Conference rocks::weight_control

    Weight Watcher's ketchup is fabulous.  Instead of 10 calories per
    teaspoon of regular ketchup, you get 8 calories per tablespoon of
    WW ketchup.  And it tastes great!!!
    
    

    I cut all salad dressings 50/50 with V-8.
    
    Marion

    What a terrific idea!!!  I have about 5 bottles of "regular" dressing
    in the cupboard, just sitting there because I started using the
    diet stuff.  Now I have a way of using it up! and saving money on
    the diet stuff.  Thank you Marion.
    
    I use Eggbeaters a lot - I was using eggwhites and feeding the yolks
    to the cat, but the cat was gaining weight and I was getting tempted
    to use the whole egg, so I switched.  I use them in cooking, in
    soups (like eggdrop and homemade hot & sour soup), in my morning
    oatmeal for extra protein (since I'm trying to gain muscle and it's
    a very low-cal protein source), and to make coatings stick to
    "oven-fried" stuff.  If I made protein drinks, I'd probably use
    Eggbeaters in them, too.  It's convenient, since you can use what you
    need from the carton, and you can store extra cartons in the freezer.
    They don't go bad like eggs do.

    My other favorite is my food scale.  This is the best diet aide I've
    found - in conjunction with a book from the US dept of Agriculture
    called Composition of Foods.  The book lists hundreds of foods,
    in alphabetical order, and gives calories and nutrition breakdowns
    for all of them.  There are two main sections - one is nutrition
    for 100 grams edible portion (no bones or rinds) and the other is
    nutrition for 1 lb. of food as purchased (you can measure your
    banana with the peel on).  There are other sections on special topics
    regarding nutrition of selected foods.  It's a convenient and thorough
    book if you are really serious about nutrition information.  The
    only lack is that they don't list many prepared/brand-name foods,
    but there are books on the market which do that.
    
    --Louise

    My favorite diet cheat is a cup of hot water with a slice of fresh
    lemon in the morning. It not only clenses my system, it keeps me
    from drinking so much coffee.
    
    Cold water is more palatable with a thim slice of fresh lemon also!!
    
                      -sunny-

    I have a terrible weakness for sweets.  Weight Watchers desserts
    have been a "diet saver."
    
    My favorites are:
    
    	Chocolate Cake
    	Cherry Pie
    	Fruit Bars (popsicles)
    
    					Try 'em, they're quite good
                                                      
    						Donna

    I enjoy large salads, but I had to find a way to avoid having large
    amounts of salad oil concomitant with the vegies, and I wasn't too
    pleased with the low cal commercial dressings I had tried.  I did find
    a solution that meets my needs; I don't use any "salad dressing" per
    se', but I do use substitutes. 

    My work-day lunch is a pound of salad bar vegies with about one or two
    ounces of feta cheese and a few ounces of taboule.  If the salad bar
    doesn't have taboule, I use the juice from a few hot peppers, but I
    much prefer taboule.   A pound of vegies gronks any desire to snack! 

    At home I use feta, taboule, and lemon juice --- sometimes lime juice.
    Lemon juice is less acerbic than vinegar; by the time it has been
    diluted with the water still on the vegies, it is quite mild.  This
    three-way combination tastes better to me than any commercial dressing
    in our refrigerator.

    Lemon juice is delicious on ALL seafoods, also (well, perhaps
    not on clams).  I've taken to using it instead of butter on
    lobster and crab.  Unlike butter, it doesn't cover up the 
    delicious flavor of the meat, but accents it instead.
    
    My favorite bottled dressing is the low-cal Kraft Catalina
    dressing.  It's especially good on the home-garden tomatoes I'm
    eating by dozens now, and is only 16 cal per tbsp.  Second in
    line is the Kraft creamy italian (diet).  I've found that brand
    to be tastier than the others.
    
