How to diet fast 1 week

Day 210.

Two hundred and ten! eek!

Yesterday, I had some projects to tie up, miles to run, laundry to fold, and a kid with a double ear infection.

I forgot to turn on the crockpot until about 3pm. It completely slipped my mind. I did it, though. But the meat I cooked would have been much, much better if I had plugged it in earlier in the day and let it stew, or better yet if I had had the meat sit in the fridge overnight in the marinade.

I bought Chinese Five-Spice Powder a few weeks ago, when I found myself in the grocery store all alone. I love grocery shopping alone. I get a mocha from Starbucks and wander each and every aisle, and always find something "new" that I didnt know I needed, or something that I wanted but didnt take the time to properly scout out. Some people like massages. I like solo-grocery shopping.

Lydia, from The Perfect Pantry, has a marvelous write-up about the wonders of Five-Spice Powder. I found it in the Ethnic section of my regular grocery store.

The Ingredients.

1-2 pounds thin steak meat (I used flank steak)
1/4 t kosher salt
1 t Five-Spice Powder
1/2 t ground ginger
1/4 t black pepper
6 cloves minced or chopped garlic
2 T soy sauce (La Choy and Tamari wheat-free are GF)
1 T white wine vinegar

The Directions.

In a small bowl, mix the dry spices. Rub the mixture on all sides of your meat.

Put the meat into a ziplock bag and add the chopped garlic, soy sauce, and white wine vinegar. Seal the bag and refrigerate for as long as possible; preferably overnight.

I did not do this. Your meat will taste better if you do.

When the meat has fully marinated, cook on high for 3-4 hours, or on low for 5-6. This is very thin meat and will cook quickly, since there isnt much liquid. If you are going to be out of the house for a while, add 1/2 cup of beef broth. I used my 6qt Smart-Pot, and it was not really enough food for it; this would work best in a 4qt.

Slice the meat thin and serve over rice with vegetables, or on top of a spinach salad. We had our meat on top of salad.

The Verdict.

Since I didnt put the crockpot on until 3pm, my meat had very little flavor, except for the very outer skin. We ate it, and it was fine, but it could have been much, much, better. I have meat leftover, and am going to re-rub it with the spices and let it sit for a while, then chop it up for fried rice to have for lunch.

Day 206.

Sometimes I get emails with questions like "are you really going to do this for a whole year?" "are you worried youre going to get bored?" "dont you go stir-crazy sometimes?"

I answer: yes, yes, and yes. But then I make something that I never would have attempted to make if it wasnt for this silly challenge, and it opens my mind to the endless possibilities of the crockpot and I re-commit to the insanity for at least another day.

Yesterday, my friends, I made mousse. The most delightfully wonderful chocolate mousse ever.

In the crockpot.

And when it worked I went out in the yard and did a back flip. Sort of. It was really more like a really bad cartwheel with a really bad landing, but the kids insisted it was a back flip. Im kind of hopped up on Advil right now, actually...

and as soon as I hit publish, Im going back to bed. With mousse. Today is going to rock.

The Ingredients.
loosely adapted from Epicurious

--2 cups heavy whipping cream
--4 large egg yolks
--3 T bakers sugar (I like bakers sugar because the granules dissolve quickly)
--1/3 cup cold, strong coffee
--1 t vanilla
--2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips


The Directions.

This is not hard. Go read how hard it could be over at Epicurious. I love my crockpot.

I used a 4 qt round crockpot. If you use a larger one, your stuff will melt and cook faster; be aware.

In your crockpot, add the heavy cream, egg yolks, sugar, vanilla, and coffee. Whip until combined with a whisk. You dont need to go crazy, just mix it well. Add the two cups of chocolate chips.

Cover and cook on high for about an hour, or on low for about two. You are looking for little bubbles in the surface of the cream, and melted chocolate.

VERY VERY VERY VERY carefully, pour the mixture into a blender. Youll get about 2 1/2 to 3 cups of liquid. Blend on high until it "grows" to about 5 to 6 cups, and doesnt seem like it will rise any higher.

Pour into serving dishes.

Chill for 2 hours in the refrigerator. Top with whipped cream or berries, or nothing at all.


The Verdict.

Its not bad that I didnt let the kids have any because it had coffee in it, right? That doesnt make me mean, does it? They were already eating cake...

Adam said that this rivaled any restaurant mousse hes had. The Lewis family came over and they enjoyed it---and Carol let her kids have a taste because she is much nicer than I am.

Two things to note: the very top has a bit of a skin on it, and there are little bubbles that didnt pop during the cooling process. This kind of bothered me, but I was assured that I was the only one bothered.

okay! back to bed! with a spoon.

Despite their best efforts, there are all the time trying to fight against the pounds while others rush anything and remain stubbornly slim.

Justice is not always appropriate in terms of weight. But the behavior plays. Decryption.
The weight of heredity
For a long time we know that a child born of two parents of normal weight has only 10% chance of becoming obese. If its Mom or Dad, that risk increases to 40%. And if Mom and Dad, this dual risk.

Over the years, scientists have identified the genes responsible for weight gain and they are constantly finding new ones. But in practice, this does not change the problem: we can not change their genes, we have to make do.

Conclusion: if there is a big or large in your immediate family, you have no choice but to move as much as possible to increase your energy expenditure and to hold on to a balanced diet.



The obsession pounds
Thin usually ignore the scale. Sometimes they do not even have a home, and they do weigh during a medical visit.

You are among those who start their day by weighing or worse, that confront their balance several times a day? You have a super sophisticated balance that tells you the fat, muscle mass, and - horror! - Talking to you and you feel guilty from a difference of 200 g?

In one day, your weight can vary from 1 to 3 kg, and for various reasons: the degree of hydration, food composition, etc.

