New Orleans Can Be Unkind to Diets

We left in a caravan Saturday morning about 10 AM and returned from the conference in New Orleans about 10 PM last night (Wednesday). My diet intentions started out well, but degraded as we went along. Tomorrow at the fitness center, I will find out whether/how much damage I did. On the plus side, I did a lot of walking in the hotel from the room to the various forums and workshops, on the Riverwalk, and on the street. I didn’t use the Hilton fitness center because it of the time. We had multiple workshops, roundtables, and forums to attend from 8 AM to 5 PM, including lunch time. Almost every timeslot had several things I would have liked to attend. In the evening we socialized, and that usually meant going to good restaurants.

Saturday-Holding My Own

We finally left at 10 AM after dropping our Cavalier King Charles Spaniel off at the boarding kennel, and I started the day with soy crisps. The group consensus for lunch was Arby’s on the road. This has never been one of my favorites, but I ordered a turkey, bacon, ranch wrap without the bacon and the ranch. It wasn’t too bad and I discarded about 30 % of the wrap. On the road I had 4 Organic Blue Corn Tortilla chips and nothing else. For supper, I had a 4 ounce grilled ground beef patty with steamed vegetables, grilled onions, and crumbled blue cheese. I also snagged two small fried shrimp from Sandy’s shrimp po’ boy and finished the night with two Ry-Krisp crackers.

Sunday-Not Too Bad

The hotel restaurant served EggBeaters so I had a nice frittata with onion, red pepper, and asparagus, and a slide of dry whole-grain toast. For lunch, I went to the room and opened a can of albacore tuna which I had on a slice of whole grain bread. I also had a banana and a 4 oz. Dannon all-natural yogurt. I made a mistake and the tuna was low sodium, 200 mg, instead of the very low sodium (35 mg) I also had with me. Supper was out and I had 6 oz of grilled catfish, a nice medley of zucchini, green beans, mushrooms, and onions. The twice-baked potato just looked too good and I ate it skin and all. Snacks for the day were a half cup of seedless red grapes and 4 Ry-Krisp crackers.

Monday-Sushi Leads to Harrah’s buffet

Monday started well with another frittata and dry toast, but for lunch, we went to the food court on the Riverwalk. I am sucker for sushi, so I had a California roll, and a salmon skin hand roll. I ate the pickled ginger and put unmixed wasabi on the sushi, but avoided the soy sauce. I snacked on a banana and 4 Ry-Krisps. We decided to go to Harrah’s Casino right across the street from the hotel for their buffet and a little slots action. I had about 4 oz of roast beef, 6 oz. of turkey, two cups of mixed veggies. I also tried about 2 oz. of hot and sour soup. Then, I saw the bread pudding. I had two servings of delicious bread pudding (without the sauce).

After eating, Sandy and I each took $10 to the slots. I lost mine quickly, but Sandy was up to $39 when I returned to her machine, and she cashed out at $25 (I never said we were high rollers)-a tidy $5 profit. Take that Harrah’s.

Tuesday-Free Buffets and a Classic New Orleans Meal

I started with Kashi GoLean Crunch and skimmed milk but the free continental breakfast lured me with a cinnamon raisin bagel, 1 oz. Neufchatel cheese, and a cup of fresh fruit. Lunch took me back to the room with good intentions, and I had two servings of very low sodium albacore tuna and a slice of whole grain bread. I yielded to the late afternoon hospitality buffet, and I ate about 1 oz. each smoked cheddar and jalapeno jack cheese. Supper on the last night in town had to be authentic, so we went to a café in the French Quarter and I had salad with balsamic vinaigrette, a small bowl of red beans and rice with sausage, and the fried seafood platter. I ate calamari, oysters, shrimp, and catfish, all fried. I did pass up the potatoes.

Wednesday-On the Road Home

I had GoLean Crunch in the room, checked out and prepared to hit the road, only to learn the group had decided to make a quick stop at the Café du Monde for chicory coffee and beignets (fried square donuts in powered sugar). An order was three beignets and they were delightful. For lunch, the consensus was Italian and we stopped at Johnny Carino’s, somewhere around Lafayette Louisiana where I had half the chicken skilletini (slices of chicken, peppers, onions, and spaghetti). I asked for the sauce on the side and used very little. I ate half for lunch and the rest when we arrived home. I snacked on a couple of Ry-Krisp crackers and a few soy crisps.

Home Again

I am home, back on track, and have had oatmeal, low-fat/low-sodium chili, and extra lean ground beef with veggies today. In retrospect, I didn’t do too badly but I felt somewhat indulgent. Tomorrow I will reckon with the fitness center, the scales, and the blood pressure machine. I’ll let you know.

Chili-A Perfect Diet Food

My chili recipe (Joel’s Chili 3) is a nearly perfect food for those seeking a low calorie, low fat, low sodium diet goal. Some of the people I know who are on special diets are of the opinion that low sodium dieting isn’t too hard, and low fat isn’t either, but putting the two together is nearly impossible. My chili is a great combination and it is high in beneficial fiber as well. It contains celery-good for the blood pressure, three types of beans, no-salt-added tomatoes and tomato sauce, extra low fat ground beef (96/4), and my secret ingredient, apple cider vinegar.

A batch of my chili makes 16 cups and a one cup serving contains: only 116 Calories, 7.61 g protein, 22.52 g carbohydrate of which only 3.87 g is sugars and 8.61 g is fiber, 1.04 g fat of which .38 g is saturated, 16.25 mg cholesterol, and only 111.9 mg sodium. I usually cook up a batch on the weekend and, as it freezes well, I refrigerate enough for a few days and freeze the rest.

