Wednesday Weekly: Spice It Up

Variety is the spice of life, as they say (who are they anyway?) and that's what this week's meeting topic is all about.

I look at this in two ways:

First, I think of literally adding spices to your food. Let's face it, the healthiest foods aren't always the most flavorful foods and adding herbs and spices to your cooking can certainly make "boring diet food" taste pretty darn good. Some of my favorite herbs and spices are garlic (never enough!), ginger, cilantro, rosemary, oregano, thyme, flat-leaf parsley, salt (with moderation of course), black pepper, red pepper, curry, cardamom, tumeric,  etc. Adding spices to meals is easy and usually points free. Of course, Weight Watchers has a complete guide to 0-1 SmartPoints options for adding flavor to meals.

When it comes to some vegetables I don't particularly care for their flavor on their own. For example - green beans. Alone they're ok. But, toss them in 1 tsp. of olive oil with some lemon pepper and they are super yummy. And chicken alone is bor-ing! My favorite thing to do with chicken is just sprinkle a little garam masala spice and bake it in the oven before slicing it into a salad. That's why I have a fully stocked spice cabinet. And I am always searching out new recipes online. I look for recipes from all different cultures. 

The second way I look at this advice to "spice it up" is to add variety to your diet. Let's face it - we are all creatures of habit. I eat the same exact breakfast and lunch every single day. And yes, it's all healthy and it all fits in my daily points, but is that really the best thing?

I have found in the past that when my weight loss has slowed or my progress is stuck making some small changes can make a big difference. Always eat blueberries with breakfast? Try raspberries. Always eat turkey for lunch? Try chicken. Always workout in the morning? Try the afternoon (if your schedule allows. Mine does not - so afternoons it has to be). Making some small changes can have a surprising effect on the scale.

So make some changes, try something new! You may discover a new favorite food! And you may discover the scale likes the changes too ;)