CONFESSIONS OF A FAT GIRL

Is it weird that I wanna try this?

From the talented blogger at: 

GREEN MONSTER SMOOTHIE... smooth, refreshing and FULL of vitamins and good-for-you fruits and veggies! The reason this one is brown instead of green (like the traditional green monster smoothie) is because of the added strawberries and blueberries- those colors together give you….brown.

What is a green monster smoothie, you ask? It’s basically just a fruit smoothie with the addition of fresh spinach (an addition you can’t taste, but your body will thank you for!). Spinach is high in calcium, vitamin A and iron, to name a small few. This smoothie is a great solution for people wanting to get their daily fill of fresh fruits and vegetables; it’s SO good for you...

The beauty in these smoothies is that you can use any fruit you like- bananas, strawberries, peaches, plums…whatever! They make a great breakfast or quick power lunch and keep you full and satisfied!

Green Monster Smoothie

1 banana, roughly chopped
4 or 5 strawberries
1/2 cup fresh blueberries
1 small peach, peeled and roughly chopped
1 heaping cup (or more) fresh spinach leaves, thoroughly rinsed
splash vanilla soy milk
1 tablespoon Greek yogurt
2 teaspoons honey
1/2 cup crushed ice

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Serve immediately.
This recipe makes a very large smoothie- two could easily share.

Source: http://www.singforyoursupperblog.com/2011/07/19/green-er-brown-ish-monster-smoothies/

@BistroMD - Day 7

Today was the final day of my BistroMD plan. My microwave will miss you, BistroMD.

 

You can't see it, bu my microwave is making a sad face.

 

Day 7 breakfast: "Jungle chicken" crepe with potatoes. I'm about 12 years old, I admit, because "jungle chicken" surely means it's going to jump up and do a tribal dance for me, no? 

I am a newfound fan of crepes for breakfast. I may learn to make my own (something to add to the "33 in 2012," perhaps?) so I can keep coming up with new meal ideas. The chicken was mixed with onions, artichokes (also something I just found out I liked last year), goat cheese and pesto sauce. This actually ALMOST beat my beloved french toast for best breakfast.

Lunchtime brought me chili!!! I love chili. With a side of pudding! It was like southern lunch. It was delicious. My mom would be jealous - she is also a chili lover. She would like this more than I did because it has beans in it, which she likes but I only tolerate. 

Dinner tonight was chicken stuffed with rice. On the side? Peas and carrots. This was my good-bye meal, I suppose. And I ate it slowly. The chicken was REALLY good. I liked it with the rice. 

As I said, my favorite breakfast was the french toast. It was pretty awesome. Favorite lunch was a tough call between the chicken sausage and the steakhouse wrap, but I'm giving it to the wrap. Not the side of spinach, mind you, but the wrap was my favorite main course.

 

That's a BIG WRAP!

 

Dinner is always my least favorite meal of the day. Not just in this program but always. Because at the end of the day, you're always tired and in no mood to prepare anything. You might not be that hungry but know if you don't eat something at dinnertime, hunger will torment you by bedtime. So I guess the biggest benefit from this whole week was that my dinners require mo thought nor preparation. 

My favorite dinner was the grilled chicken with orzo. Topped with goat cheese. There are two words in the english language that will always get me to eat something: GOAT. CHEESE. 

Did you notice there was no spinach in the day 7 menu? It's almost like they were giving me a good-bye present! 

I cannot thank BistroMD enough for sponsoring me in this little adventure. I've really enjoyed it. I felt so proud of myself all week and so pleased I was eating new foods. My "33 in 2012" is all about going outside of my comfort zone and I could think of no better way to start off the year than doing so with BistroMD. Their foods are "chef prepared, doctor approved" and it shows. They do not try to deceive you by advertising rapid, dramatic weight loss -- they approach it from a healthier perspective and while they assure you will shed pounds, they also promise it will not happen super fast, which is honest and true. For as little as $23/day, you can participate and that's a pretty rockin' price compared to some of the trendy mail-order diets out there. 

