"south beach diet" news and stories

Frozen Food Reviews

by Slashfood Editor, Posted Sep 1st 2009 @ 4:38PM

Slashfood stalwarts road-tested a month's worth of lunches so you won't waste another cent on sub-par frozen fare.

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Frozen Food Reviews

by Kat Kinsman
A recent AOL Food survey revealed that 85% of respondents are toting their lunch to work these days. We've certainly noticed an uptick in waiting time at our break room's microwaves -- as well as co-workers scrounging for snacks after their lunch failed to fill them up. Our editors road-tested a month's' worth of lunches so you won't waste another cent on sub-par frozen fare.

Rachel Been

Getty Images North America

Frozen Food Reviews

Rachel Been

Monday
Amy's Organic Ravioli Bowl

Buy it again: Without a doubt
Fills you up: Yes
Texture: Perfectly cooked pasta
Taste: If we got it in a restaurant, we'd be happy. The sauce was gorgeously seasoned, the generously, fluffily filled ravioli neither limp nor leaden and heck -- it's even organic.
Calories: 380
Total Fat: 12 g
Sodium: 680 mg

Casey Kelbaugh

Tuesday
Banquet Selects Classic Fried Chicken

Buy it again: No way
Fills you up: No
Texture: Like deep-fried particle board
Taste: The batter's seasoning wasn't so bad, but gnawing through it nearly undid years of orthodontia -- and for very little reward. The few shreds of meat within were stringy, gamey and overcooked, and the pool of grease in which the whole mess swam hardly added to the meal's appeal. The potatoes and corn are best left unmentioned -- and uneaten.
Calories: 440
Total Fat: 26 g
Sodium: 1140 mg

Casey Kelbaugh

Wednesday
Lean Pocket Applewood Bacon, Egg, & Cheese Breakfast Pocket

Buy it again: No
Fills you up: Yes
Texture: Gummy
Taste: We bit into what we thought was a potato cube, then checked the ingredient list. No potatoes. It would seem that the chewy, white blob was in fact the much-touted applewood bacon. It just got worse from there, with a creepy, over-processed filling.
Calories: 290
Total Fat: 8 g
Sodium: 480 mg

Casey Kelbaugh

Thursday
Southwest Style Grilled Chicken

Buy it again: Just the potatoes
Fills you up: Yes
Texture: Misleadingly good
Taste: If they'd just stuck with the taters, we'd be telling a different tale. Those spuds are fluffy, creamy and memorably savory. The chicken, however, was slathered in an inexplicably sweet and fruity goo that somehow lost direction on the way to the Southwest.
Calories: 430
Total Fat: 15 g
Sodium: 1510 mg

Casey Kelbaugh

Friday
Lean Pockets Whole Grain Turkey, Broccoli & Cheese Pocket

Buy it again: Only on sale
Fills you up: Yes
Texture: A bit doughy
Taste: It would hardly be our first choice, but in a serious pinch, we wouldn't turn up our noses at it. Let's get one thing clear, though -- while the whole-grain wrapper is a cute little stab at nutrition, you're still chomping down processed cheese and nuked broccoli. Health food, this is not.
Calories: 260
Total Fat: 7 g
Sodium: 390 mg

Casey Kelbaugh

Monday
Claim Jumper Chicken & Penne a la Vodka

Buy it again: Maybe
Fills you up: Yes
Texture: A bit soggy
Taste: We weren't immediately convinced and kept grabbing just one more forkful to figure out why. Wouldn't you know, we polished off the whole darned thing. It's not the most assertive sauce straight out of the box, but woke up with a dash of black pepper. Note -- while the prep notes call for a tablespoon of water on the broccoli, half that might have been a better idea to to avoid veggie sog.
Calories: 500
Total Fat: 20 g
Sodium: 1350 mg

Casey Kelbaugh

Tuesday
Kashi Lemon Rosemary Chicken

Buy it again: Happily
Fills you up: Yes
Texture: Fresh
Taste: If someone tried to pass this off as take-out from the health food place down the street, we'd take their word for it. Flavors popped, veggies crunched, chicken stayed moist, and our tastebuds rejoiced.
Calories: 330
Total Fat: 9 g
Sodium: 640 mg

Casey Kelbaugh

Wednesday
Stouffer's Pepperoni & Provolone Stromboli

Buy it again: Sure
Fills you up: Yes
Texture: Better that we'd expected
Taste: Holy stromboli! This is slightly dumbed-down pizza shop fare, but it's still a really solid surprise. While we'll nitpick that the bread could be a little better, the fillings proved hearty, meaty and overall pleasing. Keep a couple of 'em stashed in the freezer for lazy weeknight meals.
Calories: 430
Total Fat: 17 g
Sodium: 1110 mg

Casey Kelbaugh

Thursday
Lean Cuisine Cheddar Potatoes with Broccoli

Buy it again: No
Fills you up: We can't imagine trying to eat the whole thing
Texture: Mushy
Taste: It doesn't bode well for a dish when the tasters are having a hard time distinguishing potatoes from broccoli florets. The whole bowl was gummed together by a soggy, flavor-free mess that was advertised as cheddar sauce, but could just as easily have been wheat paste. Sure, this cuisine is lean, but it's 'cause no one can bear to eat more than a few bites.
Calories: 230
Total Fat: 5 g
Sodium: 640 mg

