Foodie Pop-Quiz Answer Key

So yesterday on Facebook we did a “Pop Quiz” on nutrition for the chance at a $25 Amazon gift card. Lots of folks took part — which is why it will be a minute before I have a winner (I have a LOT of tabulating chances to do). Look for that later today, but until then, here are the answers!

Be sure you’re connected to BF on Facebook and Twitter so that you can get in on these chances to win great prizes!

Question #1 

Name one food that would be considered a legume. EXTRA CREDIT: Name a health benefit to eating legumes.

ANSWER: To answer this question I’m going to turn you over to the good folks at Wikipedia (click here)! Most of you got this question correct. Legumes have great fiber and are a heart healthy food, among other benefits.

Click here to learn more about fiber!

Question #2

Multiple Choice: “Skim (cow’s) milk is primarily a source of _____ that has a good amount of ______ in it.”

A: fat/carbs

B: protein/fat

C: carbs/protein

D: protein/carbs

ANSWER: This question tripped some folks up because they wanted calcium to be an option. Milk is a GREAT source of calcium, which is a micronutrient. Fat, carbs and protein, by contrast, are macro-nutrients. It would not have been appropriate to compare (mostly because the macro-nutrient content of milk changes slightly – with regards to fat – by what kind of cow’s milk you buy but generally the micronutrient content is not affected by the macro, if that makes sense).

In any case the answer is C! Milk has 12g of carbohydrates (from lactose) and 8g of protein, making it primarily a source of carbs, with a good (I’d even say great for a carb!) amount of protein.

A good way to tell about a food’s composition is from the nutrition facts label. Click here to read a good primer on the (current)nutrition label!

Click here to read more about milk and it's carb content.

Question #3 

Name THREE whole grains.

ANSWER: Again, I’m going to send you to a great article/site (click here). I will say among the list are amaranth, barley and corn (yes, corn!). These whole grains all have good health value so long as you eat them the way mother nature gave them to us (I mean you can cook them but the more processed a food is generally, the greater its nutrition can potentially be diminished)!

Click here to learn more about whole grains.

Question #4

Finish the sentence: “To get the most absorption possible (regardless of surgery type) you should avoid taking ______ and ______ supplements together.”

ANSWER: Caveat: My very good friend Pam says there can be a few different combinations that are correct. BUT, when I wrote this question I was thinking of calcium and iron.  Even for non-ops, calcium can affect the absorption of iron.

Click the respective links to learn about the vitamins a RNY, DS, a VSG and Gastric Banding (Lap-Band, etc.) patients should take.

Question #5

Answer in your own words: What’s the difference between a food labeled “sugar free” and a food labeled “no sugar added”?

ANSWER: An item listed sugar-free should not have any sugar from any sources (not fruit sugar, milk sugar or anything else). An item that is “no sugar added” may have naturally occurring sugars like lactose or fructose but should not have added sugars like sucrose or high-fructose corn syrup.

Click here to learn more about sugar in our foods in myseries “BF Basics: Sugar Shock!”

You didn’t expect to get even more learnin’ from this, did ya? I aim to give you what you need to live the bariatric good life, Foodies!

Stay tuned for the announcement of the winner. Good luck everyone and thanks for giving it your BEST effort!

You're Invited to a Special Event to Celebrate Your Success!

Stop what you’re doing. Put down your cottage cheese, or your protein latte. Stop typing an email or fussing at your kids (or thinking about fussing at your kids). Take a journey with me. Back…back in time.

Do you remember your prom? I do. Both of them. I remember my junior prom because my mom made me go and I didn’t want to! (I ended up going with a very nice boy named Peter who is now a life-long friend so it all worked out.) My senior prom, I went to with another good friend named Shawn (pictured below, fastening my corset). I also remember that it was HELL choosing a prom dress. Literally.

Me as a wee-young Lassie...(when did I become Scottish???)

Looking at that pic I’d say I was maybe 240-ish (on my way to a high weight at 30 years old of 340). And in the 1990’s the world still didn’t quite understand that larger women like to look good too. So after many frustrating sessions at bridal stores, my mom threw her hands up and decided to have a dress made for me. Even THAT was dramatic, though, because the dress I loved didn’t come in my size so the dress maker had to call the designer to specially request them to cut a pattern in my size.