 

Of course, I'm sure the BIG question is, did I lose any weight this week?

In fact, I did. I lost 3.6 pounds. :) 

Here's to going outside of our comfort zones and being healthier, readers! Thanks again, BistroMD, giver of the spinach. ;) 

 

• Bistro MD Official Website: http://www.bistromd.com/
• Follow BistroMD on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Bistromd
• Like BistroMD on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/BistroMD

 

@BistroMD - Days 5 and 6

I had this all written out, folks. It was POETRY, I tell you! And then I hit one little button by accident and POOF! Poetry gone. 

Seriously, that entry was a Pulitzer Prize worthy piece. You're just going to have to take my word for it.

So let me just TRY to write with that in mind, in hopes I can give you even an iota of the brilliance that poured forth before....

(So sue me, I'm melodramatic today. It's probably the caffeine I'm inhaling at present.) 

 

ANYWAY, day five's breakfast has been flirting with me since I opened the box of frozen meals. So even as soon as day 3, I was counting down. Maybe that's a little too indicative of how much I like food and carbs but oh well... But STUFFED FRENCH TOAST? It lived up to mu high expectations. I tore into it. 

And then I thought, maybe I should snap a pic? So pardon its disheveled nature. My apologies if this looks a tad unappetizing but just know it's only because it smelled SO GOOD I couldn't wait for a bite.

 

On the side there is my fave - the turkey sausage patty - and some sweet potatoes. I actually just tried sweet potatoes for the very first time this past Thanksgiving and they were QUITE delicious. Same goes here. Delish. Kudos, BistroMD, on my favorite breakfast yet. 

Speaking of Thanksgiving, day five's lunch was turkey with cranberry quinoa. Do YOU know what quinoa is? I didn't. I had to ask my all-knower, Wikipedia:

Quinoa ( /ˈkiːnwɑː/ or /kɨˈnoʊ.ə/, Spanish: quinua, from Quechua: kinwa), a species of goosefoot (Chenopodium), is a grain-like crop grown primarily for its edible seeds. It is a pseudocerealrather than a true cereal, or grain, as it is not a member of the grass family. As a chenopod, quinoa is closely related to species such as beets, spinach, and tumbleweeds.

Look at those sneaky devils getting more spinach in me! BLAST! 

Dinner? Well, I am always wary of microwaved fish. But the salmon was delicious. And it was served over red and yellow bell peppers. Which is most fortunate for me, who does not like green ones. And on the side? Yes, yes, SPINACH. 

I best be gettin' my grimace and pipe on soon...

 

 

And just when I was hoping for a reprieve... Day 6 breakfast: Spinach ricotta crepes. But chopped and mixed so nicely it was like breakfast ravioli as far as I'm concerned. The side of waldorf apples were the best part. They were warm and tasty. 

Lunch on Day 6 was another small and yummy taste of thanksgiving - turkey with a fruit chutney. 

I must say for the first time, I skipped one of the meals. Day 6 dinner was beef and broccoli. And I think the only cooked vegetable I hate more than spinach is broccoli. So I decided, since I've been a pretty good sport about eating spinach every day, to skip this meal. My roommate made homemade minstrone soup with chicken and veggies and it was DELICIOUS. And healthy. So I did not feel guilty. I'm sorry BistroMD - I guess you found my bottom line! 

Just call me George! 

"I do not like broccoli and I haven’t liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I’m President of the United States and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli. Now look, this is the last statement I’m going to have on broccoli. There are truckloads of broccoli at this very minute descending on Washington. My family is divided. For the broccoli vote out there: Barbara loves broccoli. She has tried to make me eat it. She eats it all the time herself. So she can go out and meet the caravan of broccoli that’s coming in."

- President George H.W. Bush, March 1990

I am currently making my way through the final day of my BistroMD program and I'm a little sad. I've rather enjoyed the ease of having all my meals prepped and ordered and ready. I may consider spending money on it in the future and doing it for longer. And what's really amazed me is that I've felt very little need for snacking. It's all been pretty filling. 