Casey Kelbaugh

Filed under: Taste Test

Veggie-Egg Cups Make Quick Work of Breakfast

COMMENTS 7

by Marisa McClellan, Posted Mar 9th 2009 @ 11:00AM

Recently, Scott and I have been trying to eat a bit more healthfully and shed a few of those winter pounds that crept on over the last few months. We've found that doing Phase 1 of the South Beach Diet helps us both get our eating habits in check and forces us to think a bit more carefully about the food we eat. While I'm looking forward to switching back to oatmeal and other whole grains for my morning meal once this very limited carb phase is over, I've also been enjoying making egg cups for our breakfasts.

These muffin-sized egg bakes (even when not following South Beach, I've made similar recipes in a larger baking dish for brunch potlucks and holiday morning buffets) are essentially portable omelettes that, once cooked, make breakfast prep a snap in the morning. Just grab one and reheat it for a morning meal that contains lots of protein and one healthy serving of vegetables.

The recipe I'm following this week is after the jump.

Filed under:

Branching out with mini greek meatballs

COMMENTS 4

by Marisa McClellan, Posted Apr 3rd 2008 @ 12:04PM

When it comes to cooking South Beach friendly foods, Scott and I have fallen into something of a rut. We've been eating tons of salads with grilled chicken, chili, turkey burgers (cooked on the ever-handy George Foreman grill) and lots of cauliflower puree (faux-ta-toes!). Last weekend, tired of these tried and true dishes, I started flipping through the South Beach Diet Quick & Easy Cookbook that Scott brought with him into this relationship, searching for some new inspiration.

I actually found quite a few things that I thought were pretty appealing, and tonight, I cooked the Mini Greek Meatballs (Phase 1 and on page 216 of the book for those of you following along). They were tasty, filling and easy to put together. The only thing I would change in the whole recipe was the manner in which they were cooked. The recipe tells you to cook them in a greased 9 x 13 baking dish. Unfortunately, this means that they get crowded into the pan and end up a quarter submerged in the liquid they release by the time they are done cooking. Next time I make them, I will spread them out on a rack on a large cookie sheet, in order to get more surface area browning and prevent them from cooking in their juices.

For those of you who aren't are the South Beach diet, these are still yummy meatballs and could potentially spice up your weeknight dinners. If you want to try them out, the recipe is after the jump. For a more photogenic version of these meatballs, check out the batch that Kalyn made.

Source

Filed under: Ingredients, Books

I have discovered the secret to losing weight

COMMENTS 27

by Bob Sassone, Posted Apr 3rd 2007 @ 1:30PM

I've done an extensive survey of all of the information about weight loss that you can find on the shelves of Border's and Barnes & Noble, and here are the results.

It seems as if the best way to lose weight and get in shape is a combo of the following: eating a lot of carbs, eating a lot of fat, cutting carbs out completely, drinking a lot of water, not eating any "white" foods at night like bread, rice, and pasta, eating just grapefruit, eating your meals in a mixed-up fashion (lunch for dinner, breakfast for lunch, etc), not eating after 8pm, eating a lot of soups, cutting out all candy, cakes, and processed foods, avoiding diet drinks, eating a Subway sub a couple of times a week, eating foods according to your blood type, eating foods according to color, eating a lot of fiber, training your brain to think like a thin person, eating like they do in France, eating like they do in China, not counting calories, making sure you count calories, taking vitamins and supplements, become a vegan, eating more meat, eat a lot of apples, eating only raw foods, and joining one of the weight loss organizations such as Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig.

If you follow the above rules, you should get in shape very quickly. You're welcome.

Filed under: Trends, Health & Medical, Books

The South Beach Diet Parties and Holidays Cookbook, Cookbook of the Day

COMMENTS 0

by Nicole Weston, Posted Dec 26th 2006 @ 8:01AM

The expectation of party-goers, especially around the holidays, is that there will be fattening foods at every party they attend and that there will be lots of it. There are a number of ways to avoid holiday eating pitfalls, but the best way to avoid adding an extra pound per party is to start with healthier foods. This isn't always possible at other people's homes, although you can bring along a dish with you, but you can certainly make your own parties a success and still serve foods that taste good and are good for you. The South Beach Diet Parties and Holidays Cookbook is a book that was written with this goal in mind and it has lots of party-friendly ideas that won't blow your diet. Whether you follow South Beach or not, the meals are still very balanced and everyone should be able to find something that will appeal to them in here.

There are 20 menus for different occasions and 150 recipes in the book. Each one includes a nutritional breakdown, as well as detailed instructions, prep times and serving sizes. Some of the recipes are scaled for only two, like the Valentine's Day dinner suggestions, but others are suitable for crowds. Since every little bit helps, even if you only augment your current holiday favorites by adding on healthier recipe, this can still be a good reference to have on hand.

Source

Filed under: Cookbook Spotlight, Books