My delightful elder daughter has started looking out for useful websites on weight loss. I guess it was only a matter of time before my proto-teenager started trying to improve me. Causing the abandonment of Mom Jeans must be on the cards soon. Anyway, here is today's interesting little nugget, on a food supplement called SENSA. Apparently this tasteless, scentless food supplement is sprinkled on other food, causing a suppression of appetite in eaters that, according to the product website, caused an average weight loss of 30.5 lbs among 1, 436 men and women who used it over a 6 month period.
Hmm. No dieting or exercise required. If it is so effective, why isn't everyone talking about it? Why isn't everyone using it? Why isn't Oprah Winfrey promoting it?
One alternative weight loss website notes that the main ingredient in Sensa's "tastants" (i.e. the sprinkly stuff) is maltodextrin (i.e. sugar derived from corn). The effect of that will be to give bland foods more flavor which, it speculates, may have the opposite effect of making diners want more of them, not less. Way back in 2008, the ABC news show 20/20 exposed the failings of the science underpinning this supposed breakthrough.
I remain sceptical of any product that claims seemingly miraculous results. I'd rather stick with the tried and trusted methods of portion control, good food choices, and a moderate exercise plan to promote all round health.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Saturday, February 26, 2011
More Sinned Against Than Sinning
Little Starlet and I went up to the city today to the Sundance Kabuki Theatre see the National Theatre live broadcast of the Donmar Warehouse production "King Lear" with Derek Jacobi. He was outstanding. In fact the whole play was fabulous, there wasn't a block of wood attempting to act on the stage at all. A fine avoidance of teapot Shakespeare. Little Starlet more or less followed the play - I had forgotten, and so didn't explain, the Gloucester/Edgar/Edmund sub-plot - though she thought that Derek Jacobi had been replaced by another actor in the final scene. Quite why, I have no idea. There you are, the mind of a 9 year old.
The relevance of all this to this blog is that it meant I had a rather odd eating day. I began with a bowl of granola. We headed out at 9am. The play/broadcast started at 12:30pm and ended at 4pm, which meant that lunch would not be happening. So we stopped at the Fillmore Street Cafe for a breakfast bagel at 10:30am. I had a latte and the 49ers, consisting of ham, egg, and cheddar cheese on a plain bagel. Little Starlet had the Fillmore Special, with sausage, egg and cheese. Very hot and tasty.
We then headed up to the Japantown shopping area. It was freezing cold, icy wind blasting poor Little Starlet's uncovered legs (she never will listen when I tell her to put more clothes on), so we went inside to look at the stores. After walking though the Japanese language bookstore and admiring the plastic dolls with penises, we found ourselves at the Anderson Bakery. Little Starlet had a slice of chocolate ganache cake, while I toyed with a light, fluffy, delicious slice of coffee creme cake. As I always say to the girls, if you MUST eat food that's bad for you, at least make sure it is high quality. This certainly was worth every calorie.
We went into the theatre food-free, but once the intermission came along, it was clear that Little Starlet required yet more sustenance. So we went to the Peet's Coffee concession in the theatre and bought bags of popcorn (and yet another latte for me).
Hubby and Deep Thought have spent the week in Bear Valley. They got back this afternoon just before Little Starlet and I returned from the city. We were all exhausted and lacking imagination, so we tucked into Whole Foods' frozen pizza for dinner: pepperoni, hawaiian, and chicken quesadilla (note, three pizzas between four of us, so a small concession to thinness there).
All in all, a very fun day, but a bit peculiar on the dietary front.
The relevance of all this to this blog is that it meant I had a rather odd eating day. I began with a bowl of granola. We headed out at 9am. The play/broadcast started at 12:30pm and ended at 4pm, which meant that lunch would not be happening. So we stopped at the Fillmore Street Cafe for a breakfast bagel at 10:30am. I had a latte and the 49ers, consisting of ham, egg, and cheddar cheese on a plain bagel. Little Starlet had the Fillmore Special, with sausage, egg and cheese. Very hot and tasty.
We then headed up to the Japantown shopping area. It was freezing cold, icy wind blasting poor Little Starlet's uncovered legs (she never will listen when I tell her to put more clothes on), so we went inside to look at the stores. After walking though the Japanese language bookstore and admiring the plastic dolls with penises, we found ourselves at the Anderson Bakery. Little Starlet had a slice of chocolate ganache cake, while I toyed with a light, fluffy, delicious slice of coffee creme cake. As I always say to the girls, if you MUST eat food that's bad for you, at least make sure it is high quality. This certainly was worth every calorie.