• Bistro MD Official Website: http://www.bistromd.com/
• Follow BistroMD on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Bistromd
• Like BistroMD on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/BistroMD

 

@BistroMD - Days 3 and 4

No really, BistroMD, what's up with their being spinach and mushroom in everything?! 

Here is the thing. If you sign up for BistroMD, whose program I am LOVING overall, you get to list out foods you like and don't like and request specific meals. But in my case, whereas I am just trying this courtesy of their profound generosity, I opted to not be picky. 

Hence, I am eating things I don't normally eat. All for you, my readers. Which I guess ties to #21 in the "33 in 2012" list anyway so I'll try to remind myself I am actually killing two birds with one stone, so to speak. 

You know, spinach, at least, is a diuretic (read: it makes you pee) so that's handy. Cause I don't pee enough. (That was sarcasm - I pee more often than a kindergartener.) 

So consequently, day three's meals presented a challenge for me. Because breakfast  was a chicken and mushroom crepe. The bechamel sauce on that made it totally edible for me, thankfully, Dare I say it was not bad at all. No sausage with this breakfast (I do really love that turkey sausage) but the cinammon apple compte was DELICIOUS. I almost licked the bowl. Coulda done without the craisins but I'll live. 

Lunch was cheese ravioli and green beans. I have no complaints. These are all foods I eat and enjoy and the portion was good for me. OMG, how did I JUST start eating green beans last year? They're delicious. And dinner was also all foods I like -- grilled chicken with goat cheese and veggie orzo. I love goat cheese. I love orzo. I loved this dinner. 

You'll NEVER guess what was in my day four omelet: SPINACH. (I know, right?! I was shocked, too.) I lost it. I picked it out. But I basically inhaled the rest of it because there were also peppers, fets, onions and black olives. I'm sure this was intended to be greek style. Whatever it was -- it was intended to be resting in my belly next to the yummy potato hash it came with. 

Later, my favorite lunch to date, a steak wrap with cheddar, onions and peppers joined it. Side of creamed spinach? Over it. I ate carrot sticks. LOL.

Dinner was pulled pork "Carolina style." I don't know what that means but I've never met a pork product I didn't like (I'm a bad, bad Jew. I know.) and this was no exception. I should take my mother's advice (she's totally reading this and smiling) and use barbecue sauce more often. It's better than ketchup and just as tasty. 

• Bistro MD Official Website: http://www.bistromd.com/
• Follow BistroMD on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Bistromd
• Like BistroMD on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/BistroMD

P.S. I am totally writing this entry from Starbucks, miling the free WiFi as I do almost daily now. The addiction continues... 

@BistroMD - Day 2

Dinner tonight? Still TBD. Not sure how I feel about prepackaged Tilapia.

That said, every BistroMD dish thus far has been a delightful surprise! 

For breakfast, it was cinammon potato pancakes with lite syrup and a turkey sausage patty. Not only was it DELICIOUS but boy did it make my apartment smell yummy. My roommate wandered into the kitchen wanting some -- but I'm not sharing my rations! 

I was considering what it reads on the box of each item, that you should plate your food with some artisitic integirty to make it more appetizing so to that end, I replicated the photo from BistroMD's website as much as I could:

At times like this, I wish I had a better camera. And I clearly did not have any berries in my fridge to add for color, which looks pretty nice, right? 

But regardless of how it looked on my sad plate, it was, as I Said, DELICIOUS. And I would eat it again if it were on my menu. 

Lunch was chicken sausage with a dijon sauce over barley spinach and mushrooms. 

I cannot tell a lie - I picked out every single mushrooms. I already braved them for you yesterday but these didn't look doable to me. Mushrooms SO gross me out. (Side note to BistroMD - why is there SO much mushroom in this menu?!)

