When Life Hands You Ground Beef…

In This Issue–

-Dear Readers
-When Life Hands You Ground Beef… by Leanne Ely, C.N.C.
-Fad Equals BAD! By JJ Virgin, Ph.D
-Healthy-Foods Resource
-Hip Tip

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Gastronomical Greetings, Healthy-Foods Readers!

Got a great sale on ground beef at your grocery store? I’ve got a recipe for that! And some good ideas, too. Check out the first article.

Then my pal JJ Virgin sorts out fad diets in Fad Equals BAD! CLICK!

If you need help in the kitchen, check out the Saving Dinner series. All five of my Saving Dinner cookbooks are here, CLICK!

Feel free to forward Healthy-Foods to all your friends and family and remember– if dinner is a hassle at your house, there’s a solution: www.savingdinner.com  Go to the website & pick up your sample menu!

To Your Health–
Leanne

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When Life Hands You Ground Beef (Make Meatloaf!)

by Leanne Ely, C.N.C.

Ground beef is a ubiquitous family favorite when it comes to dinner. Think about all the possibilities—there’s sloppy joes, hamburgers, meatloaves, meatballs, skillet dinners—and endless variations of all of the above. How can you not love it?

Even if ground beef doesn’t do it for you, there is something ground up that will work for you, be it chicken, turkey, pork or even TVP (texturized vegetable protein).

But my favorite way to use ground beef (or other ground up variables) is in the skillet– the wonderful, heavy bottomed, at-your-service skillet. With a package of thawed ground round and a few tricks, you can have dinner in a hurry—no packaged mix necessary! You can save money by doing it yourself and save yourself and your family from those scary ingredients that even your high schooler couldn’t pronounce. So let’s get busy, here’s what you need:

*1 pound ground beef (or other ground meat)
*1 onion, chopped
*1 big old skillet
*Some veggies
*Some seasoning (garlic is always good, then think ethnically for the rest; cumin for Mexican, basil and oregano for Italian, etc.)
*And a starch, like pasta or rice

But what about meatloaf? You need to try this recipe—it’s ‘slap your mama good’ as they say in the South. But using the above-mentioned formula, you could turn it into a Meatloaf Scramble (just add the ketchup and milk at the end for a sauce and let simmer). It’s easy to create something when you have a blueprint of what to do!

Manic Meatloaf
Serves 6

1 tablespoon olive oil
1-1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup red bell pepper chopped
1/4 cup green bell pepper chopped
2 big cloves of garlic, pressed
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
Salt and pepper to taste
2 pounds ground beef
1/2 pound sausage (not Italian)
3/4 cup fine bread crumbs

In a skillet, heat oil over medium high heat. Add the onion, bell peppers, and garlic. Cook for a few minutes till fragrant and beginning to wilt, then turn on low till wilted, about 10 minutes. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, add the meats, and remaining ingredients. Mix well. Add sauteed vegetables and mix well again. Shape into a long oval-ish blimp—resembling a fat loaf of French bread–and bake at 375 degrees in a baking pan, for approximately 45 minutes. Served with garlic mashed potatoes, (generously add some garlic powder when mashing the potatoes) and steamed broccoli. Enjoy!

Don’t forget to watch our new webisodes on www.savingdinner.tv

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Fad Equals BAD

by JJ Virgin, Ph.D

Imagine this life of utter utopia: You kick up your feet, grab a cup of steamy hot coffee and just eat cookies all day long while losing weight and waiting for George Clooney to come home to you at the end of the day.

Now, it’s time to wake up from “Fantasy Weight Loss Island.”

I have nothing against having a cup of java and kicking back. But I do have to laugh when I read that you can go on a cookie diet while remaining healthy and losing or maintaining your goal weight over a long period of time.  It falls into the category of “If it sounds too good to be true…it’s probably an insane idea when it comes to your eating plan.”

Yes, I saw the woman on “Good Morning America” who went from a size 24 to a size six eating cookies. She was 28 and 240 pounds and lost 18 dress sizes eating six, 150-calorie protein-packed cookies instead of breakfast or lunch. She topped off the day with a 500-calorie dinner of lean protein and veggies. Now, let me ask you a simple question or two: Does this sound like a healthy, long-term weight loss plan? Is it sustainable? Can you imagine the day when you wake up, stare at that damn cookie box and think, “If I look at one more disc of compressed oatmeal, I’m going to scream.”

I want to remind you that your body is a chemistry lab. You’re not going to set your system up to be a fat burning machine when you’re following the latest fad diet this week and switching to another one next week. And I want to remind you that even if your favorite celeb says she eats nine eggplants a day and nothing else to lose weight, it doesn’t mean that it’s a safe and sound plan for you.

