eG Foodblog: Jensen - A Blog of Diminishing Returns

[Abra]

I think sorrel with ricotta or quark, and maybe some shallot and mushrooms, would be yummy. I don't think I'd put it with arugula, though, since I fear the flavors would clash. Try eating an arugula leaf and a sorrel leaf together, just raw, and see what you think.

Arugula is my favorite salad green of all time.

[snowangel]

So, how many points do you get in one day (may have missed that up above).

[Jensen]

And the Moroccan Braised Beef sounds great. I may have to cut back on the spice level for my kids based on your family's experience, though.

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I think if you reduced or eliminated the cayenne, it would be fine.

I don't think I'd put it with arugula, though, since I fear the flavors would clash.  Try eating an arugula leaf and a sorrel leaf together, just raw, and see what you think. 

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What a great idea! I did this and I couldn't taste the arugula at all...just the sorrel. So, I think I'll use them separately.

So, how many points do you get in one day (may have missed that up above).

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I get 22 points per day, plus an extra 35 points to be eaten at any time over the week. When I lose a few more pounds, I will drop to eating only 20 points per day. I guess at that point I'll have to stop cursing people who say they only get 20 points.

Because I had meat at lunch time, I didn't want anything too heavy for dinner. So, I made curried cauliflower and cheese soup. The head of cauliflower I had was small so I added some broccoli as well.

I posted the recipe in the soup thread.

I followed it with a couple of changes: I used Lee Kum Kee curry sauce (my favourite ) and I used 3 oz. of cheese this time. The entire pot of soup worked out to 12 points. It was divided into 4 servings of 3 points each.

We also had steamed coconut milk bao with the soup. I count those as 2 points each. They're a little smaller than a dinner roll, which the WW book tells me is worth 3 points.

[Jake]

The soup looks wonderful, Jen! I can understand why it hasn't been too hard to stick to your program with food like that. Really enjoying the blog, thanks again.

[therese]

I get 22 points per day, plus an extra 35 points to be eaten at any time over the week. When I lose a few more pounds, I will drop to eating only 20 points per day. I guess at that point I'll have to stop cursing people who say they only get 20 points. 

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Yep. Then you'll get to curse those people who still have an entire 22 points per day.

Hmmm...If memory serves, you'll only be 2 lbs away from your initial goal when you cross from the land of plenty (22 points per day) to the land of near starvation (no, no, I'm just kidding---it's more like the land of eating carefully). And I'm pretty sure we're the same height, by the way.

For those of you not familiar with WW and "goal" weights, when you first sign up, whether you're doing it on-line like me or going to meetings like Jensen, you pick a goal weight for yourself. If you're attending meetings (for which you have to pay) it's to your advantage to pick a relatively high goal weight, because once you meet your goal (and I think perhaps maintain it for some period of time) you attain "lifetime" status and no longer have to pay to attend meetings. This is not an option for on-line users, as there's no weigh for WW to see how much you really weigh, so I set a much lower goal weight for myself as an incentive.

More dinner ideas, please.

[misstenacity]

On WW - is there any guidance or advice as to how to stagger the points consumption each day? From one of your days ("I have 14pts for dinner..."), it sounds like you eat more food towards the end of the day.

I am not on WW but I do tend to eat more food earlier - perhaps 75-80% of my daily food is before dinner. Big breakfasts keep me sane. :-)

Comments?

I am really enjoying the blog so far - keep up the great work!

Andrea

http://tenacity.net

[Tess]

I'm on WW, and I eat most of my food for breakfast and lunch. I'm doing the program online and have not seen any particular advice on this issue. I'm in 20-pointsville (please don't curse me, Jensen!) and it seems like *a lot* less than 22. If I don't earn some activity points, I feel I don't have much to work with. If I'm still hungry at dinner time, frankly, I just cheat. (I can't use flex points on a daily basis because I need them for one dinner out a week.) I have lost weight anyway. The WW food allowance is a little too small, in my opinion.

Jensen, if you get a chance, I really recommend seeing if your library or video store has the BBC production of I, Claudius. It rocks! The book is good fun too.

Thanks for posting the cauliflower soup recipe. I'm all about the soups.