    --Louise

    Another avoidance technique is playing cards - here in Ohio, we
    play euchre (you-ker) a lot, but I've heard it is a strictly Midwestern
    game.  But, nonetheless, playing cards usually means that a table
    and chairs need to be set up and this is usually away from the food
    table.  Plus, there is no room on the table for food!  And, it gives
    you a chance to get to know people you might not normally just walk
    up and start a conversation with.  Euchre is usually played so that
    two people challenge the winners of the current game.  So, the more
    you play, the better you get, which means you play more because
    you win more!  And stay away from the food more!
    
    I carry a deck of cards in my purse just for those occasions when
    the conversation lapses and you head to the munchies out of boredom!
    It is really easy to say Hey! I just remembered!  I have a deck
    of cards in my car (whatever) - anybody want to play?  And if people
    say they don't because they don't know how, you have a vested interest
    in teaching them because then you'll have another player and another
    reason to stay away from the munchies!!!!

    OK then, so how do we play?
    
    I love card games, and have recently joined a bridge club that meets
    straight after work on a Wednesday evening here at DEC park in Reading,
    UK. And I never feel tempted to go and snack. (I also feel really
    virtuous, as many of the players smoke, which I gave up years ago!!).
    
    And as I usually try and swim on Wed. lunchtime, it means that I
    can start to count on one day a week as being high on exercise and
    low on too much food.
                                                                         
    If any of you travelling dieters ever land up here in Reading, get
    in touch and I'll show you the swimming pools, rather than the pubs...
    
    Clare

    My favorite "diet products" are Weight Watchers desserts (especially
    carrot cake and double fudge bars) to satisfy my sweet tooth, and 
    Wish-Bone Lite Italian Salad Dressing to satisfy my craving for
    savories.  The Wish-Bone Lite has only 12 calories per tablespoon!
    
    I also make my own Vinegrette salad dressing using 2 tsp. Dijon
    mustard, 2 tsp. olive oil, 1/4 cup red wine vinegar, and a dash
    of salt and freshly-ground pepper.  (This makes 2 servings.)
    
    I like to stretch out the calories in any salad dressing (regular
    or diet) by mixing them 1/2 and 1/2 with red wine vinegar or buttermilk
    (depending on the type of dressing).
    
    Butter-flavor Pam is great for pan-frying anything - eggs, mushrooms,
    fish, whatever.  I even use it on silverstone-coated pans, just
    for the flavor.
    
    Plain yogurt is a good substitute for sour cream on baked potatoes.
    No, it doesn't taste the same as sour cream, but it is cool and
    creamy with a slight tang that goes well with hot, fluffy potatoes.
    It's even better if you sprinkle chives or imitation bacon bits
    on top of the yogurt.
    
    These are just a few of the devices I have come up with in a
    (successful) year of following the Weight Watchers food plan.
    
    Good luck!
    
    Lynn

    I got a slight shock last night when I compaired WW Italian dressing to
    Kraft Free.  Kraft Free was just an itsy bit better and lower calorie. 
    Did anyone know this?  

	And Dannon Light Yogurt (100 cals) is MUCH better than WW
    yogurt (90 cals).

	It seems to me that WW foods have not been improving much, and
    now, some of the bigger brand names are better and lighter.

-mike z

    RE: .12 Dannon vs WW
    
    And cheaper too!
    
    WW has a new line of food out that won't be sold in super markets. 
    It's an accelerated weight loss line of food.  Is this being covered in
    another topic somewhere?  I'm interested in finding out where to buy
    it, cost, taste, etc.

    However, Dannon Light has sugar, doesn't it?
    
    E Grace

    

        I believe Dannon light  has nutrasweet in it... I'm not able
        have much sugar in my diet so I keep looking for desserts that
        have ntrasweet... I donm't have much of a selection... Dannon
        light was one of them... it is better than ww.
        I also can't have chocolate or coffee... So I can't have
        any of the new desserts ww came out with.
    
    

    The first part of this note was on salad dressings and so now we're
    back to that.
    
    I had made myself a DIET taco salad with some lean leftover hamburger
    crunched up, and a little bit of cheese, and some diet italian
    dressing, then I spotted the Pace picante sauce in the fridge.  I
    checked the calorie content and it was only 4 calories per tsp! Anyway,
    it was great and spiced up my salad!  I felt like I was cheating!
    
    Yea Picante Sauce!