Ingredients

Extra lean ground beef (94/6)	1 lb.
2 onion-medium	1
Celery stalks-large	3
Green pepper-medium	1
Tomato sauce-no added salt 4 oz	4
Diced tomatoes-no added salt	14.5 oz.
Chili powder	3 T
Black beans-uncooked	1 C
Pinto beans-uncooked	1C
Red beans-uncooked	1C
Apple cider vinegar	.5 C

Soak the beans overnight or use the quick-soak method by bringing the beans to a boil for two minutes and letting them soak for one hour. Drain, rinse, and add 6 cups of water and two small cans of no-salt-added tomato sauce to the beans. Bring the beans to a boil and simmer 1 ½ hours. While the beans are cooking, brown the ground beef with the celery, onion, and green pepper. After the beans have cooked for an hour and a half, add the browned ground beef and vegetables, the remaining tomato sauce, one can of no-salt-added diced tomatoes, three tablespoons chili powder, half teaspoon onion and garlic powder, and one half cup apple cider vinegar. Simmer 30 minutes to one hour and adjust the liquid to your preference by adding additional water.

I like to serve the chili over either brown rice or Barilla Ultra pasta with a dollop (1 T) of non-fat sour cream, a splash of apple cider vinegar, and sometimes a splash of Tabasco sauce. I prefer to add the Tabasco after cooking although if you prefer a spicier chili, you can add cayenne pepper to taste while the chili is cooking. Genuine Tabasco sauce contains only 30 mg sodium per ¼ t. while some of the imitators contain as much as 200 mg.

I find that the apple cider vinegar wakes up all the other flavors without adding salt. In previous versions, I added .5 t. sea salt which added minimal sodium to each serving, but I hadn’t yet introduced the vinegar. With the vinegar, I find that I don’t need the added salt.

Joel's Chili 3		Calories	Protein	Fat	Sodium
What's in it
Extra lean ground beef (94/6)	1 lb.	520	16	0	200
2 onion-medium	1	92.4	2.02	22.24	6.6
Celery stalks-large	3	26.04	1.29	5.52	148.8
Green pepper-medium	1	23.8	1.02	5.52	3.57
Tomato sauce-no added salt 4 oz	4	80	14	56	504
Diced tomatoes-no added salt	14.5 oz.	87.5	3.5	14	70
Chili powder	3 T	0	0	0	720
Black beans-uncooked	1 C	400	28	88	0
Pinto beans-uncooked	1C	360	28	80	20
Red beans-uncooked	1C	240	28	88	100
Apple cider vinegar	.5 C	25	0	1.11	6
Cooked Volume Cups	16
Serving size Cups	1
Servings per recipe	16
Total		1854.7	121.8	360.39	1779
Total per serving		115.92	7.61	22.52	111.19
Percent carories from fat				10.93%

Fish Tacos

Yesterday’s diet contained one of my favorite easy recipes, fish tacos. I use a variety of fish for this one but I think salmon is my favorite. I grill, broil, or bake the fish, heat the corn tortillas for 30 seconds on each side in a medium-hot ungreased skillet, place about 1 oz of fish in the center of the tortillas and add about 1 t. mozzarella or non-fat cheddar cheese (watch the sodium on this one). Just before serving, I add slaw cabbage and squeeze lemon juice over the tacos. I sometimes eat them with pineapple-peach chipotle salsa or Frieda’s mild salsa, a natural raw vegetable salsa. Yesterday I found that the salsa overpowered the mild orange roughy, so I only used it on one fish taco.

I frequently eat microwave-baked sweet potatoes with my evening meal and prepared one yesterday, but I couldn’t eat all of it. These baked sweet potatoes are delicious with a sprinkling of cinnamon and nutmeg, and are very low in fat and sodium. As I was under all my diet goals yesterday, I indulged with a piece of Dove Rich Dark Chocolate.

Yesterday’s Diet 2/27/2007

		Calories	Protein	Fat	Sodium
Joel dietary- 2/27/2007	QTY
GoLean Crunch	1 C	190	9	3	95
Dannon all natural Plain Yogurt	.25 C	27.5	2.75	0	37.5
Non-fat milk	.33 C	26.67	2.67	0	41.67
Wild Blueberries	.25 C	17.5	0	0.25	0
Chili 3	1 C	114.4	7.61	1.04	110.8
Brown Rice	.5 C	100.5	2.1	1	0
Sour Cream-Non-Fat	1 T	10	1	0	30
Cole Slaw 3-Broccoli	.25 C	16.92	0.52	0.61	22.82
Orange-Medium	1	69	1.27	0.21	1
Orange Roughy-baked	4 oz.	75	19	0	70
Mi Casa White corn tortillas	3	120	3	1	28.5
Birds Eye Steamed mixed Vegs	2/3 C	60	2	0	20
Mozzarella	1 T	20	1.75	1.25	50
Wasa Lite Cracker	2	60	2	0	70
Carr's water cracker	1	30	1	0.5	45
Slaw cabbage	.25 C	4	0.22	0.02	3
Lemon juice-wedge	1	3	0.04	0	0
Sweet potato	.25 C	44	3.01	0.05	14.1
Butter Buds	.5 t.	2.5	0	0	60
Lemon juice-wedge	1	3	0.04	0	0
Salsa Mild Frieda's	1 t.	1.67	0	0	12.5
Orange-Medium	1	69	1.27	0.21	1
Dove Rich Dark Chocolate	1 pc.	42	0.4	2.6	0
Natural Ry-Krisp	2	50	1	0	65
Total		1157	61.65	11.74	777.9
Percent calories from fat				9.14%