[Dana]

Part of the 'charm' of the WW program is that you can customize your meals however is best for you. You know when you get up that you have 20 or whatever points, and you can use them as you please. If you like a larger breakfast, then that's perfectly acceptable. Lots of people don't eat much for breakfast, although WW highly recommends you eat something to get your metabolism going.

Tess - have you tried the core plan? I thought I the food I was allowed on the point system wasn't enough, either, and am much happier and not hungry on core. You might want to check it out.

Hope I haven't highjacked this thread - sorry Jensen

[Jensen]

Yep. Then you'll get to curse those people who still have an entire 22 points per day.

Hmmm...If memory serves, you'll only be 2 lbs away from your initial goal when you cross from the land of plenty (22 points per day) to the land of near starvation (no, no, I'm just kidding---it's more like the land of eating carefully). And I'm pretty sure we're the same height, by the way.

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As Therese said, if you attends the meetings, it's in your best interest to put your goal weight as high as possible. When you reach it, you immediately add 4 points to your daily quota to change from a "weight loss" routine to a "maintenance" routine.

I plan to stay in "weight loss" mode for a while, until I reach my "personal goal". I've decided that my personal goal is to be Therese...

On WW - is there any guidance or advice as to how to stagger the points consumption each day?  From one of your days ("I have 14pts for dinner..."), it sounds like you eat more food towards the end of the day.

I am not on WW but I do tend to eat more food earlier - perhaps 75-80% of my daily food is before dinner.  Big breakfasts keep me sane.  :-)

I went through my journal and found that I tend to eat half of my points for breakfast and lunch and half of my points at dinner. But you can distribute your points any way you like. You can also start your "counting day" at any point. So, whereas I get up in the morning and start counting then, someone else might start their day at dinner time. That has been recommended at the meetings for those people who eat more earlier in the day.

Breakfast was porridge again this morning.

I've been eating it every morning for months and I'm still not bored with it. Once the weather gets nicer, I'm sure I'll want something different though. Before I started with the porridge, I had been eating Trader-Joe's fat-free granola with plain yogurt (sometimes homemade and sometimes the organic low-fat stuff from TJ's). I found that eating whole grains in the morning kept me feeling full longer.

[fou de Bassan]

I'm enjoying your blog very much. Suffice it to say I knew nothing about WW before this blog. I hope this isn't a stupid question but, do you ever go off WW? Does it have an end or whenyou reach your goal weight do you just eat to maintain?

Thanks again

[Jake]

One other question, Jen. Would it be correct to assume that the WW program includes excercise, esp. cardio a certain number of hours per week, or is the weight loss and points system strictly based on caloric intake? Also, does the point system differ for so-called "good" fats and pure junk?

[therese]

As Therese said, if you attends the meetings, it's in your best interest to put your goal weight as high as possible. When you reach it, you immediately add 4 points to your daily quota to change from a "weight loss" routine to a "maintenance" routine.

I plan to stay in "weight loss" mode for a while, until I reach my "personal goal". I've decided that my personal goal is to be Therese...  

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Maybe we're already the same person. I mean, nobody here's seen us in the same room together, right?

Lots of cool questions re WW. I'll let Jensen answer them in detail, but the short answer to all of them is "no". WW doesn't have too many rules or requirements, just guidelines. It's not so much a diet as a tool that helps you figure out how much food you need and how much food you eat. If you want to lose weight you have to pay a lot of attention to both.

The meeting version can also have a strong support group aspect to it. Sort of like eGullet is a support group for people obsessed by food.

[SobaAddict70]

I'd like to add that we've had WW-related and diet-related blogs before in the Foodblog series.

Check out Abra's installment and NulloModo's episode.

I'm sure we'll have more to come in the future from other bloggers.

Soba

[snowangel]

How does a WW decide whether or not to do this "core" thing that has been referred to instead of points?

[Tess]

Dana, I haven't tried Core, but I may. I just felt as if it took me a while to get the hang of Flex, and my weight is still edging down.

snowangel, I've read a lot of discussions about Core and watched some diet bloggers experiment with it. It emphasizes whole, less processed foods and does not put a limit on how much you eat of those "core" foods. Other foods are on an allowance. From what I've read, I think it might be hard for me with how often I eat out or am for some other reason not in control of my food supply. On the other hand, you can switch back and forth between plans. Core does sound awfully attractive for anyone who's tired of measuring all their food or feels chronically underfed on other diets. The old system lets you eat anything you want, but in measured amounts.