But holy crap! I like barley! I don't think I've ever eaten it before. It was like a thickened rice. At one point I thought it might be like mini gnochis. I don't know... It was good. And the spinach was minced enough that it mixed well into it. 

On the side was braised cabbage with apples. It was sweeter than I expected. I love cabbage but have never had it cooked before and so I did not know how it would taste. Not bad at all. 

At this point I abandoned pretty plating because I worried about transporting so much to a plate. I was convinced it woud end up on the floor (you may succeed - I am just perpetually clumsy so don't go by my behavior here). 

And right now, after a later-afternoon snack of a little cheese, I sit here typing with a full, satisfied belly, sipping on a delectable Diet Pepsi. 

• Bistro MD Official Website: http://www.bistromd.com/
• Follow BistroMD on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Bistromd
• Like BistroMD on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/BistroMD

 

It Begins! @BistroMD: Day 1

And so it begins... 

You may recall I mentioned a desire to try out a helthy food delivery service so I was SUPER excited to be appraoched by BistroMD. I get to give them a test run for a whole week! it should also be said in the same entry, I expressed a strong desire to sit in a tropical setting in a hammock so if anyone wants to send me one of THOSE for a test run, I'm totally down. 

But anyway, kudos to BistroMD. They boast restaurant quality food prepared by chefs, that are supervised by a bariatric physician and a team of registered dietitians. They seek to provide a healthy and nutritious way to lose weight without getting hungry and compensating the taste of the food. They also have a track record of helping new mothers lose the weight post their pregnancies. Clearly that latter bit of information is for my readers, not this girl. 

I love that every package comes with chef's tips and I thought it was cute they suggest not only eating the food (of course) but also presenting it well. If Iron Chef America has taught me anything, it's that presentation gets points, right? 

That said, I must tell you, my breakfast, which I had very little time to make and eat, I confess, presented just fine to me in its container. Here is what it looks like on their website:

And just before I devoured it, it looked like this:

Not quite a masterpiece but it doesn't look gross. And let me tell you, it was DELICIOUS. I am glad I kicked off the program with this meal, in fact, because I LOVE crepes and I LOVE sausage. It got me excited for the next meal, and the next... 

Lunch was greek chicken with lentils. I'm not a huge fan of lentils but I vowed to do this for the week and I ate them anyway. FYI, I'm STILL not a fan of lentils but they weren't bad and the chicken? Totally delicious. 

I allowed myself some carrots for a snack. And a huge black iced tea. Which is why I am typing at the speed of light right now (caffeine is my friend). 

Dinner is going to be beef tips with mushrooms. Again - mushrooms? Basically my LEAST favorite food but this is what I am willing to do for you, my dear readers and loyan fans. I am going to - YES! - EAT. MUSHROOMS. 

Somewhere in the city, my mother just fainted from shock. 

So far, in just this day, I can tell you the food beats the crap out of any Jenny Craig meal I ever ate (except maybe the turkey burger but that burger was a pocket-sized joke anyway) and since it's from this program, I am not worried about its nutritional contents or anything like that... I mean, I'm just so pleasantly surprised by how DELICIOUS that breakfast was, I'm not really going to worry about anything else. And I'll tell you what else -- there is some stuffed french toast on my menu in the future and I am SO looking forward to that! 

I should explain that I seldom even eat anything at all for breakfast (I know this is not healthy - do not do as I do) so I get very excited for breakfast food. 

I don't feel any physical difference so early on but I sure am proud of myself for trying this. And trying new foods. Embarking on this adevnture is going to be great! 

My fridge is full of BistroMD food adventures! I will continue to update.

And yes, I am aware the only other things in my freezer are vodka, susages, big stick popsicles, bread... More evidence I should not shop when I am hungry or PMS'ing. 

• Bistro MD Official Website: http://www.bistromd.com/
• Follow BistroMD on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Bistromd
• Like BistroMD on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/BistroMD

A Horrible Idea

As heard on my TV one night this week:

"And now the body fortress value pack. The best new diet system. Available at Walmart."

