a vegetable stew.  Also, as a bonus, my little friend's father prepared Yemisir Alich'a which is mild lentil sauce served with pita chips or injera.

The Doro We't.  You can just see how spicy and rich the sauce is.

Doro We't by Joie de vivre

Ingredients:

6 lbs. chicken parts

3 sticks unsalted butter

3 lbs. red onions, chopped

2 tsp. garlic powder

4 heaping Tbls. berbere (recipe here)

9 oz. tomato paste

3 c. chicken stock

10 hard boiled eggs, peeled and slightly scored

1 tsp. black pepper

Directions:

1.  In a large Dutch oven on the stovetop, melt the butter.  Add the onions to the melted butter and saute over medium heat until translucent, about 5-10 minutes.  

2.  Meanwhile, remove the skin from the chicken parts and score the meat slightly to allow the sauce to penetrate once they are added to the pot.

3.  To the onions, add the garlic powder, berbere, tomato paste and the black pepper.  Add the chicken stock and bring the mixture to a boil.  Add the chicken pieces to the sauce one piece at a time, stirring between each addition to make sure that each piece of chicken is covered in sauce.

4.  Pre-heat the oven to 275 degrees.

5.  Cover the Dutch oven and place it in the oven for 4 hours.

6.  Thirty minutes before serving, add the hard boiled eggs to the sauce to warm.

7.  Serve Doro We't with injera (recipe here) and eat it with your hands.

Ye'atakilt Alich'a (Vegetable Stew)

Ye'atakilt Alich'a (Vegetable Stew) adapted from Exotic Ethiopian Cooking by D.J. Mesfin

Ingredients:

3 sticks butter

1 1/2 c. red onions, chopped

6 medium potatoes, scrubbed and chopped into large bite sized pieces

5 large carrots, peeled and chopped into bite sized pieces

6 oz. tomato paste

1 small green cabbage, cored and chopped into large chunks

6 medium Anaheim chilies, seeded and sliced into long, skinny strips

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1 c. chicken stock

2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper

Directions:

1.  In a large Dutch oven, melt the butter over medium high heat.  Add the chopped onions and saute until translucent 5-10 minutes. 

2.  Add all of the remaining ingredients and stir.  

3.  Cover the Dutch oven and place in a 275 degree oven for 3-4 hours until all of the vegetables are tender and are browning.

4.  Stir the Ye'atakilt Alich'a to combine and serve with injera.

Our special treat, Yemisir Alich'a (Mild Split Lentil Sauce)

Yemisir Alich'a (Mild Split Lentil Sauce) adapted from Exotic Ethiopian Cooking by D.J. Mesfin

Ingredients:

2 c. lentils

6 c. water

2 c. chopped onions

2 c. butter

1 Tbls. ginger

1 tsp. chopped garlic

1/3 c. berere

Directions:

1.  Bring water to boil in a large stockpot.

2.  Pick through the lentils and remove any rocks.  Boil the lentils in the water for 5 minutes.

3.  In another pot, melt the butter and add the onions.  Cook until the onions are translucent but not browning, 5-10 minutes.  Add the lentils and the water to the onions.  Add the spices.  Simmer for 20 minutes until the mixture is thick and the lentils are soft.  Serve with injera.

I've so enjoyed this culinary tour of Ethiopia.  The dishes are rustic and although they are not quick and easy to make, they are SO WORTH IT!  Thank you Chef E for suggesting we do this!  Don't forget to check out the amazing Ethiopian dishes at Cook Appeal.  Chef E used to work at an Ethiopian restaurant and goes all out for her meals.

March French Friday #4

Bonjour to you gorgeous French people.  Can you believe that this is our last discussion on Mindless Eating?  March certainly roared in like a lion and is now, thankfully, exiting as meekly as a lamb.  For my New Zealand and Australian readers, I know you are entering your autumn, and as French people, we embrace the changing of the seasons, so you all enjoy getting cozy in your sweaters and switching your meals to embrace some heartier, warming fare.  As for me, it has been SUCH a long winter.  I am embracing the spring with each new blossom I see.  I have also been using the weather as an excuse to go on a slightly longer walk to enjoy the daylight.

Today, Tangled Noodle and I will be concluding our discussion of Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink.  Don't worry though gentle readers, French Friday will be continuing in April with a discussion of The French Don't Diet Plan by Dr. Will Clower.  Don't forget to pick up your copy of the book to read along with me.  I was skeptical of some of the principles at first, but since adopting some of the ideas from this book, I'm down an additional 5 pounds in 3 weeks!

Tangled Noodle has a lovely discussion of Chapter 10 of Mindless Eating going at her site.  Please visit her and sit in on her conclusion of this book.  Here is a little snippet to whet your appetite:

"How does the science of economics fit into a discussion of food habits? Quite well, as a matter of fact. Please join me at Tangled Noodle as I explore how Dr. Wansink's main themes echo basic economic principles of trade-offs, margins and incentives, and how we might apply 'mindful eating' strategies to our other consumption behaviors."

Chapter 10:  Mindlessly Eating Better

Mindless Eating was filled with study after study that show traps people fall into where they mindlessly eat.  Scarily, eating just an extra 100 calories a day, will make you gain an extra 10 pounds in a year!  Think of what 100 calories is:  a cup of nonfat milk, two Hershey's kisses, a slice of bread, you get the idea, you can easily consume an extra 100 calories throughout the course of your day, and not even realize you were doing it.  However, you can also CUT OUT 100 calories mindfully (or mindlessly) without really realizing it and lose 10 pounds in a year.  The difference between the two scenarios is MINDFULLY realizing where you can cut and not realize you are cutting, and then keep a journal so that you KNOW that you are indeed cutting calories and that you are making small, positive changes to your diet.

Ask yourself:

1. Where can I mindlessly cut calories?  What are two or three positive dietary changes I can make?  Perhaps I can only eat HALF of my french fries, perhaps I store the Hershey's kisses in the freezer instead of eye level in the cupboard where I see them more often?  What mindless tricks will work for you?

I so enjoyed this book and our time together.  Thank you to Tangled Noodle for suggesting it to me.  Please remember to visit her lovely discussion of this book as well.  If you have an idea for a book that you think would make a great book to review during French Friday, please let me know, I'm looking for some new ideas!