Here are a few other popular fad diets sweeping the news media and Hollywood. Let me tell you why I don’t recommend them:

*ONE FOOD DIETS. Any diet that says you should just eat one food is ridiculous and dangerous because you body will be starving and you will be extremely rundown. Why? It’s virtually impossible for you to get all of your nutrients and vitamins from just one food even if it sounds like a healthy food. The problem is most of the popular one-food diets give you very little in terms of energy-generating foods that create healthy bodies. How could you possibly eat three oranges a day and feel good?  So forget the Grapefruit Diet, the Apple-Cider Vinegar Diet or the I Only Eat Blueberries Diet. After a few days of this deprivation, you will race into the kitchen and eat everything in sight that’s not a grapefruit or a blueberry. This is an easy way to set yourself up for quick failure.

*MASTER CLEANSE DIET. If you hang out in Hollywood, you will hear actors and actresses comparing their latest master cleanses. Some do what Beyonce did to skinny into those “Dreamgirls” dresses (cayenne pepper, lemon juice, maple syrup and water) while not eating much of anything else. Yes, you will drop a few, but this is a dangerous way to play games with your body because you’re not feeding yourself any nutrients. Soon, your body will actually go into deprivation mode and hold onto excess fat. You will also become so rundown that your immune system will be compromised to the point that it will be far easier for you to get the flu or a cold. When you begin to eat regular food again, it will seem like you’re gaining weight. The truth is you’ve just lost water weight and now it’s coming back because you’re feeding yourself in a regular way. It’s just another vicious, feel-bad-about-yourself cycle.

*THE BABY FOOD DIET. Many new moms who are celebs insist they just order extra baby food and eat these tiny, runny portions along with their little bambinos. I guess it’s a way to cut calories… not to mention all that annoying time you spend chewing food on a daily basis. Deep breath. Doesn’t this also sound like lunacy? Why as an adult would you want to eat two spoonfuls of liquidy strained meat and another two bites of strained peaches? Does this sound satisfying or even tasty? Will this make you feel like you’ve fed your body in a real way and now have the fuel to get through the day? True, there are few additives in baby food and it’s the ultimate fast food that you can just shove in your bag. Just put down the little jars and have a small serving of an organic piece of beef and a real peach like a grown up.

*MACROBIOTIC DIETS. This is a Japanese vegan diet that does allow you great high-fiber foods and asks dieters to eat 50 to 60 percent of their daily calories from whole grains (brown rice) and 20 to 30 percent from vegetables (raw ones are encouraged) with 10 percent from beans and legumes (such as tofu). You’re also allowed a little bit of seafood and fruit. There are all good foods because you’re avoiding processed ones and they’re healthy, but this diet is very restrictive and you will miss key nutrients you need including vitamin B12, calcium and iron.

*MAGIC WEIGHT LOSS PILLS. Someone told me that she didn’t ever need to diet because she heard that if she ate some Brazilian acai berries then the weight would start falling off her. It’s true that the acai berry is full of wonderful antioxidants, but it’s not going to melt fat off your frame. There is no food (or pill) that will melt your existing fat. Don’t believe the hype.
The bottom line when it comes to fad diet is that you should avoid them. If it sounds like the latest “crazy diet plan” then it is just that….crazy. It’s bad enough to feel like you’ve failed again, but worse if you compromise your health while doing it.

In the long run, you’re much better off adopting a sensible eating and exercise plan that guarantees your long-term success.

Fads equal bad.

JJ Virgin’s NEW book, Six Weeks to Sleeveless & Sexy is available NOW through Amazon.

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Healthy-Foods Resource

Intrigued by those dinner-assembly franchises you see all over strip malls in suburbia? Price take your breath away? We have the answer and it’s our version of these places in a do it yourself way—our fabulous Freezer Menus! Try them with Twenty, Ten or Five for the Freezer–5 easy recipes using ONE meat (great for buy one/get one options) that you can make in an hour after dinner!

20 for the Freezer menus provide instructions, shopping lists, and recipes to make 20 freezable entrees for your family. The meals are healthy and not filled with preservatives and additives. The ingredients are fresh (no dried onion flakes or MSG filled ingredients, for example), no icky twice-cooked, watery casseroles. With your smart shopping, you can fill your freezer with healthy meals for a fraction of the cost of those franchise places! There are now FOUR to choose from, including a Low Carb 20 for the Freezer! And don’t forget to check out the Five for the Freezer options!

Go to www.savingdinner.com and see what everyone’s talking about!

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Hip Tips

Do you have a nifty, healthy foods tip you’d like to share? Maybe a comment you want to share? Send it in with your name and state (or country) and we’ll use it in a future Healthy-Foods issue!

** I like the crunch and salt of potato chips and certainly mindless eating caused me a great deal of excess weight.  However, I find that if I eat carrots and celery for their crunch, I eat less potato chips and can actually control the portion size.  I have been able to do that which I thought I could never do and that is to weigh out one ounce of potato chips.  I now can eat that without eating the entire bag which was my previous behavior. Thank you for your articles, they give me food for thought.
~Martin in Kansas

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