High Protein Lite Ranch Dressing

I was using the Walden Farms calorie-free ranch dressing for a long time...and then I got breast cancer and found out that erythritol has some connection to cancer (although not fully established). In the interest of removing any ingredients from my diet that are even remotely connected to cancer, I decided to remove all erythritol, a step that has been horribly difficult in the weight loss/maintaining journey. One of my favorite sweeteners is the Swerve Brown Sugar, something I'll miss on my oatmeal.

Since we eat a full plate salad almost every evening for dinner (along with some form of protein like grilled chicken on it), I needed to come up with a recipe for a lite dressing that actually tasted good. I've tried a lot of the online recipes that just didn't meet the taste and texture test. Most ended up with too watery a consistency, or too sharp a taste from the yogurt. So, after a bunch of experimenting this is what I came up with. Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:

1/2 C. Cottage cheese (I used full fat when I made it but I think low-fat or fat-free would probably also work)

2 tsp apple cider vinegar

1 scoop of collagen peptides (I used the Whole Foods 365 brand but the Vital Proteins or any other would also work as long as the calorie an protein content are comparable)

1 Tbl buttermilk powder

1/2 C. Nonfat Greek yogurt

1 Tbl water

1/2 tsp Crazy Jane's Mixed Up Salt (If you haven't tried this stuff it's the bomb! All the flavor and much less sodium

1 tsp dried parsley

1/2 tsp dried basil

1/8 tsp black pepper

1 tsp dried dill

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp honey

Directions:

Using a stick blender or Magic Bullet, blend the cottage cheese till smooth. Add remaining ingredients and blend until completely smooth and the spices are fully incorporated. This recipe makes 20 Tablespoons.

Nutrition:

11 Calories per Tbl

Unsaturated Fat 0g1%

Fiber 0g0%

Protein 1g3%

Potassium 23mg0%

Magnesium 2mg0%

Iron 0mg0%

Saturated Fat 0g1%

Added Sugars 0g0%

Sugars 1g1%

Sodium 80mg3%

Cholesterol 1mg0%

Lemon Blueberry Cottage Cheese Muffins

I love these muffins. They are moist, tender, and don't feel at all like a diet food. They completely satisfy my craving for comfort carbs but they are still healthy: low in fat and sugar, high in protein and antioxidants, and flavorful. They keep well and reheat well in the microwave and can be frozen.

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour

2-1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

finely grated zest from one lemon

juice from that lemon, enough to fill half of a 1/3 cup measure

2% milk (or whole) enough to fill the remainder of that 1/3 cup measure

1 tsp vanilla

2/3 cup small curd low fat cottage cheese

1 to 1-1/2 cups fresh or frozen partially thawed blueberries

Preheat the oven to 400°. Put cupcake liners in 12 muffin tins. NOTE: I use only the brown parchment paper muffin liners on these muffins because they tend to stick to regular liners. If you use regular liners, you may want to spray them with cooking spray. The parchment liners are absolutely the best for all muffins and cupcakes.

In a big bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.

Finely zest one lemon.

Juice the lemon and use enough to fill half of a 1/3 cup measuring cup.

Fill the remainder of the measuring cup with milk. Allow it to sit for five minutes to thicken into buttermilk.

Melt 1/4 cup butter.

Mix together the cottage cheese, eggs, melted butter, lemon zest, juice, milk, and vanilla either in a small blender like a Magic Bullet or with a stick blender like you see here. Mix it well until the cottage cheese is completely blended into a creamy consistency. If you don't have any blender, push the cottage cheese through a fine strainer then blend the ingredients.

Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture.

With a spatula, fold gently until almost mixed but some dry ingredients still remain. DO NOT OVERMIX as the muffins will be tough.

Add blueberries and VERY GENTLY fold into the batter so that you don't crush the blueberries and make the batter purple.

There will be a very slight bit of purple like in this photo, which is OK.

Spoon into prepared muffin tins and bake at 400° for 16-20 minutes or until the tops are golden and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove to a wire rack and let cool.

Once cool they can be put into zipper bags or leftover containers and can sit on the counter for several days or can be frozen.

For three muffins

The color code breakdown.

Garlic Butter Shrimp

 I love to take recipes that are typically high calorie and make them Noom friendly. This dish is one of my favorites and it's very easy to convert. Sorry, but no step-by-step instructions on this one because I was hungry and simply forgot!

The recipe is easy to make. First, put 2 oz of whole wheat spaghetti in cold water and heat to boiling then boil till tender. I always use the cold start method because it uses less water and cooks faster. While the pasta is cooking, spray a non-stick skillet with cooking spray and add 2 Tbl of chopped red or yellow peppers. Cook till almost tender, just a minute or two, and add a clover of garlic finely chopped and 1 Tbl green onions chopped. Add to the veggies 2 Tbl of Smart Balance Olive Oil Spread (or you can also use Earth Balance Olive Oil Spread) and let it melt. Add salt and pepper or lemon pepper. Keep warm. Just before the pasta is done, add the shrimp and toss just till warm. Do not overcook or they will be rubbery. Spoon mixture over drained pasta on a plate and top with 2 Tbl shredded parmesan.

