The ELFF Diet

Try Something New

For years, I've heard the adage: Try something new.  It might be a new sport, a new food, a new way to work.

I'm one of those people who has some fairly stringent food likes and dislikes. There's not many things I dislike - beets and organ meats top the list, but I also dislike carrots, cauliflower and fish.

I promise that there's a connection between those two thoughts.

Often, when I attend a party or function, I see a veggie tray. I try to load up on fresh veggies - I will always take grape tomatoes and cucumber slices.  I can eat my weight in those.  I never take carrots or pepper slices, sometimes I'll take broccoli.  This week, for whatever reason, I decided to try red pepper slices.

They were DELICIOUS.

Moral of this tale?  Sometimes, you have to try something new - as I tell my kids, and it's really true - taste buds change.

Full Fat, Low Fat, or Non Fat?

Over at Blogher, there's an interesting discussion going on.  Alanna asks, if you are trying to cut your calories, which option do you choose?  The Full Fat version of products, eating less?  The Non Fat version, so you can feel virtuous and eat as you did before you began to diet?  Or is it Low Fat all the way for you?

For me, it varies.  Most of the time, I choose the full fat version.  I use butter in my house - occasionally, I'll buy a tub of Spreadable stuff, but I'm not in the habit of that.  I don't cook with and try to avoid eating Splenda, Nutrasweet and the like.  Except for my protein powder - I can't seem to find one that doesnt have that stuff in it. 

I do buy some lower fat stuff, though.  I always buy low fat sour cream and cream cheese, and my coffee every day has the low fat Land o Lakes half and half.  We use 1% milk.  I never thought I'd say that, but we began with whole, stepped down to 2% and now 1%.  I don't care for skim milk - it has a weak mouth feel.  My brother in law uses 1/2%, but it's hard to find. We don't eat much mayonnaise - maybe once every six months - but that's the low fat version as well. 

What about cheese?  I've never found a fat free version of any of it that's worhtwhile, but the Kraft 2% cheddar is pretty good.  Most of the time, I get the regular stuff, but looking at the labels, I see that the mozzarella I buy says part skim. 

What about you?  What choices do you make for your family?

You Say Tomato, I Say Delish

I love summer tomatoes. I eat and eat them until I feel like I'll turn red from more than the sun. I mourn the end of summer tomato season - although I do like fall for many other reasons. Winter tomatoes look pretty most of the time, but taste like stale cardboard.  Not that I would know what stale cardboard tastes like, but I'm betting winter tomatoes taste JUST like that. 

I saw this recipe in Fitness magazine and am anxious to try it out. 

Slice tomatoes, toss with a little olive oil and place in a baking dish.  Roast in the oven at 400 degrees for 15 or 20 minutes.  Finish by drizzling the tomatoes with balsamic vinaigrette or sprinkling with Parmesan cheese and topping with a dash of salt and pepper. 

Vivanno - Great Idea, or Great Drink?

I tried the Orange Mango Vivanno protein drink from Starbucks.  I have to say that I love Orange and Mango, and drink protein smoothies quite often.  So I had high hopes for the drink.  I bought a full sized Orange Mango and had a sample size of the Banana Chocolate.

Both drinks have a good concept.  The Orange Mango contains a whole banana, orange mango Naked Juice, 6 grams of fiber and 16 grams of protein.  There are 250 calories and 2 grams of fat.  The numbers look good; but how's the taste?

Actually, pretty good.  It was smooth and silky, with a surprisingly light taste.  I really couldn't distinguish a certain orange, banana or mango flavor, but the combination was successful, in my book.  There is an option to add Matcha tea.  The only draw back to me is that with 32 grams of sugar, it's pretty high, although I know most of that is from the fruit juice.  Adding the Matcha ratchets the sugar grams to 42.  For a once in a while treat, it's pretty good.  It sounds virtuous, and filled me up.

The Banana Chocolate contains a whole banana, bittersweet chocolate,  270 calories, 5 grams of fat, 6 grams of fiber and 21 grams of protein.  I like higher protein drinks, so I was psyched to try this one.  The taste was a bit off to me - nothing major, but it didn't cry out "Please drink me!"  With 28 grams of sugar, it was pretty sweet.  I think if I was to try this drink again, I'd use the option to add a shot of espresso to it, to balance out the sweetness.

I have a coupon for a free Vivanno.  If you'd like it, please leave a comment and I'll draw a random number for a winner. 

Overall, a fair drink.  In a pinch, a good choice for breakfast or a filling snack.