's Daily Message - THE COUNTING GAME

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's Daily Message

Friday

January 27, 2006

THE COUNTING GAME

A day doesn`t go by that I don`t get a lot of email that asks me to help

break down a recipe, so I email them back and let them know what FoodMover

windows they should close for one serving. I really don`t mind helping

everyone out, because this is the way I learned how to eat myself! It really

is a counting game. You must know by now that you are what you eat. Every

morsel of food you eat counts! You know that if you`re overweight, you got

that way by eating portions of food that were too big, and you also know

that if you eat smaller portions, there will be less of you!

When I finally decided to learn how to eat, I knew I would have to learn the

proper portions of every food in all 6 of the food groups. I started paging

through nutritional books. I began writing down foods in their correct

portions in my journal, and later, I wrote these portions on small pieces of

colorful construction paper and created the Deal-a-Meal cards. It was my way

of keeping accountable for what I was eating.

When I would make my meals, I would measure everything with my measuring

cups and spoons. I also used a scale to weigh my protein. As you know, the

Deal-a-Meal cards led to the FoodMover and the SlimAway program, which is

now in the Clubhouse along with your Road Map to Success!

http://www.richardsimmons.com/join_clubhouse.php

If you really want to stay on program and see great results, you have to pay

close attention to portion sizes. Some portions of food are very easy to

figure out. A 4-ounce breast of chicken will cost you 4 protein windows. A

regular slice of bread is 1 starch window. A small apple is 1 fruit window.

One pat of butter equals 1 fat window.

But other combinations of food are a little harder to break down. Take, for

instance, a slice of pizza. You have to count 2-3 starch windows for the

crust, 1 veggie window for the tomato sauce and for other veggies used, then

there`s the cheese that will eat up your dairy and fat windows. If there`s

meat on the pizza, you may have to spend additional protein and fat windows.

Once you spend some time going over all the food exchanges, you will begin

to break down all your meals in no time. Count on it!

Love,