Go Ahead, Bragg A Little Bit!

As I peruse various blogs, it seems that many of you are interested in eating more healthfully. Now, I'm no authority on health food, but I am an expert on dieting. I certainly have attained the know how, I just need to work on the follow through!

To sum up, over the past 15 years I have tried the following diet fads: The Cabbage Soup Diet, Slim Fast, Weight Watchers, an elimination diet, Marilu Henner, Atkin's, Suzanne Somer's, South Beach, E-Diets, Medifast, The Pericone Prescription, and the Rotation Game.

Pathetic, huh?

The only successes I had was with Weight Watchers and the elimination diet. The first I found to be a bit tedious. The second was done to determine food allergies. As you can gather from the name, you pretty much eliminate everything from your diet and add foods back in slowly one at a time. You can't help but loose weight during the process, but you can only live like that for so long.

My point here, is that I have tried many programs that have worked well for others, but not for me. Perhaps some of you may find yourself in the same boat?

As I forge ahead on our family's current meal plan, The Rotation Game (doctor ordered for food allergies, not weight loss), I find myself utilizing helpful bits and pieces from those past diets. As I have wasted time, money, sweat and tears trying things that either didn't work, were too complicated to follow or just plain tasted horrible, I thought I would share some of the gems I have gleaned and possibly help others avoid similar grief and frustration.

See, I'm here for ya. All those years of yo-yo dieting were not for naught!

So my healthy habit tip for the day: Bragg's Liquid Aminos. (Thanks, Marilu!)

This stuff is great. It's chock full of protein and nutrition, not to mention that it is very tasty! If you need to avoid gluten, this is a perfect replacement for tamari or soy sauce.

Give it a try! I use this for much more than Chinese stir-fry. Try it in place of Worcestershire sauce to give meat loaf, steak, roast, chops, soup, etc. a healthy boost and a little zip. It also tastes yummy on baked fish or drizzled over steamed veggies. Spritz it on salad to replace a high calorie dressing.

Below is a yummy dish I created for dinner this week. I'm not one for recipes. I never seem to follow them, as I'm always substituting things or adding stuff to suit my tastes. So bear in mind that I am estimating the amounts that I used and I advise the taste-as-you-cook method.

Chicken Primavera

• extra virgin olive oil
• Bragg's Liquid Aminos
• 1/4 of a green pepper, diced
• 1/4 of a red pepper, diced
• 1/4 of a large Vidalia onion, diced
• 1 small zucchini, diced
• 1 small yellow squash, diced
• 1 cup green cabbage, sliced & diced
• 2 stalks of celery, diced
• 1 bag of Perdue Italian style grilled chicken short cuts (or 1 16 oz can chicken or whatever grilled chicken you may have. If it is not seasoned already then make sure to add your preferred seasoning to the dish.)

Here's how I cooked it. I chopped up all the veggies and dumped them in the electric frying pan. I poured the EVOO over it - I'm guessing at least a 1/4 cup. Then I turned on the pan and sauteed everything all at once. Next, I added the Bragg's until I liked the taste. Last, I added the grilled chicken and kept it cookin' til the veggies were tender.

Serve over pasta or rice. I recommend Bionaturae's gluten free pasta made with rice, potato and soy. It has a good flavor and holds together well, as long as you don't overcook it. That and white Vita Spelt pastas are the only wheat substitute pastas our family likes (and have even served to unsuspecting guests in soups and pasta dishes!)

Enjoy!

F.Y.I.: Marilu Henner has a good program if you are organized and determined. She has lots of good recipes and tips. Just be prepared to spend more money at the grocery store on the healthier fare and extra time preparing meals. As I recall, hubby's response to this program was, "I can do with a little less fish!"