Noom Log:

Black Bean Quesadillas

 I found this recipe on Dinner With Julie's site but modified it slightly. It's a super easy, super fast lunch meal that fits well within Noom's color code system. It's all green and yellow. 

I took a 1/2 cup of canned black beans and heated them briefly in the microwave. I then smashed them with a fork and added some taco seasoning. I heated a skillet with some cooking spray and laid a corn tortilla in the skillet then spread the bean mixture on half of the tortilla. I sprinkled 2 Tbl of reduced fat feta cheese on top and folded over the tortilla. Then I cooked it a few minutes on each side on medium heat till it was golden. It was delicious with a side of steamed green beans.

 

The Noom log for it:

Quarantine 15 and the NOOM Rejoin

(Ed Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with, not an employee of, and not compensated by Noom. I am just a very satisfied customer.)

The last year has impacted pretty much everyone on the planet. The day the lockdowns were announced, I was well below my goal weight. By the one-year anniversary of the lockdown I, along with most of the people I know, had gained 15#.

It wasn't due to lack of exercise, because all through that year I was walking, biking, hiking, doing my steps videos, and working in the garden. For me, it was much more about my emotional triggers: boredom, restlessness, loneliness, uncertainty. I've always been an emotional eater, and this was an Emotional Time with a capital E. Normally stress isn't an issue for me, but you add the stress of disagreements about masks, lockdowns and vaccines among friends and family and you have a recipe for storm eating and weight gain.

So, bit by bit, ounce by ounce, the weight climbed. On 4-20-21 I hit what I call a "trigger weight" on the scale, that one that makes you say, "OK this is where I draw the line" and decided to get control. I rejoined Noom under one of their special discounts for returning members, and I found the program to be freshly modified and relevant to these trying times, so I decided to do another mini review.

OK. First the positives:

One of the main problems I had with Noom was their individual "Goal Specialists," the coach you work with on a one-to-one basis, checking in at least once a week. In our group there was this constant questioning as to whether these were really even people or if they were computer generated because the feedback they gave was very automated and completely out of touch with our needs at the time. The responses always sounded like a canned response read from a script. In their defense, I'm sure that these counselors are very limited in the scope of their response by mandated corporate rules. The group coaches, on the other hand, were great: encouraging, full of ideas, and in touch. So I was very pleased when I rejoined to find that you now have the option of choosing between a "coached" approach and a "guided" approach. The "coached" approach was what I had before, where your coach would contact you once a week and you could contact them any time you needed M-F. The "guided" approach is where you only contact them if you have a question or need some specific help but they don't bother you. You still have your daily lessons and have your group assigned to you after two weeks, along with a group coach. This suited me perfectly because I already know what to do, I just need the accountability of the group and not some automatic response telling me what I "need" to do, even if it doesn't apply to my situation.

I also found many of the lessons had been rewritten to be more clear and had references to the challenges presented to us by Covid. The plan has now been structured to include a "Progress" button where you can pull up the graphic at the right. It shows you where you are in the course. I keep a daily "Noom Journal" and it's much easier to take notes from the lessons now because of the clearer structure. A note to get the most out of each lesson: if there are multiple choice questions that you answer that lead you to more pages, sometimes it's helpful to answer them one way, read the following pages, then hit the back button and answer them a different way to see what comes up. There are many of the questions that have multiple answers that apply to me and I've gotten a lot more from the program by doing this. The lessons are like tree branches that diverge into new areas depending on your answers to questions, but sometimes you just need them all.

The next thing I noticed is that their support response time has dramatically improved. I contacted support about an issue over an incorrect food item and they responded within just a couple hours. Pretty impressive.

One of the common complaints with Noom from members was that the billing and automatic renewal amounts were not transparent and difficult to access. This has also been changed. Now you just click on Settings-Manage Subscription and it pops right up. Easy peasy to see and/or change. 

OK now the negatives:

The iOS version of the app still needs a lot of work. In the Android version you could input a meal and then simply hit "save meal" and it would save it for you. You could also choose from previous days' meals and it would enter the whole meal again. Handy for people like me who tend to eat the same four or five breakfasts. Now you have to go in and create a meal and save it and then enter that meal from a list. Still a good function, just not anywhere near as handy because sometimes I like to mix up a few things in the meal but don't want to enter the whole meal again. The group chat function is also still way behind the technical times. It's not at all user friendly. There are so many successful forum programs out there that I just don't know why they can't fix this. It's hard to find threads and comment notifications are really wonky. This is true in both iOS and Android.