[therese]

How does a WW decide whether or not to do this "core" thing that has been referred to instead of points?

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WW presently offers two plans, Flex and Core. When I joined this summer Flex was the only option. Core was apparently being beta tested by some WW groupsat that time, and was finally introduced as an alternate about a month after I'd started.

Flex: Guidelines but no rules as to specific foods that you can and can't eat. If you want to consume half of your daily allotment of points (which is based on what you weigh---the less you weigh the fewer baseline points you get) in marshmallow fluff, fine. Everything you eat has a points value: a normal serving of tomatoes (a cup) is zero, a normal serving of rice (a cup) 4 points. All sorts of cool points values available: squirrel meat's 1 point per ounce, for instance. You count points for everything you eat, and when you've eaten all your points for the day you go to bed. Or if you want to use some of your 35 extra weekly Flex points you can do that, or if you've earned activity points that day you can eat their equivalent.

Turns out that some people do want to consume half their daily allotment of points in marshmallow fluff, and WW thought this was a crappy idea because WW is more about being healthy than about weight loss. So they came out with an alternate plan called...

Core: No daily points allotment. As long as you're eating a Core food you can eat as much as you want. Well, not exactly: as much as you need to keep from feeling hungry. So unlimited lean meats and fish, non-fat dairy, vegetables, fruits, eggs, whole grains. Some things very specifically excluded because of their "abuse potential": fat-free sugar-free yogurt that comes already flavored is not a core food, whereas plain fat-free yogurt to which you have added fruit (and sweetener if you'd like) is. Nutritionally pretty much identical, but functionally very different, as the latter requires prep. You can still eat (or drink, in mine and Jensen's case) up to 35 points weekly worth of non-Core foods, so there's wiggle room in this plan as well.

You can switch back and forth between the two plans on a week by week basis, another nice flexible feature of WW. So a week of work travel's probably easiest handled on Flex, whereas a week of cooking at home is well-suited to Core (unless you really really want to eat marshmallow fluff).

I've been a combination of Core and Flex, eating almost entirely Core foods while still counting the points (because I don't trust myself to not eat too much if I don't count the points).

[Jensen]

I'm enjoying your blog very much.  Suffice it to say I knew nothing about WW before this blog.  I hope this isn't a stupid question but, do you ever go off WW?  Does it have an end or whenyou reach your goal weight do you just eat to maintain?

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I haven't given a whole lot of thought about what's going to happen when I reach my goal weight. It seemed so far off when I started 6 months ago and now it's pretty close.

For me, I think I will continue to "do" WW. Because I started it as a change to my way of eating and not just to lose weight, I don't really see a need to stop. There's nothing I want that I can't eat so there's really no benefit in stopping.

One other question, Jen.  Would it be correct to assume that the WW program includes excercise, esp. cardio a certain number of hours per week, or is the weight loss and points system strictly based on caloric intake?  Also, does the point system differ for so-called "good" fats and pure junk?

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Yes, the WW programme stresses excercise as well. So far, I have managed to avoid that.

Since the Core programme has come out, they have stressed "healthy oils" (namely, olive oil) as part of the diet. This is one of the parts of the programme that I've never really paid attention to. Because I have always cooked with olive oil, I don't need to worry about adding it to my diet; it was already there!

The other part that I don't worry about is water consumption. I've always drank a lot of water (more than their daily recommendation) so I don't bother tracking it.

Maybe we're already the same person. I mean, nobody here's seen us in the same room together, right?

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Great! When do I get to wear the dress?

(Therese apparently bought us a really cool cocktail dress before Christmas.)

How does a WW decide whether or not to do this "core" thing that has been referred to instead of points?

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I decided to do the points because there were fewer rules to follow (almost none in fact). I didn't really look into Core that much; maybe one of the other WWing eGulleteers can answer this one. Therese? chardgirl?

[bilrus]

I decided to do the points because there were fewer rules to follow (almost none in fact). I didn't really look into Core that much; maybe one of the other WWing eGulleteers can answer this one. Therese? chardgirl?

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It does seem like there are a lot of judgement calls involved in the Core plan, where the Flex plan is pretty straightforward. Less effort actuallycounting, but more effort figuring out if a food is REALLY core.