When your weight increases by a few hundred grams, you deprive yourself of eating, consciously or unconsciously. When he did not move or has declined, you lift your foot on deprivation.

Accordingly? You unbalance your diet and most importantly, youre listening to your feelings of hunger and satiety. This is the best way to grow. The more you are obsessed with your weight, the more you earn (badly) to take chances!

The solution? Write down your weight a morning fasting after peeing. Then store your balance at the bottom of a closet (which you need to clear to get it back). Retract it a month later and weigh yourself under the same conditions. So the difference, plus or minus, will be really valuable.
Lack of sleep
You fold late, you get up early, you have trouble falling asleep? In short, your nights are too short. And you catch your lack of sleep during the weekend.

It is not impossible that those pounds easily if you take just that. Researchers at the University of Washington found that sleeping less than seven hours a night promoted weight gain: genes for obesity begin at rest during sleep. So the more you sleep, the less they work.

On the other hand, lack of sleep, it tires. To fight against this strain was much more likely to snack on fatty and sugary stuff, drinking well sugary sodas rather than water, and all this upsets the balance and food makes you fat.

The solution? Nights of at least 8 hours! Buckle the TV, the computer, tablet, smartphone early (to calm your brain) and lie down with a book earlier.

"And yet I do not eat anything! "
This is what we often hear from the mouths of too big (or those who think they are too big) after moaning thin eating what they want.

But when subjected to a tight food situation, established day by day for a week, then you realize they multiply unconsciously feeding mistakes.

Too much oil and / or butter (depending on region) for cooking, irregular meals, a distinct lack of vegetables and fruits. They do not nibble as they watch, or else they creak occasionally in guilt.

The solution? For one week, write every day (on a notebook or a file in your smartphone) absolutely everything, that you swallow when you swallow. And then compare with a balanced 1800/2000 calories (if you have no physical activity) and 2000/2200 calorie diet, if you do a bit of sport.

Take also into account what you are buying as fat (oil, butter, margarine) and then calculate the average consumption over a week. If you exceed the 200 to 300 g per week, all combined fat is too much. And this may be one reason for your easy weight gain.
"I must make Plan"
Thats what you say and do often. For years, maybe even since you were a teenager, you have accumulated blackout periods more or less wild that made you lose 2 or 3 kg quickly resumed.

The result? You completely unbalanced your body. By dint of being pushed around and your body has lost its bearings.

He defends physiologically - it is equipped for it - by making provisions for the next famine: it slows its calorie burning when you do not bring him enough and he makes up fat during times of plenty.

The solution? Eat a balanced diet based on your height and your weight and forget this obsession pounds. You lose slowly but definitely.

eating slowly
At what speed do you eat? How long do you stay at the table?

If you swallow all round, if your meals are shipped within 15 to 20 minutes, there is a good chance that you will never feel you truly satisfied.

Twenty minutes is the time it takes your satiety center to initiate and send the positive signals of satiation. When you eat fast, you did not have time to work well and does not record what you have to swallow.

The result? You will never feel really good, you have all the time want to eat something. You resist but you often crack.

Thin eat slowly, they take the time to appreciate what they have on their plate (or sandwich lunch), they are naturally in tune with their feelings, they stop spontaneously when satiated. Thus, they do not eat beyond their energy needs.

The solution? Force yourself at all costs to eat slowly. This will ask you for a big effort, but it will annoy you, whether or not genetically predisposed to weight gain, its the right solution to not get fat

Sharon emailed me last week and said that she had a hankern for some Turkey Tetrazzini a la Slow Cooker. I didnt know that I had a hankern until I read her email and the recipes she linked for me to look at.
But I did. I seemed to have had a hankern. She sent links to Epicurious, AllRecipes, and Food Network.

After reading through the recipes, I wrote one of my own to work with the slow cooker. It worked, eventually. I at first didnt include enough pasta, so my tetrazzini was more like wallpaper paste than a creamy pasta dish. This was easily fixed, however, and the end result was a nice comforting meal we enjoyed on an unseasonably chilly night.

Thank you, Sharon!

The Ingredients.

1 (16-ounce package) dry spaghetti noodles (maybe divided. Please read the entire recipe and decide for yourself how youd like to proceed!) I used brown rice noodles from TJs.
1-2 pounds turkey breast tenders, cut in small chunks
5 ounces sliced mushrooms
1 small onion, diced
1 (14.5-ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1 cup frozen peas
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 (8-ounce) block cream cheese, chunked
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
2 cups chicken broth (check for gluten!)
salt to taste at the table

The Directions.

Use a 5-6 quart slow cooker, and spray the inside well with cooking spray.

What I did: I initially used a half-package of spaghetti noodles, and broke them in half, and laid them on the bottom of the stoneware. I then layered the other ingredients on top, in the order I typed up above. But! after cooking on low for 3 hours, I noticed that the noodles pretty much disappeared, so I cooked the remainder of the package on the stovetop in heavily salted water (super-heavily salted, the top of the container fell off!) until barely al dente, then stirred the drained pasta into the slow cooker.

I then cooked on low for only one more hour, then clicked it to warm for another 3. The turkey was fully cooked, the noodles were perfect, but the onion that I didnt cut fine enough had still a bit of a crunch.

The Verdict.

So. My dilemma is in deciding if it would have been better to put the entire package of pasta into the machine and then layer the ingredients in and cook on low for 3-5 hours (not high!) or if it is better to leave all the pasta out, and just cook it on the stove, then mix it in.
Or, do what I did.
I just dont know.

I do know that this worked, but it certainly wasnt a very hands-off meal. And we ate it, even the leftovers for lunch the next day (the onion was soft by then!)

other pasta dishes that work well:

traditional lasagna
buffalo chicken lasagna
macaroni and cheese
ziti