"Tons of Fun" won the Victory Stick again last week. This is their 3rd week in the biggest loss seat!

Week 6
Cooking Light and Right
Feel Full on Fewer Calories

Managing calories is important if you want to lose weight or prevent weight gain, but it’s also important to feel full and satisfied. Satiety is the term used to indicate "fullness" from food. Research indicates that foods with more protein, starch and fiber provide more “satiety” per calorie than foods high in fat and sugar, or made with refined grains. Dietary fiber also holds off hunger longer. Fruits, vegetables, legumes and whole grains are all high in fiber.

You can plan meals to feel full longer with fewer calories by applying these easy guidelines. Adjust the proportion of foods in a meal or ingredients in your recipes to include more low fat, naturally colorful and higher fiber foods. For example:

Pasta Salad
Traditional recipe: 3 c pasta, 1 cup raw vegetables 1/2 c dressing
Adapted recipe: 2 c pasta, 2 cups of colorful raw vegetables, 1/3 c dressing

Casserole
If the casserole uses ground beef, rice, and cheese. Use less meat and replace it with bell pepper, mushrooms, or black beans, and use brown rice.

Quick bread
If your recipe uses all purpose flour, oil, and sugar try substituting one fourth of the flour with quick oats, and use a little less oil and use skim milk, water or juice to replace the moisture.

Preparation methods make a big difference too. Try roasting, baking, microwaving, and sautéing in broth instead of frying.

If you use prepared foods, be aware of those that are too high in sodium. You can rinse canned vegetables, and dilute soups and sauces with fresh whole food to reduce the sodium per serving. Try adding fresh tomatoes, mushrooms, and onion to the spaghetti sauce. Use half the seasoning packet or replace it with fresh or dried herbs and spices without salt.

C. Joyce Kleffner
Extension Educator

Lose and Win is sponsored by Healthy Hancock, a coalition of organizations working together to improve the health of residents in Hancock County.

Lose and Win, the 10 week program in Hancock County to lose weight and develop a healthy lifestyle have accumulated a loss of 1040 pounds well on their way to losing a ton.

The victory stick once again went back to Bucksport to “Tons of Fun” the team that averaged the most weight lost during the past week. The Deer Isle Stonington teams, “In-credible Shrinking Women & Kevin” and the “Cream Puffs” took second and third honors in the county. The lobster buoy was awarded to the “Inn-credibles” at the meeting in Deer Isle/ Stonington.

“Just the Two of Us” were honored to receive the pink sneaker by accumulating the most minutes of physical activity during the week.