Dairy Queen Blizzard w/ M&Ms

After our first beach day of the summer my friends and I stopped for some good, old-fashioned soft serve in the form of a Dairy Queen Blizzard. They’ve recently added the mini size, which is nice for portion control. I got a vanilla mini Blizzard with M&Ms and banana. The banana is 0 PTS+, and according to the DQ Website nutrition calculator the mini with M&Ms on its own is 9 PTS+.

Definitely high, but for a major lover of soft serve in the summer (it’s a cherished ritual from my childhood) it was well, well worth it. I wrote it down, enjoyed every bite, and now it’s on to a week of healthy eating and exercise in the newly arrived warm weather.

What’s your favorite summer treat, and how do you fit it in while staying on program?

Fabulous new restaurant – LifeAlive (Cambridge)

A friend who lives in Cambridge has been RAVING a new restaurant called Life Alive in Central Square. It’s all vegetarian, and everything they make comes from natural, locally sourced ingredients. I went there for lunch yesterday, and it was well worth the trek in.

I had “The Seeker” which is a large salad with hummus, cashews, and dressing. It was higher PTS+ than I would have thought – 13 total (4 for the hummus, 5 for the cashews, and 4 for the dressing) but I must say it kept me satisfied from 2:00 when we ate lunch until around 7:30 pm. My lunch-mate had one of their warm dishes – “The Adventurer” and let me say I wish I’d gotten that. It was DELISH (he let me have a bite or two) with small cubes of tofu, almonds, and a brown rice/quinoa mix. With those ingredients it had more protein, and even he (not really a vegetarian type eater) was satisfied until dinner. I haven’t figured out the PTS+ for that one yet, but it was a reasonable portion and mostly fresh, beautifully colored veggies.

So if you’re in the Central Square area I highly recommend a trip to Life Alive. Stay tuned as I expect to be doing some PTS+ estimations for more of their dishes soon. I might even reach out to the owner for more info on what’s in each dish to make it easier. Given their commitment to healthy eating, I suspect they’d be happy to oblige.

Lunch at Chipotle

I haven’t actually eaten at Chipotle yet, but there’s one right near a store I go to often and I’ve been thinking of trying it. I love that this chain uses fresh, locally sourced, unprocessed ingredients. So in the spirit of advanced planning I took their menu and nutrition info and planned out a meal for myself with the PTS+. Here’s what I came up with:

Salad (romaine lettuce) with black beans (3 PTS+), chicken (5 PTS+), and mild tomato salsa (0 PTS+) = 8 PTS+

I decided to skip the cheese, and use only a portion of the sour cream (3 PTS+ per serving) instead of the dressing they offer which was higher PTS+ than sour cream. I might also use a small portion of guac, instead. But that’s 4 PTS+ for 3.5 oz. The vegetarian option salad is just beans and guac so that would be only 7 PTS+ total, not too bad. I worry that the beans might not be enough protein to keep me full long enough, but guac has so much good fat that it is likely to be quite satisfying.

I’m hoping to try one of these combinations this weekend as I run some errands and will let you know how it goes.

I’m also planning to update some of my older restaurant posts to include PTS+ (in addition to the old PTS) so stay tuned for that.

Jamba Juice Berry Power Smoothie

Despite being an ENORMOUS resort, the place I stayed in the Bahamas was lacking in good breakfast options. The one bright spot was a place called Jamba Juice. I’d heard of the chain before, which specializes in smoothies and other healthy concoctions. We went there one morning and I chose the “Berry Topper” which is a smoothie made of low-fat yogurt, strawberries, blueberries, and banana topped with granola and sliced banana. It was delicious!!

I knew it was probably not the lowest calorie option. Full nutritional information was actually right there, but I chose to look the other way and tell myself it was healthy. Well, it turns out that it was 12 PTS+ for the 16 oz smoothie that I had three different days last week. Now, I will say that I wasn’t snacking much at all while on this trip so it was OK to go a little higher for breakfast PTS+. But 12 is still a bit much. And I often added a protein boost which adds another point.

When I got home today I was determined to make a version of this delicious concoction that wasn’t quite so PTS+ heavy. And I think I succeeded. It’s actually not too different from something I’ve made many times before, but with a few minor tweaks (that add quite a few PTS+, so not to be taken lightly). Here’s what I did:

1 cup frozen organic strawberries (0 PTS+)
1 cup frozen wild maine blueberries (0 PTS+)
6 oz Chobani Greek vanilla yogurt (3 PTS+)
1/2 cup Kashi Go Lean Crunch (2 PTS+)
1 medium banana

I partially thaw the berries in the microwave for 1 minute on 50% power. I then add half the banana and the yogurt and blend with my immersion blender. I pour the smoothie mixture it into a glass and top it with the cereal and other half of the banana, sliced up. It tastes very similar to the one at Jamba Juice for less than half the PTS+, only 5 for mine. I’ve had this for breakfast all week and it hasn’t gotten old yet. Yum!