First of all, WTF is a "body fortress" and how does it help you lose weight? I'm seriously asking because I typicaly would not relate the word "FORTRESS" to a healthy, slim figure. 

And second, dear readers, If you are buying diet supplements at Walmart, I'm sorry, but you are doing it wrong. The end. 

Love, COFG 

 

As seen on PeopleofWalmart.com

Eating Healthy... Deserves Applause?

Don't know if anyone's heard of "The Toilet Paper." I think I've mentioned it before -- it's a quirky daily e-mail my friend Jess turned me onto. Most of the time it makes me laugh.

The beauty of TTP is that while it consistently retains its humor, it is typically rather informative:

Our babies never stopped booming. 68% of adults are overweight, and America is well on its way to being buried alive under mounds of greasy fast food wrappers and empty soda cans. Luckily, there's hope for future generations. Forget good old common sense and self-control, we're gonna shrink our offspring's stomachs the easy way: mind tricks.

The USDA is giving $2 million to food behavior scientists, hoping psychology can influence kids to make healthy food choices at school. Renaming carrots "X-ray vision carrots," and hiding chocolate milk behind white milk are tricks that have already shown positive results. Talk about breakthroughs.

We simultaneously applaud the USDA for its efforts, and chuckle that we've reached a point where "tricking" our kids into eating healthy deserves applause.

# # #

What do you think? Is eating healthy deserving of reward? In truth, we should WANT to be healthy but ALSO, IN TRUTH, let's face it - rewarding kids for healthy living and eating these days is practically necessary. I mean, as an adult, even now, if I make it through a day without hitting the vending machine, I want an effing medal.

 
 

No really, they had me at "DRINKING...."

It sounds too good to be true -- but for those of us who enjoy the end-of-day martini, it's rather tempting, n'est-ce pas?

The Drinking Man's Diet 

Alan Farnham 

"Did you ever hear of a diet which was fun to follow? A diet which would let you have two martinis before lunch, and a thick steak generously spread with Sauce Béarnaise, so that you could make your sale in a relaxed atmosphere and go back to the office without worrying about having gained so much as an ounce? A diet which allows you to take out your favorite girl for a dinner of squab and broccoli with hollandaise sauce and Chateau Lafitte, to be followed by an evening of rapture and champagne?" 

So starts a jaunty little pamphlet titled The Drinking Man's Diet that first appeared in 1964. It was published by an equally jaunty San Francisco bon vivant, Robert Cameron, who priced it at $1. (Cameron used noms de plume--first Gardner Jameson and Elliott Williams, later Jeffrey W. Roberts.) In two years, he sold 2.4 million copies in 13 languages. Now Cameron, 93, still jaunty, still a bon vivant and still admirably trim from following his own diet, is reissuing this classic. It can be bought for $4.95 through Amazon.com or through Cameron's own Web site (www.abovebooks.com). 

Then and now, the diet is a work of staggering brilliance. 

Robert Cameron, with glass in hand.

Like Atkins, whose own low-carb diet followed Drinking Man nine years later, Cameron proposes healthful weight loss by reducing one's intake of carbohydrates. As far as it goes, that's fine, since what Cameron's book terms "man-type" food (also "aesthetic" and "gourmet" food) is mercifully low in carbs: well-marbled steaks, thick slabs of fish, salads strewn with Roquefort. 

Then, however, he adds the animating spark of genius--a corollary that will forever lift the Drinking Man's Diet above all lesser low-carb regimens: Gin, vodka, rum, brandy, whiskies and other distilled spirits contain at most trace amounts of carbohydrate. So the low-carb adherent can drink, if he wishes, and keep on losing weight. Figuratively speaking, Drinking Man takes the South Beach diet, adds a redeeming splash of rum and pops in an umbrella. 

