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Archive for November, 2009

Can you really lose fat with Thanksgiving leftovers?

November 28th, 2009 | Author: admin

Just because you may how blown it on Thanksgiving, doesn't mean you have to continue the trend throughout the rest of the holiday season. You can take the best of your Thanksgiving supper and convert it to healthy meals that support and not derail your fat loss program.

These ideas, brought to you by your Leaner Stronger Fat Loss Coaches will help you keep your eyes on the prize and your butt in your skinny velvet jeans this holiday season!

Have recipes of your own you'd like to share? Don't hold back! Share your yummy dishes with the rest of Kansas City via our Leaner Stronger Sooner Fat Loss blog below!

EASY TURKEY SOUP!

One of the best recipes for day-after leftover turkey is Turkey Soup. This easy Thanksgiving turkey soup recipe, although lengthy in ingredients, uses everything that is probably already in most houses who have a turkey carcass. The assembly will probably take you a half hour (tops) and is one of the most common and best Thanksgiving leftovers recipe.

EASY LOW FAT TURKEY SOUP!

Ingredients

2 quarts chicken broth
1 turkey carcass, all meat removed
2 onions halved, 1 of the onions chopped
2 carrots halved, 1 carrot chopped
2 whole stalks of celery, remove top and bottom part of stalk and cut one full stalk in half. Chop the other stalk.
2 bay leaves
3 cups dark turkey meat
2 garlic cloves, smashed roughly
2 tsp olive oil
3 cups leftover cooked Thanksgiving side vegetables (Brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, green beans)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage leaves - if you have them, if not, rosemary, thyme or just about any Thanksgiving seasoning you have lying around will do the trick.

Easy Leftover Turkey Soup Directions

Put chicken broth, turkey, onion halves, carrot halves, 1 celery stalk, and 1 bay leaf in a large stock pot.
Bring to a boil, then turn burner to low; simmer about 1 1/2 hours.
While leftover turkey soup simmers, finely dice the remaining onion, carrot and celery - place to the side.
Dice the leftover turkey roughly. Using big chunks; not huge chunks. - set to the side.
Strain the broth through and discard the solids.
Transfer broth to a bowl - set to the side.
Meanwhile, In a large soup pot, heat garlic cloves in the olive oil. Allow to brown slightly and add second round of carrots, celery, and onion.
Cook over medium-low heat until softened, about 8-10 minutes..
While cooking your carrots, celery and onion, dice your 3 cups of leftover cooked Thanksgiving side vegetables. Also chop your sage.
Add the chopped sage to the soup pot along with the turkey broth and the remaining bay leaf.
Bring to a simmer. When simmering, add your leftover Thanksgiving vegetables and diced turkey meat to the soup. Bring it back up to a simmer. Turn the heat off and cover. Allow to sit and steam for 5 to 7 minutes.
If you would like to make this a turkey noodle soup- cook egg noodles to the side and end at the very last step when you add your leftover Thanksgiving turkey and vegetable leftovers.
Serve while hot or freeze.

But there are so many other ways to maximize your Turkey leftovers to feed your entire family for days to come!

Salads- Add leftover turkey to a mix of arugula and spinach, sliced mushrooms, cranberries, shredded carrots, sliced red onions and a sprinkling of heart-healthy walnuts. Toss with your favorite low fat or fat free fruity dressing or vinaigrette. This will definately keep you on target for fat loss this season!
Sandwiches and Wraps Use slices of leftover turkey to make all kinds of sandwiches. Be sure to use whole grain breads and rolls, and low fat or fat free fillings. If you don’t like the taste of fat-free mayo, use mustard instead, or flavor your mayo with a little curry powder or another herb or spice. Make a turkey-salad filling with crunchy celery, cranberries and apple. Use plain low fat yogurt for the dressing. Stuff into a whole wheat pita or spoon into the center of a whole wheat tortilla wrap and roll up. These are great on the go snacks and your kids will love them!
Pizza Toppings Top a prepared whole wheat crust with 1/2 cup of tomato or barbecue sauce, 1 cup of chopped turkey and 1/2 cup reduced fat cheese. Bake for 10 minutes at 450 degrees. Watch out for these though, they are so good you may want to hog out on them! Don't!
Quesadillas Combine shredded turkey with a little cumin. Spoon on one half of a low fat corn tortilla; sprinkle with reduced fat cheese; fold tortilla in half and cook in a nonstick skillet (coated with cooking spray) for 5 minutes, turning once. Same with these. Handle with care.
Burritos, Enchiladas, Fajitas, and Tacos Add shredded turkey to salsa, black beans, low fat sour cream and reduced fat cheese; or combine with sautéed onions and sweet peppers; with shredded lettuce and chopped tomatoes; or mix with mild green chiles, seasonings, scallions and a can of enchilada sauce. Use low fat flour or corn wraps with these fillings.
Pot pies Add leftover turkey, sliced mushrooms and leftover green beans and carrots to low fat, reduced sodium condensed chicken or mushroom soup. Top with a low fat biscuit topping (there’s now a low fat version of Bisquick) or phyllo pastry sheets. These are great and tons lower in kcal than the regular variety!
Casseroles Combine 2 cups chopped leftover turkey with 2 cups cooked whole grain rice, a can fat-free, low sodium broth or chopped tomatoes, and a selection of chopped vegetables in a 2-quart casserole. Cover and bake at 325 degrees for 30-40 minutes, until vegetables are tender.
Skillet Meals Add 1 1/2 cups of chopped leftover turkey to sautéed onion, mushrooms, broccoli and rice cooked in fat-free broth. Sprinkle some parmesan before serving.
Pasta dishes Add leftover turkey to your any number of pasta dishes. Use shredded turkey instead of ground beef in your favorite lasagna recipe. Be sure to use reduced fat cheeses.

