<p>Bananas are high in potassium. Strawberries are a pretty good source of potassium too, though the only strawberries available now are frozen. But bananas or strawberries with breakfast could be one way to up potassium intake.</p>
<p>Look up the DASH diet. LOTs of servings of fruit and vegetables, and a good approach to hypertension, as well as weight loss. </p>
<p>Beware, most diuretics deplete potassium. Other are ‘potassium sparing’ and levels can get high. With food though, you’re generally safe.</p>
<p>DASH is my go to, especially when I need to take another look at why I need certain nutrients. I will admit, I don’t think I had ever heard of it until I started becoming serious about this thing.</p>
<p>^^I do a weekly version of Thumper’s Minestrone for Dummies. It’s called Seven Vegetable Soup. In addition to the above veggies it calls for 1/2 c. shredded cabbage, some new red potatoes and a defrosted package of creamed spinach to be added about 15 minutes before done. No beans.</p>
<p>I add the cabbage if I have some, leave out the potatoes and creamed spinach and add as much fresh baby spinach as I like about an hour before done in the crock pot. I prefer stovetop because I like to saute the onion, celery, carrot and garlic so I’d be dirtying a pot anyway. Season with basil, pepper and 2 bay leaves, chopped fresh parsley if you have it. If I’m not lo-carbbing I add a rinsed drained can of canellini beans. It comes out thick like a veggie stew. Everyone loves it.</p>
<p>I like the idea of adding spinach to my soup…I’ve tried the cabbage but personally I feel it adds to strong a flavor to a minestrone.</p>
<p>Try going to an ethnic market. I don’t know what you have around you but you’ll find different foods and exploring those opens avenues of taste. For example, there are literally dozens of types of Asian “broccoli” and cabbage and mushrooms and even fruit - though don’t try Durian, certainly not in your home.</p>
<p>Great idea above. If you have a good Asian market where you live, there are many greens they carry that make excellent, very nutrient dense soups, and they can guide you. </p>
<p>I make a really simple, very low calorie soup we eat often during the winter.</p>
<p>–Saute a large chopped onion and a few cloves of crushed garlic in Pam olive oil spray</p>
<p>–And 2 quarts of quality, organic chicken or vegetable broth (Trader Joe’s good source for this)</p>
<p>–Add lots of brocoli, cauliflower and mushrooms and let simmer until soft. Remove a quarter to add back in later. Add salt, pepper, red pepper flakes (great salt substitute if you like spicy) or whatever herbs/spices you like</p>
<p>–Using immersion blender, or regular one in small batches, puree. Add back in remaining vegetables.</p>
<p>–You can finish with some milk if you want it creamy, or add potatoes into the second step if you want some simple carbs, and this also give it the look and taste of a creamy soup.</p>
<p>The ‘pure’ version with no milk or potatoes is very low calorie, very filling and quite tasty. The version with the extras is of course tastier!</p>
<p>Every Sunday I make a huge pot of soup. The base is pre-made, organic (low sodium) veggie broth I buy at Trader Joe’s. To that I add lots (LOTS) of freshly minced garlic and ginger and several turns of the black pepper grinder. I bring it to a quick boil, then turn it low (very low) for about 1/2 hour. After the 1/2 hour I just start adding every kind of veggie I can get my hands on. These days it has included zucchini, yellow crooked neck squash, asparagus (I buy them frozen, whole at Traders, and cut each spear into 4 pieces), mushrooms, onion, red bell pepper, broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, corn (which I scrape off the cob), mushrooms, pinto or great northern white beans and gosh, whatever I can find that looks good. I let that simmer another 20 minutes or so. I broil 3 chicken breasts, and when they’ve cooled, I shred them off the bone into a Tupperware. After the soup has cooled I put 2 full cups of it (overflowing, because, after all it’s only veggies) into Tupperware containers, adding 2 to 3 oz of chicken to each “bowl”. Each day I grab a bowl (no prep required), a couple of pieces of fresh fruit and off I go to work (I have access to a microwave). </p>
<p>The soup is really delicious, spicy, has a lot of texture, is filling, and the added protein (from the chicken and beans) helps the soup stay with me. I did the math, and each of these huge bowls costs about $3.50, but compared to the cost of eating out, the unknown of what I’d be eating if I ate out, and the low calorie count of my mixture (less than 250 for the entire bowl), it is worth every penny. </p>
<p>I am down 30 pounds since July (I am now maintaining my loss, no longer in weight loss mode - hit goal about 3 weeks ago).</p>
<p>Congrats to you, justamom and everyone else on this get-healthy journey!