What makes this more enjoyable than calorie counting, "is that most of the things you like best don't have to be counted at all: steak and whisky, chicken and gin, ham, caviar, pâté de foie gras, rum and roast pheasant, veal cutlets and vodka, frogs legs and lobster claws--they all count as zero." (See sample menu.) No wonder the little pamphlet sold millions! Here was a diet Dean Martin could love. 

Columnists and commentators from Walter Winchel to Herb Caen talked up the diet. Time and Newsweek devoted stories to it. Walter Cronkite interviewed Cameron at length on TV. At the zenith of the Drinking Mancraze, funnyman Allan Sherman immortalized the diet in song. A few stanzas will suffice to give the flavor: 

With every Manhattan 
Your stomach will flatten 
If pounds you would burn off 
Then turn on your Smirnoff 

The little book's format (faithfully retained for the reissue) only added to its appeal. Unlike today's ponderous diet tomes, this was tiny--just 4 inches by 7 inches, and svelte enough to slip into a shirt pocket or purse. The whole thing ran just 50 pages. Of those, only the first 13 were text--written in a breezy, slightly goatish style that strikes the modern ear as one part Rabelais, one part Austin Powers. 

A section of testimonials, for instance, contains this one from "Daisy T., showgirl": "Believe me, it was no fun being taken out to a swell place and all you could eat was some celery and yogurt. Now I order double lamb chops." 

Or this, from "Paula P., woman-about-town": "Frankly, I like my cocktail. But I don't like to go sashaying around with rolls of fat pushing their way around the shoulder straps of my evening dresses. Now with theDrinking Man's Diet (and why not the Drinking Woman's?) I can eat three solid meals a day. And I don't wear a girdle anymore." 

The remaining pages were given over to tables that provide the carbohydrate count, in grams, of various essential foods, e.g. carrot (5), prune (5), daiquiri (6), martini (trace). 

All was going swimmingly for Cameron, when suddenly the tablecloth was yanked from under him. He was traveling, promoting the book, when his mother phoned from Des Moines in tears to say that the local paper was carrying an ominous headline: "Drinking Man's Diet 'Mass Murder,' says Harvard Nutritionist." 

Dr. Frederick Stare, who founded Harvard's School of Public Health in 1942, had decried Cameron's diet as unhealthful. Stare eventually retracted the "mass murder" part, but by then, as Cameron balefully notes today, the damage had been done. The accusatory headline had run on page 1; the subsequent retraction ran on page 28. In culinary terms, the Drinking Man's goose was cooked. 

In a way, it hardly mattered. By then, Cameron had sold $2.4 million worth of books (in 1966 dollars). To paraphrase the lyrics of another famous old song, "They can't take that away from me." 

He returned to publishing, issuing Above San Francisco, the first in what would become a series of lush coffee-table books filled with Cameron's own aerial photography. His latest title, Above Mexico City, debuts this Christmas. The series has sold, collectively, 2.5 million books. 

Cameron today can afford to do what he wants. And what he has wanted to do for some time is reissue The Drinking Man's Diet. This he now has done, making only minor tweaks. The tables, for example, have been updated, allowing for more precise measurements of carbohydrate values. 

Since 1964, innumerable dieters and drinkers have proved to their own satisfaction that the Drinking Man's Diet works. But is it good for you? 

Told that Harvard's Stare once decried the diet as "mass murder," nutritionist Lisa Young of New York University burst out laughing. Then, in a more sober vein, she went on to say that 60 grams of carbohydrate per day (the amount Cameron recommends) is too little. Likewise, she faults the diet for being too high in animal fats. 

And as for downing as many martinis as you wish? "That's crazy. You can't eat or drink as much as you want of anything--except water--and come out clean." 

To Cameron's credit, his original said as much in its conclusion: "Don't be a hog. If you gorge yourself with food, even if it is low in carbohydrates, you will get fat. If you drink too much, you will get drunk. Moderation in the pursuit of happiness is no vice." 

