My Favorite Healthy Snacks

For years I've heard people say that if you want to lose weight you shouldn't focus on eating just 3 squares a day. They say you should eat more often and smaller portions. For the longest time I thought this was BS. I mean losing weight is a simple equation. If the calories you consume are less than the calories you burn you lose weight. I didn't think it mattered how the calories were consumed. However, now I have to say I'm a believer.

In my quest to lose weight before our wedding I had been going on along really well until last week. An extended holiday weekend full of eating put the hurt on me. I decided that the week after I was going to make sure I did a lot of exercise and made sure I had healthy snacks in between smaller meals as I've heard recommended so many times. They say this helps boost your metabolism and you'll burn more calories. It worked. I've been having healthy snacks between all my meals this week and lo and behold I lost another 4.4 lbs and I'm down to a weight I haven't been since 2008. The point of all this really isn't to toot my own horn, but I wanted to recommend to you some of the snacks I've been enjoying so you can try them too if you'd like. (pictures of all items forthcoming)

1. Welch's Fruit Snacks
 I know you might think of fruit snacks as something your mom put in your lunch box every day in 2nd grade, but trust me these Welch's fruit snacks are good for kids and adults. Target sells them in value pack boxes that contain 22 individual packs of fruit snacks that are only 80 calories a piece and 0 grams of fat. The texture is soft and chewy without that stick to your teeth or wear out your jaw feel that some fruit snack give you. They are also made from real fruit and the flavors pop quite nicely.

2. Fresh Fruit
No secret here, but one of the things that has really been key for me is keeping our house stocked with fresh fruit. All fresh fruits are 0 WW points so they make a perfect snack. Since we're in the summer months everything is in season and tasting good too. If you like strawberries you can even eat them with fat free whipped cream (just don't go crazy) for a really low cal dessert.

3. Graham Crackers
The regular honey graham crackers you can buy in the store are very low fat and low in WW points. I think 2 whole sheets are less than 3 points. You can also put some fat free Cool Whip in between them and freeze them and it makes a low calorie ice cream sandwich variant.

4. Yogurt
At Kroger (or Krogers if you're from southern Indiana) they have a lot of great flavors of lite yogurt including banana cream pie and key lime which are my favorites. Every cup of lite yogurt is only 100 calories, and Kroger used to sell them for the cheap price of 10 cups for $4. However, the last time we were at the store the price had dropped to 12 for $4.  Also, I recently tried a fat free greek yogurt for the first time and while I don't think it's something I'd eat by itself very often (since it tastes more like a funky cheese than anything sweet) I thought it did make a good dip for berries or veggies.

Natural Doesn't Mean Good Product Review: Zevia Zero Calorie Soda

Cough syrup. If you're at all like me that's probably not one of your favorite flavors of all time. Most likely far from it. Yes I know some of you my compromise on that when it comes to alcoholic beverages, but be honest that's only because you really enjoy getting tore up from the floor up and little else. Well unfortunately the latest product I decided to try, Zevia Zero Calorie Soda (Dr. Zevia flavor) won't get you wasted, but it will waste your (or someone else's since Barry O is President after all) hard earned dollars.

When The Fiance and I made a trip into the Earth Fare market the other evening to get some fresh fruit I was saying to her that I would really like to have some pop, but I wasn't sure they would have anything there since it's supposed to be a "healthy market". Lo and behold I came upon the Zevia line of sodas ($3.50 for a six pack). These are sodas sweetened with stevia instead of sugar, high fructose corn syrup, or other artificial sweeteners. I'm a diet soda junkie, and I'm not giving it up no matter what but I am always looking for new stuff. I decided to go with their version of Dr. Pepper since I know other soda companies have imitated the flavor pretty accurately. Man was I in for a surprise.

Not only does Dr. Zevia taste nothing like Dr. Pepper, Diet Dr. Pepper, Pibb Extra, or anything else even in that neighborhood it doesn't even begin to taste like anything I know as soda pop. I thought what flavor was there was mildly reminiscent of cough syrup with a thinner texture. Absolutely disgusting. It wasn't as if the sweetness or lack of sweetness was the problem either. The problem was the flavoring of the beverage itself. It had kind of a sour note that I found completely unsatisfying and not refreshing in any way.  The only place this stuff deserves to go is down the drain.