For a person who didn’t like a big fuss around her (as I felt at the time) the whole thing was kind of mortifying. It all worked out for the good. I got dolled up and rode in a limo and danced with my good friend.

But now, as a significantly smaller person, I sometimes wish I could have a do-over of prom.

But wait…what if I could?

And in fact I can! I’m co-hosting an event in Baltimore, Maryland on November 1, 2014, 5 – 10 p.m. that is called “Bariatric Prom.” More than reliving our prom, this is an opportunity to get dolled up and show off your success so far!

I’d like to invite you all to join me for this event. There will be music (all types of music!), weight-loss surgery friendly food (and for fun we are making our non-op dates eat off of “us-sized” plates!), there will be photo packages available from Life Touch (instant photo packages = you get them that night! All packages will be affordable!) and, of course, there will be chances to share your story with others including a chance to submit your before/after photo in a special slide show! More on that once you purchase your ticket(s)!

Space is limited for this special event. Tickets are $35 per person until June 14, $45 between June 15 – October 8. No tickets will be sold at the door! If you have questions about this event, feel free to leave them in the comments and I’m happy to answer. I’m hoping this will be an annual event AND if it is successful it may even be a regional one (meaning bariatric prom could very well come to a town near YOU!).

And just in case you can't see the address in the image above it will be held November 1, 2014, 5 - 10 p.m. at Morganview Apartments, 1500 Pentridge Rd., Baltimore, MD 21239. My number is above to call for ticket information (use that information respectfully, Foodies!)

I hope you can join me for a wonderful night of celebration!

Click here to purchase tickets

Chicken Roulade

I'm writing to you today from cloudy and cool Saginaw, Michigan, where I'm visiting my friend Pam (of "The Journey to a Healthier Me" or you all would best know her as the cover designer of all of Bariatric Foodies fabulous book offerings on Amazon!).

She's been showing me all sorts of lovely places and I'm having a blast. We've been to Frankenmuth (and I could have kicked myself for not taking my camera around on that walk but I did manage to snap a few good pictures before my phone conked!) and yesterday we went to Dow Gardens (I love nature! I'm a city girl so I don't get to commune with trees much) and Lansing to a store called Horrocks.

Now on the surface one might ask if a grocery store is truly a tourist stop for an out of town friend. I'd say when that out of town friend is me...um yes. Seriously. I want to live in that place! They have every fruit and vegetable known to man, they have all the products we love (sugar-free Torani syrups, PB2, etc.) for CHEAP and...get this...free gourmet coffee. As in free. As in you don't have to pay for it.

(I know..."Shut the front door!")

S'anyway our goal in going to Horrock's was to get yummy dinner fixings. It'd had been an active day and I wondered what we could make that wouldn't be too taxing. Then a simple, elegant dish a friend taught me came to mind: Chicken Roulade (I've featured the dish here before when I had my Laughing Cow Light Cheese Party. Click here to check it out!).

That's basically a fancy way of saying you tenderize and pound flat some chicken breasts, fill them with veggies and cheese and top with a sauce.

YUM! Check out the process of me making our Chicken Roulade, then head over to "Feed My Sleeve" and let Margaret share her full recipe for this tender, moist, delicious meal!

First I sauteed some veggies in a little bit of extra virgin olive oil. I used spinach, orange bell pepper, tomatoes and onions (I have a thing about color). 

After that I pounded out some chicken breasts (not shown) and seasoned them. Then I spread Laughing Cow Light (French Onion in this instance) on one side. 

Then I plopped some veggies on top of that and rolled the chicken into a spiral.

I placed all my chicken spirals in a baking dish and put the leftover veggies on top.

Finally, I topped with sauce, in this case Emeril's "Roasted Gahhhhlic" Sauce (that is actually how it's spelled by the way!)

