Process the oatmeal, cottage cheese, egg whites, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a blender until smooth. Spray skillet with non-fat cooking spray. Add the batter and cook over medium heat until both sides are lightly browned. Top with low sugar syrup.

Yields 1 serving.

Nutrients Per Serving: Cal 288; Prot 28 g; Carbohydrate 32 g; Fat 4 g; Fiber 5 g

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Sift the cake flour, cocoa powder, and salt together; set aside. In a clean bowl of an electric mixer, beat the egg whites at medium-high speed until foamy. Once foamy, add the sugar substitute, a little at a time, and continue beating on medium-high speed until the egg whites start to form soft peaks. When they have formed soft peaks, fold in the vanilla extract. Remove bowl from mixer and remove beater or whisk attachment. Gently fold the flour mixture into the egg white mixture, 2 tablespoons at a time, until well blended.
Gently scoop batter into a 10-inch tube pan (angel food cake pan). Bake for 35 minutes or until firm to the touch. Remove from the oven, invert, and let cool upside down in pan.
While cake is cooling, in a small bowl, combine the strawberries, yogurt, and honey until well combined. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Once cake is cool, remove from pan and slice into 8 wedges. Divide strawberry mixture evenly among the 8 wedges. Garnish each wedge with a mint sprig.

Yields 8 servings.

Nutritional Info. Per Serving: Calories 123; Fat 1 g; Fiber 4 g

Prep: 10 minutes • Bake: 45 minutes • 8 servings

2 cups cottage cheese
1 10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained
⅓ cup crumbled feta cheese
3 eggs, beaten (or egg substitute)
¼ cup butter, melted
3 tablespoons whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons dried minced onion

Preheat oven to 350⁰. Lightly coat a 1 ½ – quart casserole with nonstick cooking spray; set aside.
In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients and mix well. Pour mixture into the prepared casserole.
Bake, uncovered, for 45 minutes or until center is almost set and the internal temperature registers 160⁰ on an instant-read thermometer.

Nutrition Facts (per serving):
171 calories
12 g total fat (6 g saturated fat)
5 g carbohydrates
1 g fiber
11 g protein

*Note: I use reduced fat or fat free cottage cheese, reduced fat feta cheese, egg substitute, & Smart Balance Light Butter.

courtesy of Better Homes and Gardens Phase 2 Low-Carb Recipes. 2005

FRIDAY, Aug. 26 (HealthDay News) — Aerobic exercise is better than resistance training if you want to lose the belly fat that poses a serious threat to your health, researchers say.
That’s the finding of their eight-month study that compared the effectiveness of aerobic exercise (such as jogging), resistance training (such as weight lifting), or a combination of the two activities in 196 overweight, sedentary adults aged 18 to 70.
The participants in the aerobic group did the equivalent of 12 miles of jogging per week at 80 percent maximum heart rate, while those in the resistance group did three sets of eight to 12 repetitions three times per week.
The Duke University Medical Center researchers looked at how these types of exercise reduced the fat that’s deep within the abdomen and fills the spaces between internal organs. This type of fat — called visceral and liver fat — is associated with increased risk of heart disease, diabetes and some types of cancer.
Aerobic exercise significantly reduced visceral and liver fat and improved risk factors for heart disease and diabetes, such as insulin resistance, liver enzymes and triglyceride levels. Resistance training didn’t deliver these benefits. Aerobic exercise plus resistance training achieved results similar to aerobic exercise alone, the investigators found.
“Resistance training is great for improving strength and increasing lean body mass,” lead author and exercise physiologist Cris Slentz said in a Duke news release. “But if you are overweight, which two-thirds of the population is, and you want to lose belly fat, aerobic exercise is the better choice because it burns more calories.”
Aerobic exercise burned 67 percent more calories than resistance training, the researchers found.
The study was published in the Aug. 25 issue of the American Journal of Physiology.
More information
The U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases explains how to achieve weight loss for life.

– Robert Preidt

SOURCE: Duke Medicine, news release, Aug. 25, 2011
Copyright © 2011 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray the bottom of an 8x4x2-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray; set aside. In a small saucepan melt butter; remove from heat. Stir in sugar, the cold water, and vanilla. Stir in flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder until thoroughly combined. Stir in nuts. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack. Remove brownies from pan. Cut into eight bars. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Yields 8 servings.

Nutritional Facts Per Serving: Calories 103; Fat 5 g; Carbohydrates 15 g; Fiber 3 g; Protein 1 g

Yields 8 servings, 1 cup each.

Nutritional Info. Per Serving: Calories 171; Fat 4 g; Carbohydrate 19 g; Protein 16 g; Fiber 4 g

Unhealthy eating may be a new occupational hazard.

The Time (12/30, Song) “Healthland” blog reports, “If you’ve ever sat at your desk scarfing a vending-machine lunch, then you’d probably agree with the authors of a recent editorial in the journal PLoS Medicine, who wrote: ‘[U]nhealthy eating could legitimately beconsidered a new form of occupational hazard.’” The editorial is “referring mainly to night-shift workers – doctors and nurses, for instance” because “off- kilter shift schedules are notorious for encouraging bad eating habits, and they also disrupt circadian rhythms and prevent adequate sleep – all of which conspires to make workers fat and increase their risk of Type 2 diabetes, among other ills.” The authors “cite the results of a recent study,” which found that “women who had rotating night shifts were more likely to develop diabetes over a 20-year follow-up, compared with women whoworked during the day.”

Ingredients: one broccoli crown, cut into florettes and sliced stems

1 tablepoon Peanut Oil

Sea Salt

Heat 1   tablespoons of Peanut Oil in medium size Wok on medium-high heat

Add cut broccoli and stir to coat with peanut oil

Sprinkle with Sea salt

add 1/2 cup water to hot wok and immediately cover with lid to “steam” the broccoli for about 2-3 minutes until crisp-tender, stirring at least once

Serve immdiately!

Snap the ends off the asparagus and arrange in a single layer on the baking sheet

Lightly spray with Olive Oil (I use the Misto-available at Bed Bath and Beyond- filled with my own olive oil)

Sprinkle with a little Sea Salt and Onion or Garlic Powder

Bake on center rack of oven at 350 for about 15 minutes.

Super quick, simple and delicious!

Julienne slice one raw cucumber (into 2 inch “sticks”)

Drizzle or spray (using Misto-available at Bed Bath and Beyond)  olive oil over zucchini

sprinkle with a little Sea Salt and Grated Parmesan Cheese

This takes almost no time and is a weekly dinner or lunch staple at our house that the whole family enjoys