Rating: Pass It By

P.S.  Although this product was a big miss we both really like the Earth Fare market. They have a lot of good stuff, and good prepared food also. It's also less pretentious (slightly) than places like The Fresh Market or Whole Foods. It's located in Hamilton Town Center.

Lunch Time at the Office Product Review: Maruchan Yakisoba

As of last week I've lost over 47 lbs since April. Part of my strategy to help me stick to the Weight Watchers points target is to not get lunch out more than once out of the 5 days a week I come in to the office. The old me tried to brown bag it a lot too in order to save money, but eventually I would get tired of eating the same old things or not have time to make a lunch before I went into work. But since I've been having so much success I've really decided to stick hard and fast to my 1 day a week rule. One of the things I've found that has made it easy is Maruchan's Yakisoba.

You may already be familiar with Maruchan from their line of cheap package ramen and "Instant Lunch", but the Yakisoba line is a little newer and much more tasty. Sure it's definitely not the traditional real yakisoba noodles you'll find in a good Japanese noodle shop, but the bottom line for me is that I can grab it quickly before I head out the door, it's ready in 4 minutes, the prep is easy, it's tasty, and it is only 14 WW points for a container.  It comes in multiple flavors, but my favorite is the teriyaki beef and the shrimp is a close second. It comes in brightly packaged container that acts like it's trying to trick you into thinking it is something cool you'd buy at an Asian grocery, but truthfully I'd need some cartoon cats and robots to be more convinced. Each package is noodles that comes with a flavor packet and a packet of dried veggies (and sometimes protein). Just at the veggies to the noodles and cover with a cup of water and nuke for 4 minutes. After a couple of cool down minutes where the temperature decreases from surface of the sun/hot pocket levels you can add the flavoring and mix. This results in tender noodles with a little broth.  The tang and sweetness of the teriyaki flavoring is superb to competing products that use liquid sauces. The only drawback is the noodles. If you don't add enough water they can be undercooked and crunchy, and also dried noodles just don't taste as good as the fresh ones that come in competing products. The best part however is the price. Maruchan Yakisoba packages run anywhere from 79 cents to $1.09 a piece. This is less than half the price of similar brands like Simply Asia or Annie Chun's.

Writer's Note: I've decided to change my rating system on product reviews since the blog relaunch. From now on instead of a 1-10 grade I will simply label products either Must Buy, Give It a Try, or Pass It By.


Rating: Must Buy

It's been almost a year..../Weight Watchers Ice Cream Candybar Review

Honestly, I have no idea if anyone ever still comes by here and checks in from time to time. I certainly wouldn't blame them for not doing so. It's been almost a year to the day since I wrote my last blog. I'm not sure why I took such a long hiatus. I think it was a combination of a lot of factors. For one the blog started to become a lot more like work than fun. While it gave us a good reason to seek out new places sometimes it felt like a chore to find a place just for blog purposes and then upload the pictures and write it up. I decided that if it stopped being fun I would stop doing it. Also, a great many things have changed in my life in the last year. For one I got engaged. (Henceforth The Girlfriend will be referred to as The Fiance...at least until Oct 19th...ps we're registered at Target and Macy's.) I bought a house. And most importantly in how it relates to having a food blog I started on Weight Watchers and I have lost over 40 lbs.  If you've read some of my posts you probably realize that this was not a blog about eating healthy. Far from it. This is a blog mostly about decadent and delicious restaurant food.  I've been thinking about restarting this blog thing, but how do I square it with my new lifestyle? We're not eating out nearly as much, and when we do I rarely indulge like I used to. I'm just not sure the things I've been eating lately would be that interesting to read about, and I'm very hesitant to make this into a blog about eating healthy or my diet progress.  If anyone reads this please post some feedback. As for right now I think I am going to be blogging again with just whatever food related ideas or reviews suit me. Stay tuned.