And here it is fresh out of the oven. Yum! We had our Chicken Roulade with roasted asparagus and a seven-grain salad I picked up at Horrock's. I have a bit of a bigger pouch capacity so you all probably won't be able to eat all that, but it was a yummy, delicious and balanced meal.

If you can't eat much, try making these with chicken breast tenderloins instead of full breasts (I couldn't eat a whole breast. I had to cut in half). 

BF Top 5 - Equip Your Kitchen for Healthy Eating!

See Tip #3 for how to ensure you correctly portion foods that can be easy to over-measure!

But first…pre-ops! (Or really anyone who feels like they need to get their lives/homes in focus to be successful at WLS) I have a resource for you! It’s called The Bariatric Foodie Pre-Op Prep Kit (On the page where that link goes, choose "Downloads"). Click that link to check it out. It’s one of my $2 downloads and it has LOTS of information about how to prepare your life for WLS success. (NOTE: It’s a pdf file so you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader or some other pdf reading software on your computer or device in order to open this.)

Now…on to the business of the day.

Temptation. Do you ever struggle with it? Me too! It’s crazy because half the time I know I’m not hungry. But then again, the human body is built so that we are able to eat for a million and two reasons other than hunger. My philosophy? Always have a strategy!

Here are some proven (for me) strategies for eating the appropriate amount of good food.

#1 – Use the supermarket rule

This diagram shows how much more likely you are to buy things based on its shelf position at the grocery store. Click this link to learn more about this and other grocery store dynamics that affect how you buy food!

There are Foodies out there who have lamented to me that their non-op hubby/wife/kids/roommate just HAS to have their Little Debbies/Doritos/Tasty Kakes, etc. and that, because of this dire need to keep junk in the house, they, the innocent bystander post-op, have fallen victim to the evil food.

(This is over-dramatized but believe me the sentiment rings true to the messages I’ve gotten.)

So let’s re-write this narrative.

You ever notice how food is organized in a grocery store? The stuff they want you to buy is right at eye level – easy to see and if you see it you’ll buy it. Food companies pay big money to be at eye level for that very reason. Conversely, the companies who did not pay the premium get relegated to really high or really low shelves.

You can make that same strategy work for you! Your family can keep all their junky food BUT make them agree to put it either in a lower cabinet or way high in an upper cabinet. In my home EVERYTHING we shouldn’t eat often is on the very top shelf of my upper cupboards. I have very high cupboards so getting said food requires a step-stool, which requires the effort of getting and climbing the step-stool, which I only do when I really and genuinely want to cook said foods, which is not often!

#2 – Prep, prep, prep

I’d say by about the second or third month post-op you have a well established “safe foods list” (foods you can consistently eat without threat of gut death). So now it’s time to use that knowledge to help your process. Take a few hours every weekend (or whenever you have a day off) to prep foods that you like and can eat. You can even cook meals ahead for yourself and pre-portion them. Stack them up in the fridge and then it’s a matter of grabbing and going (and maybe nuking if it’s a hot meal). In The Bariatric Foodie Breakfast Book I give some good suggestions like making your own “fruit-on-the-bottom” yogurt cups (there are yogurts with good stats out there but if you’d like to know for sure what’s in your food, try making yourself!). I also sometimes make Protein Shake Starters.

The point here is that we fall prey to convenience foods why…because they are convenient! Make the healthy food as convenient as the junk and you’re more likely to make the right choice.

#3 – Take a Measured Approach

Studies show humans are notoriously bad at eyeballing portion sizes. Especially with dry goods and anything we measure in a cup. So instead of leaving it up to your eyeballs, be prepared!

Here’s what I do. I have containers in which I keep things like oatmeal, Splenda, quinoa, etc. Inside those containers I put the appropriate cup or spoon measure equivalent to a serving. So with Splenda, I have a teaspoon measure in there. For oatmeal I put a quarter cup (an official full serving is a half cup but I rarely eat that big an oatmeal portion anymore and my kids are old enough to add fractions!).

#4 – Portion = Control

I know this especially well. Even too much of healthy foods can be too much. Take almonds. I can eat a bunch of them! Yes, they are healthy fat BUT eating too many puts too many calories and too much fat in my day.

