Sylvia's Scenario

Now that I’m back from my latest travels, I’ve been slowly getting back into my normal routine.  I am trying to eat 30 grams of protein per meal as recommended by the dietitian I was working with, Hannah Freese, RD.  She has discontinued her business but she helped me so much with controlling my weight and to follow an anti-inflammatory diet after my joint replacement surgeries.  I now only eat two meals daily and these little turkey sausages have really helped me start my day out right.  Quite frankly, it is hard to eat 30 grams of protein at breakfast but this recipe helps a lot. I've noticed that when I stick to her guidelines, I am not as hungry during the day plus I have no urge to snack.  Each of these patties are 2 oz. of ground turkey meat or 14 grams of protein; the egg is 7 grams of protein, I'll have a slice of toast (Ezekiel bread) with 1 Tbsp. peanut butter which is another 9 grams of protein and then I've met my goal of 30 grams.  Another brea...

I've got another super easy Valentine's recipe for you. In this era of covid, all we do around here is think about the next exciting thing we get to eat. At least I have an interesting hobby and Bruce loves being my taste-tester.  Since I joined  Hannah Freese, RD's  group, I'm getting caught up on all the latest nutrition research which is great for me since I am now retired.  And chocolate is one thing I've learned A LOT about.  Hannah talks a lot about chocolate because part of her eating plan is to stop eating sugar. Horrors! I know... I didn't think I could do it but she weans us slowly and everyday part of our early meal plans includes dark chocolate. I can give up sugar if dark chocolate is part of the plan.  The dark chocolate needs to be greater than 70% cocao because then you are getting beneficial chemicals called flavanols. Flavanols have benefits regarding blood flow, blood pressure, cholesterol, enhancing exercise performance, memory and cog...

Here is a super easy recipe for your Super Bowl Sunday enjoyment.  Since we are not having our Super Bowl party  this year, we can still eat in a festive manner.  Pandemics do not stop me from eating well!  In fact, I'm eating better.  I started following  The Freese Method  during the pandemic and feel so much better thanks to Hannah Freese, RD.  This recipe falls right into the plan so why not? I eat a lot of nuts following The Freese Method and a lot of dark chocolate...since sugar is off the menu.  (The plan allows dark chocolate that is >70% cocao which is easy for me to eat and totally satisfies my sugar craving.)  There are a lot of spiced nut recipes but I think this recipe has just the right amount of spiciness.  My sister has been serving these nuts at family gatherings for at least 20 years and I am finally posting it. She doesn't even remember where she got the recipe!  I buy the nuts from Trader Joe's and even t...

June marks the first anniversary of MyPlate  which replaced the Food Guide Pyramid last year in an  effort for the government to simplify how to tell people to eat or at least provide an icon that supports the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The guidelines divide 23 recommendations into four categories: 1) Balancing calories to manage weight 2) Food and food components to reduce 3) Food and nutrients to increase 4) Building healthy eating patterns (You can read all 23 guidelines at the end of this post) So, I guess you could say it's pretty hard to get all 23 recommendations in one little icon and there has been a lot of criticism about MyPlate but overall I think it's been good. I know from experience at my job where I do a lot of educating people with chronic illnesses that we need to keep things as simple as possible and with the people that I see at work, even the smallest change can make a big difference. If you really look at MyPlate, how many people ac...