I don’t like diets. I don’t like the word diet. What diet actually means is “whatever you’re eating” anyway. Yes, Dictionary.com does have one of its meanings listed as something to do with losing weight, but let’s pretend we didn’t just go over and look at that. Besides, that’s like 2 definitions down. Let’s stick with the original meaning here. Whether it’s highfat, low-fat, high calorie, low calorie, whatever, technically, we are all on diets. Cats are on diets. The lizards in my front yard are on diets.
I personally feel the word “diet” should be struck from the record and never used unless we are using it in reference to what we are eating. I.E. I am on a diet of vegetation and bugs.
Which I’m not. I’m just saying. Hang on.
( TODAY IS LOSE-A-PALOOZA! LET’S SPREAD THE GOOD!!!)
OK I’m back.
The reason I dislike the word diet so much is because when we are talking about dieting versus living a healthy lifestyle, I believe there is a huge difference. A healthy lifestyle is just that. It’s using wholesome lean meats, fruits, vegetables and whole grains for food for nutritional purposes and moving your body around to avoid being sedentary. Dieting only applies to eating and implies to me that we must strike everything that is yummy from our collective taste buds because things that are yummy are inherently evil and must be destroyed. I picture someone with a piece of cake being shoved at them and the person putting their hand up and pushing it away with their lips real tight saying, “No thanks. I’m on a diet!” That’s what I think of when I see the word diet, anyway.
So I don’t diet. I eat the cake. Just not every day. Because I respect it.I respect the cake. Because I know that cake has special powers and will attempt to lure me in with its little frosting eyes and it’s pouty frosty lip if I let it. But no. I’m in charge here. Not the cake.
And that’s the difference between a healthy lifestyle and dieting, as the word in which we know it.
I do, however, eat healthy and it works and has worked for my weight loss ambitions. But I would never be able to eat healthy foods if my food tasted, as my three-year-old would say, icky.
That’s why I like healthy eating plans which allow you to use recipes with normal ingredients and substitute low-fat options into your recipes. You know, incorporate flavorsinto them. If I had plain grilled chicken breast with plain spinach every night or some variation theretowith, I would have thrown in the towel yesterday. What I am saying is what you probably already know: it doesn’t have to be that way! We have taste buds for a reason and I want to use them! Let’s fight for taste! (Not calories!)
Whatever you are doing to lose weight, whether you are on Weight Watchers or you’re calorie counting, no two meals have to be the same. It is also not necessary to eliminate anything! What is necessary, though, is to change your thinking and relationship with food, from a warm cool friend, to purely functional. Yes, fuel. Because as comforting as some of the foods are today, the wrong foods are not going to be there for you when you’re having a heart attack tomorrow. But the right ones will. No, you don’t deserve the cake because you had a bad day. You deserve a nice hot bath and a massage. Besides, why punish your body and comfort only your tastebuds? When you can comfort your whole body with something other than food!! Respect the food. But go ahead, fight for taste! Just not the calories.
It’s time to get creative and enjoy our healthy food!! There are a million seasonings, herbs, and broths to cook with from basil and oregano to my favorite,Vigo saffron seasoning. There’s a little pepper and a little salt and some paprika and mojo, chipotle, blackening, even whole wheat bread crumbs. Olive oil! Cooking spray! The options are endless and so are the yummy dishes! Zitis and casseroles? Yes! Spaghetti sauce, low-fat cheeses and whole wheat pasta! Lots and lots of veggies! There are low-fat and low calorie versions of everything and they taste just as good, and even better knowing I am doing my body good and setting a healthy example for my children. I do.not.sacrifice taste. Ask anyone who comes over to my house for a party.
Yes, I will always be riding the road in some form of fatloss/slash/weight maintenance, but I will never deprive myself and sacrifice and therefore, cheat. Another word that completely stinks too, because it implies you are sort of a bad person or something and really, if you’re a philanthropist and you have a piece of cake does that really make you a bad person? All that philanthropy gone in the name of cake? I don’t think so. So listen, everyone. Seriously. No more dieting. The words are healthy lifestyle. You can work out all day long and if you eat too many unhealthy calories, you just wasted your time. (Your body did actually benefit a little, but your efforts at weight loss were wasted.)
Which brings me to a new discovery I’ve made as part of the yummy tasty good-for-you foods I shove in my piehole daily and hence, the giveaway!!
Once upon a time, my grocery store was having a buy one-get one on a yogurt salad dressing, called Bolthouse Farms, and since I had never heard of yogurt salad dressing before, I thought I’d try it. A good sale gets me 
every time.
Honestly, just looking at the bottle in my fridge reminds me of its deliciousness and makes me smile. Because I just took it out to look at its nutritional information and that’s what happened. Real quick, the stats on my favorite, the Caesar Parmigiano Dressing: 80 calories for 2 tablespoons, 6.5 grams of fat, 3 carbs. It is 2 points in Weight Watchers. (It is also gluten free for those of you who care about that part.) It is DELICIOUS. It blends Parmesan and asiago cheeses with garlic and spices. Their Ranch, pretty darned good too, is 70 calories and 6 grams of fat. They also have bleu cheese, honey mustard and thousand island. Now some people prefer fat-free and if you do, that’s great. I prefer “low-fat” because fat-free tastes too different and I’m not the sacrifice-taste girl. That’s just me though and my weird taste buds (I also can’t do artificial sweeteners for that reason.)
But with this dressing, I like to take out a bag of fresh veggies, measure out my two tablespoons (which when/if you measure things, you’ll find that two tablespoons is actually too much, I can really just use one) and use it as dip.
Or make a delicious Caesar Salad as a side dish or as a main dish with grilled chicken. The yogurt part sounded a little weird to me at first, but the flavors that all mix together and dance in my mouth are amazing! This is by far my favorite.dressing.ever.
So. Want some?
I will give some away right now. I have three free coupons to free dressing and I will give one coupon to three people. The first one I will announce at FIVE P.M. E.T. TODAY in honor of Lose-A-Palooza! (Yes! Today is Lose-A-Palooza if you haven’t heard! Have I mentioned Lose-A-Palooza?) So get commenting! I will literally choose the winner at 4:50 p.m. E.T. TODAY. ** update! winner #1 is MissyMaintains! Way to go getting on the stick!! Send me your mailing address, [email protected])
Contest for the two others still open! I will announce winners on Thursday. Entry for the last two dressings closes on Wednesday at midnight eastern time, so get to commenting!
You can enter up to three times: 1) leave a comment telling me your favorite dressing. 2) tweet the giveaway and mention #LoseForGood! 3) blog about it and link to it here. But you must leave a separate comment here for each entry so Mr. Random Number Generator can know.
Your taste buds will thank you for this one, trust me! Cheers to healthy living!
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