Finally, don’t forget the carcass: put it in a big pot of water along with some onion, carrots, celery, peppercorns and herbs; bring it to a boil, then simmer. After a couple of hours, you’ll have a rich stock, which you can de-fat and use for low fat soups, stews and gravies throughout the holiday season.

Who knows, once that turkey has finally gone, bones and all, you might even miss it!

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Who's fat loss goals are coming undone by night time eating?

November 23rd, 2009 | Author: admin

Let's admit it-we all have little food moments the whole world doesn't need to know about. Often, these little soires occur at night. These are the moments that sabotage all of our fat loss goals!

Once dinner is cleaned up and you've worked your way through the dreaded stack of unfinished office work you've hauled home, you begin to hear the call of the night kitchen.

The next thing you know, you're lying on the sofa watching a Seinfeld rerun and spooning your way through a bowl of your favorite chocolate-mint frozen yogurt. You realize you're doing exactly what all your leaner stronger sooner personal trainer has warned against.

But what's wrong with nighttime eating? Is food consumed after dark really more fattening than what we eat during the day?

Eating at night does seem to contribute to weight gain among people who are already overweight. In an investigation of more than 2,000 Danish people, night eating was defined as having little or no food at breakfast (called "morning anorexia") along with consuming at least half the total daily calorie intake after the evening meal. This seems like a bizarre pattern, but I was surprised to learn that as many as 9 percent of the women and 7 percent of the men reported being night eaters. Over six years, the overweight women who were night eaters gained almost 10 pounds more than those who were not. That can certainly wreak havoc on anyone's fat loss program! Few facts exist as to why this happens; perhaps, by the light of the refrigerator in a deserted kitchen, we are more prone to letting our guard down.

If the consequences of nighttime eating can be troublesome, particularly for people who are overweight, can eating earlier in the day make a difference to your weight loss? Among American women, breakfast eaters are more likely to have a healthy weight than women who don't eat a morning meal. Champion breakfasters (in comparison to breakfast avoiders) have better nutrient profiles, tend to exercise more and are more apt to report that they try to control their weight.

Consider the possibility that breakfast might influence the rest of the day's eating choices. A psychologist at the University of Texas recently found, in a study of 867 normal-weight volunteers, that as the day progressed, the time between eating got shorter while the calories per eating session increased. Interestingly, people who ate the most in the morning consumed fewer calories overall compared with those who did most of their eating in the evening. Maybe your fat loss trainer knows what she is talking about after all?

I'm starting to better understand the pitfalls of my own evening munchies. While a small bowl of frozen yogurt is a perfectly reasonable nighttime snack, during particularly stressful times (including the very holidays I love) I'm more likely to pop a few extra treats, like some of that delectable fudge a colleague has given me, without really thinking about what it's doing to your weight loss....

And on those nights that the yogurt just doesn't do it, I am more vulnerable. If you suspect that your own nighttime eating pattern may be a problem, consider your snack choices carefully and, if you don't already do so, eat a hearty breakfast. I could certainly benefit from eating less at night, which would probably help me wake up hungrier... Which is great because I love cereal, too!

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Who’s fat loss goals are coming undone by night time eating?