I am down 35 pounds and wondering what losing another 10 would do. I’ve been in a holding pattern since Christmas; Feb 1 is my target date to tackle the last 10.</p>
<p>Between work and commute, I’m usually looking at 12 hour days. Exercise is my biggest challenge. When pressed for time in the morning, my breakfast is coffee and a high-protein breakfast bar in my car. I’ll have oatmeal mid morning at work, usually soup and raw veggies for lunch, then yogurt and fruit mid afternoon. Dinner is lean protein and tons of vegetables. Lots of water through the day (and more cofee than is good for me, I’m sure).</p>
<p>I anticipate some false steps when I transition to maintenance. I know I’ll need to increase the whole grains and fruit. Then there is wine (and the cheese that goes with it). I do like my wine. :)</p>
<p>What are your maintenance tips, justamom?</p>
<p>DH had a heart attack last May and has lost 30 pounds. He is diabetic and on a low fat, low sodium diet. However, he eats out most days that he works – partly because he feels he just has to get out of the building. He found a little health-food eatery within walking distance of his office and can find lots of choices there that fit his diet. Also, if he goes elsewhere, he’ll have plain fish or chicken. If brown rice is an option, it’s quite healthy with plain fish or chicken and veggies. If you are willing to be like Sally in “When Harry Met Sally”, some restaurants can work. He keeps unsalted nuts and Cliff bars in his office to stave off hunger and low blood sugar attacks. For a while he did bring his lunch, but he found himself dragging all afternoon if he didn’t get the mental break of a change of scenery.</p>
<p>mafool, I’m down 35 pounds now (over the course of 2009) too and if I lose 3 or 4 more I’ll be at my Weight Watchers “target weight” that I’ll try to maintain. I’d love anyone’s tips for those last few pounds or, especially, for maintenance. (Not that I lost 20 pounds with weight watchers ten years ago and then gained it back and then some… Oh no, not me…)</p>
<p>Maintenance will be the real challenge, I know.</p>
<p>If you have access to a microwave - I really recommend cooking enough that there are leftovers. Put them in a container and label them and tell stealth boy they are yours. Soup is good, but I find even when I make my own it doesn’t taste good without a lot of salt. Hummus and other vegetarian spreads are pretty low in calories and taste good either with cut up vegetables or in a wrap.</p>
<p>The issue with WW and similar diets, IMO, is that they teach portion control, but not good eating. That’s why so many gain the weight back (I think it’s part of their corporate strategy). I think maintenance is much easier when the weight loss came through eating ‘clean’ and getting all the processed, commercial stuff out of your diet.</p>
<p>I always keep a bottle of Dijon mustard, lemon juice and one of seasoned rice vinegar in my office. I use these on salads brought from home or grabbed at a salad bar.</p>
<p>When I do have to grab a quick lunch out, I’ll go to a Chinese restaurant and get a steamed veggie dish with brown rice. Careful though, a small container of rice at most is about 6 servings in my book, so most of that is left behind. A plate of Sashimi from a Japanese restaurant also works.</p>
<p>Restaurants are just so tough both calorie and health wise. A grilled chicken breast or piece of fish always sounds light, but the typical serving size in restaurants is about 12 ounces and I cringe when there’s an open kitchen and I see how much oil they often brush on. Then there’s the veggies floating in butter. So I have learned to be Sally, but the translation from waiter to kitchen is often poor and most restaurants get it wrong anyway.</p>
<p>Okay, I love these threads because I too am working on eating better, getting healtheir, losing weight. So, I’ll <em>weigh in</em> here too.</p>
