First of all, what is the difference between a treat and a snack? You may well have the answer but you have to think about it. Most people think of snack food as unhealthy but those of us studying food and eating know that it is something to tide you over between meals. It can be fruit, almonds or a cheese string, yogurt, vegetables or the like. It is a smaller version of a meal. A treat is something that is fun to eat but not necessary like chocolate, potato chips, or cake.
Now here comes the Superbowl! There is already news on the radio that it will be impossible to get a pizza tonight or wings, two of the Superbowl staples. There is so much talk about this game and all the hoopla around it, I decided to do a little advance planning and snack savvy. I am a Super Shopper by many who know me. So I went to visit a very high end supermarket. In my head, I dealt with two main meals, lunch and dinner and snacks around it.
With all the talk about pizza, I decided to make my own for lunch. When I do that I generally use 8" tortillas but today I bought something new, a Canadian product called Smart Mother's Choice Crispy 100% Roti. That was my base instead of pizza dough. This is a good product. It is very low in fat, only 3 g, plus it has 3 g of fibre. At 120 calories, it is 1.8 to 3 in the point system. The ingredients are whole wheat flour, water, non-hydrogenated vegetable oil, salt and baking powder. Next I topped it with a couple of tablespoons of pizza sauce, a negligible 10 calories or nothing in points. Then I measured 1/3 cup of shredded 3 cheeses for pizza. That was topped with julienne slivers of fresh green pepper and sliced mushrooms. I put it on the top shelf of the oven and broiled it for 2 minutes.
It was delicious. The whole pizza amounted to about 5 points or about 220 calories. It was low enough to add dessert. I had bought Weight Watchers oatmeal raisin cookies. One cookie is 80 calories or 2 points and it also had 3 grams of fibre. I added a beautiful honey tangerine and a Boylan's diet black cherry soda. The total in points for lunch was 7 points or 300 calories. It was nutritious and delicious.
Dinner will be more hardy with roast beef and vegetables. Of course, at 2 points an ounce, 3 oz. of beef should suffice. Now what about the Superbowl snacks. It became a challenge to me to supply enough to make us happy. Most people are weight conscious and unless they are hanging out in a sports bar or at a party with the obligatory wings, chili, party dips and pizza, there is no reason to sit in front of the TV and feast on fattening foods especially when dinner has already been served. I am going to fill two large bowls, one with beautiful large Royal Gala apples and the other with the Honey tangerines. I have other fruits as well: bananas, Asian yellow pears and D'Anjou red pears. I still have more Weight Watchers Oatmeal Raisin Cookies and decided to also buy Compliments (the store brand) of their balanced Eight Whole Grains Chewy Muesli Bars. They are 110 calories each with only 1.5 g of fat and 3 g of fibre. On the point program they are around 3 points. If this doesn't suffice, I always have air-popped popcorn I can make.
I have no intention of over-indulging this Superbowl day but will definitely have enough to fill up 29 points without going over. It is a good test for me. Let's see how I do tomorrow when I host a meeting at my home for a dozen people.
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