We went into the theatre food-free, but once the intermission came along, it was clear that Little Starlet required yet more sustenance. So we went to the Peet's Coffee concession in the theatre and bought bags of popcorn (and yet another latte for me).
Hubby and Deep Thought have spent the week in Bear Valley. They got back this afternoon just before Little Starlet and I returned from the city. We were all exhausted and lacking imagination, so we tucked into Whole Foods' frozen pizza for dinner: pepperoni, hawaiian, and chicken quesadilla (note, three pizzas between four of us, so a small concession to thinness there).
All in all, a very fun day, but a bit peculiar on the dietary front.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Dr Mom's Wednesday Weigh-In
Hello OEM, Nice to see you around the blog. Go indemnity!
This morning I weighed in at 149.6lbs, which is heavier than last week - but then last week I was a prune. I'll write another entry to explain how I've been this week. Suffice it to say that the dots on the WeightWatchers weight tracker log graph thingy show a downward trend, and that works for me.
This morning I weighed in at 149.6lbs, which is heavier than last week - but then last week I was a prune. I'll write another entry to explain how I've been this week. Suffice it to say that the dots on the WeightWatchers weight tracker log graph thingy show a downward trend, and that works for me.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Nearly There
Dr Mom, where are you? Are you still suffering from the lurgy? If so, I hope it has the beneficial weight-loss side effect. But I'd rather you were better.
I am getting fatter this week. I am revising. It is unpleasant. Gu Rocky Road snacks make it slightly better.
The worst will be over by next Friday. At which point, I am signing up for Swimathon, with a view to getting David and NotSmallAtAll to be on my team. You have to do at least 1.5 km - I can do the .5 - well, .75 actually - and David can do about 100metres. NotSmall, fortunately, has form for swimming 2km all by himself. So between us, we should be able to do it easily - and more to the point, I will become healthier.
Now I must stop prevaricating, and learn about the indemnity basis for assessing costs.
I am getting fatter this week. I am revising. It is unpleasant. Gu Rocky Road snacks make it slightly better.
The worst will be over by next Friday. At which point, I am signing up for Swimathon, with a view to getting David and NotSmallAtAll to be on my team. You have to do at least 1.5 km - I can do the .5 - well, .75 actually - and David can do about 100metres. NotSmall, fortunately, has form for swimming 2km all by himself. So between us, we should be able to do it easily - and more to the point, I will become healthier.
Now I must stop prevaricating, and learn about the indemnity basis for assessing costs.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Dr Mom's Wednesday Weigh-In
Apologies for radio silence this week, I've been having a crazy busy week. This morning I weighed in at 151.8 lbs, which is a loss of a princely 0.4 lbs this week, but 10 lbs since the start of January. I reckon that is some kind of milestone.
I only achieved this loss by eating almost nothing on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. On Sunday I wasn't well and spent much of the day in bed at the mercy of mysterious vertigo that left as suddenly as it arrived, but which had the virtue of making me feel nauseous and so not want to eat. For the rest, plates of salad greens dressed in vinegar. Banana for snack. That kind of thing. Yesterday I was visiting a friend at home and refused a biscuit. These are the lengths you have to go to in order to lose weight when you are 42. Bleugh.
I only achieved this loss by eating almost nothing on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. On Sunday I wasn't well and spent much of the day in bed at the mercy of mysterious vertigo that left as suddenly as it arrived, but which had the virtue of making me feel nauseous and so not want to eat. For the rest, plates of salad greens dressed in vinegar. Banana for snack. That kind of thing. Yesterday I was visiting a friend at home and refused a biscuit. These are the lengths you have to go to in order to lose weight when you are 42. Bleugh.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Marked Up, In All Senses
This morning I took Ruby for a 50 minute walk at Windy Hill which is, as the name suggests, a hill and thus pretty good exercise. After I took her home, I went shopping. Of course, I hadn't taken the precaution of eating anything at home after my walk, so by the time I got to the pet food store I was feeling hungry. Ah, I think, I can feel a coffee at that Starbucks right there coming on. So I buy my nonfat decaf latte (nicknamed the "Why Bother?" by the staff in our local Starbucks) and add to it a Fruit, Nut and Cheese Platter (460 calories) as that is the only thing available to eat that isn't cake.
It consists of half an apple, a small wedge of brie, a little cube of gouda, and a slice of cheddar, accompanied by two wholewheat crackers and what appears to be a quarter cup of unsalted almonds with dried cranberries. It was actually pretty tasty and filling, and generally just what the doctor ordered.