<p>I’m on weight watchers too – it is better than it used to be, IMO, much more in line with the way I think, much more encouraging of healthy eating habits than it used to be, and I like the food in the cookbooks better than I did the last time I tried their program a few years ago. Also there is a lot of talk at meetings about positive thinking, making yourself feel better all around – maybe it was always that way, but I’m noticing it more this time. I add my own spin to it, such as drinking a lot of green tea. I don’t buy their food items, which are not to my liking.</p>
<p>I eat a bit more than I’m supposed to according to their point plan, but if I’m hungry I will eat. Part of this for me, is to pay attention to my own signals of hunger and fullness and act (eat) accordingly. I am trying to get 20 or more grams of fiber every day. I’ve stepped up my exercise, too. </p>
<p>Anyway, I am slowly losing weight – 29 lbs. so far since last May. I just lost the rest of my Christmas fat (gained a few lbs in Dec) this week. Hurrah!</p>
<p>Favorite foods for me to help me lose are green tea, soup, and the spinach feta wrap that I often buy at the coffee shop for lunch (though it is marketed as a breakfast item). Hummus with veggies or fiber crackers are good. I also make smoothies for breakfast most mornings – (strawberries, chia seeds or flax seeds, goat milk, soy protein, sometimes a bit of kefir, a little agave for sweetening). I keep nuts in the car in case I get hungry. I drive a lot, so that helps keep me going until I get home sometimes.</p>
<p>I made a nice chicken/wild rice salad that one can eat cold – it was lunch a couple of days this week for me and hubby. The kids hated it, but I thought it was rather nice.</p>
<p>Also, I agree with hmom5 – eating as <em>clean</em> as you can definitely helps.</p>
<p>Have you guys tried Cholerella or Spirulina? They are supplements, full of protein and nutrients. A few capsules mid day will give you lots of energy and stave off hunger.</p>
<p>When you eat out…here is a good tip. Ask the waiter for a take home box BEFORE you begin eating. Put a good chunk of the food on your plate in that doggie bag box and then eat what is left on your plate. Take the rest home and divide into one or two more meals.</p>
<p>You can even ask them to box half in the kitchen and only bring you half of the portion.</p>
<p>I nearly always eat only half of a restaurant meal. I haven’t tried asking for doggie bags in advance, but I do divide it on my plate before I start eating.</p>
<p>I do take a salad every day to work, but I spice it up with leftovers. One day I’ll throw on some leftover omelet, the next day chili, or some hummus, or even some leftover Chinese food. It doesn’t feel boring at all. Plus I also take a couple of pieces of fruit and low fat/ low sugar yogurt. It doesn’t take much extra to make the salad interesting.</p>
<p>Maintenance of weight loss has been a big issue for me. I lost 40 lbs. over a year and a half by last August. Then from Sept. to Jan. I didn’t exercise and didn’t stick to my diet, and ka-boom!, 20 lbs. attached right back on! It’s incredible how hard it is to get it off and how easy it is to slip back into bad habits and the weight just wants to get right back on your body. I think it must be some evolutionary mechanism related to famines in the past eons when people starved or ate well (or better) alternatively. </p>
<p>I also got rid of all my larger sized clothes, so now I have my whole new wardrobe in smaller size, some of which doesn’t fit.</p>
<p>I think the maintenance key is you really have to stick with the exercise plan and the diet that got you the weight loss. You can possible just dial it back a tiny bit, but not much. I am back on track now, and have started to lose again. I sure learned a lesson.</p>