Daily Menu Plan: 12/3/10

I’m not going to start tracking in my new journal until my official WW week starts Saturday, but I put together a menu for tomorrow using the new PointsPlus program. So far, I’m liking it. I am able to have a day that would satisfy me but be “expensive” on the old Momentum program and it’s within my Target in this version if I use the updated activity points for my typical Friday spin class. Here’s the plan:

B: Frozen wild blueberries (0), 6 oz Chobani vanilla yogurt (3), 30 g Smart Bran cereal (3), homemade breakfast sausage patty (2)

S: Baggie of grapes, probably about 2 cups (0!)

L: Tuna salad on a whole wheat wrap with lettuce (6), 1/2 cup 1% cottage cheese (2), medium granny smith apple (0)

S: 100% whole wheat english muffin (3), 1 Tbsp peanut butter (3), medium banana (0)

D: (restaurant) Blackened Haddock filet (4) with fruit salsa (0), 1 cup black beans (4), salad w/ oil & vinegar (1), 6 oz glass white wine (5)

Total PTS = 36 (29 Target + 7 APs)

45 minute spinning class = 7 APs!

This day would feel pretty indulgent to me normally, or at least not a big sacrifice, but it would have been well over my old daily PTS allowance. It would have been 31 oldPTS. My old daily PTS target was 20, so that would have meant using 11 APs or WPAs. Spin class was typically 5 – 6 APs so I still would have had to use 5 – 6 WPAs for this day. On the new plan I don’t have to dip into my 49 WPAs at all. Sweet! Of course the real test will be in the weight loss I see at the scale next Saturday. I’m really looking forward to seeing how it turns out.

Grilled Chicken Spiedini at Macaroni Grill

I was in Chicago this week on business, eating conference food for every meal. I did pretty well with that by filling most of my plate with veggies and lean proteins like chicken and fish (brusing off the sauce). By the last night I was ready for some simple food, but also limited by the option at O’Hare Airport. My colleague and I chose Macaroni Grill because it was the only real sit-down restaurant (vs. food court). I wasn’t expecting many good options on the menu, but to my surprise I found a dish called “Grilled Chicken Spiedini”. It was basically 2 chicken skewers brushed with lemon, garlic, olive oil, and rosemary then grilled. The only side was a small pile of grilled veggies. It was light, delicious, and just what I’d been wanting.

When I got home I looked up the nutrition information on the restaurant’s Web site and found that I made a pretty good choice.  The whole thing was 8 PTS**. I rounded out the meal with a house salad with a light sprinkle of balsamic vinaigrette and a 6 oz glass of Pinot Grigiot (much needed after a very long week!). All in all dinner cost me 11 PTS and set me up for a nice nap on the flight home.

The best news is this…when I weighed in this morning I was down 0.5 lbs!!!

** The site only lists saturated fat, but I used the WW site to figure out that the 8 PTS was valid as long as the total fat was less than 10 g.

New at Uno’s – Farro Salad

I had dinner with a friend at Uno’s last night, and saw a recent addition to their menu. The new “Farro Salad” is a Barley salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, and balsamic vinaigrette. The serving is probably 1.5 – 2 cups molded on a plate. My friend and I shared it as a side, and both agreed it was delicious. And because it’s barley, I knew it would be high fiber and very filling.

I didn’t want to get up to check the calorie kiosk right then, but I looked online afterward and found that it was surprisingly low in calories. They say that serving is 90 calories, 6 g of fat, and 8 g fiber. That’s only 2 PTS! I would think that the barley alone would be more calories than that, so perhaps the separate side is bigger than when you order it with a meal. But even if I doubled that it would only be 4 PTS. And I only ate half of it anyway.

So if you’re looking for a healthy side at Uno’s try the Farro salad – it’s a winner!