[Jensen]

And on to today!

Guess what brown brought me today?

My very first Penzey's order!

I couldn't really afford to replace all my spices and herbs (and some of them are quite new anyway) but I figured I could safely throw out the ones that were labelled in English and French. I reckoned if they had bilingual labelling then they'd come with us from Canada six years ago.

I also bought some bagged herbs of things that I use a lot. I'll just fill up my existing bottles when they're empty.

Here's what was inside the box:

I'm particularly excited about getting the juniper berries. I'll be using them for tomorrow night's dinner!

I've made the fillings for my ravioli tonight. First up is the sorrel/ricotta filling:

I seasoned it with tarragon and salt and pepper.

Most of this didn't get used as I made only a half recipe of pasta. Here are the filled ravioli:

I made 18 of the sorrel/ricotta ones. (This is important because I'll have to figure out points later.) These went into the freezer. I usually do this so that I can make them ahead of time and get some of my mess cleaned up before sitting down to dinner. The Spawn is at her dojo until almost 8:00 most nights so this gives me time to take of all this sort of thing.

Then, I mixed up the squash filling:

A few months ago, I roasted a Kuri squash, used half of it for dinner, and then froze the other half. I took that out of the freezer this morning for tonight's dinner. To it was added one egg, a splash of balsamic vinegar, 2 oz. of grated Old World Portuguese cheese, and 1/4 cup of fine dry bread crumbs.

Right now, I'm waiting for the sorrel ravioli to be frozen enough to put them in a container. I only have room in the freezer for two trays

And, now that I've got my blogging day caught up for the time being, I have to go clean up my mess:

I guess I'd better feed the dogs too...

[Jensen]

Looking at that photo of my kitchen mess (well, half the mess, as the other counter was just as messy!) reminded me that I hadn't said how I was going to serve the different raviolis.

For the sorrel/ricotta pasta, I decided on a simple tomato "sauce". I opened a tin of whole tomatoes (the tomatoes at the grocery store were icky), put them in an 8" square baking dish, broke them up with a spoon, threw in a smashed garlic clove, and then roasted them for 45 mintues.

Here they are, awaiting their final destination:

The squash ravioli will be topped with some browned butter and toasted pine nuts.

And I figured out the points. (I've been sipping wine while cooking and, if not for this blog, I would have just said 'the hell with the points'!)

The sorrel/ricotta ravioli work out to 1 point each. There will be 3 on each plate.

The squash ravioli, with butter and pine nuts, work out to 3 points each. There will be four on each plate.

I did remember to feed the dogs too! I was trying to get Dayton to look at the camera and Tighe took that as a signal to exit his dining room:

On the top is Tighe (jumping down) and Rogie. On the bottom, you can see Dayton. Streaka is in the seemingly empty crate. She's the only one that didn't arrive here as a wee puppy and therefore, she has manners and knows how to wait nicely for her dinner.

[bloviatrix]

There's nothing better than getting boxes like that in the mail.

[Jensen]

Dinner!

And now I'm off to watch the Kings' game. I miss Doug Christie already!!!

[therese]

Great! When do I get to wear the dress?

(Therese apparently bought us a really cool cocktail dress before Christmas.)

I decided to do the points because there were fewer rules to follow (almost none in fact). I didn't really look into Core that much; maybe one of the other WWing eGulleteers can answer this one. Therese? chardgirl?

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I bought two dresses, actually, one a cocktail dress and one a formal. You can pick which one you'd prefer.

I've continued to count, and track my points using the Flex option on-line. But I've been using Core foods, even when they're the same points value, in the interest of eating well.

And though Jensen's counting points she's also using mostly Core foods (unless, of course, she's been sneaking off and eating large quantities of marshmallow fluff when we're not looking).

[snowangel]

Dinner looks great. Did the veg have points?

Did you make the pasta yourself?

[Jensen]

Dinner looks great.  Did the veg have points?

Did you make the pasta yourself?

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The salad had one point. It's just arugula with a vinaigrette. The arugula has no points but the vinaigrette has one (from the olive oil).

And yes, I made the pasta myself. I use Moby Pomerance's eGCI course recipe. It makes a slightly softer dough than some other recipes but it's very easy to work with.