For some of us, it's just cheaper to buy things like almonds or other healthy snacks in bulk. But after they come into your home they should not stay that way for long! Invest in some snack-sized zip-top bags (I get mine from the dollar store) and pre-portion things. It helps you to stay on track in a few ways. Firstly, you don't have to guess a portion. Also, there's something about an individually packaged portion that makes you want to stop at just one. The mental game of going for a second one is usually a good deterrent.

#5 - Best laid plans...

Remember, you can have the most well equipped kitchen in the world and you may still fall prey to trigger foods. What's a trigger food? It's one you can't control and so you go bonkers whenever it's around. You try to fight it. (You really do!) But it's like the food sings to you until you eat it!

A healthy kitchen also starts at the grocery store. Be honest with yourself. Can you control yourself around the foods you're buying? (A good way to tell is to recall how many times in the past you've not controlled yourself.) If not, set yourself up to only have to make ONE hard decision: passing the trigger food. Conversely, if you buy it...you have to make the decision every minute of every day it's in your house not to go bonkers. I dunno about you, but I'm all for working smarter, not harder!

Breakfast Week: Nik's Warm Asparagus Salad

This blog post title is something of a misnomer. I started wanting to remake a warm asparagus salad I had at Cheesecake Factory. Oh it was lovely! It was on their Skinnylicious Menu and had fresh asparagus, pine nuts, basil, Parmesan Cheese and a fried egg on top.  It was a bit heavy on the oil though so I knew I could do better.

But as I was writing this post I thought to myself, "Self? Since you're doing this recipe to highlight the Unbreakfast chapter of The Bariatric Foodie Breakfast Book...technically you've thrown eggs on top of a lot of stuff...so really you should also highlight that!

And so I will.

But first the salad recipe!

Nik's Warm Asparagus Salad (Cheesecake Factory Knock-Off)

Ingredients:

• 5 or 6 stalks of asparagus of medium thickness (not super thick, not pencil thin)
• 1 small tomato, cored and sliced into wedges
• 1/2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 tsp. Italian seasoning (fresh basil and oregano, finely chopped would be better but I had neither on hand!)
• 1-2 tbsp. (depending on your caloric limits) shelled sunflower seeds (I'll explain why the switch in a moment)
• 1 large egg

Directions

Spray a skillet with non-stick cooking spray, set it over medium heat and let it get HOT.

Cut off the woody stems of the asparagus (HINT: Usually grocery stores rubber band them at the cut mark but if not, usually where they are definite green and not any white). Then chop asparagus into bite-sized pieces (whatever that means for you).

Add asparagus to the skillet and stir to cook for about 2 minutes. Add tomato. WARNING: The tomatoes are going to release a good deal of water when they hit the heat. It will evaporate quickly.

Add olive oil and spices and toss it all to coat.  Transfer to a plate and set to the side.

Re-spray your pan and fry an egg the way you like it (as you can see, my preferred way is sunny side up!). As your egg is cooking, sprinkle asparagus and tomato with sunflower seeds. I used sunflower seeds because...um...HELLO? Have you checked out the price of pine nuts lately?!?! I mean I love you guys but $13 for a small bag was a bit steep and these work just fine!

Slide your egg on top of the mixture once it's done and go. To. TOWN!!!

Adding an egg to something is an easy way to make an Unbreakfast, which I define one of two ways in the book. An Unbreakfast is either:

1. A food that uses traditional breakfast food but could easily work as lunch or dinner. OR...
2. A food that doesn't use traditional breakfast food but has great nutrition to start your day.

So with that, here are a few other things I've plopped an egg on in the spirit of good eating!

Nik's Turkey TVP Chili...with a fried egg

Veggie hash...with a fried egg

Spinach, red peppers and mushrooms...with a fried egg

Matchstick peppers...with a fried egg

A bed of caramelized onions, a turkey burger...with a fried egg

So those are just a few ideas to get you started. I love putting a fried egg on things mostly because the luscious yolk adds a richness to things that I love. Yes, it's added fat but it's added fat with NUTRIENTS which, much as I love it, butter just can't claim!