Oh while we're at it let's go ahead and do a quick review. While I've been losing weight like most people I've still got a desire to have sweet things now and again. Most of the time when those cravings hit I try to make myself have some fruit, but when it's Summer you just have to find a way to have some ice cream. Unfortunately, most ice cream is pretty terrible for you calorie wise, and it's not worth it to me to blow a good day eating right and exercising to have a little bit of ice cream. Fortunately, there are actually some good products out there in the grocery store freezer that don't make you sacrifice. My current favorite right now is the Weight Watchers Ice Cream Candybar. Yes, I was skeptical of these types of products at first too, but once I ate one I was a believer. It's only 4 points plus on Weight Watchers (read: not very much) and it tastes exactly like a Snickers Ice Cream bar. It's even a good satisfying size so you don't feel like you're getting ripped off. Prices on stuff like this are always going to be a little higher, but prices on ice cream novelties in general are high so it's not much of a difference.

Rating 8/10

P.S. I'm currently thinking of revising my whole rating system to something more general or maybe eliminating it entirely and just giving opinion in the post itself. If you have any feedback let me know in the comments.

Eating More Healthy/Butterball Smoked Turkey Sausage

The Girlfriend and I have both decided in recent days that we are both going to try to drop a few lbs over the next couple of months.  Lord knows I need to and I want to, but when you have a food blog and don't have a crazy metabolism dieting cannot always go hand in hand with interesting writing.  I might from time to time comment on my success or lack there of here, but I know most of you don't come to read a diet or weight-loss blog...I know I sure as hell wouldn't.   While the reviews or sweet treat commentaries may not come quite as frequently as in the past I assure you that I still plan to eat out at least once a week and maybe review a new fast food item or two if the opportunity presents itself.  I also plan on maybe doing some more grocery item reviews or opinion/commentary pieces on some the crappy new Food Network shows coming on the air this Spring/Summer.  April was a successful month here at RDERF thanks to all of you loyal readers, and I hope you all keep coming back. I bid you all good eatings and remember to keep twirling twirling twirling towards freedom!

Tonight's dinner consisted of a little pan grilled turkey smoked sausage and corn.  A lot more delicious than I thought it would be.  If you're a smoked sausage fan go out to the store and pick up some of the turkey smoked sausage by Butterball.  I promise you won't be able to tell the difference.

Grocery Review: Banquet Spaghetti and Meatballs

One thing I will freely admit to up front is that I'm not very good at either preparing my lunch at night for the next day or getting up early enough to prepare something to bring to work.  What happens as a result?  I either have to go out for lunch or have things I can grab quickly to prepare at work.  Seeing as I don't have an endless supply of moolah (donations in the interest of culinary discovery accepted) to spend on lunches out I usually find myself doing the latter.  Maybe it's not for everyone, but I have happened across a few items in the grocery store that I have found are pretty good for a quick lunch and I wanted to share some with you.


Our first product on the judges table?  Banquet's frozen spaghetti dinner.  I know some of you probably think I should be  better than the guy who eats microwavable frozen meals, but 1.  You're wrong.  I am exactly that guy and 2.  It's lunch at work.  I'm not about to try too hard.  Also, this may surprise you, but the Banquet spaghetti dinner is not that bad.  As a matter of fact I would say it might be one of my favorite things to bring for lunch.  The prep time is short.  It only takes about 4 and a half minutes.  The flavor of the red sauce is nicely balanced yet strong with hits of herbs, garlic and onion.  The pasta isn't too mushy, and the meatballs included aren't great but I'm not going to throw them away.  If I have something to complain about it would be that the portion size is too small for me, but it probably should be adequate for lunch.  If I had some garlic toast to go with it it would be ideal.  It's also important to not forget that the cost per meal is only 98 cents (sometimes on sale for 88) which is a pretty good buy in my book.  It may not be something you want to incorporate into your daily diet, but for a running-out-the-door lunch once or twice a week I highly recommend it.