The food database still has a TON of errors in it. I try to report every single one I find, but there are many. Either the calories are off or the color coding is off on many foods. You can report an inaccuracy by hitting the More button while on a food page, then select Flag a Problem. My advice is to cross-check your info directly from your packaging and from other food sites like My Fitness Pal. Also, when entering a new food for them I found a glitch in the iOS app that won't allow me to enter info down past a certain point before it gets locked behind the keyboard screen. I reported this and they are working on fixing it. Again, I found the tech response to be vastly improved so I know they're trying hard to improve the app and the program in general.

Takeaway:

After one month of rejoin I've lost half of my Quarantine gain. Noom really works, in spite of the few shortcomings. If you're willing to face yourself honestly and dig into the nitty gritty of why you overeat, then Noom will help you achieve your goals. 

In case you haven't already read them, here are links to my previous reviews. 

A Noom Adventure

An In-depth 16 Week Review

Graduation Day!

I'd love to hear your own experiences with Noom so comment away. And best of luck ditching that Quarantine 15!

Noom: A year at goal

Noom has become such a routine part of my life that I didn't even notice that I'd passed my year at goal aniversary a few weeks ago. So what are my takeaways after that year?

• Noom works. It's a fundamental change in the psychological relationship you have with food, so the change is solid. It's not a diet, but rather an examination of what makes you overeat in the first place. Deal with that honestly, and you will have success.
• Food is not my enemy. One of the biggest lessons I've learned is that no food is "bad" or "off limits" or "evil". I can have that piece of chocolate cake - in moderation - and still succeed. I've learned, though, that certain foods will benefit my health more than others. The color-coding system for foods that Noom employs helps me to follow the balance of foods that I need to be healthy.
• Noom fits in my life. You eat regular food, not purchased meals, so this is a sustainable lifestyle. You learn to eat foods you like, foods you can cook, not foods that you will never eat again once you finish the Noom program.
• I feel strong. One of the biggest changes in my daily life is the increase of activity. Since I started Noom in January of 2019 when it was cold and miserable in St. Louis, I started with using the Leslie Sansone walk-at-home videos. I used these along with strength training at the gym. As the weather warmed, I walked outside and rode bicycles with my husband. Now that we're solidly in the midst of the Covid lockdown rules, we either ride our bikes long distance or I'm continuing to do one of the many videos I have used productively.
• Staying healthy and fit requires dilligence. Good habits need reinforced daily.
• A support network is critical. Even after I left Noom to continue on my own, I founded a Facebook group with some Noom friends to offer support when I needed it. My husband is unbelievably supportive of my efforts, and my family knows not to be food pushers. 

Once I reached goal last year, I increased my calorie intake to maintain goal weight and relaxed my weighing and measuring of food. I had set myself a five-pounds-over-goal limit at which point I would buckle down and lose them. I stayed within a couple pounds of my goal for over a year but in recent weeks, with the stress of the Covid lockdown, my weight had started to inch up by tiny increments. I reached that five-pounds-over-goal limit I had set for myself two weeks ago, so I rejoined Noom for an extra bit of reinforcement, support, and accountability. The five pounds is already gone in that two weeks, but I'm staying on for a three month term to focus again during the pandemic blues that I've been feeling. I'll go down a bit below goal to give myself some cushion.

All in all, I come away with this one thought: Being healthy, fit, and strong as I age is the key to my happiness. Since I'm in the Autumn of my life, I want to enjoy every minute of it. I want to run with my grandkids. I want to ride long distance bike rides with my husband. I want to sail and garden and hike and rock climb, and the only way to do all those things is to take care of myself. If you're on the fence about joining Noom, let me be the first to tell you that you are worth it!

Noom: A Five Month at Goal Update

I've been at or below my goal weight now for over five months. While I no longer pay a subscription fee to Noom, I still use the free app daily to log my weight and my meals. So what's my takeaway at this point?

1. The single biggest lesson I learned was to eliminate what they call "All or nothing thinking," that tendency to say that because you ate the donut for breakfast you completely failed so you may as well eat everything in sight all day and skip your workout. Instead, I've learned to say, "That may not have been my best choice today but I still walked for 30 minutes and chose a great veggie-filled dinner. Tomorrow I'll make a better breakfast choice."

2. I've found that I really enjoy being active, that it's no longer a chore to exercise but something I look forward to.

3. I'm still daily using the tricks of the trade I learned, like making the foods I want to choose visible in the front of the fridge/counter/pantry and hiding or tossing the ones that are detrimental to my healthy choices. 

4. I still need to be vigilant in some areas like trail mix. I don't want to eliminate it completely because it's a good source of protein for me, but it's one that is easy for me to lose control over.

5. I absolutely can't survive in this journey without the support of like-minded people. Many thanks to my friends and coaches in Noom who got me through the tough times and keep encouraging me even now at goal. If you're attempting weight loss and better fitness, find someone to partner with!

I recently saw a commercial for some nutrition product (sorry can't remember what one) and the tag line really stuck with me. "Don't strive for perfection. Work at being better. Strive to make one better choice each day." 

Couldn't say it any better.