The breakdown of nutrition reveals 29g fat, 34g carbs, 6g fiber, and 19g protein. I'm not really sure where all that carbohydrate is coming from, but there you are. Plug it into the WeightWatchers calculator and get out 12 points spent. Yikes! I guess I can see where it is coming from now I reflect upon it... The apple would count as zero points. The almonds and cranberries can't be more than 4 points, and the crackers surely no more than 2. So the cheese must be the remaining 6 points, which makes sense when you consider that one ounce of brie is 3 points all by itself.
The other thing I wanted to comment on was the price. It cost $4.95. I reckon that, even on a generous calculation - given that Starbucks can buy everything wholesale - the contents can't cost more than around $2.50 (cheese $1, apple $0.50, crackers $0.25, almonds and cranberries $0.50, packaging $0.30). So the markup is around 100%. Not a bad way to make a profit, eh?
It consists of half an apple, a small wedge of brie, a little cube of gouda, and a slice of cheddar, accompanied by two wholewheat crackers and what appears to be a quarter cup of unsalted almonds with dried cranberries. It was actually pretty tasty and filling, and generally just what the doctor ordered.
The breakdown of nutrition reveals 29g fat, 34g carbs, 6g fiber, and 19g protein. I'm not really sure where all that carbohydrate is coming from, but there you are. Plug it into the WeightWatchers calculator and get out 12 points spent. Yikes! I guess I can see where it is coming from now I reflect upon it... The apple would count as zero points. The almonds and cranberries can't be more than 4 points, and the crackers surely no more than 2. So the cheese must be the remaining 6 points, which makes sense when you consider that one ounce of brie is 3 points all by itself.
The other thing I wanted to comment on was the price. It cost $4.95. I reckon that, even on a generous calculation - given that Starbucks can buy everything wholesale - the contents can't cost more than around $2.50 (cheese $1, apple $0.50, crackers $0.25, almonds and cranberries $0.50, packaging $0.30). So the markup is around 100%. Not a bad way to make a profit, eh?
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Mmmm, Bacon's Up.
It's Wednesday, and that means cleaners at our house. They take over the entire house and clean every room simultaneously for a total of four hours. That might make it seem like we live in some kind of mansion, but we don't. We do have a nice house, but the main factor is their obsessive need to clean every surface, move every piece of furniture, and even tidy up inside drawers and cupboards. My usual strategy is to go out for lunch as it is impossible to eat while other people are working so hard.
Generally on a Wednesday, the diner at Stanford - the Palo Alto Creamery, Fountain and Grill, to give it its proper name - calls to me. And Ruby. We typically go for lunch, or brunch, or whatever you want to call it, and Ruby enjoys a little under-the-table treat, before we head off for a walk. The wait staff often bring her out a bowl of water and a dog biscuit, which she never eats as she doesn't like "milk bones" as they are called. Today lunch was two poached eggs, hash browns, four slices of crisply cooked bacon, and a slice of cracked wheat toast with raspberry jam, plus decaf coffee. This comes to a princely 14 Weightwatchers points, and worth every one of them. Ruby enjoyed her morsels of bacon and potato. In the past I have bought a side of bacon just for her, but I think we need to watch her weight too... and having an extra side of bacon on the table is no inducement to good behavior for Dr Mom!!
We rounded off our lunch with a 50 minute walk at the Palo Alto Baylands (worth 3 points).
Generally on a Wednesday, the diner at Stanford - the Palo Alto Creamery, Fountain and Grill, to give it its proper name - calls to me. And Ruby. We typically go for lunch, or brunch, or whatever you want to call it, and Ruby enjoys a little under-the-table treat, before we head off for a walk. The wait staff often bring her out a bowl of water and a dog biscuit, which she never eats as she doesn't like "milk bones" as they are called. Today lunch was two poached eggs, hash browns, four slices of crisply cooked bacon, and a slice of cracked wheat toast with raspberry jam, plus decaf coffee. This comes to a princely 14 Weightwatchers points, and worth every one of them. Ruby enjoyed her morsels of bacon and potato. In the past I have bought a side of bacon just for her, but I think we need to watch her weight too... and having an extra side of bacon on the table is no inducement to good behavior for Dr Mom!!
We rounded off our lunch with a 50 minute walk at the Palo Alto Baylands (worth 3 points).
Dr Mom's Wednesday Weigh In
Today I weighed in at 152.2lbs, which is exactly the same as last week. Not so much a plateau as a return to snacking, I think. But since I didn't actually put any weight on, even the snacking must be under some kind of control. Got to hunt out that willpower again.
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