News Taffy

Many of my readers will remember that I preach that eating breakfast is key to maintaining a healthy weight. Unless you are eating donuts, Pop Tarts or McDonald’s sausage biscuits that is. Eating three main meals plus two small snacks keeps your blood sugar stable, your energy level higher and your waistline trimmer. I never skip breakfast and though I eat a variety of breakfast foods, cereal has been my mainstay on weekdays.

However, since I have been trying the 17 Day Diet, I have discovered that eating 2 eggs and a serving of fruit has kept me satisfied longer than cereal or even oatmeal. I’ll be the first to admit that I am a carb-aholic and cereal makes a fine breakfast, snack or dessert. So do mashed potatoes, bread and rice.

I agree that my cravings have gone down a bit but I keep hearing the chocolate bar in the drawer whispering my name. I have coped with that by having weak hot chocolate. By weak, I mean made with water instead of milk and with less hot chocolate mix. Technically, that is cheating but at least I am getting some water.

Back to the subject of breakfast. Make sure your children learn to eat a healthy breakfast before going to school. They aren’t going to learn anything if their stomach is growling too loud for them to hear the teacher. You won’t feel as good either if you skip breakfast. Make a breakfast parfait with low fat granola, Greek yogurt (it has more protein and less sugar) and fresh fruit. Or make a smoothie with yogurt, fruit and a Tbsp. of peanut butter. Cook some oatmeal the night before with raisins. Reheat in the morning and add some walnuts and a dollop of yogurt. Eggs are quick to cook just about any way you like them. Have some peanut butter on a whole wheat English muffin. Just skip the high sugar, high fat choices and you’ll be ok. You won’t eat like a hog at lunch or grab that candy bar. I plan to change what my family eats for breakfast to include more protein and fruit.

I hope all of you tuned in last night to watch the first episode of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution. One of the most important things Jamie does is to show Americans exactly how some of our beloved foods are made. Last year, he demonstrated how chicken nuggets are made and believe me, there are certain parts of the chicken you don’t want to eat. I know of at least one child who decided she’d never eat another nugget after watching that episode. Last night he revealed that hamburger often contains parts of the cow that have traditionally been used for dog food because it can be contaminated with such lovely things as E COLI. With the USDA’s blessing, the beef industry now cleans those parts with AMONIA and mixes it in with the rest of the ground meat. This stuff can actually be served to your children at school. Talk about mystery meat!

Jamie’s show is full of other interesting revelations that you won’t want to miss. You can watch last night’s episode on abc.go.com. I hope you will take the time to educate yourself about what you are feeding your family. Make the kids watch too! We need to send a message to the food industry that we demand to have better, safer food.

Have a healthy week and think about what you are eating!

-Lisa