's motd Fri Jun 18, 2010 - Volume Eater

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VOLUME EATER

Friday, 18 June 2010

I'm not only an "eater"...I'm a volume eater. See, I was raised with big dinner plates and big-old soup bowls. Oh, let me tell you, there was always plenty of food to eat at 926 St. Louis Street back in New Orleans. Sometimes my father cooked like he had six children when there were only two of us.

I must've really stretched out my stomach back then. (You did know you can actually stretch your stomach, didn't you?) When I finished my first round of eating dinner, I'd always go back for seconds...or even thirds! I continued to eat that way for a very long time. And to tell you the truth, to this day, I'm still a volume eater. But...in a very different way.So, how different, you ask? What changed? Well, I changed what I was eating. I went from eating big bowls of chili, gumbo and spaghetti to eating big bowls of freebies. So, what's a freebie? Well, freebies are foods you can eat in volume that have no calories. (I'm talking mostly about vegetables here.) And today, I eat big bowls of salads. The great thing is that the veggies in those salads cost me nothing in the way of calories. I start with lettuce and there're so many varieties to try. There's bibb, Boston, iceberg, romaine, spinach and watercress, for example. And...all of these lettuces have nutrients in them that are good for your body.

Next, I begin chopping more fresh, freebie veggies for my salad. I'll chop and dice away...cabbage, celery, cucumbers, mushrooms, radishes and zucchini. After I finish chopping everything and mixing all of my ingredients together, I'm looking at a bowl that's filled to the brim with colorful veggies I can eat to my heart's content. Completely guilt-free! Now you know that if you eat fat, protein, starches or dairy products in volume, you will gain weight. But you don't have to worry about that with the fabulous freebies. If you're filling your tummy with lots of salads, you will lose weight. I know I talk about salads a lot and many of you have E-mailed telling me that when you got on the "lettuce train," you began dropping pounds.If you don't have a FoodMover, you should get one. The exchange booklet that comes with it is filled with information about the freebie foods you can have. It's really very interesting to see all of the foods you can eat that're free of calories.And before I go, we have to talk about the salad dressing you add to that bowl of freebies. Do you use fat-free or low-fat dressing? (Better check the ingredients on the label to see what they're putting in it.) Or are you still using those high-calorie dressings? You know, it's amazing. There you have a salad that costs you nothing in calories but then lots of people go and ruin it by adding hundreds of calories with some thick and gooey, high-calorie, high-fat salad dressing. Now come on...how smart is that?

You can make your own oil and vinegar dressing that's really very simple then add other ingredients to enhance the flavor. You can add things like Dijon mustard, horseradish, red chili flakes and a little dollop of fat-free sour cream. (You can experiment and create your own signature salad dressing.)I mix my dressing ingredients, place them in a glass jar and shake it 'til everything is really blended. And by the way, when you shake it all together like that, you create little air bubbles that make the dressing go farther.Well, seems it's true...sometimes the best things in life are free! Here, put on these rabbit ears, get into that kitchen and make yourself a a great tasting and good-for-you freebie salad!Love,