Choosing healthy at Qdoba

As a follow-up to my last post, I played around with the nutrition calculator at Qdoba’s Web site and found some more PTS friendly options than the 16 PT Naked Burrito I actually got. Here are a few ideas:

Naked Taco Salad w/ black beans, pico de gallo, sour cream, fajita veggies and fat free picante ranch dressing:

- w/ Chicken (10 PTS)
- w/ Pork (9 PTS)
- w/ Grilled Veggies (7 PTS) 

Tortilla Soup w/ chicken, sour cream, tortilla strips, and pico de gallo (5 PTS)

Lil’ Naked Burrito (kid’s portion) with Chicken with rice, black beans, lettuce, sour cream, fajita veggies, pico de gallo (5 PTS, w/ cheese = 8 PTS)

Craft Two:
1) Mini Naked Burrito w/ chicken, rice, beans, lettuce, pico de gallo, sour cream, grilled veggies
2) Tortilla soup
Total PTS = 9

So there are definitely healthy, low PTS, filling options. You just have to look a little harder to find them because the calories add up more quickly than you think with the regular menu. But they give you all the tools you need on their Web site, so for that they will earn a spot in my list of HC approved fast-food restaurants.

Getting “Naked” at Qdoba

I went to a soccer game at Gillette Stadium Saturday night, and we ended up having to grab dinner at Patriot Place due to unexpected traffic on 93 (shocker, I know!) The first place we found was Qdoba, a Mexican place specializing in burritos. I’d never eaten there before, but I was immediately intrigued by the “Naked Burrito” which is the burrito filling in a bowl without the tortilla. I got a Naked Grilled Chicken Burrito and it was simple and delicious. Here’s what it was:

- Cilantro-lime rice (I had them put in a little less than normal)
- Black beans
- Chicken
- Fresh salsa
- Cheese and sour cream (I had them use very little, and it’s apparently all lite sour cream)

I also had them add fajita veggies, which were really just peppers and onions. They weren’t as well done as normal fajita veggies – more crispy – but that was actually a-OK with me! The result was delicious and very filling.

The company’s site has a nutritional calculator, which I used to estimate the PTS for my dinner. It came out to 730/28.5/17 which is a whopping 16 PTS. But I don’t think mine was that much. I was able to get at the info for each item individually and here’s how it broke down:

Pico De Gallo= 40/1.5/3
Rice (6 oz) = 330/8/1 (6 oz portion. I think I had less than that)
Fajita Veggies: 30/1.5.2
Black Beans (6 oz) = 210/1.5/20
Sour Cream (2 oz) = 60/4/0
Cheese (1.5 oz) = 170/14/0
Grilled Chicken (3.5 oz) = 190/10/0

So I was right to ask them to scale back on the rice, as the biggest caloric contributor in the bunch. The beans and chicken are also high in calories, but they’re filling foods so I don’t mind as much. The cheese is a definite opportunity to cut back, and while I had them use very little I think I’ll skip it next time. That would bring the total down to 14 PTS.

I’ll admit that this meal ended up being far more PTS than I expected (I was thinking 9 – 10). But information is power. I’m going to use their tool to find healthier, lower calorie choices so that next time I’m near a Qdoba I’ll know what the best choice is.

A healthy Girl’s Night Out

My friend L was having a rough week this week so I offered to take her out for dinner/drinks last night. She chose a restaurant called West, which offers upscale American food in a lovely atmosphere. We sat at the Chef’s table to avoid a wait, which had the added benefit of allowing us to see every dish that came out of the kitchen. They all looked amazing. I really wanted to stay in my healthy eating plan, so I looked for a dish made from Filling Foods. I ordered the grilled pork  loin with green beans, and replaced the sweet potato mash with the vegetable medley (shredded zucchini, summer squash, and carrots).

Oh.My.Goodness. It was delicious!

L had a taste of the pork and said “I didn’t know pork could taste like that!” Clean, lightly seasoned – perfect. It was a big piece of meat, so I ate as much as I needed to feel satisfied and had the rest wrapped. I also ate all my veggies first to help fill me up. I’m 99% sure they were buttered, but it wasn’t heavy or greasy so I’m not that concerned about it. Here’s how I counted the PTS for this meal:

1 small piece Foccacia bread (3)
Pork (5 SetPOINTS)
1/2 cup green beans, steamed  (0)
1 cup veggie medley with butter (2)
1 Corona Light (2)

So the total for this dinner was about 12 PTS. That more than 50% of my allocation for the day, but not bad considering the food I had and how amazing and delicious it was. I don’t regret what I had and feel that I made really good choices that balanced weight management with enjoying the experience. And this morning I hit the gym for spinning at 6 am to balance out the heavier-than-normal meal.  The one thing I would change is the bread – I wouldn’t have had it. But it was one of those things where I let myself get too hungry so I was starving when the basket arrived. Lesson learned.