The reissue closes with a coda as magical and alluring today as it must have sounded 40 years ago: 

"So, drinkers of the world, throw away your defatted cottage cheese and your cabbage juice; and sit down with us to roast duck and Burgundy. You have nothing to lose but your waistlines." 

Speaking strictly for myself, allow me please to say, "Mr. Cameron, bring it on!" 

Drinking Man's Diet: Sample Menu

(With grams of carbohydrate) 

Menu planning, the Dean Martin way! 

Breakfast 

1/4 cantaloupe or 4 ounces of tomato juice (5) 
Ham or bacon, 2 slices (0) 
Egg, fried, boiled or poached (trace) 
Coffee or tea (0) 

Lunch 

Dry martini or whiskey and soda, if desired (trace) 
Broiled fish or steak or roast chicken (0) 
2 glasses dry wine, if you wish (trace) 
Green beans or asparagus (1) 
Lettuce and tomato salad with French or Roquefort dressing (4) 
Coffee or tea (0) 

Dinner 

Martinis or highballs, if you desire (trace) 
Hors d'oeuvres of 2 stalks of celery stuffed with pâté (5) 
Shrimp cocktail (4) 
Beef, pork, lamb, veal chicken or turkey (0) 
Green beans, 1 cup, brussels sprouts, 1/2 cup, or cauliflower, 1 cup (6) 
2 glasses dry wine (trace) 
1/2 avocado with French dressing (8) 
Cheese: Roquefort, Camembert, Swiss or cheddar (trace) 
Coffee or tea (0) 
Brandy (trace) 

Total grams of carbohydrate: 33 

source, with thanks to my friend Chris: http://www.forbes.com/2004/04/21/cz_af_0421feat.html

Queue Trumpets! It's SUPERFOOD!

Thanks to Mona for forwarding this!

From Health Magazine... It's the SUPERFOODS! I love this. It's always good to know what's gonna give you an extra bonus, right? I mean, trust me, I'm not running out to eat sardines anytime soon but I could definitely stand to add a few more raspberries into my life...

Kiwi Fruit - About 70 milligrams of vitamin C, 20% more potassium than bananas and contains vitamin E
 
Mushrooms - Have tons of phytochemicals, natural compounds that may help prevent cancer.
 
Raspberries - Main source of ellagitannins, a type of antioxidant that may have anticancer effects.  Also a good source of vitamin K, which helps increase bone-mineral density, reducing yoru risk of fractures.  One cup of raspberries hs 8 grams of fiber.
 
Walnuts - Are brimming with alpha-linolenic acid, which helps prevent heart disease and may boost brain function, memory and mood. About 14 shelled walnut halves, provides 2.5 grams of omega-3s.  Add them to your salad, oatmeal or dry cereal.
 
Red Beans - Are higher than black beans in phytochemicals.  They also have three times the antioxidans of black beans and are the number one in antioxidants amont 100 foods recently ranked by the US dept of Agriculture.  Like all beans, they are high in gut-healthy, weight controlling fiber. Toss canned red beans with chopped celery and onions, olive oil and red wine vinegar.
 
Swiss Chard - Afabulous brain food, helpful in fighting Alzheimer's and improving mental function.  Also a good sourse of vitamin E and folate, nutirents believed to protect the brain.  Chop chard, and saute in olive ol.  Or add finely choppped Swiss chard to soups or omelets.
 
Sardines - A great source of vitamin D.  Toss chopped sardines with minced onion and Dijon mustard and spread on whole-grain crackers.  (OK - I think I'll stick to sunshine for my vitamin D!!)
 
Watermelon - One cup of juicy, sweet watermelon has more than twice the lycopene of a fresh tomato.  Lots of vitamins A and C and only 40 calories per cup!
Try tossing watermelon in a salad with feta cheese and arugula.  Sprinkle chile powder on chilled watermelon slices.
 
Pumpkinseeds - A good source of the amino acid tryptophan, a mood elevator.  Nature's healthy Prozac!  One ounce provides about 1/2 of your daily requirement of magnesium.  Toss them in any salad or soup!